dynagirl

He demanded we turn off Larabee & McCarren. First standard-def video, now substandard-def audio. Thanks, Fox/Charter. #packers #cowboys

Fox/Charter has finally returned to HD. Not an exciting game, but standard def? WTF. #packers #cowboys #NFL

When Max Frost speaks, people listen!

Far from Wall Street, in a suburb of Green Bay, investment adviser Max Frost gave some bold advice on this day a year ago.

In a column for his local newspaper, Frost took note of September’s cursed history. Given the unwillingness of banks to lend money, he warned at the time, “Houses won’t be built, businesses won’t expand, consumer goods will not be purchased.”

His conclusion: Sell. “If you’re not shorting this market, at least put some of it in cash. You can always buy it back.”

Today, Frost remains pessimistic, especially after stock prices kept climbing over the past few months.

“This market has gone up like a bad moonshot, without enough money to get to the moon,” he said in an interview last week. “Everything’s gotten too highly valued.”

It is, after all, almost September, Frost observed: Look out below.

In NE Wisconsin and love musicals? Go see “The Music Man.” BONUS: my dad’s starring as Mayor Shinn. http://bit.ly/1X9PVZ

Willy st to John Nolen blocked off by cops at Patterson. Patterson to E Wash blocked by train. #stuck

Greetings from “the fightin’ second!” RT @triumph68 Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) on #maddow

I wonder if the way the Weary Traveller lets you take it for granted is part of why it always feels so cozy and happy when you slide in.

(cross-posted from Ravelry)
Well. Sad all around… but this, too, shall pass. I like Mike McCarthy, a lot. I think he and Brett Favre actually worked well together; Favre seems to need a tough lead. Look back to the Rhodes and Sherman years… or Infante… eesh. We’ve got a good coach, and a good team, and Aaron Rodgers has a lot of potential. He’s been studying under the best for three years now. Breathe deeply and think of the ocean. It’ll be OK. (And my lady-shaped Bart Starr jersey arrived in time for Monday night!)

…And after reading this about Rodgers – as Bob (of Milwaukee’s Bob and Brian Show) put it on Thursday, when Steve Czaban asked if watching Favre would be difficult, like watching your ex-girlfriend dancing sexy-like with a new hunk: “No! I like our new girlfriend. She’s cute,* and not crazy.” Amen!

*…very cute.

Swank, flaming cocktails have returned to Milwaukee!
thanks, Ann!

We signed up for MG&E‘s wind power last month, and so far have not used 577 pounds of coal.

We also got a new air conditioner last week, after the forty-year old Carrier gave up the ghost. They figured the old unit’s SEER value was about three, and the new one is thirteen. It’s also so much nicer / more efficient that it needs to run a lot less, so it’ll be interesting to watch our usage over the summer. Then again, with the way the cost of energy has been going, the bill will probably stay the same even if the use plummets.

Top Ten Signs You Know You’re in Green Bay

It. Is. Fucking. Snowing. Outside.

(>.<)

ZOMG OUR MAYOR ROCKS. If they sell souvenier copies of this, I’m framing one:

“Whereas, the winter of 2007-2008 will go down as one of the most severe in Madison history with record snowfall, strong winds, freezing rain, below zero temperatures and now, on top of it all, Brett Favre retires (for cryin’ out loud), and

“Whereas, these conditions make us better, hardier people of higher character than our friends who have fled to places like Florida where they can’t even get a primary election right; and

“Whereas, even with those advantages, we’ve had ENOUGH already; and

“Whereas, Madison has never been a community that simply accepts the status quo whether that be the results of national elections, the realities of nuclear fallout, general market conditions, or, for that matter, mere astronomical forces; and

“Whereas, Spring is a state of mind brought on by the thought of paddle sports and the sight of sleek new canoes and other cool canoe gear;, and

“Whereas, Madison has been described as so many square miles surrounded by reality; and

“Whereas, Madison has been growing at a nice pace which must mean that reality is therefore shrinking; and

“Whereas, reality is overrated.

“Now, therefore, be it resolved that Spring officially begins in the City of Madison at 2 a.m. on Sunday, March 9.”

The annual will-Favre-retire-or-won’t-he? BS-fest has begun! This means that surely these nine feet of snow will melt someday, eventually… I hope.

You’re a Packers Fan, Son. A Packers Fan. Iiiidiot.

Pizza takes better if it’s cut in squares. Why?

So I’m getting ready to get ready for work, and it’s even darker than usual for a winter morning, and I’m starting to wonder if the clocks are wrong. And then I hear this rumbling and figure it’s another snow plow, but realize that’d be like, the tenth snow plow in fifteen minutes.

WE’RE HAVING A THUNDERSTORM.
IN JANUARY.

“Take the twisty off, lower the bag and start eating down,’ Foley told one customer after handing her a sandwich. ‘Don’t take it out of the bag.’” EXACTLY.

Suburpia finally re-(re-re-)opens. Whew! I almost drove to Milwaukee the other day but found out it wasn’t open yet. Back when I worked at the Journal, they had just reopened the first time down on Plankinton, and my friend D was practically hyperventilating about it, and couldn’t believe I’d never had one.* I thought she was crazy, but those sandwiches were as addictive as promised.

For years I’ve wondered about those secret spices. I think soy sauce and celery salt play a part, as do the cut of the onions. We’ll have to get to Milwaukee again soon.

*There had been one on Brady when I first moved to Milwaukee, but what did I know? and it closed fairly soon after that.
via CzelticGirl

The Met’s HD simulcasts to movie theaters is coming to Madison. Twenty-two dollars might sound like a lot, but given that even the Madison Opera’s nosebleed tickets are $85 and they sell out immediately, that’s not bad at all — especially given that the schedule is mostly things that aren’t presented by regional or city opera companies very often, if ever. The only question for me is what one should wear…

Good for you! Riding your bikes to work! If I worked closer to home, I’d join you.* But PLEASE put a light on the FRONT of your bikes, too. If I can’t see you in the rear view, hey, sorry, but you’re asking for trouble. (Nothing has ever happened, just a peeve.)

*except during this snow shit, naturally, y’all are CRAZY.

Lambeau Field #1 in fan-experience rating. I don’t know how they got $30 for parking, though. We went to the Chargers game this year and felt quite spendy paying $15, but they were also offering tailgating and a bathroom!

Wow!

Max McGee died this weekend, in typical Max McGee fashion — he was up on his roof, with a leaf-blower, and fell. The dumb dummy! Can you imagine what his wife was thinking? Mostly distraught, I suppose, but there HAD to be a part of her thinking, I fucking told him that would happen. He was a great character and a good man, and we’ll miss him.

Here are some choice quotes, which text really can’t do justice to –
“So, where do does dew come from? The ground, or the sky?”
“When it’s third-and-10, you can take the milk drinkers and I’ll take the whiskey drinkers every time.”
“I waddled in about 7:30 in the morning, and I could barely stand up for the kickoff.”
“What’d happen if I put my microphone in my beer?”

The neighbors are having a big old tree removed and it’s been nothing but chainsaws all weekend, going well into the night. We just took a turn around the block, and it looks like they’ve got a long way to go. As annoying as it is for us, it must be worse for them. I guess that’s why the squirrels have been freaking out, too.

My new happy place? Is imagining a whole football team of Brett Favre clones, playing against another football team made of Brett Favre clones.

The Muffler Man wants to say hello to you.

I found a nicely decaying Muffler Man outside of Oshkosh. Terrifying, and awesome.

We went to the Brewers-Giants game last night, and had a great time. Hats, bratwursts, expensive beer, and omg, the Brewers won. However… the amount, volume, and vitriol of the boos and taunts delivered to Barry Bonds (we were in the third-base bleachers) was so nasty that now I’m rooting for the guy! Don’t be mean.

The banners that just had * on them were pretty clever, though…

Driving to work yesterday, my friend Bryan and I nearly got side-swiped twice before we even got to the Beltline; once there, they just kept on a-comin’ with the crazy-mofo driving. The Beltline isn’t fun any time, and with big construction starting this week, it’s not going to be any better, so we agreed that we’ll be taking the surface streets for a while. Just a few miles past that decision, a lone sign-truck blinked, “FREEWAY ENDS – EXIT NOW” — and three lanes of traffic stomped on the brakes, trying to get over to the exit. It wasn’t the construction that closed it; there was a really nasty accident.

We had two compasses, but no map, so we missed a turn or two. We didn’t know the grim impetus, and so got to enjoy a really pretty spring morning drive through rolling hills full of trees and brooks and farms where we saw at least three actual farmers farming. (The fields! They do not plough themselves?! Crazy.) Maybe my friend’s awesome new girlfriend isn’t nuts for pedalling all the way from Verona daily.