Rallies Down The Road

Wisconsin has been national news lately as our new governor, Scott Walker, tries to pass a budget repair bill that effectively takes away the rights of most public employees to collectively bargain for their compensation.  Just a mile and a half or so from my house rallies have been taking place daily, closing schools for most of last week (yet not really affecting our lives unless we drive down the isthmus).  Senators have actually left the state to block passage.  Well, you can easily find the story online if you wish to know more.  Here's some pics from the last few days as rallies continue downtown, inside and outside of the capital building.

As for me, well...

Drunken Baby

My wife and I met friends at a nearby tavern last night to celebrate a birthday.  It was a lot of fun, in fact, a bit too much fun for me and I'm paying the price today.  I think last night ended up kind of like this:

via

110 Degrees In, 55 Degrees Out

Meanwhile, on the physical therapy front, I managed to reach 110 degrees tonight, barely.  It took a lot of warming up and stretching to get the last few degrees.  Progress is slow these days, just a few degrees a week, despite my hard work.  During the day I do knee bends at my desk and I try to tuck my leg under my chair when I'm sitting to push on it some more.  When I get home I do another exercise with a big rubber band around a pole and the back of my knee as resistance to help strengthen it, then I get on the bike and go a mile and a half or 2 miles with very little resistance while slowly moving the seat up closer to bend my knee more and more.  All this for a few degrees a week, but any progress is good progress at this point.  I may not get the range of motion back that I had before but I sure as hell don't want that to be for a lack of trying.

In other news, temperatures got up into the 50's today.  Much snow has melted and people are loving this weather greatly.  I, too, enjoy temperatures above freezing for a change but my excitement is tempered knowing that we're not done yet.  Mother Nature surely has more winter in store for us.  It is, after all, only the middle of February in Wisconsin!

Happy Valentine's Day

(click for bigger)

Update:  I spent about 70 bucks, but I couldn't find the Godiva liqueur she wanted so I got Bailey's and Tequila Rose instead.  Also, no decent chocolate was left so I got a bag of Hershey's Kisses.  It will have to do.

Pic Dump 26

It has been over a month since I've dumped all those pics I come across that tickled my fancy for one reason or another so I guess it's time to do it again!  Remember, there is no real rhyme or reason for this collection of pics.  Don't judge me!  Same as always, click the pic for original size, some are nsfw and more after the break!

Of course, thanks to the fine sites on My Other Favorites list on the right!

Ever Been This Drunk?

Jonco's betting you've never been this drunk.  Maybe not, but I have been embarrassingly close a couple times.  All I really know right now is that I have not laughed so hard in quite a while, but I am in a mood.   Nsfw, at your on risk, et cetera.  Click here.

Super Bowl and Time Management

Yes, I have been ignoring the blogosphere the last few days.  If you somehow haven't heard, the Green Bay Packers won the Super Bowl Sunday night.  Since then, most of my computer time has been for soaking up anything and everything Packers with a little trying to keep up with my podcasts.  Anyway,  I'm back... And the Green Bay Packers are Super Bowl Champions!  Woohoo!!

I have noticed these past few days how I've been too busy.  Too much of my time is taken up reading the paper and scouring the web.  Enough so that I'm actually considering discontinuing the daily paper and just getting the Sunday edition (or I think they make you get Sunday and Wednesday minimum - because of the ads, of course).   I have read the daily newspaper since I was a kid almost continuously so that would be a much bigger change in my lifestyle than it sounds.

I need to scale back on my computer time as well.  I don't follow nearly as many blogs as I used to, but some of the inane timewaster sites can go.  Yet I browse those while listening to podcasts.  Hmmm, I'm going to have to give up something I enjoy, most likely.  I have an addictive personality with big OCD tendencies, which is probably how I got into all these things.  Giving something up shouldn't be too hard for me once I put my mind to it.  But deciding what goes is gonna be a killer.

One Day Until The Big Game!

The Black And White News has put together a very good motivational video for Packer fans.

UK, Great Britain, England...

This is one of my 'I think I know it when I see it but don't ask me to explain it' things, explained.  Still, how does that go again?

via

Blizzard '11

If you haven't heard, much of the midwest and northeast have been pummelled with snow, ice and wind.  Our neighborhood is no different.  The snow and wind were nonstop last night and we awoke to the last snow showers and falling winds that became sunshine by midday.

Once more I must praise my wife for tackling this challenge with minimal help from me.  She really is wonderful, and will be not wonderfully sore after this.  This is looking towards the end of our driveway:

Before:  blinding white masses.



After:  some perspective now, eh?



Click for full size, or just click read more for these and some more before and after shovelling shots.