Cool Tree Link!

From Todd:

http://www.neatorama.com/2007/03/21/10-most-magnificent-trees-in-the-world/

Eradicator!

This was my halloween costume this year in case you were confused when you saw it!  Thanks to Marc for finding this on YouTube...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6b--i65Jmew

Another Reason to Be Proud to Be from Wisconsin...

Milwaukee Is Named 'Drunkest City'

Thursday, August 24, 2006

 

(08-24) 11:45 PDT MILWAUKEE (AP) --

Milwaukee has been ranked by Forbes.com as "America's Drunkest City" on a list of 35 major metropolitan areas ranked for their drinking habits.

Forbes said Tuesday it used numbers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to rank cities in five areas: state laws, number of drinkers, number of heavy drinkers, number of binge drinkers and alcoholism.

Minneapolis-St. Paul was ranked second overall; followed by Columbus, Ohio; Boston; Austin, Texas; Chicago; Cleveland; Pittsburgh and then Philadelphia and Providence, R.I., in a tie for ninth.

Rick DeMeyer, 28, said Wednesday as he was celebrating his birthday at G-Daddy's BBC he could understand Milwaukee's ranking.

"I have had people stay with me from London and Chicago, and they can't get over how much we drink," he said. "I guess we do."

But officials at Visit Milwaukee, the area's convention and visitors bureau, contend that the city has come a long way in ridding itself of its beer-guzzling image.

Milwaukeeans have plenty of other ways to entertain themselves without drinking alcohol, said Dave Fantle, a spokesman for the group. He noted a new convention center and baseball park had been built and the Milwaukee Art Museum expanded in recent years.

"We've gone from Brew City to new city," he said.

___

Information from: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel,

www.jsonline.com

A message from New Orleans

Here is a message from my buddy Kev who lives in New Orleans...I thought this as a sad but interesting story. We need to keep helping them out (and others in the gulf), there is still so much distruction!

WHERE YAT?!

Who would have thought that being a fat piece of shit could pay

dividends? Well it's true.

As many of you know, I have been volunteering with Habitat for

Humanity, musicians village,helping build houses for the last week.

(I'm a doctor, not a engineer, damn it!) Yesterday we were

filling in dirt so water doesn't accumulate. (stagnant water =

mosquitoes, mosquitoes bad) Anyway, being the fat bastard that I

am, I got tired shoveling dirt. It was only in the low 90's with

80% humidity. So I leaned against the column of concrete blocks

that the house was going to sit on. Very sturdy; or so you would

think. The column started to lean. I may not know anything about

construction, but I would want my house to be able to tolerate

someone leaning on it. Even a fatass like me. Apparently they

only filled in the top block with concrete, not the entire column.

To make matters worse, this step was preformed by contractors, not

volunteers. Our krewe chief got an uneasy look as he checked the

other columns. All hollow! He went to the other off-site house

these contractors had worked on. Last week we had erected the

foundation, bracings, and the floor. He returned. All hollow.

These hollow blocks would have supported the weight of the house,

but one good wind likely would have toppled them. Why did this

happen, who knows. The contractors had hired subcontractors. They

may have saved a little money on concrete? It must have taken just

as long to block the column and fill only the top block as to fill

the entire column. Anyway, they're coming back to fix the problem,

and say they can do it without removing the work we had already

finished. Luckily these contractors were hired only for the off

site houses, not any of the 30 houses in the musicians village that

were dedicated last saturday.

Everywhere I go, people are always asking me, how is new orleans?

After spending the last week in the upper ninth ward (not as

devastated as the lower ninth ward) I can easily say we have a

long way to go. It may not be too bad by me or the quarters, but

most areas have a long way to go.

I know, right now you're saying, what can I do. Easy. Next week,

august 29, is the one year anniversary of the greatest man-made

catastrophe (non-military anyway). thank you army corps of

engineers. Visit www.strength.org for a list of restaurants

donating a portion of their proceeds to help rebuild the gulf

coast. Eat plenty, that extra weight just might save the day.

WORD!

Climbing Mount Shasta

Last week John, Anne, Barry and I went up for a 5-day trip up to Mount Shasta, a 14,000 ft volcano up in northern California. Dean couldn't make it due to a silly water skiing accident so he missed out on all the pain.In short, we parked at a trailhead at Brewer Creek (there was no creek) around 7000ft and hiked/skiied 2.7 miles and up 3000ft (with 80lb packs) to base camp which was fondly known as the Hotlum Hilton. After setting up base camp we spent the next few days playing around on the Hotlum glacier, reviewing/learning mountaineering skills, hiking through the seracs, and of course doing some skiing. Saturday we got up at 3am and were on snow at 4:45am for our 4000ft summit attempt. We tore through it climbing through knee-deep snow and avoiding avs and rocks. Success took about 5 hours and it was amazing from the top. We skiied/glissaded down the mountain fast having a bunch of fun and setting off mini avalanches along the way.



It was an amazing experence. I know, I look dirty as shite.

Hambone Styles Picture of the Week! - 070106

I'm getting excited about my trip to Germany this fall to see my little Godchild Luciana. So I was looking back at some photos of past Europe trips and found this nice B&W of a mountian lake in the Dolomites in northeastern Italy... 

If you ever liked Super Mario Brothers you are going to love this...

http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/video/mariolive

American Cities That Best Fit You:

70% San Francisco

65% Los Angeles

60% Honolulu

60% Philadelphia

55% Boston

Which American Cities Best Fit You?

Amazing

I don't know why but I feel like the world needs to hear this line my buddy Big Chad heard from his farming cousin from Iowa:

"That girl is so hot I'd walk through a room of broken glass just to hear her fart through a walkie-talkie on the other side"

My first thought was, 'how the hell would you even think this up?'.

He has a second one that involves corn and poop.  I'll spare you that one.  Its not as good anyway.