House,

Just south of my house, up by the hospital was an old water reserve. A little over a year ago they started working on it. As they were working on it I was very curious as to what they were turning it into. It's a round building, about three stories tall. It seemed to small and awkward to be apartments or condos, to big to be a house and to awkward and residential to be offices. I figured it probably had something to do with the hospital that is right across the street, but it still seemed weird and out of place for that.

They finally finished and I came to the conclusion that it was condos. I always wondered what they would cost and who would want to live there. Besides the hospital it's surrounded by houses and apartments a lot lower in value compared to the fancy water reserve condos that they just build. For awhile it seemed like it was the cool place to live because there were parties there every weekend, but recently there hasn't been much activity.

Anyways the other day I got a postcard from a realtor and the unique building on the front I instantly recognized as the water reserve condos. I searched the card for a list price to quench my curiosity and when I saw $999,999 I was a bit skeptical that there wasn't a typo or some other mistake. Today I finally got around to looking it up online and couldn't find it at first because I was looking under condos. Turns out it's a single family house. Here is the listing

I don't think it's going to sell quick. It's too weird in a nonweird area, maybe if it was somewhere around downtown Milwaukee it would be sought after, but I don't think anyone that wants to live in a weird house wants to do it in a residential neighborhood. Not to mention other houses in the area are at best $200,000 and the apartments by it look pretty low rent. I also don't understand why you would have more bathrooms than bedrooms, that mathematically just doesn't make any sense (although every time I clean my toilets I wonder why I have two, thank god that doesn't happen often). I do like how they advertise it is close to public transportation, because that is what people in the market for million dollar houses want.

So if any of you are looking for a million dollar, weird house, in a neighborhood that doesn't fit just let me know and I can hook you up with the realtor.

Link,

This is a great interview. I think he ambushes her with the "name of the last person killed in Iraq," question. But the hypocrisy calls for it.

Fuck Chuck,

I was all excited about treating myself to a movie one night this week, but not one theater is playing Into The Wild. However Good Luck Chuck and Mr. Woodcock are playing everywhere. Joke. Well I'm sure The Kingdom (or as I call it Empire) will be playing everywhere next week, so I'll get one movie in.

Ebert Wilonsky and Roeper give two thumbs up to Into the Wild. Wilonsky especially liked it.

Strike,

GM went on strike today. I think maybe I should skip the corporate news tonight. They are horribly one sided on labor issues. Not much sympathy for the working men and women these days.

I Work With Animals,

Apparently we are not allowed to shit on the toilet seat at work. I might have to call the hall on that; I'm pretty sure we got that right in the last contract.

The Earth Is Flat,

A while back I wrote;

Brownback was one of the candidates that said he doesn't believe in evolution in the republican debate. The next questions should have been, "Do you believe the earth is round?"

I was Referring to the four candidates that rose their hands when asked the question. I was joking with the second sentence, but I guess I wasn't to far off. I seriously don't know what to say to that.

Movie,

I want to see The Kingdom. I knew it was coming out soon or already came out, so I looked at IMDb to see. For some reason I was thinking the movie was called Empire so I had trouble finding it. I looked under new releases and was blown away to see they made a movie out of the book Into The Wild. It looks like it's a Sean Penn project; not acting, screenplay and directing. I loved the book! The dreamer in me would love to do what he did, but the dominate practical side keeps me at home. I really hope they don't fuck up this movie, which I think could be easy to do.

I guess I'll be seeing two movies soon. It's been awhile since there has been anything theater worthy.

Far Right,

Lincoln Chafee quit the GOP. He was the senator for Rhode Island until he lost last election. He was arguably the most moderate republican and had an approval rating in the high fifties or maybe even sixties, but he still lost basically for just being a republican. I don't blame him for quiting what has become an extreme right wing party.

The Forgotten,

These are some stories that I didn't write about at the time for one reason or another;

I do this online thing were I get two audio books a month. Mostly I listen to them on my to and from work. A few years back I got War and Peace. Clocking in at over sixty hours this was going to take awhile. I started once, got bored and gave up. I then made a second attempt to finish it, but finally realized I wasn't really listening to it I just had it on while my mind wandered else where. So with about a quarter left I turned it off for the last time. I was a little bummed about this and sort of felt like I was cheating myself. However a few months later while watching Jeopardy there was a category about War and Peace and I got every answer right, plus all the contestants on TV didn't even ring in for any question. I felt a little redeemed by this.

On a side note; I hear the book can vary quite a bit depending on translation.

* * *

Two weekends before I went on my vacation I thought I was coming down with a cold. My immune system sucks and I get sick regularly. Getting sick right before a vacation seemed like something my stupid body would do. Usually I take it easy with a cold; go to bed early, don't drink stuff like that. However since I always get sick anyways I've decided to adopt a new policy of treating the illness with a heavy dose of alcohol. So that Monday I got really drunk. The next Monday I was trying to figure out if I was still getting sick or was just feeling like shit because I've been drinking for a week.

* * *

After spending a week deep in the woods, I got stung by a hornet in the head while mowing my lawn. Once night came vengeance was mine.

Typo's,

I'm sure these posts are filled with typos. Between the amount of time I put into each one and my remedial grammar skills, I'm sure a lot gets past me.

However last night some friends were pointing this out and the example they used was Internets from the previous post. This was not a typo, it was a subtle jab at our president. As my link shows it has it's own wiki page. I'll have to keep in mind that some people won't get wanker inside politics jokes and try to put links up, so you all can laugh at my subtler jokes. But once again links can take time and I don't have a whole lot extra these days. Bzzzz Bzzzz Bzzzzz (busy as a bee, get it).

Larry Craig,

Ok I can't resist putting one Larry Craig post up. I know this is old news and all, but I was on vacation so I get a pass.

It's too bad anti gay republicans like Larry Craig created such a toxic environment for gays in this country that gay republicans like Larry Craig have to resign after being outed. I feel sorry for the old fuck and anyways men's bathrooms? Didn't this loser ever hear of the internets?

And while I'm at it Tony Snow resigned while I was gone and his reason;

But he insisted yesterday that he is leaving not for health reasons but to recoup the income he lost when he left his job as a radio and television host to take the $168,000-a-year job as press secretary.

"I ran out of money," he said.

Six figures and full health insurance wasn't cutting it for this fuck. I couldn't find the transcript, but someone on This Week with G.S. round table said in responds to this, the Bush administration is looking out of touch because they are. We should all have it so hard as to worry about making it on our six figure salary.

The week after,

It was amazing how different everything seemed when I got back from vacation. It was like summer turned to fall in the week while I was gone. The sun was no longer up when I woke up in the morning and I had to turn lights on. School had started, so traffic was much busier and parking at work was a lot worse. I now have to walk about an extra block to work every morning. While we were on our trip leaves were turning colors and already falling, my expert said this was a sign of stress from drought, but either way it put me in a autumn mood. When I got home it really felt like fall. Except for the heat, that felt like midsummer. This week feels like fall in that regard.

It's weird early on this summer, actually before this summer began, I had a feeling that the season was almost over and once again I didn't do anything. For the most part I didn't really get out all that much, just like my premonition. However it feels like I got a lot accomplished over the season. I got a lot of work done on my house or at least the major work. It will be a lot easier to come home and do the little touch ups around my house this winter, than it was coming home and sanding drywall, above my head while sweating like a fiend. And I got that eye surgery, which sure made this summer something.

Anyway, I was kind of bummed about the summer ending. Which was kind of weird because fall has always been my favorite season. This situation puzzled me last week. This week with the temperature drop those old feelings of fall returned.

Anyway seasons change, vacation is over, work sucks blah blah blah... Boring blog post.

The Vacation,

Part 6; Going Home,

We woke up the next morning with a little more time than I had anticipated. The boat was suppose to pick us up at twelve thirty, but I didn't take into account that even though we were west of Milwaukee we were in the eastern time zone. So we hung around camp for awhile waiting for the dew to dry off our tents. I came back from being somewhere else (don't remember where) and some Gray Jays or there much cooler name Whiskey Jacks came into our camp. My expert told us they were very curious birds and it being a camp ground we all got pictures of them taking peanuts from our hands.

Shortly after that we went down to the dock to wait for the boat. We had a couple of hours yet and went on an unimpressive interpretive walk and had sandwiches and $1.37 cokes at the little store. I read some more Kerouac and went out on the dock to look around. I gazed deep into old Gitche Gumee admiring the crystal clear waters, knowing this was all about to end too soon. I worked my way around the pier, looking into the waters and eavesdropping on the conversations taking place, when a bit of action prompted me to look to my left. A moose was walking right out into the lake. He was walking along the edge of the deposit left in the lake from Washington Creek, which let him walk a good distance into the lake without getting his knees wet. The boat arrived no more than five minutes later, while the moose was still in the lake, making a perfect ending for the trip.

I tried to ride back sitting on the bow of the boat, but it got too windy. So I set on the side for a bit and ended up trying to sleep inside the boat. We landed on the dock and I rounded up my pack with an empty flask and forty pages left of Lonesome Traveler, got in the car and drove south along MN-61 towards Duluth. 61 was is a very scenic, pleasant drive, hugging the shore of Superior most of the way. Great country if you like scenery.

A couple of hours later we arrived in Duluth were we were staying for the night. We took turns showering for the first time in six days. Then I picked a pizza place to go to. It was a very college town pizza place, binders for menus, vegetarian options for meals and a young crowd. At first it seemed like great choice. The waitress came and took our orders. She didn't write anything down. I've seen this done before and don't understand what they are trying to prove. I think I even made a comment about how that makes me nervous. My pizza finally arrived with one of three toppings right, she really should have written it down. I just didn't have any luck with waitresses on this trip. However she got a good tip for three reasons; she was cute, she gave the check to the guys who got what they ordered and the most important reason she kept the beer coming.

After that we went to an Irish bar where we watched a band play one song before calling it a night. We went out and sat on cushy chairs and drank for awhile. There were a bunch of board games on the wall and Aaron pulled out some questions from a trivial pursuit game and quizzed me and Adrian. I really enjoyed this. I like trivia, but the only chance I get to play any games like this is when I talk to my TV when Jeopardy is on. That was short lived do to the amount of beers consumed and we went back to the hotel bar were we had 2for1 drink coupons. Calling were we went a bar was pretty generous. It was just some old lady serving beer and telling weird bestiality stories. We quickly finished our beers and I went up to our room while Adrian and Aaron went somewhere else for ten minutes (?). I turned on the TV and this is when I learned about the Larry Craig scandal! Seriously I was gone for a week and two major White House officials resign and a antigay republican plead guilty to soliciting gay sex in a men's bathroom. I think it's safe to say some Jontown post got missed.

The next morning we got in the car and made the cross state trip from the very northwest corner of Wisconsin to almost the very southeast corner. Along the way it all started to hit me. The return to work, the big empty house, bills, cleaning... Oh how I longed for the island. I still had the holiday weekend ahead of me, but I knew that would mostly be me just sitting around drinking hoping Monday never comes. There was a party and other opportunities to do something, but I knew I would pass them all up and I was right.

The vacation was over.

The Vacation,

Part 5; Washington Creek,

Now somewhere I read that although this was the longest hike, 12.6 miles (the other hikes were about half that) it was suppose to be an easy, gradual downhill hike. I'm not sure where I read this, but another hiker that we meet towards the end of the hike said he read the same thing. There was nothing gradually downhill about this hike. After we did the first part relatively quickly, we were all feeling pretty good about ourselves and the amount of distance we covered. "I think were a third of the way", at one point someone said. "I think we went over the last ridge." "I think there is only three miles left." "I think we are already on the boat." None of this ended up being true. After we got through the first section at a relatively fast clip, with me in the lead for reasons I will go into later, we sat down, took our packs off and ate beef jerky and trail mix. We noticed three contour lines on the map signaling ridges we had to go over and knew they were coming up. We went over a couple of small hills and I looked back and said to Adrian, "I think that was the third one." He agreed.
Over the next couple of hours as we forced ourselves up ridge after fucking ridge we realized how wrong we were. My calves felt like they were going to blow right out the back of my legs. Luckily that didn't happen. However I was very happy that I mostly use the stairs at work and don't run to the elevator like most guys I work with. Also the frequent walks I took this summer made the long, challenging hike much more bearable. One person in our group didn't spend his summer preparing for the hike.

So to go back a bit, Isle Royale is known for it's moose population. Last time we went if memory serves me it seems we saw a moose almost every day. Here we were on our fifth day on the island, our last hike and we haven't seen a single moose. This last hike being long and our last day, I decided that moose sightings were just not in the cards and since I had already seen them the last time we were at the island, I didn't care so much. So I took the lead, not caring if someone was walking right on me heels. However I offered my companions some hope by telling them that last time we saw a big bull moose just outside of a campsite on our way to the boat. I didn't believe we would see one however. During a mix up following rock cairns Adrian took the lead and I was in the middle. As we were making one of our ridge climbs, this is long after we thought we were done with them, I was almost at the top when I looked off into the woods and noticed a distinct shape that can best be describe as "no tree". Right there maybe fifteen feet into the woods was a moose. Right from first sight I knew there was trouble. I could tell she didn't like the looks of me and I can't say I cared to much for the look on her face. She lowered her ears and stamped her hooves while I braced myself for what would be a colossal impact. She charged and the collision could of killed a lesser man. As we tumbled back down the ridge I threw heavyweight blows into her skull as she worked my gut. I was vomiting blood by the time I felt her skull cave-in from a final deadly blow, just as we reached the bottom of the ridge. Or she just sat there eating grass watching us take pictures of her. I can't remember, it was over a week ago. I should have taken notes. We finally made it to the campground thoroughly worn out. A short walk away was a ranger station were I bought Cheetos, snickers and a can of soda for the odd price of $1.37. Included $.10 MI Deposit!!! How generous, but $.37 how do you come up with that. Of course the price was high, but not compared to the $8 pack of cigarettes someone else bought. I sat and ate the junk food and smoked what became community cigarettes with a deep guilt that I was ruining in ten minutes what I had accomplished over the last five days. Especially the cigarettes. I very rarely smoke and didn't enjoy these at all. Every drag was full of guilt, but yet I kept taking more until they were all gone the next morning. I extinguished mine with a, "Yuck, that is the last of that for a long time."

And so we went to sleep for the last time on Isle Royale soil, knowing our little escape was almost at an end.

The Vacation,

Part 4; Lake Desor,

We woke the next morning and the rain had past, but of course everything was wet and a fog had settled on the island. We packed up, pumped water and headed out for Lake Desor, the only inland lake we would be staying at on our trip.

The reason I wanted to hike the Minong Ridge trail was mostly because it got a lot of praising write ups in Backpacker magazine, which I one time subscribed to. It was suppose to be a very scenic, have the best opportunity to see wildlife and seldom traveled. The reason for it being seldom traveled was the high difficulty level. From what I had read in some books about the trail the really hard hike was the one ahead of us that day.

We put our packs on and into the woods we went. Most of the trail was on ridges that would have given us spectacular views, except for the overcastness and fog. Others in the group praised these conditions because of tender, freshly sunburned skin. I was hoping the sun would burn the clouds away. At the ranger station they warned us that it was suppose to rain this day and if it did the rocks would be slippery. It wasn't raining while we were hiking, but everything was still wet from the night before and was very slippery. I liked walking in back so I can go at my own pace, look around and enjoy my hike, something I have a hard time doing with footsteps right on my heels. So no one saw when I stepped on a rock, felt my feet kick out, leaned back and fell on my ass. No one will ever know that happened.

We got to Lake Desor and I felt a bit disappointed in the difficulty of the trail. It was hard, but not as hard as I was expecting. Here's to high standards. We set up our tents and the sun finally started elbowing its way into the day. We went swimming in the dark, algae filled warm waters of Lake Desor. Although the temperature was much more tolerable, I longed for the crystal clear waters of the big lake.

As I was sitting on the shore a red squirrel came in with absolutely no fear of humans. I yelled at him, "You're suppose to be afraid of us. We kill everything!"

He looked at me and said, "Thanks for eating like a slob, fat ass. This Reese's Pieces is mine," and off into the woods he went with my escaped piece of candy.

The rest of the afternoon was pretty typical; Aaron slept, Adrian and I walked the shore and read, we all bickered. There seemed to be a lot more birds on the inland lake and bringing an expert with us was a big plus. I suggest everyone befriend such a person. As the day was coming to a close Adrian and I read our books and Aaron was writing in a notebook. When finally asked what he was writing he informed us it was a list of what he should/shouldn't bring next time he went backpacking. This was very odd because up to this point Aaron made it very clear this would be his last backpacking trip. At least this would seem odd, but I've known Aaron for a long time.

Once again I had a tent to myself and stayed up reading Kerouac by headlamp. I finally laid my head down on my pillow rolled up fleece. Just as I was in that magical land between sleep and wake I notice a peculiar noise and curiosity aroused me to full awakeness to realize it was starting to rain. Then Aaron got up and took a piss which sounded awfully close to my tent.

Then we woke up,

The Vacation,

Part 4; Little Todd Harbor,

I reminisce with an extra sense of nostalgia since this was my first day back at work. Time seemed odd during my vacation. It seemed like I was away, first from my home then from work, for a long time. But the actual vacation seemed short. How odd, anyways work sucks so more about my vacation.

After Todd Harbor came Little Todd Harbor. The experience was much like the names Todd Harbor was fun and besides all the whingeing I did about my pack, a good hike. Little Todd Harbor was a little less fun, both the campsite and the hike. Once again we went swimming in old Gitche Gumee, Aaron took a nap and I went hiking with Adrian on the rocks. This time however it was a boatless boozeless cruise, when backpacking sacrifices need to be made.

After we ate Aaron and Adrian went down to the water to throw rocks at the other rocks in the water. This was a favorite past time started at Todd Harbor, I think we had three different games created by now. My arm was sore from hiking and throwing rocks the day before, so I stayed up by the tents and read. I thought we were pretty lucky so far. After the first night we seemed to avoid any real annoying people. While reading, listening to the smack of rocks bouncing of rocks I realized the other people in our campsites weren't so lucky. I told my friends this and that ended the rock throwing, probably more because of lack of opportunity than good backpacking edict, but you can't prove that.

That night I was awoke by bright flashes and loud rumbling that could only of been two things; Canada was invading the U.S. or there was a thunderstorm. I won't leave you in suspense it was a thunderstorm.

The Vacation,

Part 3; Todd Harbor,

The next morning we put our packs on for the first real time. Moans all around. I was reminded that when I bought my pack, some years ago now, the salesman didn't really care and never sized me up for the right size pack. I should of walked away, but I tend to be a bit of a one stop shopper. I should of bought a new pack for this trip, but should of's are a waste of breath in the middle of Lake Superior. Anyways we trudged on to Todd Harbor as I tugged and pulled straps trying to get my pack to sit a little more comfortable than it was. The trail was nice and scenic, but the straps grinding into my shoulders made me anxious to get to the next campsite.

We arrived at Todd Harbor campsite in the afternoon and set up our tents to dry them out from the dew they got packed away with in the morning. Then it was on with the swim trunks and right into Superior. Well maybe not right in. I walked out pretty bravely until that point that every man knows takes a little more courage than the rest of the body. A lady who was eating lunch with some guy on shore advised me to just jump in. I told her she was pretty brave for someone sitting on the shore. I finally did take the dive and after the initial second of every inch of my body yelling "what the fuck are you doing?" It felt good. The cold water revived my sore, hot, stinkin' body. Although I must admit I didn't linger long in the amazingly clear waters of the ice cold lake.


After sitting on shore, reading Kerouac and drinking Drambuie, I suggested taking a walk on the rocky shore with my friend Adrian. Aaron was sleeping, he slept a lot and wondered why he couldn't sleep at night. Anyways Adrian and I went on what would be known as "the boatless booze cruise" (stolen from a Lawrence Arms song). It's great fun to walk on the rocks while drinking. However I was a little tired from the walk during the day, lost my footing and fell. The only mistake I made was handing off my camera seconds before to an asshole that thought it would be funny to take a picture. I meant to punch him while he was sleeping, but I fell asleep to quickly. The fall for the most part was pretty harmless. I scraped my ankle, which worked out pretty good for the flies the next night when they discovered this was an easy way to get at my inner juices and got a pretty good bruise on my leg, but no Drambuie was spilt.

We returned and made dinner. Some lady came over to tell us her radio told her thundershowers were expected that night and all next day. We thanked her for the heads up, although it all ended up being a big lie.

We watched the sun set as Adrian made a rock cairn just off the shore. Although it made for good pictures I'm sure this will be the cause of many hikers to march out into the lake never to be seen again. The mystery will baffle experts for years until waves knock the rocks down, leaving only a Bermuda Triangle type legend behind.

The Vacation,

Part 2; McCargoe Cove,

So there I am, in McCargoe Cove with four days and 28 miles ahead of me. I was well prepared with a flask of Drambuie and "Lonesome Traveler" by Kerouac in my pack. Much thought went into these two items. I was going to fill my flask with Jameson, but didn't think I wanted the harshness that comes with straight whiskey. My last backpacking trip I took some Drambuie with me and it didn't go over so good, so I was a bit hesitant with the choice, but made it anyways. On this trip however it worked just fine, but I will get to that later. The next book on my "to read" bookshelf was "The Time Traveler's Wife" clocking in at 546 pages, weigh well over a pound. To much book for the trip, so I had to take a book out of order. Although that sounds like a big deal, I assure you it isn't. I thought of taking Jack London's "Iron Heel", a futuristic sci-fi novel with radical socialism in it. However I just read a history of the IWW and have been taking heat from my far rightwing friend who thinks I'm a red, so I thought I would go another way. I went with the Kerouac book with some hesitation also since I had just listened to "On the Road" a week before. But a decision had to be made, so I made one (14 ounces lighter than TTTW).

It seemed pretty apparent to me right away that my hiking companions were not as excited about the trip as I was. One seemed to be suffering from a little backwoods burn out from spending all summer in the woods and the other seemed to be much more interested in his email inbox than the wild beautiful seclusion ahead of us. Oh well, nuts to them, I got Drambuie and Kerouac.

As we were sitting on the pier in the evening, I noticed a red fox across the cove from us. The beautiful animal with it's big bushy tail and narrow tapered legs colored black like it's wearing boots, seemed to shine extra red in the low rays of a setting sun. At the same time we were sharing the dock with a much more common animal the North American red neck. They were on a fishing trip and not wanting to deal with the annoying noise these animals make we retreated to our campsite.

Although I was tired from not getting a good nights sleep in two nights, I decided to stay up and read by headlamp for awhile. It was my turn to sleep in a tent alone and I figured I should enjoy it since the next two nights I would be in the dreaded shared tent. Also there was a loud game of cribbage going on in the next campsite that would of been hard to sleep through.

Finally the moon rose and I closed my eyes.

The Vacation,

Part 1; Getting there.

Due to years of layoffs and general job uncertainty I haven't taken a vacation in years. More specifically I haven't taken a backpacking trip to Isle Royale doing the Minong Ridge trail that I've wanted to do for some time. This winter, even though I was laid off at the time, I said fuck it this is the year and made plans for this long over due vacation.

And thank god I did. I went to work in early spring and have been working ever since, plus I've been doing a lot of work around the house, so I really needed this trip. I planned if for the end of summer August 24 thru the 31 which would work out good for hiking conditions, but bad for wishing my summer away. Finally the day came and I was free from the shackles of routine life for a week into the woods for some good old away from civilization recuperation.

However getting there had it's problems like getting stuck in a downpour while doing some last minute shopping, piss poor dishwasher edict, disputed hotel fair and a meal from the worst waitress on the face of the planet causing me for the first time in my life to leave a restaurant without leaving a tip.

But Saturday morning arrived and I was on the dock with my pack all ready to go to the island...