I Love Milwaukee

I can't say enough about Milwaukee. And Especially the East side. Big houses with porches on wide tree-lined streets. A few blocks off the lake. Five-ten minutes north of downtown where a river runs through the center. There is a theatre district, big giant buildings that are so old you feel like they were built with an intent and care we know nothing about in this day and age. People that have lived here drop names of architect-designed buildings right and left. There are restaurants everywhere and neighborhoods with indie owned shops and boutiques. The chain stores must be somewhere, but even the Starbucks feels less offensive than they do in the west when you see them every mile. Bars and pubs for everyday people, not just the young or degenerate. Universties, too! I just LOVE MILWAUKEE and haven't been drawn to a place like this since Australia, or the Bay Area (in the early 90s). Milwaukee is a town that woulda been born if Chicago made it with Seattle. Only the people here are friendlier than those from either parent.

Some of my married friends say that the hardest part about being married is getting used to all the compromise. So, here's how it went for me and my heat-needing John today....

4:00pm - 1st call
Jen: I'm in Milwaukee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
John: Do you want me to set a chiropractor appointment for you on Monday?

4:10pm - 2nd call
Jen:I HAVE to live here. Can you look up a hotel for me?
John: Here's one that's $60...wah wa wah wah wah

5:30pm - 3rd call
Jen: I splurged. I'm staying at the Ambassador Hotel, a hotel from 1928 that was just refurbished. My friend rec'd it. It's great and has the original iron work. And I was upgraded for free because they sent me to a room that wasn't made.
John: The workers are here I have to go.
Jen: Ok, but we HAVE to summer here. We can summer here. Maybe I can teach a class at the university. Did I tell you I found an authentic Australian meat pie shop? This place was meant for me I tell you.

11:36pm - 4th call.
Jen: Ok, here's the deal. We have to come here every year on my birthday for four days.
John: Jen, have you ever lived in the cold?
Jen: Yes. I lived in Tahoe and shoveled snow off my drive way.
John: But that's not cold like Chicago or New York, it's different.
Jen: Four days every year for my birthday, I was considering a week, but I can do four days, Monday is a holiday so all you have to take off is Friday. And it's May. It'll be warm enough.
John: Laughing, I can do that. I can do a week. But the difference is you'll be excited if I say we need to go to Charleston for a week every year.
Jen: Yes I will. Done. What's wrong with that?

So there. I want to live here, but instead I *negotiated* an annual tradition of the best birthday present ever.

Current: Milwaukee, WI
Tonight: I don't know (on the way to Memphis)
Tomorrow: Memphis, TN
Friday: San Francisco, CA