Signs,

Lapham Peak is probably the place I hike the most. It's close to home, offers a variety of scenery and can be a bit challenging. The Ice Age Trail goes right through the middle of it and then heads off into the woods. Since I have hiked Lapham may times I wanted to change things up and see how far I could walk on the IAT until it turned into a shoulder of the road or urban sprawl spoiled the scenery. I got a good long hike out of it, but I got a little concerned when I came across this sign;


I proceeded with caution (and a little bit of anticipation), but the only thing that I saw on the trail from the sign was poopy. I guess I didn't walk far enough for the titty.

Ass Kisser,

Today at work the owner of the company came down to give us a little talk. Afterwards as I was walking by him on the way out of the room, one of my coworkers walked right up to him with a very serious look on his face, introduced himself and said "it's a real honor to work for you." That has to be the biggest piece of ass kissing I have ever seen. I wonder how he is going to get that taste out of his mouth.

Oh and I got my raise on my check today. As disappointed as I am with the contract I will put that aside for now and enjoy the raise. At least until I drink the $40 away. Cheers!

It's a new age,

I was pretty pissed off when I had to buy a new graphics card for my computer to play Civ. 4. It's a strategy game why do I need expensive graphics? But now I can link a TV to my computer and watch movies online from netflix. It has some minor draw backs. The quality isn't as good as a DVD, but close enough and I have to use my computer speakers (I'm not going to buy a new sound card). I tried it out last night and only made it two thirds of the way through a movie. All that technology can't make a stupid story line and bad acting any better.

Now if that wasn't progressing enough, today I went and bought my first cell phone. It is one of the cheapest I could find with prepay minutes. You know like what drug dealers use. I plan on using it very rarely. The big reason I got it is so when I get laid off I can call the hall and get put on the list right away. Two guys on the job that I am currently at, got laid off the same day I did at Bayshore, but started on this job a month before me because they had cell phones and called right away. Not owning a cell phone cost me a lot of money. So I got right on it and whamo eight months later I got a cell phone.

Whats next for me mechanical legs?

Crazy,

Crazy Christians in Milwaukee, pro life=hypocrisy?

Polls,

Clinton leads Obama by double digits in new poll or so this story says. I am reading Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail right now. This book is about Hunter Thomson following McGovern's '72 campaign for president. In reading this book something has occurred to me that is missing from all these stories about Hillary being the democratic front runner. She is in the same spot as Howard Dean in 04, Tsongas in 92, Gary Hart in 88, in 76 there was no clear front runner but Carter wasn't even on early polls, Edmund Muskie in 72, LBJ in 68. Besides incumbent or VP (Clinton and Gore), Mondale is the only front runner before votes were cast to win the nomination. So good luck Hillary it looks like you will need it. Get ready for a bunch of articles about the big upset.

Conflicted,

There is no one I'm more conflicted about than Andy Stern. He is the head of Service Employees International Union that broke away from the AFL-CIO a few years back. I think he is doing a tremendous job at holding companies and politicians responsible and responsive to the labor cause, but am completely dismayed that he is just giving up on the manufacturing end of organized labor. Like most things involving the union I find myself with the strange mix of feeling frustrated and inspired.

Here is an interview with him on Bill Moyers Journal that aired on Friday.

Indecent,

By the time last week Friday rolled around I was sick of being sick, pissed off at my union, coworkers and the companies because of the contract. So I decided to battle my cold with a healthy dose of brandy. Mostly this just left me really hungover Saturday.

I was planning on staying in Saturday night and not drinking to battle the healthy dose of brandy the night before. I was about twenty minutes into a movie called Diggers when a friend called me out to the bar. I was a bit surprised by this, she normally only talks to me when she wants me to tell a guy she wants to break up with that she use to be a guy. As we watch the band play who should walk in, but Santa. Obviously visiting Milwaukee on his summer vacation. And wouldn't you know it Santa likes to dance. Santa's dancing reminded me of a line from Against Me!'s song Reinventing Axle Rose,

we would dance like no one was watching, with one fist in the air.

Well he didn't have one fist in the air and thank god there was women present. That kind of of rebellion from such a beloved figure would surely result in bedlam. But there can be no doubt he was dancing like no one was looking. But people were looking and some even joined in, including presidential hopeful, GOP frontrunner and long shot at the same time Rudy Giuliani (I won't believe the GOP will nominate a pro gay, pro life candidate until I see it). Well the evening proved to be better than the movie ended up being, but Christmas will never be the same again.

As if that wasn't enough craziness yesterday while walking around my city, I seen a man on all fours in a park. My first thought was this is just another crazy. I have come across many crazies on my walks. One time I saw a girl running around the same park with the great joy of childhood. Which is great, but this person was around my age and really shouldn't have been having that much fun running is circles with her arms out. Then there was the guy rolling around the lawn of some government building in just soccer shorts with an almost empty bottle of vodka by his side. And all this happening in the holy hours of the morning. So anyways I see this guy on all fours and as I get closer I realize a women's involved. As I get even closer he sits up for a second and I see her shit is pushed up and I realize he isn't kissing her lips. From the angle that I was walking up on them I couldn't see exactly what was going on, even though they were only a few feet off the footpath.

To see the act I would've had to walk past and turned around. There would be no causal view from the direction I was heading. I'd have past on the free park pornography. I assume these were some sort of exhibitionist and probably wouldn't mind me watching, but you just never know. He was a big guy and maybe he didn't realize this was a public park. I didn't want to chance a fight with a fully aroused guy. I could just see the head line "Super Cool Guy Attacked By Man With Erection!" The late night guys would have a field day at my expense. Besides seeing ugly people naked is what the Internet was made for not parks.

Protest songs,

Against Me- White People For Peace.



This is one of my favoite bands.

Miss my glasses,

Last week I lost my prescription sunglasses. I wore them while cutting the lawn and remember I was going to put them in an obvious spot because while using the weed whacker I got weed guts all over them and I wanted to remember to clean them before I went to work the next day. After that I took out the garbage. That is the last I remember of them and now I can't find them anywhere. I keep looking, but I'm coming to the conclusion that I had them in one hand, recyclables in the other and got confused which hand was which and recycled them (or maybe dropped them in the garbage, but I am rooting for the recycling bin).

This really sucks. I just am not going to pay for a new pair and I will have to wait for January for my insurance to pick up the bill. Coincidentally I got out of credit card dept last week also, so now I think I'm going to look at having one of those fancy surgeries to get my eyes fixed (fixed like I don't need glasses, not like neutered). I figure it is a lot like getting a tattoo it is better to do it when you are young so you can enjoy it for more of your life. It's pretty cheap these days and I've always hated wearing glasses.

Links,

White chicks & gang signs

Political bloppers

No picket,

There never ended up being a strike. They voted to approve a contract last night. I say they because me and all tinners at the job I'm on weren't invited to vote on the contract. I called the business manager Thursday to find out what's going on. He called me Saturday morning and left a message that the contract was approved. He never said why all the workers at my company were left in the dark. I didn't go to the meeting because I didn't want to waste a Friday night going to a place on second or third hand information and possibly not even being able to vote. I want to pursue this to find out why we were left out, but I think it will just frustrate me, so I will probably leave it.

I don't know exactly what the contract is besides the pay. I think it's basically the same as the first one we voted down which is a shit deal in my opinion. I guess I have a higher value of self worth than my coworkers.

Last week at work they told us we were going to get pizza on Friday. The way he said it was a bit suspicious to me and I have been burned by free lunches before, like last fall when I had to eat a vegetarian sub because that was all that was left (why they don't call it a mushroom sub is beyond me), so I packed a lunch. When I was talking to my foreman on Friday I asked about the pizza for lunch. He told me that it was just for the plumbers. I informed him that that information wasn't passed down to us and most of the guys were expecting pizza for lunch. I felt proud at lunch as my fellow union brothers were eating pizza. Someone has to stick up for the tinners.

This sucks,

I got a cold this week and now my sinuses are all fucked up. It really sucks being sick when it's ninety out. I get sick way too much.

We are suppose to have a union meeting tomorrow, at least that is what the hearsay is. No one at the job I'm on has been informed about this, but a new guy got a phone call and a letter in the mail about it. I'm pretty pissed about the whole thing.

On Sunday I put up a thistle feeder for the birds. As I did it I had my head turned and some thistle fell on my ear. At the time I didn't think too much about it, but later I wondered if some got in my ear. So if you see me with a bush growing out of my ear give me a heads up.

For some reason I keep feeling like summer is almost over and I haven't done anything. I have been feeling this way since the beginning of May. Maybe just foreshadowing.

A guy called into work today at 8:30 (we start at 7) saying he forgot to set his alarm and wouldn't make it in the rest of the day. That has to be one of the lamest excuses I have ever heard.