Author: ryan

Categories
Beer Food Work

Kelly leaves town, I play a bit hard

Yesterday early afternoon Kelly picked me up from my work so I could driver her to the airport. After dropping her her off, I got halfway home before noticing her phone sitting on the passenger seat. Drats! So I turn around and speed back to the airport, park, rush in and find a paging phone. I hoped she would hear it, I never ever pay attention to those things myself. Fortunately a few minutes later she came walking out of the crowd. Crisis averted.

I went home from there (figured it’d be quicker for me to get back working if I didn’t drive all the way back into downtown.

Later I took the bus to Greater Trumps to hang out with Snooks on his birthday along some some other friends. Later my brother T showed up and we buzzed over to Rose & Thistle for a couple more pints and some food (mmm… sausage roll).

Felt a bit, ahem, delicate all day long. It was a long day.

Categories
Beer

A totally sweet Christmas present arrives

One of my cousins(-in-law) got me one of the most awesome gifts a beer lover could get, ever… a few months subscription to the Beer of the Month Club (more specifically the Microbrew Beer of the Month Club). Today my first shipment arrived (!!). I received 12 bottles, four different styles, two each from two different featured breweries. The ones I got today were from the December selections, two from Atwater Block Brewery out of Detroit (Salvation IPA, and Vanilla Java Porter) and two from Nutfield Brewing Company out of New England (Old Man Ale, and Black 47 Stout).

So far I’ve tried the Salvation IPA (which was very good, and this comes from someone who doesn’t typically like IPA’s, especially those overly-hoppy kind typically brewed here in the NW) and the Old Man Ale, which was (is, as I’m currently sipping on it) DELICIOUS… a great balance of malt, hops, and a nice light and yet complex flavor. I’m excited to try the remaining two styles (which I may well do later, if so I’ll update this post).

Pretty rockin awesome gift. Thanks T! 🙂

I’m tempted after my gift subscription ends to extend it to include some of the imported beers. I’ve gone through the selections from 2007 and they include beers from all over (Poland, Germany, England, Turkey, Czech Republic, France, Scotland, Belgium, Canada, Brazil, and Sri Lanka). For more information you can also go here for information on other ‘of the month’ clubs (wine, cheese, cigars, chocolates, etc).

UPDATE: just cracked open the Vanilla Java Porter, very good. It’s got a coffee and slightly chocolaty start with a vanilla finish. Pretty tasty.

UPDATE 2: now having the 4th and final style I received today, the Black 47 Stout, which is also very delicious without being overly strong, and a nice malty and chocolaty finish. Mmmmm.

Categories
Beer Technology Work

4 gigabyte Horse Brass

Last Friday I ordered some RAM for both Kelly and my laptops (through my work’s IT department, saving about $40 from what I’d have paid otherwise). After ordering I was told it would be 3 to 5 business days. I arrived to work this morning and had the RAM already. Woohoo! So I borrowed the tiny screwdriver required and upgraded my MacBook Pro from 2 GB to 4GB (the maximum), and later tonight upgraded Kelly’s MacBook too. So now we’re both maxed out on what we can do to these machines, and it was massively cheaper than adding such an upgrade through Apple (each 4 GB kit I just bought came to just under $100, the same upgrade when ordering the laptop at Apple’s site is a whopping $700!)

Before going home I met Snooks at Horse Brass for some beers, joined later by Kelly. Mmmmm… delicious Beamish on nitro.

Categories
Entertainment Movies

Good and Bad Movie Review

Watched a couple movies this weekend, as Kelly and I had some Netflix starting to pile.

The first was Shoot ‘Em Up, which was, well, very disappointing. I understand what the film was going for; a cheesy, over-the-top, tongue-in-cheek action flick with silly one-liner’s and lots of gun fighting and car chases. Shoot ‘Em Up had all that, however it failed to pull it off. Clive Owen‘s delivery of the one-liner’s just didn’t work (I imagine the film would have been much better had Bruce Campbell been cast as the lead character), and I groaned out loud more than once at how stupid the film was.

The other movie we watched was Cinderella Man, the story of Great Depression-era boxer James J. Braddock directed by Ron Howard. I enjoyed the movie quite a bit. The story, sets, costumes, and acting were all good, and it was just enough to practically erase Shoot ‘Em Up from my brain. Almost.

Categories
Entertainment Humor Work

Working for the weekend

After two whole days of work I’m already pooped, however it was a good couple days. My energy level was at 11 (versus the usual wavering between 6 and 9) from all the time off. I wish I could have a week off every couple weeks to re-energize. It does the brain good.

For some late Friday fun, be sure to check out this post by my friend Snooks. It will make you smile. No, seriously. It WILL make you smile. Unless there’s something wrong with you.