Vacation finale (as disappointing as Seinfeld)

the album War by U2 is playing.  Quite enjoyable, but I somehow feel awful about myself.  

The last day of the vacation was horrible.  Not because we had to leave, there was some sadness, but because of the whole traveling thing.  We left the Soo at seven (as planned) and drove to Detroit and dropped Chuck and Adam off.  A and I dicked around the mall for several hours before making our way back to the airport to drop off the car and get to our plane.  First off, the northwest employee at the check in was a complete bitch.  In every sense of the word.  Carrying on a conversation with the women at the next booth while we were trying to check in.  She told us we had to check into the computer, despite the fact that we had our boarding passes already printed out.  Despite having them, we still needed to do it.  Not personable at all.  

So we get to the plane quite a bit ahead of schedule.  It wasn't as busy as I had anticipated.  We waited around for about an hour or so after we got through the TSA (bullshit) security.  We boarded the plane and had a little delay as they fixed something and then had to wait until we could get a ground crew to push the plane back (or something like that, the pilot was not too specific).  So forty-five minutes later we taxi and take off.  Not to bad...but wait, there is more!

We finally get to Wichita, and had to divert to Tulsa because of thunderstorms.  So we fly south for twenty minutes and land in Tulsa, but couldn't get off the plane because they didn't have a manifest of who was on the plane.  So we are stuck on the plane for another thirty minutes while they print one off.  We waited around for another hour for the skies to clear up in the ITC, and got back on and flew home.  

So instead of getting home by 8:30, it was 12:30.  An extra four hours because of weather and a little mechanical problem.  It made for an extremely long day.  I know that ideally, people want a direct flight from point 'A' to point 'B'.  I, however, enjoy layovers.  It gives me time to stretch out my legs and walk around a bit.  The flight from Wichita to Detroit is a little over two hours.  Not to bad, except for the sardines in a can effect planes have on us tall people.  A won't complain about it at all, being five foot nothing that she is.  She has plenty of leg room.  

Vacation part deux

Still at home on vacation. As it is winding down and the working world is on the horizon, I have every intention to absolutely nothing the rest of the time here. Well, almost nothing. We are heading down to the cabin here in a couple of hours to partake in some boating and some fishing. I wanted to go fishing the first weekend, but with the kids there, we wouldn't have been able to stay out for too long. And I am one to sit for a few hours and drink some beers and watch the bobber.

I have had some moments of 'what the hell is going on at work'. I try to push those thoughts out of my mind as soon as possible. I just hope nothing has caught on fire or anything along those lines.

old school weekend

The first weekend of the vacation was fantastic. It was old school Ankrom/Litzner. Camping and camp fires. Drinking and swearing. Stories and games. The only new catch was the kids. Now I know how my parents felt when we went camping when I was younger. They were well behaved, mostly. A few crying fits and whatnot.

I have a few pictures, but they are still on the camera. When we get back down to the ITC, I'll post them later.

We made it to the Island yesterday and wandered up to the fort. I got to see Joe, Craig, Geoff, and Maria. The remaining few that I still know from my days there. We stayed around the fort for a few demonstrations. Garrett and Zoie did well with the loud noises and loved the butterfly house. Once again, pictures of that adventure are on the camera.

Finally, we made it home last night after visiting with the grandparents for about an hour. It was great to see them. It had been about two years since we saw them last. I'm not gonna say that I took seeing them all those years for granted, but seeing them so little in the past few years definitely makes me miss seeing them.

We got to hang out at a local establishment last night with Matt. He was excited to see us, and vice versa. I can't wait to hang out with him a little bit more while we are home. It is always great to see him and catch up on what he has been up to.

coffee and music

I have often pondered the addictive properties of coffee.  On my days off, I make an entire pot of it.  I drink it throughout the day, usually finishing it up by one in the afternoon.  So that is about five hours (I am generally up by eight or eight thirty anymore).  My coffee pot makes ten cups, so two cups every hour, or one cup every thirty minutes.  Hopefully my math is right on that, forgive me if it isn't.  It just feels right having a pot going throughout the day.  Is that dependance?  

For work, it is close to half a pot, usually consumed before work and on my first break.  I've been at work before with no coffee, and it wasn't pretty.  I was a bit irritated at the end of the day.  I wasn't to the point of having cold sweats or the shakes, but still, I thought about that day and the one thing that sticks out is the no coffee.  At any rate, I am going to continue to drink it because it is so so tasty.  

Now on to music and my grudge with Entertainment Weekly:

EW released their lists of the 100 most influential movies, books, records, etc. in the past 25 years.  I agreed with plenty of what they had on their lists, except for the music.  There were some pretty fucked up choices.  I'm not going to stand here and say that I have listened, or even heard of, most of these albums.  But there are some crucial albums that didn't even make the top one hundred.  I can't even look at this list without getting pissed off about it.  The one thing that makes me mad is the fact that Rage isn't on their list.  I know not everyone enjoys that band, but the political aspects of their music is HUGE.  Every single one of their cd jackets has websites for political activism.  Thinking about this, I have complied the top ten records that I own that most people should own or at least look into.  Pretentious of me, isn't it?

10.  Beck:  The Information (you find out what constitutes music)

9.  Robert Plant and Alison Krauss:  Raising Sand (classic rock legend plus bluegrass legend equals awesome)

8. Pink Floyd:  The Wall (more than just stoner music)

7. Johnny Cash:  A Hundred Highways (It will send shivers down your spine if you are listening closely)

6. Loretta Lynn:  Van Lear Rose (yes, that Loretta Lynn)

5. The White Stripes:  Elephant and Icky Thump (a tie, these albums show diversity and maturity) 

4. Rage Against the Machine:  Evil Empire (People of the Sun is their most politically charged track outside of Take the Power Back)

3. U2:  War 

2. Led Zeppelin:  Led Zeppelin 

and number one is...

The Beatles:  Abbey Road (is there any doubt?)

Favre, vacation, and family

Buck-O-Nine is singing You Go You're Gone.  It brings me back to high school.  

Brett Favre retired this spring.  Rumors since then have been flying around about his wanting to come back and play.  The Green Bay Packers have since moved on supporting a new quarterback and building a team around him.  Today Favre has sent a letter to the Packer organization requesting an unconditional release so he can come out of retirement and play for some other team.  Michael Jordan wearing 45 thinks this is an awful idea, and Patrick Ewing playing for the Orlando Magic is laughing.  

Personally, I hated Favre when I was younger.  He was so good and torched the Lions twice a year.  I couldn't stand him.  He always seemed to win.  As I grew up, I came to accept him as an excellent player.  However, he is a green bay packer.  He always will be.  It is in this light, that the green bay packers organization should not release him.  He has three years left on the contract that he was under at the time of his retirement, so if he were to play again, and it weren't in green bay, the team will have to release him from that contract.  If he does play for another team, it just wouldn't be right.  The sports world would fall apart.  

We fly back home next Friday.  I can't wait.  It has been close to a year since we were home last.  It was at the end of July last year for our wedding reception.  I was thinking about it today, and I only have two days left to work before we leave.  I have this weekend off, I work on monday and tuesday and have wednesday off.  I was greedy and took thursday as my first day of vacation.  bwahaha.  Like I said, very excited, can't wait to see the family and garrett and zoie.  Shel sent us pictures from their fourth of july partying.  This picture is phenomenal.  It really represents what being a kid is all about.  

Neighbors and baseball

Drowning Man by U2 is just finishing up and Pistol Grip Pump (a cover by Rage) is starting.

The one bad thing about living in an apartment complex is the neighbors.  In our complex there are families, college kids, young professionals, and old people.  And then there are our neighbors.  To call them trashy is a vast understatement.  And I say this with no remorse.  Take away the facts that they talk loudly on their porch, smoke, and have trashy friends over, I'm sure that they are great (or at least decent) people.  Case in point for my trashy title:  

They bought a charcoal grill and have used it a couple of times.  As a result, ash has built up on the bottom.  Instead of emptying it out.  They use it for an ashtray.  Nice.  So here is this charcoal grill with tons of cigarette butts hanging out underneath it.  

These are the kinds of people that really really make me want to own a house.  Lawn mowing and upkeep be damned, I can't stand our neighbors and want a house.  

It feels like the only time I get to watch the Tigers on tv, they lose.  They have an ESPN curse on them.  And it isn't just me who sees this.  The sports commentators have stated it.  It's awful.  So for my daily fixes of baseball, I have been watching the Kansas City Royals.  There are many comparisons between the royals and tigers.  For instance, both sucked for an extended period of time.  The Tigers, not so much the past few years, but while I was in high school and college (you know, when I had the chance to watch them for several months at a time) they were horrible.  The Royals are the same way.  They do have their moments, and they are quite a young team.  However, the play by play and color commentary guys are great.  They have an old school baseball announcer mentality.  It reminds me why I like to watch baseball in the first place.  They just sit around and shoot the shit and call a ball game.  And for being on a local fox sports television channel, they do remain objective (for the most part).  Wonderful wonderful.  

marketing

After work, I went to a bar for a couple of drinks with some co-workers.  I'm not really in the mood for music.  I'm buzzed.  Forgive me if I misspell a few words

As I was at work today, I realized that the best way to sell a product was through marketing.  Prime example:  Yogurt.  

In my department, there are some of the drinkable yogurts, sounds awful, I know.  Anyway, on one package there is spongebob squarepants and on another is hanna montana.  I overheard a mother ask the following:

'Do you want spongebob or hanna?'

Seriously?  fucking A.  the stuff could taste like ass, but the kid wants to have something with a cartoon on it.  I want to market a food that tastes awful, but I'll market it towards kids, overcharge the parents, and they'll buy it because if they don't, their kids will throw a fit.  And they don't want that in a grocery store.  

I think I have found my path to making millions.  

Canada Day

Just something real quick, no time for music.

I had a laid back Canada Day.  It was nice to go hang out and throw back a few Moosehead.  I met up with Andrew at a local establishment and caught up with him.  It has been close to a month, so we spent close to four hours just shooting the shit.  

No big party or cook out or anything like that.  That is one reason why it would be nice to have a house.  To have a big gathering without the worries of pissing off too many people.