Friday, February 09, 2007

The End of an Era - Dustin's time in Whitewater

Six years of Whitewater (School, Residence, Work)

That is right folks, next time I am in Whitewater, it isn't because I go to school there, it isn't because I live there, and now it isn't because I work there! No, the next time I go to Whitewater, I will be nothing more than a visitor, and that feels pretty good. I was starting to think this time might never happen. I guess I started with baby steps, first I graduated, then I moved out a year later, now not even a year after that, I will no longer be working in this town we call Whitewater.

Did I get fired? No. Did I quit? No, in fact I sort of like my job. How did this happen then? I am going to be honest, it was sprung pretty quick, within 1 day to be exact. I find out on Thursday, February 8 that me and the rest of my department will be moving to Waukesha. This was terrible news at first, for I live in Madison, and seemingly need to drive even farther than I already do. True, I am going to have to go for at least some time. Also true, if I don't get a pay raise, I am not so sure I am going to want to move for my job when I can get another, higher paying job, in the Madison area. However, this isn't as bad as I initially thought. Turns out, that my drive time will be exactly the same! GOODY!

So, as I left work, I thought, this might not be so bad afterall. In fact, I am quite relieved that I no longer need to feel ashamed to tell people that I work in Whitewater. I then have some thoughts about my days in Whitewater, for six years. And what better way to memorialize those moments than with a blog few people will read. It is true, that I will still make some Whitewater memories, but here are some highlights:

Dustin's Days in Whitewater

-Saturday, September 1st - Freshman move-in day, where it all begins

-Sunday, September 2nd - Meet many of my floormates in a thrilling game of ultimate frisbee (my first time playing)

-Tuesday, September 11th - Yeah, I wake up to my dad calling me saying, "your classmate Clint was killing in an accident this morning. Oh, turn on the TV!" Kind of a bummer day, and I still had econ class that day

-Every Wednesday freshman year = 243 Prairie

-Common dorm time party houses - 243, Hockey House, Starin, Attic, Ice House, Castle House, Green House, Cow House...umm bunch more

-October-November 2001 – I basically lived in the girl’s wing and drank kool-aid. There was of course the Space Shuttle comment made by a friend who had never really drank before.

-Halloween 2001 – Army Guy and party at 243 (go figure)

-December 2001 – Moonlight Breakfast. After pounding vodka, I go eat Esker’s late night breakfast, which is supposed to be an incentive for studying. I miraculously win a game of Lightning and walk away from the whole blurred experience with a brand new inflatable chair.

-February 2002
– Opening ceremonies of Winter Olympics in Utah. Jon S. and I cap off an entire liter of Jose Cuervo in Tom’s room. Tom was puking, Jon and I were playing with a remote controlled blimp owned by the RA’s crazy boyfriend who was wearing at the time a purple robe and combat boots. Scuba Steve drank a drink he termed “rapehole” (ginger ale and vodka), I still make fun of that drink and that name to this day.

-March 2002 – 19th B-day! Stacey and Kristi make Jon and I a cake and we play Mario Kart. It sounds simple, but was actually simply amazing.

-May 2002 – Time to move out, say goodbye to new WW friends and move back home

-September 2002 – Move Back in for Sophomore year!

-Sophomore Move in Night – Most of you have heard this one before, the night I claim to have been rufied. Party at one of the frat houses. Two lines for beer, one for guys one for girls. The guy’s line is ridiculous so I have Kristen fill me up. I swear I only had a couple drinks and suddenly I wake up the next morning in my neighbors room having puked in my sleep. I have brief memory of walking around the 6 pack completely lost as to where I was. I called my LaCrosse friends asking them which house was theirs. Grass stains on my calves! It was interesting to say the least, by far the most I’ve been messed up.

-October 2002 – Plans to live with Schneits and some others falls through. After deciding to go to some apartment party with some guys new to 2nd floor I mention that fact to one of the new guys named Mike (who I remembered from Freshman year as the guy that walked home from Econ with Christine and I, and walked so damn slow). Mike explains that him, his roommate Andy, and the two guys in the triple room, Justin and Tim were possibly looking for a 5th roommate.

-Same Night as Above – On walk home across campus, when near the Williams Center a group of girls yells out to us, asking if we know where the rape poles (emergency blue light flashy things) are because the guys behind them were following them. They overall didn’t seem to concerned about the guys, but did ask that we gave them protection. I, in the perfect state of mind, pull a U-Turn and go back to Lee Hall with this group of fine young ladies. I find out that their names are Marie, Ashley, Barb, Kim, Ashley, and Jerilyn. We drank in Lee hall all night. This infused a whole new group of friends that would soon mesh. So, no matter which side you knew first, you can thank rape poles for knowing the other.

-Still October 2002 – Mike takes me to visit the house they were going to rent. It is a large blue house on Main St. It is pretty dirty, but Mike tells me tales of how they were going to pimp it out and make it a sweet party house. I am unsure until I go downstairs and see the Dalmatian print bar and the small crack you climb through to the other side of the basement. My god this is the Ice House! I sign immediately.

-Sometime Fall 2002 – After at the last second bailing my group of normal party goers to go to a different party because I had yet to ever go to the Attic whereas the other party on Starin I had been to for the last week straight it seemed like. When I returned to the dorm, I heard rumor that the party on Starin had been busted. After a couple hours my friends return, confirming the horrible truth. This bust set some sort of record and was all over the news. People were stuck in the basement for hours! I thank God for my last second decision.

-Homecoming 2002 – Drank it up in the “Ice House” yard…..#1 there

-Halloween 2002 – Not sure, I found a cheap suit at Goodwill and ran with it the best I could….no idea

-February 24, 2003 – Why do I remember this date? Because I look back on this day and shake my head. I started at Arrow Financial Services as a Collector’s Assistant. Turns out partying all the time and driving all over the state, from home, to Madison, to LaCrosse, costs a lot of money and quickly drained my savings. Time to get a job! I started training, and was happy to see a familiar face in Sara Guidinger who lived on 2nd floor with me Freshman year but then joined a sorority and moved out. Sara and I were merely acquaintances during our time in the dorms, but it was nice to see a friendly face to work with. It was on this day that I met my boss, Bernard. He helped teach me the ways of Title XIII, or the FDCPA. I remember three distinct things about my training with Bernard, we played Taboo, which was to help us learn how to not say certain words. He ordered us Pizza, I love free food. Also, I think I will always remember Window 10, the hot window, because he figured he was a perfect 10 on the hotness scale.

-Shortly after starting Arrow – I went to a small party, some friends knew some friends. Anyhow, I walk downstairs to see my boss Bernard! This was pretty scary; for he knew I was underage…I hoped this wouldn’t reflect poorly for me and my new job! (what little did I know, so naïve)

-March 5, 2003 – My 20th birthday, I don’t recall what I did, but I assume I got drunk

-All Sophomore year - Parties in the triple room, broken basement tables...things like that

-Hmmmmmm umm, May 2003 – Move out, done with dorms, back to work at the cheese factory for my farewell tour there.

-Summer 2003 – I help Mike clean the basement of the new pad on Main St. He lets me know that we are just going to call it the Blue House. Anyhow, we take out approximately 3,500 bags of dirt and garbage from the basement. I later develop bronchitis because of this experience.

-4th of July Weekend - First small party at the new house. Pretty good time, point is Matt passes out outside with money for Toppers. Toppers shows up, the money is gone. I would get pay back for Matt when it comes to Toppers

-August 2003 - I officially move into the Blue House

-Setember 2003 - Move in day for the dorms, naturally we throw a large kegger, it had yellow cups, how fun. Now I wasn't lying when I said I had a house cup. I end up riding around town in a U-Haul truck, don't ask.

-October 2003 - After months of planning it was time for a true party! Over 10 barrels, T-Shirts, Pizza, and 300 friends.....that is right, Homecoming. The party made the paper

- November 2003 - Coaster fight and kickball, see last blog

-All Junior Year - Darts, friends, beer, parties, keg-a-rator, front porch sitting, watching drunks walk home from the bar, throwing water balloons at the DZs

-December 2003 - We celebrate Christmas with a large tree decorated in beer cans. Play charades several nights. Then have a Christmas party, wine, large sub from jimmy johns, mistletoe, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, The Chipmunks....truly magical

-December 2003 again - I got promoted to be a collector at Arrow, goody

-New Years Eve - Lots of champagne everywhere, umm, it was fun but can't recall too much

-February 2004 - First kickball trophy (see below)

-February 2004 - Before sneaking into Pumpers for broomball Mike and I head to the Sigma house. I only knew the girls who lived in Knilans, and was most familiar with Sara. I got to know Boo Cha Cha Cha Charmin. Oh yeah, we made cupcakes for everyone. This was my first time in the Sigma House, it seemed so....forbidden, I even had to leave my alcohol outside (last time I ever do that). No one is really home, except I meet Leah, but she doesn't remember me that day

-March 4 - Night of my 21st, got pretty fucked up, we'll leave it at that

-March 5 - Highland crew rolls into town, do the 21 thing again

-March 17 - We heard the bars opened at 6 am for St. Patty's day, so not wanting to get up early, we decorate the house, buy some kegs and pull an all nighter before heading to the bars. We learn Styx is terrible at Moosehead. That day Leah met me , but I don't remember her that day (I just think those two inserts are sort of amusing)

ummmmmm

-May 2004 - summer is starting, I am staying this year. Then the night before they are to move in, the new neighbors on the other side of the duplex move in. Apparently it was one's B-Day, her name was Jennifer, but she liked to be called Jenn with two N's. She turned 20, but I later learned it was her 20.5 b-day, but then I later learned that it was actually her 20th b-day. Anyhow she couldn't walk, and the true point is these girls were pretty hot and liked to drink. We were worried because we had some pretty awesome girls there beforehand as well.

-June 2004 - After the last day of elementary school (my volunteer hours), Leah breaks up with me...now the only reason I am writing this is because to add insult to injury, she accidentally stabbed me in the leg with my own pocketknife. This night I got super hammered, and the summer of summers began! The summer of summers is called this because everyone that stayed in WW that summer, drank, every, night. I think I took off like, 5 nights of drinking all summer.

-July 2004 - Mike, Erin, Angie, and I, discover our love of Carny corn dogs at the WW 4th of July festival. This same weekend us 4 and Anus drink in the rain, then invite random girls that were on a walk to play football in the rain with us. We all go downtown wearing rediculous clothing. Later, we take Mark out for his 21st B-Day, no one actually knows what happened this night. This was the drunkest weekend of my life...and I ended up in the ER for my heart too, that was cool

-August 31, 2004 - Blue House Carnival!! It started as some random talk about carnivals and coupled with an idea someone had already, we decided to get a dunk tank, jumpy castle, and a jousting thingie. After the city tried to shut us down, we had everyone bring their own beer for the biggest beer pot luck ever. 800 pounds of ice to keep those bad boys cold.

-October 31, 2004 - Homecoming again! 21 Barrels then plenty of Jager later, we were ready to go to the bars for Halloween.

-Halloween 2004 - Guss, Larry, Mike, and I dress up as Care Bears....with children's costumes

-Senior Year - Basically, we just went to the bars every night. $6 all you can drink, $5 all you can drink....you know deals like that

Alright, this is getting too long, CONDENSED PART

- 3 more kickball trophys, graduation, move to church st, get job at generac, boone ct, bars, more bars, moved to Cottage Grove, still work in WW

- February 2007 - I get moved to work in Waukesha


sorry if you were saddened by me skipping 2005 and 2006 basically, but really all I did was go to the bars...i mean WW starts to become repetitive after a while anyhow. pics will come if you actually care

Thursday, February 08, 2007

Kickball 2007 - The Dynasty Conitinues

Where is Bryant Gumbel When You Need Him
Real Sports in America, yes there is the NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, NCAA, PGA, and more, but most American's are not fortunate enough to have enough talent to participate in these elite professional and collegiate leagues. Sports however, play on, it is part of the American way of life, talent or no. Whether it is playing a friendly game of football with your family on Thanksgiving or maybe playing some intramurals sports during college, people enjoy participating in competitive sports. One avenue people pursue to play, is bar sports. Many times bars will hold, softball leagues, volleyball leagues, dart tournaments, or maybe even a pool league. Today's story talks about a true American sport, one most people haven't played since grade school, kickball!


Past Kickball experiences
Kickball with me and my group of friends is not a new concept, in fact our first kickball tournament was in November 2003. I entitle this our "first, failed kickball experiment". At the time I was in the marketing organization AMA, and there was an AMA sponsored event for a kickball tournament. I brought this info to my roomates, and we decided we pretty much had to get a team.

After rounding up about 10-15 of our close friends we decided that 8 am is pretty early, and no one wanted to get up that early. Solution...pull an all nighter! This seemed like a great idea, that way we were good and tipsy by tournament start. Another idea, buy a quarter barrel to take the lakefront with us to keep the booze in our blood.

This night before, this all nighter, is forever termed the "Coaster Fight". What do a bunch of 19 and 20 year olds do with themselves when annhilated and decide to not go to bed, act like little children of course! Justin, my roomate, worked at a hotel bar and had brought about 500,000 Miller Lite coasters, and once one person got the idea to throw one, it turned into 500,000 flying coasters. Thankfully this was all caught on camera. We also decided to do calesthenics in the front yard at 7am, I often wonder what people driving to work thought about this.

First Failed Kickball - 7am



So, we get to the park, and I honestly don't remember how we did, I think we won 1 or 2 games, not sure really. All you need to know: Jake R. shaved a J in his chest, Tim wore a mullet wig, Bitch painted a fu manchu and passed out in the truck, and I managed to tackle a cripple OOPS! We find out that the bar across the street, The College Pub, was holding a pitcher racing tournament. This was more our style, so naturally us underagers go into the bar. After 2/3 of our team was kicked out of the bar (the ones without fake IDs), us remaining drank as many pitchers as we possibly could....and since we were already drunk and had no sleep, it wasn't too many, in fact we may have finished last in that. But this will be fuel to the fire! This is also important to note, it was my first time ever in the College Pub, a place I will soon spend most of my money on.

February 2004, the College Pub was hosting its own kickball tournament on the ice! Unfortunately, I was not 21 yet, but many of us were now, and we also had the "Irish" guys who were 2 years older than us. I don't know what happened since I went to LaCrosse that weekend, but I do know we won the pitcher racing trophy but lost the kickball.



February 2005, we are all 21 now and looking to repeat our drinking championship! Last year we won it handily, but this year we met up with a formidable opponent, the dreaded Harold's! We both came with one thing on our mind, drinking trophy. We no longer cared about the kickball, in fact we forfeited the quarterfinal game to stay and drink. On this day, things got intense, and our team from last year was split in two! The "Irish" guys made their own team knowing that us "Blue House" people were all 21 and could hold our own. Well, the blue house was ahead of the Irish, but the Harold's were ahead of the Blue House. There was fights over this, I kid you not! In a move that might rank up with Hitler's decision to invade Russia, the Harolds's started the chant "FUCK THE BLUE HOUSE!" This of course infuriated us as well as our friends "The Irish", we struck a deal that they would drink on our team and soon we had a commanding lead and would take home the 2nd straight drinking trophy with about 250 pitchers drank.






February 2006, this time we were all together from the start again the Harold's have been talking smack for a year now, claiming they will win this time around, we of course could not let this happen. This year there was no ice for the kickball event either, but it didn't matter we lost 2 in a row. Our goal was 300 pitchers, I think we finished with 295, well ahead of the already passed out Harold's, the threepeat was acheived. Most figured this to be the last hurrah, after all we were all out of school, and would be yet another year older in 2007 with less tolerance. It was decided though in December 2006 that we would indeed pursue a 4th!



2006 drinking champs - 3peat!




The 2006 Trophy


Events of Kickball 2007


The T-Shirts were in, the contestants ready, and for once no one went out the night before. We were fresh and ready to go. This year there was ice, in fact, it was sub zero temperature. It was F'ing cold!


I arrive at 8 am to our team already drinking, right now, we are few in numbers compared to the Harold's, but one of our strengths is our laziness. We get reinforcements throughout the day to help pump up the drunks and it is always good to get some fresh livers in the game.



Game 1 of kickball
I adorn my ski goggles and rediculous Packers headband and we head out on top of Cravath Lake. We played "God's gift to Earth" Which I think was made up of the UW-Whitewater baseball team. It was a sort of boring game, they had won 1-0, and after plenty of slips on the ice and enduring the cold, it was time to focus on drinking.


I walk back in to see more of our friends had arrived, but we seemed to be down early on the pitcher count. No worries, they always start fast then fade off, we still had half of our team not there yet. Naturally, I wore safety glasses and one of my favorite hats. The hat is an old school style hat, but it is green and has written in yellow "Bears Suck". This was a great hat today, for the Bears were going to be playing in Superbowl XLI the next day, and since I we are in Wisconsin (Packer Country) the hat was widely loved. It was nice to catch up with old friends. All the old Blue House roomates were back together in Whitewater, the boys of 137 Prairie (Irish) were back in town, then all of the other friends who now live scattered throughout the state were all back and ready for a good old fashioned, all day drunk.


Game 2
I'm a littler drunker, but it is still cold. It appears my buddy Bernard was well prepared though, with a complete ski mask, massive boots, and hand warmers. I think this was the luck we need, for we won 2-0. After a good round of "Good Games" it was time to rush back in to warm up and drink more beer.


Here is where things start to get blurry, I can no longer drink like I could 2 years ago. Two years ago, I drank almost every night, but now with work, I no longer have my liver trained. What is nice from after the first Ice Kickball, is we are now mostly friends with the Harold's. There was taunting, but no more bad blood. I think the other teams aside from us two, quickly realized they were not going to be winning the drinking trophy. I glanced over at the board, we were still down, but that was not the worry, right now, the Badgers were about to play Northwestern in basketball. Well, the won, after a round of the "Budweiser Song" it was time to play again.


Game 3
I am just going to say we lost 21-0 and were eliminated


STILL DOWN!! And it wasn't looking good for us, the dynasty appeared to be over, but oh well it was a good run. Many people start to file home for a nap, it is late afternoon and only a couple hours to go in the pitcher races. Those who remained from the our teams kept the drinking going, no matter how drunk they were already. I think I blacked out now.


Next memory, Gumby (owner of the Pub) hands us the trophy! WE DID IT, somehow. It was a rush to gather our three previous trophies and flaunt all 4 in everyone's face. Pictures were taken of the champs, smiling laughing.....now, pass out!


The Harold's in 2007

I was hungry, so I walk to Rosa's Pizza to get the best Italian Beef in the world, it is dark now, and I think in my drunken mind, it was bar time. I go back to my friend's place on Boone Ct, eat my food, take off my pants, and pass out. I wake up at 1:30, realize that no one went back out, then went back to bed.


Morning After
I go back to see my triple E friends, and was asked how we did. Naturally, I beam and say we won! Everyone seems shocked, they had left to what seemed like an obvious defeat. I call my roomate Mike, inform him we did win. He is shocked because he too left early and then was told by others who left after him that we lost. He was happy to hear, but was quickly pained by the thought that we might have to try for #5!



2007 Champs - 4 Time Drinking Champs


February 2008 anyone?

Thursday, February 01, 2007

2007 - One down, Eleven to go

I have to admit, for once I was looking forward to a new year, wheareas, normally I really don't care. Normally it is just another day in this game called life. However, 2006 wasn't really my favorite year, so a meaningless change in the number of what we call "years" was a welcomed relief.

2006
Why wasn't 2006 the best year ever? First there is the global issues that plague this planet: North Korea going nuclear, Iran close behind, the ongoing Iraq struggle, and the seemingly increasing amount of terrorism or terrorism threats all across the globe.

Second, there were growing National problems across this great land. Multiple scandals in the U.S. Congress, a government that cares more about making the opposite party look bad than caring what the majority of the citizens want or think. There have been increasing amounts of protesting, over just about everything: gay rights, anti-gay rights, anti-war, illegal immigration, and my favorite protest, protesting at fallen soldier's funerals, basically saying "your son died in Iraq because we are allowing homosexuals to marry" classy. For the record, I hate protesters, find something better do to with you life.

Lastly, and more importantly, 2006 wasn't the best year for personal reasons. It started off with a bang, I wake up New Years morning to a death threat from a friend.....I knew it was going to be a good year after that. That soon followed with the death of my Grandpa. I turned 23, and according to Blink 182, no one likes you when you are 23. I was looking forward to St. Patty's day, however was sidelined from the festivities after an emergency appendectomy. Then summer came along. This was the first summer where work had to be my number one focus, not fun and drinking in the sun everyday. 2006 was my first full year of having a full time job, and it hurt watching many of my friends go out and have fun every night while I was left hearing about the stories. This was of course a major factor as to why I had to get out of Whitewater, and in May I moved out of town. Then in September, I go in for surgery #2, in which I finally fixed my SupraVentricular Tachycardia (heart procedure, yay). Add all that to the fact of going a full year without any significant relationships, and you have a mix for not all that great of a year.

Don't get me wrong, I still had a lot of fun last year, kickball 3peat, Cincinnatti, countless Brewers games, Denver and the double decker bus. Just now that I know how to manage fun with a work, it hopefully will be a great 2007 (that and finally most of my friends are all out of school and will have the normal partying days of Fri and Sat).




January 2007

One month in, and some things are different already. The voters spoke last November, and the Democrats were put in power. Starting in January they possibly passed more legislature in 2 weeks than was passed in the last 2 years, but let's see where this goes from here on out. President Bush, is forced to work in a more bi-partisan manner, something he has never had to do. It seems odd to hear that mistakes may have been made and that he is willing to listen to the opposition.

Saddam is officially gone, unless we spill the blood of the innocent Canadians and he comes back with Satan. However, unlike South Park, I think Saddam will be Satan's bitch, not the other way around.

Lastly, no death threats this New Years, Badgers basketball is en route to an amazing season (hopefully), and we are just a few days away from a possible 4-Peat Kickball championship....well, the drinking champions I should say. Lets make this a great year and lets do it month by month, next up is February. Tomorrow is Groundhog's Day, so make it a point to watch the Bill Murray classic because I am honestly more excited knowing that movie will be on than I am about the large rat seeing his shadow.

On a side note, I hope I do not relive tomorrow over and over again because I will be dealing with airport security and sitting on a long flight home.