Trip to Galena

We rode to Galena, Illinois this weekend for a little getaway. We decided to take the highway (I-43 to I-39) to get out of town since it was overcast, windy, just a little chilly. Normally we would take more scenic roads that took more time but we figured we should just get there, get off the bike and hope for a warmer, more scenic ride back tomorrow. Luckily, the main route through Illinois to Galena is US-20 which is also named the Ulysses S Grant Memorial Highway and it brought some great views along the way. It was a pretty fast 186-mile ride.

Downtown Galena was a nice, quaint place. The historical buildings were impressive and we enjoyed a walk to Grant Park. There were plenty of Ulysses S. Grant information stops and historical items available to see since this was his birth place. We walked the downtown shops, stopped to buy some cheeses and chocolates, then went to a wine tasting. I will admit that I do not like Wisconsin wines. Every time we've gone to a wine tasting, I end up buying a bottle of something I don't really like that much. So I decided that we would buy no wine here in Illinois. I was assuming it was like the Wisconsin counterpart. We picked up a bottle to go with the cheeses and chocolates. It was so much better than any Wisconsin wine I've ever had, that I had a hard time picking out just one.

After that we checked out the restaurants on our downtown walk in order to pick a place for dinner later in the evening. It was a good day to be out and about on these pretty streets.
Then we went back to the hotel to soak in the hot tub with the wine and cheeses. It felt good to get the dirt from the 3-plus hours' ride off. After a relaxing late afternoon, we got dressed and headed back downtown for a wonderful dinner. It was a nice way to end a good day of travel.

After a morning soak in the hot tub, we packed the bike up and headed towards Dubuque, Iowa. We took the back roads and enjoyed the rolling hills and the georgeous Illinois country side. The views were surprisingly incredible. I had the impression that the land was nothing but corn and soy and very flat. Boy was I wrong!

We got to Dubuque where there is a Riverwalk on the Mississippi River. Getting off the bike for a walk was a nice change of pace. So I walked down to the water to put my hand in and found it pleasantly warm. Warmer than I expected anyway. I told Jeff that next time we ride this way we will have to plan a picnic lunch at this spot, it's quite the incredible view.

The Mississippi River Walk had an art fair with many pieces along the river. We stopped and checked them all out as well as a railroad trestle build in the 1840's that was still in tact over the river. We saw egrets and blue herons walking in the water searching for food. We took some photos and headed back to the bike. I thought it would be cool if we could bring back some Iowa corn, but seeing as we were in downtown Dubuque on a Sunday, there weren't alot of farmers or farmers' markets around. So no Iowa corn.

We hit the road again and enjoyed roller coaster like ride out of town. The twists and turns in the roads were great fun on a motorcycle. We stopped at a farm and picked up a dozen ears of Illinois corn. After a few hours on the bike we found a small town where we had a late lunch. A truck driver in the booth next to us heard us reviewing maps and he gave us details on how to get to one of the state highways in order to ride through lots of small towns on our way back to Wisconsin. It was good advice, the ride was wonderful. By the time we got home we had a renewed sense of adventure, one that we hadn't felt in a long time so I am really glad we went.

Strange work stuff

The poser is let go, or quit or something. I really don't know how it went but he's gone. From little innuendoes from the boss, I think he was fired. At the same time I didn’t think she had the energy to do the paperwork. So I’m gonna go with quit… or something.

Zappa plays Zappa

I bought tickets for the Zappa plays Zappa show as a gift for Jeff. The show comes highly recommended by a music professional/enthusiast that I trust at work. I had no expectations about the show, it was just a gift and it seems that as we get older the experiences we have are more important than things one collects.

The music lover from work invited us along with his group the day of the concert for drinks and dinner before the show. I loved the idea, although I wasn't so sure about showing up for drinks 3 hours before the show started. Since I'm not good at handling alcohol, too much time can be a bad thing.

We got to the bar 15 minutes after our host and his son arrived. His other friends were not there yet so it was the four of us. It made for a great start to the evening being able to chat in a smaller group. The Harp was going down nicely which worried me. We discussed the son's recent college graduation and some of his future plans. We talked about the friends that were expected to come in the door at any moment, but mostly we talked about the music. There were many great bands in our pasts as well as theirs and it made for an interesting discussion.

Our host's friends came with another couple so we all introduced each other as the waitress asked us if we would like to move upstairs. The conversation is better, the view of downtown is better, and just maybe she had an idea that we were going to need the space. It was a great location for a sizeable group. Especially when our host's wife and daughter joined in, making us a group of 10. We talked and drank and laughed and drank until we had some dinner. Then we talked and drank some more.

It was a fun afternoon with interesting people. I felt comfortable, like I've known these people for a while even though I met most of them today. Such a very warm and friendly group. We knew our son-in-law was going to the show and from our view, we could see him and his brother walking across the street. I tried to text a message to get him to stop by but he didn't check the message in time.

As it turns out, there are four bands in this show. We thought it was just Zappa playing Zappa followed by Dream Theater. Since some of our group was interested in Zappa and some in Dream Theater, we all decided to skip the first two bands. So the concert I thought I was going to at 6 turned out to have a 7:20 start. And that meant more drinking, talking, laughing, and having fun. This evening is great and I haven't even seen a concert yet. I learned how good Bombay Sapphire gin is on ice, even though I knew it wasn't a good idea to mix the hard stuff with beer. So I'm still standing and it's all good.

We got to the show and had to kick people out of our seats. Five minutes later, it didn't matter, we moved up by the rest of our dinner group (there were three empy seats next to them so we took up two). Dweezil Zappa came on and it was magical. If I closed my eyes, I thought Frank was on the stage, truly amazing. I was remembering concerts of the 70's when Frank Zappa was in his prime and how the bands of those days came on stage in jeans, funky t-shirts and usually boots. I don't know why, but I always remember boots. Now I look on stage and I see some of the band in cargo shorts and running shoes. It feels wrong like a princess on a Harley wrong. I know it's just the changing times.

I think about how the images of the past flash by, like a collage of little snapshots in time. Leather boots, long haired guitar players, skinny lead singers, the back-up girls all moving in unison. Even though I can feel the electricity of the moment, the melancholy loss of my youth, the terrible events of this year all become part of the slide show images that flash by. Sounds of Frank through his son is a reminder of that past. I think of how Dweezil must feel when he plays his dad's music and I wonder. Does he miss him terribly, or does the music make him feel closer to his dad? I bet it's both, at least the thought brings me some comfort.

I open my eyes to the magic in the air from the music. There is a lot of talent on that stage. I really dig the xylophone sounds. As they finished their set, I was disappointed at how quickly the time had gone by. Even though it felt like he had just started playing, he was on the stage for over 45 minutes. What a great show.

The people who own these seats come to claim them for Dream Theater and we move back nine rows to our original spot. Jeff buys everyone a beer, our new friends buy more beer. More beer. Dream Theater plays and I am still feeling a sort of high from Zappa playing Zappa.

I bought these tickets as a gift for Jeff but at the end of this evening, I think the gift was mine.

Another bad boss

I haven't thought about my bad boss stories for a while. Although nothing has really changed since the last bad boss was fired. That's not totally a fair statement, having a bad boss hasn't changed it's just that the new version of the bad boss is very different from the old bad boss.

This new manager has been here a year. We pinned our hopes on a boss who was fair, knowledgeable and hard working, with the determination to set higher standards for our department since we are quality assurance. We did get someone who was knowledgeable. At least knowledgeable about how QA should work. As for the rest all we see is someone who is unfair, unmotivated and a pushover. She is nice to us, I will say that. But nice doesn't cut the mustard.

One of the first things on her agenda was to hire a replacement for someone who was leaving. A few interviews were conducted before she mentioned someone she worked with at her last job. She said she needed to convince him to submit his resume. It was looking like that company was going to close which is why she came here so she thought she could recruit someone else before they were all out of a job. It was difficult to convince him because he had the benefit of working from home. That would not be an option here, we only allow it for special circumstances (so we were told). So finally he came in. Some of the team got to interview him, and he was knowledgeable, in fact probably the best of the candidates available at that time.

So the boss buddy started working for us. He has a wacky schedule due to child care issues which isn't a bad thing for those he has to work with if it's consistent so his team always know when he can be counted on. After the first month of work went by the work at home days started. By the end of the third month there wasn't a single week without a work at home day. Others in the department joined in by taking last minute work at home days, following his lead. My child is sick, my basement is flooded, I have a doctor's appointment, my car broke down. The reasons were coming fast and furious as many on the team took advantage.

There is one person that the boss isn't really that fond of. Personally, I think this person is way overpaid for the little work they do and the expertise is suspect at best. He is a poser who makes excuses like it's too much to work on more than one project at a time, or he's never worked on that kind of software so he can't be expected to know what to do....whatever. So the boss probably has some justification for her dislike. As the work at home reasons kept coming month after month, it was May when one person decided to work from home on a Wednesday, boss buddy was going to work from home on Wednesday, then poser says he is going to do the same on Friday. No one asked for these days, they all just stated that's what they were going to do.

That was the straw that broke the pushover's back. Or so we thought.

So pushover boss sends a stern email to the team about too many work from home days, how it's not fair to those who use vacation/personal/sick for the same situations and to knock it off. Little did we know that she didn't mean that for everybody. In a one-on-one meeting I had I thanked her for putting her foot down and mentioned that one of the project managers thought that her boss buddy was part time since he was gone many days from the office. Pushover was shocked, she was complaining about the poser, not her buddy. So I guess I put my foot in my mouth on that one.

So the work from home days stopped for a whole week. Then boss buddy called in sick. The next day he called in sick again. But in the middle of the day we discovered he was assigned a project that same day to do from home. Since the project was just turned over, it was obvious she was covering for him by telling the staff he was sick but really he was working from home. We have the availability to run billable hours reports and that proved the work from home/sick cover up.

So here we go again on that rollercoaster of doing/fixing nothing. Just more bad treatment for some of us good employees.

The winning ticket (again)

Today I attended the Fore Life, Fore Hope Golf Outing at Scenic View Country Club. This was a charity event to raise money for the Medical College of Wisconsin's cancer research center. The real reason I went was that a co-worker, John was the chairperson and I don't mind helping him out. Plus I like golf, even though I am not very good at it.

My foursome played decently, considering none of us golf much. But mostly we had fun. It was a gorgeous day and the course is in Holy Hill, where rolling hills are the norm so the view was fantastic. By the end of the day the sun did me in, and I was ready to call it quits before the last hole. I did finish, even though it was tough.

We got to the clubhouse where we had a nice banquet dinner and the golf prizes were awarded. On the course we had the opportunity to buy raffle tickets, and if you got the ball on the green in one, your raffle tickets were doubled. That didn't matter, none of us did it. Although we came close a few times. John stopped by to thank me for putting a foursome together and he let me know that he really appreciated it by giving me two extra raffle tickets. I pointed to the Cornhole game that he had as a prize and I told him jokingly I really hoped to win that. It looked like it was a lot higher quality than the ones at the game stores.

In the past year, at charity events that both John and I attended I've won a microwave oven, a trip for two (airfare and hotel), two $50 gift cards for local restaurants, and an overnight stay in a hotel suite. There were a few other small things as well so John is always teasing that he knows I'm going to win something!

I don't think about it, or hope for it, I just buy the tickets like everyone else. The raffle started and they called off number after number and finally, one of our foursome got a prize. I was glad because it was the newest member of our team. Three of us golfed together last year so it was cool that the new guy won. All the prizes were awarded except the last two. John looked at me with this, "what's up?" look, like I was supposed to automatically get a prize. I just rolled my eyes thinking fat chance, my luck can't hold out forever.

The second last prize was awarded. Then they brought out the Cornhole game and I said to my team, if there was a prize I could pick that would have been it - it's so cool. And the number was called. I popped up out of my chair hooting and cheering all the way up to the winner's table! It was mine and I could not believe it. John just shook his head.

Right before we were getting ready to leave he stopped by my table to congratulate me again and I mentioned that the winning ticket was one of the two he gave me, I didn't win off of the tickets I bought. (He asked me not to mention that to anyone.) It was a fun evening and I still cannot believe my luck. If only I could get that darn lottery ticket to match later tonight.

Wisconsin State Fair

We spent the day at the Wisconsin State Fair. It was so early that there weren't that many people there. Since the exhibition hall was the closest building we started the day by weaving our way through all the vendors hocking their wares. It was all worthless junk, but fun to listen to the silly sales pitches that made the stuff seem worth while. The people watching is always a hoot as well.

It was barely 10:30 before we passed the margarita tent and I had to have one. After all, I am on vacation today. After I picked up the margarita we were ready for breakfast. I got a Wisconsin-made sausage while Jeff got the omelet. We had to get some milk as well. I tried chocolate malted milk for the first time and it was awesome. It was good to eat something hardy after the pre-breakfast tequila.

As we sat and ate our breakfast, an older couple (meaning older than us) sat down next to us. They were pushing a baby stroller that was holding a little boy who seemed not much more than a year old. They fed him a little spoon of plain ice cream and he seemed to gobble it up with delight. It made me cry. In one minute I was content, the next I was so sad, missing our baby Stephen so badly, missing the opportunity to take him to the fair. The heartbreak hit me hard.

I tried to move on but the image of the content, happy baby just stuck in my mind. We walked through the barns, checked out the sheep, chickens, cows, horses, and pigs. It was good to walk the food off. And the liquor. We went over to the horticultural building, which is my very favorite. It has all the winning entries for the foods and crafts. I love looking at the quilts.

After the quilts, we stopped at the DNR where I asked about getting rid of the hawk in the yard. The ranger told me what I already knew, stop feeding the birds if I want the hawk to go away. I was hoping for a miracle answer. At the House of Harley tent and chatted with a friend. He filled us in on his recent travels then we were off to look for Stonethrow Winery's booth. I passed the information tent to discover that they weren't there this year. The next stop was the WEnergies Park that had lots of information on going green. I picked up a brochure on rain barrels, saw a rain chain in action, and got idea for making my own version of a topsy turvy for tomato plants.

I saw a woman eating the chocolate covered bacon. I wanted to try that until I saw her eating it, it looked gross. We turned the corner and as soon as I saw Slim McGinn's, I had to have the reuben on a stick. It was so good Jeff ordered one. I had a Harp and he had a bottle of water. The Harp was good. Beer at noon isn't a bad thing. At least not at the fair. From there we went through the Merchandise Mile (under the race track grandstand) just to work off the meat on a stick.

We realized that we saw all there was to see. We hung out at a few stops to rest, and we were ready to go home. So we picked up a 6-pack of cream puffs and headed out.

The fifth season

There is a man at the end of our block who coaches a youth football team. All summer long he had a sign in his yard advertising team openings in the youth league. Since it is summer, I thought I would be looking at that sign for quite a while. But I noticed yesterday that it's not in the yard anymore. It's barely a day into August so it doesn't seem like it's time to think about football! Or is it time?

This neighbor/coach has a tractor that is rickety and makes a distinct clackety-clack when it goes by the house. He uses it to haul the football equipment from his home to the park. Our house is right between the two points so over the years it's become a traditional part of the end of summer - new school year - start of fall tradition. During football season, it goes by every week night and returns when the sun goes down. It's as constant as the smell of coffee in the morning.

Sadly, today the tractor went by. Just as I was starting to try not to notice that the sun is going down earlier and the school supplies are the main event in the Sunday paper's flyers, the sound hit me like the alarm going off on work days. It's just too soon to be thinking about fall and football and school days. I barely got used to the summer days. How quickly the seasons change. The funny thing is that the tractor is sort of soothing, like an old friend.