Wednesday July 15th, 2014 – Milwaukee, WI
I took a trip home to Milwaukee today, and it turned into a
mini whirlwind tour. With the price of gas where it is I think we all have to
plan our trips these days. I squeezed as much into a single day as I could, and
it was productive. I challenge anyone to pack as much into one day as I did.
My first stop was Miss Katie’s Diner to see my friend Lynn Miner. Lynn
is one of my biggest supporters, and an outstanding human being. He’s a
magician among many other things, and he’s looking to do that full time after a
hugely successful career as a grant seeker all over the world.
I can help Lynn with adding jokes to his act, but he helps me even more.
He’s got a lifetime of experience in making business plans, and is mentoring me
in what I’m doing. It’s a win/win for all parties, and I always look forward to
meeting up with him. We complement each other well.
After lunch I stopped at the Milwaukee County Courthouse and then City
Hall to check out the job openings of all things. I always said I’d never move
back to Milwaukee, but if I had a reason to – like a decent job – I totally
would. The former demons that used to haunt me are now dead.
I hated going back to Milwaukee because of so many bad memories. Now
that I’ve gotten back in touch with my siblings, it has healed a lot of those
wounds. None of them happen to live there anymore, but that’s where we were
born and raised. Milwaukee will always be part of our DNA.
I don’t know if I’ll get a job or not, but it won’t hurt to sniff around
and see what’s available. If I could land a nice gig with benefits, I can still
do my “Schlitz Happened!” show around the state and continue performing and
teaching comedy classes for Zanies in Chicago so life would be ok.
Since I was downtown already, I decided to take a lap through the
Milwaukee Public Museum. It had been years since I did that, but I had some
time so I decided to make the investment. I had no idea ticket prices have
skyrocketed to $15, but by the time I got to the window it was too late.
I hadn’t planned on spending $15, but it really is an outstanding museum
so I bit the bullet and I’m glad I did. There were a lot of exhibits I still
remember from my childhood along with many new things I had never seen before.
I enjoyed every minute of it, and it was interesting to observe all the kids
that were there on class field trips just like I went on when I was that age. It
was fun.
After that I was able to squeeze in a couple of thrift stores, but
didn’t find any ancient artifacts I could resell for huge profits. If VHS tapes
ever come back, I know where to load up. Other than that, it was a bunch of
junk I wouldn’t take for free. Still, it’s fun to hunt and I enjoyed the stops.
I was listening to my friend Steve ‘The Homer’ True on AM 540 ESPN Radio
and he was on a live remote broadcast at a Pick n’ Save grocery store. He was
trying to get donations for the local Hunger Task Force and was flipping coins
to donate $100. If a listener won, Homer would pay.
If Homer won, the listener donated. Homer has always supported anything
I ever did, and I was glad to stop and flip the coin. I lost of course, but
that’s the legend of Mr. Lucky. I received a big plug on the air, and donated
to a worthy cause. Milwaukee will always be home, so why fight it?
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| Milwaukee will always be my home town - warts and all. Why not embrace it? |
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