Retro. College ID card.

Not sure what year this was. 1982-86. Much of it's a blur.

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Student-athlete = Not Kemba.

Not that you didn't already have this in your head about many student-athletes, but UConn basketball star Kemba Walker readily admitted it in Sports Illustrated.

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UW-Whitewater = Division III National Champs!

Congratulations, Warhawks! My alma mater took it to Mount Union and won the Division III National Championship last night, 38-28. Whitewater also won the title in 2007.

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My alma mater wins 5th consec. football championship. GO WARHAWKS!

The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater football team wrapped up its fifth consecutive Wisconsin Intercollegdiate Athletic Conference title and the league's automatic berth in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III championship playoffs with a 40-7 win over UW-Oshkosh in Perkins Stadium Saturday afternoon.

The Warhawk football team's run of five consecutive league championships is the second longest streak since the WIAC crowned its first champion in 1913 (UW-La Crosse, six, 1949-54) and the second longest for any sport in UW-Whitewater history (wrestling, 19074-80). GO WARHAWKS!

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Obama says college should be affordable for everyone. Should it?

“We need to put a college education within reach of every American. That's the best investment we can make in our future. I'll create a new and fully refundable tax credit worth $4,000 for tuition and fees every year, which will cover two-thirds of the tuition at the average public college or university. I'll also simplify the financial aid application process so that we don't have a million students who aren't applying for aid because it's too difficult. I will start by eliminating the current student aid form altogether - we'll use tax data instead.”
[Barack Obama, Reclaiming the American Dream Speech, Bettendorf, IA, 11/7/07]

The catch? The recipients of the $4,000 have to do a 100 hours of community work. Over a year's time. Now that's equal to $40 an hour. Tee hee. You've gotta be kidding me? I mean, at least give the plan some credence by creating the appearance that the student is really working for the money, huh? Try 500 hours of community work. That's $8 an hour...better than minimum wage, and it'll show the student is really sacrificing himself for his education. Or her education. Read about Obama's plan here.

My alumni center at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.

Do we really need to make college affordable for everyone? Making it part of the American Dream - something to shoot for, yeh. But that's different. Owning a home is part of the American Dream and we all know the sad, fucked up state of affairs that industry is in. Greed - by both the lender and the borrower. And the Democrats wanna help the assholes who lost their homes who shouldn't have signed the mortgage papers in the first place.

Do I believe everyone deserves the best education they can get? No, as a matter of fact. I think they should get the best education they can afford. I believe that today any education beyond high school is a privilege - not a right. And I don't think the government should be handing out free money to everyone and anyone - particularly in this day and age.

I graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater in 1986 but I wasn't handed $4000 as President Obama is suggesting.

1. I come from a middle-class family. I received a $500 scholarship for graduating in the top 10% of my class. That's all the free money my hands touched. The rest was one loan. And I was in debt after graduating but I paid it off. "Best education"? No. Good? Yes. Would I have opted for Harvard? Sure. I got what my parent's could afford.

2. I worked for two years as an RA (resident assistant) which paid for my room and board.

3. I worked as a bartender for the student union my senior year. Learned to love green olives.

4. I graduated in 4 years. I didn't dick around. I took the classes that I needed, studied, partied and got out.

I'd like a new car. Should a new car be made affordable to me? It'll probably get better gas mileage than the one I'm driving and the environmentalists would eat that shit up. I need to get out of my current living situation. Why doesn't the government give me money toward an affordable one-bedroom apartment? It'll help me keep my peace-of-mind intact and I'll be able to get more writing done. The more plays I complete, the more work I'll have to submit for production and the more I can contribute to the arts in our country. The arts are big on Democrat's agendas.

I want, I want, I want. Two points, in particular, in Obama's plan that made me wince:

A. Simplify the Application Process for Financial Aid. Why? I had to apply that way. If you can't fill out a 5-page, 127 question document, you shouldn't be attending college.

B. Help Students Become Aware of College Readiness. Another common reason that high school students decide not to attend college is that they discover they are unprepared for it in 12th grade. That's because the teachers are too busy teaching English to kids who can't speak it and the classrooms are too crowded. I know plenty of teachers. Overall, our K-12 educational system sucks.

If one can't afford a four-year college, try a technical college or a two-year college. Learn a trade. Join the military. Put it off until you can afford it. Go to school for a year than work for a year. Those options have always been available. They still there. Here's an idea - why don't individual states stop giving money to illegal aliens to attend college? Sounds like a brilliant fucking idea to me. That would free up additional monies for each state - free for students who are actual U.S. citizens. Two years ago in Wisconsin, for example, a Mexican advocacy group was bitching because the state was cutting funds it was giving to illegal aliens to attend college. Excuse me? "Cutting"? How about "NO MONEY PERIOD"? And in May last year, Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle and senate Democrats submitted budget proposals to provide in-state resident tuition to illegal aliens who attend UW system schools or technical colleges. I don't know if this was in addition to what was already being given illegal aliens, but the state assembly Republicans defeated this. I've been told by Kark Van Roy's office (State Assembly, 90th District, R-WI) that the Democrats and Doyle will be resubmitting their proposal again this year. Why - I haven't the slightest idea. But I've got a call in Doyle's office to find out.

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A '54 Chevy and Jim & Jeff at UW-Whitewater.

Saw this 1954 Chevy pickup truck on my 5-mile walk around Culver City yesterday. Reminded me of my close friend, Jim Sickels.

I met Jim at college - it was my sophomore year and I had just become an RA (resident assistant). Here's a photo of him in an early blog post when I first started PASSION = TRUTH. I could tell you a hundred stories, all too lengthy and too much fun. We were RA's in Lee Hall, an all-male dorm and we thought we were the cocks of the walk. Save your pity...we had two all-female dorms in our immediate quad so it wasn't like we were without female company. And we were RA's, which meant we knew a lot of people all over campus. I introduced Jim to his current wife, Sandy. Stood up in their wedding - 19 or 20 years ago now. Jim and I remain as close today.

Anyway, he had a truck exactly like this. We used to tool around Whitewater getting into all sorts of trouble. In the winter, we'd drive through town and Jim and I would hunt down students walking to class. He'd pull over as far as he could in the right lane - just enough so that his tires would plow through the slush that had accumulated off to the side of the road. If he hit it just right, we had the luxury of turning around to see a wall of slush cascade onto the sidewalk and onto a student passing by. But the timing was crucial. We revelled in seeing some poor sonofabitch flipping us off. Good times. Come on...it was college.

We'd also take the truck into the Kettle Moraine State Forest and Jim would purposely drive the truck into a snow bank in order to get us stuck. Then we'd spend however long it took to dig the truck out of the snow. More good times. And when the weather was nice - particularly in the fall - we'd take the truck back in the Kettle Moraine, set up a card table with tea and smokes and study in the woods.

Ahhhhh....youth. Thanks, buddy, for all those memories. Jim's not the type of guy to hug another guy-friend. Or say "I love you" to a guy. Wasn't raised that way. Doesn't mean he doesn't "love" you - it' s just that his handshake means the same thing. But I'll say it here - I love you, Jim. My world would be empty without you.

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"TANSTAAFL" schmanstaafl.

I hated taking Economics in college. I received a "C" and "D" in Econ 101 and 102, respectively. And I was lucky to get the "D". I was failing the course and my professor said, "Jeff, you need to get a high "B" on the final just to get a D". Really? Well if I'm failing the course, how in the hell did I think I was gonna get a high "B" on the final? I can't take this class again...

But I got that high "B". Jim Sickels and I crammed for days. We were RA's at the time (and are still close) so we had the run of the dormitory. We locked ourselves in an empty room in the basement and didn't come out for days. Smoked, drank tea, shot the shit, no showers and studied our asses off.

So it shouldn't be a surprise to me that one of the only economic terms I recall from Econ 101 and 102 is, "TANSTAAFL". It means, "there ain't no such thing as a free lunch". And even that term is bullshit and I'll tell you why.

I ordered a shirt just like this for my friend Donovan's birthday...in October. NBC sent me a small instead of a large. Now I might have made a mistake but I haven't worn a "small" since I was a child. I sent it back. My shipment got lost. I finally got the replacement just before Christmas.

Then THIS(see above) came in the mail yesterday. The exact shirt I ordered for Donovan and received (late). I called NBC and asked how many charges were on my account. Just the first one. No 2nd charge. I kept my mouth shut and VOILA!...my free tee.

If you find yourself in Pennsylvania, stop by Schrute Beet Farms. No one can beat their -beets. And say "hello" to Mose for me.

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Thank God the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

Some dopey college student writing for The Daily Vidette online at Illinois State University threw in his two cents worth on Brett Favre and his return to the NFL (in case you've been traveling, Favre played for the Green Bay Packers for 16 years and was traded to the New York Jets - stupid bastard Packers).

Read the story here. So I sent the article to my brother in Wisconsin, who was/is - like myself - in the "Favre camp" during this whole PR debacle that ensued once Brett decided to unretire. Here's Jason's response to the article - which he emailed to the student. Nice job, brother.

That's Jas on the left (our Santa Barbara trip in June). Couldn't have said it any better myself:

"You're tired of hearing about Favre, yet you write about him?? You're a fan, yet you thrash him!! Journalism is not your forte my friend. Best you change your major now. I would hate to see you join the ranks of the thousands of scum journalists feeding off the lives of others. Was your mommy drinking or something? Did you catch a buzz after nursing (off her titty) and then decide to write an article? Stick with what you know - drinking and masturbating. You're just a little boy who thinks he knows everything...but doesn't know shit. By the way, Brett Favre NEVER, EVER brought up retirement. IT WAS THE FUCKED UP MEDIA THAT KEPT ASKING HIM ABOUT RETIREMENT. They wanted a story and though it took them five years to get it - they got it! So, please don't give me this shit that you're tired of hearing about it. YOU ARE A CASUALTY OF THE MEDIA!!!! Have fun tonight beating off to a picture of Obama. "

Spoken like a true brother. I'm so proud.

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Origami No. 10: An "Ode to Jeff Ircink"

This was written by my good friend, Todd Zimmermann, in 1987. Todd was in his last semester of college and I had just graduated in June. I think I was visiting him in the summer - maybe it was the fall. Anyway. we got hammered at his house then hit the bars. But before we went out, I puked my guts out. Not just any normal, random, college puking. It was like - you know those old lawn sprinklers that go "dddddddddddddddddddddd" in one direction then scoot back really quick and start all over again? That's how I puked in Todd's bathroom. At about the 3 1/2 foot level on the wall...all four walls of the bathroom.

Then we all went downtown and I said nothing (got my 2nd wind back after I upchucked - you know how that is) 'cause I didn't wanna spoil the evening. When we got home after bar time, no one noticed. I think someone may have said something like, "what smells?", but we were too drunk to investigate the stench and we passed out.

Until the next morning - that's when Todd found my offering to the porcelain gods. He penned this ode to me pretty much on the spot, I believe (he may have done it while cleaning the bathroom - I think he cleaned the bathroom; I know I didn't...or did I?) and recites it by heart every time he sees me. I just talked to him on the phone today (he lives in Chicago but was in Minneapolis). And he recited it to me.

I think it's helped prolong my 15 minutes of fame. You be the judge:

"Ode to Jeff Ircink", by Todd Zimmermann

If you wonder why it stinks
It's from my friend....Jeff Ircink
He threw up here on Friday Night
And it was not a pretty sight.
He tried to scrub to rinse to wipe
It didn't work, and now I'm griped
So go outside, puke on the lawn
We won't see it until dawn
As for now it still does stink
And I'm pissed off at Jeff Ircink

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#9 Wisconsin Badgers 4-0

My Wisconsin Badgers beat Iowa Saturday night to go 4-0 overall, 1-0 in the Big Ten. They're sure not getting any respect from the pollsters - or other fans - as they've dropped twice in the polls despite winning. Probably 'cause they didn't blow out their opponents like they were expected to. Oh well...come bowl-bid time, we'll see who earns respect and who sits home for the holidays. GO BIG RED!

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"Promise you will always remember me".

"Promise you will always remember me". That was Christopher Robin talking to Pooh. I alluded to this subject briefly in the post below. Being in California, it’s difficult to keep in touch – particularly face-to-face – with many of my friends whom I would choose to remain close with. Time and distance can have such an eroding effect our relationships, don't you agree? These thoughts are a constant with me. Funny how at one time two people are as thick as thieves, and suddenly neither of them knows the other exists. People move away, make new friends, get married, have kids, make more new friends or simply drop off the face of the earth. We ALL have them - people we've bonded with while growing up, while attending high school or college, family members, work/social acquaintances. Even some friends in CA I don't see nearly as much as I would like - believe me, it can be hell getting around here. Now don't get me wrong - I'm very lucky and my life is rich with the friends I am in contact with. But it's healthy to take stock in the things that matter to you most - and family and friendship ARE the most important thing to me. I have friends – and you know who you are – that I’m lucky to see once or twice a year when I go home to Wisconsin, either during my May fishing trip or around the Christmas holidays, visiting my home state, IA and IL. Most of these I'm in touch with over the phone or by email throughout the year, but it’s never enough. Then there are friends I'm in contact with via phone or email but that's all. That too is never enough.

I had my college reunion in October last year and my high school reunion in February and like my other classmates, I reminisced. You conjure up the good ole days with some folk and that's the extent of the reunion. But then there are others who are different – you pick up where you left off and you can talk about anything and not miss a beat. And those people - those I would not miss a beat with – are mentioned below. Perhaps I've been in and out of touch with you and I apologize. Know that I think of you often and that you are my special friends that I rarely get to see (if ever) but that when we do meet up, our “reunion” is as if we were never apart. You are my friends regardless of how often we see each other, or talk on the phone or email. I put this post up in haste, so if inadvertently missed you, do not take offense – I will revisit this writing. If people think it's odd of me to write down such things, let'm. Some people wear a badge of honor – this list is a badge, of sorts...an honor roll of friendship.

Eddie Wavro, Chris & Doreen Van Els, Jim Scharnburg, Mark Stanek, Kim Ellie, Jay/Tim/Wade Labecki, a number of my cousins on both sides of the family & family members, in general (way too many to mention), Ned Zoelle, Cameron Bruce, Kenny Wiemer, Ben from UW-Milwaukee, Steve Gresl, Tom Surges, Tom Millonig, Dave Wanta, Paul Voeller, Mark & Kim Totty, John Bell, Caryn Burkhardt, Echo Gaffney, Gerry Krause, Todd Peterson, Deanna Long, Damon Cole, Richard Barker, Lisa Clark, Mel & Linda Clark, Mike and Tracey Clark, Lee Hayden, Lisa Bohn, Jim & Patty Klika, Kurt Roller, Col. Marcy Steinke, Julie Stelling, Lisa in Newport Beach, Sherri & Tom Brisch, Jeff Jeanpierre, Doug Lorretto in IL, Ray Smith, Susie Streit, Pat & Sandy Gilpin, Rip & Janice Russell, Jody Hovland, Ron Clark, the Stuehn’s, the Olson’s, Saad, Ed Cotter, Dave Parke, Dan Forrest, Dan Velicer, Dave Stauffacher, Rich Inman, John Mamerow, David Ellie, Chris Korman, Kenny Koepsel, the Pilot brothers, Bishop Tom Skrenes, Greg Amborn, Tex, Bob Wade, the Ircink’s in Spokane, Eddie Hale, Jack Saunders, Gary Sauders, and Ken & Michelle Burke.

Three more names – Jeff Hall, Doug Boden(?) (ex-Lamer's bus driver in Milwaukee), and Keith from New York who I met when I moved to North Hollywood. You three are the most elusive as I have no way of knowing where you are or how to get in touch with you.

YOU are all special people to me, and I wish you were all here with me right now.

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Jim Sickels.

Jim Sickels is one of my closest friends from college. That's Ashley and Ryan - the oldest, Morgan, is missing. I introduced him and wife, Sandy, while at school. I'm very proud of that - and the kids are wonderful. I met Jim while we were resident assistants together. He took a semester off school for some military sojourn and Tom Kazar took his place, another one of my closest friends. If I were stranded in, let's say the woods, in a survivalist mode, I'd want Jim Sickels there with me - along with Jim Keller, another close theater buddy from Iowa (ex-military as well), my brother, Jason, and my 2nd cousin Gerry Kraus. Talk about outdoorsman...four of the best. With these guys watching my back, I would tackle just about any outdoor activity. Red Dawn - eat your heart out!

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The Beach Club. That was the name of our house in Whitewater during my senior year in college. And - these are the Beach Club guys. Stuey, Tom, Steve, me and Saad. This was at the Grand Geneva Resort & Spa in Lake Geneva, WI (the former Playboy Club) in October during our 20th college reunion.

Tom lives in Wheaton, IL and is my best friend. We met while we were resident assistants at college. Stuey went to high school with Tom, and Steve and Saad were one-time roommates of Tom's. Stuey and Steve are both in WI and Saad is in IL, but we're all originally from WI (no FIBS allowed in the Beach Club). I could regale you with dozens of stories about our year at The Beach Club, but you really had to "live" it in order to "get it". Grab a beer and put on Luther Vandross' version of "Superstar" on your stereo. Our house theme song. It's a good start.

Stuey shoulda stood in the middle, eh?

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