I made a quick stop in Brookfield today. While I was on Bluemound I stopped at two places. Both had relatively large parking lots. At each location I pulled out my laptop to write down some notes. At each location my “Wireless network available” alert came up. So I was able to connect to the internet at both locations. Sweet.

Then I clicked on my available networks to see if there were any more. I clicked on one of the 3 available and it asked me for a password. I typed “admin” just to be funny. I mean, who in their right mind would use “admin” as a password.

It worked. And not only did it work, but it was a computer-to-computer network. I immediately switched networks because I did not want anything to do with hacking into somebody’s computer. But c’mon people. Be smarter than that. You might as well have used “1234.”

The new George Strait single, You'll Be There, has to be the most powerful song on the radio today. Peep this lyric: “I ain't never seen a hurse, with a luggage rack.”

Man, that is good. Carry on.

If you are web developer or designer, get ready to take it up the (hee-haw)! Adobe Systems, Inc. has agreed to purchase Macromedia Inc. for $3.4 billion. This means that those of us who use Dreamweaver will now have to pay Adobe premium prices for that product (which will undoubtedly be bundled with a whole bunch of crap that we don't need.) Also, this probably means the end of Macromedia's Fireworks and Freehand programs. Instead of paying $800 for the Macromedia Studio package, that includes Flash, Dreamweaver, Freehand, and Fireworks, we'll now get stuck buying Adobe Photoshop CS - for about $500 more.

Yeay capitalism.

Rep. Pat Strachota sent me a press release which states:

As citizens across the state file their taxes today, it is only fitting that on Tax Day government takes steps to alleviate some of that tax burden,” said Strachota. “The time is long overdue for government to go on a fiscal diet and cut back on the bite they take out of the taxpayer's wallet.
- Pat Strachota

I'll use another Tommy Boy reference to sum up my thoughts.

Ray Zalinsky: “Good, you've pinpointed it, now the next step is washin' it out.”

Actually, in retrospect I am glad we elected Strachota over Karshna. Every time I've seen her, she's been very inviting.

Git'R'done Pat.

Last night I attended the West Bend Park and Recreation Commission meeting regarding the possibility of building an aquatic center in West Bend. There were no votes being taken on the issue, the meeting was simply designed to answer some questions and for the commission to get the general vibe from the audience.

The meeting was presented by Bonestroo and Associates, a contractor who specializes in this sort of work.

Here is the information I received. My brain, which has been breaded and deep-fried by my college research paper, is not in the mood to write this out in a long dissertation. You are getting outline form:

Possible types of pools:

1. Water Sprayground - a simple, unsupervised watering hole. Basically it's a colorful hose fixture that allows kids to run up and splash themselves.

   Cost - $100,000 - $1,000,000 or about $125/sq. ft.

2. Indoor-only Facility - a traditional indoor pool facility that can vary in size.

   Cost - $8 to $10,000,000 or about $250/sq. ft.

3. Outdoor-only Facility - a traditional outdoor pool facility that can vary in size, as well.

   Cost - $135 - $200/sq. ft. (they didn't give exact outdoor-only prices)

4. Indoor/Outdoor Hybrid Facility - Offers both an indoor and outdoor pool.

   Cost - $300 - $400/sq. ft. (no exact price on this one either.)

My Thoughts: Most of the concepts were for outdoor facilities, which I believe is the right path for this community.

The park and rec commission addressed the problems with Regner Park Pond. The pond, which served 50,000 people per year in the 80's, only brought 15,000 people through the gates last year. The commission noted that the lack of attendance was due to the unclear water at the pond. In the 80's, the park was allowed to chlorinate the water. Now the DNR restricts them, rightfully, because the chlorine spills into the river. Since the park reverted to cleaning the pond with natural enzymes, the pond has not had clear water. People perceive this as being dirty, even though it is not. Therefore, people go to other cities for their swimming activities.

The West Bend swim club, for instance, only uses pool facilities in Fond du Lac. When they hold meets, the parents and kids from the other clubs stay at hotels in Fond du Lac, they spend money at Fond du Lac restaurants, and they don't even set foot in our fine community. It's pretty sad that the West Bend swim club doesn't swim in West Bend. Not that the swim club would actually swim at Regner, but this shows that they are not swimming at Badger or the high school, either.

The developers when through some of the cost recovery options. A lot of the new parks sell sponsorships. I am certain that some of West Bend's large corporations would be willing to buy in to at least part of this program. I have a few people in mind that would benefit greatly from putting their name on the facility - if it ever comes to fruition.

In the end, there were no real numbers, there were no real plans, and it was basically just a commercial for Bonestroo and Associates. I would support the city looking into this further. Apparently they had held two other surveys since 1999 regarding the community's desire for an aquatic center. Some of the numbers from the survey are still valid, and they commission said that they would use that information, which was apparently just purchased and filed. Thankfully, some numbers from the report are still valid up to 2004, so we won't have to pay for a completely new study.

Baby B is on the move. If you need me I'll be buying: a stair gate, outlet plugs, childproof door handles, and a leash.

I attended the West Bend Park and Recreation Commission meeting regarding the concept of a water recreation facility in West Bend this evening. I will write about in the morning because I am WORN OUT. It's been a long week of research papers, meetings, and playing catch-up from a short week last week.

Anyway I'll give you a-quick a-quatics summary right now: there is potential.

Of course, I was Free Willy on the Muskego-Mukwonago boys swim team 10 or so years ago. I'm sort of a water junky.

Before I call it “a night,” I'll leave you with my favorite water related movie line:
“Hey Tommy, quit playing with your dingy.” Tommy Boy - 1995.

I just got off the phone with a sales representative at Apple. I called because I purchased a new Mac PowerBook G4 less than a month ago. A day ago they released their new operating system, “Tiger.” I simply asked if they would offer me a discount since I would have otherwise waited to purchase the operating system had I know it was coming out this month.

The rep said, “Absolutely not.”

Thanks to school discounts, I shouldn't have to pay too much. I won't worry about it too much - but I still feel cheated, kinda.

I think we should shoot cats. They've been killing all of our mourning doves.

-- but seriously --

I think it's a bad idea - no matter how ferocious those furry little critters are. Even though I have expressed my dislike of animals, I would hate for one of my mom's kitties to be street sweeper'd just because he wandered into the neighbor's cornfield. Seriously.

For the record, Merriam-Webster defines feral as: having escaped from domestication and become wild. I had to look it up because everytime I heard the word “feral” I thought of the word “sterile…” and what's wrong with a sterile kitty? You know, besides not being able to reproduce.

UPDATE: In order to understand this post, you must first read the post below it:
Somebody's Getting Rich Off of This???

Here is my new book. Don't steal it, because it retails for $15.95.

Ready to learn astronomy, kids???
Get out your telescopes, because here we go…

Twinkle, twinkle, little star…
How I wonder what you are…
Up above the world so high…
Like a diamond in the sky…
Twinkle, twinkle, little star…
How I wonder what you are…

Let's find another star…

Twinkle, twinkle, little star…
How I wonder what you are…
Up above the world so high…
Like a diamond in the sky…
Twinkle, twinkle, little star…
How I wonder what you are…

There you go. 81 words. 38 unique words. Somebody give me a contract. I'll draw the pictures.

(sigh.)

My wife bought Brianna a book. For the record, Brianna has about 50 books. This new book, however, really pisses me off. I'm mad because the book cost Bridget $7.95 from Scholastic, Inc. The book is called “Shake the Maracas.” On the cover sits a cheap plastic maraca, undoubtedly filled with cheap plastic beads. Okay, it's cute, no big deal, but here is why I feel ripped off:

You are all invited to join the Rockin' Rhythm Band! So get ready to shake, shake, shake your maracas to the beat of Row, Row, Row Your Boat! Row, Row, Row your boat. Gently down the stream. Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, Life is but a dream. Row, row, row your boat gently down the streatm, merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream!

That is the entire book. 64 words. If you remove all of the repeated words, there are only 28!!! In fact, it took me longer to write this article than it took to read and write “Shake the Maracas.”

AND to top it off, all but 23 of the words are from a song that is in the PUBLIC DOMAIN!!!! That's right, we paid $7.95 for someone to slap a plastic maraca on the front of a book full of free words.

Bastards.

I am going to go write a book now. I'll be back in 10 minutes.

Boots and Sabers recently linked to an article discussing a woman's new love for dogs and new hatred for cats. When I read this article I immediately thought of my normal rebuttal to “why don't you have any pets?” The answer is simple: pets suck. I would rather have six kids than one fluffly little kitten, a huggable doggy, or even a single, simple goldfish.

Why do I detest pets? I'm not sure. As a child, I always had a cat. I loved 'em all. We even had a dog once. That damn hyper thing got into everything. Eventually Cassie snapped her doggie chain and decided to play fetch with the bumper of a Ford F-150 on Highway 99. I think Cassie ruined pets for me. Not because she died. It was because we couldn't do a damn thing without, “let Cassie out…,” “let Cassie in…,” “feed Cassie…,” “tell Cassie to 'get down'…,” faaaaaahhhhk!!!I was turned off of pets because I realized that they are the most dependant creatures on the planet.

Kids eventually can clean up after themselves, pets can't. Kids can learn to go poo or pee in the toilet, pets can't. Kids can drive themselves to school, they can let themselves out of the house, and stay overnight at their friends house without you having to worry about them popping out a litter of babies… pets can't.

I'm not saying that pets are all bad, but in life's grand scheme, they're nothing but a hassle.

I have developed a handy checklist for those of you who are deciding whether to have kids or pets. Of course there will be some crazy cat ladies saying, “some cats can let themselves outside.” There will probably be some dog lovers saying, “uhhhhh, my dog can bring me a beer…” Just remember, pet people are wacky.

My checklist:

Trait	Kids	Pets
Poop in the house?
Pee on the carpet?
Puke on the floor?
Puke on your shirt?
Learn to go potty by themselves?
Have to be let outside to poop once potty trained?
Can be taught to bring you the paper?
Can be taught to bring you a beer?
Cost you at least $200 every time they go to the doctor?
Can be placed on your insurance?
Will move out someday?
Will grow close and then die before you do?
Can be let outside when you need some personal time?
Can let themselves outside when you need some personal time?
Can let themselves in once they are done doing their thing?
Can be sent to the grandparents house for the night?
Will tell you they love you?
Will someday repay you for cleaning up their poop by cleaning up your poop?

You can decide for yourself, but I'll stick with babies over those damn poo-eaters anyday.

Wendy from Boots and Sabers hits it right on the head ---- wtf!?!

My wife, daughter, and I took a little trip to Minnesota this weekend to see some friends. First we went to Duluth/Superior, then we headed back down to Minneapolis, and we made our way back home this afternoon.

While we were gone I needed to dedicate some of my time to writing a research paper for school. I unholstered my trusty PowerBook about six times during the trip. I was amazed to find that at three of our stops I was able to access the internet through unsecured wireless networks. Two of the networks were home users running on Linksys routers with the password featured turned off, and one network used a Netgear router - I’m quite sure it was also a residential user.

The hotel we stayed at also featured a free wireless network. In order to access that network, however, I needed a room number and password. This was probably to keep people from stopping by the Fairfield parking lot and using up the hotel’s bandwidth. It was nice to be able to do some work, access maps, and find phone numbers without having to tip the front desk workers, though.

The best network I found on the trip was on our last stop. I was connecting to the internet at over 100 Kbps, which is about three times faster than I can ever sustain at home. (Though there are times that my speeds are up there.) I was so impressed with this person’s network speed that I was tempted to print a “thanks for letting me use your network” page on his/her printer had it been on. Wouldn’t that be freaky to come home, walk into the computer room and see a page sitting there - “Dear Neighbor, thanks for letting me tap in to your network. I’ll never buy cable again… bwahahahahahahahaha…” Of course, there are probably some other people in the neighborhood using his/her network, and I would hate to ruin their free ride.

This makes me wonder if it’s illegal for neighbors to go in on one cable modem and share the network throughout the neighborhood. It definitely gives new meaning to Microsoft’s “Network Neighborhood.” It also sounds like something we would have done in college. (You know, the first or second times I was in college - not this time.) College kids can find anyway to save money. Ask my buddy Brad about his Blatz-returnable box spring. I’m serious.

Well, we made it home safe. I am now going to secure my wireless network. Sorry neighbors.

A quick 'welcome back' to my buddy Pat Sykes. Pat spent the entire last year in Iraq with the National Guard's 266th Ord. Co. I'm sure he's glad to be back home with his wife and two young daughters.

Welcome back bud, we missed ya!