San Diego

So last week I had to go to sunny San Diego, California for a work conference. It's tough, let me tell you. Gotta get up at 7am, attend meetings until 10pm, then hit the bars for "networking." Anyways, Kelsey and her friend Stephanie came down on Thursday so I stayed the extra weekend.

Friday afternoon was the good stuff, heading over to Balboa Park and the Zoo. I know very little about the park, but it was pretty cool. Almost like it was someone's mansion back in the day.Here was a little tourist trap with cool painted tiles.
Of course, the thing to see in Balboa Park is the San Diego Zoo. It's well known for being one of the largest zoos in the US.We got there pretty late, so only had about two hours to wander around. First we hit up a bus tour, which gave us a heads up on what places we would like to go back to. What all did we see?

Camels.
Little brown bears.
Elephants.
Lazy koalas.
I was able to get much better pictures than the last time I was at a zoo.
I don't believe these distances are correct. But I think they're supposed to be somewhere in Thailand, given that Rangoon is in Myanmar and Angkor Wat is in Cambodia.
Ah, the Footsie Wootsie. I just thought it was a funny name for a machine. It doesn't look like it gives a very good massage.
A couple of black bears wrestling.
YES! It only took me 2 years, but I have FINALLY pictured a Giant Panda Bear. No more Red Pandas haunting my dreams. In fact, I saw THREE Pandas. Take that, China!
They're almost as lazy as the koalas. Except pandas do more eating.
Now back to your regularly scheduled animals.
Flamingos. I like this picture cause I was really far away, and it turned out pretty good.
For some reason, the zebras were just showing off their ass all day. None wanted their pictures taken.
Hi, my name is Aaron, and I've got the mind of a 4th grader. I still laugh at this.
Polar bear. San Diego isn't really the right climate for this guy.
To finish, we took the skycar across the park.
Saturday we didn't do much, but I did make it to the In-N-Out Burger. The secret to In-N-Out is the secret menu. Did that sentence make sense?
I stuck to the regular 2x2, although I did get the Neopolitan shake. The fries, while fresh, weren't quite what I was expecting. Maybe I'd get them well done. Although the burger was very tasty.

Two More Down

On Friday, Josh Dwuznik and Polly Czech had the dry run for their wedding on Saturday. Afterwards, we went to Mancini's for dinner. Mancini's would be termed a supper club in Wisconsin. In St. Paul, it's where the mobsters hang out. Josh's uncle actually owns the place, after Nick Mancini passed away last year.

Unfortunately for Kelsey, they had nothing for her to eat. Fortunately, Burger King carries the BKVeggie.
Our table was the place to be! Here's Alicia and MikeThe couple of honor, Josh and Polly.
Josh's brother, Paul. If you look close, Paul was looking a little rough. It seems that the gathering of the previous weekend had taken it's toll on Paul. He's not sure how he ended up with a black eye, or at least he's not telling!
The next day was the wedding itself. As were weren't allowed to loosen up inside a place of worship, we headed to the corner of Fernwood and Draper. Jeff (Wee), Mike and Todd all hangin out. Mike's got the birthday cake.
No pictures of the wedding, as I was actually standing in it. Suffice to say it was short and sweet.

Afterwards we headed to the Dellwood Hills Golf Club for the reception. Swanky place, for sure. Mr Aaron Zimmerman and Mrs Erin Zimmerman made it out for the party!
Shawn and Cierra made the trip as well.
The head table. To the right are Josh's brothers Aaron and Paul.
Jeff, Todd, Scott and Mike. One of these four is not like the others. One of these four just doesn't belong.
The old Apartment 4, whatever that means. I think it means these 7 guys lived in one apartment together. I'm sure hijinks ensued, with hilarious consequences!

Assassin Cat!

So I've been a little out of touch lately. As some of you know, it's been a pretty rough couple of weeks, ever since I was in LaCrosse on the 3rd of February. Short version: my parent's cat is an assassin and tried to kill my dad. Longer version (in less words): dad has Pasteurella Multicida (or Multocida). It seems he came down with some sort of flu or cold in the waning days of January. When I saw him on the 2nd and 3rd, he was pretty sick, enough to go to the Urgent Care clinic on Sunday. His tests came back relatively normal, and so they didn't think anything too bad. Well, on Tuesday (the 5th) he was really bad, and so went to the emergency room. They thought he had appendicitis, so did an immediate exploratory surgery, but didn't find anything. He was really fighting the infection at that point, so they kept him sedated on Tuesday and Wednesday. They weren't able to identify the specific bacteria that had gotten into his blood until this week. P. multocida is carried by something like 90% of cats, and it's in their saliva and feces.

My friend Josh (more on him later this week), who's finishing up veterinary school, says that it really only affects people with weakened immune systems. In any case, however he got it, it really did a number. I was down there last night (the 14th), and he might be in the hospital for another week or more, possibly up to three, depending on his recovery.

So there's the update for the handful of people reading. Thanks for all your thoughts, I'm sure my dad appreciates them!

Peggy and Kevin Tie The Knot

Saturday morning Kelsey and I drove down to La Crosse for my friend Kevin Miller's wedding. It was a great chance to see some friends from back in the day.

Here's the groom's side of the party. Ricky (far left), Tony (third from left), and Kevin (far right) all graduated from Onalaska in 1997.Here's the beautiful bride, Peggy.
After the ceremony, there was some time to kill, so we went to Del's for a bloody mary, and then to the Cavalier for a little bit. Mike, Alicia, Rob, and Jen, all enjoying the affordable drinks in La Crosse. $2.25 for a pint!!
Even more people showed up for the reception. Here are Matt and Becky. Congratulations to the both of them, expecting another little one in August!
The wedding DJ was pretty crazy. Here's just one of the hats he sported during the night.
Melissa Marconi and Tony Ferries.
Mike and Melissa.
The fellas. Jon's wedding is the end cap to summer this year.
More fun!
A fun wedding all around. It was great to see so many people that I hadn't seen in years.

Steve Marks a Score and Eight

Steve celebrated his 28th birthday on Friday, so we commemorated it with a trip to Fat Lorenzo's for pizza and then some beer pong at his place. Fat Lorenzo's is absolutely tiny, so our party of ten took up like half the place.The beer pong was fun, and Cameron and Steve were nearly unstoppable, winning every match they played. I only played one match, but managed to sink four in a row. Unfortunately, my partner sank none, and so we lost.

Usability/Viewability

So I'm using a new (to me) tool to post my posts: MarsEdit. It's supposed to be a full function 'blog editor for OS X. Flickr integration, easy to use, and I don't have to login to blogger to do everything.

But of course, with all that comes change. And it's not always good. You may have noticed that the previews in the blog are smaller. That's because it's a choice between that size and a broken look. And when you click a picture, it takes you to a flickr page. Which I'm not sure I like. And sometimes it puts weird line breaks in places I don't expect.

So let me know. Is it still acceptable? Does the flickr thing bother you? Maybe I just need more practice to get it set up properly.

update:
Well, I found the first issue, for me at least. Flickr is blocked at work. So none of the pictures show up at all. Anyone else have that problem? Could kill the Flickr integration piece.

The Promised Land

Ticket to NFC Championship Game: $500.

New outerwear to survive -5 temp: $400.
Brett Favre's 2007 salary: $11,000,000.
Seeing the Green Bay Packers in the Super Bowl: PRICELESS.

DAMN RIGHT IT'S PRICELESS!! CAUSE THEY'RE NOT GOING.

Can you tell I'm still a little upset? Three days later and I still have not been able to bring myself to visit cnnsi.com or espn.com. And I don't think I'll watch the Super Bowl now. I hate the Patriots, but I can't exactly cheer for the Giants now, can I? But did I let the outcome of the game ruin my trip? No Way!

This was my first trip to Lambeau Field, after all. Only 29 years into my fanhood (yes, it began at birth). And the weather was the stuff legends are made of. I was one of 72,470 brave (or foolish) souls to venture out and cheer on my team!

Here's my dad in front of the Lombardi statue. Interesting story: as a kid, my dad grew up in DePere, right outside of Green Bay, and actually attended a game with the Lombardi family!

Here we both are, mostly bundled up. Four or more layers, with pocket heaters in the gloves, boots, and pockets.
Pre-kickoff. Here you can see the five number the Packers have retired in over 75 years of existence. Don Hutson, Tony Canadeo, Bart Starr, Ray Nitschke, and Reggie White.
Who are those two people? The Gander Mountain only had a camo balaclava, so that's what I got, and am I glad I did!!
In addition to the retired jerseys, there is the "Ring of Fame." In actuality, the people listed on the facade are the Packer's Pro Football Hall of Fame members (as opposed to the Packer Hall of Fame).
And finally, a picture from our seats. Section 129, Row 50.
Overall, we had a great time, even if they didn't pull it out. The Pack didn't play very well at all, with only one big play and one sustained drive. It's not like there weren't chances, but it just wasn't our year.

I will forever be haunted by those last words over the PA system: "And the field goal is good..."