"We Didn't Start the Fire" or "Great Balls of Fire" or "C'mon Baby Light My Fire"

Big changes on the horizon. Namely, new furniture, new clothes, new toys, new apartment.

Friday, June 19th, my apartment was engulfed in flames. Thankfully, I wasn't home, but was out fishing. Not so thankfully, just about everything inside was toast/bbq/burnt hot dogs. What wasn't burned to a crisp had pretty severe smoke/water damage.

The fire department got the 911 call from a neighbor at 7:35 pm, I had left at 6:30 pm, but since I was out fishing I didn't get the message on my cell phone until 9:05 pm or so, and at that point sped home. By the time I arrived at 9:30 pm, all the action was done (I know, I didn't even get to see the show) and it was a matter of giving an official report to the fire department and going into shock at the circumstances.

The thought is that somehow the fire started in the motor of the refrigerator; it's pretty rare for this to be a cause, but it's not unheard of. It was an older house with two apartments in it so there was sufficient old dry wood, ceiling tiles, carpet, etc. for the whole thing to go up like a tinder box. Once the FD had things under control it was determined that anything in the kitchen was a 100% loss, including hunting gear, boots, GPS, ammunition etc. that was stored in a closet. The bedroom which was off the kitchen was a total loss as well, so all of the clothing and some other furniture was gone too. In the other rooms, living room & office, anything electronic or near the walls was a loss, as well as most pieces of furniture. All in all, probably a 90% loss on my personal property.

Insurance has paid for me to be holed up in a Best Western for the last ten days as I've been apartment hunting/trying to get back on my feet/etc.

Luckily, I did have renter's insurance, so there will be a check coming from the insurance company shortly which will help me begin to replace some of the things I lost. I've made some progress with apartment hunting and will move into a new place later this week (hopefully).
All the "stuff" that you accumulate over the years can be replaced, and it will be nice to upgrade the electronics and wardrobe. The insurance process has been tedious but I'm glad it's there and the adjustor seems to be decent enough to work with.

Long story short: this would be a hell of a lot worse to try to deal with without insurance. Granted it could have not happened (the preferable option), but it did, and the only option now is to move on, replacing the items I had that I need to replace, and living without the other ones. One thought is that this will make things alot easier the next time I move.

And it may not be the worst thing to re-gear for the second decade of the 2000's with a simpler, more efficient, utilitarian set of possessions.

Remedy

Today was one of those days -- you know the type, the type that keeps going and going and going. There was production -- don't get me wrong, things were getting done -- but when I finished at 5:45 there were more things on the list than when I started at 7:00.

The solution? Seeing as how a half bottle of whiskey isn't really a good call for a Wednesday; the only solution was to grab the fishing pole and head out for the first time this season. Now the fishing is good in this neck of the woods, good enough that "out-staters" (yes, you Madison & Milwaukee types, I am talking about you) regularly spend vacations in these parts with the sole purpose of spending their week of vacation in a boat.

I try and take advantage of that fact, and am hoping to spend a bit more time out on the lake this summer than I did last year. I realize I won't be located up here forever and am trying to focus on capitalizing on the assets of the locale. I still find it remarkable that within five minutes I can be the only person in a county forest, or the only one out on a lake. And since I am always traveling the area for work, I often stumble upon new spots to go check out.

So fishing, yes, I was doing it, for the first time this year.

Within fifteen minutes I was at a secluded spot (only three wrong turns later) wetting the line in Bear Lake. It was quiet in that odd way that it is when bullfrogs and birds are making all the noise they could possibly muster. But since you cannot hear the sounds of modern man, it is as quiet as it ever could be. Bald eagles were out and about soaring above, and I even caught a few fish in the clear water; so all in all a success, and just the remedy I needed after a day that offered just one too many new tasks.

I think that our Wisconsin forefathers would have been proud, as there I sat, rod and reel in hand, clad in a flannel shirt and a Brewer's ball-cap, drinking a can of Miller, watching the birds up above, and the fish down below.

The Cool of the Evening

Yeesh, after a nine-week sabbatical (the muses just weren't talking okay?) there's finally something of note to blog about. Well, not really, I've passed by many opportunities in the last couple months to get a quick post in, including: the first day of Spring, opening day of baseball season, a work trip to St. Louis/Kansas City, and more that I'm sure I'm missing, but that's life.

Just got an evening walk in and had to post about one of my favorite Spring rituals (well, all season really, but that much better in the Spring) -- the late dusk stroll. Those of you who know me well will attest that I have always been a walker. Whether it was ducking out of the dormitories at 1 AM to blow off some steam, or taking an indirect route back from the library or work, I've always been a fan of the evening walk as a way to recollect and (sometimes) make sense of the passing day, while refocusing for the upcoming one. It's also one hell of a way to try and work out a problem rolling around the brain. The Spring is an especially good season to be out though. There's that hint of freshness in the air as things are greening up again, a bit of light in the air as the sun has recently set, and an ideal temperature that calls for only a light jacket. It was a good way to stretch the muscles, clear the head after a rough Monday, and get a grasp on the coming week ahead.

Meaningless topic? Undoubtedly. Let's hope this spells the return of regular musings though. I'm hoping for a summer of documenting life in the Northwoods with some suprises thrown in for good measure.

Oh, and I ran a half-marathon this weekend, but more on that later. I'm still trying to gather my thoughts.

Giga-waabamin minawaa.

The Mallard Lodge

Rice Lake has gotten 12 inches on snow in the last six hours...and it is still coming down pretty heavily. I like winter as much as the next guy, but it's when I stumble across pictures like the one below that I could go for a nice fall hunting day.


And I don't mean a late-November deer hunting day where it is 15 degrees, but rather an early-October bird hunting day where the sun is shining, the multi-colored leaves are bright, and the temperature is 70 degrees.

Soon enough, soon enough.

Dispatch from the Birkie

I headed 45 miles north yesterday to Hayward, WI for the 36th annual racing of the American Birkebeiner cross-country ski race. The 54 km race had over 7,000 participants, and it was reported that another 15,000 were on hand as spectators. To put these numbers in perspective, the population of Hayward is only 2,100 people.
The annual event is a highlight of the Northwoods calendar, and I now understand why.

I pulled into town about 10:20, parked the car, and hustled over to the finish line (basically, they dump a few feet of snow onto main street, and cordon it off) just in time to see the winner cross in 2 hours 11 minutes. The womens race featured the sort of photo finish you see only in movies, with both racers neck and neck across the line, with a video review needed to determine the winner.

Judged on the number of participants, this is the largest ski race in North America. There were skiers competing from 48 different states and 21 countries. A 12-time Norwegian Olympic medalist (including 8 golds), Bjorn Daehlie, also competed, which is pretty damn cool. As contestants finished, the announcer would read their name and hometown. He was dropping Russias, Slovakias, Norways, and Swedens all over the place, in addition to basically any state that gets snow at least once a year.

Those that were on hand as spectators seemed to be having a blast. Exhibit A being the number of bloody marys and cold brews being consumed at 10:30 am while watching skiiers cross the finish line. In talking with some folks it seems that Saturday night is quite the party. I can imagine it being so, especially with the trans-national/international flavor to things.

I didn't stick around past the afternoon, but I'm half-tempted to pull a group together next year and make a weekend of it (don't worry, no delusions exist about myself or any of my beer-guzzling compatriots being able to complete a 50+ km cross-country ski race). Anyone game?

Oh, and lest people begin to think I am photographically talented, the pictures in this post were poached from various news articles about the event as nothing I took did the event any justice at all for what it was.

This is gonna be one rockin' summer

Spring training has officially started. And after a four hour wait in a "virtual line" on the Chicago Cubs web site I bought tickets for the Minnesota Twins - Chicago Cubs series at Wrigley Field.

Anyone else ready for summer?

Best Sport....Ever

I had nearly forgotten about the great sport of Cricket until I stumbled upon something titled "International warfare on a ball field" while wandering though the interweb this afternoon. If you're not familiar with the glories of this sport, check the link out.

I was first exposed to Cricket in a London airport while watching tv waiting for a bus on my first day in the United Kingdom. I had a chance to view the sport live a few times over the subsequent months, as well as to be exposed to it daily on television and on the Sports pages of the newspapers.

I also had a chance to play the sport a few times as well, and honestly, have no idea how to even describe those experiences. Other than to say that it was one hell of a good time.

In summary, England creates a sport and exports it to the colonies it would take men, resources, and goods from over the next 250 years. Fast forward to the twenty-first century and said countries kick England's arse in cricket every year.

Giga-waabamin minawaa.

Annual Performance Review

So I have my annual performace review this afternoon, which has absoloutely nothing to do with the general focus of this blog. But it gives me a chance to plug one of my top-10 clips from "The Office."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjBQc2bCFk8


Which begs the question, do people still get raises when the economy is in the crapper? Or is the least I can hope for is having my "salary kept consistent with inflation?"

In preperation, I have reviewed the Wikipedia entry for negotiation .

And there goes any case I had whatsoever for being someone that uses my time at work productively.

Population: 105

The landscape of Northern Wisconsin is littered with crossroad settlements, villages, and dried-up ghosts of towns. Many of these classic "blink-and-you'll miss it" stops were once considerably more populous logging-camps or railroad stops.

You know how the story goes though, people move somewhere and create a settlement based on some sort of economic opportunity in that area. If that opportunity is single-pronged, though, when the opportunity eventually dries up so do the people.

These small villages are all slightly unique, but have much in common too. They all have a shuttered, crumbling, closed school. Most have a shuttered, crumbling, closed church too. They all at least have a bar. And then there are the 2-3 blocks of less than a dozen houses each. I wasn't kidding when I said these places were small.

The population game gets to be a vicious cycle. Kids grow up, leave because there are few opportunities, and day by day, the population ages that much more. Without young adults in town to start families, there's no longer any need for a school - and then there it is, one less reason to move to the village if given the chance.

One of these burgs does stick out from the rest though: the Village of Tony, population 105, and hometown of former Wisconsin Badger star and current Baltimore Ravens player Jim Leonhard.

The village is proud of their local-boy-makes-good. They've got a huge billboard devoted to him as you drive through town. The bar has his jerseys on the wall.

It is kind of a neat idea though, that any place, no matter how small, desolate, or empty can produce anyone capable of anything.

I'm watching Leonhard play football on tv as I write this.

The Place Where A Kid Can be a Kid...

Doing some random websurfing over the holidays, I stumbled across this interesting site, Urbangeography. It's basically a web clearinghouse of graphs, charts, and other visual items related to information. I suppose there is some sort of vague link to geography with most things posted, although not all. It may just be my inherent geekiness that made the site attractive to me, but what the heck, check it out.

Anyways, stumbled across this little graphic showing of all things police reports from calls to Chuck E. Cheese restaurants. It's a pretty funny snippet, but a little disturbing too. I don't recall any major incidents from my age 7 birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese's but maybe that has more to do with the fact that it was in placid Omaha more than anything else.

I did a little further digging and found this article from the Wall Street Journal which delves a little deeper into the trend and comes up with an unsuprising culprit: alcohol. Apparently, most Chuck E. Cheese's serve both beer and wine.

The Milwaukee branch of the restaurant has even gone so far as to begin having armed guards stationed at their location. Go Wisconsin!

Unfortaunately, I haven't ever witnessed the mayhem at Chuck E. Cheese - I can see how it would be one hell of a show though. The best I can do is to recall the time I saw a family at Chippewa Valley low-caliber pizza buffet specialists Pizza del Rey that had their two children (who had to be aged somewhere from age 10-12) dressed in footie pajamas.

So where are you gonna have your next birthday celebration?

Obligatory Year-End/ Year-Beginning Post

Here it is, the end of one year, and the beginning of another. It's interesting how one of the unintended consequences of the calendar is that the end of each year triggers near universal recollection and introspection at the course that we plotted over the previous twelve months. Inevitably there are things that we wish would have gone better, tiny (or sometimes not so) failures, and to be fair - victories of the spirit as well.

The process of looking back at the previous year leads us to make mental notes of things that we'd like to see ourselves do differently over the upcoming one: resolutions. Oftentimes we don't quite make it to the point of following through successfully on those resolutions, but for some of us, we're bound to get it right eventually. One of these years, something will click, and ta-da we'll finally be where we've wanted to be for so long.

For myself, 2008 was not one for the record books. It opened with a brutal winter season before segueing into a middling summer season, and ending with a fall in which things where on the upswing. I've got high expectations for 2009, though. Both of fate and the random rolls of life's dice, but more importantly for myself. There's alot that will be up to me. This time, I'm ready for the fight.