Primo Shit
It’s time for me to get off my ass. Everyone post your birthday so I can write it down. Moo-hoo-ha-ha.
Wiffle Ball
Yo ho hello there, go to Chicagoland and do a show there. PHHEEEEEEW, PHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEW! WELCOME TO RAW IS WAR, LIVE FROM MADISON WISCONSIN BY GAWD! AND WE’RE GONNA GET RIGHT UNDER WAY TONIGHT WITH SOME TAG TEAM ACTION!
whazzmaster:
Wow, lots to review in that last thread. My favorite part: cal and wwhazz arguing about squid fishing when ewaz jumped out from behind a bush. Also: cal’s ignorance of Wrigly, I’ve heard that Chain-Gun-of-Shit story a hundred times. Also also: a guest appearence by Ronni (hey Ronni, a healthy percentage of New York is powered by your personal energy. Jesus.) Also: we got to know everyones’ first Tapes and CDs. And finally, Eroz blew wwhazz’s Over/Under for the year out of Teh Water.
spacebee:
BEAR DOWN CHICAGO BEARS!!!!!!!!!!!!! The Bears made it to the Super Bowl, I can’t believe it! Whazzmaster and I spent a long weekend in good ‘ol Illinois. I drug him all around to various places, visiting friends and family. We had an exciting game of CLR on friday night. Usually we only play with quarters, but we did play with dollars this game ( for one round!) Saturday we watched Wisconsin kick some Illini ass!! Then we went to a couple of the most exciting bars; the Blackberry Inn (where one of my good friends works) and Stoney’s. Both hole in the wall bars, my favorite! Overall it was a great weekend the Bears and Badgers won, I was able to see lots of friends and family and catch up with them, and I dominated whazzmaster in darts!!! Although he did win the ping pong tournament 3 games to 2, oh well there is always next time.
whazzmaster:
On Wednesday late-night spacebee and I hit the road towards all points Illinois. Thursday was hectic as I sped from one small suburb of Chicago to another to do customer Follow-Me-Homes for work. I hit I-94 just in time for afternoon rush hour and headed back in the direction of Aurora (Ay-Town). I had taken Friday off so the rest of the weekend was MINE ALONE. Spacebee and I spent it cavorting around Chicagoland and eating, darting, ponging, and watching sports. Also: I did some real world class napping. In-between moments were spent reading a book I got last week: World War Z. I think I have a post somewhere in my head about it, but I have to formulate more at this point.
Happy Birthday Manders! Happy Birthday Madddddddddddd! Happy Birthday Wwhazz! So many to celebrate. All y’all’s parents got it on in the same relative time frame. Yee haw.
The Thick of It
I’m about 2/3 through Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs and I can see why Arlo recommended it. Some of things Klosterman talks about are interesting, some I take issue with, but most seem like the type of ravings that a particularly astute fellow would bellow after 10 bong hits and an hour of watching Double Dare on the Games and Sports Network at two in the morning. Uh, in Pacifica. I’m certainly not coming out of this reading a devout follower of the Church of Chuck, but I’d love to get drunk and chat about it with someone.
I apparently exist in a social vacuum wherein no one will lay claim to my allegiance. Traditional media insists that “Generation X” is defined as anyone born between 1965 and 1977. On the other side of the fence, (and believe me, this varies more and is somewhat less specific) I’ve seen the media define Generation Y (or “What Came Next,” or any of the other banal shit they use to define generations these days) as anyone born between 1980 and 2000. I just checked Wikipedia, however, and it defines Y as being born between 1978 and 1999. Whatever; the point is I was born in 1978. The Point Is that I’m either the youngest Gen Xer or the Grandaddy of the Gen Yers (I mean, christ, I’m sharing that classification with some 6 year old shit right now, and I’m 28).
All in all, who cares what fucking generation I fall into? Some do, I shouldn’t, but I make a note of it just because Klosterman’s book is about all the popular culture Gen Xers, people who fall into that age range, experienced and it is the shit I grew up in. Sugary cereal, fucking Star Wars and Saved by the Bell. The major difference, and perhaps the reason I shouldn’t be considered part of Gen X is that while I experienced all the same stuff, it was at a vastly different level of perception. These kids were 15 years old in 1985, I was 7. It’s funny that Klosterman relates that Empire Strikes Back was the first movie he attended in a theater, it was my first movie-going experience as well, but being 3 I don’t remember much beyond being vaguely scared of Dagobah and wanting to own Yoda as a pet.
The other place we part ways is Music; I feel comfortable saying that I didn’t really listen to music in any way until I was a freshman in high school and I got my first CD player. My first CD ever: Weird Al. My second CD ever: Pearl Jam Vs. That puts me so out of the realm of musical consciousness that I’m almost embarrassed to admit it, but there you go. Everything I know today about 80s music (and boy oh boy it still ain’t much) I’ve learned in the last 5 years.
I think I’m a weirdo, though. My memory is horrible (bordering on tragic, which borders on having some sort of early Alzheimer’s) and I don’t remember things well at all. Talk to me about something that happened 6 months ago; you’ll see. In the end, I’ll probably need whazzmaster.com just to chronicle my life for me. “What? I knew a guy called ‘the madd scientist’? What?”
Thought Bubbles
(I know this does not need to be said, but when the human race is no more, a mathematical equation could probably be fabricated wherein the MTV show My Super Sweet 16 was a contributing factor to the apocalypse.)
(I am apparently a runner now.)
(I took off of work for Brewers Opening Day, April 2nd, and the entire Cubs series in June. It should be delightful.)
(The movie Air Force One is preposterous.)
(I have a problem with RESTful web resources interoperability potential.)
(Is madddddddddddddddddd there yet?)
(I wish someone in Madison wanted to play poker on a weekly basis.)
Reflections on Moving Back to the Midwest
Moving back to the midwest was a very odd trip. With the crunch time at work to occupy my time the trip came very suddenly, and before I knew it I was posted up right around the corner from the Badger Bus depot. If I go out on my balcony I can see such sights as the HowardTree (DoubleHo), El Capital, and the Main Depot. It was a good month before I settled out of my childlike excitement (LET’S GO TO SMOKY’S TONIGHT! I HAVEN’T BEEN THERE IN YEARS!) at being back. It’s been terrific being able to jet home and see the family as well.
All sorts of excited gesticulations and honorifics are due to the Rumthumb-Lawman Axis, the Queen and King of all that is Progressive Madison. I am truly learning things about Madison I never knew during my, ahem, student days. I’m a certified Willy Co-op Member now, and I’m looking forward to the neat things to do in the spring (or ice fishing if it ever gets cold enough around here to freeze water).
From my desk at this moment I can see the entire Capital (or capitol, I can never remember which is finance-related and which is governing-related) dome. That in itself is breathtaking. It’s very nice in many ways to be back in the midwest: no commute, minutes from places instead of hours (with traffic), food and drinks are cheaper by a mile. There are some drawbacks: no good burritos, little choice in Thai or Indian food, the absence of the Technical Community of Silicon Valley, and the furthernerness from San Diego. It was so nice to be able to hop a Friday night flight down to San Dog to watch a UFC ppv with the Pals. The flip side of that is that it’s no longer a monumental effort to see family and friends between Madison and Racine. Say lah vee.
Finance-wise, the expected boon due to the cost-of-living differences didn’t materialize at first but that was caused by Xmas Gift Xtravanganza 2006. Now that we’ve settled down a bit I’ve scripted out the finances and they seem more under control. Additionally, I need to be hesitant about doing anything until the 2006 income taxes are done. We sold the house at a profit last year and I held back a bit of money in order to use for the taxes. Once that’s clear and I know exactly how much to pay I can start saving the rest of it in earnest.
Finally, I miss seeing people like fuddruckus, gmc, ben, Tha RDP Krew, my peeps at Intuit, and a whole host of others. My HOLLLARBACK schedule was somewhat disrupted over the holidays but I’m looking forward to spending more time back in the bay area for some project-related time. I hope to see all of you then,
Things I Just Can’t Get Over in Madison:
- I giggle every time I pass Cal and Springer’s old pad on Doty St. I pass it at least twice a day.
- I can’t get over that I can see Ogg Hall from my balcony.
- It’s January and still hitting 50° in Madison. The lakes aren’t froze yet, cap’n.
- That Cal told me to ‘lose the swords, homey.’
- That I can go to a fancy-pants restaurant like Harvest and get Schlitz in a can, for $2.
- That I can have BW3 whenever the fuck I want, but DON’T eat it all day every day.
- That Scubby and peterstiffly and I are going RAW is WAR on Feb 2nd. Awesome.
RAHR!
Esurance.com commercials piss me off and here’s why: they are cartoons escaping from doom, gloom, and evil madd scientists. Or alternatively, giant robot football players. And I’m supposed to even understand why a cartoon woman superspy is so goddamned concerned about getting car insurance via the intertubes before stealing a car to make a getaway. What? I don’t get it, TV. Explain it better. Make me believe that buying car insurance via the internet is a life or death prospect. Lie to me. But don’t expect me to believe that cartoon women need car insurance to escape giant robot football players. That is not how the world turns. Coincidentally, I got a refund from my old car insurance company to the tune of $122.87 today. No spies involved. No robots. No madd scientists. Just $122.87 of US dollars. I hate you, esurance.com.
A New Leaf
Hey all you whazzers out there: do the fuckin’ tango. Cuz it’s a new year and I am legally single; the divorce was set to automatically finalize at midnight on January 1. Hurray!
Where did you spend New Year’s? On the beach? In the can? In your cups? Spacebee and I had a damned good time in southeastern Ohio at my cousin’s wedding reception. We honked our honkers at midnight and then drank some more. We watched the Badgers embarrass themselves in the second half against Arkansas and still, somehow, emerge victorious. Finally we had an epic air adventure that took us through Milwaukee (World’s Meanest Airport Bartenders) and got us home at the late witching hour of eleven pee-em.
Today is pick-up-the-pieces day. Sadly, AWB wasn’t available, but I met my parents at El Pine Cone en Creeko del Johnson to get my truck back from them. They had taken it over the weekend to drive the caravan of various Moneypennys, future Moneypennys, and boyfriends to the scene of the crime. Pine Cone was good as always, and spacebee had never enjoyed their World Class Everything, so that was fun. It’s also Back-To-Work Day nationwide, as all those schmoes who got their one night a year of partying out of the way go to work and tell everyone how “totally drunk” they got. Motherfucker, I live in Madison now; drink 5 times a week and talk to me in a year.
Where’s maddddddddddddddddddddd? Phoenix already? Where should I mail your fucking present?
Wait… I just checked maddpower.com and all I see is:
Welcome to the Web Site of www.maddpower.com
This page is a place holder for the home page of your own web site.
Where the fuck is maddpower.com? I thought it was dropping in 2007. It’s 2007. Where is maddpower.com? Arrested? Jail? Phoenix?