Coming Too Close

First off, been in sort of a shock state-of-mind today as I found out that No Use For A Name's Tony Sly passed away at the age of 41. Still unsure of the reason, but all I know is, that the punk rock community won't be the same. I saw No Use perform quite a few times and was incredibly fortunate to run into Tony after a memorable show in the Rave basement.  He posed for a picture, and signed my record. Hard to believe it'd be the last time I'd see him and the group perform. They were quite underrated and it's a big loss. May take a while to get over this. Not even sure I can listen to them right now. Okay, on to more positive things. (the picture is from the Milwaukee show 2005)

Had quite a lot of fun with Mia today. She gobbled up a banana at my Kwik Trip before hanging with my dad in the early afternoon. Later, Jill and I went swimming. Mia walked straight in as far as her little  body could go before she thought "oh crap, I'm getting a little too deep here. Water's up to my neck!" This kid loves the pool. It's great after 6 because it only costs Jill and I $8 to get in. Mia's still free. So anyways, I guess the last time Jill and her Ma took Mia to the pool, she really enjoyed watching the kids go down the slides. There's one slide that was more her size and she really wanted to try it. Jill said "Well I'm not doing this!" So I said "hell, why not, I'll hold her on my lap". So she excitedly walked up the stairs holding my hand. I placed her on my lap and held on. I scooted down and we flew faster then I thought. As soon as the slide hit the water, I went under very quickly but like a smart, protective dad kept Mia high above my head. I sort of freaked out because I had no idea what in the world just happened. I probably should have put my legs down as soon as we hit the bottom but I didn't even think of it because I had her on my lap. Stupid. Luckily, we were fine and of course like any daredevil kid, Mia wanted to do it again. I said "forget it, we'll do it next time kiddo". If I would have put my legs down when we entered the water, it probably would have been fine, but the slide is quite steep. One lady laughed at me but when SHE went down she experienced something similar. "HOLY crap you REALLY fly down this thing!" Her boyfriend or husband too had something similar. I think he even hit his tailbone on the bottom. "NEVER AGAIN" he said.

Later in the deeper end, Mia said "ALL DONE!" then "ICE CREAM!" So, the park was closing and we headed home. She kept repeating "ICE CREAM" so we picked up Jill's mom and headed out to Kopps. Easily our favourite place to get custard. Mia and I shared a dish of vanilla, but after a few spoonfuls, she would rather eat that little triangle cookie piece they give you. When we got home, we went on a firefly adventure trying to catch some, but soon realized that the local bats were hunting them and other bugs. Mia would say "BAT!!" when she'd see one. Overall, great day off.

Sold the dog portrait finally to the guy. Glad to get it out of my house. Ready to start my Stamkos photo for my Dad. That's all for now :) Thanks for reading dudes

Falling Like Rain

Heyyyyyyyyyy...whatttttss uppppp???? (in my David Luiz voice from Chelsea FC) Lots been happening over here. Let's discuss. First off, last weekend, we celebrated mine and my twin's birthday early at Stonefire Pizza not too far from our house. Great place, especially for kids. Lots of different pizzas at the pizza bar, and the games were a lot of fun. Jill and I were discussing tonight how she'd just go to play the Deal or No Deal game over and over. I enjoyed beating the crap out of my lil bro Andy at air hockey, 7-1. Almost a clean sheet too. He got lucky on his only goal :) The racing games were fun too. Sometimes it's just a blast to be a kid again. Especially with the big 30 coming next year :( Anyways, got some great gifts. TONS of beer. Good beer too. Jill's aunt sent me an Amazon gift card (which will be going to a Chelsea FC jersey), and my sister got me a cool Penguins poster. The biggest surprise was what my loving wife Jill had in store for me. She had some funny and cool shirts for Mia for me, and something she had our parents help contribute for: A Sidney Crosby 3rd hockey jersey. It MATCHES Mia's Winter Classic one Jill got for me FOR her for fathers day. I am SO stoked! So incredibly stoked. Jill's going to take some amazing photos of us. Can't wait to see how they turn out :) I tell ya, my wife is amazing. So amazing. Totally caught me off guard on this gift.

Today, Mia and I visited my dad at home, headed over to visit my mom at work, stopped at KT for a banana (which she loved) and she napped on the drive home. Turning into a weekly habit. make some visits, eat the banana then BOOM, sleep easily on the drive home. Later tonight, I told Mia that Chelsea was playing later and she kept saying "GOALLLL" so she caught part of the 2nd half with me. She loved it, and I'm not just saying that. I hope to coach her on a soccer team some day. That could be a fun saturday activity :) We also did a little drumming today with Jill behind the camera. Mia didn't wanna drum too long. Probably tired-ish. Anyways, as I type this, it's midnight. July 26th. At 8-something am, I'll be 29. Not the most exciting age to be. Way too close to 30. Something has to change this year. I need a more solid, creative outlet. I'm not putting out art as much as I could, not playing in a band (which is fine because that takes a TON of energy)...What I really need to do, is play some bloody SOCCER! Right now, open soccer is THURSDAY indoor and I'm only off Wednesdays....ahhhhhhhhh....SOME day....hopefully someday soon. Watching Chelsea today made me really wanna play some sort of soccer with some guys again.

Okay that's all for now. Thanks for reading :)

Rabbit Heart

Wonderful day off. Mia and I spent most of the day paying visits to some friends and family members, did some grocery shopping, and later when my wifey came home, we even went to the nearby water park. It turns out that it's cheaper to get in after 6pm. When we arrived, a cold front sort of came through, but we still jumped in the water anyways. Not a lot of people floating in the pool at 6:30pm. No big deal. It eventually got cold enough to split and head home for the night, before this lovely thunderstorm rolled in. I use the word "lovely" very lightly. As a kid and teen, I absolutely loved storms . I thoroughly enjoyed those crazy storms with the lighting and thunder. The power outages were quite fun, trying to come up with different things to keep you occupied. I remember one summer the only thing that we could enjoy for entertainment, was this super old set of radio head phones and for some reason, a bunch of Queen songs were playing at the moment. Even later as a teen and adult I loved storms.

 When I started disliking them, is when we adopted Remi. Some pets handle bad weather fine, others like my dog, are terrified. He didn't use to be. A few years ago, I used to walk him in the rain all the time. He totally didn't care. These days, the first crack of thunder, he's done. This morning he wanted to bolt across the street during our walk and I had to keep him calm and tell him 'wait till the cars cross dude!". Thankfully, Mia's at the age where storms don't really bother her. Even better, they don't keep her up when she's trying to sleep, which is very awesome. We still have to worry about Remi pacing around the house, trying to find a good place to hide. Poor dog!

This weekend, we're celebrating mine and my sister's birthday since I work on my actual birthday next week. I have no idea what Jill has in store, but I'm stoked :)

Other then that, nothing else exciting to talk about. Still on the fence if I want to throw together another Pirates photobomb picture. Need a little inspiration. I also need to start my Stamkos photo for my pop. Luckily, it's not a major priority.

Thanks for reading :)

Birds and Ships

Unbelievable day off today. Well first off, let's discuss last weekend's road trip to the Indiana san dunes. Hot as hell of a day for a trip to the zoo/dunes that Saturday, but we had a great time with Leanne, Rick, Jacqui and their little Caleb. Mia seemed to really take a shine to Mr. Caleb. Kept trying to give him smooches and hugs. He wasn't super into it most of the time. Hahaha, but what little boy is? Mia seemed to really enjoy the big cats at the zoo. Loved watching the tigers. Kept saying "big kitttty". Super adorable. A cool exhibit was the river otters. It was rather rad that they had this small tube for the kids to crawl into to watch the otters swim around them. After the zoo, we headed to the beach. Great day, if there was one to jump in the water. Felt amazing, except the horrid sun burn Rick and I received! Mia actually fell asleep in the water too! Rick and I saw the girls out in the water and I thought "I wonder if Mia passed out" since she didn't nap at all that day...Sure enough she was out, so I carefully walked her back through the sand to the car. All and all, great weekend.

So back to today. Tuesday morning I came up with the idea that Miss Mia and I would spend a few hours together at OUR zoo. So at work Tuesday, it was all I could think about: A nice day to ourselves.  I packed her bag, through the stroller in the trunk and we headed out later in the morning. The goal was to hit up some exhibits we missed the last time we were there, which included the Big Cats, the Aviary and the animals of Australia. Well she couldn't have been more excited in the Big Cats exhibit. We actually went through it twice. The 2nd time was great awesome. The cheetah was pacing around the cage/habitat. At one point, the cat saw Mia and started to walk towards her. Mia quickly said "NO NO NO NO NO!" Very cute. So I got her up and we headed over to the large lion again. The lion got up and faced the glass and started to ROAR loudly. In all my years of going to the zoo as a kid, I've NEVER seen the lion roar before. The building was almost shaking too. But the highlight was while the lion was roaring, Mia was cracking up laughing! She couldn't stop giggling. It was too funny. Sharing lunch with her was just another little moment that I really enjoyed. Found myself having to take her out of the stroller in between exhibits to see some of the animals that weren't close. Later tonight, we were outside catching fireflies. She didn't care for them crawling on her face though, haha. One of the best days off I've had in quite some time. Thursday, the grandmas are taking her to Cool Waters. Should be a great day to splash around :)

Okay, time to finish this beer and head off to bed. Later :)

1000 Answers

What a great, busy and eventful Saturday. This morning I woke up super tired and utterly confused on what day it was. My alarm went off and I normally don't set it for a weekend unless I'm working the early shift on a sunday. I thought "uhh...is it Friday? Thursday? Oh wait it's Saturday!"  Today, we packed up the car with beach stuff and headed out to Madison to spend some time with my older brother, his wifey and my nephew Alex.  Checked out the infamous Madison Farmer's Market, which I've heard a lot of great things about. It really is huge. We didn't even make the smallest dent in seeing everything. I did pick up a loaf of some spicy bread my friend Stephanie recommended. It was very tasty. Jill and I also got some smoothies and bubble tea. Mia drank some of my smoothie, and totally loved it. After the farmers market, we headed out to lunch at this mexican bar/restaurant (the name escapes me) the food was very good. Then, it was off to the beach.

Mia was so excited to see the beach again. It may not have been the clear waters of the beautiful ocean, but she didn't seem to mind too much. I helped Alex build sandcastles while Jill played with her in the water with my bro. All of the awesome weather and fun in the water exhausted the kids and they could barely keep their eyes open on the drive back. I didn't want Mia to fall asleep in their van so I tried to give her a little snack to keep her awake. Alex was eating some too but his eyes were getting droopy. Mia eventually passed out for about 2 minutes. She got a 2nd wind of energy playing with their cats and dog. Overall, great day. Jill's mom got to have the day to herself to do whatever she needed to, and not chase Mia around the house or yard. Saturday's are such an important day for Jill and I. It's the one day that we both are off and can spend time together as a family. We always try to do something fun or important on Saturday. Last weekend's visit to the zoo was an amazing time. We bought a family pass and plan on going as much as possible. I already took her by myself last Tuesday while Jill went to PT. The short 30 min visit was so much fun. Mia loved the penguins and gorilla/monkey exhibit she missed last weekend.

This week should go pretty quick. Work Sunday, Monday, Tuesday Thursday. Off Fri-Sun and we're heading down to the Indiana sand dunes. I have no idea what to expect. Hopefully Mia will survive the drive. That's all that matters. And of course she has fun with Jacqui, Rick, Leanne and Caleb. Hope everyone who's going to Summerfest has a great time and stay safe. That's all for now friends. Thanks for reading :)

Perfect Lines

Hey Hey! Had a delightful Father's Day for the most part :) Worked a busy 9am-5pm shift, followed by  dinner with my familia. Got a hand-made card of Mia's hands in the shape of a heart. Plus, a gift for Mia for myself. A little Penguins 3rd jersey for her to wear. Jill KNEW I wanted it for our little one and I can't wait to get a photo of her in it! She'll be ready for September when hockey starts up :)

Boy it's been hot this week. I've been getting tons of complaints at work "oh it's SOOO hot, this sucks" I'm sorry but I'll take heat over snow any day of the week. So Summerfest is coming up next week. It's been quite a while since we've attended. There's been a lot of great bands but I just don't have the time or patience. To get a great spot, you really have to get there early. Like, 3 hours maybe 4 early. I've been there early and to be honest, it's incredibly boring waiting and waiting and waiting. I've stood in the rain a few times waiting for Alkaline Trio and A.F.I. Both great amazing shows. This year, there are 4 amazing bands playing that I most likely won't be able to see. Ben Folds Five is playing this year, which is absolutely amazing. Seeing the original band would be something else to take in and enjoy. I can't imagine how insane the crowd will be. The Promise Ring, another recently reunited group that would be great to see. I saw them in their earlier years at Summerfest with my sister and it was a great experience in front row.

Now, if you're going to the Fest with just the intentions to drink and enjoy the food and walk around the grounds, and it happens to be the day the Hives are playing, you really need to catch them. They are the essence of rock and roll. Their live show is something everyone should catch when they can, and Summerfest is the perfect place to do it. Howlin' Pele, their front men makes the crowd beg for more songs. As I type, I'm remembering the time we saw them at the Rave and how much fun it was. Easily one of the best shows I've seen there. Last but not least, the Smoking Popes are playing this year and I absolutely love them. Great live performers, and they pack the set list full of songs. There, I'm done. Hahaha.

Mia actually was saying "dadda" and "daddy" today which made me feel quite good, since she says "MOM" and "Momma" a lot. She had a doctor appt today. Nothing worse then taking your kid in for shots. Especially if it's three of them. Post-shots, she's always fine. A little tender on the legs, but fine overall. Next one's are 18 months. Should be walking very well on her own by then. She does well now but gets nervous at times and likes to hold on to one finger. I truly am a lucky man. I may complain about work and the stress of current situations, but there's nothing like having this little family always on my mind. My little girl and my always-adoring wife. Nothing could be better.

That's it for now. :)

Architects and Engineers

First of all, big win for the Los Angelas Kings tonight. having a Leinies to celebrate as I type. My brother Andy kept me updated on game 6 while I worked a busy shift at KT. I also made a friendly wager to a regular customer that they'd hoist the cup tonight. We 'bet' a beverage from KT of the winner's choice. Looks like tomorrow I'm gettin a 40! Haha! kidding. Didn't write last week in the blog. Things I've been thinking about I didn't feel like writing about. Again. But, I HAVE been keeping myself busy, art wise! :) Last week when I was at work,  I thought about those common photo bomb photos of people being silly in the background of photos. Then there's also been super heros photoshopped into some older photos. Fun, right?  So anyways, I thought to myself, "why don't I do a few photo bombs of some classic photos in time, but instead of super heros, use some characters from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies??" In the words of some of the old Guinness ads, "BRILLIANT!" So I've got about 4 so far complete and up on the Thrill Factory art page on Facebook. So far, the response has been pretty good. The small project was put together mainly for laughs  and fun. Not sure I'll do much more, but we'll see what happens next. Nearly complete with the dog portrait. Next-a Steve Stamkos picture for my pop.

Last wedding of the year this weekend for my buddy Steve, who used to work at KT with me. When i first transfered there, he was like, 17 or 18. Can't believe the guy is getting married. His fiance is real nice, so I bet this marriage will last a life time. They seem quite happy together. I don't think we're bringing Mia with us, since we're uncertain she'll behave well in church. Not too big of a deal, I suppose. With all the heat we've had lately, she's been able to enjoy her pool and her new water table. Even the neighbor kids came over the other day and played while I was at work. I love it that she plays well with other kids. I'd hate to have the kid who flips out or doesn't wanna play well with others. That's all for now :) Off to bed.