I went to this wine tasting last night at the Madison Museum of Contempary Arts, my girlfriend was meeting a client there to do a little smoozing. This was only the second time I’ve been to this place, the first I was on the roof to watch Lorenzo’s Music and drink some brews.

The first thing I learned last night that the hipsters call the MMoCA, pronounced like the drink. Secondly, although it was a classy event, dress code didn’t matter. Most were dressed up, but many were pretty casual. One of the big bonuses of the evening was the music, which was provided by DJ Nick Nice. He provided a nice relaxing atmosphere with some really cool grooves.

The clients we had to meet out ended up being awesome. We drank our five free samples, laughed at some of the horribly bad art, bid on one of the items for the silent auction, and then proceeded to Brocach for nice dinner and drinks. We were all getting a little tired, so it was time to go home.

One of the things I kept wondering last night was, when are we going to be rid of these damn cows? It was cute for a while, but it’s time for them to go.

It’s unbelievable how much she’s grown in just a few months. Click here for latest photos.

I haven’t actually been a member of a band since Smokin’ with Superman. My last show with them was the end of June 2004. A few days later, July 9th to be exact, I broke my leg in a car accident, which basically put me out of commission for a good year. The Summer of 2005 I tore a ligament between my thumb and my index finger on my left hand, which meant I couldn’t grip a guitar neck. I made it through the Summer of 2006 with no accidents, and believe it or not, I’m in a band again.

The guys from 20 Reasons Taken contacted me, we jammed, and the rest is history. It’s much heavier than what I’ve been doing the last 7-8 years, but I’m playing music again, and I’m having fun doing it. It sounds like we’re shooting for our first show sometime in November.

More to come.

If you don’t know already, Charter is not showing the Badger game today. I talked to two different representatives from Charter and one lacky using their online chat feature, and all of them blamed ESPN. This very well may be true, but I don’t pay ESPN, I pay Charter, and I expect to be able to view particular local events, such as Badger and Packer football games.

Currently, I’m paying $124.66/month after taxes. I’ve been using Charter Communications for my digital cable and internet access needs for quite a few years now, but today I’ve decided to switch. Why switch? First of all, satellite tv services, such as Direct TV, are showing the game today, and secondly, Charter could give a shit less. Charter attitude on the phone with me today proved they care about one thing, making money for themselves. Charter gets lots of bad press, and I’m finally starting to read the writing on the wall.

I think it should be a top priority for Charter to have Badger and Packer games for local subscribers. As I was contemplating where I’m going to watch the game today, I was thinking about all of the establishments that use Charter, and the money they’ll lose becaue of it. If I were a business that typically shows the Badger game, there’s no doubt I’d be switching my service immediately.

When I hear the students chanting, “fuck you”, “eat shit” today, I will think of Charter Communications.

A friend of mine moved to Madison a last year to attend school at the UW. She got to town late, so the mopeds were more or less picked over. She ended up purchasing a brand new Schwinn from the Englehart Center here in Madison. They treated her well, and she was very happy with her purchase.

The very first week, the speedometer stopped working, and later her blinker. There were multiple problems, and it took a lot of work to get Englehart to resolve the issues. Finally, they got Schwinn involved and got her a brand new replacement a few months ago. Awesome, but she had to jump through hoops of fire to get it. Oh well.

After she gets her scooter, she tells the person at Englehart she’s going home for the Summer, and he says, “no problem.” She gets back to town this week only to realize her moped isn’t starting. She calls Englehart only to find out if you leave that moped in one place without running it for too long, sludge builds up in the gas tank. Well, this might have been some good information to have when she informed the guy she was going home for the Summer, and she was leaving the moped at home. Now she has to take it in and have it fixed for $85, which I think is wrong, especially considering her moped is still covered under the original one-year warranty, which covers parts and labor . Plus, I checked the manual, and I found NOTHING about leaving the scooter sitting for too long without being started would result in sludge in the gas tank.

The final chapter to this story involves her selling a moped with only three miles on it, her never buying a Schwinn again, and never shopping at the Englehart Center. That, my friends, is not how you do not conduct business.