reflections on the weekend

Holly and I drove down to Illinois to visit my family over the holiday weekend. We left Saturday around 9am and made it to my sister's house in Western Illinois about 2ish (271 miles). We then met up with some old friends of mine for dinner at their house around 4 (21 miles), back to my sisters around 10:30 (21 miles). Both Holly and I had a hard time sleeping, as there seemed to be alot of noises we weren't used to, like coyotes and clock radios and me snoring.

Sunday morning, we we're up early to head to church (32 miles). I have a friend from my high school days who is pastoring a new church plant on the riverfront in Peoria, and we also got to hook up with some other friends of mine, Cory and Vicky. After church, Holly and I we're invited over to Cory and Vicky's (7.4 miles) for lunch and a chance to talk and catch up.

After lunch, Holly and I headed back to my sister's house (40 miles) for my youngest nieces birthday party. After cake and pizza, we hang out for a bit to talk with my mom and stepdad. about 5:30, we leave to head to my dad's house (30 miles) to watch the Nascar race and hang out with my dad and stepmom.

Up Monday morning for breakfast, then off to my paternal grandparents (59 miles) to have lunch with them and catch up. My Dad's folks are 84, and living in their own house after taking a stab at assisted living. They didn't care for the assisted living deal, so they bought a house that has a handicapped accessible bathroom, as Granddad had a stroke about 5 years ago and has limited use of his left side.

Next stop: Maternal Grandparents (18.5 miles). No food here, just a chance to visit for a couple hours. After that, we head to my mom's (1 mile) for dinner. Mom went all out: meatload, peas, biscuits....so much good food. We sat for a while after dinner, during which I entered a slight food coma. Holly took the wheel when we left for the first leg home, aided by my GPS. We stopped in Rochelle Illinois to gas up and get beverages, and I took the wheel for the rest of the way home (250 miles). I dropped Holly off at her house about 1am, then made my way home.

I included the mileage because I wanted to show that "going home" is never a short hop, even once I get there. We did it on less than three tanks of gas, two energy drinks, 2 sprite zero's, 1 diet coke, and a bag of cheese curds.

Why do I make that effort? I am blessed at the age of 32 to have all four grandparents, and I love my family. It's worth the numb butt and gas money to see them when I have the chance.

catching up...

Wednesday, I thought I DVR'd American Idol, but it didnt' take for some reason. I did see it live, and went nearly deaf if my left ear the my Amazing Girlfriend screamed her delight of the David Cook victory.

Go David Cook....looking forward to your first album.

Long holiday weekend....using it to see family and friends in Illinois. I don't care that regular unleaded is $4.19 a gallon...I refuse to let that deter me. I have always laid the route for weekends like this based on mileage and time, and this trip is no different.

I'm on vacation all next week. Looking forward to that :)

ouch...

it's only Wednesday

it's only Wednesday....feels to me like it should be later than that this week.

Tonight I was home by 8:30...earliest so far this week. Between work and other appointments, I've been getting home late each night, and getting to bed late as well.

That makes for a tired Chad.

I'm enjoying a beverage before heading off to bed.

How's your week so far??

time for a touch up

Welcome to the new layout and title of my blog. I felt it was time for a fresh look, so I looked around for a new layout and found this one. Works for me.

I've also started another blog that's more politically/civilly minded; that blog can be found here.

I'm keeping this blog as an observational documentation. Translated: this is where I'll ramble about getting older, people watching and general light hearted stuff.

:)

one good deed

Driving home from work tonight, I'm eastbound on I-94 from Oconomowoc toward State Fair Park. I see a disabled vehicle on the shoulder with the hood up and the driver behind it, thumb out. I pull over and get the guy's attention. We head back to my car to get out of the wind and call for a tow truck. State Patrol dispatches a wrecker and we wait. The man's truck has lost the water pump.

I find out the man's name is Marciel and I ask him where he is headed. In a thick Spanish accent, he tells me he's headed to Chicago. I had noticed the Minnesota plates on his truck. He tells me there's no work for carpenter's in Minneapolis so he's going to Chicago to see if there's work. I ask if he has any contacts in Chicago and he says he's got some family there. Marciel asks me how much farther it is to Chicago. I tell him another couple hours.

Tow truck shows up and we get out of the car to talk to the tow truck driver. He can take Marciel's truck west an exit or two to a garage for repairs, then asks how Marciel he wants to pay for the tow. Marciel doesn't have a credit card, or cash on hand. The driver says that they can include the bill for the tow in with the repair. At this point, I shake Marciel's hand, wish him luck in getting to Chicago and get back into my car.

No one else looked like they were going to stop to help Marciel. I did what I could, but I don't feel like it was enough. I certainly can't afford to pay for the repair to his truck, and I'm wondering how he'll make it to Chicago. I prayed for him as I drove away, hoping that he will complete his journey, as well as trying to placate myself a bit. I don't know what else I could have done.

Mondays....

Summary of my weekend...

Friday, finish work, head to Holly's to pick her up for dinner at a friend's house. Grab flowers on the way. Why? Holly loves flowers, and I'm not real good at giving them and I don't want to give them because I screwed up...I give ice cream when I do that. Dinner and conversation at friend's house....home and bed.

Saturday. Up around 9, head to Mayfair to swap out a misbehaving cable modem and pick up my new glasses. Return home, putz around, head to Walmart to buy digital camera, return home again, clean my apartment....yes...clean. My apartment was trashed. How well was it cleaned? When Holly arrived at my place at around 4:45 for the Brewer game that night, she almost fell over. She was stunned. My friends Tim and Kevin arrived and we all head to the ballgame.

Brewers win..YAY!!!

Sunday...church in the morning, race in the afternoon. Holly brings over some homework to finish. I fix dinner and we watch Extreme Home Makeover. Bedtime.


Monday morning...ack....

Just because it's Friday

I missed the fun

So, while most of were sleeping, a 5.2 magnitude earthquake shook a Southeastern Illinois.

I remember the last one that was just outside Rockford, but missed this one.

That's My King!

Is spring here??

I think....don't quote me on this...but I think that spring may be showing up in Milwaukee finally. I don't see anymore piles of plowed snow anywhere. Warm winds from the south make the flags stand out from the poles they hang from. Baseball is being played. The ground has a squish to it.

The only this missing is testing at The Mile...all in due time.

one of my favorite things

A nice Saturday night in Milwaukee. Sitting here, watching a race on TV, Holly sleeping on my bed as I sit on one of my floor chairs next to her. We had Subway for dinner, and I'm enjoying a beer. Nothing exciting, just an evening at home relaxing.

Take me out to the ballgame

Opening day for the Brewers....not going this year, but I'll be tuned in!!


GO CREW GO!!!

Dear Old Man Winter,

Thank you so much for the lovely snow!! I'm guessing you didn't get the memo that Spring started yesterday, not to mention you were early to the party by showing up on December 1st. Please, the party's over, go back home to Canada. We've had enough for this winter season.


Yours,
Chad

sometimes, it's more than a game...

There's been quite a bit happening lately.

Saturday was the last day for Upward basketball this year. I'd like to say my team won a game, but the closest we came was a tie. Still, I don't coach to team kids the importance of winning, I coach to teach kids to do their best no matter what the circumstances are.

Monday night was the celebration for the Upward season, and I was asked to emcee the night. I got to do the opening greeting, as well as the giveaways we had for both the parents and the kids. My voice is still a bit rough from both the game on Saturday and from whipping the crowd into a frenzy Monday night.

Monday was also the first day of my new position at work. I was approached by one of the higher ups and offered a store of my own. I accepted. To be honest, it's still settling in. To some extent, the reality is there...but my first day still felt like I was just covering the store. I'm sure that as the days turn into weeks, it will all sink it.

I've been getting some solid work from the computer business as well...makes for a busy schedule. Pray that I don't overdo it and am able to spend time with Holly as well.

I leave my brain at home on the weekends

Friday night, Holly and I had tickets to Avenue Q at the Marcus. I picked her up and we had dinner at Friday's at the ballpark, then after dinner headed over to the Marcus Center. We were running a bit behind, so we got the car parked on the top floor of the parking deck. Holly had given me a GPS for my birthday, and I always take it off the dash when I leave the car. We get parked and I power off the GPS and hand it to Holly to put in my glovebox. We hop out of the car, lock it and head inside for the show. We enjoy the show and as we put on our coats to head, I can't find my car keys...check under the seat where my coat was stashed...no keys. We head out to the car, knowing we can call AAA if necessary. I have a tendency to leave one of my back doors unlocked, so we figured we'd try that first. As luck would have it, my driver's side back door was unlocked...so I lean in to unlock my door and Holly's door....and the car is warm...I had left the keys in the ignition with the car running. Ya....I was more concerned about stashing my GPS than anything else when we got there...so my car ran for two and a half hours....

Ya....I'm that spacey at times....

Sad fact

If you consider that there has been an average of 160,000 troops in the Iraq Theater of operations during the last 22 months, and a total of 2112 deaths, that gives a firearm death rate of 60 per 100,000.

The firearms death rate in Washington D.C. is 80.6 per 100,000.

That means that you are about 25% more likely to be shot and killed in our Nation's Capitol, which has some of the strictest gun control laws in the nation, than you are in Iraq.

Conclusion: We should immediately pull out of Washington D.C.

Slow down

I guess you could say I'm on the frontline of the economy; or at least, support for the frontline. I have noticed the downturn that started almost immediately after the mortgage bubble popped. Residential electrical is slowing down. Commercial and industrial is still going, which helps, but residential is down. We're feeling it at work; slow days, especially when I'm not out at a store, like today. Little stock to put away, not as many customers since they don't have as much work. I'm not too worried yet, as spring, hopefully, isn't that far away.

I don't call what's happening to economy a recession...it's merely a slowdown at this point. To me, a recession involves massive layoffs and high unemployment; there are still plenty of jobs out there, and I haven't heard of any major layoffs. Everyone's nervous, I suppose.

Unbricking an iPhone

tonight I had pleasure of unbricking an iPhone for a friend of mine. It's his son's iPhone actually, but Brian asked if I could take a look at it. The son had tried to put an aftermarket firmware on his iPhone, and it broke it. I'm writing this to save people the steps I couldn't find to make it easier for them to get back to working status.

First, you should pop out the SIM card. It's located at the top of the iPhone, between the headphone jack and the power button. You'll need something small to push firmly into the ejection hole, but it does pop up. I used needle nose pliers to slide the SIM card holder further out til I could grasp it with my fingers.

Next, you'll want to make sure the usb cord is plugged into the computer you have iTunes on, but not plugged into the iPhone yet. power the iPhone up, then power it down by holding both the power button and the home button. Continue to hold down the home button after the iPhone is "off" , then plug in the iPhone, then start iTunes manually.

With a minute or so, iTunes should find the iPhone, in "recover mode" It will then ask you if you want to basically wipe out everything and start over. I believe this is your only choice. iTunes will then download the current firmware (1.1.3) and then install it on the iPhone.

After the iPhone was restored, I powered it off, then re-inserted the SIM card. I powered the iPhone back up, most of the functions were there. just for good measure, I did a restore once more, and after that, the iPhone was just like new. I made a test call to my phone on it, and vice versa. I connected to my home wireless network. I browsed the internet on it. I tried to test it as best as I could.

Hopefully, this helps someone save about 3 hours of looking for the way to restore their iPhone after a failed Jailbreak like this was.

Feel free to drop me a line, and I'll answer questions as best I can.

Cheers
Chad