Rob Saker's Blog

I’ve been a resident of the state of Wisconsin for 10 days now and I’ve noticed a few interesting differences:

1. There seems to be an oversupply of change machines in this area.  You remember those machines that would spit out your change somewhat impersonally?  And yet the cashier is still required to hand you the bills.  It’s more interesting considering Milwaukee was one of the first areas to install ATM’s (or Take Your Money Everywhere (TYME) machines up here).
2. It is cold up here.  May in Omaha is absolutely beautiful, competing with September for the best month of the year.  May in Milwaukee is just cold.
3. Everything in Milwaukee comes with cheese on it.  I’m certain that strict vegans eat their food topped with cheese here.
4. “Doncha know?”  I’m hoping I don’t start using a mix of sayings from my various homes.  I can just imagine, “well, i reckon ya’ll better eat them grinders, doncha know?”  Nobody will know what I’m saying, not that they do now…
5. If you have a grumpy grandparent, chances are they live in Milwaukee.  It may be the area I’m living in, but the sense I get is one of a opthomologist waiting room after the retirement home shuttle dropped a group off.  There are a lot of older people – no issues there, I hope to eventually become one – but they’re just not friendly folks.  Where in the midwest we say “thank you,” for people holding the door, or “excuse me,” when people almost run into each other in hallways, here it’s just a look.  I do like most of the people I’ve met here.  They seem to be good people with a good work ethic.
6. This is definitely a beer town.  Not liquor. Not wine.  Beer.  I’m a bourbon fan, but I’m developing an appreciation for beer and have even found a light lager that I like (Miller HIgh Life Light).  Miller invented light beer in the 1970’s with Miller Lite, but I think they did their best light lager with the Miller High Life Light.  I’ve had a chance to try most of the light beers Miller makes, and like most of them.  I’m eager to try the Lienenkugel’s light beer (craft beer).

Little trivia here… the difference between lager and ale?  The type of yeast used in fermentation.  Lager’s use yeast that sits at the bottom during fermentation, while ale uses top-feeding yeast.

There is a real desire and pride to make great beer at Miller.  You can see the people still have the bloodlines from the original craft brewers, and they still have that passion for quality beer.

Saturday

I use the weekends to tire out the boys.  As the week progresses, Max and Gus start waking me up at earlier hours to play.  I’m certain my neighbors would rather not hear dogs barking at 5:00 AM.  I certainly don’t like it.

We started out today by going to the park at 7:00 AM.  Gus has built up a considerable endurance from running the past 10 days.  He’s now able to run solidly for about an hour, including several sprints for balls.  He spends most of the time just running round seeing people.  It’s a big park, so there’s enough room for him to keep running.

Max typically walks around, grumbles at other dogs that are playing, and then goes up to people for more attention.

We played at the park for a while, even getting Max to run around with us.  We then left on a brief tour of Milwaukee.  We took my route into Milwaukee for the boys to see where it is I go everyday.

I recommend checking out my new collection for Wisconsin on Flickr with has some pictures of:

• Miller Brewing headquarters
• Harley Davidson factory (opposite side of the street from Miller)
• Miller Brewing valley
• Mitchell Park

We were going to hang out back at the room after that, but the maid hadn’t cleaned.  We left for more errands, stopping at Petsmart for a chuck-it, and then back to the dog park.  Two visits in one day!  It’s amazing how happy dogs get at going to the dog park.

For those of you that don’t know what a chuck-it is, or who have a dog and about 200 yards of runway, it’s a long plastic arm with a claw.  The claw is perfectly sized to hold a tennis ball.  You use the chuck-it to sling a ball and your dog takes off.  After a little bit of testing when to release, I was soon hurling tennis balls across the park for Gus to chase.

There were a few balls laying around, and Max surprisingly wanted to chase them.  I’d get one ball, launch it across the park for Gus to chase, and then get another one for Max to go after.  Max isn’t nearly as fast as Gus, so they’d come back at about the same time.  Again, chuck for Gus, toss for Max.  30-45 minutes of that and I had two exhausted schnauzers.

Back at the room now. Gus is camped out on the chair that overlooks the window.  Max didn’t make it more than 6 steps into the room, and is crashed out somewhere near my feet.  They’ll be waking me up at 5 AM again, but I should at least have a good nights sleep.

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