hawing

After last week, I'm excited to see the Brewers not in Pittsburgh going into the 2027 all-star break. (Add whatever mental asterisks you need to reflect your belief in the odds of a 2027 season happening)

I'll be surprised if they don't play tonight. Rescheduling a game with a team that only has one series here would be a pain (and a doubleheader later this weekend doesn't seem like the air quality answer either).

Madison has kept up refuse and recycling collection (the trucks have automated arms to lift and empty bins, so the operators of those trucks aren't outside as much), but they closed the drop-off sites here too. I'm good with their prioritizing the staff who would otherwise be outside all day at the dropoff sites.

So, this UW-Madison chilled water break happened on June 17, though AC wasn't reduced on campus until later in June. Only yesterday (July 13) was this stated in a campuswide email: To give you an idea of the scope of the challenge, the pipe that broke is approximately 4 feet in diameter, buried 20 feet underground, and is surrounded by other buried utilities. Before repairs can begin, the adjacent infrastructure is being stabilized, and soil retention is being installed so the site can be fully excavated, and the entirety of the situation can be assessed. I don't question the need to stabilize the surroundings first. This explanation just seems like something I would have shared earlier. (They've been sending weekly email updates since the end of June, making this the third update.) This week is hotter outside, and therefore hotter inside the buildings that aren't healthcare/labs with living subjects but aren't closed. It's been 78 degrees in my library office all morning. Oh, and I was wrong about the fuel for the rented chillers. They're diesel fueled, or so is my guess based on the daily visits from the Dieselex fuel tank.

Randolph Mantooth, best known as paramedic John Gage on Emergency!, died on July 9 at age 80. He might not be considered a "TV treasure" by all, but Emergency! went a long way toward advancing the concept of paramedic care and inspired many people to pursue public safety work. A high profile example of the latter was Bobby Sherman, 1960s-1970s teen idol who was so impressed with the work of paramedics when he guest starred on an Emergency! episode that he left show business to be a paramedic and later to train paramedics.

UW-Madison experienced a large chilled water line break in mid-June, which significantly reduced its ability to keep campus buildings cool and less humid. Campus is understandably prioritizing health care facilities and labs with living subjects. UW-Madison has also closed (and stopped cooling) a bunch of buildings which were not being used between semesters or whose functions can be performed elsewhere. (List at https://news.wisc.edu/campus-cooling-issues/#building-closures) Among the buildings caught in limbo are the libraries, including mine. We have some chilling, plus extra fans and dehumidifiers (ServPro is gonna make bank off this situation). Other campus buildings have temporary chillers set up outside. These rented HVAC units are the size of a railroad car. Memorial Library, the main campus library and my building's neighbor, has half a dozen of these rented units between their building and mine and I can hear the low roar from the equipment all the time. They're reportedly fueled with propane, which of course adds more heat to the immediate area. Last week, when an excessive heat warning was in place, the extra equipment was struggling to keep up. From last Friday through Tuesday, it was more reasonable outside and the extra equipment managed much better. Today (Wednesday), I can feel the extra humidity coming back in parts of my building. Campus says to expect these conditions for a month, and the scuttlebutt is one month is the most optimistic scenario. It's just very low-key miserable in the meantime. It bugs me.

I'm not a UW-Madison employee, but my library is located on the UW campus and there's no indication that we'll be closing. We have some cooling and some humidity control but not enough of either. The extra moisture is not good for collections, and we're checking the stacks regularly for wet spots due to saturated pipes. Some of the campus buildings that are staying open have rented HVAC units outside that are semi-trailer sized. That temporary infrastructure is impressive. (Also, sorry NMF, I heard from someone in L&S that one month is the optimistic estimate 😬🤞)

You guys! This fruit-in-salad conversational turn has taken me back to the relish tray days. You have to be an OG brewerfan-dot-netter to remember. 💙

If I recall correctly, they've waited (for...reasons?) to announce the fan appreciation game until mid-season.

The bf.net veterans will get this. 🫶

Biggest hit *to date.* 🙂

Teamwork, makin' the dream work! 🏆

Yeah, looking at the other CCs revealed today, I'll count my blessings.

The official photos look more palatable than the originally leaked photo at the start of this thread. The script looks closer to white than to yellow. I do like the "base blue," the ball bobber and the Barrelman patch.

I'd be pleased to be wrong, but this feels like the part of that Simpsons episode where Homer says of the roasted pig, "It's just a little dirty! It's still good! It's still good!" 😬

*hawing realizes that it's been 20 years since owbc was at UW-Madison* *turns to dust* 💀

Between age and gender, I know I'm far from the target audience for city connects. But there is much to dislike here: Orange? I mean, maybe it looks red in person, but orange is about my least favorite color and I look awful wearing it. (Please don't let it be "orange like the cheese y'all are famous for") Wisco? It's not Wisconsin Lutheran High School. I've never been a fan of either Wisco or Sconnie as nicknames. If they're trying to rep the whole state, some kudos for that, but not like this. You're going to incorporate a top tier state motto like FORWARD and then have it on the inside where it can't be seen? For now I'm just going to hope this isn't it (literally. It already isn't "it" figuratively). If it does come to pass...will it last long if no one buys the merch? The first city connect was such a hit.

I imagine many of you remember the game in early 2018 which got turned around in a hurry when Yelich and Braun hit back-to-back homers to tie and walk off the game vs STL. The vibe yesterday (once the Brewers went ahead) reminded me of that 2018 game. We were at both. 😊

I don't think we've been to an exhibition game in MKE for a while (I don't remember if they've even hosted any since the 2010s), but I honestly liked being there last night more than I will probably like being there Thursday. Intimate crowd of relatively diehard fans - from our seats we could hear individual heckles - instead of 40000+ people, at least half of whom are just WOOOO OPENING DAY AMIRITE and won't show up again until the postseason or until there's a giveaway they really like. Plus we got to sit down toward the front and park steps from the gates. ☺️

What a great segue! Today (March 22) William Shatner is 95.

Not to mention the long history of (some) Illinois residents regarding Wisconsin as their playground and Wisconsinites as their staff.

I thoroughly enjoy that Nate is the ticket rep for so many of us. ☺️ Though there are periods when he is just really hard to reach. He does keep his autoreply up to date, though. All indications so far are that a channel for "traditional" cable customers (which includes the hawing household) will be established, but it hasn't been announced yet. So we play the waiting game, even if we'd rather play Hungry Hungry Hippos. (IYKYK)

But still, if you have questions not fully addressed by the fan guide, ask them! 🙂

The SSH/SSM/whatever "Brewers Bits" email from February 13 includes this language: In the next few weeks, we will have information regarding your MLB.TV subscription from MLB. Once available, there will be an email sent to you with the code for your subscription redemption. This MLB.TV subscription is valid for out-of-market games, just like prior years, and does not include Brewers games. If you are looking for Brewers games and do not already have it included with your TV provider, you can subscribe here: Brewers.TV Subscription I added the bold above. If you're considered out of market (and where you live, I'd guess you are), the MLB.TV subscription you'll get will act like it has in past seasons. In Madison, where the hawing household is, I am guessing we will be able to continue to use mlb.tv for live spring training, live audio of Brewers games and live video/audio of non-Brewers games. Pairing that with our actually still having traditional cable and I think we are just waiting to see what channel carries the brewers dot tv telecasts. If you're not sure (and I'm not 100% sure I'm right), check with Nate, ticket rep to the Brewerfan(atic) elite.

Boston fans are super proud of their dirty water, so maybe "literally pure garbage" is less pejorative than we think! 😉