June 2, 2001
The last few days have been gloomy weatherwise, but at least everything else has gone great. Let me start with with last Thursday when I got paid. I knew I was going to get paid that day, but I wasn't expecting the pay rate to be like it is. I got it and opened it and saw at the top that I was making ten dollars an hour! Believe me that was a surprise. I work between 6-8 hours every day. So last night I took my parents out for dinner to the Colony House in Trevor, WI, which is a thirty minute drive. There known for there excellent Friday fish fry's. Friday was a really good day overall, it didn't rain a whole lot until a cold front came down a spread thunderstorms and heavy rain over the area. It really doesn't seem like June at all. Yesterday we finally made it above sixty degrees. The day before our high was our average low for the date. That's how cool it is for you living not in this area. This morning I got up at nine, which is average for a Saturday. I usually go to bible study on Saturday's but, once in a while I don't. I called my friend Jason and he wasn't home. Where are you all the time Jason? So I went without Jason today. Traffic on the way back was really bad due to everyone wanting to go shopping on such a gloomy day and that construction was going on even on Saturday's. They finally got Route 45 done in front on the college which is a better. Either today or tomorrow I'm going to make a page explaining how I'm creating this web site. You'll see a whole different blue box at the bottom of the home page. One thing that happened funny lately was two nights ago at the end of dinner. I had a glass filled with creme soda and I had the can right next to it. And my dad comes over not realizing what glass is mine for some reason and pours the rest of his Coca Cola in my glass. I'm like what are you doing? That's not going to taste that good together. He starts laughing, and then I said next time you do that I'll make you drink it. Of course saying it kiddingly. It doesn't taste really good together. Creme soda and coke combined is really strong together. At least it wasn't that much I drank. I don't believe in wasting anything, if it can be helped.
Yesterday I got a new CD. So look in the New Age section.
Tonight I'm going with Chris to see The Animal in Kenosha. I'll tell everyone tomorrow how it goes. Should be really funny.
4:05 PM
June 4, 2001
Today passed as the coolest day so far since May 20th. It was so cool today you could see your breathe. Now that's cold for June!!! It's going to have a big effect on lakefront temperatures for the rest of the season with the lake breezes that we get. Last night I didn't sleep worth nothing. I kept on waking up at weird intervals. I heard the paper man come at 4:30 a.m. It seems I hear him out five out of the seven days in the week. He usually hits the door with the paper. After work this morning I went back into the forest behind our business and came across a garter snake. At first I just heard the hiss, which was loud. I looked all around me not seeing him right away. Then I spotted him near a piece of concrete. I think it was a three footer. Didn't really bother me, I just got surprised a little. I wasn't expecting a snake on my walk; especially in this weather. The forecast is for more rain tomorrow and continued cool through at least Thursday. The rest of the afternoon was busy. Working on "Friend's" catalog to send to the customers.
The Animal on Saturday was a hit. It was funny all the way through. Probably the my top ten most funniest movies I've seen. Well worth seeing. Lots of animals and laughs.
I also got alot of yard work done today. By trimming bushes, trees, and mowing lawn. My dad mainly cut the lawn. It's been cool and we haven't cut it in two and a half weeks. I watched Jay Leno a little while ago and headlines. They were done right halarious tonight. Check it out by going to Tonight Show's homepage.
And one thing that is taking place right now is a shoot out/hold up situation at the Eagle Food Store in Lindenhurst about ten miles from here. About six hours ago a man that was seen with multilpe guns in the parking lot barracaded himself in the store after he shot two officers that were coming to see the situation after he was spotted. The officers are in good and critical condition. Both are expected to make a full recovery, but as of now the gun man is still inside. Both the FBI and state troopers are there and have blocked of a 1 square mile area.
Well everyone have a really nice day or night!
11:35pm
June 7, 2001
The sun finally came out after a week of almost 100% cloudiness. I felt alot more energetic today then previous days. Today was an interesting day. I didn't start out that impressive, but it got alot more exciting as the day progressed. After working hard on the yard the day before I got somewhat late due to that I was really tired last night. I got to work about 9:15am. Work went really well in the morning. My grandpa couldn't keep up to speed with all the finished work I was giving him. I'll admit I was going at a faster then normal pace.
(The situation that I was telling you on the 4th with the gun man in the grocery store. Well He was killed in a police shoot out at around seven am the next morning. At his house they found $400,000 worth of crack.)
The most exciting part of the day started around ten A.M. Across the street there is a Commonwealth Edison power station with access road up to it from Lewis Ave. I looked out the window and noticed this green Camaro sitting there, at first I didn't think anything of it. But once fifteen minutes elapsed and the car was still there, people started becoming a little suspicious. Eventually it left before 12. After coming back from lunch the car had come back. Then he would leave and drive around and come back to the same spot and wait. He did this eight times before I went home at five. Everyone was aware of this mysterious person in the plant. And we agreed that if he did this tomorrow were going to call the police to investigate the situation. We only got to see the guy when he got out of his car to rummage around for something. He always faced towards the road and the office side of our building. He had tinted windows all over so we couldn't see really well what he was doing. He would sit in the same spot for as little as 3 minutes to 45 minutes at a time. Weird!!! Well see tomorrow if he returns. Don't worry we got his plate number.
I worked today thirty minutes past my norm. I got paid today to. The pay was down just a little from last time. They taxed me more. That's all right I wasn't that much more. When I got home I went outside to do a little weeding and cultivating before we ordered dinner out. We got Roma's Pizza, well my dad had pizza and me and my mom had two other Italian dishes.
Thought: I can finally open my windows without freezing during the night.
Tomorrow will be pretty busy I think. I have to finish counting out paper. I learned a interesting fact tonight about log homes. A normal log home takes only two days to assemble; the skeleton of the house of course. That's quicker then any other kind of house I can tell you that. I either want a stone, brick, or log home nothing else if I can help it.
G'night.
(12:22 am)
June 10, 2001
As soon as I got up today I could tell it was going to be a warm humid day. I woke up shortly after nine. I looked at my thermometer and it already read 75 degress. The day altogether wasn't really busy. As on most Sunday's I made breakfast for everyone, which I do about twice times a week. I learned how to cook breakfast's from my grandmother who passes away four years ago this October. I'm glad I still remember everything. Omelets were the order this morning.
Since we all had a really big breakfast at the late end of the morning there was no need for lunch really. At about 11:30 I went outside to yard work for a while before it got too warm. I finally finished the mulching around our Yew bushes on the back side of the house. After that I went to work on a project that we've been meaning to do for several years. To dig a channel in the ditch so it could drain down better during heavy rain. It's always a hassel when you're cutting the thick juicy grass down there. Here I thought it would take me forever to dig, but it actually only took 50 minutes to dig a 20 foot trench up to the next door neighbors property. Hauling the mud and grass away was a real challange, especially in this weather and the mosquitos biting you at the same time. I have no mercy for those bugs. There sorry when they land on me! At about two o'clock I called it quits for a while. I went in the house and watched an assortment of TV channels till 4:30 when we started dinner. After dinner we all got in the car including the two cats and went to Dairy Queen for ice cream. Then we all enjoyed it while looking over Lake Michigan and watching a supercell thunderstorm form over the middle of the lake. It was interesting watching the in build and then get it top sheared off by winds from the jet stream. The anvil must have been about 40,000 feet up or so. With the sun hitting against it it was really awesome to watch the colors change. We went home at about eight o'clock and watched one of the movies we rented from Blockbusters the day before. "The Watcher", which was pretty good.
Now as I sit here tonight with the air conditioner finally on, I wish it was a cooler than it really is out. It's like 75 degress at 12:30 am! I don't know how the people down south can cope with this kind out weather for half of the year. One thing is for sure I'll never like down in the southeast. I hate the high dewpoints and sticky air & 90's everyday from May to September. Tomorrow and the rest of the week is predicted to be near 90 everyday with the chance of storms, maybe severe.
(12:33 am)
June 14, 2001
Tonight I'll keep my journal entry shorter than usual due to the time. It's been a long three days of being on the computer at work. Actually I've been working off two computers, one has Win95 and the other 98 and believe me they seem more and more disalike as time goes on. Trying to replace files between them is almost impossible at times. It's been really warm and incredibly humid here the last three days also. I think today we hit 90 for the first time. This morning at 9:30 am it was already 82 out. Heat Index's I know rose to 98 degress today. I hate coming out to a hot car after the morning hours and the when work is all done at the end of the day. That's one thing in life I hate to encounter, especially with my car being black. I caught up and finished everything I needed to for the day and then went home at the usually time of 4:35 about. On the way home I was listening on the radio that in Waukegan on the eastbound lanes of Washington Av. were buckling and sinking due to the intense heat, thus it wasn't drivable. And in the Loop today, two of the drawbridges wouldn't go down because the heat had expanded the metal and the two halves couldn't be closed. So the fire department had to come out and hose the bridges down to cool them back down.
We had a interesting storm today that is worth a few lines to talk about. After dinner I was continuing my project on the ditch by making it deeper so the water could drain away better and quicker. Well at about eight pm I started hearing a little bit of thunder. I looked to the south and noticed a thunder head building but I didn't think anything of it. Then about 15 minutes later it starts to sprinkle. I look down the street I see a garbage can blow through the air and sticks and yard debris flying in. It came down the street towards the house in about 3 seconds and I got caught in a mini microburst. Sticks and leaves were being ripped off the trees and pelting me as I made my way to the garage. Even in there I got soaked because the wind was whipping at 45 mph or so. Our neighbors lost a branch about 3 inches around and parts of there tree ended up over hear. It only lasted 3 minutes and it was on it's way to Wisconsin.
The rest of the night I've been watching Comedy. This weekend I'm going to start updating backgrounds and starting a few new pages.
that's it till tomorrow night.
(1:00 am)
June 18, 2001
Well since I yesterday was an exciting day I'll add in today's journal. As you all should know yesterday was Father's Day. Me and my mom had the day planned out for a little while. First I got up at eight thirty to make a special breakfast then after breakfast my dad opened his cards & presents. At about Noon we got on the road and headed for Cedarburg Wisconsin, which is about an hour and forty-five minutes from here on a good day. It depends if you can get through downtown Milwaukee without getting into traffic. Traffic wasn't bad, because it was a Sunday. Cedarburg is a quaint little town that sits about five minutes from Lake Michigan along the Milwaukee River. I'll have to say they have really dressed the town up nice since I was there last about a year ago. Me and my dad knew where we wanted to go; The Gem Shop, Inc. and my mom went shopping to a few other stores looking for Boyd's Bears. This rock shop is probably the nicest ones I've seen in the Great Lakes region. They have such a variety. They have so much that about half of it is outside and in the basement. My dad and I had a great time for about an hour looking through barrels of rocks and looking at all the specimens on the shelves. I've been wanting this one kind of particular rock called Ocean Jasper. (Full details click here)
We finally decided on a 2-3/4" wide sphere which came with a stand. It's pretty neat. Right about then my mom came back and we split to go find a place to pinic. We drove up the lakeshore for another 25 minutes or so to Harrington Beach State Park between Sheboygan and Port Washington. Yeah we drive far on any old day. But the setting and the weather was perfect. There was people there but it wasnt' terribly crowded. A gentle wind off the lake only 200 feet away kept the temperature around 67. The sun was shinning the whole time. I got a few pictures; as soon as I get them developed I'll post them. We stayed for about an hour and ten about and then left about 5:30pm. And basically went straight home. Nothing too special the rest of the day.
Now today wasn't that exciting. Today I over slept a little. Probably because of all that ridding yesterday. But I made up for last time at work today. I worked till 4:50 instead. The day started off hazy and warm and got cloudier. My work today was borring somewhat, so I won't say much to bore you. Mainly it was more inventory on old stock. I will say I was glad the clouds stuck around today because it kept the temperature from shooting up and above 90. Down 30 miles away at O'Hare International in went all the way to 92. When it did clear out the temp rose to a lower 88. But it was a relatively dry heat, due to the wind that was howling by at 30 mph. So for three hours I got yard work done, then dinner in between that 3 hours. Tonight I watched Jay Leno, and The Late Late Show with Chris Clybourn. There really funny Comedians especially Jay. I should get to sleep now, I don't want to oversleep again.
1:03am
June 20, 2001
Thought: I wish every summer day could go as good as this one did.
Today was a splendid day from the start. I got up on time and got to work only a minute or two late. A refreshing cool breeze blew in the window when I woke up. I could live with every summer being only as warm as 75 with the humidity lower than 50%. I love when the nightime lows go to the 50's in the summer; doesn't happen that often in the summer here. I got alot of work done today for my grandpa, dad, and just plain outside work. Since I started working here, I've helped everyone catch up on things. My dad is running out of work for me. I'm usually not that busy all the time. Maybe for half the time I'm there I'm stuck in the office. When I'm done with office work I go help someone else ro go find someone to talk to that isn't busy also. I went back into the woods today to finish blazing a trail. I cut so much I've got six blisters on my right hand. Except for a few chipmunks and birds that was all the critters that were back there; no snakes this time! Few deer tracks though; looks like there using my trail as a way of getting around.
After dinner today my mom, dad, and I went to see The Animal at the outdoor theather on the south edge of Kenosha. That was really fun even though I've seen it twice now. At first I couldn't figure out how the sound was going to come to the car since they took out the speakers on the poles next to where you park. But then someone said tune to 89.7 FM and there was the sound; NEAT-O! I've never heard of such a thing.
Well that's enough of the journal for tonight. I was going to add a few more funny stories but will have to wait tomorrow. Buddy Hyllberg if you're reading this Happy Birthday; one day late. And I O people some e-mails, I'll catch up on them too.
(12:45am)
June 24, 2001
Today was a relaxing day for me, but now I feel I didnt' get as much done as I could. This morning I got up late, because I went to see a late movie last night with Chris at Tinseltown. Dr. Dolittle 2; it was halarious! If you like animals and laughs, go see this movie.
This morning I made breakfast like I usually do on Sundays. After breakfast/brunch my parents went grocery shopping, while I just stayed here. This afternoon I messed around with my logs that I've been stripping and carving. I combined them into a design like an arch way and put it on the brick wall next to the garage. Not sure if I'll keep it there. Right now I'll jump to the highlight of the day.
Yesterday I went to Blockbusters to rent Cast Away. I'm sure everyone's heard that movie. Last year it was at the theater but I never got around to seeing it. Then the Oscars came up and I saw that It won two Academy Awards. Well then I had to see it no matter what as soon as I could. I watched it tonight. And I have to say what a wunderful! movie it is! The movie that I've seen since the Titanic! On a scale of One to Ten, I would rate it a Nine! Very,very,very, very, good movie. Go and see it if you haven't already seen it. It does have a sad ending and it makes you really wonder about life and things. How you're life can change so drastically by certain desicions you make. I'll be thinking about this movie for years to come.
Tom Hanks has never acted in a poor movie, all his movies are wonderful. That's why he is one of my favorite actors.
"What road are you headed down next?"
12:23am
June 28, 2001
My first thing I must say, is that today was the longest day at work so far. It just kept on going and going. But first I'll type about the part of the day before that. I got up at my regular time of 8:25. I managed to get to work right on the button. Today I noticed that the temperature in the morning wasn't at quite as warm as it had been in mornings past this week. Instead of waking up to a saltery 80, it was only 72 out, but humid. Traffic was a pain this morning; trying to turn left out of our neighborhood during any part of the day is hard. Sometimes you have to wait 5-8 minutes. No kidding!
The first twenty minutes of work went fine. I finished organizing the my office. I've got alot of paperwork that needed organizing and reordering. I went into my grandpa's office wondering if I had any work that needed to be done. Well not today. He had some other things of his that he needed to do. Anyway were ahead of schedule on all our projects. Well then I asked my dad what or if anything needed to be done in the shipping dept. or the warehouse. And sure enough there was. That's when my big project started. He pointed out eleven pallets of boxes of envelopes that had come in that morning from Williamhouse Paper Co. in Appleton, WI. He said he started going through the boxes of envelopes earlier and noticed that alot of them weren't properly sealed right. ---Well I took over from there the rest of the day. Now the order was for 110,000 envelopes. 30 cartons on a skid and five boxes in each carton with 100 envelopes in each box. Yeah that's alot to go through. The type of envelope it is a file cabinet size, legal size. I got to work opening all the boxes and inspecting 2 or 3 envelopes per box and if I saw the box was no good I set it aside and wrote the amount spolied. My grandpa and uncle weren't too happy that all those envelopes were bad; especially at the end of the day when I told them the numbers that I had counted out. 15,000 bad, and I went through 31,500 today, tomorrow I have to keep on going. We had to have at least 25,000 good to last us until the company can correct the problem and get another order over. The envelopes had a half a dozen different kinds of defects in them. The most common one was that the left in-seem flap wasn't glued down at all or at least mostly. Some didn't have any glue at all.
That was the main thing today. I'll probably have nightmares about these things tonight. lol!
I went to Dairy Queen again tonight and got my favor treat, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Blizzard. And it was good too.
And the rest of the night is history; just sitting here. Tomorrow I'll have to get too work a little more earlier and continue the project, hopefully Mike from the shipping department will help me. I should get paid by the company for the time spent on THEIR mistakes.
G'night!
10:58pm