Boundary Waters

 These girls have made my summer amazing!! Going to the Boundary Waters is something I will never forget! We've been through thick and thin, (semi) hypothermia, half sinking canoes and lost glasses.. Thanks for making it great! - YaYa

Yes

I used to care so strongly about so many people's opinions, but they mean nothing now. Just got to focus on the present and keep going strong 🌞 yaya

Steven Universe

I'm just saying, I've seen porn with less lesbian tension.

Achille's Injury

Another chapter....Sunday went swimming and on the way to my car I turned my foot wrong and rupture torn my Achilles surgery is now on the calendar. Carol H thank you for the book. Smiley thanks for hanging out with me and grandpa this week. Lisa and Dan, Maureen F for your help  - Grandma J

Ridiculous

We're watching 20/20 and the reporter said this painting was so good she thought it was a photograph (!!!). . . Just so you know, these are the same stunning intellects that decide what to tell you about the world and who to vote for in November.

Weight Gain

I gained weight this week, and no excuses this time. Lots of food, lots of drinking at the party, lots of leftover alcohol that had to be drunk to clear room in the fridge. Empty calories galore. And my damn bike chain broke so my activity was down too. $%@#

Web of Spiderman #1

I owned this - still do I think, but sans cover now and beat to hell - and I remember it was a pretty good story, with the church bells and all.

I wuz fooled!

I asked this woman's permission to photograph her shirt, thinking she was a NKOTB fan - turns out it's a play on words and actually the name of her kickball team! Either way, a great t-shirt lol

I Did As Requested

Junie: Please please please don't put on baseball Dad.

Me: ok

Junie:  Thank you.

Me:  (turns on boxing)

Junie: Grrrrr

During the hour I was at the grocery store, Smiley texted me 54 times. Nothing important, just chit chat about a game called Upscale. :)

Enough with the hate

BLM, whatever the ideal they sought to pursue, has become a breeding ground for hate and violence. The White House has preached divisive rhetoric on race for eight years. The combination of the two has led to this. #NoMoreExcuses #Unity

YaYa takes her Grandpa to the Zoo

YaYa took her Grandpa to the zoo today all by herself for some one on one time.

The Scavenger Hunt

YaYa mentioned to us that there was a scavenger hunt at American Science and Surplus today, with the grand prize being family passes to the public museum! My constant companion Junie rolled out with me, but the hunt was much harder than expected; 35 questions that took us 90 minutes, with LK spotting many clues. I don't know how many people besides us won, but it we wasn't many, because they were surprised we answered them all. A great win for #TeamSlap!

A-

Grades were posted for the first class of the summer session. I got an A-. I'm pleased. Quoting Junie: "I'm glad you're happy . . . with your minus."

Princess Camp

Yesterday, after picking up GC, I drove out to see the finale of Junie's Princess Camp - the last year any of my girls are young enough to attend. LuLu had worked all week as a volunteer, going out there twice a day, and you'll see her in the pictures too. The performance was very cute, but the best part was during the play, when Junie made the princess literally cry and the understudy was forced on LOL

YaYa is Back from her canoe trip!

My YaYa is back from her ten day canoe trip through Minnesota and Canada!

Sadly

I was never really popular. In high school I was voted "Guy we didn't realize goes to our school."

Odd

Oddest law school conversation to date: classmate comes in to the restroom and uses a urinal two over from mine, observing proper etiquette. As I'm washing my hands, he says hello while still at the urinal.

"Hey. I'd have struck up a conversation, but, you know," I said.

"I understand completely. A little awkward talking to me with my d**k in my hands."

Alrighty then.

Speaking of restrooms, I just left a retail store (far west of Hwy 100) and a store employee took a dump, then walked right out of the restroom without washing his hands. I reported him to the manager and, kudos to the store, he actually called security to get the employee off the sales floor.

Terror in France

73 dead in what the White House is confirming is a terrorist attack in France. No guns; he drove a truck into a crowd. It isn't the weapon that's to blame folks, it's the person wielding it.

Anarchy in Bay View's Little Italy September 9, 1917 And the Shocking Aftermath by Anna. M. Passante

This local history traces a 1917 anarchist riot in my neighborhood that was followed by a bombing at a Milwaukee police station that claimed ten lives - IIRC, the deadliest domestic terror attack until Oklahoma City. Eight people were put on trial for the riot and convicted largely b/c of anger over the bomb; the state Supreme Court rightly threw out the convictions and chastised the trial judge. A stiff, clumsily written book, it lacks any knack for storytelling and confines its research to newspaper accounts of the day. Still, interesting enough facts to keep your attention.

Enough

This isn't an original thought, but I'm tired of the cartoon tributes, sidewalk murals, and hashtag campaigns in the wake of terrorist attacks. It's sweet, it's genuine, but it's also impotent and doesn't change a damn thing. In the words of JFK, reason does not always appeal to unreasonable men.

No matter what you do, say, think, or feel, if someone is willing to strap a bomb on their chest and kill random innocent strangers then your well wishes will do squat to change their mind. Tolerance only works when it's a two way street, and this is as one way as you can get.

Quit sugarcoating what's going on, and respond in the only way that matters, and the only way that will END the threat: find the madmen, and kill the madmen.

Quote

This may go down as his definitive quote.

The All-Star Game Party

My All-Star game party just concluded, with a lot of laughs before it was through. We dined on sloppy joes and pasta salad, deviled eggs , muffins, veggies, brownies, beer, and hard lemonade; watched the game, and introduced La-Tee-Da to a wider audience.+

 Thanks to Smiley, Tre  Mike St-, Mike O, Elliot Z, and Thomas G for attending, and Lisa the kids, the Olsen kids, and Jessica P for help getting the gig ready!

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I Blame the Scale

I'm VERY annoyed at the scale today. After class I weighed in. Four weeks of plateau, and now a moderate gain. I worked my ass off all week; I lifted weights, I met my walking goal more often than not (my Fitbit was inactive for 36 hours, fouling the stats), I ate well (one bad day, and that was really just one bad *meal*). I was active and spent the week bathed in sweat, and for what?. Ugh. Damnit.

My Thoughts - Pokemon Go and A Joyless Society

What's with all the crazy hyperbole about Pokemon Go? It's been out for what, a week, and there are news stories warning the public that it can track your data, that criminals will ambush you, that inevitably someone will walk into traffic, etc. I even saw a police department issue a PSA about it. What is it with this country that anything innocent and fun must instantly be s### on? What a sad, pathetic little culture we've become.