Random Ramblings during the Super Bowl

Lemonie Fresh and Carson.
Originally uploaded by V'ron.

There's a nasty virus going around, and I've got it. That's why this blog's been pretty silent lately. I can either chill, or write in a blog, and I've been choosing chill. As in, curled up in a fetal position with the chills.

After the Colts blew their extra point, thus blowing my chance of realistically winning my work pool, I decided to log on and at least ramble on.

• Friday night, when I thought I only had a head cold, I ventured out to see Lemonie Fresh's last DJ gig at the Circle A tavern. Word is out (though not officially) that the place will be closing down, so now everybody's next appearance there is being billed as their "last appearance" there. Sometime or another I and that girl are going to do a DJ gig together, where I don't know. But she has an amazingly broad record collection, and the elegant taste to spin it well. Carson's behind the bar (and muscling in on this shot of Lemonie) and it turns out I'm the third person that day to ask him the question that's on everybody's minds: "Well, with this joint closing, what of the Tasting Room?" Naaah, he replied to me. If (and that's a huge IF) he reopens that place, it won't have music, and will cater to the upscale yuppies that have taken over the corner of Water and Humboldt. OK. Fine.
  
  
  
• So because of this dreadful virus, I had to miss the Riverwest Aces last night (Saturday) at this same establishment, who are comprised of Blaine Schultz, Paul Setser, Jeff Lauwasser and a fourth guy I didn't recognize from the flyer Blaine emailed me. I'm sure they were good. I'll get a Setser fix next Friday when Eat the Mystery plays. I am really looking forward to that. Punk cabaret. I am really in the mood for this. Begone, foul virus! I'm needing some degenerate caberet! And you had better STAY gone, so I can catch the Mighty Lumberhorn at Winterfest at the Urban Ecology center the following day. (Health will tell if I can see them open for the Asylum Street Spankers at -- get this -- Vnuk's! -- the following evening. I have to work at my real job the next day, you know.)
  
• As I have watched a total of three minutes of football this season, I'm totally disinterested in this game, and the big hot commercial, the first ad after the first break, was so underwhelming I headed right in here. I'll wait for Prince at halftime. I'm busy digesting a delicious thai meal from Bangkok House, a great little Thai joint in the middle of a strip mall (aren't they all in strip malls?) in Cudahy. I remember when they first opened up: "There's going to be Thai in Cudahy! There is a God!" When you have a head full of snot, nothing clears that crap out of your system like a curry cranked up to 10, washed down with a steaming bowl of Tom Yum. Yum indeed.
  
• Myspace can really suck. Its a good idea and all, but now I know why so many IT types really aren't into it. Besides being an aesthetic disaster, the code is easily compromisable. I can't get it to load on Safari anymore. I've had to download a totally different browser (Firefox seems to get the job done), and clear the cache and cookies every time I log in just to check my account. Wow, I'm glad my main contact isn't there. Figures. Right when I start to understand what the big deal about myspace is, I also start to understand what all the complaining about myspace is about also. I google and yahoo searched till the cows came home, and all that came up was a litany of history of code breaches and unresolved errors. Wow, there's a lot of bitterness out there about myspace, and had I placed all my eggs in that basket, I'd be bitter too! I'll report back here if "customer service" ever gets back to me. Not counting on it. After all, its not like I paid for this. You get what you pay for, people.
  
• Finally, sonafabitch, but its cold out there. You'd think living in Wisconsin I'd be used to this, but I'm not. Hoo boy! Below is a photo of the Allen Bradley Clock and Temperature tower. If you're not a Milwaukeean, you probably don't know the history. The clock is the largest 4-faced clock in the world -- bigger that Big Ben, even. (Big Ben is not a 4-faced clock, either.) The company has since become Rockwell International, but us cheeseheads still refer to it as A-B. When the factory was built at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, most of the polish immigrants who lived in the surrounding neighborhood didn't have electricity, so the clock (and later temperature) was intended as a "service" so that folks would know what time it was and thus not be late for work. The neighborhood now is mostly Hispanic, but that clock is still called "The Polish Moon" of Milwaukee. Anyway, this is the view I had from my office last Friday morning. 3 Degrees! Brrrrrrrrr!!!!! Freaking BRRRRRRRRR! Part of me wanted the temperature to read -1 because that would have made a more poignant shot. But, ahhh, 3 degrees is cold enought. BRRRRRRR! FReaking BRRRRRRR! (And my posting of this picture sure brought out more legend telling, click on it to read the comments.)

• Sooo, as the song goes, Gimme a bottle 'o Nyquil! For the restful sleep my body needs, it's got an analgesic, antespetic.... and an antiiiiiiiiiiiiiihistamine! But, read your labels people! Nyquil Cough doesn't have an analgesis or antihistimine in it! So I was curled up in a fetal ball, thinking I had some acetometiphren in me and this was just a stubborn fever, until i finally pulled my trembling ass out of bed and read the label, and realized I was going to have to pound a dose of ibuprofen on my own. Why would anybody take Ny-ANTHING if they only had a cough? That's what Robutussin is for! No, you reach for Nyquil because that's how the song goes. I needed the analgesic and the antihistimine way more than I needed the dex. I'm so ticked off I could lead a consumer revolt. I feel denied.