midwest refugee

Thanks, American Airlines for a truly unforgettable flight I took recently from Miami to San Francisco. Specifically, I’d like to mention:

Beverage Service

Thanks, Styrofoam cup, for letting us all know that your coffee “comes from Rainforest Alliance Certified (TM) farms. helping [sic] protect wildlife and the environment while improving the quality of life for farm families.”

Without you, the world would still probably think that Styrofoam is a non-biodegradable pollutant that clogs our oceans and landfills, leaching chemicals into the foods and beverages it holds.

Technology

Thanks, round-screen TV monitors, for having about as much definition as the black and white mini-TV that was in my parents’ kitchen growing up. Without you, I might have actually been able to see the shitty movies you aired.

In-flight Entertainment

Thanks, whoever selects the in-flight movies, for choosing to play Mr. Popper’s Penguins and Zookeeper back to back. Without you, I never would have been able to watch two asinine movies about talking animals in a row.

Thanks, flight crew, for interrupting an amusing Christmas episode of 30 Rock for no apparent reason, to instead screen historical thriller The Conspirator, starring The Mac Guy. Without you, I’d never have realized that the thought of The Mac Guy trouncing around in a puffy shirt makes me want to stab myself in the neck. Repeatedly.

Flight attendants

Thanks, flight attendants, for rubbing your navy blue, high-waisted pencil skirt-wearing asses on my shoulder every time you had to grab something from the low-lying drawer of a drink cart.

Clientele

Thanks, mother of the small child sitting behind me in seat 20D, for not giving a shit that your waste of space daughter continuously kicked my seat for 6 1/2 hours, no matter how many times I turned around and gave you a look that said, “Control your daughter’s legs before I saw them off with a serrated plastic knife.” Without you, I might still have a desire to have children one day.

Thanks, couple playing cribbage next to me, for waiting until three hours into the flight when I put my book away, turned off the light, and tucked myself in with my blanket and neck pillow, before realizing you needed to use the bathroom.

A very special thanks goes out to that smelly person sitting in front of me—you know who you are—for eating what can only imagine was an entire raw onion.

Thanks, man speaking French across the aisle from me, for standing up to stretch your legs in the aisle for every possible second the fasten seatbelt sign was turned off. Without you blocking the aisle, everybody wouldn’t have been able to bump into me as they walked back to use the bathroom.

Bathrooms

Thanks, coach bathrooms, for running out of towels, for having soaking-wet floors, and for smelling the way I imagine the cave they found Saddam Hussein hiding in probably smelled. Without you, I probably wouldn’t have gotten that week-long head cold that took me well into the New Year.

Needless to say, it was a flight I won’t soon forget. No thanks to the bottle of Xanax I accidentally left at home.

As seen at Eddie’s Soul Food Cafe in SF.

# Milwaukee

# milwaukee bicycle co.

Dear Coke Talk: On comparing cities.

dearcoketalk:

There’s some crappy movie I can’t recall that nonetheless has a quote that has stuck with me: San Francisco is for people with talent but no ambition. Los Angeles is for people with ambition but no talent. New York is for people with talent AND ambition. Thoughts?

It’s a snarky way for New…

(Source: dearcoquette)

↵ Reblogged from dearcoquette

Parked car explodes on fire around noon in San Francisco’s busy downtown Financial District.

In other news, I’m totally in the mood for some BBQ.

Well well well aren’t we a long way from home!

(Leinenkugel’s Summer Shandy found on clearance at Whole Foods in San Fran.)

noel23 asked

Hey der, der hey. So a mutual twitter friend @ mingala(a real friend also but whatever) told me about your blog/twitter, and thought you would dig my Wisco tat. I got it up in portland when I moved there after having the real thing back home for ever. Now down in Santa Rosa not far from the city, where might you go there for Pack games? I have been looking for somewhere for a while now. Ah well, anyways rad blog, glad to have been introduced to it. Take care, Noel.
oh here is the pic(old pic need to update, but you get the idea)
http://noel23.tumblr.com/
if that does not work this should.
http://s606.photobucket.com/albums/tt150/leon2323/?action=view&current=n679136028_1406874_461.jpg

First of all…is that a real tattoo?? And if so…that’s freaking awesome.

Now, on to the Packer games…there’s a bar near the ballpark in SF called Zeke’s which is co-owned by a baby boomer from West Allis. That place is pretty legit, especially for big games. They’ve got a ton of TV’s, a decent amount of space, and beer-battered brats on the menu. All in all, I’d say it’s pretty roots in there.

But since it’s a little far from my place, I’ve also been known to go to an Irish sports bar called Danny Coyle’s on Haight Street as well.

HOWEVER (and this is a pretty huge ‘however’) - this past season they, for some reason or another, started hanging a Chargers flag outside of their bar which basically turned the place into a haven for football fans with ~~STD’s~~ bleached hair and penchant for steroids.

Consequently I don’t think I’m going to be going back in there during football season if it’s just going to be Doucheville again.

Anyway, here’s a list of Packer Bars throughout the country. If anybody knows of any other ones, or has been to any of these, let us know!

See that guy on the left hand side here? The bigger, clean-shaven one? That’s Charles Pfister, the founder of the historic Pfister Hotel in downtown Milwaukee.

OK, and wanna know something funny? Apparently some ball players who stayed there got spooked recently when something went bump in the night.

The Pfister Hotel has always been popular with tourists, but for some reason makes visiting MLB players cry like little girls. Most recently, Sandoval and Renteria left the Giants team hotel and checked somewhere down the street. Why? Ghosts.

Yes, ghosts. The 117-year old hotel is said to be haunted. Several players from other teams, including Adrian Beltre of the LA Dodgers, have reported strange sounds during the night while staying at the Pfister.

Sightings include the ghost of Charles Pfister hovering over the grand staircase, peering over travelers as they check in. Also reported was a white clad Native American who materialized, but suddenly vanished. The site that the Pfister Hotel sits on is supposedly an old Native American burial ground which might explain the appearance of the spirit.

Paul McCartney at AT&T Park July 10, 2010.

Double encore: Helter Skelter.

I find that to be pretty ballsy. I mean, you have to wonder if Chaz Manson feels a little vindicated…

Wolski’s sticker sighting in SF.

So my breakfast sandwich is apparently a double cheeseburger…

tenderloingeographicsociety:

San Francisco, enough already.

I know - I can barely take this town seriously as it is. hahaha.

↵ Reblogged from tenderloingeographicsociety

# this would never be in wisconsin

# san francisco

# california

# hippies

# shaman's drum magazine

Milwaukee, Wis. - The next series the Brewers play is against the Giants, and you know what that means…the game is televised in San Francisco!

For those of you who don’t know, that means I get to watch that shit on TV, from from the comfort of my own home. And that’s awesome.