Brewers On Deck

What do you do on a cold, January, Sunday afternoon when the Packers aren’t playing? Why you go to Brewers On Deck of course. This was the first time we had gone to the event and didn’t have any idea of what to expect. Well, my evaluation is mixed.

First was parking. Easy enough, I parked in my usual ramp across the street from the MECCA (yes, I still call it the MECCA) with the intent of taking the skywalk over to the venue. But when we got there, the line to get in was backed up so far that it had gone up thru the skyway, and then snaked back around the escalators to go up to the floor that the hall was on for things. After waiting in line for at least 30 minutes, it seemed as if we were in the wrong line to get in, and that we should have been able to go in thru a different line. That was a big problem, no signage saying this way, or line starts here. Something that would have told us we were in the right spot. So by the time we actually got in, neither Kris, nor I, was in too good of a mood.


Once there, it was sort of hard to figure out where to go. There were a lot of things that players were doing with fans. And when I say fans, I mean, kids. That is one thing that I liked was that the players were really interacting well with the kids who had come there to see them. I know when I was 10 or 11, I would have been head over heels if I have been able to play a game with Robin Yount! After we got our bearings, we went over to the “game show” area to watch Brewers Family Feud.

What an ordeal that was. It seemed as if there were not enough seats, and Kris didn’t want to go up into the bleachers to sit, unfortunately, all the floor seating was taken up. After the game was done we went to look for something to eat for lunch. This is complaint number 2, or maybe number 3 if you count complaining about the seating, the food. There were two spots you could get something to eat. And I think it was either hot dogs or brats. While walking around we found a station where you could get a 4.5” Cousins Sub, a bag of chips, and a bottle of water (or soda) for something like $15. WOW! Talk about price gouging! We paid for one, but I didn’t like it. And I did it grumbling all the way. I don’t blame the food vendors too much, they need to eat too. But really, $15??? The only difference is that I am trapped there forced to eat your food, otherwise I can get the same thing at a regular Cousins for less than $10.

After eating we made our way back to the game show area for a dance game show. This time we were able to get some floor seats (chairs with actual backs). At the end of it all, we managed to get some free vouchers for games. I thought it was a pretty good deal until I looked at the dates. I had to use them Wed. or Thursday after opening day and only certain sections. Oh well. Maybe Sarah and her boyfriend could use them. I think Sarah will be home for Spring Break then.

Overall, on a scale of 1-10, I give it maybe a 7. It was fun, but there were also some things that really made me sort of crazy. Who knows, maybe we’ll do it again next year.

Thanks Government Regulations

Another happy coincidence happened today. I was taking my car in to get the oil changed when the Pressure Sensor light came on. Normally I would consider this a good, helpful thing, but not today. It came on a couple of weeks ago during our big cold snap. At the time checked all my tires and the pressure was fine in all of them, so I chalked it up to the cold & ice causing a malfunction. After about a week, it went off, just about the time the weather warmed back up. I mentioned something to my car guy when I was took Sarah’s car in for an oil change last week, and he seemed to think that it might be something with a battery that was either dead or dying. He explained to me that the sensors run off of an RF signal to the on-board computer so that if anything interrupts the signal, it will fault out and cause the error. The most common reason is from the battery that powers them needing to be replaced.

I asked him to just check it and make sure that it wasn’t actually some sort of tire problem and let me know. When he called later in the afternoon, he said that no, there was not a problem with any of the tire pressures and yes, it did look like the battery on one of the pressure sensors (I believe he said front passenger?) was shot. So I thought, OK, great, just replace the battery, thinking it was something like a little, lithium ion, watch battery or grouping of them, that powered it. Nope. There is no replacing them. Once the batteries die, you have to replace the whole sensor, which would be $100. He explained that they could probably get around it by just installing a rubber stem and I would just have to monitor the tire pressure manually, but then the light on the dash would always be lit & I would have to reset the alarm every time I started up my car, but the light would never go off. It was an “important safety feature” that the government mandated about 15 years ago (maybe a little longer) when Firestone had all the problems with tires on Explorers blowing out and causing rollover accidents. Ever since then, Good old Uncle Sam has thought it best not to rely on me to make sure my tires are inflated properly, but to require carmakers to put sensors in the rims that will do it for me. Which also means that when one wears out, I need to be on the hook for $100/each to get them replaced.
 
Yep, nothing like having the government take care of you.

There Should Be A Law

I don’t know what the rule or law is that governs things breaking, like Murphy’s Law.  But whatever it is, I had it tonight.  Kris informed me that the toilet tank in the upstairs bathroom sounded like it was still running.  My initial thought was the chain was kinked, or I needed to slightly adjust the float (or whatever passes for the float now).  Alison said that it had been doing that all day, and also had been doing it a couple of days ago. 

So after dinner I took the top off and saw that the chain was fine, so I figured I just needed to adjust the screw for the shut off valve.  As I turned it, the water kept running, so I thought I must be turning it the wrong way.  Nope.  I tried turning the screw for the float all the way in each direction, but neither way got the water to shut off, so I figured the valve must have worn out, which would require me to replace it.

I headed to Home Depot to get a new tower, and actually found one that would require I only need to replace the refill tower, and not have to change out the flap.  I thought this will take me about 15 minutes to change.  Of course, I was wrong.

Because of the type of toilet we have, I couldn’t simply empty the tank and unscrew the valve tower.  I was required to actually remove the refill tank from the back of the toilet in order to get at the locking nut so I could swap out the valve.  But in addition to that, I had to get at the screw and nuts that were holding the tank on.  It was fine for one of them, but the second was in a location that, because of the sink/vanity, required me to twist my wrist at such as angle as to nearly break it just to get the wrench on the nut.  ARGH!

I began my “replacement” around 6:00 and finished around 8:45.  That finish time includes a 20 minute trip to Home Depot, and 15-20 minutes of clean up time in the bathroom.  It had to be done, since the water wouldn’t shut off but boy, it sure seems as if doing a project like this can just never go smoothly.

Champs!

Alison’s cheer team FINALLY got to perform in a competition today, and then ended up taking first place!  There were three other teams in their division (which was small varsity D2), and 4 teams in small varsity D1.  As far as I am concerned, they would have taken first place out of all the small varsity teams.  There is only one other team that I thought was even close to as good as our girls were.

Kris was lucky because she had to work this weekend, but since Ali wasn’t performing until 3:30, she was able to get out a little early, and we got there with plenty of time to spare to see the Falls compete.  I don’t know why but after watching all of the teams, I thought that many of them just seemed slow, and pretty basic.  Maybe it’s because we saw how good some of the other teams are that compete at Nationals, but I felt like they were just head and tails above 95% of the other teams. I suppose that should say something about just how good they are.

So, with no further ado, here is the Menomonee Falls Varsity first place performance!

Trip To The Vet

The cats got the privilege of going to the vet today.  They were going to get their teeth cleaned.  Years ago, the cats got their teeth cleaned when they would go for their yearly checkups.  Now, they are going to be sedated to have them cleaned.  I don’t know if this is the way it is done now, or if we just let it go too long and it is to the point where they can’t do it during the regular checkup.  At any rate, they were dropped off in the morning, and we picked them up around 5:30. 

In addition to the teeth cleaning, Samson was having a couple of large moles removed.  They had grown so large that when he was brushed the brush would scrape or rub on them and they would end up bleeding.  The vet said that as long as he was out having his teeth done, she could also remove them so that we could brush him again.  Everything went smoothly, but Samson sure looks silly having a big rectangle shaved into his fur.  The vet also put a tight “sweater” on him to one, keep him from licking, and two, it was supposedly to help keep him calm.  However, Samson isn’t like most cats, he HATES being held.  In fact, having it on, is making him the exact opposite of calm.  He is running around like he is hopped up on drugs.  And he has been trying to get the shirt off by biting at it.  The vet told us she needed to “rescue” him once because he got his tooth caught, and we ended up having to get his tooth out of it a couple of times.  Hopefully he won’t get it hooked overnight while we’re all sleeping. 

He goes back in two weeks to get his stitches out.  I hope that he doesn’t end up pulling them out the way he has been licking and biting at his shirt!

When The Lights Come Down

We have a heat wave going on right now.  The temps are up to the low thirties so I thought it is the perfect time to clean up the lights outside.  I was able to get out and climb around in the shrubs rather easily and get them all off without too much trouble.  The main problem was all of the extension cords that were required.  Next year I will have to take a look at what I plan to do around Halloween.  It is nice to have the lights on to brighten the dark, dingy evenings of December, but I also want to make sure I don’t have 6 or 7 cords strung about next year.  The problem is that I have (4) bushes on each side of the porch and to try and keep things symmetrical, I needed to have that many.  Maybe I’ll look for some lighted “yard” display items next year, like lighted snowmen, or penguins.  Ideally I will be able to find something like the pumpkins that have the plastic strings all around them.

Trip To Madison For The New Year

Sarah’s boyfriend goes to school in Madison, and for the New Year, they were planning on going and celebrating.  Since he has been driving them around since they got home for break, Sarah decided to drive her car to Madison for the night.  Kris was a little hesitant because she knows it isn’t the most reliable (and Sarah is VERY hard on the engine).  But I figured it shouldn’t be a problem, so I gave it my blessing.

Then, around 12:30 as I am taking down the Christmas decorations we receive a call from Sarah.  She says her car won’t start.  I had filled her tank and put a bottle of Heet in right before she left so I was fairly certain that the fuel line was fine.  I asked if when she turned the key, the battery was giving juice to the starter in trying to turn it over, and of course I may as well have been speaking Greek to her.  So, since it had gotten down to, I think -12° the night before, and it was still only about 3° in Madison, I told her to first let her car sit for about a half an hour and then to try it again.

Forty minutes later Sarah calls back and says it still won’t start.  I asked her if she needed me to drive there and have a look at it.  She said, no, her boyfriend’s dead was going to drive there and get them.  That didn’t change the fact that I was still going to need to eventually drive to Madison to look at her car, because if something were to have happened that needed to have it towed, he wasn’t going to be doing it.  This lead to complaining, and crying, so I told her, OK, you’re an adult and have it under control, then handle it, and I hung up.

About forty-five minutes later, she called back wanting to know if I was coming.  I asked if she wanted me to or not, and she said yes.  So I put the ornaments down and away so the cats wouldn’t break anything and then got ready to go.  I told Sarah to text me the address and Kris and I hopped in the car to go have a look at her car.  On the way, I stopped at a truck stop/convenience store to get a couple of bottles of Heet, just in case. 

It took a little more than an hour to get there.  When we drove up, Sarah came out to show us where the car was.  When we got to the car, I had Sarah give me her keys and said jokingly, “it better not start up when I try”.  And of course, when I turned the ignition it started up in two seconds.  I walked back to our car and told her to get in, drive it back to her boyfriend’s apartment and get her stuff, but not to turn the engine off.  I would sit outside with it while she went in and then I would follow her home since I wanted to make sure nothing happened on the drive.

Overall, it was about a three hour diversion.  I am still not 100% sure what happened, and why it wouldn’t start, other than the fuel line was frozen and that as the air temp warmed, it unthawed, though it was still only about 5º or 6º when we got there, so it isn’t as if there was a great heat wave the swept in and thawed everything.  I made sure she filled her tank and put another bottle of Heet in, and we’ll have to watch it going forward.

End Of The Season

Just like always putting up the Christmas tree the weekend after Thanksgiving, the first of the year signifies the end of the Christmas season in the Hahn house.  This year, I thought I would go slowly and do each ornament, one at a time to prevent to disaster we had a couple of years ago with the cat (find link).  I also wasn’t sure exactly what to do with the lights on the tree.  I didn’t know if I should take them down and store them in a bin, or if I should leave them wound/wired into the tree.  I decided to take them down/off and rewind them in the tree next year.  Mainly because I had a few lights sticking off the ends of some of the larger, lower branches, and we had Samson chewing on them.  In fact, he cracked one of them.  It’s a good thing that the LEDs aren’t glass.

As I was getting the ornaments off and packed away, I got a call from Sarah about her car (noted in the next entry).  After some time and some crying I had to take a break and run to Madison.  So by the time we got back, I was only able to get the ornaments and lights off and put away.  The tree itself will have to wait another day.  It’s a good thing I am off tomorrow.  Just think, in 11 months we get to do this all over again!