Happy New Year and Other Tales

I know it's late, but Happy New Year.

I spent New Year's Eve and early morning at Saucy's Sports Bar in Manitowoc. As you might imagine this is the home of Manitowoc's finest. It's not where I would have picked had I known better, but I was out with Brian, his wife and some of his friends so I really didn't object. Dinner and hanging out at his place was entertaining and relatively relaxing, the bar not so much.

I try to be modest and accommodate other people (honestly) but I couldn't help but feeling arrogant/superior/holier-than-thou while I was at the bar. First off, I don't drink by personal choice so folks whose sole idea of fun is getting tanked are not going to impress me. Second, I hate rap music (demeaning, low brow, no talent, uncivilized...in the main) and it was played loud to the point that my ears were still ringing during the Rose Bowl. Third, smoking is stupid and the smoke was so thick that my lungs and eyes burned after we left until I woke up in the morning. Fourth, there are some people who don't understand that their figure is such that tight/revealing clothing is a bad idea; many were there dancing at that--my skin crawls thinking about it. With that all pointed out I really did feel superior knowing that I have greater depth in my pinky than was shown by the majority of the people there. I did, however, find it amusing in the sense of a scientist watching rats in a maze. These rats wouldn't have found the cheese. I really think that the end of the gene pool represented there wouldn't be hurt by chlorine. It was better than not doing anything at all, but is not something I am soon to repeat. My goal will be to find a classier place to guide folks to for next year.

Another entertaining saga was shelf building. I decided before Christmas to reorganize my office now that I am planning to stay in this slot for a while longer. Part of this involves reorganizing the closet which therefore needed shelving. I shopped for pre-made shelves and was horrified at the cost ($50 for the cheapest in the right size) so I decided to build my own. Brian let me use his tools and basement to work on the project so I met him in Manitowoc and we purchased supplies for my project and a project he was working on in his basement. My material cost was about $26 total. As I began building the shelving unit in stages, I began to realize that while I know the procedure and design techniques for the project, my skills in the actual execution are rusty. It did end up working out in the end after about three times the time it should have taken and it certainly is not going to break any time soon.

My last note for this post is that as of this morning Brian and I officially made Quality District. I'm relieved that we're done and excited as it looks really good on both of our records and I know that it was really a team effort. The daunting part is to repeat it for 2007 which will be a challenge still, but we certainly know what we did right and wrong and hopefully can finish earlier this year.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!