hello harley

the place that miranda and levi were most excited about going to in milwaukee was the harley davidson museum. (dont worry, the place wasnt on fire, they just bring in some of the fire equipment to show it off on the weekends!) both of them are big motorcycle people and come from motorcycle families. as for diana and i? well, we werent all that excited about it, but were willing to try anything once. turned out to be a lot more interesting than i would have thought! we had a fun time learning about the history of the company and seeing all the really old motorcycles and stuff. the coolest parts were seeing the motorcycles they manufactured for the wars. we all ended up having a great time there- i know my dad would have been jealous!
(more pics: 1, 2, 3, 4. we even ate at the museum restaurant!)

tasty buca

when diana heard that milwaukee had a buca di beppo she announced that we just had to go there! never one to turn down a really delicious meal, i agreed. after heading back to the hotel from our visit to the third ward, we made a reservation and headed over to the restaurant. now, if you have never gone to buca di beppo, then you are missing out on an amazing time! its an italian restaurant that serves their food family style. that means that you really only need to order two things to feed three people. well, we ordered three things, and boy were we full- and we had tons of leftovers!
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old milwaukee

one of the places that diana found while researching milwaukee was the third ward. its an old part of downtown that has been rejuvenated recently and is filled with cool little shops and ends with a great fish market type food commissary. we stopped there one of the afternoons we were in milwaukee, just to check it out. there werent a ton of places for levi and i to check out, but diana and miranda were in their glory! levi and i wandered around for a bit and found ourselves in the food market. it was a really cool place that reminded both of us of the fish market in seattle, it was a bunch of little kiosks that that sold specialty foods and trinkets. levi and i found a seat on the second floor and chilled out for a while and just chatted. eventually when the girls arrived there as well we took a walk along the waterfront and got to see some more cool sights of milwaukee.
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sprecher brewing

one of the things we knew that had to be done while in milwaukee was to go on a tour of a brewery. well, none of us really much care for beer, so levi found a milwaukee brewery that made beer and soda! we went on a tour of the sprecher brewery, which was pretty cool, and then at the end we got all the soda we could drink (and we could drink a lot...) it was a pretty cool tour, but sitting around after the tour just chillin and chatting was even cooler!
(more pics: 1, 2)

blue ribbon mansion

after we decided on milwaukee for our weekend destination, diana quickly went to work trying to find things that we could do while we were there. she found a cool old mansion that we could tour through, its the old pabst homestead, the home of the family behind the beer fortune!
the mansion itself is pretty impressive, its an old house from the 1890's and was built by and for the pabst family to live in. there was some really cool history we got to hear as we took the tour of the home. the decorations and furnishings were really impressive- this place cost a fortune to build! the family had sold it years and years ago, it eventually was purchased by the catholic church and was the residence of the local archbishop. in the 70's it was purchased and turned into a museum. what was kind of cool about the place is that it is still in the process of being restored. only the main floor is completely restored. the second floor is about half way done, but they have to work slowly because they dont have a ton of money or anything to restore it quickly. its interesting to see some of the rooms redone to look like the period it was built, and then one room over see it in its unrestored state, as it was when the archbishops lived there. they havent even touched the third floor of the place, so we werent allowed to go up there at all. it was a really interesting place with tons of cool elements from the time it was built. this was diana's favorite part of the trip- i think she just likes to nose around in other people's stuff!
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hotel milwaukee

over the summer diana and i made plans with her best friend miranda and her husband levi to take a trip this fall for a weekend away. we spent the next couple months thinking of places to go. we originally wanted to go downtown chicago, but soon realized that that was way too expensive! that forced us to get a little more creative and try to think of other cool places that didnt involve too long of a road trip. we decided on milwaukee. i think the deciding factor was that they have a harley davidson motorcycle museum and levi loves harleys. works for us, just so long as we get to go away for the weekend!
miranda and levi came to pick us up nice and early so that we could get up there and be able to enjoy the day. the trip wasnt too bad either, it ended up only taking a couple hours or so to get there which went really quick! we actually got there too early to check in to the hotel, so we wandered around the town for a while before we could unload the vehicle.
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the day the tivo died

the other day i get home from work and diana tells me 'there's something wrong with the tv'. i check it out and cant get the dvr to turn on. after about five minutes the thing turns on, but there is a slight problem: it says that it has lost everything saved on it. what?!? i am completely dumbstruck! everything we have saved on there is gone?!? what a pain! turns out our dvr decided it needed to reboot itself and everything we had saved on there was erased.

after i got over my initial outrage, i calmed down a bit, after all, we only had a few shows saved on there that we hadnt seen yet and most of those shows we could watch on the internet if we really wanted to. the thing that was saved on the dvr that i am saddest about though, was the episode of 'the late late show with craig ferguson' that i was in the audience for. a couple years ago i went out to l.a. to visit a great friend and we went to a taping of the show (it was a ton of fun, which i wrote about here). i had it saved on the dvr since then and would show it off occasionally because you could actually see me in the shots of the crowd. again, i'm sure i could actually find that episode on line too, so its not the end of the world. i did give our satellite provider a call though and share my frustrations... turns out if you ask to speak to a manager you can talk them into giving you a discount on your bill for a year and a free movie channel package for three months! score!

teacher convention

every year we teachers get a couple days off of school to gather together and remind each other why we do this whole teaching thing. this past thursday and friday we had our annual teachers convention in south bend, indiana. its usually a good time of listening to speakers talk about different subjects that pertain to our field and give advice or ideas on how to improve our curriculum. the seminars are pretty interesting, but the real highlight of the convention each year is just getting to sit down and talk with someone who does the same thing as me. talking through some of the things that work and dont work with fellow middle school teachers is always great. hearing others problems or triumphs renews me as a teacher, and its just at the right time: when the newness of the school year has faded away and the harsh reality of three more quarters sets in...

birthday buckaroo

it was mom's birthday last week but diana and i werent able to make it up there to celebrate, so instead we met in the middle! saturday night we headed over to benton harbor, the halfway point to grand rapids, and met up at texas corral with mom, papa, jill, tim, and the kids for a special dinner! it was a great time for everyone, diana and i were so excited to see the family- it felt like it had been forever since we last saw them! the kids are growing up so fast! we got to sing happy birthday to mom (along with the entire staff of the restaurant!) and gave her a few presents too. i know mom always loves it when we make a special event out of her birthday, and i'm pretty sure she had a great time!
more pics: 1, 2, 3

batteries charged

we had a free sunday and knew diana's mom needed a little company, so we grabbed our dog and headed over! barbara had some time off, so she came by too- a mini family reunion of sorts. its always nice to see her family, especially on a lazy sunday afternoon! we got a chance to talk with her mom and david about a few things and just generally lift each others spirits. it always does those girls good when they are together- it recharges their batteries, i think. i guess thats what makes family so valuable: no matter whats going on, they love you. even the stinky dog too.

nothing much

Things have been kind of slow around here lately, which i rather like, to be honest with you. diana and i havent been up to too much, just taking it easy. its these slow times that really make me appreciate the life i have: a good job, a roof over my head, and the love of a good woman. oh, and a stinky dog...
to celebrate the fact that not much is happening, we went out and ate some mexican food- diana's favorite!

the leak returns

sometimes being a landlord isnt too bad, but then there are times when it sucks. recently i got a call from our renters that there was a problem with the shower. this is nothing new, the tub faucet over on that side of the duplex has had problems before with leaking. this time it wasnt leaking though, it was the shower head. or so they thought. they told me that when the pulled the tab to make the water go to the shower head it wouldnt go, so i went over there to check it out for myself. turns out the little knob that directs the water to the shower head had busted and needed to be replaced. so i went to the hardware store and got a new faucet head to make things better. after a bit of work (and a faulty caulk gun) i got the new one working. one problem though: the leak is back. you know, i really should have listened to my dad when he said 'you can fix anything, but when it comes to water, get a professional!'. i think i will take that advice now...

a yummy alarm clock

diana is not a morning person. thats ok, though, because i am not either. this is usually fine for her since she has a job that doesnt start very early in the mornings. most days she doesnt have to get to work until 3pm, which is just the way she likes it! unfortunately though, on saturdays she has to be to work by 9am. that is not her favorite thing in the world, to be sure. in fact, most weeks she begins to dread this early wake up by wednesday and begins worrying about it three days in advance. i decided to use a little trick i learned from my brother in law tim: on saturdays he gets up and makes cinnamon rolls for the kids to keep them happy. i figured this might work for us too- and boy does it ever! we now have a tradition at our house: saturday morning i wake up with diana and whip us up a batch of tasty cinnamon rolls to help her early morning go a little better! she's still annoyed with having to get up early, but at least he has a happy stomach! the way to a man's heart is food? hey, it works on women too!

here's lookin at you kid

diana's step sister, alanna, and her son have been staying with diana's mom and david for a couple weeks this summer and it has been a lot of fun getting to see them. we have been able to stop by there a couple times during their visit. we went back once more to say our goodbyes as they both head back to boston. her little boy, tavish, is so cute! i know diana's mom and david really loved having them stay for a while. now that they are leaving though, diana and i are sure to feel some pressure: 'oh, it sure was nice having a baby around again... maybe its time to have some more grandkids...' great, now we are going to get the pressure from both sides of the family! yeash. thanks, alanna...
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his mom

on a friday night i was just hanging around the house with diana and i got a call from my old pall matt! he and i worked together for a few years, but he left a couple years ago and moved his family to ohio. he and his wife kim were our special guests at our wedding, but it had been a while since i last saw him. turns out he and the family were in town for a long weekend. he gave me a call wondering if i wanted to stop by and catch up. certainly! it was already about 10pm, and diana had to work the next day, so i went alone to see him. we went out to a wings joint and got to talk for an hour or two! it was really cool to be able to see him again and catch up on whats been going on in his life. he works for a ministry called hearts to hondurus and travels down there a lot to help out. pretty cool! anyway, sounds like things are going great for them in ohio (but we really miss him here...). it was really awesome to see him again, and i'm sure it wouldnt take much to convince diana that we need to take a little weekend trip to ohio soon so we can hang out again!

through the gate

the stargate con was a blast! as you can see from this picture i didnt let the fact that i was there alone deter me from having a great time (and no, i have no idea who that guy is...). everyone there was so friendly and eager to talk- maybe they are like me and dont actually know anyone else who likes the show and this is their only opportunity to talk with people who share their love! what ever the case is, i found myself chatting it up with a bunch of people there and hearing their different takes on all things stargate. (on a side note, i must say, i was quite surprised by how little the fans of the show actually know about the show! i seemed to be the only one there who had any knowledge of the actors and other behind the scenes info. although, now that i think of it, maybe that just means that i was really the nerdiest person there... oh, the truth is ugly...) check out some of the pictures from the convention: the actors, the merch i got, and the rest!

shanks a million!

i wasnt sure what to expect at a stargate convention, i went in blind. turns out it is a lot different than the comic book convention. comic con focuses entirely on the books and merchandise that goes along with them. the stargate convention was focused instead on the guests that were there. i arrived around 10:00 and went in and got a day pass. i wandered around and found the room that had the booths selling stargate stuff. turns out there isnt that much stuff, the merch room was pretty small and only had about 5 sellers in there. one sold clothes, one sold books, one sold cds, one sold toys, and the other sold photos and posters. pretty simple. around 11:00am the main hall opened up and they had different guests and speakers lined up for us to see and listen to. there were a few actors from the shows themselves who where there to share stories and answer fan's questions, joe flanigan and david hewlett from stargate atlantis were first. there was also a writer who came up and talked about stargate comic books, dan shea from the show was there to share some really funny stories, and a time for feedback on the newest stargate show which just finished its first season. later they had an auction and another actor, michael shanks from the original stargate sg-1, come and shared. it was a great time, and a lot of fun to get to know the actors and hear some of their perspectives on the stargate fanchise.

a new level of nerdy

first of all, lets get this out of the way: i am a nerd. i believe ive been pretty up front with that. proof of my nerdiness comes from loving comic books, science fiction, and movies too much. just look at my last few posts about going to the comic convention for the 10th year and you will agree that i am a nerd. well, this weekend i turned that nerd dial up to eleven! (that reference? more proof of my nerdiness...)
on august 28th i went to another convention, one that is even more nerdy than a comic book convention. i know what you are thinking, 'is that even possible?' the answer is yes. oh, yes! this weekend i attended the chicago stargate convention. i've been a stargate fan for a couple of years now, and i have become obsessed. dont worry, i know full well that it is a pretty lame show. i would agree. but that just makes me love it more!
in the spring i heard that there even was such a thing as a stargate convention, and i knew that i must attend! i have been saving my money ever since so i could go. what will come as no surprise to anyone is that i went alone. i could not find anyone else who was willing to go with me to this event, so i went by myself. and boy, did i have a great time! it was a full day devoted to nothing else but glorious stargate fun! i got there around 10:00am and stayed until 6:30pm and enjoyed every single moment!

back to school

i knew it had to come, but did it have to come so quickly?!? its time to head back to school again. we started on august 25 this year, and it always seems to catch me by surprise. one of these years i'm going to be prepared for it, but this was not it...
getting ready for school involves many things, among them is getting my room ready for the year. i always try to come up with some good wall decorations for the room. ive done many different themes, none of which ever have anything to do with what i teach... i've had video game characters, animated cartoon characters, and even superheroes! well, this year i decided to change it up and actually do some decorations that have to do with what i teach. i took a bunch of different bible stories and verses and created a room filled with images to keep the kids interested even when they get bored with my talking! i think they turned out pretty good, now i just need to get everything else ready for them...
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end con

a trademark of comic con weekend is that particular odor that seems to permeate the house that next morning... as each of us got up we made our way to the living room and made ourselves comfortable. the guys didnt have any real deadline to be home, so we took it easy and just enjoyed the slow morning. around noon diana headed out to visit her mom; her step sister and her new baby were in town and diana had planned to stay there for a couple days to see them. the rest of us had a lazy afternoon and enjoyed the time together. round about 3:00pm, the guys decided it was time to head back home. we had a really great time this weekend, and i know everyone is already looking forward to next year!
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