In the state of Illinois you have to register your canoe before you can use it. Now if you ask the bureaucrats they will tell you that itÂ’s for your own protection. That way people canÂ’t steal your canoe and sell it. Honestly, letÂ’s just be honest and admit it. The state wants to micromanage anything and everything its citizens do. They can also get more money out of us.

The problem is that if you buy a used canoe, you can have a ton of fun trying to get it registered. Especially if you have a canoe that is not currently registered with the state or comes from a state that doesnÂ’t register their canoesÂ… such as Wisconsin. That is where my canoe came from. So as I filled out the paper work, and I spoke with the DNR there was mention of a watercraft tax.

At the time you apply for an Illinois title or registration with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources for a watercraft you purchased or leased, you are required to submit either payment of tax or proof that no tax is due before your watercraft can be titled or registered.

The Illinois Department of Revenue is responsible for administering the collection of tax and providing the necessary tax forms. You must make separate payments for tax due and title and/or registration fees. Make your tax payment payable to the Illinois Department of Revenue and your payment for title fees payable to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.

The Department of Natural Resources directed me to the Illinois Department of Revenue. While I was on hold with them I started doing some research and discovered the following on the back of the registration form:

Effective September 1, 2004 tax is owed when a watercraft (class 2, 3, 4 and personal watercraft [PWC], i.e. jet-skis) is acquired by gift, donation, transfer, or non-retail purchase if the watercraft will be used in Illinois.

Thus, I figured when I finally got through the person would tell me that I owed nothing because a canoe is a Class A watercraft… “Class A – Canoe/Kayak/Paddleboat”. Finally after ten minutes a guy with a thick Spanish accent is trying to help me. I could barely understand what he was saying to me. I explained why I was calling. He asked me how long was is the canoe. I advised 17 feet and he put me on hold “to look something up.” He came back on and said that I would indeed owe taxes on it.

SAY WHAT?!?!?!?!

He said that because the canoe is 17 feet, I owe taxes on it. If it had been 15 feet, I would have been okay. I clarified that the form says that a class 2 watercraft is 16 to 24 ft , but that a class A is a canoe/kayak/paddleboat. It doesn’t say what size it has to be. He stated that there is nothing that claims that a canoe is exempt from the size categories. Even after I pointed out that doesn’t make sense since they have a separate category just for Canoes/kayaks/paddleboats. The guy put me on hold again and said he was going to talk to his supervisor. I was on hold for another 5 minutes and he comes back on and claims that “I spoke with my supervisor and they agree with me.” I asked to speak with the supervisor and was transferred to a voice mail.

I left a message asking them to call me back. In the meantime I started doing more research and I found this on the Illinois Department of RevenueÂ’s own website. First I have from their own section on definitions.

"Watercraft" means Class 2, Class 3, and Class 4 watercraft, as defined in Section 3-2 of the Boat Registration and Safety Act [625 ILCS 45/3-2] and personal watercraft, as defined in Section 1-2 of the Boat Registration and Safety Act [625 ILCS 45/1-2]. [35 ILCS 158/15-5] Section 3-2 of the Boat Registration and Safety Act defines these terms asfollows:

"Class 2" watercraft means all watercraft 16 feet or more but less than 26 feet in length, except canoes and kayaks.

"Class 3" watercraft means all watercraft 26 feet or more but less than 40 feet in length.

"Class 4" watercraft means all watercraft 40 feet or more in length.

Next I found this on the FAQ for the RUT-75 form. The one that you have to fill out to pay for the tax.

Who must file Form RUT-75?
If you acquire an aircraft or watercraft by gift, donation, transfer, or
non-retail purchase, you must fi le Form RUT-75, Aircraft/Watercraft
Use Tax Transaction Return.

“Aircraft” includes airplanes, helicopters, hot-air balloons, ultra lights,
gliders, blimps, dirigibles, seaplanes, and anything else defined as
aircraft in Section 3 of the Illinois Aeronautics Act.

“Watercraft” includes
• Class 2, Class 3, and Class 4 watercraft as defined in Section 3-2
of the Boat Registration and Safety Act; and
• personal watercraft as defined in Section 1-2 of the Boat
Registration and Safety Act (jet skis, wave runners, etc.).

“Watercraft” does not include canoes or kayaks.

Finally we have 625 ILCS 45/3-2

(625 ILCS 45/3 2) (from Ch. 95 1/2, par. 313 2)
Sec. 3 2. Identification number application. The owner of each watercraft requiring numbering by this State shall file an application for number with the Department on forms approved by it. The application shall be signed by the owner of the watercraft and shall be accompanied by a fee as follows:

A. Class A (all canoes, kayaks, and non motorized paddle boats). $6
B. Class 1 (all watercraft less
than 16 feet in length, except
canoes, kayaks, and non motorized paddle boats).. $15
C. Class 2 (all watercraft 16
feet or more but less than 26 feet in length
except canoes, kayaks, and non motorized paddle boats). $45
D. Class 3 (all watercraft 26 feet or more
but less than 40 feet in length)............ $75
E. Class 4 (all watercraft 40 feet in length
or more)........................... $100

Upon receipt of the application in approved form, and when satisfied that no tax imposed pursuant to the "Municipal Use Tax Act" or the "County Use Tax Act" is owed, or that such tax has been paid, the Department shall enter the same upon the records of its office and issue to the applicant a certificate of number stating the number awarded to the watercraft and the name and address of the owner.
(Source: P.A. 93 32, eff. 7 1 03; 94 45, eff. 1 1 06.)

Emphasis mine

Pay no attention to the prices, those have gone up.

So IÂ’m waiting for this supervisor to call me back. IÂ’m fighting paying the taxes on this because according to all the laws, forms and documentation I can find, CANOES ARE EXEMPT!!!!! IÂ’m not paying any more money into this State hemorrhaging money due to bad money management. I wonder how badly the state is going to come down on me?

Posted by: Contagion at 08:56 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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I finally get to step back for a brief breather! I really do mean a brief one too. Let me give you a cliff notes reference of everything that has been going on.

Last week Boopie had his 16th Birthday, for five years my plan was to buy him a car. Nothing too nice or fancy, but just a cheap $2,000 to $3,000 car. He even knew that was what the plan was. A couple of years ago I promised him I would match him dollar for dollar toward a car, up to $2,000.00 when he turned 16 as long as he had no Ds or Fs on his report card. I knew in October that I wasnÂ’t going to have to worry about it, because he was failing classes, and he just went down hill from there. So he turned 16 and didnÂ’t get his license.

The sad thing is that I get the impression that he blames Ktreva and me for him not getting his license.

Thursday night, I obtained my first degree as a Mason. TheyÂ’re a group IÂ’ve wanted to join for a while now, but I just never had the opportunity and time. I finally decided to get off my arse and make it happen. IÂ’ve got a lot of work ahead of me as I am but an apprentice, but IÂ’m up for the challenge. In fact I have a meeting tonight with them.

Friday night I had to get a car carrier for the canoe I purchased. It came with a foam pad system, but after doing some research, and talking to other canoe owners, I decided that if IÂ’m going to take that canoe on any distance, I want something a bit more stable than those foam blocks. We are planning our family vacation with our friends Wil and Red to The Lake in The Ozarks, and want to bring the canoe along. After doing the research and reading horror story after horror story about those foam pads either failing or scratching the hell out of the paint, I decided to get a real carrier. A local canoe shop had exactly what I wanted, and I ended up getting a Yakima rack system. The owner of the shop even helped me install it.

After the rack I took Ktreva and Clone to see the new Star Trek Movie. Okay, IÂ’m not going to give anything away, but honestly for those Star Trek purists out there, this movie is going to annoy you. The main plot device is was a crutch that bad writers use when they canÂ’t come up with an original idea. Heck, they might as well have done the entire movie based in a Halodeck. That is the only bigger crutch out there. As a movie on its own, it was pretty good. They did pay a lot of homage to the original series with the devices, sounds and catch phrases. I donÂ’t want to give anything away, so IÂ’m going to quit talking about it now.

Saturday morning we had to go to Madison, WI to get the Canoe. ItÂ’s an older used canoe, but it looks great. There are some scrapes and dings on it from use, but all the seems are straight, the rivets are all original and itÂ’s sturdy! We put her on the new rack system and left for home. I had originally planed on using some of the straps that came with the canoe, but the seller didnÂ’t have a lot of faith in them, so we temporarily tied it down with twine until I could get to a Menards and buy some ropes for it. We picked up some ratchet ropes and are probably the best thing for canoes IÂ’ve ever seen.

Saturday night I took Ktreva to the RaptorÂ’s football game. Where, since the Metrocentre only sells Budweiser products that I wonÂ’t drink, we had way too many Bloody Marys. I mean way too many! Ktreva made our quarterback cry. It was rather amusing, yet sad. Sad for the quarterback, as he really was not having a good night. I also spent a lot of time trying to educate Ktreva on the small nuances of football. I really should only do that when neither one of us has an alcohol soaked brain.

On MotherÂ’s day I gave Ktreva the gift of laziness. I let her do what ever she wanted, and I took care of all the work that needed to be done. Well not all of it, because I needed some help here or there. I did all the cooking. We had smoked pork chops, bratwurst and I made my first Bacon Explosion! It turned out really well. IÂ’m looking forward to making my next one for the Beer Tasting.

Speaking of which, the deadline for the Beer Tasting is rapidly approaching! Let me know, if you havenÂ’t already, if you are coming!

Posted by: Contagion at 03:31 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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IÂ’ve been trying to buy a canoe for months now. The problem is that I was very specific about the canoe I was after. I wanted a 17-18 Grumman Aluminum canoe. After doing some research I figured that was the best canoe for what I wanted to do with it. My father bought one for the family that was the same size when I was a kid. I remember spending hours in various lakes, rivers and ponds canoeing in it. Unfortunately DadÂ’s canoe had a run in with a falling tree and was totaled.

I picked mine up off of e-bayÂ… after losing a couple of others at the last minute. TodayÂ’s bidding ended at 1:40 in the afternoon and I think that helped me. Especially since this canoe came with a car carrier, paddles, life vests and extra floatation cushions. I got it the whole thing for $532.00.

My new canoe.

Now I just have to go pick it up. I can barely contain my excitement.

Posted by: Contagion at 08:23 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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1 I remember the tree incident. Turned your dad's canoe into a "u" boat

Posted by: Graumagus at May 05, 2009 10:05 PM (LxL8S)

2 I tried to comment on the canoe, but your comment system kept saying that the link was bad words.

Posted by: The Thomas at May 06, 2009 02:20 PM (PRm1Y)

3 I'm thinking you would be more interested in this guy's canoe. http://www.mlive.com/living/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2009/05/profile_outdoorsman_and_schola.html Its shown in the pictures at the end.

Posted by: The Thomas at May 06, 2009 07:05 PM (lhX2J)

4 Sweet ride! Damn, I'm jealous. More pics!

Posted by: og at May 07, 2009 06:58 PM (5jzIw)

5 Lake of the Ozarks here we come!!

Posted by: red at May 08, 2009 07:00 AM (tlzMg)

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I spent most of my day yesterday getting reading for my first family re-enactment of the season, the Gathering at Macktown. I needed to make some moccasins for Clone so he wouldnÂ’t have to wander around barefoot. Also there was a knife sheath I needed to make for a new belt knife I bought last month in Kalamazoo. I really like this new knife; IÂ’m going to be really upset when I lose it. (IÂ’ve lost 2 knives in the last two years.) I also had to sharpen the new knife.

The whole time I was working on this, I was drinking All Natural Cranberry juice. After I finished working on my projects, I continued to drink cranberry juice, but now I added vodka to it. When the evening was over, I ended up drinking over a gallon of Cranberry juice. Yep, a gallon. (Thank god it was sugar free).

This morning I have discovered that drinking that much Cranberry juice has a very interesting effect on the human digestive tract, the colon to be specific. I was at work, when my internal clock went off and told me “It’s time to let out the waste!” Yes, I’m so regular that I can almost set a clock by it. Every day at approximately 10:30 AM, this means that I am usually at work when my colon decides to purge itself.

Now, IÂ’m not going to go into a lot of details here. However, just keep in mind there is a lot of Fiber in cranberry juice. The consistency was, to be blunt, less than solid. I can understand that because of the fiber. What I donÂ’t understand is why it smelled like someone emptied a can of Cranberry scented air freshener into my colon.

Seriously, it smelled like someone had sprayed cranberry scented air freshener in the bathroom.

I mean, there was still the stink of the colon blow, but it was masked with a sweet and fruity scent. And I know no one sprayed the air freshener, because its vanilla scented in that bathroom. IÂ’m not saying it was pleasant, but it was definitely better than the scent of burnt motor oil.

IÂ’m going to have to try this the next time I drink a CarlyleÂ’s Scottish Ale and eat Uncle NicksÂ… see if it makes that gas smell better.

Posted by: Contagion at 01:58 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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For those that live in a five block radius of me, if you are wondering what that wonderful smell is, it's my ribs. Well not my ribs as in the ribs in my chest, but my ribs as those that I'm smoking right now.

Yea, those are the ribs right after I put them on the smoker 2.5 hours ago. They have been cooking at 225 to 250 degrees the whole time. They have marinated in a special sauce and then I rubbed them down with my special seasoning combination.

Hungry yet?

Posted by: Contagion at 02:11 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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At some time everyone has read something, gone someplace or done something that opens up a floodgate of memories of things from their past. This past weekend I had one of those experiences.

My re-enacting friend, Smokepoles, bought a ten manufacturing business and is working to get it up and running. With the purchase of the business came a computer that hasnÂ’t been made since around 1992. It was a Leading Edge WinPro 486sx/33. For those of you that are computer illiterate, a really old computer from a company that doesnÂ’t exist anymore. The kicker is that the CMOS battery was dead so if you had to reboot it, you had to setup all of the hardware each time. Fun, Fun! Now before I go any further, I knew the previous owner of the business, and he is one of the nicest guys you will ever meet. He is an older gentlemen, and from looking at the computer program, the notes that went with it and the program he was using, not very computer savvy. I'm not speaking ill of him, just acknowledging he may not have known better.

Graumagus came with me to help Smokepoles get the essential data off of this computer. What we thought would be an easy transition turned into a hellacious headache. First off we had to crack the case open to get the info for the hard drive, because we didn’t have the necessary information to set it up in CMOS. Then once we had it going it would auto start into what we dubbed “Bob’s program” because it was nothing we had ever seen before and it looks like it was written specifically for the previous owner. In which we spent some time trying to figure out. It was running MS-DOS V6. (Pre-windows, and thank god all of our DOS jockey days came flooding back to our memories.) The file organization on this computer was horrible. It looked like the thought of using directories and sub-directories never crossed anyone’s mind as a lot of programs were loaded right into the main C:\ directory.

We opened up the Autoexec file to find the .BAT was being run so we could find BobÂ’s Program. Which Grau found, but opening it up, it was about useless. It really didnÂ’t look like it was running anything. Finally we were able to find the name of file that starts BobÂ’s Program, there were two of them. Main.exe and Menu.exe. Both of them started BobÂ’s Program. Once we got in there, we tried to find the data files, but the programs just did not cooperate. We even tried to get the program to save files on a blank floppy so we could try to open it on another computer, but that wouldnÂ’t work. When we did find a text file associated with BobÂ’s Program, we couldnÂ’t find ANYTHING on the modern computers that would even open it up. Even a generic wordpad opening just produced symbols and junk.

While Grau worked on trying to find the data, I worked on trying to get the program to run on Smokepoles' new computer… with no luck. The new system, even in a dos shell, wouldn’t let the older program run properly. Even when I finally had a break through and was able to get the program to open up, the program wouldn’t open any of the data files. Which cause me to cheer out in joy when I finally got the program to run, and scream “F#CK!!!!!” when the files wouldn’t open. That wouldn’t be so funny, but Smokepoles’ in-laws were in town for the weekend for Easter. They don’t like him too much. He had asked that we be on our best behavior while there, and I had warned Grau a couple of times about it. Of course right as I screamed my expletive, was when his father in law walked into the computer room. I didn’t see the look on his in-law’s face, but according to Smokepoles the look on his face was classic.

Over all we could not get the program to run on the new computer, we could not locate the files specifically needed off of the old computer to try to read them. So we ended up printing out the data so Smokepoles could manually enter it into the new computer. This of course required getting a 17 year old bubble jet printer to work. We didnÂ’t have the proper cables to hook up a modern printer to it. Luckily, the 17 year old printer not only worked, but there was some ink in the cartridge. When that cartridge died, the local Cartridge World actually had a replacement in stock!

The only problem with printing is that BobÂ’s program either saved all the data together into one giant Word Processing style document or the previous owner never though of created separate ones for each template. The contact list was HUGE, every vendor had an entry, every person he ever sold to had an entry and organization he worked with had an entryÂ… and they were all mixed together. Needless to say Smokepoles was printing for over 3 hours.

Out of the hell of working on this computer, trying to reclaim much needed information, Grau and I kept joking around on how we felt like we were back in High School again. It was like back when I first started getting into computers. The old 2400 baud modems, and using dial-ups to get to a Bulletin Board System (BBS). How if you wanted to check your e-mail, you had to log onto the system it was sent on. Alternate means of getting data from California with out paying for it. Programs we used to use; games, word processing, file viewers, etc. Memories I had long forgotten, or suppressed in some cases, came flooding back.

Seriously, at one point I wanted to see if I could find an Â’83 Pontiac Phoenix to go cruising around in.

Posted by: Contagion at 06:25 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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1 O jeez. Knowing the former owner of said company, I guess this doesn't surprise me too much. But deep down, weren't you and Grau having a hayday?

Posted by: Petey at April 13, 2009 10:31 PM (TFKVi)

2 Kinda, yeah What really brought back memories is how stable the old Seagate hard drives used to be. That sucker was 15+ years old and didn't even have a hint of platter rattle.

Posted by: Graumagus at April 14, 2009 10:41 AM (/P4X3)

3 Was this written in English?

Posted by: T1G at April 14, 2009 07:35 PM (PCfVW)

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I haven’t talked much about my sister in the last four years of blogging. In fact most of you may not even know I have a sister. When I was younger I nick named her “Girl Schmerlie dude”, which she hated with a passion, so for the sake of this blog she will hence forth be dubbed… GSD (because I’m too lazy to type that out every time I refer to her.) GSD is four and a half years younger than me and we are NOTHING alike. Let me give you a breakdown:

She was a Cheerleader; I could care less about playing sports.
She was popular; People thought I was going to be the guy that pulled a Columbine
She was thin and considered attractive (I wouldnÂ’t know, sheÂ’s my sister); I was a big, ugly bastard. (We look nothing alike)
She struggled getting a C average in school; I wouldnÂ’t try and made the honor roll.
She thought I was favored by our parents, I thought she was favored by our parents.
She loved shopping, fashion and talking on the phone; I still hate all of those things
She hates camping, hunting, shooting; I love all of those things.
She likes NASCAR, I like Football.
She is very active with her cult Church, I donÂ’t like organized religion.
She doesnÂ’t have the common sense god gave a lemming; some people say I have too much common sense.

You get the picture. We were always at odds, and never really got along. Yet she was my sister and I was very over protective of her. IÂ’ve made ex-boyfriends of hers wet their pants and break dates. Rumor has it one of them still canÂ’t look at a natural sponge with out getting a twitch. I was so over protective that even my father wouldnÂ’t tell me things because he was afraid IÂ’d do something stupid. Such as the time an ex-boyfriend hit her, I didnÂ’t find out until months later because my Father was sure I would have ended up in jail. Actually he was more worried I wouldnÂ’t end up in jail because my friends would have given me an air tight alibi.

She went to college down state and just never came back. She lives only about two hours away, but we see/talk to each other maybe 2-4 times a year tops. We just arenÂ’t that close.

I received an e-mail from her that started with how lucky and fortunate she is to have found her place in her cult church. Right away I figured she was going to make another attempt to get me to join the local branch up here. After almost deleting it, I continued to read and found out that she is an advisor for her churchÂ’s youth group and that group is working to help underprivileged children. One of the activities they are doing this summer is going to Juarez, Mexico to build houses for the poor. ItÂ’s part of a missionÂ’s trip that her church is sponsoring.

She was looking to see if I would help sponsor her. Which of course I am going to do, because she is my sister and itÂ’s important to her. IÂ’m actually kind of proud of her for doing this. When she was in High School she was very self-centered, itÂ’s nice to see she changed. My only problem is that she is going to Juarez, Mexico. CouldnÂ’t they have found someplace her in the US to do this? I mean there are plenty of poor and needy here. Plus, it would be a bit safer here. There has been a lot of violence in that region. If anything happens to her...

I guess on the bright side, maybe more houses there will keep some from crossing illegally into the U.S.

Posted by: Contagion at 07:18 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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After work on Friday I went out with Bruce for some drinks. Last week was filled with so much trivial drama that it just pissed me off and I needed to work out some anger issues. What drama? Well I thought you would never ask!

First we have the on going issue with the Spoon and Blade review. Yea, it's still on going and some are now calling for me to be outed from the ONW. Which, honestly I don't know how the one involves the other since I never made mention of the ONW in the review. Also, it's not like I actually think anything will ever come from it.

Next, on the same day the above drama started I received a notice from the city of Rockford saying if I didn't take care of a brush pile behind my garage and move a trailer, I'd be fined up to $750.00. The funny thing about it is that the brush pile was there when I moved in, and the trailer too. Yes, I added to the brush pile, but I had been slowly burning it off. They listed four ordinances that I was in violation. I had to call on the fourth one, because I wasn't sure what it was about. Come to find out, it was because I had a big sign in my back yard. I called the number on the notice to get an explanation and see what they wanted me to do to rectify the situation.

After talking to the city, come to find out one of my neighbors complained. I asked why it was an issue now, especially since the trailer and brush pile had been there for 10 years. Even the lady that wrote the citation stated she wasn't sure why we were never contacted in the past. I wasn't mad at her, she was just doing her job. Since I was nice, polite and civil about the whole thing (Shocker I know), she extended the dead line to get it cleaned up by a week. Now I'm on the hunt for my narcing neighbor so I can return the favor. hehe.

At work there was so much Drama, I don't know where to begin. I had everything from my peers screwing over my people on the day I had to stay home to take care of Clone. To them talking about sending me back to Okla-farkooking-homa. Yea, that's right, they were talking about sending me back down there. Those talks were abruptly ended with me in a meeting making the following statement, "I will NOT be going back to Oklahoma for this company." There was all kinds of stuff between there, but I'm not going to bore you with all of those details.

Then of course there was Clone's Birthday and Birthday parties. Where, that wasn't really drama, but dealing with a 6 year old asking daily about his parties and presents gets really tiresome.

Yea, let's hope next week isn't as dramatic.

Posted by: Contagion at 11:47 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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After spending four fun, and alcohol, filled days in northern Wisconsin with some good friends I returned to civilization and had to go back to work. That is where I discovered, like every other time I'm out of the office, drama ensues. I was getting ready to let it start to get to me when a feeling came washing over me, and a bit of news changed everything.

Change, it is a comin'

I really can't go into any details right now, because I don't have any... but there is some change coming. Enough change that it moved up doctor's appointments and clear out my calendar for the rest of the year.

I'm not talking small changes either, I'm talking really big, huge changes.

Posted by: Contagion at 09:12 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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I pulled another short night last night. I didn't get much sleep. I'm sitting here trying not to pass out on the couch and I haven't even had a beer. Right now I'm trying to get ready for the ONW Wintercamp this weekend, but I'm having a hard time keeping my mind on the task.

I'd do my beer review, but I'm having a hard time keeping my eyes open to do it. I don't think I could accurately review any beer, so instead of giving an inaccurate review, I'd rather go a second week with out one.

If you don't hear from me before I leave, I'll tell you more next week.

Posted by: Contagion at 08:13 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Since Christmas I've picked up a new hobby. Now this one is nothing like my other hobbies... re-enacting, shooting, blogging. No this hobby is a little more... genteel persuasion. It started around Christmas, I took pity on the poor birds in the cold outside.

Then I put up some bird feeders. Of course this attracted squirrels that annoyed me. So I went on the war path against squirrels.

That lead me to go to a local store that specializes in feeding wild birds. Where I bought a "squirrel resistant" feeder. Along with some special feed that is supposed to attract a wider variety of birds.

I haven't gotten to the point that I've started jotting down and identifying the different birds I get, but I'm sure that time is coming. Although I do know that I have a lot of cardinals.

So yeah... Ktreva is making fun of me for this.

At least this is a cheap hobby!

Posted by: Contagion at 09:38 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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Yea... well... okay so we got about 9 inches. That didn't stop me from going to work and having fun driving in it.

I love driving in snow!

Posted by: Contagion at 09:58 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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1 Freak and I mean that in the most loving way

Posted by: KTreva at December 19, 2008 11:13 PM (V7qLP)

2 We had between 1/2" and 1" of Ice/Sleet. The U.S. Highway through town this morning was like an unmaintained dirt road. Big chunks of ice broken out. But, all of our drivers went out and did their curbside routes-albeit 2.5 hours late. Town lost power for about 3.5 hours, but our farmhouse only flicked off for about 1 minute. However, they are calling for snow and wind tomorrow. Winds in excess of 25 mph on power lines and trees coated with 1/2" of ice. Will not be surprised to see loads of power outages. Supposedly, Macomb had lots of problems with broken poles and huge outages. Somebody call Al Gore and ask him to bring a big fat suitcase of globull warming up this way. Stoopid Fall. Winter is really going to suck.

Posted by: Petey at December 19, 2008 11:21 PM (TFKVi)

3 All we got down here was ice at the beginning of the week. And yesterday? It was 70 degree's heh Talk about weather change!

Posted by: BloodSpite at December 20, 2008 06:09 AM (M9/hi)

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Okay, my in-laws come into town Wednesday night. For those of you that don't remember, my in-laws dislike me. I'm talking in the sitcom kind of dislike, not the everyday someone dislikes me kind of way. So I try to avoid anything that is going to set them off.

So Wednesday I spent the day with T1G and Graumagus. We started off at Hooters and then went to Fritz's that evening. It was good seeing T1G again, he even had the opportunity to try Glogg. Ktreva joined us for a while at Hooters prior to her mom and grandmother coming to town.

On Thanksgiving itself I took my Dad and Bruce down to Fritz's for Tom and Jerry's. When we arrived, T1G was sitting in the exact same spot that I left him the night before. Fritz's had raffles going on and we all bought tickets. I actually won something! A smoked sharp cheddar cheese spread. Dad and Bruce each won cookies and a pen. We were hopping for crackers so we could eat the cheese spread, but he we weren't complaining.

After Fritz's we headed to my dad's secretary's house where her husband makes his own Tom and Jerry's so he could try them. We weren't about to complain because hey, it's free booze. Now I had promised my mother and wife that we would be to my mom's house by noon. Everything was on schedule for that to happen until Dad realized he left his coat down at Fritz's. So we had to head back there to pick it up. Which ended up making us 15 minutes late!

Once at we arrived at my parent's house I encountered my in-laws for the first time. We spent most of the day there. Dad and I ended up spending most of our time in the basement watching two horrible football games. So boring.

This morning I had the privilege of taking them and the boys to Toys R Us for shopping. Yea, that was fun. I'm not ready to speak of the horrors that I experienced. Maybe after some counseling I can. Right now I have the boys and am at home just waiting for their call so we can get back together again.

Posted by: Contagion at 12:21 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Sorry, I know that I promised an update to how the Glogg was going, but I just didn't have a chance to do so. Not because I was preoccupied, I just wasn't physically able. After conducting the quality control on both batches, I lost control of my senses. I also lost a huge chunk of my memory. The stuff is potent, yet tastes really good.

So far most people that have had my Glogg have really liked it. In fact I have a little fan club that have been asking when I was going to start making it for months now. Of course I only do it right around Thanksgiving since it's a traditional winter Holiday drink.

Now for those of you that really want to try glogg, and just aren't sure where to get it, let me warn you of a couple of things. There are prebottled versions of glogg, but it doesn't taste the same. In fact I wouldn't recommend any of them. I tried many of them and, to be honest, prebottled or prepackaged glogg is like boxed food. Sure it's quicker and easier, but it just doesn't taste the same as a good home made meal.

Most of these mixes require Everclear to give it the "kick" it needs. Hence why Richmond is finding end caps filled with it at the local Wallmart. If this is all you can get your hands on is this style of glogg, then I guess it's better than nothing. However, I'm sure if you have any kind of Scandinavian population in your area, you should be able to find someone that makes glogg, real glogg.

And trust me, it's worth it.

Posted by: Contagion at 09:13 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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1 God love you - I shoudda known you would have an explanation for the end caps of evercclear...

Posted by: Richmond at November 25, 2008 07:06 PM (qjnEO)

2 It's all for me glogg...

Posted by: Wes at December 01, 2008 03:50 PM (1crE/)

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It's that time of year again, the time of year that I make Glogg. Now some of my readers have had glogg before, some of you have not. I've been working on it for a couple of hours now. I'm doing a double run at this point, and am planning on making another double run sometime in mid December.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go stir the glogg... and later do the field tasting.

Posted by: Contagion at 04:14 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Okay, I started cleaning the firearms around 8:00 tonight. I just finished, it's 11:14 PM here. I thoroughly cleaned my .45, .357, M44 and AK. As well as Ktreva's Walther PPK .380. I never knew how stress relieving cleaning firearms can be.

Ktreva on the other hand was a little creeped out by how I treated the firearms. Such comments as:

"Oh, you're a dirty girl. Look at you, that's okay I'm gonna scrub you all over."

"You like it when I coat you in oil don't you, it just makes everything move around better."

"I'm just gonna slide this right inhere. (slight grunt) Yea, that's what she likes."

"I love the way you feel in my hands. Your slender form. The curve of your body, how firm and sleek you are."

And those where some of the tame ones.

Then again, spending three hours with some very strong chemicals has made me feel a little... different. If you'll excuse me, I have the munchies.

Posted by: Contagion at 11:22 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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On Saturday Graumagus and I took my dad down to the range to go shooting. It's been 50 years since he's fired a gun and I felt he was long overdue for some range time. Long overdue. Plus I really could use some range therapy. We spent three hours on the range putting about 1,500 rounds through various firearms. Dad tried everything at least once, but he really liked the Colt 1991 .45 that I have.

I mean he REALLY liked it.

I swear he honestly thought of taking it home with him. In fact during shooting and then even after he kept making comments that he could really get into shooting and wanted to know how much the Colt costs. Graumagus even asked him, "So how mad do you think Contagion's mom is going to be when you come home with one?" Dad didn't answer at all, he was just... quiet.

Anyone that knows my dad knows that him being quiet speaks volumes.

After shooting we headed to Fritz's for an afternoon of beer, burgers and booze. We ended up spending three hours there... doing a different kind of shooting. Well, at least shooters. Bruce met us down there. He liked Fritz's just fine, but then again he is my father. In fact after draining my third beer in less then 20 minutes of being there, he asked me where I learned to drink like that. I couldn't help but yell out, "I learned it from you Dad! I learned it from you!" Which of course was received with much laughter from the 4 other people in the bar, only two of them customers that weren't with us. Bruce had to leave in order to get back to Batmite.

We all had a good time. Then again what could be better than a morning of shooting and an afternoon of drinking!

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WeÂ’ve all heard the saying about how tossing a pebble into a pond causes ripples on the surface. Those ripples may have an affect on a lot of things, including stuff on the other side of the pond. You didnÂ’t intend for those consequences to happen, yet they did.

Oklahoma was the pebble in my pond. Except I think in my case Oklahoma was the boulder in the pond that is my life. Before I left for Oklahoma everything was okay in my life. IÂ’m not saying it was perfect, but everything was pretty much normal.

When I returned from Oklahoma IÂ’ve discovered that in my absence my family life broke down because Ktreva and the boys couldnÂ’t handle the hardship of my being gone. IÂ’m not going into all the personal details, but there is such a strain in my relationship with Ktreva that we are having a hard time dealing with each other. WeÂ’re able to keep up appearances in public, but there are some serious problems.

Boopie has slipped not only into old habits, but worse. A lot of that, in my opinion, is because of the sever lack of consistency in home life, especially while I was away. Even though IÂ’ve been back for two months, itÂ’s hard to counteract that damage that was done. Ktreva convinced me not to kick him out of the house for now. I took him to his counselor last night. After speaking with him and explaining everything that is going on the counselor and I spoke for a good 20 minutes alone and he supported my theory on where most of BoopieÂ’s issues stem from and what caused them to be worse.

IÂ’ve told close friends this next part, but IÂ’m just coming clean with the whole thing. IÂ’m having issues dealing with my experience in Oklahoma. It wasnÂ’t the state, Tulsa or the people that lived there. It was the people I had to work with and the details of the job. IÂ’ve been having nightmares; yes nightmares that IÂ’m still down there trying to get everything settled. IÂ’ve actually woken out of a dead sleep in a cold sweat in a combination of fear and rage. Out of all the things IÂ’ve seen and done in my previous career or just in my life in general, itÂ’s a stupid trip to Oklahoma thatÂ’s haunting me. I mean, IÂ’ve pulled bodies out of rivers, IÂ’ve assisted on autopsies of infants, IÂ’ve listened to people burn to death over a phone, IÂ’ve drawn down on peopleÂ… but no, transferring work to another state has my subconscious in a panic.

I now find work almost completely unbearable. I view it as a prison. Each morning I wake up to head into a place that I know has no appreciation for anything I’ve done, the sacrifices I’ve made or the efforts I put forth. My management and peers have taken to disregarding my input on anything. They make changes and decisions that affect my people with out even consulting me, or if they do it’s more of a “we’re going to do this…” type of thing. When I head into meetings a sense of dread comes over me that can only be equated to the feeling you get before a colonoscopy. I try to stay at my desk or in my unit as much as possible. At least there I feel somewhat comfortable. Prior to Oklahoma, I had issues, but not like this.

IÂ’m waiting to see what happens with a job opportunity for Ktreva before I make any moves, but I canÂ’t leave my job until I find another. With the way todayÂ’s economy and job market is, IÂ’m not holding my breath on finding anything in the near future. At least nothing that pays me anywhere near what I make now.

I really wish I had never gone to Oklahoma. Except for getting to meet Rave and her Husband and getting to visit Bloodspite, nothing good came out of it.

Posted by: Contagion at 06:00 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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Halloween was a smash. We had a great time, I have some pictures, I just haven't downloaded them yet, so I'm not sure how they turned out. Hey taking pictures in the dark is difficult!

There was only two things I had issues with on Halloween. I'm not complaining the weather was bad, because it was beautiful. Temps in the 60s, no wind, it was great... if you weren't wearing 4 layers of clothes and a heavy mask with grease paint makeup and latex glue! It was pretty hot. In fact I was sweating so bad that I thought I was going to drown in it. The nice thing is that all the kids could wear their costumes with out bulky coats on. The children where actually able to show off their costumes.

Speaking of costumes that was the other problem I had. There were a lot of older kids Trick or Treating. I'm talking middle school to high school aged kids. Now, I don't mind as long as they are in costumes, and the vast majority of them did. However, the costumes some of the girls were wearing they really ought not to be wearing... anywhere. They are just too young for the "I can't believe it's not fetish wear" costumes. One girl was wearing a pirate costume that she needed to shave in order to wear, and I'm not talking her legs. She was all of about 16... if that. I'm so glad I have boys.

I did get some good scares. Some of them screamed so loudly that a neighbor of mine from a block and a half away came down because, "She thought someone was getting killed". Yea, good times. One group of kids got so scared they all ran in different directions, and I never saw any of them again, so I don't know where or when they ever met up again.

Saturday, Wil and Red picked up Ktreva and I and we all went up to the ONW Colonial Ball in Janesville, WI. Ktreva looked extremely beautiful in a French polonaise dress she borrowed from Red. Her stunning beauty made my frontier heathen dress look even shabbier. Hell, the only thing special I put on was my kilt.

Yea, I just drag her down, but she sure does make me look a hell of a lot better.

The ball is the only time of the year that Ktreva actually gets me to dance with her. Mainly because neither of us dance, and I really don't like to make a fool out of myself. That doesn't stop me, I just don't like it.

We both had a great time. How could we not? We spent 24 hours with some of the best people that have walked the earth.

Posted by: Contagion at 09:17 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Okay, this has been a busy day for me so far. First I went to work for four hours. I had to distribute a little goody bag to all of my employees. It wasn't much, just a bag with a Halloween themed pencil and pencil sharpner, a tombstone eraser, a Halloween pin and a little spring toy that jumps. They where just meant to be something fun for all of them to play with todya. I wanted to try to get them into the Halloween spirit.

I had to leave work early so that I could decorate the house. We don't do it the night before because of vandals. I put a lot of time and effort into this and I don't want stuff stolen or broken. I refuse to not do it, because I enjoy it. I snapped some pictures in the daylight just so you can see how things are going so far.

Here is the front yard from two different angles:

The best Candy Bowl ever

The upstairs bedroom ghost, which only really looks scary in the dark. I'll try to get pictures of that later as well so you can see.

I've got to go get my costume on now. I'll try to get a picture of that as well so you can see what I dress as.

Now of course before I did all the work I needed to get something to eat, so I stopped by Hooters for lunch. And you know what, bless the staff there for keeping the holiday spirit alive. Everyone was in costumes and it really helped get me in the mood.

My waitress Tyler

She looked good, but not as good as Ktreva will later in her costume.

I love Halloween!

Posted by: Contagion at 03:23 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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1 Yay! Happy Halloween!!

Posted by: Richmond at October 31, 2008 08:14 PM (RCeqK)

2 Tyler would have done very well in the Sexy Pirate Contest!

Posted by: RAT at November 01, 2008 08:25 AM (zvltl)

3 Unfortunately I got her picture after that contest was over.

Posted by: Contagion at November 01, 2008 09:05 AM (V7qLP)

4 Less than 3 weeks, dude. 'Course, there won't be any pirate chicks there, but still...

Posted by: T1G at November 01, 2008 09:22 PM (8l3lA)

5 Hey- where's the pic of the window ghost at night? And where's YOUR costume??? I feel so let down!

Posted by: Rave at November 02, 2008 04:44 PM (2M/UD)

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