Category: Entertainment

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Beer Food Movies

Alameda Brewhouse & Little Miss Sunshine

Tonight Kelly and I decided to go out for dinner. We’d looked up a bunch of restaurants near our house, thinking we were going to try Amalfi’s finally, but as we drove by the Alameda Brewhouse (site seems to be down at the moment) and noticed how pleasantly empty it looked we decided to stop in for a beer. We got sat down in a booth, got pints of their delicious, chocolaty Black Bear Double Stout on nitro, and after looking through the menu decided to stay. The previous times I’d been there it had been so full (it’s a very family friendly brewpub, which isn’t a bad thing, it’s just not what I tend to gravitate towards) that it had turned me off from going there completely. Love their beers, but just not the atmosphere. Tonight was very different though, and it was nice to spend a bit of time there. The service was great, the beer was great, sadly my choice of meal wasn’t fantastic. I’d gotten this chicken kabob greek salad and it was pretty bland. I left wishing I’d gotten a burger, or nachos, or onion rings… all of which passed me by while I sat there chewing on my relatively flavorless low-cal meal. Mocking me.

We got home and decided to pop in one of our Netflix movies, Little Miss Sunshine. Pretty good movie, though it had the same awkward and quiet tone that Napoleon Dynamite had. Some really funny moments, some really touching moments, and some really sad moments. Probably worth seeing, unless you hated Napoleon Dynamite.

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Beer Entertainment Food Work

Caught by the fuzz & a big crazy work week

My, where to start? Oh, I know! I got my first ever speeding ticket last Sunday. Kelly and I were on our way to my folks place for dinner and were running late. I was zooming down the highway, not really paying much attention, when I look in the rearview and see a large, manly-looking truck cut through the median. About 30 stomach-sinking seconds later I’m pulled over, apparently going 74 in a 55 (though I’m not sure entirely convinced about that, I looked down immediately as I noticed the police truck cross the median and I was going about 68). I was speeding, and given the fact that I know I drive fast pretty much every time I drive (I can’t help it, 55 is a stupid-slow speed limit meant for old people) I was probably due to get caught. I am however, a bit bummed about it, it’s my first ticket. So much for the clean record. *shrugs*. The dinner was delicious, Kelly had made a turkey shepherd’s pie for the family, and it was fantastic.

Come Monday, however, it was easy to get over my law-breaking blues, as this week was insane crazy at work. SuperSweetCo is nearing the big important 2.0 release of it’s flagship web app, and my role as UI designer couldn’t have been busier. Today was the deadline (and a big company demo) for all the new features, so that meant the past couple weeks have been full of long days, working weekends, culminating in a 13 hour day yesterday and a load of last-minute tweaks and fiddling to get the new features as polished as possible for today’s demo. I even ended up ditching what would have been a delicious dinner at Gino’s for Snooks and L’s birthday last night (went there last year). However I did briefly meet up at Greater Trumps for a pint, followed by a very short stop at Moon to meet with my brother T, before going home to work for a few more hours.

The demo went well enough (people clapped and cheered and such), and while I know that the next several weeks are bound to be pretty crazy as I continue to refine and modify the UI of the app, I’m excited to see all the new features and new design changes make their way into people’s hands.

After work I met Kelly at Rose & Thistle for a couple pints before heading home, where I’m now sipping on beers and relaxing a bit, looking forward to what I hope will be a weekend full of Call of Duty 4, movies, and general relaxing.

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Beer Entertainment Movies Work

Middle Earth at Kennedy School

Gondor warrior and an Elven maidenToday is Kennedy School‘s annual J.R.R. Tolkien Birthday Celebration, and I met my friend Snooks in the Cypress Room bar around noon so we could sit with our laptops, sip on beer, and do some work. I managed to get a few hours in before a combination of low battery power and low brain power (probably due to the beer) forced me to call it a work day.

GandalfThis was the second time I’ve been at Kennedy School during the Tolkien celebration, and it’s definitely a family affair, with “hobbits” in the hallways making balloon animals for the kiddies, a few people dressed in costume wandering around, the Willamette Radio Workshop performing segments from the Rings books in the gymnasium, and the theater running all 3 Lord of the Rings films. They also serve some food specials for the day: My Precious Onion Rings, Return of the King Burger (which sounded really good), Shire Stew, Middle Earth Pizza, and the Cracks of Doom Molten Lava Cake.

I only managed to snap a few photos, however, the two I’m posting are of the more impressive costumes (note, the appropriately jolly Gandalf, with his glass of wine in hand). Last year there was a really good Ring Wraith, sadly I didn’t manage to spot him this time around.

After leaving Kennedy School, Snooks & L, and Kelly & I went to Concordia Ale House for some dinner and a couple more beers. I had the fantastic Irish Cheese Steak sandwich, and a Hales Cream Stout. Mmmm.

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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.

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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.