Cougar Fest

From Urbandictionary.com -
Cougar - A 35+ year old female who is on the "hunt" for a much younger, energetic, willing-to-do-anything male. The cougar can frequently be seen in a padded bra, cleavage exposed, propped up against a swanky bar in San Francisco (or other cities)waiting, watching, calculating; gearing up to sink her claws into an innocent young and strapping buck who happens to cross her path. "Man is cougar's number one prey"

My buddy J.H. didn't know this term prior to our Texas visit. We had to do our best to point them out to him so as he didn't come near the dangerous creature.

Here he is looking as sexy as ever.

Saturday night we attended the Cattlebarron's Ball. As posted previously my buddy J.E. is kind of a big deal at his place of employment and his company gave some serious cash to sponsor this cancer benefit so we had some primo seats and a good time.

One thing I learned, a dress and cowboy boots is a highly underrated look. Unfortunately I have no good pictures of this so you will just have to trust me.

So the ball went like this, show ticket and ID at driveway entrance to ranch, enter ranch through long driveway have car valeted. Register, proceed through photo booth, enter barn with musical entertainment, silent auction and most importantly open bar. Luckily I'm old now because in my 20's open bar was a recipe for disaster. I'm happy to report that I behaved myself (well relative to an open bar situation anyway).

Around 7:00 there was dinner. The smell of the bar-b-que was amazing, like burning hickory.
Around 10:00 the entertainment started. A show my Ronnie Milsap, the blind country singer with 40 number one hits. I didn't think I knew any of his songs until the show started. It was a pleasant surprise and since every seat was good it was probably the best seats I'll ever have at any concert.
Following the concert....the dancing. What do you get when you combine a once a year event, a babysitter for the kids, 5 hours of open bar, and dancing?

Be careful

It's All Bigger In

If you read the previous post, you know I was here last weekend.

Waco to be exact. I know, anyone between the ages of 20 and 90 probably only knows Waco as the home of the Branch Davidions, but my buddy that lives there promised me it had more to offer than that and I must agree that it did.

Baylor University is there.

Here's the three amigos. Normally there's four. Here's the fourth (with J.E.), he had some lame excuse to not travel, some medical conference or something so that he can save your life.
The guy on the right in orange is J.H., he lives near Minneapolis but after some serious soul searching when he became a traitor I decided to remain his friend. The other guy on the far left is the buddy we went to visit. He's J.E. but you might know him by this...
It was really nice there. People were extraordinarily friendly. My friend works in the media so I suspect that many of his associates are naturally outgoing anyway but everyone was really nice. There's a big lake right on the outskirts of Waco. Next time I go I want to rent a pontoon there or take a boat ride.
This was taken between Waco and Dallas.

On Saturday we spent the entire day by the pool at a country club. It's really too bad I didn't get any pictures there, the ah, scenery was quite good. It was really hot, somehow I actually remembered to be careful of the sun and avoid a sun burn. I'm like the red incredible hulk when I get sunburned. You wouldn't like me when I'm sunburned. Here's Scot Hulk.

That's a couple of years ago in Mexico. I was too skinny then. We did south beach diet for a couple of months, closest we ever came to a divorce.

At any rate, Friday night we went out to a bar. When I was 20 years old, another friend of mine and I traveled to NYC. We got lost on the subway and accidentally ended up in Harlem (this was before Harlem was rejuvinated). When caught in that subway stop we kept our heads down and didn't accidentally look at anyone. My experience in that Texas bar was only slightly different. Jeans, button up western shirt and cowboy hat was the accepted dress code. We left there and went to a George's another place. My choice of clothing fit in better there.

Coming next, Saturday night....

Cougar Fest '08

Continental Airlines SUCKS BALLS

Sorry mom if you read that but my loathing right now for Continental can only be summed up as such.

This previous weekend I traveled to Waco, Texas (more on that in the next post). Normally I would talk about the trip sequentially but so great was the suckiness of Continental on the return trip that I have to begin there.

I was scheduled to fly on Flight 2406 from Dallas to Houston for a connection on to my Milwaukee When I arrived at my gate the flight was scheduled to depart as normal.

· At 3:30 the flight was delayed until 4:53.

· At 4:30 the flight was delayed without a time or any further explanation.

· At this time I contacted the Continental 1-800 # and spoke to a representative who informed me that my flight, 2406, was delayed due to weather. While I was on the phone with her another flight arrived from Houston I told her this and informed her that weather must not be the issue. By the way the 800 number for Continental is in Houston couldn't she just look out her f'ing window. She then put me on hold to talk to her boss. When she returned she told me that my flight is now delayed until approx. 6:50 p.m. I advised her that I would miss my connection. She offered to book me on a flight from Dallas to Houston on Monday June 9 instead. I declined

· Without explanation from either gate agent both of which were either unwilling, unable or too incompetent to make any announcement to those of us waiting for flight 2406 passengers from flight 2637 also waiting at our gate for a flight that was supposed to leave an hour later than my flight are loaded and depart for Houston at 5:00.

· At about 5:10 gate personnel finally made an announcement regarding the expected arrival of our plane from Houston. The gate agent declares that it has been delayed due to mechanical difficulties. These gate agents are unable or unwilling to help anyone with connections. Not only that, they never even asked anyone on the previous flight if their final destination was Houston. I.e. why not put people with connections on a flight that is actually on time and delay those not going anywhere else. NO WONDER CONTINENTAL IS WORRIED ABOUT BANKRUPTCY. THE SOONER THE BETTER.

· At approximately 7:00 flight 2406 (my flight) departs.

· At approximately 7:45 our fight arrives in Houston. I went immediately to customer service. I was informed that I had been re-booked for Monday June 9 on flight 3083 due to the fact that I missed my connection due to mechanical failure. I inquire about the possibility of being re-routed on flight 2146 to Chicago. The agent responded that she could put me on standby. While I pride myself on instantaneous judgement calls this would not prove to be one of them.

· I immediately went to the Chicago gate and check in with the gate agent to confirm my standby status and I inquired with her about ground transportation from Chicago to Milwaukee. She told me that I customer service in Chicago would help me with that. She also told me that I needed to wait at the gate because of my standby status.

· At 9:00 I was allowed on flight 2146 bound for Chicago and we departed.

· At 11:30 the captain informed us we needed to land in Indianapolis to refuel and wait out bad weather in Chicago. We land in Indy at midnight and are held on our plane. Some woman next to my starts crying.

· At 2:00 a.m. we leave Indianapolis.

· At 2:35 a.m. we arrived in Chicago. I immediately went to the gate agent and inquired about ground transportation to Milwaukee. He said that customer service in the baggage claim area would help me.

· I went directly to customer service in the baggage area. Get ready for the moral of this story, the woman working informed me that all ground transportation for the night had ceased. Apparently even though Chicago is like one of the busiest airports in the world and even though the cab line was an hour long there is no other public transportation after 11:00. She says she can't help me. I ask where the rental car counters are and get this, FRACKING (new word of the weekend) O'Hare doesn't have rental car counters. It only has a bank of phones which happen to be right next to the world's loudest elevator.

· At 3:00 a.m. I began calling rental car and transportation services. When talking to one agent she says "when do you want to pick the car up sir" I said "15 minutes" she said "I need to know what time you want to pick the car up" I said "I'm sorry it's really loud in here, I'd like it in 15 minutes" She said, (thoroughly annoyed) "I need to know what time that would be sir" "Well add 15 minutes to your fucking watch and that's what time." (well that's what I was thinking anyway), I said "3:15." "Okay we can give you a compact car for ... wait.... wait... $200" I hung up.

At this point I begin calling other rental companies, same story. Okay, isn't the free market society based on supply and demand. Are there really that many people that need rental cars between the hours of 3:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m. I mean, I pay for gas, it's my insurance, etc. I just rented a car for all of next weekend, 48 hours for $80. This is for you rental car companies.

I begin calling car services. Bingo, I find a car service that will drive me to my house for only $195. At this point I feel like this guy. I give in.

· At 3:45 I was picked up by an Eastern European guy like this.

When we arrived at my house at 5:00 and he told me that the there was a mandatory 20% tip that I was responsible for adding I wasn't going to argue.

Total cost of my original flight to Waco $348.
Total cost of ride from Chicago to Milwaukee $234.

Stay classy Continental.

The word is....

I live in Milwaukee, the Brewers are home tonight but I had a charity obligation, I'm 36 years old, and my wife is 6 months pregnant. So when she's flipping through the channels and stops at the national spelling bee being held in HD on ABC on a Friday night I bite my tongue.

It's only about 2 minutes before the unintentional comedy has me laughing and offering my fake commentary.

Seriously, for anyone that reads Bill Simmons at ESPN's page 2 this event is just screaming for a play-by-play like he does with the NBA draft.

Some noteworthy questions from my 20 minutes of viewing...

The 13 year old competing for the 5th time? Was she really in this thing for 5 years or is there like A, AA, AAA and then the show?

How is this in HD and I can't even get the Wisconsin Badger games on want on any channel?

Why was there a camera man wearing Under Armor gear? Why were there multiple camera men?

What was Erin Andrews reaction when her bosses told her she would be working the sideline here?

How can a 12 year old boy spell any words when he's looking at Erin Andrews?

Do you really need to name your home school? Wouldn't it just be your address?

If you are 12 and need to shave isn't that a disqualification?

Final thoughts, to really spice up the show there needs to be more trash talk. No more of this clapping for your opponent. I want some smack, maybe some chest bumping. How about the winner giving an impromptu moon following the victory word?

The word is hairbrained. "Can I have the definition? Can I have the origin? Are there any other pronunciations? Can I have the origin again? Can you spell the word? No, okay.... I-A-M-S-C-R-E-W-E-D."

Cliff Reuschlein

So my Grandpa died today. I wasn't there. I said goodbye to him and told him I loved him a week ago. It's sad though. Mostly I've been thinking about how much more time I should have spent with him. He taught me to ski when I was three or four. He held me up on my tiny skis between his legs going up the tow rope. My parents would take us to Cascade "Mountain" where my grandparents would meet us. My grandmother would stay in the chalet while my grandpa skied with us. In fourth grade we all went to Michigan's upper peninsula skiing. That is probably the last time I skied with him.

My grandpa liked sports cars. I can remember sitting in the hatch back of his Nissan 280Z. He was driving us to either IHOP or York Steak House. I remember watching Wisconsin hockey games at their house. I didn't really like hockey but for some reason that is still a really fond memory.

When I was about 10 or 12 grandmother and grandpa retired and moved to El Paso, TX. I visited them there once when I was about 13 and once when I was 33. Thankfully they came back to visit often.

Until today all 4 of my grandparents were still alive. I am very lucky. For some years now I've thought a lot about how I value(d) each of them.

You see when I was little this grandpa and grandmother (Cliff and Beth) lived in Madison. I think we visited relatively frequently but from what I remember those visits seemed a little formal. Not very little kid driven, more adult oriented. I remember Christmas presents being things like sweaters.

My other grandparents (Gene & Lee) lived on the east coast. Visits were more exotic to me. I had close cousins out there, those grandparents lived in a neighborhood with kids and presents were things like walkie talkies and race tracks.

Based on these interactions as a little kid I developed what would be my opinion of each set of grandparents that held up through at least my mid 20's. It's with deep regret that I didn't realize some of my skewed perceptions sooner. I hope I made up for it these past few years. I hope my grandpa knew I was trying to make up for it.

Some things I need to thank my grandpa for:

• He's not bald, thus I still have hair.
• His business sense.
• Teaching me to ski.
• Gifts far greater than anything I earned.
• Having a master plan for his future offspring.
• Pride in the University of Wisconsin.
• Loving me unconditionally.
  

Some things to know about my grandpa:

• He was a world war II vet and had good stories about it.
• He was the president of H&H Industries.
• He was a UW grad.
• He grew up on a farm in Plain, WI.
• He met my grandmother while working in a munitions plant.
• He has 6 children.
• He knew I was going to have a baby and he was excited.

I love you grandpa! Thanks for all you've done for me and continue to do. God bless you.

Official Obituary

Reuschlein, Clifford Joseph, MADISON

Clifford Joseph Reuschlein, a local engineer and businessman who played a part in the Manhattan Project and lobbied tirelessly in his later years for people with mental illness, died Sunday, May 11, 2008, at his home in Madison. He was 89. Mr. Reuschlein graduated in 1942 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a degree in mechanical engineering. He was an engineer for DuPont during World War II when he was assigned to the Manhattan Project at the Hanford Engineer Works in Richland, Wash., the site of one of three federal locales developing a secret defense project. Aware only that his work was a part of the war effort, Mr. Reuschlein contributed to the development of the atomic bomb. He was a Navy veteran, serving aboard the U.S.S. Kenmore in the South Pacific in World War II. In 1946 he resumed his engineering career, joining Hyland Hall and Co. (H and H Industries/H and H Electric) in Madison, where he became president and retired as chairman of the board 37 years later. He was appointed by President Dwight Eisenhower to the Apprentice Advisory Committee to the Secretary of Labor, where he served in his capacity as an engineer and businessman. He was a member of Pi Tau Sigma International Mechanical Engineering Honor Society; the National Society of Professional Engineers; the American Society of Mechanical Engineers; the Heating, Ventilating, Air Conditioning Engineers Society; the Construction Specifications Institute; and the Society of American Military Engineers. He was a fellow, board member and president of the Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors' National Association. He was a founder and board member of Maplewood Nursing Home in Sauk City, Wis. He was an avid boater, water skier and downhill skier and enjoyed carpentry as a hobby. Mr. Reuschlein devoted his retirement in El Paso, Texas, to advocating for the mentally ill and their families. An activist for better treatment, government accountability, and caregiver support, he spent his days counseling families in crisis, working with local and state mental health professionals, influencing legislators and judges, and producing a newsletter to draw attention to mental health issues. He helped establish a local chapter of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI), serving as its director for 12 years. He was a member of the NAMI Homeless and Missing Network steering committee and a board member and past vice-president of Texas AMI. He was named 1991 Citizen of the Year by the El Paso Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers and 1992 Outstanding Volunteer of the Year by El Paso United Way. The El Paso Mayor's Advisory Board on Aging inducted him into the Older El Pasoans Hall of Fame, and he was honored by the El Paso Life Management Center for outstanding service to individuals with mental disabilities. During his Madison years he was a member of Blessed Sacrament Church, Knights of Columbus, Elks Club, Kiwanis, and the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill. In El Paso he was a member of NAMI and EpAMI. Mr. Reuschlein was born Feb. 5, 1919, in Plain, Wis., the son of Henry and Christina Paulus Reuschlein. A serendipitous childhood encounter with Frank Lloyd Wright proved prophetic when Wright admired the button collection he'd sewn to his cap. Wright told him, "One day, you'll make something of yourself," and Mr. Reuschlein grew up to design the mechanicals for at least two of Wright's buildings: the Unitarian church in Madison and the Spring Green Center in Spring Green, Wis. He married Elizabeth Ginevra Starr of Huntington, W. Va., on Feb. 25, 1944, in Kennewick, Wash. He is predeceased by his parents and his siblings, Florence Schrock, Dorothy Kayser, and Earl Reuschlein. He is survived by his wife; four daughters, Cathy (Bill) Taylor of Columbus, Ohio, Carole (Mike) Ecker of Black Earth, Connie Reuschlein (Dan Gaytan) of El Paso, Texas and Nancy Reuschlein of Madison; and two sons, C. Randy (Mary) Reuschlein of Stoughton and Tom Reuschlein of Colorado Springs, Colo. He is also survived by 10 grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at BLESSED SACRAMENT CATHOLIC CHURCH, 2131 Rowley Ave., on Friday, May 16, 2008, at 10:30 a.m. with Father Ron Kreul, O.P. officiating. Burial will immediately follow at Forest Hill Cemetery. A visitation will be held at JOYCE-RYAN FUNERAL HOME, 5701 Odana Road, on Thursday, May 15, 2008, from 4 p.m. until 7 p.m. and then again at church on Friday from 9:30 a.m. until the time of Mass. The family requests memorials be made to the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, P. O. Box 759155, Baltimore, MD, 21275-9155 or www.nami.org.
Joyce-Ryan Funeral Home and Cremation Services 5701 Odana Road (608) 274-1000 www.ryanfuneralsevice.com

Resolution

Hi, I don't generally make resolutions but I am going to try and post more often. I let myself get too caught up in some personal professional stuff more than I should have. Something I really had no control over and ultimately didn't turn out the way that I wanted it to. I think?

At any rate, maybe I'll post about it here someday. But more likely not. I'd probably just come across as a whiner. At any rate my buddy says that 2008 better be ready for prime time Eck... if only he knew the half of it.

Okay, enough of that. Here is the first installment of our trip to Mexico over Christmas.



This is called a posada. It's like a procession through the town sort of reenacting the walk Joseph and Mary took looking for an inn for the birth of Jesus. There is a processional leader and lots of kids singing songs at various stops.


The houses in this town are all very near the narrow streets. Most of them have a gate that separates the house from the sidewalk. Many of the houses had elaborately decorated manger scenes lit inside of their gate.


This is one of the stops along the posada.


A typical house in this town. This is probably an upper middle class Mexican family.
The posada ends at the local church. This was the nativity scene at church. The baby Jesus is not added until Christmas Eve at midnight.
This is the scene in downtown Guadalajara. Guad is the 2nd most populous city in Mexico.
Live poinsettas in Guad.
The main square in Guadalajara. If you've traveled to Latin America you already know every city and town has a main square. The one in Guadalajara is huge.

It was always funny seeing all these Santas outside.
Nativity in the square at Guad.

I'm not sure if she got what she wanted or not.

My wife, me and her brother in Guadalajara.

More to come.

Long Lost

Guess who's back, back again.

The last couple of months I have found myself preoccupied with some stuff, hence no posting.

But, tonight I just watched the movie Once. If you make one new year's resolution, do something for yourself and watch this movie. Do it, it's just 86 minutes long. You can afford that. It will be 86 of the most quality minutes you spend this year.

I'll be picking up the CD and DVD tomorrow.

And yes, I am posting this at 11:19 p.m. on New Year's Eve. That's how much I liked this movie.

Happy New Year.

A peak at what's coming later this week.