Wednesday, January 30, 2008

St. Helena, CA

The first stop in California was in wine country- St. Helena in Napa Valley. It was by far my most boring day. I talked to like 10 people. My collegue JJ gave a speech to a rotary club while I had to stay out by the bus in the rain. Yeah, real fun. But I think the rotary club meeting went well, lots of winery owners, millionaires I bet. Hopefully they'll give some cash money.
Oh, and I made the front page of a newspaper again. http://www.napavalleyregister.com/articles/2008/01/30/news/local/doc47a0165743b5b412249085.txt

Grade: C

Monday, January 28, 2008

Nevada

Well, we didn't really have stop in Nevada, but the bus went through and left its mark. We were there for the weekend so we stopped at a few casinos. Good times. I didn't really spend much the first night at a place called Wendover, NV, right across the boarder from Utah. It just had a few good sized casinos. Played a bit of craps and a few slots. to my disappointment, none of the casinos had a sportsbook where you could bet on soccer or tennis. Boo! So I reverted to internet gambling.

We then drove through Nevada, real boring in some parts, cool mountains in others. Our destination was the Biggest Little City in the Word, Reno. It was better than I expected, pretty much a scaled down Vegas. I spent a lot of money. Lost big on craps and roulette, but did good on the slots. Got lots of free drinks and I got to watch the Australian Open final, a very good match, but my bets (again just online) did not come through. I probably was about $100 dollars down, maybe more, and all of sudden it was 4:00 am. I kept going on one slot machine which seemed to be doing well for me. I had $300 in my pocket and was ready to go when I decided to stick with my machine. Good idea? Usually not.
$100 goes pretty quick in $1 slots, especially when you always double or triple the bet. Yeah, so I was down to about 20 0f the hundred when I hit big, or at least big for me
Triple Bar/Triple Bar/Super x5 Star. Yeah, so that was a $60 win times five. Nice.
So all and all I made some money and left with 5 bills in my pocket. A pretty good feeling.

Yeah, so that was Nevada. Now, like Biggie "I'm going, going back, back to Cali, Cali" except I've never been to Cali before. I have been looking forward to this all trip. And our entrance to Cali, not at all what I expected. Cold, snowy horrible weather. We had to put chains on or tires, which in the cold snow is one of the least fun things I have ever had to do in my life. Yeah, the Seirra Nevadas were pretty nasty. It took us about 5 hours to do 30 miles. Man. But we made it. Is the rest of California ready for us?
We shall see.

Provo, Utah

I was gonna lable is post "Mormons" , but I figured it stick with the city posting.
Friday the bus made a stop at BYU. We were given a real good location and had a lot of help student volunteers, which made this the best stop yet. We talked to over 1,000 people, and that is no exaggeration. We just kept giving out more and more materials. And the mormons, sorry about the stereotyping, are great people. Almost everyone was nice and sincere and interested in what we had to say. And, lots of hot girls, I mean probably half of them were married, but that's how they roll in Utah.
Yeah, so it was a surprisingly great day. Oh, and the campus is very beautiful surrounded by the mountains. So, I really like the mormons, they are pretty much just normal people, only about three of them, if I were not at BYU, would I have said "There goes a mormon" Not that thats something I say often, or would ever say, but you get the picture. I would even like to take a theology or religion class someday at BYU.

Grade: A

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Loveland, CO

Not much love for Loveland. As I said before, the bus broke down and we missed a day, so the people in Loveland tried to cram two days of stuff into one day....without telling us that.
So that wasn't too cool. We ended up working about 9 hours and then had to drive about nine hours through the snow in the mountains to Utah. And the lady who set up these stops, similar to a certain leader of genocide. Ha. Really.
The first part of the stop was at a high school. The kids were kind of weird. The second stop was also at a high school and the kids were less weird. The high school kids loved me and Jonathon Sharkey, a vapire/satanist running for president, (check him out) and the light up pens and temporary tattoos. The last part of the stop was in, downtown Loveland. Most people we talked to were nice and two TV stations came out, so it wasn't all bad. Teaching the next generation of voters to vote smart. Sure.
You can tell by this entry I wasn't really feeling Loveland.

Grade: C-

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

BUS

Well, being on the bus has been cool so far. Unfortunately, it broke down twice in the past few days and we had to cancel a stop today. Ouch.
And yeah, there are some drawbacks to the bus.
# 1 for me is the lack of a working toilet. Our toilet does not work at all and even if it did, we wouldn't poop in it cuz that is just gross for the septic tank and then we gotta drain that.
But not being able to have a BM in the comfort of your our home sucks. Public toilets are bad enough and toilets these days are all handicap accessible, which is fine, but sucks for me being short. I feel if my legs are at more than a 90 degree angel, then I cannot have a good dump. Junkie, you know where I'm at on this right, had the best shits of your life in pit toilets in Zambia. Yeah, sorry about the rant on this, but definitely the worst thing for me on the tour.
# 2 is the diet. We only had a mini fridge and a microwave, so it's hard to eat right. And we don't really eat lunch cuz we are working that time of day. So usually we eat one big meal and usually it's not at all good for you. And we're sitting on a bus for most of the day, and with the weather being so cold, it's really tough to get much of any exercise.
#3 sleeping on the floor in the cold back of the bus every other night.
#4 being in a different city every other day, but that is sometimes good.


Yeah, those are the drawbacks, but I'm really glad to be on the bus. It beats many things.

Monday, January 21, 2008

I still love Brett Favre!

I still love Brett Favre.
But how often do you have the NFC championship in your house? Man.
I don't see us being as good next year, but Brett will be back. He is all I know in football, been the man ever since I can remember. He won't leave.


In other news, got two days off. Nice. In Colorado now. We are bringing the cold wherever we go.
Austrialian Open is going on right now. Wish I was there. I got a new favorite tennis player, and by favorite I mean tennis player I think is hot- Maria Kirilenko. Damn fit. Last year was Ana Ivanovic, who is still high on my list, but I think Kirilenko has got her beat. She's my Maria.
And that first one was after 3 sets of tennis. 3 sets of tennis and still stunning. Wow.
And the last one. I'm not really sure what's going on, but I should be a tennis trainer. She lost in the 4th round to Daniela Hantuchova, another hot tennis player, who I saw at Wimbledon and is also high on my list.


MLK baby.
Badgers b-ball doing very well. Holla

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Norman, OK

Norman Oklahoma, home of Oklahoma University. Finally the weather was at least into the 40's and the sun was out. Project Vote Smart was out too, hitting up about 200 students. We didn't have many takers on the bus itself, but we talked to a lot of interested students. Everyone was for the most part nice and polite. I have say OU had by far the best looking girls of anywhere we have been. Again, I tried to play up my boyish charm.
We had three TV stations stop by and I did a nice double interview, pretty much a rockstar. Two cameramen and two reporters interviewing me at the same time. I am pretty much a media whore. Oh, and another HOT reporter.
Yeah, so it was a good day. Oh, and the night before I sang karaoke- keepin' it real with REO Speedwagon's "Keep on Lovin' You". I put in a good performance, but the crowd was not with me, reppin' for Wisconsin, though.


At night we went out in Oklahoma City. It seemed like a cool town, but there were very few people out. Met a nice local from a half-way house, seemed like a good guy, sort of. He told a girl he was so good that by the end of the night, "You'll be ready to blow in my butt."
Hmm. Went to a country western bar and learned how to dance to country music. Kind of fun, I mean how often will I be in Oklahoma City? Apparently I was a quick learner, but the two step I know is much different than the country two step.
Grade: B+

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Joplin, MO

Joplin Missouri? Yeah, I never heard of it either. We were at Missouri Southern State University, not to be confused with Missouri State, formerly Southwest Missouri State, or another one we saw on the highway, Central Missouri State University.
Despite the low profile, and the fact they didn't save a parking spot for us, it was a very good day, probably in the top two for stops I've been on so far. A big surprise. And, the weather was about 20 degrees, which will be the lowest for this area all year. Great timing.
People were so much nicer than at Washington University. They would actually listen when you talked. We had two TV stations, two newspapers, and two radio stations. Pretty, Pretty nice. Me and JJ. are pretty much media superstars.
And we got a free meal. Gotta love that.
Grade: B+ (woulda been an A is we had some warmer weather.)

A few others thoughts- I felt real old this week, trying to chat up lots of 18 and 19 years and flirt with 18-21 year olds girls. Yeah, I'm a bit old, but my boyish charm is still alive. Once I get started, they're hooked. Ha, sure.
Nowhere is as cool as THE University of Wisconsin (though, Missouri Southern State U has a pretty nice logo).


Most People are excited about Project Vote Smart.
We got a nice Bus.
I wish I was still in college.
Only a few southern accents so far.

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

St. Louis, MO

I don't want to give St. Louis a bad rap, but if the rest of the city is anything like Washington University, I will never visit again.
Yes, our reception at Washington University in St. Louis was pretty poor. I know you know any university followed by "in blank" is pretty weak. But people there sucked majorly. Most students just ignored us even we were talking to them. The thought they were better than us for some reason. And campus security were A-holes too. We got there, got in our spot without any trouble, but then they told us we had to move. We ended up in a worse spot half-way onto the street, but they didn't mind that for some reason.
Yeah, it was clear pretty early that this would not be a good day. And, it never got any better.
I wish I had a megaphone just to make fun of all the people ignoring me as they walked past. To get them back, we dumped our dog-shite-scraped-on-rug in their dumpster. Take that!
Maybe like 3 nice people on campus.

Grade:F

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Springfield, IL

Colder, that's what Springfield was. But also more people. Check out the story on their website- http://www.uis.edu/newsbureau/featurestory/2008/01/project-vote-smart-educates-uis.html
Yeah. Pretty nice. Again, the reporter that interviewed me, very hot. And this time you can see the chemistry we had, or at least how I thought she was hot. http://www.uis.edu/mediaquad/newsbureau/projectvotesmart.html
aaaahhhhh. I'm a loser.
Grade: C for cold

Bloomington, IL

Cold, that's how I would describe Bloomington, IL. We were at Illinois Wesleyan University. And, it was really cold. People were too cold to talk to us. I think we had more volunteers than people to talk to. Less than Jefferson City? Not quite. We did get good media, though.
Bloomington was lame. Sorry Sarah.

Monday, January 14, 2008

Jefferson City, MO

Jefferson City, JC as they call it, was the slowest stop yet, but one of the funnest days on the bus. We were at a community center and very few people came- I'm talking like just into double digits. Two newspapers did come and I made the cover of The Columbia Missourian (see below), a pretty nice shot of my ass.


Yeah, but a lot of driving. After the stop we hit up Columbia, where the University of Missouri is. A real good time. Pack won, a few free drinks. Too many drinks, hung out with some basketball players. Night ened poorly, so poorly I will not write it in this blog.
You live, you live. Yeah, I never learn.

West Des Moines, IA

Well, I got one comment on my blog the last month, someone telling me I should stop writing. Ouch. Well, I don't think that I'll stop writing just yet.

I am a few days behind. Friday I was in Des Moines Iowa after driving like 10 hours in a snowstorm, getting into Des Moines a little before 3:00AM. Yeah, but this is the rebirth of democracy.
Iowa was ok. We were at some sort of civic education essay for Iowa highschoolers. Yeah, they seemed excited to be out of school- understandable.
I did two more TV interviews, both conducted by very attractive reporters. I could sense some on-air chemistry there. Ok, maybe just in my head.
One funny vignette. I noticed a very piles of dogshit near the bus and low and behold, some kid stepped in it pretty badly and wiped it off on our carpet. What? Yes. And I said to him in a really high voice "What are you doing? Not on the carpet!" Yeah, so we bought a new carpet a few hours later.

Grade: B+

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Appleton, WI

Milwaukee Post Script: We were actually off yesterday and ran some errands. I went to Steve and Barry's to get some khakis and ended up leaving with a pair of shoes, pair of sweatpants (valourish), sweatshirt, and my pair of khakis. Everything was $8.98! Crazy. My co-worker from Ohio had never been to Steve and Barry's and liked it a lot. I think that's the first time I bought real stuff there. Good ole' Milwaukee. Check out the kicks.


OK, Appleton. This was my first night staying on the bus itself. We got into town and went to a few bars. The first was nice and big, but there were NO people there. The second was more crowded and seemed to be a somewhat popular, trendy place. It was fun, nothing special, but I believe I got the most free drinks ever at a bar where I did not know the bartender. Pretty nice. Must be that Vote Smart charm. Definitely a plus for Appleton.

The stop itself went ok. We were at some eco, non-profit, community coffee shop. It was pretty cool. And also cold outside. Not many people, but all the people who stopped by were genuinely interested. I also did my first TV interview.
Wisconsin is still a weird place.

Grade for Appleton: C+

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Milwaukee, WI

Well, I'm from Milwaukee, so I certainly have a little bias, but even so, it was a pretty weak stop. We very in a bad location and the weather was terrible. Yeah, January in Wisconsin, not much foot traffic.
We had a pretty boring day. I was lucky I got to leave to attend a Rotary Club meeting, pretty much a bunch of rich white guys, and get a free meal, and see the presentation put on by Project Vote Smart President Richard Kimball. In the afternoon, we picked up a bit, but still a poor day.
In the evening, I showed our bus to a bunch of my friends. Pretty fun. Most of there questions were about horses and if people in the video still worked at PVS. And at the end in pretty full understanding of what PVS does, asked "So, who should I vote for?" Pretty nice guys.
Good drinks at the bar. And we won the pub quiz. Yes! My co-worker from Ohio was upset you can't buy beer after 9:00

Grade: C
I love Mil-town.

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Gurnee, IL

I have to say Gurnee was pretty lame. We were parked outside a Jewel-Osco and had very little response. A few good newspaper articles redeemed them a bit, but it was pretty boring. People were just not friendly.
I got free lunch out of the deal. That's about it.
Maybe we'll go to Great America next time.
Random funny thing: We have a sign that asks if you are sick of spin, mudslinging, hype, and evasiveness. And one passerby said that we were "Spinning spin, mudslinging mudslinging, hyping hype, and evading evasiveness."
Nice

Grade: D (probably a D- or F, but I have very little to compare it to.

Monday, January 7, 2008

Get on the Bus, a Tony Brown Joint

Ok, time for a new phase in my blog. Saturday I started a cross-country bus tour with my work Project Vote Smart http://votesmart.org And any views I express here are totally my own, not my company's.
So anyway, we're traveling around the country telling about the services provided by Project Vote Smart. We go to different cities everyday. In this blog I will describe certain aspects of the city, mostly people, area, observations, funny things that happened.
Ready?

Ok, we kicked off this part of our tour Saturday in Chicago, IL. We had a nice spot right downtown on Michigan Ave. Lots of people. Lots of foreigners. A good amount of good looking women. A good amount of homeless people. Most people were confused about the giant red, white, and blue bus amd giant blow-up American flag ball. Rightfully so.
We tried to go out at night, but the bus couldn't fit under the train overpasses.
Yeah, sorry this is such a lame entry, mostly I will just talk about the food, bars, and women of the cities I travel to, along with any funny stories.
So Chicago, a grade of a B, not sure yet what my criteria is, but a B sounds right. Stay posted for much more.
Holla

Friday, January 4, 2008

2008

Happy New Year everyone. I'm back in Milwaukee, so that my explain my lack of writing. Not as much time on my hands as in Montana.

I'm not gonna lie, 2007 was a rough year for me, probably my roughest ever. Let's see, I was....
-kicked out of a Christian Volunteer program
- picked up by the police for being passed out drunk at about 4:00 in the afternoon on a Sunday
- stopped going to church
- moved back in with my parents
- moved to Montana (actually a good thing)
- tons of other stupid drunken things involving falling down, getting lost, using my credit card, women, ouch

But 2007 is now behind us. My scars (literal) have healed, the police aren't after me, and I'm only about a G in debt. Could be worse.

Now is the time to look forward to 2008, much like Conan's "In the Year 2000"
In the Year 2008....

- The Brewers will win the World Series
- Everton will win some sort of Silverware
- I will learn to surf
- I will go on a date with a celebrity, or at least go on a date
- John Edwards will be elected Vice President of the United States of America
- I will buy my first car
- My brother will get married
- I will start writing the Great American Graphic Novel
- Man Walks on Moon
- I'll either get a real job or get into grad school.
- I'll win the lottery
- The new Indiana Jones won't suck
- George Lucus will contact me to write Star Wars VII
- someone will read this blog
- I'll get into great shape
- I will buy an island
- someone will call me a jerk


That's all I got. Looks like a good year. 2008 are you ready for me?