Happy Birthday Sarah!
I took Sarah's Birthday (September 28) off from writing in my blog to spend extra time with her this weekend. Friday we went to Mystic Lake Casino for a great dinner and then a comedy show with her sister and her husband. The show was hilarious, way better than I personally had expected. After the show we ended up talking to the headlining comic and then we hooked up with him and one of the other comic's and met at the main bar for a couple drinks. It was very cool and we got a few pictures with them. And yes, they were funny off stage too :)
Saturday we went to our awesome friends' wedding reception in Somerset. Congratulations Glenn and Jayme! Your wedding was beautiful this winter but I'm glad your reception wasn't then too, little chilly, lol. It was a beautiful fall evening and everything looked great, so sorry we had to skip out early.
Sunday, her actual birthday we watched the Packers stomp da bears and then we went with her family for the afternoon. Good times. Couple drinks, some ruebens, some mini golf, and a little bit of the viqueens game booo, lol. Thanks ladies ;)
Happy Birthday Sarah, I love you!
-Cheek
Monday, September 29, 2014
Postal Carriers
Tonight Sarah and I went to Region's Hospital to visit a long time friend of hers who had been transferred there from Westfield's here in New Richmond. I'm not going to get to why her friend is in the hospital because it really isn't my place. However, being there, and more specifically being in the ICU brought back some memories that I'd mostly rather forget.
While sitting in her friends room, I heard a beeping noise coming from the room next door. I wasn't sure what the sound was, but it gave me an unsettling feeling. The sound came again and it flipped a switch somewhere in my brain but couldn't put a finger on to what it was. I heard it a again and Sarah had obviously heard it now and turned to me with this astounding look on her face. I'm like what is that, and she said that noise is from a ventilator, do you remember? Oh shit, I felt some anxiety, unsettled. I was on a ventilator for most of my time in Regions, about 6 weeks worth. The ventilator basically makes that weird beeping sound when the patient stops breathing, and then kicks up the oxygen to your lungs. It could be just a couple seconds, or many many seconds or more. I don't remember much about it but I do remember the noise and how I would need Sarah to come in to the room and she would calm me down enough to start breathing better and my oxygen count would get back closer to normal. She'd hold me hand, I don't remember seeing her face, but I could hear her words, and she would talk to me, calm me down however she could, and I could feel the air going back into my lungs. It would take much, much longer for the nurses to get my oxygen levels back to normal so I'd call for Sarah somehow and she would fix me up relatively quickly. When you don't have your breath, just a second or two seems like forever.
It was a little bit of an uncomfortable feeling being there. I know the visit wasn't about me, Sarah's friend is in rough shape, but it was still weird being there. Couldn't say I recognized too much, some familiarity but I suppose rooms would be similar, but we were in the same floor that I spent most of my time there on. I went to Regions and was moved from there to the U of M both times in an ambulance because of the rough shape I was in. The Doctor on duty today was the pulmonary Doctor I saw last week for my lung testing. The nurse, not sure where he was from, I'd guess Africa, reminded me of several of my nurses that I had. It is a little difficult to understand them speaking, and most times I couldn't speak anyway, but they understood what I was trying to say the best they could.
This brought me back to many other memories I had from my time in the hospitals. Sarah likes to refer to them as 'false memories' which makes sense in a way - most of them were false, whether because they were hallucinations or never happened, or that they were memories in how they were dreams, awake or asleep that continue to stay with me. In this case, from today's hospital visit, it reminded me of a nurse I thought I had. Most nurses I had would always introduce themselves when they started their shifts, even if I've had them before because I rarely remembered them, let alone their names anyway. One black male nurse in particular would always come up to my bed every time he entered my room, look over me and show me his ID card and would say his name. It was one of those hyphenated names that I probably couldn't pronounce anyway, but it was nice that he did that so I would hopefully remember. While I had several nurses, several male nurses and several black male nurses, and I could be wrong on this one in particular, but one of them I was sure was trying to get me drunk or stoned. Felt hungover every time I woke up so assumed he kept getting me drunk. At least he was giving me something enough to make me sleep. He'd say I needed my rest, would ask me what degree of pain I was in and would mix up whatever recipe for me and soon enough I'd be sleeping. It made me feel like shit, and I asked them to stop giving me so much of it. Told Sarah about it and she asked them to lower the dosage. I think it was called seroquel, which had a couple different purposes, and I believe one of which was to assist in me sleeping.
Ok, so most of you know my friend Robbie. He's a mailman in New Richmond. Oh, and he's black. Not that any of that matters, it's just part of the story. Well, 'Robbie' comes into my hospital room, not as a visitor, but as my nurse. Yeah, messed up lol. So I'm talking to him, best I can, asking him what the hell is he doing working here and why, if he's still delivering mail and where he lives now. Think he told me he needed a side job and lives in Woodbury so the drive wasn't bad. Good lord.. Well, for whatever reason, 'Robbie' sounded like he had a cold, real horse-like, which in turn, was just like my real life, hyphenated nurse's voice was. (Weird?)
Well I told Sarah about my new nurse the next day, and like I'm sure she had gotten used to by then says, "Mike, honey, Robbie is not a nurse." I'm like well he was last night! Yeah, guess not lol.
Well a few nights later I see 'Robbie' again in my room and I try talking to him, try shooting the shit, and he looks at me like this dude's messed up and keeps quiet and to himself, just continues cleaning the room up and whatnot. I'm thinking whatever, do your job, don't talk to patients, whatever blah-blah. Then I remember what Sarah told me and I get kind of pissy, is it true..? Well of course it's freaking true dumb-shit, of course Robbie is not my ICU nurse. Ugh, I did it again. Damn medicine - he got me too drunk!
-Cheek
<a href= "http://www.quicktopic.com/50/H/tuweQ5ASK2fTK"> Discuss Sports</a>
While sitting in her friends room, I heard a beeping noise coming from the room next door. I wasn't sure what the sound was, but it gave me an unsettling feeling. The sound came again and it flipped a switch somewhere in my brain but couldn't put a finger on to what it was. I heard it a again and Sarah had obviously heard it now and turned to me with this astounding look on her face. I'm like what is that, and she said that noise is from a ventilator, do you remember? Oh shit, I felt some anxiety, unsettled. I was on a ventilator for most of my time in Regions, about 6 weeks worth. The ventilator basically makes that weird beeping sound when the patient stops breathing, and then kicks up the oxygen to your lungs. It could be just a couple seconds, or many many seconds or more. I don't remember much about it but I do remember the noise and how I would need Sarah to come in to the room and she would calm me down enough to start breathing better and my oxygen count would get back closer to normal. She'd hold me hand, I don't remember seeing her face, but I could hear her words, and she would talk to me, calm me down however she could, and I could feel the air going back into my lungs. It would take much, much longer for the nurses to get my oxygen levels back to normal so I'd call for Sarah somehow and she would fix me up relatively quickly. When you don't have your breath, just a second or two seems like forever.
It was a little bit of an uncomfortable feeling being there. I know the visit wasn't about me, Sarah's friend is in rough shape, but it was still weird being there. Couldn't say I recognized too much, some familiarity but I suppose rooms would be similar, but we were in the same floor that I spent most of my time there on. I went to Regions and was moved from there to the U of M both times in an ambulance because of the rough shape I was in. The Doctor on duty today was the pulmonary Doctor I saw last week for my lung testing. The nurse, not sure where he was from, I'd guess Africa, reminded me of several of my nurses that I had. It is a little difficult to understand them speaking, and most times I couldn't speak anyway, but they understood what I was trying to say the best they could.
This brought me back to many other memories I had from my time in the hospitals. Sarah likes to refer to them as 'false memories' which makes sense in a way - most of them were false, whether because they were hallucinations or never happened, or that they were memories in how they were dreams, awake or asleep that continue to stay with me. In this case, from today's hospital visit, it reminded me of a nurse I thought I had. Most nurses I had would always introduce themselves when they started their shifts, even if I've had them before because I rarely remembered them, let alone their names anyway. One black male nurse in particular would always come up to my bed every time he entered my room, look over me and show me his ID card and would say his name. It was one of those hyphenated names that I probably couldn't pronounce anyway, but it was nice that he did that so I would hopefully remember. While I had several nurses, several male nurses and several black male nurses, and I could be wrong on this one in particular, but one of them I was sure was trying to get me drunk or stoned. Felt hungover every time I woke up so assumed he kept getting me drunk. At least he was giving me something enough to make me sleep. He'd say I needed my rest, would ask me what degree of pain I was in and would mix up whatever recipe for me and soon enough I'd be sleeping. It made me feel like shit, and I asked them to stop giving me so much of it. Told Sarah about it and she asked them to lower the dosage. I think it was called seroquel, which had a couple different purposes, and I believe one of which was to assist in me sleeping.
Ok, so most of you know my friend Robbie. He's a mailman in New Richmond. Oh, and he's black. Not that any of that matters, it's just part of the story. Well, 'Robbie' comes into my hospital room, not as a visitor, but as my nurse. Yeah, messed up lol. So I'm talking to him, best I can, asking him what the hell is he doing working here and why, if he's still delivering mail and where he lives now. Think he told me he needed a side job and lives in Woodbury so the drive wasn't bad. Good lord.. Well, for whatever reason, 'Robbie' sounded like he had a cold, real horse-like, which in turn, was just like my real life, hyphenated nurse's voice was. (Weird?)
Well I told Sarah about my new nurse the next day, and like I'm sure she had gotten used to by then says, "Mike, honey, Robbie is not a nurse." I'm like well he was last night! Yeah, guess not lol.
Well a few nights later I see 'Robbie' again in my room and I try talking to him, try shooting the shit, and he looks at me like this dude's messed up and keeps quiet and to himself, just continues cleaning the room up and whatnot. I'm thinking whatever, do your job, don't talk to patients, whatever blah-blah. Then I remember what Sarah told me and I get kind of pissy, is it true..? Well of course it's freaking true dumb-shit, of course Robbie is not my ICU nurse. Ugh, I did it again. Damn medicine - he got me too drunk!
-Cheek
<a href= "http://www.quicktopic.com/50/H/tuweQ5ASK2fTK"> Discuss Sports</a>
<a href= "http://www.quicktopic.com/50/H/adwxwbALruAe"> Discuss Ebola</a>
<a href= "http://www.quicktopic.com/50/H/UtfPjyCEukQ"> Discuss Seasons</a>
Saturday, September 27, 2014
Creepy
I have held on to this story to myself for awhile now, besides telling my family, but I think it's about time I should get it off my chest.
While I was hospitalized, Ryan ended up getting sick, had strep, was treated quickly and recovered quickly. I think at some point I must have overheard that he was sick or in the clinic or whatever. Well I had some ongoing nightmares about him and me being sick. One sticks out the worst and it affected me for awhile because I didn't know what was what or where I was for much of my time there.
In my dream I was in this hospital, a very creepy-insane-like hospital, there was flashing lights going all over the place and my room was mainly dark with water dripping from the ceilings. My so-called doctor or nurse, whatever he was, was getting me ready to take me to the elevator to go down, way down. He was taking me to my death. I was too sick and they had tried everything and it was only a matter of time until I would die. (This was basically real case in my situation.) Apparently this nurse was in a hurry to send me to my death. I was in my hospital bed and I was tied down with restraints (also true for a period of time) and was unable to talk very well. I did my best to talk, trying to tell him that I wasn't ready to die and to keep me off the elevator.
I am getting nowhere and he starts to wheel me away. As I'm getting closer I notice some people in the neighboring room. It's Ryan. I can't tell who he is with but he is crying. The scared cry, the cry that you know he just wants to be hugged as much as I want to hug him. He isn't feeling well and I'm not sure why. I then notice my nurses' hands, in particular his finger nails, all ugly and torn and uncut so long that they are basically pointy. He seems me looking at my scared son, looks over to him too and then back at me and gives me the creepiest smirk I've ever seen. My heart drops, then boils. This creepy freak is my kids nurse too!? No freaking way, what the hell has he been doing to him, why is my boy still so sick?!
Now I'm fighting ten times harder trying to break free, trying to talk, trying anything to get someones attention. I don't care about my elevator ride, I just want my kid!
I can't move. Nothing is working. I'm in the elevator and the door closes. I start going down, I throw up, but I'm too weak to move and the vomit stays in my mouth, tastes terrible.
Dream is over.
So confused.
Terrible.
Wish I could forget this dream in my head.
-Cheek
More to come.
While I was hospitalized, Ryan ended up getting sick, had strep, was treated quickly and recovered quickly. I think at some point I must have overheard that he was sick or in the clinic or whatever. Well I had some ongoing nightmares about him and me being sick. One sticks out the worst and it affected me for awhile because I didn't know what was what or where I was for much of my time there.
In my dream I was in this hospital, a very creepy-insane-like hospital, there was flashing lights going all over the place and my room was mainly dark with water dripping from the ceilings. My so-called doctor or nurse, whatever he was, was getting me ready to take me to the elevator to go down, way down. He was taking me to my death. I was too sick and they had tried everything and it was only a matter of time until I would die. (This was basically real case in my situation.) Apparently this nurse was in a hurry to send me to my death. I was in my hospital bed and I was tied down with restraints (also true for a period of time) and was unable to talk very well. I did my best to talk, trying to tell him that I wasn't ready to die and to keep me off the elevator.
I am getting nowhere and he starts to wheel me away. As I'm getting closer I notice some people in the neighboring room. It's Ryan. I can't tell who he is with but he is crying. The scared cry, the cry that you know he just wants to be hugged as much as I want to hug him. He isn't feeling well and I'm not sure why. I then notice my nurses' hands, in particular his finger nails, all ugly and torn and uncut so long that they are basically pointy. He seems me looking at my scared son, looks over to him too and then back at me and gives me the creepiest smirk I've ever seen. My heart drops, then boils. This creepy freak is my kids nurse too!? No freaking way, what the hell has he been doing to him, why is my boy still so sick?!
Now I'm fighting ten times harder trying to break free, trying to talk, trying anything to get someones attention. I don't care about my elevator ride, I just want my kid!
I can't move. Nothing is working. I'm in the elevator and the door closes. I start going down, I throw up, but I'm too weak to move and the vomit stays in my mouth, tastes terrible.
Dream is over.
So confused.
Terrible.
Wish I could forget this dream in my head.
-Cheek
More to come.
Friday, September 26, 2014
Hallucination (1 of many)
I thought I saw several things and people many times during my time in the hospital that I never did. Strange feeling I tell ya, not knowing what's real or what's not. As time went by and I started weaning off some of my medications Sarah tried convincing me of some things that were factual or not. Had to of been hard on her, seeing her husband all messed up and barely able to move, trying to explain objects or people that were not there.
I think the first time I realized that I actually was seeing things is when I thought I saw my good buddy Bill W. Lets back up a while here first though... My parents had come to visit me most every day of course, and one day they decided to bring me a gift for my room. Well I'm not much into flowers so they, for whatever reason, decide to bring me a large sunflower plant. Not really sure why, but it seemed to fit the room, and later on we ended up taking it home and putting it in our front window. Anyway, back to my story about Bill. It was late at night, quiet, probably after midnight. I can't sleep at night like normal at this point in my stay and I'm sick of TV so I start looking around. I glance outside my door and thought I recognized somebody. Sure as shit it's big Bill. Cool. I could go for a late night visitor, why not. Well Bill is all secretive. I see him, I don't see him. I see him again, now I don't. Then he walks closer than hides. I'm thinking what the hell is he doing? Planning on sneaking up and scaring the he-beat-death motionless creepy looking guy in the bed or what? Anyway he keeps getting closer and then I don't see him. Hmm, ok I guess he didn't want to stay or got scared to visit or whatever. Then I look over at my big ass sunflower plant and sure as hell, my big friend Bill is peeking around from behind the plant, trying not to be seen. Ok I won't scare him or whatever so I stay quiet, not sure if I pretended to sleep or not, but just laid calm as could be waiting for his move, but he never did. I fell asleep at some point and in the morning he was gone. Later that day I started to realize something.. Wow, I'm messed up! Why the hell would someone come visit me after visiting hours at 1:00 in the morning and why would he hide from me behind a plant. Wow I feel stupid, kind of made me laugh though too.
I still peeked around looking at that plant at times to see if he was there anyway ;-)
-Cheek
I think the first time I realized that I actually was seeing things is when I thought I saw my good buddy Bill W. Lets back up a while here first though... My parents had come to visit me most every day of course, and one day they decided to bring me a gift for my room. Well I'm not much into flowers so they, for whatever reason, decide to bring me a large sunflower plant. Not really sure why, but it seemed to fit the room, and later on we ended up taking it home and putting it in our front window. Anyway, back to my story about Bill. It was late at night, quiet, probably after midnight. I can't sleep at night like normal at this point in my stay and I'm sick of TV so I start looking around. I glance outside my door and thought I recognized somebody. Sure as shit it's big Bill. Cool. I could go for a late night visitor, why not. Well Bill is all secretive. I see him, I don't see him. I see him again, now I don't. Then he walks closer than hides. I'm thinking what the hell is he doing? Planning on sneaking up and scaring the he-beat-death motionless creepy looking guy in the bed or what? Anyway he keeps getting closer and then I don't see him. Hmm, ok I guess he didn't want to stay or got scared to visit or whatever. Then I look over at my big ass sunflower plant and sure as hell, my big friend Bill is peeking around from behind the plant, trying not to be seen. Ok I won't scare him or whatever so I stay quiet, not sure if I pretended to sleep or not, but just laid calm as could be waiting for his move, but he never did. I fell asleep at some point and in the morning he was gone. Later that day I started to realize something.. Wow, I'm messed up! Why the hell would someone come visit me after visiting hours at 1:00 in the morning and why would he hide from me behind a plant. Wow I feel stupid, kind of made me laugh though too.
I still peeked around looking at that plant at times to see if he was there anyway ;-)
-Cheek
Thursday, September 25, 2014
Testing
Over the past two weeks I've gone to Regions Hospital Specialty Center for additional testing on my brain and my lungs. Before I got sick my vital organs were in good shape. Obviously my lungs were in terrible condition with my Blasto, and during my time in the hospital some other organs began to wear down, but most of them fought back and functions started becoming normal again. Here are tests taken on the two concerned organs, brain & lungs....
(Sorry this could be boring)
CT Scan or CAT Scan
Computerized Tomography is a diagnostic examination using x-rays and computer analysis to view structures of your body (brain) that are not visible with regular x-rays.
MRI
Magnetic Resonance Imaging is a way of looking inside the body. Instead of x-rays, the MRI scanner uses magnets and radio waves to produce clear pictures of your head, spine, or other body parts. An MRI scanner consists of a strong magnet with a radio transmitter and receiver. These instruments gather the information from your body. An MRI scan produces soft-tissue images and is used to distinguish normal, healthy soft tissue from abnormal tissue.
At times they will give the patient an IV with a dye in it to show specific parts of your body during the MRI scan. Can't wear any metal or have any coins or a belt and had to take off my wedding ring, which oddly enough I lost that same night. Anyway..
You lie down in this large capsule type machine and you are to stay as still as possible for up to an hour. I think mine took about 45 minutes. I had the IV dye when they did mine. Maybe cause I was lying down but after all the several dozens of times getting needles lately, this one kinda hurt lol. While your inside this MRI capsule they do all sorts of loud and obnoxious beating sounds. Not sure how someone much bigger than me could fit into it comfortably at all, I mean my shoulders and arms were snugly up against the inside walls. I could see how someone could feel claustrophobic inside there but I just closed my eyes and listened to the music they offered. I think the first time I actually fell asleep for awhile, which is probably when I moved and they had me come back for another test.
Pulmonary Function Test
This measures the air moving in and out of your lungs. The tests are used to evaluate whether you can breathe normally. Besides helping to diagnose lung disorders, the tests may be important in planning treatment.
During the test, you wear nose clips to prevent air from entering or leaving through your nose. (duh) You breathe through a special machine called a spirometer that records the amount, force, and pattern of your breathing. You sit inside this booth about the size of a phone booth. (do they have phone booths anymore?) The test takes up to an hour, depending on how results come out.
I did this pulmonary test at 7:30 AM and I couldn't have any caffeine before hand as well as several other no-can-does before hand that didn't really apply to me. So I sit in this phone booth with this spirometer thing in my face and the tech asks me to do all sorts of different breathing actions. I really started to get light headed and felt funny for a good couple of hours afterwards. In the doctors office after the test I was a little worried about the results, for one because I was dizzy and for two because I became very hoarse and couldn't talk very well. Ok, and for three, this pulmonary test was very important because this is why I got sick; this fungus got into my lungs and the rest is living history.
Results
My MRI a few weeks back resulted in findings of way more brain bleeds than originally thought. They found one in my brain during my time in the hospital, but the MRI here showed as many as 30. Wow!? The doctor told us that in the room that day and we just looked at each other speechless. That was a tough day. But we went back for a 2nd MRI and the results were great! Although I did have up to that many brain bleeds, they had stopped and were drying up or whatever the hell they do. Strange thought. But good day!
My pulmonary test was pretty good as well, the doctor said considering where your lung functions were, they look fantastic. Some of the test results were I inhaled or exhaled showed some weakness, but nothing to get concerned about and didn't need to schedule a follow up for a year. So great day! As a couple of my buddies joked after I originally got out of the hospital is something like, "well cheek is a fun-gi" - dorks.
-Cheek
(Sorry this could be boring)
CT Scan or CAT Scan
Computerized Tomography is a diagnostic examination using x-rays and computer analysis to view structures of your body (brain) that are not visible with regular x-rays.
MRI
Magnetic Resonance Imaging is a way of looking inside the body. Instead of x-rays, the MRI scanner uses magnets and radio waves to produce clear pictures of your head, spine, or other body parts. An MRI scanner consists of a strong magnet with a radio transmitter and receiver. These instruments gather the information from your body. An MRI scan produces soft-tissue images and is used to distinguish normal, healthy soft tissue from abnormal tissue.
At times they will give the patient an IV with a dye in it to show specific parts of your body during the MRI scan. Can't wear any metal or have any coins or a belt and had to take off my wedding ring, which oddly enough I lost that same night. Anyway..
You lie down in this large capsule type machine and you are to stay as still as possible for up to an hour. I think mine took about 45 minutes. I had the IV dye when they did mine. Maybe cause I was lying down but after all the several dozens of times getting needles lately, this one kinda hurt lol. While your inside this MRI capsule they do all sorts of loud and obnoxious beating sounds. Not sure how someone much bigger than me could fit into it comfortably at all, I mean my shoulders and arms were snugly up against the inside walls. I could see how someone could feel claustrophobic inside there but I just closed my eyes and listened to the music they offered. I think the first time I actually fell asleep for awhile, which is probably when I moved and they had me come back for another test.
Pulmonary Function Test
This measures the air moving in and out of your lungs. The tests are used to evaluate whether you can breathe normally. Besides helping to diagnose lung disorders, the tests may be important in planning treatment.
During the test, you wear nose clips to prevent air from entering or leaving through your nose. (duh) You breathe through a special machine called a spirometer that records the amount, force, and pattern of your breathing. You sit inside this booth about the size of a phone booth. (do they have phone booths anymore?) The test takes up to an hour, depending on how results come out.
I did this pulmonary test at 7:30 AM and I couldn't have any caffeine before hand as well as several other no-can-does before hand that didn't really apply to me. So I sit in this phone booth with this spirometer thing in my face and the tech asks me to do all sorts of different breathing actions. I really started to get light headed and felt funny for a good couple of hours afterwards. In the doctors office after the test I was a little worried about the results, for one because I was dizzy and for two because I became very hoarse and couldn't talk very well. Ok, and for three, this pulmonary test was very important because this is why I got sick; this fungus got into my lungs and the rest is living history.
Results
My MRI a few weeks back resulted in findings of way more brain bleeds than originally thought. They found one in my brain during my time in the hospital, but the MRI here showed as many as 30. Wow!? The doctor told us that in the room that day and we just looked at each other speechless. That was a tough day. But we went back for a 2nd MRI and the results were great! Although I did have up to that many brain bleeds, they had stopped and were drying up or whatever the hell they do. Strange thought. But good day!
My pulmonary test was pretty good as well, the doctor said considering where your lung functions were, they look fantastic. Some of the test results were I inhaled or exhaled showed some weakness, but nothing to get concerned about and didn't need to schedule a follow up for a year. So great day! As a couple of my buddies joked after I originally got out of the hospital is something like, "well cheek is a fun-gi" - dorks.
-Cheek
Monday, September 22, 2014
Mike's Place
I'm sure most all of you know that this past business of me owning a bar was not my first adventure. As I mentioned in a previous post titled "Me" I bought Mike's Place 'On Skid Row' back in June of 2000, and moved across the street to the newly revised name of just simply "Mike's Place." I had each place give or take for 3 years and both places hold tremendous places in my heart (and mind) over the years. During the 6+ years of owning those bar(s) I had some really amazing times, but I also had my share of majorly bad moments.
To start off my new career I was super excited to get my business going at 24 years of age, but I was also unfamiliar with so many aspects of running a business like insurance, taxes, deciding on being a corporation or not, licensing and even payroll. I used whatever resources I could find to help get me started off in the right direction. I was happy with how that began, I mean I had really no schooling or experience on these aspects. In all actuality, the reason I wanted to own a bar was not to sit back and watch, but because I wanted to work when I wanted to, have a lot of fun, and obviously make money!
After only maybe a few weeks of being open I had a couple visitors at my front door, one was an officer who I had gotten to know in high school and had a nice relationship with, and the other was the new chief of police in New Richmond. My friendly officer said that the chief wanted to meet me, it made me feel kind of important, I mean what a great start to my business that I get to meet and shake hands with the new chief of police. Yeah, wrong feeling. As I reach out my hand to shake the chiefs', he ignores my gesture and tells me that he has his eye on me and this bar. Gulp, wtf!?!? Oh...ok, I understand I say. (Jerk) Needless to say that left a poor taste in my mouth, but I went along my business.
At "Skid Row" there were fights, break-ins, proposals and parties. I remember the time this guy came into the bar one night all upset saying he was going to kick all of our asses and asked us all to come outside to fight, well, most of us came outside, and the guy ended up walking up to me and punched me across the face. Hurt like hell, couldn't chew right for weeks. One of the bar regulars came out and basically said pick on someone your own size, so the guy went to his car and he threatened us with a gun, waving it from the car, but it turned out to be a large flashlight, we told him to get lost and he ended up leaving and getting arrested a block away and the cops found a gun in his car trunk anyway. Idiot. I remember theme parties; one where I hope to find the picture, of our mexican night where I was pretending to be passed out in the corner of the bar with my over-sized sombrero and half buttoned shirt while holding a bottle of corona in my hand. Hilarious. 70's Night where the biggest black Norwegian man in Polk County wore his fake afro. Hilarious. Can't forget that dancing on the bar to 'America Pie' became a tradition, as well as going back and forth with the back alley neighbor - The Old Saloon and doing shots on the weekends. I remember getting broke into twice, the first time being the worst - they broke, destroyed, stole anything they could. Alarm system went off but it was too late. It was horrible. I called the cops and they did nothing besides take a report. Nice. The perpetrators obviously used a crow bar trying to get into the foosball table, golden tee machine and dart boards. Lost my ass. Couple friends of mine said they were going to get me a crow bar for Christmas, which was kind of funny. The second time I got broke into wasn't as bad but they broke my damn front door. Pissed me off more so because I had to stop and find friends to fix the door, luckily that were among the same group of friends that were heading to Lambeau for the weekend! Jerks!
So only after being in business a few weeks, there had to be some major changes inside the bar, in particular cleaning, in like major cleaning, installing a security alarm, putting in a stereo system that my friend Don hooked up through the juke box as well as taking down a small partial wall that put a small area of division within the bar. Now I'm not going to bust some people here, but quite possibly some people used that area to hide from wives and some others to hide from customers. Hey, wasn't my place to start with! Not a bad idea but it was taken down anyway. LOL. A couple friends of mine took over some major cleaning chores including literally wiping ceilings and walls to clean off smoke stains; many, many years worth of smoke stain, it was nasty. All of my changes didn't go over so
great with some of the local regulars, but most of the locals were coffee drinking older gentleman that, sorry wasn't going to be my clientele. One, however, became my best customer for 6 years. I
knew him somewhat before, a little from my days at Champ's, but mainly from seeing him at the
Shamrock as we had played some cribbage games for beers before. He would come in nearly every day, usually after work before he retired, and would not allow the younger group of customers that followed me to this bar get too comfortable at his place. He would play the juke box and find the slowest, saddest country music he could find. Of course he knew right where to find the songs because he played them all the time. Sometimes his antics would backfire, because many of us actually liked his music. Who ever was the most stubborn, us or him, it doesn't matter, most of us all started getting along really well and before long so many of us, young and old became friends.
Met many friends at this bar and one of them included and helped me make my decision on moving my bar as he said he would help construct the new place. Thank you Cory. Amazing.
(John) wasn't very excited about me moving to the new location (what was then Cullen Furniture, what is now the Wild Badger) but he came and visited to take a peek at construction of it and I think he livened up a little on it. Some people still to this day didn't agree with my decision about moving out of the old bar, most stating that I had a 'gold mine' at the old place. Don't get me wrong, things were going well at "Skid Row", but that place, from the inside out, was a disaster. The basement was falling apart, the walk in cooler was falling apart, the stairs to the basement was falling apart, the insulation was terrible, and the plumbing was not much better. I could have dumped a ton of cash into rebuilding or fixing the old place up, or I could move and start fresh. As a young man still in my 20's I decided on bigger is better. Overall I am happy with my decision. But like I mentioned earlier, there were some down moments at the newer place but most not involving my decision to move locations.
In this new place there were amazing times as well. We got John his very own bar stool, which was kept at the same place every day. There was the foosball regional tournament that was held at the bar, Sunday Funday's that included frying up chickens among other foods out back for packer games as well as sponsoring several dart teams and softball teams throughout my years there. The best was when my Budweiser distributor hooked the traveling softball team up with Bud Light sponsored gear and gave them donated jersey's and hat's. That was awesome. We had a few bands throughout the years and several other parties. Fun Fest and St. Patty's Days' were amazing being downtown and we had floats involved in most of the parade. Met many more friends as well. My very last fun fest I
decided to close up for the parade becuase it was too stressfull. The cops wanted security at each
door, security within the building, extra bartenders and nobody outside on the front 'porch' and sidewalk. I had asked for an extension and a partial block off of that area with no luck. Interesting now, huh... Anyway.
So, for the record, I don't resent my decisions. While I did end up selling it, while I did get a DUI one night after leaving there, while I did have to sit in on a city council meeting where I had to defend myself and the bar with dozens of so-called complaints filed by another jerk that lived close by, while I subsequently had to hire bouncers and had to install an extra door on the inside of my bar to help 'keep a better eye on customers,' I'm still proud of me decisions. I made many more friends, had many more good times, had a closing bar celebration that I'll always remember and to top it off, if I never would have moved there I would not have my son that I have today. As for John, he passed away. God bless him and his family.
I had several friends die through my years at both places, (JS and RK to name a few) several accidents, marriages, births, joys and tears. I don't regret selling my bar either. It was my time to do so. I was tired of losing battles and with the dwindling business I was ready to sell while I was still in the positive. If I would have not sold this last bar, I would not have met Sarah and therefore not had my daughter.
Like I said, I didn't really know what I was doing with parts of my business like taxes, insurance, etc and said I'd never open a bar on my own again. But, Sarah did, so our business relationship worked well. She took care of those things that she knew and enjoyed and I did the 'bar' stuff that I knew and enjoyed. Perfect! Well close to that at least..
So, things apparently happen for a reason.
Me getting sick, closing the bar, moving out of our house, living with my parents, neither of us not working, Sarah in school... all must have a purpose. Life is good. Love you all.
Stay strong and live on!
-Cheek
Oh..
Please feel free to remind me/us of some memories. I know I have plenty of them that I didn't state.
This will be closely monitored so keep them PG-13 hahaha.
To start off my new career I was super excited to get my business going at 24 years of age, but I was also unfamiliar with so many aspects of running a business like insurance, taxes, deciding on being a corporation or not, licensing and even payroll. I used whatever resources I could find to help get me started off in the right direction. I was happy with how that began, I mean I had really no schooling or experience on these aspects. In all actuality, the reason I wanted to own a bar was not to sit back and watch, but because I wanted to work when I wanted to, have a lot of fun, and obviously make money!
After only maybe a few weeks of being open I had a couple visitors at my front door, one was an officer who I had gotten to know in high school and had a nice relationship with, and the other was the new chief of police in New Richmond. My friendly officer said that the chief wanted to meet me, it made me feel kind of important, I mean what a great start to my business that I get to meet and shake hands with the new chief of police. Yeah, wrong feeling. As I reach out my hand to shake the chiefs', he ignores my gesture and tells me that he has his eye on me and this bar. Gulp, wtf!?!? Oh...ok, I understand I say. (Jerk) Needless to say that left a poor taste in my mouth, but I went along my business.
At "Skid Row" there were fights, break-ins, proposals and parties. I remember the time this guy came into the bar one night all upset saying he was going to kick all of our asses and asked us all to come outside to fight, well, most of us came outside, and the guy ended up walking up to me and punched me across the face. Hurt like hell, couldn't chew right for weeks. One of the bar regulars came out and basically said pick on someone your own size, so the guy went to his car and he threatened us with a gun, waving it from the car, but it turned out to be a large flashlight, we told him to get lost and he ended up leaving and getting arrested a block away and the cops found a gun in his car trunk anyway. Idiot. I remember theme parties; one where I hope to find the picture, of our mexican night where I was pretending to be passed out in the corner of the bar with my over-sized sombrero and half buttoned shirt while holding a bottle of corona in my hand. Hilarious. 70's Night where the biggest black Norwegian man in Polk County wore his fake afro. Hilarious. Can't forget that dancing on the bar to 'America Pie' became a tradition, as well as going back and forth with the back alley neighbor - The Old Saloon and doing shots on the weekends. I remember getting broke into twice, the first time being the worst - they broke, destroyed, stole anything they could. Alarm system went off but it was too late. It was horrible. I called the cops and they did nothing besides take a report. Nice. The perpetrators obviously used a crow bar trying to get into the foosball table, golden tee machine and dart boards. Lost my ass. Couple friends of mine said they were going to get me a crow bar for Christmas, which was kind of funny. The second time I got broke into wasn't as bad but they broke my damn front door. Pissed me off more so because I had to stop and find friends to fix the door, luckily that were among the same group of friends that were heading to Lambeau for the weekend! Jerks!
So only after being in business a few weeks, there had to be some major changes inside the bar, in particular cleaning, in like major cleaning, installing a security alarm, putting in a stereo system that my friend Don hooked up through the juke box as well as taking down a small partial wall that put a small area of division within the bar. Now I'm not going to bust some people here, but quite possibly some people used that area to hide from wives and some others to hide from customers. Hey, wasn't my place to start with! Not a bad idea but it was taken down anyway. LOL. A couple friends of mine took over some major cleaning chores including literally wiping ceilings and walls to clean off smoke stains; many, many years worth of smoke stain, it was nasty. All of my changes didn't go over so
great with some of the local regulars, but most of the locals were coffee drinking older gentleman that, sorry wasn't going to be my clientele. One, however, became my best customer for 6 years. I
knew him somewhat before, a little from my days at Champ's, but mainly from seeing him at the
Shamrock as we had played some cribbage games for beers before. He would come in nearly every day, usually after work before he retired, and would not allow the younger group of customers that followed me to this bar get too comfortable at his place. He would play the juke box and find the slowest, saddest country music he could find. Of course he knew right where to find the songs because he played them all the time. Sometimes his antics would backfire, because many of us actually liked his music. Who ever was the most stubborn, us or him, it doesn't matter, most of us all started getting along really well and before long so many of us, young and old became friends.
Met many friends at this bar and one of them included and helped me make my decision on moving my bar as he said he would help construct the new place. Thank you Cory. Amazing.
(John) wasn't very excited about me moving to the new location (what was then Cullen Furniture, what is now the Wild Badger) but he came and visited to take a peek at construction of it and I think he livened up a little on it. Some people still to this day didn't agree with my decision about moving out of the old bar, most stating that I had a 'gold mine' at the old place. Don't get me wrong, things were going well at "Skid Row", but that place, from the inside out, was a disaster. The basement was falling apart, the walk in cooler was falling apart, the stairs to the basement was falling apart, the insulation was terrible, and the plumbing was not much better. I could have dumped a ton of cash into rebuilding or fixing the old place up, or I could move and start fresh. As a young man still in my 20's I decided on bigger is better. Overall I am happy with my decision. But like I mentioned earlier, there were some down moments at the newer place but most not involving my decision to move locations.
In this new place there were amazing times as well. We got John his very own bar stool, which was kept at the same place every day. There was the foosball regional tournament that was held at the bar, Sunday Funday's that included frying up chickens among other foods out back for packer games as well as sponsoring several dart teams and softball teams throughout my years there. The best was when my Budweiser distributor hooked the traveling softball team up with Bud Light sponsored gear and gave them donated jersey's and hat's. That was awesome. We had a few bands throughout the years and several other parties. Fun Fest and St. Patty's Days' were amazing being downtown and we had floats involved in most of the parade. Met many more friends as well. My very last fun fest I
decided to close up for the parade becuase it was too stressfull. The cops wanted security at each
door, security within the building, extra bartenders and nobody outside on the front 'porch' and sidewalk. I had asked for an extension and a partial block off of that area with no luck. Interesting now, huh... Anyway.
So, for the record, I don't resent my decisions. While I did end up selling it, while I did get a DUI one night after leaving there, while I did have to sit in on a city council meeting where I had to defend myself and the bar with dozens of so-called complaints filed by another jerk that lived close by, while I subsequently had to hire bouncers and had to install an extra door on the inside of my bar to help 'keep a better eye on customers,' I'm still proud of me decisions. I made many more friends, had many more good times, had a closing bar celebration that I'll always remember and to top it off, if I never would have moved there I would not have my son that I have today. As for John, he passed away. God bless him and his family.
I had several friends die through my years at both places, (JS and RK to name a few) several accidents, marriages, births, joys and tears. I don't regret selling my bar either. It was my time to do so. I was tired of losing battles and with the dwindling business I was ready to sell while I was still in the positive. If I would have not sold this last bar, I would not have met Sarah and therefore not had my daughter.
Like I said, I didn't really know what I was doing with parts of my business like taxes, insurance, etc and said I'd never open a bar on my own again. But, Sarah did, so our business relationship worked well. She took care of those things that she knew and enjoyed and I did the 'bar' stuff that I knew and enjoyed. Perfect! Well close to that at least..
So, things apparently happen for a reason.
Me getting sick, closing the bar, moving out of our house, living with my parents, neither of us not working, Sarah in school... all must have a purpose. Life is good. Love you all.
Stay strong and live on!
-Cheek
Oh..
Please feel free to remind me/us of some memories. I know I have plenty of them that I didn't state.
This will be closely monitored so keep them PG-13 hahaha.
<a href= "http://www.quicktopic.com/50/H/adwxwbALruAe"> Discuss Ebola</a>
<a href= "http://www.quicktopic.com/50/H/tuweQ5ASK2fTK"> Discuss Sports</a>
Thursday, September 18, 2014
Thank you
Thank You
A great big thank you to all of those who said prayers,
wrote letters, gave blessing through FB or personally or any other way, it was
greatly appreciated and I really needed the helping words and I think you all
helped me through this time. Thank you close friends, friends, acquaintances, and even those i harly knew or not even at all. Thank you for following my progress page and
keeping up with Sarah as she tried at times to make light of each situation. Thank
you to all that helped make my fund raising benefit a huge success and a lot of
fun. I may have been super tired and weak but it was great seeing everyone
showing their support. Emotions surely rose high that night. I didn’t even
really mind being in the wheelchair. The community really gave me an awesome
feeling on how seemingly everyone got together and showed all their kindness
towards me and my family. Thank you R & D for hosting, serving food and serving
many, many alcohol beverages.
I know I had asked for no visitors at the hospital(s) I was
in because I was so sick I didn’t want people to see me the way I was. I had
tubes going in and out of so many places and you could barely see my face,
which was a scary sight in itself. It was difficult to communicate with
anybody. Later on when I was in Bethezda
rehabbing I had 2 visitors, you know who you both are and I will always remember
you both for coming to see me. Meant a great deal to me.
Thank you to my family; my parents, my brother and his wife
who were all by my side more times than I can remember. It meant so much to me,
standing by my side and helping any way possible, even if it was just to
pretend that you knew what I was saying or at least trying to say! Thank you
for keeping me company and helping with rehab or even using the bathroom.
Thank you to my in-laws, I know I was sleeping most times
you visited but I know you were there, praying for me, comforting Sarah.
Melissa, you did so much for the benefit with your busy schedule and did so
much for Sarah during all of this time. It was all terrific.
Sarah. Thank you the most. Words can’t explain how amazing you were during all
of this. 8, 9 months pregnant being there for me every day, every step of the
way. I may not remember them, but I heard
your words. You kept me going. You stayed sane. You gave birth to our baby
without me by your side. You were unreal. Still are. Thank you. My rock.
Ryan and Scarlett. I’m here. And I’m not leaving. Love you
both. Ryan, you are my big boy, understood daddy was sick and has been very
mature through it all. He seemed to have grown so much since spring. So proud.
Scarlett is my baby girl who hopefully won’t remember me not being there for
her birth hahaha.
Thank you,
With love,
-Cheek
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)