hawing

One thing I'd have to tell my 16 year old self would be Brewers-related. "Remember how awesome the postseason looked on TV? Wish you could experience it yourself? Be patient...but it will happen."

There was a great line in The Onion in the early 1990s skewering Z-104. I can't type it here, but it summed up my feelings about WZEE nicely.

J.J., I apologize for not getting out your player jersey tee sooner this season.

Perhaps we should all be embarrassed that no one from Brewerfan has yet invited Amy and her entourage to their tailgate on either Saturday or Sunday. I cannot believe that no one here would be tailgating prior to either game.

The way you phrased that makes it sound like you just found a Blackberry Pearl on the street. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif Though that really amuses me more than bugs me.

Uecker: "There are times, folks, when you just don't have a chance." He's talking about Swindle's non-opportunity to react to that hit off his leg, but it could stand for so much more. I hope Doug and Ken take something from tonight's game when it's time for Hoffman to join the big club and someone to leave. /glaring at Julio/

Yes, and on Sundays pick only (I mean only) by the look of the kid racers. That's how we picked correctly on Easter Sunday (and Robin19 is correct; the end of that race was uncommonly good).

logan3825's almost completely on target. Soft drinks and bottled water have to be in factory sealed containers. I assume some checkers test for this since I sometimes see confiscated bottles at the entrance.

Depending on when you arrive on Saturday, you could consider the Miller Park tour[/url]. That would be pretty close to the ballpark. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif Are you able to go to both Saturday and Sunday's games? because leaving with a Ryan bobblehead should be pretty sweet. Edit: d'oh, forgot to comment on the bags. It's not like the bag checkers have a tape measure against which they check bags. I see plenty of backpacks in the park; just be prepared to open them up. Depending on the bag checker you get, you may have to open multiple nooks and crannies of the bag.

It's Memorial Day, hence the odd start for a Monday. Who's considering this? (in addition to Ross) We already have tickets for 5/25, but I'm pretty tempted to see if they can be exchanged, just to see what the Dew Deck is like. Yet I don't want to be the only bf.netter there.

Yes, kalle8, you are speaking of The Doorman. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif I'll bet he never thought he'd be known in multiple countries.

Twisted...ha, I get it. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif NMF, the National Weather Service is having spotter training at the Alliant Energy Center next Monday (basic 1:30-3:30, advanced in the evening)...of course, you might already know that. One of the points the program is supposed to cover is how to distinguish tornadoes from "scary looking clouds." I'm thinking since most storm clouds look scary to me, this might help me determine when I really need to freak out on I-94 between Miller Park and home, and when I can just look to the S.O. and say, "it's just a scary looking cloud." I've been semi-interested in going for years, but this might finally be the year I do it.

I've had many a nightmare about that exact scenario (being stuck on the road or someplace unsafe) during a tornado warning. It doesn't help that Mother Nature seems to have a cruel talent for lining up stormy weather right along the I-94 corridor on days (and more often, nights) when we are heading back from a Brewer game. Seriously, I cannot count the number of times we've left Milwaukee in what looks like decent weather, then just as we get into Jefferson County we can start to see lightning on the horizon. By then there's nowhere to go but closer to the storm (the rest area west of Johnson Creek has a TV that shows weather information, but the S.O. never wants to waste storm-beating time stopping there); WTMJ doesn't broadcast warnings for Dane County, and we aren't within range yet of most Madison stations to find out what's going on west of Jefferson County. For the last two seasons I was fortunate to have a student employee kind enough to call me in the 8th inning with a weather report, but he has moved from Wisconsin. I need a replacement weather reporter. I don't fear lightning as acutely as I do tornadoes, but I probably should, as a guy from my high school was killed by a lightning strike in the 1980s.

I appreciate the team spirit, but Corey with jet black hair? If you hear either screams or laughter coming from south central Wisconsin, you'll know I've had my first look. Come on, Brewers. Stop the madness, stop the losing. Edit, after the game: The "dark look" doesn't look all that bad on Corey. Once his blond roots grow out, though, the color clash will be epic.

Point taken. But the weather radio alarm doesn't sound for every snowflake.

If Ice Man is the "HEEEY-ohhhh!" vendor, then I know which guy you mean, and the loge infield has been at least part of his beat both last year and now.

I don't know if he has club seats for every game, but he is often in the club. I also don't know if he's sporting a beard. But he's always wearing a jersey that says THE MANIAC. For the 2005 Fan Fest game vs. the Twins, he sat not far from our Brewerfan group in the field bleachers. He was saying something in what sounded like Japanese to Tomo Ohka as Ohka warmed up. I thought that was neat.

At what point will it be possible to order tickets for months beyond April?

There's a lot to be said for paying back what you owe in an accelerated fashion. It's a great feeling to know you've fulfilled your obligation. Yeah, I paid off my student loans in about 7 years instead of the 10. I had decided once I got to under $3000 I'd pay it off. (Yes, my balance reflected late 1980s tuition rates, but also 1980s wages.) So I did, and within a month or so I inherited $3000 from my grandfather. Woah solvdd. The best part was knowing how pleased my grandfather would have been that I paid the last student loan off on my own.

So, April 14? If so, she shares a birthday with my mother. It's worked out nicely for her. Congratulations!

Who would have thought that we might look to Braden Looper as the stopper? Seriously, I thought about giving him a standing ovation after he pitched a clean first inning. This was a fun game to attend. As Jason Kendall's at-bat began in the big inning, I said to the S.O. something like, "That angry typing you hear is Brewerfan posters wondering why Kendall's batting instead of Rivera or another PH. OK, Jason, just poke one over the 3rd baseman." I like it when they hear me. I actually thought Bill Hall's hit to the wall had been caught at first. The Cameron and Weeks blasts were no doubters. And since JoeHova asked, the time of the first pitch was 7:07 PM. Temperature inside Miller Park, 65 degrees; outside, 49.

Last spring, I found a handful of mushrooms in our yard that I think might have been morels, but I'm not knowledgeable enough to tell the difference between real and mock morels. Plus, our yard is in the middle of Madison, which does not seem a likely breeding ground. I'll watch again this spring and if they reappear I'll post a photo here.

When Sunday night's game started with an ordinary round of starting lineups, I realized there was no Culver's Major League Moment. Then we checked the Gameday program's list of season-long promotions...nothing. Googled the phrase "culver's major league moment" - no results more recent than 2008. That is a bummer and a half. Seeing for myself last spring what an experience bensheeps' son had on the field, I was planning to enter my nephew's name again.

As for choosing a real estate agent, we started by just going to open houses that seemed like plausible (i.e. in our price range) properties for us. In talking to (or in the case of a few talkative ones, just listening to) agents, we chose one who we thought was knowledgeable and seemed patient with a couple of complete newbies to real estate. That worked OK. It was really nice to have a "buyer's agent" because of our lack of experience with the process, so I'd recommend working with someone willing to do that. By the time we did our second house transaction (involving a sale as well as a purchase), the first agent was no longer in the area, so we acted on a suggestion from a colleague. This also worked just fine. As for a lender, we started with the financial institution where all of our money already was; they offered a good (for 1993) rate. We refinanced the mortgage on that first house like five years later. Our second transaction we also did with our current financial institution - though for reasons too long and off-topic to get into here, we didn't need as large or as long a mortgage this go-round. If you haven't already, start thinking about what's most important to you in a house - large and small details. Minimum square footage? Any style but a ranch? Minimum bedrooms/bathrooms? Size of yard? How much fixing-up are you able/willing to do? Is it a dealbreaker if you have no garage? No dining room? No laundry chute? (Remember, I said small details too.) You and your wife could each make a list of things that are important to you, share the lists, and decide together what you most want and (just as importantly) what your dealbreakers are. Then as you start to go to open houses, you can more quickly assess which ones you really want to pursue and which can be bypassed. It can be frightening and definitely stressful at times, but I really like being a homeowner. Remember, it's productive debt.

I'd have to hear it again to be sure. The "O Fortuna" played during last season's offensive highlight package (before the Brewers' half of the first) was from Carmina Burana, I'm pretty sure, so it's not implausible. By the way (with apologizes for the aside, but it's Miller Park AV-related), Robin19, on Sunday they replayed that 'drink responsibly' ad which shows you at the very end. I don't think I've seen that since the end of the 2007 season. Edit: tristarscoop, you probably don't want to get me started on that huge US Cellular commercial, I mean, starting lineups. That one young woman gyrating with her cell phone before they announce the leadoff batter is one thing I did NOT miss during the long off-season.