MIdsommar Madness....

So, last night, I threw a little Midsommar party - Swedish style. We held it at my niece's house across the street because she has a big yard and a great big deck. I made Swedish meatballs, boiled eggs with caviar, salmon, new potatoes, cheese, and had lingonberries. My family and friends showed up with noodle casserole, chips and dips, tamales and strawberries. It was also my friend Jamey's birthday so we had a little cake. We sang Swedish songs and danced around a tree in lieu of a Maypole. Oh, and those Swedish songs were drinking songs so there was plenty of schnapps to go around...

and around....

and around...

and....

well, you get the picture.

Today I am nursing a pretty serious hang over. I haven't had a hang over in years so this is not pretty.

Did I have fun? Oh hell yes!
Will I do it again?

Let's just say I'm happy this Midsommar stuff only happens once a year!

The Americanization of Al...

This weekend was, of course, a holiday weekend here. It was the celebration of American independence from England way back in 1776. These days, we celebrate it by waving the flag, festooning our yards with red, white and blue, eating lots of bratwursts and drinking cold beer. The bratwurst is purely a Wisconsin thing. I'm sure in other areas of the US they have chicken, ribs, hamburgers and hot dogs. In Wisconsin if you're not eating a brat at a picnic you must be from Illinois.

This weekend we were at my niece's house for a huge blast of a party. So much food and drink and it was hot. I'm talking desert hot. Humidity that melted you even if you were in the shade. But it was fun so we sweltered through it. While there, we were commenting on how many different variations of Alexander's name my family has come up with. When they first met him, 5 years ago, some of them simply could not remember the name "Alex" and would call him "Eric". Why, you may ask? They associated the name "Eric" with Norway. So even though Alexander is from Sweden they associated him with Norway and called him Eric. Parts of my family are weird.

Once the got to know him, the name became Alec. With a C. Not an X. Also wrong. There's one whole faction of my family who can't say his name with an X. I have no idea why.

This weekend, my sister Patsy, started calling him "Al". Alright, that's where we draw the line! He is not an AL. She said that was the "American version" of his name. I had to point out that I have met other Americans named Alex before and that Alex wasn't necessarily an exotic, unpronounceable name! Alex has been a good sport throughout all of this. But he is Alexander. Always Alexander, sometimes Alex, but mostly Alexander! Not, for the love of all that's holy, AL!

Happy Independence Day!

KHDS Employee Appreciation Picnic...

Today was our 4th Annual Employee Appreciation Picnic which for the first time due to the weather turned into the "How Many Employees Can We Cram Into Our Conference Rooms At One Time" Extravaganza! The supervisors do all the organizing, planning, set up and take down. When we saw that we're getting the residual of Hurricane Ike all the way up here in Wisconsin, we made the call that this shindig would have to be indoors. At first, the turn out was slow and we thought that maybe the weather had deterred the workers from showing up but after hour one there was a steady stream of people coming in until there were no chairs left and very little standing room. The food arrived an hour late too. Even though the AC was on, it was hot up in therr. But it turned out that everyone really had a great time and just rolled with the punches.

This year, just like all previous years, I was in charge of getting free raffle prizes. Everyone who comes get in the drawing and we give away lots of free stuff. I outdid myself this year even if I do say so myself. I managed to get donations from a ton of places and we were giving away everything from t-shirts to gift certificates to ipods to cold hard cash. This big excitement was over the $25 gas cards I got what with gas prices spiked up to $4 a gallon here now.

It was a good day in spite of the punting we had to do at the last minute. I was hot and dead-tired when I got home but it's always nice to make something nice happen for people who work so hard.

Independence Day...

Yesterday, we had the official July 4th celebration here in Kenosha. That means we had an all day cook out with about 100 people, some of which I knew, and much alcohol. The day started at 2pm and lasted until well after dark. We ended the night watching the city's fireworks display while sitting on the rocks down at Lake Michigan. The night was cool and clear and there were so many boats on the lake with their lights twinkling. It would be great to see the fireworks from a boat on the lake one day!

The fireworks were spectacular! Really beautiful and BIG!

Kenosha is such a predictable town. I mean, I do love certain aspects of it but, on July 4th, sitting by the lake for the fireworks, there are certain things you can expect to see each and every year. For example, you will always see the family with the out of control kids that have taxed their parents patience which has caused them to have a very public, very loud argument involving "colorful" terms for one another. You can also bank on being near a vocal group of non-plussed teens who think it's oh so cool to speak loudly about how bored they are with it all and how it would be so much better if they were smoking crack! The irony is, it's a pretty safe bet that none of them have ever actually even seen a crack pipe let alone smoked it but it is a very "cool", controversial thing for them to declare at a family event like the lakefront fireworks. You will also see, without fail, mass groups of people firing off illegal fireworks within feet of one another. Firing off fireworks without a permit is illegal here. You can't even have them in your possession. Selling them, however, is perfectly legal - go figure. And, honestly, unless someone blows off their own hand, the police just kind of look the other way.

All in all, it was a grand day. Only the first of the three day celebration that will go on here. Today, there will be a low key swim party at my sister's house. Tomorrow, the Kenosha Civic Parade! w00t! My niece, Wendy, marched with The Band of the Black Watch so we're all going to cheer her on. She'll be glad it's the last parade of the weekend. She marched in 4 parades yesterday in Illinois!

The Magic Circle

I'm not sure if it's the same with other football fans but here in Wisconsin we are extremely superstitious. In addition to the usual (usual??) superstitions like making sure to wear the same socks for each game or bringing out the Packer prayer rug (Not kidding...these really exist) we have what we call "magic circles". This means that whoever was invited to watch the big game MUST be in attendance for the next one. The game has to be watched at the same place - no moving it to the local bar if you watched at home or moving it to someone else's house. This rule can only be broken if the original host becomes terminally ill and is unable to host the game party. Even if they are ill, if they are well enough to lay on the couch connected to life support - they host. Lucky food products have to be purchased - no changing the menu at the last minute. If you started the season with the hot wings, you end it with the hot wings. And, everyone has to sit in exactly the same place they sat at the last game. No exceptions - so get a comfy spot early in the season or you're going to have a sore ass by the playoffs.

Next week, the Pack takes on New York at Lambeau. (Oh the joy! Did I mention Dallas lost?) My family and a select few friends will be, once again, at my sister's home. We will have Brett Favre Beer Brats (Not making this up - we have those here in WI.), guacamole and chips, Greenbay Packer cookies, and (drum roll please) hot wings. We will also drink Brandy and the occasional beer. (Did you know Wisconsin consumes more Brandy than any other state? I'm not sure why...) We will wear our Packer gear - the EXACT same gear that we have been wearing to each game all season long. We choose our Packer wardrobe seriously because if the Pack has a good season, we'll be wearing it a long time! My sister's home will be a virtual shrine to the Packers. She will have her life size cut out of Brett Favre next to her fireplace. He will be wearing his Superbowl - New Orleans beads and have his Packer towel cast over his shoulder in a jaunty manner. On the side table, covered with a Packer table cloth, she will lovingly place every single newspaper that has ever had a headline about the Packers which will artfully surround a framed team photo signed by Mike McCarthy which she won in an auction. In front of this will be the unopened jar of Gilbert Brown peanut butter.

On the entertainment center, there will be every food product container that any Packer ever graced - baked beans, Wheaties, Campbell's soup cans, etc. Just below the rather large screen TV she will have hung Reggie White's jersey with the honor and reverence it so deserves. On the backs of the two couches will be, at least, 6 or 7 Packer blankets and she will have covered all the throw pillows with Packer t-shirts. We will sit in this order, from left to right, Kelly, Kathy, Terry, me, Carrie, Patsy, Peter, George. This is our sacred circle. We would like to be pleasant and invite more to join us but we cannot. That could mean disaster for the Pack. Those other people will have to find someplace else to watch the game. Get their own circle. We will be loud. The dog will have to be put in the basement for saefty purposes.

And, by god, the Pack will win!

Oi!

Last night my staff and I went out. We were given some cash from the DD Coordinator at the county to help us celebrate the fact that we were successful in getting all of our cases enrolled into a new funding system. That was 400 in less than 7 months. No small task but we did it and maintained our sanity...sort of. Anyway...we left work at 3pm and headed over to TG's (a local bar/restaurant. We had dinner and then those of us who didn't have to rush home stayed at the bar and imbibed. We were, undoubtedly, the life of the bar. At one point, we pretty much had everyone in the bar including the bartenders and two of the waitresses dancing to James Brown. "Get up offa that thang!" Twas fun!

Next we went to Paddy O's which is an Irish pub. There were about 5 people in the bar when we got there. Had a few more drinks. Ended up shaking things up by performing a group rap of "Baby Got Back". Yes, there was dancing, if you can call it that!



We ended the night at Stan's on Washington which is called that to keep people from mixing it up with...wait, there's no other place called Stan's here in Kenosha, so I don't know why they felt the need to clarify where it was located in the name of the place. The place was ubercrowded but we muscled our way to a table. More drinks! Vodka! Had an hour long conversation about the mullet/braided pigtail some guy was sportin' at the bar. Yes, mullets rule in Wisconsin. Hey, if you hit your hairdo peak in 1982 you might as well stick with it, right?

There is a distinct advantage to going out for a night of drinking and debauchery with my staff. They respect me as their boss and so felt the need to keep buying me drinks! Ten and a half hours of bar hopping and I spent a total of $5. Sweet!



We left Stan's (on Washington) at 1:30am. Took a moment for sloppy group hugs telling each other how much we loved each other. Luckily, Stan's is only 5 blocks from my house. I came home and when to bed and slept like a baby.

Arnie, the wondercat, decided that 6am was just about the right time to pounce on the head of his hungover person (ME) and insist that all sleeping would cease immediately. I love my kitty but I do confess to a few thoughts that bordered on animal cruelty. Even hungover, I just can't get mad at the little monster. Except when he bites my hair...cause that shit hurts! But it did get me out of bed. Oi!