Fall Pool Party

We were excited that it was still warm enough to use the pool even though it was fall... so we had a fall pool party!

Afterwards we had some celebratory tacos on Cherokee Street.

Viry and Lolo hadn't tried Ted Drewes yet so we formally inducted them into our frozen custard club.

A Very Geeky Gala

My code bootcamp alma mater LaunchCode had a little fundraising event that I invited Seago to in order to thank him for his service.

I chatted with Square and Launchcode founder Jim McKelvey. We both figured out what to do with our hands during a photo.

There was bottomless food trucks and booze.

There were ego stroking snacks.

There were romantic photo booths.

I got to wear a cool badge.

Later on at arcade bar Up Down we accomplished something I will treasure more than my bachelor's degree: completing the arcade version of Michael Jackson's Moonwalker.

I'm realizing that my mom being stingy with the quarters was the only thing holding me back from greatness as a youth.

St. Louis Lebanese Festival

Today we checked out the St. Louis Lebanese Festival hosted by Saint Raymond Maronite Cathedral. I'm not real big on churches but I do like the cultures they seem to nurture. 

Sfeeha are like little Lebanese meat pies. I approved.

There was some good dancing.

We stopped by to admire the newly completed St. Louis Wheel. Wheel I'll be darned.

Thursday Night on the Milwaukee Town

Thursday night is as close to the weekend as I get on Milwaukee business trips, so I tend to treat it like one. One of my coworkers suggested the happening Brady Street as my next conquest. It was a good call. VisitMilwaukee.org calls Brady Street "an eclectic, colorful street that’s popular for diverse dining options, a vibrant bar scene, and the city's best salons."

I've really been digging all of the dead Milwaukee macro-brewery signage around town. Blatz to me is sort of the sound of horse poop hitting the pavement. Nice sign, though.

I opted for dinner at Easy Tyger, an Asian fusion joint.

I had to get a bowl of tonkotsu ramen because I'm a real one. Tonkotsu stock is made from pork bones. The menu described it as "24-hour pork broth, roasted pork belly, soy marinated egg, bamboo shoots, red ginger, fish cake, sesame seeds, chili oil, and nori." All of the food groups really.

I had a couple of fried chicken bao buns as well. "Kung pao sauce, daikon slaw, herbs, cashew. marinated cucumber."

I didn't eat at this place but I was a fan of the name.

I was slightly embarrassed to see that Up Down is a chain and doesn't belong to St. Louis, but it didn't take long for me to get over that and just enjoy what is probably my favorite video game bar.

All the cool kids play Killer Queen these days. It's pretty unique in that it pits two teams of four against each other. Both really fun and also a pretty slick way to eat massive amounts of quarters.

Beers with Allison and an Indian Casino

My employer has an office in Milwaukee that I have the opportunity to visit now and then. I also have a couple of cousins living up there so I've been taking the opportunity to visit them while I'm in town.

I also like to visit breweries so this was definitely a two birds one stone situation.

I admired the keg art happening at Lakefront Brewery.

It was really enjoyable to sip a brewsky and watch the watersports happening nearby.

This place even had a dock and racks set up where you could stow your kayak or canoe while you visit. I thought that was really cool and something definitely not available in St. Louis despite some of the other similarities between the two cities.

My new favorite cousin Allison is in town doing some smart people thing with brains or something.

After saying goodbye to Allison I decided to check out the local Indian casino: Potawatomi.

They had a cigar menu so I thought why not dabble? It was like flavored like citrus. It was sort of like smoking a flat Sprite. It was so horrid that I left it there. Bleh. The beer was good at least.

The slot machines were much better than at the casinos in St. Louis. I like the good themed ones. This one was Plants vs. Zombies.

The guys at the office were telling me that the casino does something shady, like it has lower payout rates than the law requires. However they make more money on scamming people than the fine, so they just pay the fine every year. Crazy stuff.

I'm getting pretty familiar with Milwaukee with all of the time I'm spending up here. Weeknight Milwaukee, anyway.