YES!

We did! The Brewers made the playoffs! I don't believe it. The first time in my life. Seriously, all I need now to die a happy man is to get married. Really.
26 years!

It's been a great 24 hours, especially after Saturday was so rough for Wisconsin sports. But we did it.
I still can't believe it. I really, really wish I was in Milwaukee yesterday. It looked pretty awesome from what I saw. Seriously, some of my earliest memories come from the bleachers of county Stadium drinking Kool-Aid from a big jug, eating peanuts, hearing my father yell with Bbob Uecker on the radio, even mustering up 55 cents to buy a pack of tops baseball cards looking to get Rob Deer or Glenn Braggs.
Seeing Ryan Braun jump for joy and high 5 everyone in site, CC gettting hype for the final out, and all the fans going crazy will stick with me for some time. The video below is simple, but great.
THE MILWAUKEE BREWERS ARE IN THE PLAYOFFS!

Purdue Killed Jesus

Yes, you read the title of this post correctly, "Purdue Killed Jesus"
From time to time on this blog I like to tell readers of the exploits/hinjinx of my youth. I used to be a pretty cool kid with a lot of potential. Then I started drinking, and pretty much all potentional was lost. This story comes in my early years of drinking, so I was not yet completely gone yet.

We're going back to my sophomore year of college here. I was very excited to read that College Gameday was coming to Madison for the Wisconsin/Purdue football game. For those of you that are unfamiliar, College Gameday is the college football Saturday morning preview show which is filmed on location each week at a different school. And ESPN loves Madison. People often times make goofy signs and try to get on TV. I wanted to be this is well.
So, after a Friday night of moderate drinking, I went home to make my sign. I even left a party early to do so. I did not let the lack of materials dissuade me from making this sign. I believe I used the bottom of a DVD box and a Sharpie. My roommate came home mid-creation and laughed a lot. I believe he said it was the hardest he's seen me work all year. (Probably true.)
But I made my sign. I was pretty ghetto, but PURDUE KILLED JESUS


So on Saturday morning I woke up early and walked down to the practice field. I got in. Everybody loved my sign. I got closer and closer to the stage. I felt it was my time to make it big, let the world know that it was actually Purdue who killed Jesus. But then, a security guard comes and rips my sign away. Really. Damn censorship. ESPN is weak, can't handle the truth.

A few side notes: The Badgers lost the game on a last second field goal.
The sign was never recovered.
And I must confess I actually didn't come up with the idea on my own. For some reason a group of us while in high school went to a Milwaukee Rampage game and rooted for the other team. Possibly because they got rid of the "Keebler Corner Kick" Anyways, the man I quoted in a previous post came up with the the chant, and there were about 30 of us chanting, "Rampage Killed Jesus". Good times.

Omen?

My CC Sabathia t-shirt jersey shrunk in the wash the weekend to an almost unwearable level.
Do you think that is a good sign or a bad sign?

1 game back with 1 week left

One game back with we week left. We still got a strong chance. We can do it. And for the record, as my previous Brewers posts show, I have never given up hope. BIG WEEK!

And just for the record again. The Brewers have not made the playoffs in 26 years, since before I was born. Damn. This is the longest current streak in sports, unless you count the Expos/Nationals, but really, what hardcore Montreal Fans now root for the Nationals? They know not our pain. And I'm sick of hearing all this Cubs fans about their 100 year curse and Red Sox fans up to a few years ago. At least they made the playoffs. I'm not asking for a championship. And to put it in further perspective. The longest playoff drought for football is the Cardinals at 10 years, the longest hockey drought is 7 for the Florida Panthers, and the longest in basketball I believe is 3. Yes, baseball is different, but 26 years! Jesus.

Ok, so this is the week. All you people in Milwaukee, get out to Miller Park. Make the city crazy. I know I would if I could.
Brew Crew!

Best High School Movies

Time for another Family Feud Category - Best High School Movies. Now this is movies that take place in high school or are primarily about high school. I think it is almost its own genre. So I'm leaving out sports movies. And unlike the previous Family Feud Categories which were factual, this is purely based on my opinion. So here you go.

BEST HIGH SCHOOL MOVIES


9. The Breakfast Club - This is a Saturday Super 18 classic. I think that I've only seen that version, not the entire unedited film, but yeah good stuff. People might argue that it should be higher, but I'm not too crazy about 80's movies. Great music, though, both for the decade and for the movie itself.

8. Rushmore - Probably my favorite Wes Anderson film.

7. 10 Things I Hate About You - One of my favorite chick flicks, but that is a post for another day. I'm not sure why, but I really like this movie. It's funny and sweet. The scene where he sings to her at soccer practice is great. And, the nice, somewhat dorky guy (The one from 3rd Rock from the Sun, not Heath Ledger) gets the girl.

6. Grease - Ok, I admit it, sometimes these songs get into my head. Olivia Newton John was hot.

5. Mean Girls - I remember seeing this one at the dollar movie in Oak Creek on a rainy Tuesday night. We weren't going to go, but decided at the last minute and did not have high expectations, but boy, were we pleasantly surprised. It was a great movie! Tina Fey was great.
Tim Meadows was hilarious. Lindsay Lohan was still hot. Girls got hit by buses. Asians slept with gym teachers. Mathletes. I love it.

4. American Pie - I guess this movie means more to my generation because we were actually in high school when it came out. It also really sent the trend for high school movies to come. Lots of memorable scenes.

3. Ferris Bueller's Day Off - I think people forget how great this movie is. Wow. It has everything. Fun lead, singing, baseball, dorky friend, parades, karaoke, hot girl friend, bitch sister, Charlie Sheen, douche-bag principal. Heck, a band is even named after it. I love it.

2. Dazed And Confused - This beats out # 3 because you definitely think of it as a high school movie, while Ferris Bueller you may not. You got your stoners, the seniors, the in-coming freshmen, the guy long out of high school (That's what I love about these high school girls, man. I get older and they stay the same age.), the sports references, the parties, the looking for a party, the outcasts. Yep this one had all the pieces, and it put them together pretty well. One of my favorite scenes was when the keg for the party was delivered when the parents were still home - reminds me of some high school hijinx of my own. Yeah, a lot about this movie reminds me of my high school experience. Don't know if that's good or bad. Pretty crazy this movie is now 15 years old.

1. Fast Times and Ridgemont High - C'mon did you expect any thing else? I mean High is in the name. All other high school movies aspire to be this one. That is fact. Spicoli was great, plus a little cameo by Anthony Edwards and Nic Cage, maybe Coppola at that time. Judge Reinhold was hilarious. And the girls were pretty hot. Oh, and Forest Whitaker. Some great scenes. Gotta love the stoners, jocks, dorks. Great stuff! Jackson Browne's Somebody's Baby (check out the somewhat related link) was such a great song choice for the dugout de-flowering scene. Oh, and Spicoli and his friends falling out of the hotbox van - classic!

Wii review

Ok, so I bought a Nintendo Wii. I thought I'd review it about two years late. Nice.

Wii- OK, the Wii itself is pretty nice. It is aesthetically pleasing and fun as heck to play. I'm still getting used to the controllers. I have two controllers and nun-chucks, Mario Kart, two wheels, Madden 2008, and Wii sports. I really think I could get by on these three games for the rest of my Wii life.

Wii Sports - Pretty much the game everyone thinks of when they get the wii. Bowling is obviously great. I love the practice one where the number of pins keeps getting higher and higher. I haven't yet played enough to become a pro, but it'll come soon. High Score - 238
Baseball is usually fun, especially the home run derby.
I've actually been playing golf more than any other sport. It's fun and easy. I could see it getting old after mastering the one course.


Tennis is disappointing. It is way too boring when playing by yourself.
Haven't boxed yet.

Madden 09 - I haven't had a Madden Video game for 6 years I think, and probably 6 years before that. Madden 95 was great. A young Brett Favre passing to Sterling Sharp and Robert Brooks. Very nice. I think the running back was Reggie Cobb, though. Ok, back to 2008. I'm still getting used to the Wii. The "all-play" feature makes it real easy, but it is pretty difficult without the latter. I love the fantasy draft franchise mode. Fun stuff. I got da bomb ass team with Tony Romo, Larry Fitzgerald, Reggie Bush, Darren McFadden, AJ Hawk, Shawn Merrimen and a slew of other young stars. Yeah

Mario Kart - This is the main reason why I purchase the wii. The 64 version is my favorite game ever, and been blogged about many times in the past. The 64 version is great. Tons of new tracks and characters. The AI seems more advanced this game which is good. More weapons. The wheel is real fun. The strength, like usual is the gameplay. It is just so fun and unpredictable. It hasn't reached N64 height yet, but I still got a lot to learn.

Critiques
- the controllers are expensive
- I have to change the controller for each game - Kart in the wheel, Madden with the Nunchuck, and wii sports without
- I don't have many friends. And we all know video game are better with more people. Damn you Nintendo
- sometimes the overdo the moving your remote to do stuff features


There you go. The moral of the story is Wii is fun.

Is it over?

I was going to label this post F---!!! (Dear Lord, that's the loudest profanity I've ever heard)
But I decided we are not yet at that point. I'm talking about the Brewers of course.
4 games ahead of the Phillies. 4 against the Phillies. 4 losses to the Phillies. Great. If we would have won just ONE of those games we'd still be 2 games up. Man. So now it's tied. The Brewers are playing bad. The Phillies good.


But I refuse to give up hope. The Brewers have not made the playoffs since I've been alive. This is their year. Things aren't looking good. 3 against the Cubs. Looking worse.
But last time the Brewers were down I wrote a post saying what the Brewers needed to turn things around, and they did. Check it out.
So here it goes this time. This is a bit more optimistic, though. Here is what will happen in the ideal Brewers world.


1. Prince and Braun get hot at the same time- This is pretty much all the Brewers need. Braun has been hot most of the year. Prince has had a bad year and been hot only for a few random weeks. Just imagine, though, if they were both hot at the same time. Seriously, that's all we need to make the playoffs.

2. Sheets, Sups, Bushy - These guys need wins. Sheets started the all-star game this year! He needs to bring that form at least 4 out of 5 starts, not 1 of 3. Suppan needs to be on his usualy late season game. I really have no complaints for Bush. He just needs some bullpen.

3. Bullpen - Speaking of the Bullpen.... shoot, what happened? Ok, the bullpen has really been trouble all year. Torres has great, but I'm no longer convinced. And who is our set up man? CC Sabathia? OK, my fix - Yovani Gallardo. Couldn't hurt. This one worries me.



4. Veterans - someone please step up. Cameron? Durham? Suppan? We need a veteran to light the fire, get things started, get people fired up, make them believe. The Brewers are obviously streaky. All it will take is a couple games and then we are back on track for the rest of the year. Do it!


Ok, so I'm being optimistic. But this is our year. I am convinced. Try to keep any faith you still might have.




UPDATE - Ned Yost Fired.
Wow. Maybe Doug Melvin is reading my blog.

Republican National Convention

I have to say that the Republican National Convention was weird.
That is pretty much the best word for it. I mean, look at that logo. The picture with the police is pretty B-A too.
Yeah, there was no regular people around. All there were were protesters. Yeah, we were super busy Monday and Tuesday, but aside from the protests, the city was dead. There was no commerce going on. They must not have allowed any vendors, cuz the city was nothing like Denver. Also, all the Republican delegates were bussed directly into the Excel Center, so there was very little mingling of people. I'd estimate I saw a total of 10 people sporting some sort of McCain apparel.
The week was pretty disappointing.



A few notes.
- Anarchists are stupid. Also, most of them are 130 pound white kids, so I don't see them doing much damage.
- Riot Police are no joke. Those guys got a lot of accessories. Most are older too.
- There was a free concert on Tuesday. It was the biggest hippie-fest I have ever seen in my life. Really. People were hula-hooping, hacky-sacking, twirling ribbons, rhythmic dancing. The smell of cloves was in the air and lots of dred-locks were seen in abundance . And guess who was playing.
Dead Prez - yes the most anti-white artists I know. Pretty funny stuff. But wow, these kids were hula-hooping like it was a matter of life and death, like it was better than sex, crazy stuff. Is that going to change the world?
- I got to see some of my old high school friends and drink a lot of PBR.
- St. Paul has some nice houses
- Thursday I went to the University of Minnesota just to pass some stuff out for a few hours. It was cool, busier, and much more like a regular stop. But, you know how they put out list of like the Top 10, Top 20, even Top 50 hottest students? Well, now I know what U of M never made the list.


So, it was a week dominated by protesters, being board, and PBR. I wish I could compare Republicans to Democrats or something like that, but I simply didn't meet enough of the former in St. Paul.

Private Bus Tour

Here's a little video of the us I've been blogging so much about. Enjoy. This is hot of the presses, special video, only available here at Big Dunc.

Democratic National Convention - Denver, CO

5 days in Denver, Colorado. Lots of democrats, lots of people in suits, hot sunny weather lots of traffic, some interested people, a few scattered interviews, lots of protesters.
That's my impression about the Democratic National Convention. It's tough to write on so many days, so I'll break it down for you.


Work: We worked 10-12 hour days Monday - Thursday. We put a lot of money into this week to get a parking spot and do a few events, but it did not pay off. Mostly there were just a lot of random people walking around. Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty busy, but Monday and Thursday were slow. We were right across from the Colorado Convention Center and about a half mile away from the Pepsi Center, where most of the big activities were. We had two press credentials so we could get into the Pepsi Center and into the media areas. So, two of us were there trying to get the press to write stories on us or to visit the bus and two of us were at the bus. I really can't think of too many highlights. I did meet Michael Dukakis on Thursday at the bus. I happened to be the only one there at the time, so it was cool showing him around. I also saw Mitt Romney and Al Sharpton. I watched Michelle Obama speak along with Claire McCaskill. The Pepsi Center was packed. It was pretty cool. Lots of excitement and buzz in the air. Mostly, though, we were pretty tired by the time the big speeches came around so I didn't go see them. I watched the Obama speech at the Hard Rock Cafe, even there people were clapping and cheering. That was pretty cool.
But overall work was disappointing. I did a few interviews, but nothing too great. I like the regular bus tour much better.


Politics - Obviously most people there were big democrats, but there are still a few things you can take from the Convention. I feel Obama's final speech was good, but a pretty typical stump speech. At the convention you want to get people excited, get people hype, and not give away too much to your opponent. I feel Hilary's speech and Bill's speech were actually better, and more important to the party. Dems need to get Hilary voters to back Obama. We talked to one huge Hilary supporter who said she will not vote for Obama. That seems crazy to me. She will not vote for McCain either, but she was still so upset that Hilary was not the nominee. The Dems are in trouble if that is the trend. My colleague Jon pointed out that during the primaries democrats were split on sex and race, something hard to reconcile over. If they were both white old men, there would be no trouble once one was nominated, all the other's supporters would just join on. Not the case here.
I like the choice of Joe Biden as VP. He brings what Obama us lacking. An experienced white man who is strong on foreign policy. I like his keep-it-real style. His speech was kinda disappointing, though.
I feel in this current political climate Obama should be smoking McCain, but that is not the case. It will be an interesting fall.


People- Lots of people around. Lots of people just looking for free stuff. Like usual, most people that take the time to listen to what we have to say end up really being fans of Project Vote Smart.
Lots of young delegates around, lots of African-Americans. Lots of vendors selling stuff.
It's cool to see the families and stuff, all interested in the political process.


Protesters- Abortion pictures are gross. That was the most common thing people were protesting against. Lots of riot-geared police around and lots of police in general. The perimeter around the Pepsi Center got bigger everyday. Long security lines. It seemed to me that the police had everything under control. The first night we were there we had to leave the bus and clear the area. Then we heard these booms and flashing lights. I guess the police were sending a message to any potential protesters with concussion blasts or whatever they are. Pretty cool.

Rock the Vote- Rock the vote is lame. They were parked right in front of us in the same parking lot. I mean, registering people to vote is great, but they really are far from nonpartisan. They have corporate sponsorship and seem to stress certain progressive issues. They rely on celebrity endorsements and corporate money, pretty much the opposite of PVS. The best they could muster up at the Convention were a few WWE "Superstars" who I never heard of and a couple American Idol rejects. Also their tactics are a bit sketchy. They knew they would register very few people, so instead they were looking for volunteers to go out an register people and in order to get a free T-shirt you had to "volunteer". Rock the Vote will then use these "volunteer" numbers when releasing info to the press, saying something like "800 people were volunteering to register voters all over the city", when in actuality, they just gave out 800 shirts.
Maybe I'm just a hater.


Buses- Buses seem all the rage this year. I saw a Daily Show Bus, a CSPAN election bus, a CNN Election Bus, Rock the Vote was more a truck, there was a Breast Cancer Awareness bus, a ONE bus, a American Stories bus, a Maker's Mark Rock the Vote Bus, a bus called the Bus Legacy, and a New Mexico Tourism Bus. Oh, and our PVS bus. Pretty much despite the huge media presence, there was too much else going on for PVS to get attention. Boo-urns.

All and all it was an interesting week. I got to see a lot of things I've never seen before. It was hard work, sometimes fun. Denver was a cool city.

Phoenix, AZ

Phoenix was a lot like how the bus tour was a few months ago. Mostly, because we didn't have to drive super far and had time to go out in Phoenix. We parked in a nice downtown spot for our stop the next morning. Oh, and damn, it was hot! Over 100. We went to a sports bar/restaurant. It was pretty slow for downtown and mostly had older people. Drinks were cheap, and the bar tender was friendly. So it was ok. My busmate Jon said one profound thing about babies, something to this effect "The thing I don't like about kids is, you can change them, feed them, let them sleep - give them everything they want and need and they still f-ing cry" Yeah, thought I'd share that profound statement with. He also had another gem about Arizona and the climate and vegetation and people living there, but it had a few too many f-bombs to put on here.
The stop in Phoenix blew. It was one of my more boring days. I cleaned the bus in fact. We were parked outside the American Legion National Convention, but talked to few people. I even had to bus out the soccer ball I was so bored. And it was still real hot.
Grade: D (one radio station came)

P.S. That night sleeping on the bus was ridiculous. A few beers in your system and then 90+ degrees on the bus makes for incredible night sweats. It looked like I spilled an entire bottle of water on my bed. Pretty gross.

Most Obscure African Countries

Alright, here's a post for those of you that are not too into the bus tour blogs. I understand, sometimes they aren't too exciting. So, I decided to pull out another Family Feud category.
This one is tough. We are heading to the great continent of Africa. We are looking for:

The Most Obscure African Countries
(Criteria here for me is pretty much I've never heard of this place except when looking at a map of Africa, which I have done many times in the past. Really. So, no real soccer success, throws out Togo, no Genocide or civil war (or at least extreme, publicized genocide or civil war), sorry Rwanda, and I'm going for mainland Africa, so no Sao Tome & Principe.




8. ) Central African Republic- It is what it is called, just a country in the center of Africa.

7.) Malawi - I met a white kid from here in England. He was a bit weird, really funny, guess that'll happen being one of like 1,000 white people in Malawi. He told me his dad would give him as much money for an entire night out than he would give his servants for an entire year. Wow!

6.) Burkina Faso- Don't know much about this one. Very Poor. Weird name so people might remember it. Also saw it on The Amazing Race.

5.) Burundi - One of those countries by Rwanda and Tanzania. Maybe Victoria Falls is up there too.

4.) Equatorial Guinea - Yeah, real small one in Southern West Africa. Despite its name, the equator actually does not pass through.

3.) Guinea - Has a gulf, a few other countries, an Italian racial slur, and a pig named after it, but I couldn't tell you a thing about it.

2) Gabon - I'm guessing about 2% of Americans (too high?) know that Gabon is a country. But very not, Jeff Probst will be introducing America to it in the next volume of Survivor. Yes!

1.) Guinea-Bissau - Is that a person, place, or thing?


There you go kids, your geography lesson for the week. Now go find these places on your map.

Yuma, AZ

So, the election season hasn't really heated up (it should next week with the conventions starting), but the weather is. 108 degrees in Yuma, AZ and 110 in Phoenix, still 103 at 9PM. Really, that is just too hot. Why do people live here? How much money is spent to cool buildings and make grass green? Pretty ridiculous if you ask me.
But, Yuma is the type of city that PVS will get a lot of play in. We did a live morning show. They went live to us 4 times between 6:30 and 7:00. It was fun stuff. The reporter was quite cute, but has nothing on my girlfriend and is working in Yuma, so can't be too successful. I did two other interviews. Both were real quick. The morning people and the other two stations both said that I was a good interview, that I got out good sound bites and answered the questions well without them having to set it up. That was cool to hear. What can I say? I'm a professional.
Seriously, though, I'd take the cold over the excessive hot anytime.

Grade:B (not enough people in Yuma to go any higher)

San Diego, CA

Yes, Spanish for Whale's Vagina.
San Diego was not bad. The weather was real nice. I woke up, went for a run next to the ocean, pretty great. We were at Ocean Beach. Lots of skaters, surfers, tattoo shops, and evidently, it's no longer cool to wear shirts. Lots of young people about. Lots of white people. The beach was cool, but I think Pacific Beach was much better. It's kind of funny I've been to San Diego twice this year. This time I didn't even feel the need to go swimming.
Ok, our stop was in the afternoon when the farmer's market just miraculously popped up. Three TV stations came to check us out, but none of them were from the major networks. Lots of attractive young ladies (Sorry Carla, I just call it how I see it). Apparently short shorts are still in style in San Diego and it's cool for them to be so short that your pockets come out of the bottom. Hmm. Lots of JB out there, so visitors beware.
People were generally not nice, seemed as though they thought they were too cool for voting. They just wanted to buy their vegan products. Also, they didn't even reserve a parking spot for us. There was this one member lady who came to help out, an man, she was annoying. One of those liberals who still brings up the 2000 election. And whenever we would get someone to come over to the table and be talking to them, she would just butt in and take over. Geez, I do this everyday. I think I can talk to people a little better than you.
But a fun day overall.

Grade: B+
One last side note, pretty much all the shops and restaurants had signs that restrooms where for customers only, and I had a little too much Mexican food, and like I mentioned before, no pooping on the bus, so suffice to say, I had to become a customer at a few places. Well, worth the cost, though

Los Ageles, CA

We took the bus to the big city of LA. Driving a 45-foot bus in LA traffic is not too fun.
We parked the bus at the Original Farmer's Market. And, it may have originally been a farmer's market, but now it's more of an outdoor shopping mall. It was near Beverly Hills. It was trendy, but not too trendy. It'd say it was a hodgepodge of people. You'd see a guy in a wife-beater and then a girl in a Prada dress. Every age and race, lots of tourists. You can tell you Europeans by the black socks. Not too many people were interested in Project Vote Smart. No media either.
Yeah, LA is ok. I think my few bus visits are enough, though. I know I'd never want to live there and I can think of many places I'd rather vacation to.
After the stop we stuck around for a while to avoid the worst of the traffic. Adjacent to the market was another outdoor shopping mail, with pretty much all the semi-trendy stores like Nordstrum's and Crate & Barrel . Apparently it is a big deal because it is one of the few places in the city with grass. (man that sucks) The have concerts and movies and things and a lot of nice restaurants. Lots of good looking people, lots of people in general, lots of disposable income. A cool place to walk around, but not the place for me.

Grade: C-

San Jose, CA

It's been a few busy days for us. Well, mostly for Jon the driver.
We had to drive 11 hours from Albany, OR to Sacramento. Then Sunday we started at 8:00am there and worked until noon. Then we had to drive a little under 3 hours to San Jose to work 3:00-5:00pm. Then after that we had to drive to LA, which should have been about a 7 hour drive, but turned into and 11:00 drive because I-5 was completely shut down for a short stretch. Yes, the entire interstate was closed. We didn't arrive until 5:00am and had to get the bus to the shop to get serviced at 8:00am. Man, life on the road. Don't feel bad for me, though. Feel bad for Jon the driver.
Ok, Sacramento was weak. We were at a flea market. About half the people there did not speak English.
San Jose was pretty good. We got the the newspaper out and 3 TV stations. About time. One of them was Univision and none of us could speak Spanish. The reporter could, but he wanted a Spanish sound bite and waited around over an hour to get one. I hope that worked out for him.
But, yeah, it was finally a busy media day for me. Good stuff. And, a former intern friend of ours came out. The bus tour is great for seeing people you normally wouldn't see. Pretty cool.

Grade: A- (Only two hours and lots of good media. That is the favorite type of stop for me.


Interesting picture. I look real confused. "Huh? Whaaa?" And like the other picture a few posts ago, I look super short. I mean, I'm short, but not a hobbit. It looks like this guy and the previous guy would have to throw me on his back to travel through caves and mountain passes and things. Not the best angle for me I guess.

Albany, OR

So, I think it shows from these blog posts, but this time out on the bus is much less interesting than my previous times. It's been slow. Not many people to talk about. Not much media either.
Yesterday we were in Albany, Oregon, a small town of 50,000. It was our busiest day yet. There were a lot of people there who were big fans of Project Vote Smart. The days are more fun and go by more quickly when there are people to talk to.
So it was a good day, but still, it was just Albany, OR.
Grade: B-

Eugene, OR

This is a Big Dunc Bus Tour Special Report. You get a little review of Eugene, Oregon even though we did not have a stop there.
We went there to visit a former co-worker of ours, Party Marty. The name says all you need to know. We went there Thursday night after Portland and we had Friday off. So, Party Marty showed us a good time.
I thought Eugene was a pretty good time. Lots of people were out for a Thursday night when school was out of session. Lots of dudes. Lots of designer T-shirts. Not many good-looking girls. But the drinks were flowing and the people were nice.
Friday we slept late, were lazy, got to chill in a house as opposed to on a bus, went swimming and got a nice home-cooked meal. No complaints, all and all a nice day off.
I definitely would give Eugene a higher grade than anywhere we've gone so far. If only we actually took the bus there.

Portland, OR

Portland, OR aka Hippie-land.
It was 95 degrees in Portland Oregon. We again went to a Farmer's Market. And dang, there were a lot of neo-hippie liberals there. I may have mentioned it before, but I am weirded out by hippies.
The stop was weak and boring, so I'll just make some observations about the people I saw.
Ok, these farmer's market patrons are weird to me. They seem to hate socks. They seem to dislike bras. They seem to dislike face-was and antiperspirant - lots of Sweaties out there, but maybe that was just due to the heat. Lots of women who appeared to be in their late 30's and maybe 40's had babies. The food their is expensive. There are massive amounts of self-satisfaction when a purchase is made. These people just love the fact that they are buying from the farmer's market. I bet they are just like "Yes! I bought local."
But, maybe I just don't understand that lifestyle. Maybe it's great.
Grade: D+

Olympia, WA

Last stop in Washington. This one was pretty boring again. We started hitting the farmer's market circuit, similar to the college circuit in the spring. We were about a block away, and not many people ventured our way. The market was pretty busy. One newspaper came. A good amount of hippies about. The stop was again organized by the League of Women Voters.
I got a free sample of a smoothie. That was probably the highlight of the morning. Yeah!
Grade:D

(Steven M. Herppich/The Olympian)