Bar Rescue Milwaukee

Kudos and thanks to Michelle and Gary for a wonderful party last night. The food was excellent and all the kids had a wonderful time. We ended up with a bottle of Kahlua and a Bailey's sea salt caramel liqueur.

We watched part of the Badgers loss last night. Ouch, a 59-0 loss to Ohio State. The game was out of control pretty quickly.

Sons of Anarchy is down to one episode left. We watched last week's episode this afternoon and it left the show short a few characters if you know what I mean.

A new hotel opens this week in Key West called the Marker. It's a 96 room luxury hotel that I believe sits on the old trailer park land. I'm not sure if I ever took any photos of the park but it was obvious from my first time there that it was an extremely valuable piece of property. Too bad we heard about the Cyber Monday special after the fact.

Bar Rescue is on tonight featuring the Milwaukee episode filmed this summer. We first heard about the possibility of this back in late spring from one of the owner's sons. It will be exciting to see if we recognize anybody, as this bar was in dire need of a rescue!

Later

Hello There

Spectre

Another 30 plus degree day on the Eastside with Festivus going on tonight. There's been a bunch of Santa sightings so far today and they've been riding bikes around the city. We even saw two of them on a tandem.

We have a holiday party tonight at Michelle and Gary's. We ran out to the liquor store for the booze exchange already.

Received our WE Energies bill today. Our usage was done last month 33% from the previous November which was warmer by a lot. Yet our bill was up 40% due to the generous rate hike the state allowed them. That's what happens when you give big donations to the right party. All of them a bunch of crooks to the bone!

We found a Chuck E Cheese lunch box in Coco's room while cleaning today. Everybody was content to give it away till I looked online and saw one going for 22 bucks. Collectibles are my middle name!

Filming starts monday for Spectre starring Daniel Craig. Thats right, James Bond will be back next November with Sam Mendes directing once again and I'll be in attendance with a posse on opening night. I wouldn't mind Adele taking another stab at the title song again neither. Bond, James Bond!

Later

The Mustangs Romp

Another nice December day. If the rest of winter stays like this I might actually stop complaining.

I ran over to John's last night to watch the game. Thanks amigo. Too bad the Bears lost another one although it was fairly exciting the second half. Brandon Marshall suffered two broken ribs and will miss the remainder of the season.

An excellent jobs report came out today. The best month since 1999. It hasn't picked up much in Wisconsin though. We're still lagging behind most of the country for some reason. 

St. Marcus picked up where they left off last season with a big 49-13 victory in their season opener. Last season as 4th graders they had an undefeated season going 12-0 and winning two tournaments.

Coco was the second guy off the bench missing his only shot but grabbing three rebounds. His defense is once again spectacular. His only mistake was taking the ball the wrong way after the first half and getting an over and back turnover. He laughed it off though and I told him at least he didn't shoot and score for the other team!

Later

Season Debut

Running With Beer

Key West Rum

Not a bad day with temps in the 30's. Coco went to school today and he has his first basketball game of the season tomorrow night!

Rumor has it that it might be a timing belt problem versus the starter on the Ford Escape.

Krissy is making shrimp scampi for dinner. She  does it so well. Only enough lettuce for one so guess who doesn't get a salad tonight?

We don't get the NFL Network anymore so I'm heading over to John's tonight to watch the game. Hopefully the Bears don't embarrass themselves. I'll actually run over carrying some beer and run back after the game after consuming some beer. I have a triathlon to get ready for!

The Key West First Legal Distilling company is having a party tomorrow night. They are celebrating the 81st anniversary of prohibition being revoked. It's a fairly new company and so far you can only buy the rum in South Florida. Another reason to visit soon!

Later

Towed Away

The Car Died

Oh what a day. The car died after work. Jim and Joanne came down and gave us a ride home while waiting for a tow truck. Thanks so much!

It looks like it's the starter. Luckily, we live downtown and can get around on foot. I grew up in the boonies 5 miles from anything. I think that's why I love living on the eastside of the city. At least until I get to Key West!

We waited for them at the News Room bar. Nothing like onion rings and Spotted Cow for dinner!

Skating is now open at Red Arrow Park. No thanks, I'm still full from the onion rings.

Going to bed now. Here's hoping for a bit less excitement tomorrow!

Later

Mr. Bobby Keys

The weathermen were correct and we rolled into the 30's today. Looks like that's the trend for the week. November ended up being our 11th coldest November month ever.

Coco has a sore throat. He made it to 6:30am basketball practice and did well but his teacher sent him home shortly after 8am. He's getting more like me every year!

The U.S. Mint has a new Everglades quarter coming out. I saw a pic of it and it's a pretty sharp coin.

Legendary sax man for the Rolling Stones, Bobby Keys passed away today at the age of 70. The hard drinking Texan first started playing for Buddy Holly when he was 15 years old.

He also played with Lynyrd Skynrd, Eric Clapton and Joe Cocker. His solos at Stones concerts were magical as I saw them many a times. Thanks Bobby!

Later

Beer Butt Chicken

The temperature really took a nosedive today. I almost froze my face off when I was running. It's supposed to warm up tomorrow though.

The sunday shoe shopping was indeed a fiasco. What should have took 20 minutes took an hour. Coco found a great pair of Nike Jordan's and that was the easy part. I kept bumping into people as I was picking out and trying on running shoes.

It was my first purchase of running shoes in about 20 years. When I ran for Team Etonic I received 2 huge shipments of shoes and sweats a year. I still have some but I really needed a pair of well cushioned shoes.

Some people are really upset at 5 St. Louis Ram football players for their silent hands up gesture. One person had the audacity to say it ruined the american tradition of football. Last time I looked the United States Constitution was a slightly bigger "tradition" than a football game!

Krissy made a beer butt chicken in the oven yesterday. I've only had them on the grill before but this one was perfect. The only hard part was getting the beer can out of his butt after it was done. Indeed it was a 2 person job!

Later

Beer Butt Chicken

Coco's Shoes

My New Shoes