#AvengersTakeChicago

This past weekend I took a much needed getaway with my close friends, Krissy and Taylor, and the love of my life, Amy, to visit a good friend of ours, A.J. The title of this blog should give you a good idea of how the weekend went. And if you don’t get it… you’re not supposed to. If you search the hashtag on Twitter you can see the numerous tweets from the weekend.

It all started when I took off of work on Friday which was super exciting in itself. Driving consumed most of the day with Krissy being dropped off in Wisconsin Dells from West Salem. In Wisconsin Dells, Amy picked up Krissy and met me (coming from Green Bay) at Amy’s apartment in Madison. From there the three of us met Taylor in Mukwonago for supper at her house before we headed south of Chicago to A.J.’s house.

Before we started driving though, there was the difficult task of packing the car; we weren't quite sure where to put all the crap we brought along. We certainly had enough food to feed an army, not to mention our beverages of choice, which could not be one of the items left behind. The trunk was beyond full and Amy and I were surrounded by what couldn't fit in the trunk. Finally on our way about two minutes into our drive, I got a Charlie horse, and with everything surrounding me had quite a bit of difficulty getting my leg in the air...

The drive down was entertaining to say the least. With Taylor at the wheel, we swore we wouldn't make it but we did after what seemed to be all night.

A.J.’s house seemed like a mirage in a desert. Until we actually walked in I wasn't convinced it we were actually there. I was excited to see A.J.; though this was my second time seeing him face-to-face. After the first time we met we just became friends instantly and have become quite close, even with the miles between us. It is great to have a bond with someone and stay close even when you don’t get to see each other very often.

We met A.J.'s family and settled in for a night at his house. I’m am pretty sure his family thought we were staying a week with as much stuff we hauled inside. We soon popped open some drinks and played some Apples to Apples to pass the time. The comedy that comes out of this game is amazing. I ended up winning “violent” with my “Canada” card. A.J. and I tried a new beer called Batch 19, made by MillerCoors, which was great and I highly recommend it.

Saturday morning came and we piled back into the car with all our stuff and headed 45 minutes northeast to downtown Chicago. Our first stop was the Art Institute of Chicago. Upon parking the car on the street, we nearly left it without realizing we needed to pay for parking, which just shows how “big city” we are…

And now for my advice of the day: even after you graduate, carry your college ID with you. It still gets you discounts. We scored a few bucks off our admission to the museum because of our quick thinking and white-lying skills.

The institute was really interesting, and so huge! We saw everything from ancient Aztec sculpting to modern day canvas paintings and 3D work. One of the highlights was definitely seeing the American Gothic painting by Grant Wood. You have to know this painting because it is the one of the farmer and his wife and he's holding a pitchfork. Amy geeked about this painting and even got her picture taken with it.

Amy also got us yelled at while looking at a sculpture of people holding hands. As she told us her interpretation of the piece, we were circling the work of art and I guess a guard thought we were going to get dizzy and fall into it...oops.

As we headed out of the museum and into the cold we were fortunate that the Fairmont Chicago Millennium Park, our hotel for the night, allowed us to check in early. After a little navigating and yelling we found a parking garage by the hotel and unloaded. The hotel was fantastic and thanks to my mom we got an amazing deal on it. To our surprise A.J. didn't have to sleep in the tub as planned because we had a full-sized couch in our room.

We naturally had to order Chicago style pizza for supper (even know we had tons of food with us). It was delicious! After an early supper, we ventured back into the cold to go visit the famous bean. We took some group pictures and watched as people fell down on the ice rink next to the bean.

Once we went back to the hotel which was only about a block away (thank goodness for all of our freezing-cold toes), the evening festivities began! Krissy and I, maintaining our amaretto King and Queen status, started the night right with amaretto sours. After chilling in the room for awhile, some drinks and games, we headed out for the evening.

We hailed a cab to get to a club called Excalibur. A.J. made friends with the cabby, asking him, "Do you like 90's music?" Ha! I’m not sure the man knew what to do but after the awkward moment they started talking sports and all was good.

The club was pretty cool, but expensive. I suppose that's typical in a big city though. The club was interesting. The crowd was such a mix of younger people, and old people. We did some dancing and as you know, if you have gone out, the night got more fun as we continued to drink.

Highlights at the club include Krissy dancing with a drunk middle-aged woman, A.J. dancing with a different drunk middle-aged woman, Amy getting dragged on stage by some guy (that I quickly stole her back from. Oo oo!), and A.J. hanging out with a man in a wheelchair (and being quite proud of himself!). Oh...and I was a part of a booty shaking competition...

It all happened when the DJ called me up to the stage along with, an Asian man and an African American man. The DJ proceeded to make fun of my Wisconsin accent and my shaking was, well, not good, as I bared the burden of going first. The African American man of course won (supporting all stereotypes), but he did include more stripping than shaking in his efforts. I'm pretty certain I beat the Asian man though, which was an accomplishment!

Sunday, we left and headed back to A.J.'s house and bid a sad farewell. We followed our route back to Wisconsin and sat down to enjoy the Super Bowl, the blackout and the commercials at Amy's place in Madison.

It was such an amazing weekend that went by far too fast. I love my friends and can't wait till I get to spend time with them again. They truly are amazing people! It was also so great to be able to experience Chicago with Amy. Many more trips for us to come I hope.

Presidential Inauguration 2013

So President Barack Obama has been sworn in as the 43rd president of the United States. While his fan base in attendance was fewer than in 2009, my thoughts are he left strong messages for the American people.
Before I get into discussing the president's knack for public speaking and providing hope to the U.S., can I just say, "Did anyone see how happy President Clinton looked?" He had the biggest grin as he watched Obama sworn in. Clinton and Obama I feel make a great team in that Obama has a major economic situation on his hands. Clinton was the only president in how many years to end his term in a surplus. Say what you will, but Clinton was a fantastic president and knows how to tackle both economic strain as well as national and international disaster. So there's my Clinton plug.
Obama started out strong right away in his inaugural speech. Talking to all being created equal and living by the truths we've known since the establishment of the Constitution; life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. These truths, as stated by Obama, may be self-evident, but they are not self executing. Therefore, if you want to live a happy life and be allowed your freedoms, effort and hard work is required. There's no such thing as a free lunch.
To go off on a bit of a tangent, this is what bothers me so. Many people in our society expect things handed to them and don't want to work for money, privileges and happiness. I fear for many in my generation and those coming after me and what their future holds. Get off your butt and do your own laundry, make your own food, do your own shopping and for heaven's sake get a job and start saving. You don't have any money? Hmm..weird. I know the job force is crappy right now, but jobs are out there. You just have to keep trying. In Wisconsin, we have been ever fortunate that our job growth continues and has not slumped off in the crashing economy. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said around the country. While private sector jobs continue to grow, jobs in the public sector have nosedived, opposite of what they did under George W. Bush's watch. Bush may have increased revenue greatly in his first term as president, but his administration failed to regulate the spending of that revenue wisely which eventually added to our deficit. In the four years after the Bush tax cuts went into effect, Bush and the GOP congress increased the debt by 1.6 trillion dollars. Yet Obama has managed to top him, increasing the debt over a similar period by 4.5 trillion dollars. Scary. I think this is a trend that must be addressed by our federal government. The debt cannot continue to be increased. We cannot afford to live in this amount of debt forever. America is losing value fast.
A quote from Obama's speech I thought was neat and super relevant to everyday life is "when times change, so must we. We need new responses to new challenges." That's so true. I'll be the first to admit that change is scary. But honestly, it's a part of life. We can't keep living the exact same way day in and day out. Our generation has survived because of its ability to adapt to change. It's what we do, and what we must continue to do. That means coming together, not as men and women; not as rich and poor; and not as republicans and democrats; but as the American people. One body. Together we can adapt to change and survive so that future generations may learn to survive.
While Obama endured much criticism in his first term as president, he led us in overcoming some great feats. Four years ago, Obama took office with the country in the midst of two wars and the worst economic crisis in more than half a century. His second inauguration comes with one war over, the other winding down and the economy recovering. The problem we are facing is that Washington is currently dominated by such a bitter political standoff, that this creates such a deep partisan divide in the nation. 
Now I am not saying every single one of Obama's policies is wonderful. That's why we have the balance of political powers. However, it seems these days that the political parties are so worked up in stopping the other from accomplishing something, there is no compromise and there is little room for discussion. The idea in that Congress was there to balance out the executive branch--and actually be stronger than it--was so that the president could not create whatever policies he pleases and become too powerful. The balance was not created so there would be constant defeat on the president's end. My feelings are that Obama has done a mighty fine job handling Congress and working with them. Congress now needs to learn to work together and be representatives of the American people, not their own agendas. When you take office as a public servant, you make an oath to God and to country, not to party.
As said by Obama, "We are made for this moment and we will seize it together."
Critics are saying that reality has set in for many Americans and that no one is talking about change anymore. My thoughts: what a great attitude to have. Let's not talk about moving forward. Let's not talk about progress. That sounds like a splendid idea to me. The United States of America is a massive country with more than 300 million people. Nothing is going to be accomplished over night. Change takes time. I couldn't believe how many people were already disappointed with Obama less than 6 months into his first term because nothing was happening fast enough. Good grief.
I could get into all the issues Obama mentioned in his speech like tragedies building us stronger as citizens, or the strange climate change (props for addressing that), or the rising middle class. I do however want to touch on the amount of equality Obama has brought up not only in his inaugural speech but in his first term as president. The women of our country deserve the same opportunities as men and vice versa, and should be paid equally for them. The gay community has been a major debate and i'm sure will continue for awhile. And finally, racial issues we sadly still face in our country should be addressed, now. What a standout president to mention these subjects people are so touchy about.
I end with applauding Obama for how much he tries to be on the same level as the average American. He wants to understand what people face day to day. Even in his speech, he used "we" so so many times. We can make a difference. We can make change. He talks to the American people as one of us, not as being above us. Oh and the White House has jumped headfirst into social media, which I of course love! Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Foursquare, LinkedIn, you name it and they've jumped on it. This I think is so important to reach out to the public in ways people are communicating these days.
Now I am not a part of a particular party. I do not strictly vote party lines. I am simply an American citizen, supporting my president and telling it like I see it. This time, I just happen to see a lot of good in how this term is beginning. My opinions are my own, Everyone is entitled to their own opinion
Our president and our congress need our support. Whether you agree or disagree with a particular topic, speak up. Our representatives don't know what we're thinking unless we tell them. Get involved. Write a letter. Send an email. If you're unhappy, tell them. If you're happy, tell them. This is something I too need to get better at.