Happy Thanksgiving

I hope that everyone had a good weekend. Jill and I went to her Dads in Okoboji. We had a nice relaxing weekend with a lot of food. I might have went over the the 200 mark for the first time in history.
Jills brother Joe was there with his wife so it was just the six of us for Thanksgiving. We went out one night and I met a lot of the people that both Jill and Joe knew during there stint living in Boji.

When we made it back home we got our first Christmas tree. We will be decorating the tree and house as the week goes on. Jills Mom gets to town this Saturday, so we will be celebrating the first Christmas of the year on Sun.

This also brings me to the question of what does everyone want for Christmas this year? Please give me some ideas in comments. Or you might not get anything this year.

Just two weeks until Korea. I am getting excited.
Congratulations Luke and Emph it is ok to be girly sometimes

Car Stories Part 2

You all have been waiting nad I am sorry it will be a disappointment. I cant reach the excitement of the last unless I put an old story about my many junkie cars. So this is really just a vote for the next car I should drive. I have probably made up my mind but I will give you all an opportunity to have a choice.
#1 Saturn Vue
#2 Toyota Rav4
#3 Ford Escape

Car stories Part 1

So I know that some have heard the story already but I figured I should put it down here just for reference. Last Friday night I was playing basketball in the gym with the kids. That was a usual thing for the end of the week. With not that many kids in the building there isnt a lot that goes on Friday nights. This is where the excitement begins. Running after a ball my keys fell out of my sweatshirt and slide up against the wall. I didnt think anything of it since everyone leaves things laying there. It was actually under a chair that another staff was sitting on. When the day was over I went to get my keys and they were gone. I first thought that staff had picked them up. When no one said that they had I looked outside and when my car wasnt where I had parked it I really thought that they were just playing a joke on me. But everyones face got serious and I realized that my car wasnt moved it was gone. Another Club kid said that he noticed another member with the keys and told him to bring them to the office. That is what I needed to hear. I called the cops. It had been about 10 minutes so I wasnt sure what the outcome was going to be. We had a description of the boy so we asked staff if anyone knew his name for sure. We got it. We looked him up in our computer noticed that he only lived four blocks from the Club. One of my coworkers decided to drive around and look for my car, while I waited to hear from the cops. We got a call that my coworker had located my car so I jumped in with another and quickly drove to the scene. We called the cops again and again. The car was parked a block away from the boys house. So we sat there for close to an hour waiting for the cops to come. In the meantime the boy and a couple friends decided to comeback and take the car for the joyride that he wanted. When they saw all of the people around the car they turned and ran. A couple of the staff took off after them in a car but had no luck finding them. Finally the cops came. It took forever. They got my information and said that they would go knock on the boys door to ask questions but since no one saw him driving the car they had nothing on him. Thankfully the boy had got the keys stuck in the ignition so I could just turn it on and drive off. It did end up costing close to $100 to get a new key and get the old one out. I laughed the whole thing off but it was a nerve racking experience.

Election Day

I'm sure you all are taking a look at what is going on in the States. Democrats have taken over. The House of Reps destroyed the Republicans. They are at 227 to 195 with 13 seats still not decided. The Senate is 49 to 49 with the two seats still yet to be decided are close leads in favor of the Democrats. It is always exciting to me to watch the coverage on election night. In Wisconsin the Governor was the first Democrat to be relected since the early 70's. The Senator is also a D. With most of all the spots in local government going D as well. But then the two big Q's on the ballot were the marriage one, where the uninformed think it is a gay vote, and the death penalty. So why did both of those go to the Republican side of thinking. Marriage is only man and woman and death penalty is accepted. I am not sure what was going on in MN. Any way Bush & his crew had a very bad night. I didnt get to see his speech today about it but I am sure he has to start thinking about how things are going to change. There is now a woman as Speaker of the House. She is now the highest ranking woman in history and she is very left side. It will be very interseting to see what type of history is made in the next couple of years.

Im Back

I have been holding off writing because I havent had any pictures to add with. Well I will just enter them later if I get any good ones.

The past few weekends Jill and I have been a little busy and a little lazy. Last weekend marked the two year mark of Jill and I dating. Wow has it been an exciting two years. She is amazing and probably too good to me. We went to a nice Italian restaurant to celebrate.

This weekend we did yoga again. The instructor is just always a little grumpy. Plus I feel she does things too fast and rythmic. I want to move slower and more melodic. Then there is the breathing. I feel that she needs to give us more instruction of how and when to breathe.

Next on the agenda was the Haunting Moon Pow Wow. We made sure that we got there in time for the Grand Entry. I had goose bumps the whole time. It was great thinking of how long of a history that the dressing and dances have came through. I forgot my camera but maybe I can find something on the internet to show what we were watching.

Then we headed to the Milwaukee Bucks game. They won. We had nose bleeds but still could watch the game pretty good. The NBA is just a little boring for me but the tickets were free, so I cant complain.

Get the medication ready.

Dad, Cam, and I will be taking the fifteen hour trip to South Korea. I hope it wont be too bad with movies and food but the anxieties leading up to the take off will probably be a little high.

We are waiting on the passports to be delivered. I guess we need a travelers visa or something like that.

December 8th we are taking off and get home on Dec. 16th. Which means there will be a birthday celebration taking place in Seoul.

Hopefully everything will be ok in the world at that time so we have less to worry about.

See ya soon Emph and Luke.
Mom dont worry we will see you soon there after.

This weekend

Jill and I had a fun weekend. On Friday we went to the movie called "The Departed" it stars Jack Nicholson, Matt Damon, Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Walhberg, Martin Sheen, & Alec Baldwin. In otherwards it was star studded. The movie was based in Boston and was about a mafia-like group. Corrupt cops and undercover cops as bad guys. It was very intense with twists and turns in the plot and action all the time.

On Saturday we had a Halloween party. We dressed up as Ozzy and Sharon Osborne. Since Jill already had the long hair she got to be Ozzy.

We didnt win the costume contest. Boo!


They also had a pumpkin carving contest. Jill is the artist of us two so she did her best. What do you think?




Here are some more pictures of the fall. This is outside our front window. And looking into the park for those of you that havent been to our place this park is just one house away from ours.

A nice surprise

On Monday there were some rumors swirling around by the staff. None of the kids knew at all. Until our front entrance was filled with the tallest guys Milwaukee has to offer. The entire Bucks team ducked their heads through our doors. Some had to keep their heads ducked until they got into one of the rooms.

This wasnt a day for them to come and do basketball stuff. They are tired from training camp and decided to have an hour where they didnt have to think about that. If you remember I said the whole team, and I meant the whole team. The superstar Michael Redd, injured star Andrew Bogut, the rookies and veterans trying to make the league. It was great.


They went to every part of the Club. I took 7 foot 3 Ha, an Asian man that every kid thought was Yao Ming, to the cafeteria along with two others who sat and hung out with the kids. One of them even ate a lunch with them. Bologna. Others were in the library helping with homework, in the computer lab, selling candy in the concession stand, playing pool, foosball, ping pong, and even the dancers were here to teach the girls a routine.

They were here for about an hour and ended up with a small talk by Michael Redd giving the normal stay in school type of talk to all the kids.


It was the best because all the guys were just being guys. Although they did have to sign a lot of autographs, pictures taken and news cameras in their faces.

Hopefully it wont be the last time the come over for a visit.


Picture 1 = Redd playing in game room
Pic 2 = Bogut doing homework
Pic 3 = Ha letting the kids know that I am not that tall after all

Disappointments

I had high hopes for the Twins this post season. I really think it was their year. A couple bad pitches and bounces and it hurt them. It was an amazing season and there will be high hopes next year when all the pitching will be back.

Another disappointment happened last year when the Gophers fumbled away a win against the Wisconsin Badgers. I still cant believe that game.

Jill and I will be in Madison this weekend as the Gophs seek revenge. I hope that it is a complete reversal of fortunes so they can feel the pain. Madison is one of the best places to watch a game. I was in the student section last weekend as I cheered for the Badgers in a blow out win. I went with my old roommate Steve. His brother goes to school there. We had a lot of fun but this weekend plans to be even better. All of Jills co-workers and friends will be out in Madison this weekend. It is Homecoming and Madison is known for throwing some big events.

If you havent heard Phyliss died yesterday. So if you know emails for Luann I am sure she would be happy to hear from you. I dont so if you could send me it then I wont feel like the only one who isnt showing my support. Thanks

That also might change plans for Steve and Peter Woitock. They were going to be heading out to Madison as well but if the funeral is on Sat. they will be heading to the farm.

I will be back soon.

Reds, Oranges, and Yellows

Hey everyone.

It is definitely fall here in Milwaukee. The colors are at their peaks. My car is covered every morning. It is cool and crisp fleece wearing weather.

I am not sure how much you get of fall in your far off lands but I know that it is your favorite time of year. I will try and get a few pictures I took up in the next few days.

Jill and I went for a bike ride this past Sunday. Milwaukee built a nice new path along the South shore of the lake. It starts just down from where you and Grandma were dancing. It was beautiful out. We did a little exploring and found a neighborhood that looked like the houses were made of gingerbread. Then we rode up past this great big condo complex that is right on the lake. The views were amazing.

Well I just wanted to get a page up since no one else is sticking with it.

I will write again soon.

Nothing new here

Jill and I have not doen anything too exciting in the past week or so. It was gorgeous out yesterday and today. We went out and played football. I won.

Good to see both Mom and Emph are back writing their own blogs.

Yoga week two: The moves are actually easier than I thought. I dont have the full range with flat feet and hands but I can feel the energy. I really like the relaxation part. I can feel each part tingle a bit when the instructor mentions it. I do wish our instructor was a bit nicer. She gives off this negative feel. She is kind of grumpy and really short with her answers to people. So instead of asking questions about what we need to know or do in the time in between sessions we just went through the motions and got out of there.

We will be sticking it out and if we feel some results we might check into a different place to go.

Is there anything that we should know going in? Like what is amaste?

Some other points of interest to you two. But I am sure that you have already heard about.
Minneapolis will host the Republican Convention.
Jill and I just got cable with Tivo(awesome)

AL Central Champs

Here is an article from Reusse that tells it all about Sunday at the Dome. Get your Homer Hankies ready.

The Twins and their fans achieve bedlam
A Joe Mauer batting title was fine, but the crowd wanted more ... and got it.
Patrick Reusse, Star Tribune

The Tigers and the Kansas City Royals already had been playing for an hour in Detroit when the Twins' Carlos Silva threw the first pitch in the Metrodome on Sunday afternoon.
Detroit was holding a 6-0 lead, and it was the third inning. A Tigers victory would guarantee them the tiebreaker at the top of the AL Central and give the Twins a playoff date with the Yankees on Tuesday night in the Bronx.

The lead and stout Jeremy Bonderman on the mound made for strong evidence that only one bit of drama would play out in the Dome on this final day of the regular season.

That would be whether Joe Mauer could become the first American League catcher to win a batting title.

Seeing the local hero capture this Silver Bat would have been a fine consolation prize for the announced crowd of 45,182, but the fans wanted more. They wanted an AL Central championship and first-round date with Oakland, rather than with the $200 million Yankees.

Nearly four hours later, the wishes had been fulfilled and the Dome had turned to the pandemonium of Octobers past. This exuberance was difficult to forecast when Silva started by giving up a first-inning run, and the Twins then resumed the offensive dearth they had been featuring in this final series with the White Sox, the dethroned champions.

The crowd did not get a chance to demonstrate any giddiness until Mauer slapped a double near the left field line leading off the fourth. That started a rally that gave the Twins a 3-1 lead.

And then the scoreboards in the left field and right field corners started to indicate Kansas City was undertaking another comeback against the Tigers. This was a Royals team that had arrived in Detroit on Friday with 100 losses and a 1-15 record against the Tigers.

And now these Dome dreamers of the impossible were becoming curious whether K.C. could barbecue Jim Leyland's crew again.

The Royals had been down 5-0 on Friday and came back to win, but the Twins could not take advantage. The Royals had scored seven runs in the first on Saturday and held on to win, and the Twins could not take advantage.

The Twins entered Sunday rooting hard for Mauer to win this batting title, and that first hit seemed to relieve much tension with the entire lineup. The three runs were followed by another in the fifth. Included was a second Mauer hit, guaranteeing he would be a batting champion at the tender age of 23½ years.

The large crowd enjoyed Mauer's successful opposite-field slaps, and soon the scoreboards revealed Kansas City actually was closing in on Detroit. A chant of "Let's go Royals" rose from down the left field line.

The Royals went ahead, Detroit tied it 8-8 on a Matt Stairs' home run and then the crowd was more focused on what was happening there than with the Twins.

Jason Bartlett, the late-arriving shortstop who rates very high on the Twins' MVP list, threw out Ryan Sweeney to end a 5-1 victory that enabled his club to finish 30 games over .500 (96-66). It was 4:07 p.m., and a roar accompanied the players as they congregated near second base.

Once this ritual was concluded, the big screens went to the telecast from Detroit. And that's when a scene for the ages played out.

There was still a mob -- call it 35,000 -- in the Dome, and these now-rabid folks wouldn't go home until they found out whether these Royals could offer a final gift to the Twins.

The indoor zanies agonized with every pitch as Kansas City's Joe Nelson and Jimmy Gobble worked out of a bases-loaded, one-out situation with the score still 8-8 in the bottom of the 11th.

Bert Blyleven, the Twins' television analyst, was standing in the back row of the press box, transfixed by a crowd going crazy over something that was happening two Great Lakes away.

"This is unbelievable," Blyleven said. "This reminds me of '87, when 50,000 fans were here to welcome us back from Detroit."

Blyleven was the co-ace of the '87 pitching staff with Frank Viola. The Twins were returning after wiping out the favored Tigers 4-1 in the ALCS. "Seems like strange things take place when it's us and Detroit," Blyleven said.

The strangeness became otherworldly a few minutes later, when Kansas City scored twice in the top of 12th. The 35,000 cheered for every called ball, every baserunner and both of those runs.

By then, Torii Hunter, Luis Rodriguez and other Twins were in front of the dugout, acting goofy and signaling for the crowd to get louder.

And it did. Bedlam, '87-style.

Gobble got three more outs in the bottom of the 12th -- the last on a Sean Casey groundout. It was 4:44 p.m. Officially, the fans had stayed for 37 minutes for the chance to share this moment with their heroes.

And here the Twins came, racing from the dugout and staging a wilder tangle behind the pitcher's mound than was the case six nights earlier when a wild-card berth was guaranteed. Now, they were champions of the Central.

"How crazy has this whole thing been?" Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "Our last game had been done for a half-hour before we got into first place by ourselves for the first time all year."

The Twins chased the Tigers in reverse for more than two months, then surged and still trailed Detroit by 12 games on the first night after the All-Star break.

So, it wasn't avoiding the Yankees that caused this madness from the Twins' players. Oakland has better pitching than the Yankees and will be an armful in this division series.

The madness came from being rewarded for a relentless pursuit -- for winning 71 of 104 since June 8, for playing .683 baseball for 16 weeks, for doing it ultimately without Liriano, without Stewart, with Radke gritting his teeth on every pitch, with Bartlett and Punto and Tyner and Reyes and Neshek going from afterthoughts to vital parts.

On the last day, the Twins and their newly raucous fans had a first-place finish to celebrate -- and a chance to start baseball's grand second season under their Teflon sky.

"Now they can come into here ..." said Gardenhire, shouting through a hand-held microphone to the fans still not wanting to leave, "and play baseball in our house."

Yes I Should put this.

Thanks Mom. I was going to but thought everyone would know anyway.

TWINS WIN!!

They are back in the playoffs. If you can find it read Patrick Reusse article in StarTrib about the Kirby Puckett factor. It was a nice article.

Lets cheer them on to win the title from Detroit.

And yes I am a little less nervous for every game now.

Almost Official

I sent in for my passport. So in 8 weeks I can leave the country. Now I just have to figure out somewhere to go.

Home

Here is a look into our home. We have rearranged the living room since you that have been there. It makes the room a lot more comfortable. You can see we removed the big entertainment center and put the small one in the corner. The big comfy chair is sitting on the way into the kitchen. The couch is where the tv was.

This helps bring the windows into the room since they were covered up before.

Yoga

This past Saturday Jill and I started our yoga sessions. I was a bit nervous but was excited to start something that I know means so much to you guys. It was at a community center at 9 am. When we got there it was already crazy. There were classes on everything going on. Little 4 yr old football, karate, guitar, drawing, and other exercise classes. When it was our turn to go in we laid out our mats(Jill got me one at a garage sale for like a dollar). Our lady instructor seemed really nice. She had some relaxing music playing. And here is where it went a little down hill. She welcomed the new people. Us two. Everyone else had been taking the class. It was a continuation from the last class. So we were thrown right into doing the moves. She didnt tell us anything about the meaning behind it, breathing techniques, or anything else that a beginner might want to know.

We started with stretches. Worked our way to moves from the dog pose. Did some standing and sitting poses. I was sweating while doing some of these. All the way to doing some bridge moves, holding yourself up with one arm in a cross like pose, my shoulder couldnt handle this one, and then we finished with the best part. She had us concentrate on relaxing each part of our body until we just laid there, I almost fell asleep.

It was a good experience. My body did feel good afterwards. I wish it was more beginner but if we get through this session maybe we can find someone else that is a little more devoted to teaching the yoga.

New ID

I had to renew my drivers liscense. So no more Johsua and no more fake Wisconsin mullet!!

Summer at the Club

The summers at the Club are crazy. We have about 100-120 kids that are in our day camp. They pay extra to stay in a group setting with planned activites, lunch and snack everyday, and two field trips per week. Then we have about 200 other kids who are in the building taking advantage of the rest of the Club.

I will highlight with some pictures.


We did everything that a kid would want to. We went swimming, Brewers games, Go karts, amusement park, and a lot of things that most have never done before going to a farm, for a boat ride, seeing Lambeau Field. Trust me if you had the opportunity to do things like this when you were a kid you would have memories that last.


It is the best time at the Club and next summer I hope to be in charge of the whole summer program.

Twins

I know that everyone has the ability to follow along with their season via the internet. But I wanted to make sure that you are following. Every day I am nervous and excited to see the final scores. AS of today the race is on. Tigers in first place Twins in secon 1/2 game behind White Sox in third 5 games back. This also means that the Twins are in the Wild Card lead by 4 1/2 games.

Johann Santana is on his way to achieving the Triple Crown of pitchers. Most wins, best era, and most strikeouts. He will win the Cy Young award and may fight for the MVP.

Justin Morneau might have something to say about that. He is the first Twin to hit 30 home runs since 1987. He is also second in the league in rbi with 126. Joe Mauer is leading the league in batting average. Michael Cuddyer also has 100 rbi making them the first pair of Twins to do that since 1994. And Torii Hunter is hot at the right time trying also to get to the big marks in hrs and rbi. he is at 27 & 86 resp.

Make sure you keep track. It feels like this is a special year for baseball.

Day at the Ballpark

AT&T Park Home of the San Francisco Giants. They were playing the San Diego Padres in a race to get into the playoffs. I ordered the tickets on Stubhub.com and got the seats I wanted. The outfield section in rightfield is only seven rows deep and right behind that is McCovey Bay where kayakers wait with headphones, have pizzas delivered and get positioning in hopes that Barry Bonds can make a ball splash en route to catching Hank Aaron for the career home run record. At the time he was 24 away.

Of course thing dont go as smooth as you plan. Jill asked me if I had the tickets as we were leaving the house for the trip I said yep showed them to her and we were out the door. Just to make sure she asks if I had given her the tickets(to the game and Alcatraz) when we left I was like no I have them in my bag. WRONG. The plane takes off. I am upset with myself I had put them down and left them on the coffee table. Alcatraz was easy they just reprinted our tickets. The baseball game was different. First I had to call and get our land lord to go in get the tickets. She left them between the doors of our place then we had a friend that Jill works with stop by get them and Fed Ex it to the hotel we would be checking into on Sat. sounds easy enough but I was stressing until I saw them in the package.

So the game was at 1:00 P so our plan was to ride down to the park get a bite to eat and a beer at a nearby sports bar. When we arrive its about 11. There is no one around but I still didnt think anything. We go into an Irish pub and start watching the NFL which games start at 10 in the morning. The owner of the bar is Irish and really nice. We start talking and find out that the game got moved to 5 so it could be on ESPN( even though he didnt know that) since it was two playoff teams fighting for position.

So we just went exploring for the day. Shopped, ate, and rode the trolley. Trolley drivers are the best tour guides when looking for local places. Everyone else always pointed us to spots that we werent interested in.

The next time we get down to the park it is filled with people. Thats more like it. We walk in to the park and actually have to go up to get to field level. I was amazed at what I saw. High Def Plasma screens everywhere in the concourse showing the game. If you havent seen a sporting event in high def its like you are there except brighter. Then we walk through the concourse with a multitude of smells hitting our noses. We are used to Milwaukee: Beer, brats, beer. They have sushi and wine, garlic fries, spaghetti, seafood, clam chowder, and beer and brats. The field looks tiny with the small amount of seats in the outfield. It made for a great viewing of the game and quite an experience. Even if Bonds didnt hit the ball to me. Final score SD 10 SF 2

Locked up

I forgot to talk about our trip to Alcatraz. We went for our tour on Thursday night. The boat left at roughly 7:15. The night was foggy and cold. We took off and were able to see the city of San Fran like we werent able to from land. It was pretty cool with the Bay Bridge as its background. The fog was too thick for us to even see the Golden Gate. We rode the boat to the other side of the island and were welcomed by our tour guide. That is the difference of going at night rather than the daytime. We were told a story of the history of the island from its military days, to Alcatraz as we all know it, to an Indian reservation of sorts, to the park it is today. We hiked up the hill as our guide told us the story. Once to the prison doors we were sent in to follow along with the audio tour. Very cool. We saw the prison cells where the famous men stayed from Al Capone to the three that "escaped?". We were able to experience solitaire from inside with the voices of actual prisoners depicting how time went by while inside the darkness. We were able to see how prisoners spent there days locked up whether it was art or music or digging through the wall to freedom. After our audio tour there were three other programs that we could choose from to do. We went with Moons over Alcatraz. This guide told about the mooons gravitational pull and how it effects the tide in the Bay. This was to show us how and when one would need to go into the water if they planned to live through an escape. Every year they still wait for the right moment to hold their Swim from Alcatraz event. 1 1/2 mile swim in cold waters where the current hopefully doesnt pull one way or the other. It was completed by a 7 year old! Anyway she showed us the rest of the escape by the three men. Where they cme out on the roof and ran along to where they slid down and jumped the fence to get to the water. I guess there were all sorts of clues left behind to let them know what their escape route was. She then leaves it up to us if we believe if they made it or not. Telling us that every gaurd says no way they died in the water. And every prisoner says oh yeah they made it. Even with Frank(the leader) turning 80 this year he stills has a one million dollar bounty on his head. We finished our tour this past week when we got home by watching Escape From Alcatrz starring Clint Eastwood. Not a bad movie but the best was to watch and see where we had just been. Jill has a little passion for prisons especially escapes so it was really fun to see her excited about the experience.

San Fran Pt 2

Our Adventures continue with our drive back to the city from Napa. We had some expert help in places to see from step-sis Elizabeth, who lived there for 6 years. We pulled off on the Sausalito exit and headed to the coast and Muir Woods. We stopped at a nice country style place called Dipsea Cafe. Huge amounts of food for breakfast. Something to fill the body for the hikes ahead. We drove up Highway 1 up to the top of the peak and then took the switchback road to the bottom to where Muir Woods lies. I didnt really know what to expect. There were tons of cars lined up so we parked a long way from the entrance. Once on the trails we saw the beautiful trees some with hollowed out caverns at their base. The amazing thing about the trees is that they can withstand forest fires and have the scars to prove it. The whole hike we wondered if anything lived in these woods. We heard maybe one peep from a bird but nothing else until we were just about back to the entrance and two small deer were walking back into their hiding places. On the way out we drove the back roads. We had many pull of moments to take in. One spot we looked back on had the shores of the ocean coming into a small bay. At the stop we found someones song book but left it there just in case they could ever remember where they left it. Also there was a huge garden. It filled the entire valley and as we went up the hill we found the entrance. It was an organic farm with a temple and if I reme,ber right it was based on Tai Chi. But not sure. The next spot was at a peak where we could see Sausalito and the bay with the sun shining down and sailboats everywhere. Definitely a place for inspirations.

Now we are on our way back to the Golden Gate Bridge. We jumped off the last exit before and drove the roads up to the lighthouse that stands on the right hand side of the bridge. It was so foggy that we couldnt even see the bridge from that spot but as we came back down there were nice opportunites for pictures. It was amazing to see the bicyclists that rode the steep roads to the top. I am not sure I could even walk to the top right now. I need to get into shape.

We made our way across the bridge and headed for Golden Gate Park. A beautiful park that stretches from the ocean to Haight. We stopped first to see some guys surfing in what looked to be cold water on a haze covered day. They were terrible and never stood up while we were there.

We drove through watching a ton of hippie dressed people walking to what I later found out was a peace rally. We saw the Japanese Tea Garden, flower conservatory, and I walked back in to a spot that was hidden and found a blanket where someone must call home. I was freaked out a little bit. Next we walked to the Haight district. Stopped for a beer and did some shopping here. They had some cool shoe stores with custom Adidas. A lot of interesting people but too packed to take in all of the spots. Its too bad that people just come their to get their high and make it a mess for the rest of the people. I think that street was the dirtiest spot in all of town. And the other disappointment is the fact that Gap sits right on the corner. How could the people that believe in all that Haight is about could let that happen. A shame.

San Francisco Pt 1

Jill and I spent four amazing days in SF. We got there on Wed night just in time to see Project Runway(My pick to win is still in the running with four to go) and go to bed.

Our first two nights we stayed in the Cow Hollow district between the Wharf and Golden Gate Bridge. The room was an older place and had a vintage look. But it was clean and quiet and we werent in there for very long.

The first day was comprised of a lot of site seeing. We woke early and ventured down to the Wharf. I was expecting more of a place like Seattle but it was still interesting. The seals were barking continuously to get our attention. The history of them was interesting that after the 89 quake they just showed up in huge numbers.

Then we jumped on the trolley and rode it around. Down to Union Square. To the Port. Castro. Chinatown. And as you can see in my sideways picture to the crooked street.
We had a great time exploring the city. We ate in a rooftop restaurant in Chinatown. Good food and cool atmosphere. At one time this looked like it was the place to go. Pictures of Presidents and Celebrities such as Erik Estrada and Jack Lemmon. We saw a woman making fortune cookies down an alley. If I wanted a picture a $1.00 donation please.

Then Friday it was off to Wine country. Napa.
We got a little rental car, a Kia, and took off over the bridge and through the hills. We met up with Kevin Kuhl and his wife, who happened to have vacation the same time so we planned this expereince together. Our first stop was at Artemis. This is where we are standing at. Beautiful even with a little hazy fog in the air.
We go inside to be welcomed with our names on the desk as guests. The receptionist pops a bottle of sparkling wine and our day is on the way. We followed along with their short tour, basically showing us their barrell room. Then it was to the bar where since I never drink wine it opened my eyes to the different flavors. Since it was completely comped by the wineries GM we went up and down the list from whites to red so we didnt ruin our palletes. The best agreed on by all was their Merlot. From there we were picked up in our limo to ride in style and be safe for the rest of the day.

We rode across the country side along with the compimentary bottle of champagne and a bottle that we had just picked up. We went by numerous wineries and stopped once along the way to pick up another bottle for the Kuhls. We stopped for lunch at the Oakville Grocery, which had a wonderful deli and a whole lineup of natural foods. I ate a turkey sandwich with cranberry spread on pumpkin seed bread.

Then it was on to Sutter Home, which Jill had put into my head wouldnt be that special since it is a lower priced wine. Boy were we suprised when we got there. They have there own Inn right on the grounds. We went in to the main house and were greeted like we were royalty. Jill had her boss set us up with this tour so they thought we worked for Walgreens, which must be a huge client for them. So we head across the street to the winery and it is harvest time for them. Trucks lined up like semis bringing corn to the elevator. As they dumped the trucks out we were able to eat the fresh grapes both red and green. Then we watched as the went through the press and got to tast the freshly squeezed juice. We also got to taste the wine two days into ferementation which was like a really sweet sparkling wine. It was great to see all that goes into making the wine and sampling it along the way. Now it was time to taste what they offered. Trinchero is their high end wine and that was what they served to us. A nice buzz later and it was off to dinner. We were dropped off at a fancy steak house in downtown Napa. We ate and then ventured to another wine bar that had a nice midwestern feel to end the night.

I will finish the trip another time when I get my other pictures back.

Your Son/Brother

AAAAAAA-- or however you spell Cams noise.

*Man does this camera suck but you get the picture.

I will start today with Labor Day weekend

I was in the Cities for a belated bachelor party which consisted of golf, fantasy football draft, bocce ball tourney, Texas Hold em.
We also grilled food from all of the areas the guys were coming from. I brought Wisconsin Brats, we had Minnesota Beef and Plumhoff just off a trip from Alaska brought some Silver Salmon. The Salmon was rubbed with olive oil and sprinkled with seasonings(cajun, lemon pepper, and Martin County Magic). I think we must have made it perfect because it tasted amazing.

Anyway our day started at the Highland 9 golf course in St Paul. Attending were Cam, Krum, RC, Dale, Nick, Chetley, and myself. I think everyone golfed very well and the weather was perfect.

Next we all ventured to Cams house and set up camp in the backyard. We were joined by Plummer, Nate, and Scotty V for a short time. We got through a few rounds of our football draft. Then the rains came. We were chased into the garage where we finished off the draft. I picked third, Cam was 8th. We both have pretty good teams but we also started 0-1.

By the time that was over the rains let up so we could go back outside and take advantage of the yard and the hill. Bocce ball was on. I teamed up with Chetley to win it in a close match. It was a lot of fun and a real challenge from some of the spots.

Now it was dark and getting late. We went inside and hung out before finally ending the night with a round of Poker. It was my day and I won with the help of Tory(who showed up late but played bocce but I kicked him out of our football league)

It was a lot of fun from beginning to end.

My turn

Just wanted to say hi and try this out.