The Rambling Insomniac

If there is one thing I know I truly like in this world, it’s to eat. And while I proclaim to be one of the finest cooking husbands on the face of the planet, something I enjoy even more than cooking is dining out. I also enjoy an extremely wide variety of foods, and my nature is to always try new things (I almost never order the same Chinese dish more than once!). Because of this, I have become infatuated with the ultimate tool of the dining extraordinaire, the MENU.

(Sigh)……that’s right, I’m infatuated with menus (what a dork, hey?).

What do I mean by this? Well, I’ve been known to read a menu for up to four margaritas (happened just recently at Chili’s as a matter of fact) before I can conjure up the courage to place my order. Even then, I will question my dinner or lunch choice, even if it was really good, until my head hits the pillow that evening. For me, the worst time is the time from when I’ve actually placed my order until it arrives at my table. For example, I’ll have settled on and ordered the Pasta Carbonaro with Chicken, only to watch the waiter walk by with the most phenomenal looking order of Thai Barbecued Gulf Shrimp in the world! And as I look at my wife Stephanie with that pathetic “Oh my, what have I done?” look, she’ll just roll her eyes at me full well knowing I’ll be more than happy with what I ordered in the first place. I mean, I’m so weird that I’ll often keep my menu after placing my order just so I can keep reading it. Does anyone know what I’m talking about here, or am I just some sort of Menu Freak? What is wrong with me!?!?

Now, since we had kids a few years back, our dining out experiences have dwindled down to once or twice every couple of months (that is unless you consider Culver’s or Wendy’s “dining out”). Because of this, I feel extra pressure on myself to make sure I make the best menu choice possible. What in the world is a Menu Freak to do!?

Fortunately, I discovered a wonderful website a couple years back called Foodspot.com. If you are not familiar with the site, I’d suggest you check it out. It offers a searchable database of almost every restaurant in Wisconsin, many of which include their actual menu right on the website. How brilliant is that!? Not only does this help in choosing a place to dine out at, but it also gives me a chance to get some of my menu “freakedness” out of my system before arriving at the restaurant. This then allows me to make an informed choice for my meal without having to down $20 worth of cocktails during the decision making process (well, I probably still do that anyway). The one minor problem I’ve found is that most nicer dining establishments usually offer a nightly “chef’s special” that wasn’t on the website menu. This throws my whole menu pre-read system into a tailspin, but for the most part, Foodspot.com has made my life much easier when it comes to choosing my next entrée.

If you’re a Menu Freak like me, I’d suggest you give Foodspot.com a try.

G’Night G’Town!

We should look for someone to eat and drink with before looking for something to eat and drink. ~Epicurus

I just spent another weekend in the “Irish Hills” of Brooklyn, Michigan, attending the NASCAR Citizens Bank 400 race at Michigan International Speedway. I say “another weekend”, as this was my 22nd year going to the race. I attend each year’s race with a rather large group of friends, all of varying ages, and we come from all different parts of Wisconsin. This makes for a very interesting and entertaining trip each year!

Highlights of race weekend this year included:

- The massive amounts of discussion over Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s announcement last week that he is going to race for Hendrick Motorsports next year. This proved for some pretty good jokes, none of which are tasteful enough to be mentioned here.

- My sister TJ, and her husband Rick, drove up from Ohio to hang out with our group this year. It was great to see them and spend some quality R&R time together, as we never seem to get to visit very often since state lines divide us. We also realized at the race that Rick sort of looks like Jack Roush when he wears that goofy looking straw hat!

- Our realization that NASCAR is truly a redneck sport. You only have to walk around with 200,000 NASCAR fans for a short time to come to this conclusion. Now I’m not throwing jabs at NASCAR fans, because I am one of them too, and maybe I have a little more redneck in me that I’d like to admit. I clearly realized this at 8am of race day as I was sitting in a lawn chair in a grass field at the racetrack, barefoot, listening to Lynyrd Skynyrd, smoking cigarettes, eating beef jerky, drinking Jim Beam, watching my sister use a grill to make eggs, listening to my friends discuss which promotional trailer was giving out the most tobacco chew for free and talking about my trucks exhaust system with some guy I don’t even know. Now if that ain’t redneck, I reckon’ I don’t know what is!?

- Back at the hotel after the race, I did an awesome belly flop into a whirlpool full of people I don’t know. Well, at least I didn’t know them before the belly flop, but now I do.

- The race itself, as always, was the best highlight of all. Even after attending countless races at multiple tracks over the years, nothing gives me the goose bumps quite like the first green flag lap of a NASCAR race. A combination of the smell of racing fuel, the roaring engine noise, the cheering crowd, the jets overhead, a beer in my hand and the wind rush that’s created from the mere speed of 43 cars almost brings a tear to the eye. Wow, I really am a redneck!

And if attending Michigan this year wasn’t enough, this particular redneck will also be at the Milwaukee Mile with a few friends this coming weekend for the Busch race on Saturday night. Hope to see you there. I’ll be the one with the goose bumps.

A good laugh and a long sleep are the best cures in the doctor's book. ~Irish Proverb

I’m not normally a whiney person. In fact, I’m normally an extremely positive person, but lately, I’ve been in a funk. So while this is a little out of my element, I’m going to whine about some things that have been bugging me lately.

~ Golf – I’ve golfed all my life, and by now, you’d think I’d be pretty good at it. To the contrary, the more I golf the worse I get. Is there anything else in life that this happens with!? That bugs me.

~ Local TV News – I cannot believe what a negative image of Southeastern Wisconsin our stations project. I mean really, is nothing GOOD happening anywhere in our area? Stations seem so focused on shock value, they’ve forgotten to tell us about all the good things going on in our communities. That bugs me.

~ Bugs – What’s the deal with bugs lately? I hate bugs, and there has been an abundance of overly annoying ones all over the place as of late. Mosquitoes, yellow jackets, box elder bugs, ticks, and horseflies. And there’s even been a bunch of different kinds of bugs I’ve never even seen before bugging me this year! That bugs me.

~ Fergie – Unless you live under a rock, you must know the pop singer by the name of Fergie. Now I personally like her and all, but what’s with her spelling out so many words in her songs? Is this some sort of service to our youth? In her tune “Fergilicious” she is describing cotton candy or something (sic) and spells it out as “T to the A to the S T E Y”. Now I’m no English major or anything, but I believe TASTY is not spelled TASTEY! C’mon Fergie, I can get over your suggestive lyrics, but could you at least teach our kids how to spell correctly!? That bugs me.

~ The Packers – The Packers organization completely alienated me during the draft and free-agency period this year. I could whine about this one forever, but I am trying to suppress my anger on this one. My therapist suggested that I do that when I mentioned to her that I’d like to drive up to Green Bay, take Ted Thompson by the neck, and…..err, well, you get my point. That bugs me.

~ The Brewers – Yeah, yeah….I’m a fair weather fan, just like the rest of you. I get all excited year after year in the first half of the season when the Brewers get hot like they’ve done again this year. In fact, they’ve been very hot this year, and are even hanging onto 1st place in their division. But, mark my words, we’ll slip into oblivion soon after the All-Star break like we do every year. That bugs me.

~ Gas prices – Whatever.

~ Loud Harleys – A Harley Davidson motorcycle is supposed to be loud, and that is one of the many things that makes them so cool. But c’mon, some guys have pipes on them that literally make my windows shake and send my dog underneath the bed. That’s just not cool. That bugs me.

~ The Sopranos (pronounced sah – prah – noh) – Was it just me, or was that so-called “final episode” disappointing? I had a lot of time invested in Tony and the boys, and that’s the best HBO could do for a finale? What sort of ending was that? That bugs me.

~ And the one things that bugs me the most! - People that whine. That really bugs me!

What’s been bugging you?

I promise, I’ll try and write something a bit more positive next week.

If you have time to whine and complain about something then you have the time to do something about it. ~Anthony J. D'Angelo

On Tuesday, May 29, 2007, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources issued its first “Air Quality Watch” of the year for most of Southeastern Wisconsin. As you probably know, this was the first of many to come as we head into what is expected to be typically long, hot and humid Wisconsin summer. These days will also be issued as warnings, and by other names such as Ozone Alert Days.

Now I must admit that our local media does a fine job of announcing these throughout the summer, as you hear about it on the radio, in the local paper or on local newscasts over and over again. But I must also admit that I never really paid much attention to the warnings! I have a fairly active family, and between our numerous activities and work schedules, finding a day to mow the lawn is hard enough. Thus, I’d usually mow my lawn, drive all around town and fire up the central air on one of these days despite the warnings that I shouldn’t. Shame on me!

My curiosity got the best of me when I heard the announcement of a watch last week, so I did a little research on-line. There are three great sites that will all offer you tons of information, tips, and guidance on why we should all pay a little closer attention to these air quality watches and warnings. Since I haven’t mastered the art of inserting URL’s onto my blog yet, you’ll need to Google these, but the following are the three sites I’d refer you to: 1) Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources 2) Wisconsin Partners for Clean Air and 3) The Environmental Protection Agency. After reading as much information as my insomnia would allow, I definitely changed my view of how I’ll handle these days in the future. For me the biggest “shocker” was to learn of the long-term and harmful affects of low-level ozone on our natural resources, which I treasure dearly! It was also interesting to learn that Southeastern Wisconsin is unique in its vulnerability to the affects of harmful gases compared to anywhere else in the world.

So, what should we do, or better yet, not do, on one of these days? In a nutshell, all three agencies promote the following during an Air Quality watch or warning:

- Reduce driving whenever possible

- Postpone the use of small gasoline and diesel engines

- Avoid burning leaves and brush

- Practice energy conservation

After you read up on the harmful effects of ozone and other harmful gases to our health and environment, I’m sure you’ll come to the same conclusion as me, that the small sacrifices mentioned above are well worth it. Even if you choose not to read further, maybe you’ll agree with my refreshed opinion on the subject, which is, why spend a hot and humid summer day mowing the lawn when you could be spending that same time enjoying a couple cool refreshments with your friends and family!?

Here’s to a long, hot, humid and environmentally responsible summer!

Life is something that happens when you can't get to sleep. ~Fran Lebowitz