January 22, 2008
Bah! I hate politicians. Not a one of them is worth a damn thing and the last three presidents we've had should have been left in the baby diapers their respective parties found them in. Looking at the primaries, I'm pretty much sure that the next President will come out of the same cloth.
At this point I'm almost wondering if I should start a write-in campaign for the Presidency. Contagion for President! I want less government, less spending and more individual rights.
If there is anyone out there that thinks they can sell me on a candidate that is currently running, go for it. But I want arguements for voting for your candidate, not voting against another.
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January 21, 2008
F@#K PLAXICO BURRESS
F@#K AMANI TOOMER
F@#K THE GIANTS!
Yes, I have hate in my heart today. To give credit due, the Giants out played the Packers. Especially their offense against our defense. We gave up too many opportunities and made too many mistakes that the Giants capitalized on. Part of it is I think that the cold actually got to the Pack. Maybe if Mike McCarthy would let the team practice outside they would have been a little bit more accustomed to the cold. But I'm going to let this go other ways I'll be angry again for the rest of the night.
To help me get over my anger and frustration Ktreva took me down to Fritz's for an afternoon of drinking, conversing and just having a good time. I'm telling you all Fritz's is just a good place to go, chill and unwind. Plus they have the best Bar Tender during the days that I've ever had. And that's saying a lot. As I was down there slowly blowing off steam at the disappointment of my team losing to the Giants something dawned on me.
What am I going to do for the Super Bowl now. I was going to host a party if the Packers made it to the big game. Well obviously they didn't. I don't think I know any Giants fans well enough to get an invite to their party. Even if I did I'm still in a quandary about who I'm going to root for.
I have the Patriots and Tom Brady, whom I have an insane amount of dislike for and would love to see them lose the game just to shut up some of the fair weather and band wagon fans. Then again I would love to see Eli Manning loose because I have no respect for the whiny little beaotch after his stunt when he was drafted. For those of you that don't know, he was drafted by the Chargers and then threw a temper tantrum until he was traded to the Giants. Yeah, you know what. Most people are just happy they made it to the NFL, it takes a real loser to complain about which team is going to be paying you an insane amount of money for a rookie.
Right now I can't decide who to root for... or against. If I had my way both teams would loose.
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January 20, 2008
It was until the third time watching this that I realized they all really need to work on their aim.
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Sure enough the first one I called said they where not going to open today due to the temperatures just for safety reasons. They are an all outdoor range. The other has a heated outdoor area, but they are further north. They say they are pretty much open all the time. Just to play it safe I called them and the guy I spoke with said that they were currently open, but they are thinking of closing shortly because of the weather.
I decided not to risk the drive for a closed range. Called my friends and canceled the trip. We'll have to reschedule for a different weekend. What sucks about this is that it's been an annual tradition to go shooting on Martin Luther King JR weekend for years. BAH!
At least now I'll be able to stay home and watch both games.
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January 18, 2008
I've been all over looking for this issue and I can't find it anywhere. Apparently all these collectors and wannabe fans are snatching them up hopping they will be worth something some day. These jerks also prevented me from getting the December 10th issue.
So if there are any of you out there that can find either one and want to buy it for me, I'd be really grateful!
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January 17, 2008
That was until last year. I started hanging out with some friends from work to watch football on Sundays. It would rotate at who's house it was held. No matter how much I offered to host the "Football Sunday", they would always pass because I had a small TV and it wasn't in HD. Which in all honesty was fine by me. That way I didn't have to clean up before and after.
What changed was when the Packers started doing really well this year. I started saying, "If the Packers make it to the Super Bowl, I'm hosting the party." They are my team and unless another Packer fan wants to host it, I'm going to watch the game in the house of a Packer fan. I even talked Ktreva into letting me buy big screen TV if the Packers made it all the way.
So I've been watching and planning on how I'm going to do this when the opportunity fell into my lap. One of my peers at work bought a 50 inch HD TV a couple of years ago. It's too big for her room and her and her husband both decided to get a smaller TV. So they decided to sell the one they have. They wanted it out so they put a price on it of $600.00, which includes the entertainment center for it. Yea, I jumped on that. I didn't really ask Ktreva's permission, but the TV they have is a $1,600.00 TV normally. There is no way in hell I'm going to find a deal like that in the stores. All I have to do is go pick it up.
I called in a couple of favors from people I've helped move stuff in the past year and we are going to go pick it up on Saturday. The only problem is that now I have to get rid of the entertainment center we currently have. Fortunately it's falling apart and old, so I'm not worried about preserving it. I'm thinking firewood for over the summer.
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January 16, 2008
Like a lot of beers from the UK, this came in a 16 oz nitro can. ItÂ’s mainly green with a gold ring at the top. There is a modern stylish Celtic knotwork symbol on the can with the signature of Thomas Caffrey in red under it. The name of the beer is on a black banner on the top third of the can. It was the color scheme that inspired me to drink it out of a Lambeau Field glass from CurlyÂ’s pub. DonÂ’t ask how I got the glass.
As is typical of nitro can beers, this one has a nice thick creamy white head. When itÂ’s poured into the glass the nitrogen bubbles put on a cascading effect that is rather impressive. The head leaves a thick creamy lacing on the glass that lasts as long as the head does. It is considered an Irish Red and has about the typical reddish-copper coloring to it. To be honest I was expecting a slightly more reddish hue to it, but it looks just like a proper beer should.
The smell is a very meek combination of sweet malts and floral hops. There is a slight fruity hint, but I am unable to make out what kind of fruit. It has a mild taste, mostly of malts. One really canÂ’t detect the hop taste at all. With almost no aftertaste, itÂ’s easy to see why someone would drink quite a few of these.
It is a full-bodied beer with a silky and smooth feel to it. It is much thicker than the looks lead you to believe.
I know T1G really likes this beer as was talking about it a lot while he was home. ItÂ’s not a bad beer, I could see ordering a couple dozen in a pub, especially if I was eating a meal. However, I really wasnÂ’t all that impressed. The weak taste left me wanting more of something else that had more flavor to it. It really could use some more hops to balance it out. Overall itÂ’s not a bad beer, but nothing I would go out of my way for. IÂ’m giving it a 4 out of 10.
Posted by: Contagion at
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January 15, 2008
Now I'm going to admit to something that I think even my friends that read this might not know. Part of my love of theater is a love of musicals. That's right, I like musicals. I had parts in Hello Dolly and Oklahoma, okay I was mainly in the chorus because my voice was so bad they wouldn't give me a singing part where people could hear me solo. Even though it's been over 15 years, I still know a lot of the songs and still sing them.
The reason I'm admitting to this is because if I didn't, the story I'm about to tell wouldn't be nearly as funny.
It started last week when I picked Clone after work. He asked if we could have pizza for dinner. It wasn't that he asked for pizza, it was that he did it in that sing-song voice that only a young child can do. So I responded to him... in song. We had an entire conversation about having pizza for dinner in song on the ride home. It was just like in a musical. For no apparent reason the characters bust out in song to explain part of the story. In our case we busted out in song to argue over us having pizza for dinner.
Flash forward a couple of days. It's morning and I'm making sandwiches for Ktreva's and my lunches. Clone comes walking in, looks me in the eye and in song askes, "Daddy, please make me a sandwich. I am so hungry, I need it for lunch!" Of course I had to respond in song, "Clone, you don't need a sandwich, for you are going to grandma's and she feeds you lunch!" Of course this started a fifteen minute argument, in song, over whether or not he gets fed at grandma's.
Ktreva comes walking into the kitchen in the middle of our performance with a dumbfounded look on her face. She looks at Clone and I with that "what the hell are you doing" look on her face. Then proceeds to laugh her arse off when I tell her she walked into "Contagion's House, the musical!"
But that's okay, because when she's not around Clone and I converse in song.
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January 14, 2008
Here are some facts from that game:
* Officially, the field's $80,000 heating system failed due to cold. Unofficially, some say, Lombardi turned it off.
* At one point during the game, the ball froze to the field during break in play
* Officials could not use whistles to stop play. They froze.
* The team canceled marching band performances after noticing blood on a few of the musician's faces.
* Packers fans several times during the contest leaned over the front row to unplug the Cowboys' heated benches.
* After the game, several fans passed out soon after warming up. Their thawed systems finally registered the alcohol they'd consumed to keep warm during the game.
* One fan, an elderly gentleman, died due to exposure.
This game will forever be known in the NFL histories as "The Ice Bowl".
Now you've heard a story about football being played in harsh weather conditions. Why did I bring this up. Well flash forward just over 40 years later to January 12th, 2008. On the Hallowed grounds of Lambeau Field, the Mighty Green Bay Packers faced off against the Seattle Seahawks. The Seahawks coached by Mike Holmgren, the coach that lead the Packers to the Super Bowl in 97 and 98. The man even has a street named for him in Green Bay.
They were captained by once Brett Favre backup, Matt Hasselbeck. Hasselbeck just four years earlier on the same field had faced Green Bay in a playoff game that went into overtime. When the Seahawks won the OT toss and was asked to choose, Matt said, "We want the ball, and we're going to score." And what a beautiful score it was when he threw a touchdown for an interception.
This year was going to be different. In front of a record setting crowd Green Bay took the field with the snow gently falling to the ground. And I was there to see it.
I took my father up to the game on Saturday as some time for the two of us to spend together as Father and son. Folks, I can tell you that this was the best football experience of my life. When we arrived at the stadium the snow was gently falling. At one point of the game it was coming down so hard I couldn't see across the stadium to the seats on the other side. When the snow started to gather they had three guys with brooms come out between the plays and brush off the yard lines. That quickly turned to six guys with brooms, then 6 guys with shovels. Next they brought out a gator with a snowblower attachment and finally it was a full sized farm tractor with a huge snow blower attachment. This was just so the officials and coaches could see where they were on the field.
As we sat in the stands, snow was starting to gather on the fans. Most of us had at least a good dusting of snow. Others were just down right coated in it as the largest flakes I've ever seen fell from the sky. It was a surreal moment watching my team play in that environment. To see a guy get tackled on the 30 and slide all the way to the 15. As one unbelievable play after another happened before my eyes.
Sure the first five minutes was horrible. 20 seconds in to the game we gave the ball over to Seattle on a fumble and they scored. Two plays latter we fumbled it to them again. And again they scored. After five minutes of game time we were down by 14 points.
Then it happened. Brett Favre once again took to the field and lead the Packers to a touchdown and what started a might offensive and defensive come back. The Packers trounced the Seagulls er Seahawks 42-20.
I can honestly say this was the best football game I have ever been to in my life. Everyone I talked to said the same thing. The chances of us being in the stands for a game like this are almost impossible. It really wasn't that cold, temps in the low 30s and no wind. The snow was beautiful and amazing. The intricate play of the teams in the condition is what really made the game fantastic.
The fact that the Packers won, was just the icing on the cake.
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January 10, 2008
Yea that's right. That's me in the number one position! (Does happy dance!)
I'd give Quality Weenie (Last Year's Winner) credit for second place, but she had to be disqualified for picking against her favored team. When the league was started it was clearly stated that each player must pick their favored team. Which we know from last year is Detroit Lions (Since I had to buy her the prize). Thus Second place goes to Tony's Tigers, a friend from work.
This year's winner is Sensational Simians, AKA Bruce of Back to the Bat Cave. He took a clear lead early on and just rode Tom Brady to the Championship like a cheap whore. Not that I'm complaining, I did the same thing with LT last year. Second place is Gott, aka Jeebus, AKA T1G of Drunken Wisdom.
Congratulations to the both of you, Bruce you're prize will be coming soon.
I hope to see everyone play again next year.
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IGOLD 2008 is officially set for Tuesday, March 11, 2008 Mark that day on your calendar, schedule a vacation day, personal day, whatever you have to do to be in Springfield on that day!!
With the Illinois General Assembly back in session all the anti-gun owner bills of 2007 are back in play. The Illinois State Police are setting their own rules on FOID card requirements bringing a whole new meaning to the words "subject to police power" in the Illinois State Constitution. Cook County is trying to expand Chicago's firearm registration style gun control to the whole county plus trying to shut down all firearm retailers and gun shows in Cook County.
Now is not the time to sit idly by and wring our hands. NOW is the time to show up at the Illinois State Capitol and let our voices be heard - the voices of Illinois Gun owners - loud clear voices that we have had enough infringements on our rights - we'll budge no further. In fact, not only do we stand our ground, we want ground back that's been lost.
48 STATES ARE NOT WRONG!!
WE WANT OUR RIGHT TO CARRY FOR DEFENSE OF SELF AND FAMILY RECOGNIZED IN THIS STATE WITH A RIGHT-TO-CARRY LAW!!
Last year more than 1,500 Illinois gun owners swarmed the Capitol complex lobbying state legislators for firearm owners rights and the need for a Right to Carry law in Illinois.
Like I need to state this, but hell yea I'm going. If any of you from Northern Illinois would like to join me, just let me know and we'll work out details.
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January 09, 2008
The delivery package was the standard 12 oz brown bottle. The label has the name across the top with Oktoberfest in a decorative oval. The bottom of the label has a picture of the sun rising over a villa with a giant hawk sitting on top of it to one side. A limited edition lager logo is in the right lower corner. The neck label has a brief description of the beer on it.
It pours a dark amber/orange color. There is a clearness to it that lets light pass through it easily with out any sign of impurities. The thing white head that formed while pouring disappears quickly into nothing. Not even lacing is left on the side of the glass.
The smell is a mix of hops, toasted grains and caramel malts. ItÂ’s not something one would think of when smelling an Oktoberfest. Caramel malts and a good hop backbone combine to make the flavor. The taste is light and unassuming. What aftertaste there is goes away quickly.
This is a light bodied beer. It is a bit heavy on the carbonation side, yet it is still smooth to drink.
Overall this beer was more of an amber ale than an Oktoberfest. I prefer a bit more flavor to my beers, but this isnÂ’t bad. IÂ’d have no problem drinking another couple. Overall I give it a 4.5 out of 10.
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January 08, 2008
Most of the problems started two months ago when I went to Tennessee with Bloodspite. While I was away my peers volunteered my people to handle a project that not only would take forever and a day to complete but would tie up at least 2 people a day, every day until it's finished. Than one of my highest producing employees gave birth taking her out of the office for 2 months. A lot of my people had vacation time making me even more short staffed. We had to give up people to help other areas and there was no one to assist me. There were days that I actually had 3 of the 17 people that work for me working on our daily work.
Then my grandmother died. While I was out of the office then a decision was made that three of my people would assist another arena everyday until they get caught up, be damned what my workload was. Rumor has it that it was stated that the decision was made while I was out of the office because "Contagion wouldn't go for this if he was here." Then they didn't even have the common courtesy or respect to advise me of the situation when I returned. I had to learn it from my employees and when I asked about the plan I was blown off.
Yet, I kept rolling with it and doing my best to keep everyone appraised of my situation and what I'm trying to do to correct it. Right now I'm back logged so badly that I'm in violation of state law and the company is paying fines. No matter what I said, no one else seemed to listen. Until today that is. I finally got them to understand that my unit can't handle everything dumped on them, I can't get assistance for them and I need to start pulling resources back to correct the situation.
Well one of my peers whom had the assistance I was providing pulled got upset and sent me a nasty e-mail stating that I wasn't looking at the big picture and taking care of our customers. The is the peer that had the assistance pulled from my area when my grandmother died.
I came unglued.
I responded with a rather lengthy e-mail explaining how I took offense to what they implied and I felt they were out of line. I explained the entire situation so she could see the big picture. It took me an hour to type it. Not because it's that long but because I had to re-write it three times. I was so mad the first three that it was really nasty and insulting. Even the copy I sent was pretty bad, but I couldn't make it any nicer. I wouldn't make it any nicer.
I'm fully expecting to get called into an office tomorrow, but I'm sticking to my guns. Even after cooling off I still want to go throttle the bitch.
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January 07, 2008
A popular local attraction was destroyed by the tornado, or so the news says. My main thing is that I haven't heard from Graumagus. His house is out in the area the tornado touched down. One of the news reports I heard advised that some of the houses in his community were damaged. Nothing serious, but there was some storm damage. I'm sure everything is okay with him and his family, but it sure would be nice to hear from him just to know for sure.
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I brought a ton of food with as I wasn't sure what the eating arrangements were, only to get there and find out that I really didn't need to. However, my contribution to the snack table of pepper cheese, pickled mushrooms and herring fillets in mustard sauce was much appreciated. And even though Will made fun of me for bringing a cutting board, they all sure seemed to use it, especially when slicing cheese.
Speaking of Cutting the Cheese. You stick that many mean in the same place all drinking beer, eating bean soup, pickled stuff, cheese and sausages at night you get a symphony of body noises. Holy crap! I would wake up in the night to hear everyone snoring, blowing arse or burping. Add to that the couple that talked in their sleep, it got a little unnerving. To hear someone mutter in their sleep, "Don't worry, it'll be over soon. It's not going to hurt" really creeped me out! I was rather happy I was sleeping with a knife.
Saturday night, reader and commenter Petey decided that his mission in life was to make my eyes water with his gaseous emanations. There are a couple of benches at the fort that aren't going to need to be sealed because he gave them a good shellacking with his arse juices. If that wasn't bad enough, most of the time I was sitting right next to him. There was a couple of times someone broke wind that I really wished I had no sense of smell.
It was a great time and we all had fun. The weather was warmer than I would have liked. I kid you not it hit the sixties on Sunday and was in the mid forties on Saturday. That warm weather melted all the snow turning the ground to mud. It really sucked. Plus I sleep better when it's colder.
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January 04, 2008
Right now IÂ’m getting ready to head out. IÂ’m pretty excited as I have a very bad case of the Rendeflu (The illness re-enactors get when they are long away from a re-enactment or Rendezvous). Which is pretty funny since itÂ’s been only two months since the Ball and two and a half months from my last re-enactment. Normally the Rendeflu doesnÂ’t hit me until February, usually right after the Super Bowl.
Now Ktreva and the boys aren’t joining me for various reasons. Ktreva’s biggest reasoning is that, “It’s cold and you’re insane for wanting to camp in this weather!” I on the other hand figure I’ll spend most of the time in the cabin, only leaving to use the out house. It’s the only time when you look forward to being the second person having to use it so the seat is warmed.
IÂ’ll be back on Sunday! DonÂ’t have too much fun.
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January 03, 2008
I have a traditional of being a little socially lubricated, it helps me overcome my shyness. This year was no exception. The first guests showed up a little after 5:00. I remembered guests showing up regularly after that up until someone noticed a wooden box I had in my office. I explained it was Shut the Box, an old pub game. After a very quick explanation of the rules, as it is a simple game to play, they decided they wanted to play. After the first couple of rounds others joined in. The next thing I know some arsehole decided that just taking a drink of beer for the loser wasn't good enough, it had to be shots. After that everything went down hill.
I have no recollection of the rest of the night. Well except playing drunken Wii at 2:00 in the morning. Apparently I was calling people on the phone, texting people, talking to people that called me on the phone and much more. I don't recall any of it. Allegedly I was rather amusing.
So if you received a phone call from me, a Text message from me or I spoke to you on the phone that night. I apologize for anything I may have said or done that could be construed as offensive. If you just found me amusing, than I'm glad I could be of assistance!
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I had to re-evaluate my assessment as I watched the exhaust pour out of the four inch tailpipe on my truck like a spy car pumping out a smoke screen. If that wasn't bad enough, I had to giggle as the exhaust froze on the windshield of the car behind me thick enough to impede their vision.
Now that's cold!
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January 02, 2008
The delivery method was a 12oz brown bottle. The neck label has the breweryÂ’s logo on it. The main body label has a picture of a Monk (St. Benedict I assume) sitting in a monastery reading a book by candlelight. The name of the beer is on a blue banner across the middle of the picture.
The ale has a nice dark brown color with slight copper tones to it. It poured a quarter inch tan head made up of a mix of small to large bubbles that rapidly dissipated into a ring around the glass. There was very minimal lacing.
When held to the nose you get an aroma of cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and roasted malts. A hint of alcohol can also be detected. The taste is much like the smell. You have all the spices and malts that combine to give it slight biscuit undertone. There is enough alcohol in this beer that you can feel it warm on the way down.
This is a light bodied beer; there really isnÂ’t much to it.
This beer pleasantly surprised me. I was expecting something kind of awful, but it really turned out pleasant. I could see someone sitting next to a fire on a cold winterÂ’s evening drinking one of these. I give it a 5 out of 10.
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08:09 PM
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