Even getting money back…one day…if I have calculated right…doing the tax forms sucks the life out of you.
Author: Alan
Friday The Last Of April Chat-a-roo
Wasn’t it just last Friday? Time is flying. I am making arrangements for an undergrad reunion so I suppose I am a bit sensitive to these things. Yes, 25 years ago I was a seedy weedy sullen yute at the University of Kings College and soon people will be returning there from across the globe. From Engerlant to the Yukon so far. Of course I dread it. But if you qualify as a mid-late 80s grad, you should go. Two words: video dance.
- Update: The Flea is good enough to point out one of the sillies things I have read in a long time. Never mind Alberto Gonzales, WMD, Libby, drugged up Limbaugh just saying no, Enron economics, Saskatchewan in the 1990s, moral majority, Oliver North, trickle down economics and a bazillion other things we could all trot out if we have 27 seconds to spare – conservatives apparently don’t lie. What was it Alberto said? Oh, yes – they just don’t remember. Flea’s line is far more honest and admirable:
…what I like best about being a reactionary is that I do not have to make sense.
- While I promised not to slag Web 2.0 for a while, I think it is entirely in my rights to point out that Blogger and Podcaster magazine is a wee bit Web -1.0 for me. Don’t get me wrong. I bought Yahoo magazine back in around 1996 and still wish I had those sitting around. But why do I need a magazine about this which is essentially a magazine?
- I announced the formation of CAMWA – join in.
- The New Liberaltarian Progressive Democratic Conservatives are having a bit of a hard time. First, I have a hard time with the fire and brimstone the-sky-is-falling the-sky-is-falling flip out of last week turning into the 8 billion dollar green millstone placed around the neck of the consumer…but not so much the polluters. Then, there is the steering of public funds into the boosting of Tory backbenchers prospects through focused funding of local instances of national celebrations. [Ed.: Yes! I can write that sentence without using the word “sponsorship” so it must be different.] Not to mention the application of creationist analysis to a war zone: torture is a theory and as there is no proof it cannot be. I hope the Prime Ministers groomer is especially on her game. Wouldn’t want him to notice the slide and take it personally.
- But green is not all bad. David recently posted about generating kites in the sky. It was announced this week that the largest solar power facility in North American is going to be built in Sarnia. Soon there will be again talk of the sling tide project.
- It’s also been a bad week for movie actors. Just as the Prime Minister’s handlers wish he had found other things to do – besides, you know, saying what is on his mind – so, too, wished Hugh Grant that he had not thought that kicking the arse of someone in public was a good idea. At least he only used his foot. Richard Gere tried to enter into some sort of merger with Shilpa Shetty, a noteworthy Indian actress, and now like Grant he faces charges.
What is it about men passing their best before date? You consider an agreement with a toothless non-profit the same as an agreement with a nation state. You consider low level assault either by boot to the arse or smothering hug to be your right. You consider traveling 1600 km to sit in a dorm room only to realize you are equidistant to the old wrinkly stage again the right thing to do.
Pity men as they move into their golden years. We can’t help it.
CAMWA: The Campaign For Watery Ale
My favorite Pennsylvania (unless Mario Lemieux is now officially a Pennsylvanian) Lew Bryson is continuing to develop his very cogent argument, as we have discussed before, for the support of lighter flavourful session ales as an equally legitimate part of the broad beery spectrum. To my mind, the problem is that the water in beer needs to be described in a way that is the equal to the pervasive mass marketing by the macro-industrial BeerCo or as legitimate as the current alt.beer mania for the big bombastic hophead’s dream or rarefied boozy ancient monkish elixer.
In short, there has to be something about lower strength beer that can be described to capture the imagination. Think about water – it is vital, something we consume daily, it is can be fresh and refreshing…yet to call something “watery” is a slander. And remember when we talk about water we actually are talking about a heck of a lot more than the H20. Water is the conduit for the mineral make up of beer, the very defining element of the terrior that in large part makes the finest wines desirable. We know that Burton and Colorado makes hard water beer while Dublin and central New York make their brews soft due to what is under foot. It is the under foot print.
What is the campaign slogan that can make the water in your beer the preferred characteristic of distinction? All I need to think of is good old batch 29 but that is just me. Twenty five years ago, we Canadian kids, then aware of the then superiority of our brewing, knew the very successful “Tastes Great…Less Filling” ad campaign for southern brew Miller Lite was really all about taste and low alcohol strength. We were all told that anyone could drink it all night and so you could – except we up here would never dream of it because we were looking for the effect, we were going for the buzz. Does that idea of beer should not let you down now need to be added to the cultural mix? Does a long day at work demand a long night’s worth of beer without the hangover or the drunk tank? You can see what would happen. First, MADD would go…mad. It would be glorifying beer drinking even if it would be a campaign for moderation. Then, there would be the issue of price. I should be able to drink four pints of 3% beer for the same price as three pints of 4% and two of 6% or at least there should be some significant reflection. But that may strike at the bottom line. How can that be the story be told without risking the premium rightfully placed on brewing craft ale becoming part of the spin?
So what is the slogan that will frame it all for us so that we get the idea that we can learn to love the water, too? Having one for the road is never the right idea but having another because it is a beer that it built for two might be exactly what we all need.
Barbara Pym
I rarely read fiction any more. And I don’t think I can point to a favorite author in that part of literature where there are no references to beer or brewing. Well, this does allow me to read Inspector Morse mysteries as that character is never seen consuming solid food, preferring a quick pint followed by a slower one as a means of problem solving.
But I read this yesterday about an eccentric British novelist called Barbara Pym who died 27 years ago. Usually I find good eccentric writing mainly in the form of essays. Right now I am reading Starkness at Noon by Richard Boston which is a collection of his pieces from The (Manchester) Guardian from the mid-90s. And, oh, he was involved in the establishment of CAMRA to some degree in the 1970s so there is that, too. He appears to be the opposite of Pym in many ways – mainly a bit rough around the edges – but one cannot pick and choose amongst one’s eccentrics. But they both seem to have an interest in personal quirks and foibles. And I do have that whole problem with watching Heartbeat on TVO. Yet I am prepared to only get page ten…depending on the beverage references.
Four Years. Four. Long. Years.
3628 posts over four years. That is an average of 3628 posts for every four year period. All the while I have made few observations of note on the war that began weeks before the blog did, on the state of Canadian politics, on me, on blogging. But I did great Friday bullet point chats. Yes! It started just after I left my thirties and on my next birthday I will be 45.
No phrase captures what blogging means to me more that “plea for help”. While there have been highlights like astronaut art, Tantrama City and a careful examination of my relationship with pork, it has not been without its downside. The obvious cut and paste gap fillers, the riding of too many band wagons, the shoddy appeals to science, religion and law. But there has been sport, there has been travel in the states, there has been…sports and travel in the states.
And there has been you. While I have let my real life relationships drift, I have met exactly three…no, eight more people because of blogging. I mean met. The rest of you hide behind anonymity or silence. But for all of that only two have been banned with two others ripping out of here on that sea on confused anger and self-inflating indignation that likely is the hallmark of the rest of their lives. In the end – and like so many of us – I can honestly say on a daily basis thank God there has been beer. It it weren’t for the beer blog I would have packed this in years ago. And Hans. Thank God for Hans. Gary’s nice, too.
Now I have to rush again…a little late for work…again.
Stats Are A Mug’s Game
Expressing the results of a statistical survey is a tediuos and difficult thing to do yet it is the stuff of bloggers dreams, rife with the opportunity to point the finger of accusation and scream “BIAS! BIAS!!!” without any recourse to any foothold in reality. Yet this statement leaves me wondering about the use of “but”:
A quarter of those surveyed feel their organization “walks the talk” when it comes to work-life balance but only 29 per cent feel their employer truly cares about their work-life balance.
Never minding the fact that an employer really cannot “truly care” unless you are the employee of a sole proprietor, would not a 25% part of a whole be smaller than a 29% part of the same whole, indicating that 4% more employees feel kindly about the acts of the boss than those who hear the words of the boss? Ought not the dour “but” be a hopeful “yet”?
I am so confused I need you to comment.
Watertown Update
Interesting doings across the river in Watertown according to WWNY, though their choice of illustrating the story with a photo of half a Bulgarian nuclear reactor from 1968 is some what curious:
The Town of Watertown’s first two domes aren’t even off the drawing board yet, and already there is talk of a third dome. At a town board meeting Monday night, town supervisor Joel Bartlett disclosed that a group of private investors are considering a $25 million theme park in the town. The theme park would have its own dome.
News of the possible investment comes as Bartlett and other town officials consider whether the town should raise $10 milion to build two domes of its own. One dome would be the “event” dome, seating 6,000 people for sporting events, concerts and conventions. The other would be a smaller dome that would replace the town’s west side fire station. The cost is pegged at no more than $10 million, with the money coming from grants and taxes other than property taxes.
“It’s a big investment we’re asking folks to consider, and we want to do our ‘due diligence,'” Bartlett said. Town officials said a “board of managers” would ovedrsee the domes. The town board will get more details at its next meeting.
Good – no plan that the contractors to be chosen will be Uzblkinovokinov + Concretovi…though a glowing green blob on the horizon would certainly make finding it on the drive over easy enough. We like going over – as is obvious – but in winter a shorter hop is better than always putting six or eight hours of driving into a weekend so the prospect of new things to do so close is pretty nice. The expansion of Fort Drum is obviously creating an economic boom over in Jefferson County as the main drag seems to have had a new mall area pop up over the last few months.
Have a look around yourself as the season opener for the Wizards is now officially a Gen X at 40 sanctioned event:
The Watertown Wizards open the 2007 New York Collegiate Baseball League season on Friday, June 8th, at Alex T. Duffy Fairgrounds, against the Glens Falls Golden Eagles. Game time is 7:00 PM.
Glens Falls! Pttuie!!! At least we are not playing the Diamond Miners. More info on the Wizards here.
Four In A Row
First sweep of the Yankees at Fenway in 17 years, fifth time in history that any team hits four homers in a row. To be fair, it was also rookie Chase Wright’s, the pitcher, second game.
Without getting into a blow by blow, it was a bit funny when Wily Mo Pena, the fifth batter, did not hit a home run:
Only one other pitcher, Paul Foytack of the 1963 Los Angeles Angels, had ever allowed homers to four consecutive batters. But Foytack, at least, was pulled after the fourth home run. With Colter Bean just starting to loosen in the Yankees’ bullpen, Wright stayed in to face Wily Mo Pena with the ballpark buzzing. The fans gasped as Pena dribbled a foul grounder — what, not a home run? — and Wright finally ended the barrage with a strikeout.
And it was nice to see Varitek pound the fourth one, giving rise to A-Rod’s “holy-mo-lee-toe” grimmace caught in this picture as the last of the four home run hitters ran past his spot at third base.
A Day In Watertown New York
Steve French
Regular readers will know that I take great joy in being able to pop over the border that is 35 minutes from my front door and nose around northern New York state. Today, we primarily went to go to the Thompson Park Zoo at Watertown, sitting on a hill behind the town and it was a great day to check out the bat house, the caribou, the bears as well as Steve French in the photograph above. All in humane outdoor fenced areas and all native species now or in the recent past. Turtles get as big billing as the fisher and wolves.
Before the zoo, however, the great revelation was out first visit to the new outlet of the Texas Roadhouse chain across from the Salmon Run Mall. Best ribs ever. I tell you now lie and I like ribs. They were smokey and sweet but most of all they were massively meaty. Culturally appropriate side dishes and craft beer were there, too. Yet the meat seems to be the main theme there as there was, in the foyer, a chilled glassed display of superbly cut steaks – including a 32 oz. ribeye about two inches thick. Frankly, if they can do a steak that big well, I would order one with four salads and all of us would share. There is something about NY state and beef. My best experience so far with a bit of steer was at Oswego, a Delmonico with blue cheese at King Arthur’s brewpub.
One curiosity of the day was the pavilion at the back of Thompson Park pictured below. An oval of stone and wood which seems to have forgotten its original purpose. What took place in the middle? Why would people sit around and stare into the oval’s center?
Fantabulastictasity
Christmas colours
Was last night’s 7-6 defeat of the Yankees by the Red Sox the best game I have ever seen? No, as my only trip to Fenway was when I was ten and I saw the Yankees lose something like 10-9 live from the bleachers. And there was that gutting of the former Highlanders by the Bostonians in 2004. But this one was up there.
First, the starting pitching was fairly string not the greatest. Andy Pettitte was better than Schilling, who was not as bad as his awful first outing but no where near his last two starts. Rivera sucked and Okajima, the pitcher many think is in the bullpen to give Dice-K someone to talk to, came out and was as effective a closer as I have ever seen. A-Rod started to walk towards first at one point during his final at bat, failing to notice that he had just been eviscerated by a wicked good curve that dropped exactly where and when it needed to drop.
And the offense was all upside-down, too. Ortiz stretched a single into a double. Variteck homered. Manny was quiet but worked in a walk after being 0-2 in the count when we needed it. And Coco came back to life last night. Out-playing his counterpart and shadow Johnny “hugs money” Damon [Ed.: pittui!] he beat out a ugly throw from A-Rod in his third at bat and in his last, ripped one into the corner just skimming past first base to tie the game. The Boston Herald called him an “offensive stud“.
We are off to Yankee land today with a trip to the zoo and maybe supper out at Sackets Harbor. Day tripping with today’s 4 pm start on the radio.