Thursday, August 24, 2006
computer trouble
Problems with my computer or internet service is among the most frustrating shit on Earth.
Genius
It has recently come to my attention that there is a genius among men. A man has put photo's of food on the internet! Check out the coolest chicago based website I've ever seen. www.greasefreak.com This is incredibly original and I love everything about it, I'm also starving right now so that might help too.
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Wonderment
I hope some day I will be content with my possessions and stop thinking of what it is that I want. I know damn well it won't make me happy. Inner peace is one thing you can't buy.
follow up on the guitar thing
What is it about a guitar that makes me want the relationship between me and a guitar to be one that is something special and meaningful? I think of the idea of a custom made guitar. It is made specially for me by someone you meet and establish a repiore. It's like a romantisism. If the guitar has a deep meaning to me maybe it will inspire me to play the saddest songs and delightfulest of melodies. A guitar company I've recently found interest in has a four day vacation thing where you pay (a shit load) and get to go to the shop and sit down with a luthier and pick out exactly what you want and they make it custom for you, and on the last day they have a open mic night. This is appealing to me, but maybe I don't have to go to such lengths. Enter the notion of a gift. Instant meaning and importance, although a lot to ask. To much money to spend, that would be like buying an engagment ring but for the dude. So trash the notion. Also I made mac and cheese for lunch then realized there is no milk so the only substitute was sour cream, bad idea.
Sunday, August 20, 2006
Guitars
I recently came to the conclusion that I play the acoustic guitar and the electric bass. I've formally put the electric guitar behind me in terms of priorities. I still don't hestitate to shred an axe once in a while but I've gotten past dreams of les pauls and tube amps and all that shit. People who are close to me know that I'm a bit of an instrumentalist, but I've got to focus here, I mean, I'm twenty five, I don't want to find myself old and only decent on a shit load of instruments. I want to be kick ass on this and that with a good foundation on everything else. Can you dig? So my plan is to (once I have a decent job) get a big ticket acoustic guitar and that will be it, no more buying guitars, one really good guitar to be THE guitar. One I can grow with and be known for. I'm thinking, maybe, a gibson hummingbird, just an idea, or maybe a guild D-55 but I have a few other favorites too.
This week
I don't have much going on this week so I think I'll begin posting a little something of each microbrewerie I've been to. Now you've got something to look forward to.
Thursday, August 17, 2006
3276 beers drunk
I wonder how many beers I've drank in my life so far. It wouldn't be hard to estimate but the number could vary by the thousands.
So lets see, I'm twenty five (2/3/1981) now so i've been drinking for four and a half solid years. Most of which is in a style called "alcoholic". I think a good estimate for like a day would be like two a day, because some days I have less and some thursday nights or weekends I have signifigantly more but when I go out I rarely have more than four. So thats 14 beers a week, 52 weeks in a year plus half a year, thats like 3276. It's got to be more like five thousand but that can't be to far off, like I said it could vary by the thousands.
[Note: Recent estimates land within the upper 5K, 1/22/08]
So lets see, I'm twenty five (2/3/1981) now so i've been drinking for four and a half solid years. Most of which is in a style called "alcoholic". I think a good estimate for like a day would be like two a day, because some days I have less and some thursday nights or weekends I have signifigantly more but when I go out I rarely have more than four. So thats 14 beers a week, 52 weeks in a year plus half a year, thats like 3276. It's got to be more like five thousand but that can't be to far off, like I said it could vary by the thousands.
[Note: Recent estimates land within the upper 5K, 1/22/08]
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Called in sick
To follow up on a previous post, I called in to go to Lollapalooza. Yep, I went through with it, I had to, I paid alot of money for thoughs tickets. Here's how it went down:
My coworker knew what my plans were because I had expressed my interest in going to Lollapalooza and he was able to put two and two together. So, using what I've learned in the military (trust no one, especially your fellow soldier) when I called it went like this:
Me: "Dude, I must have bad karma or something."
coworker: "Whats up?"
Me: "I woke up puking this morning at like 6 am"
coworker: "Ha Ha, Douchebag"
Me: "So now I'm calling in for real, for the first time, ever"
coworker: "Damn, what about lollapalooza?"
Me: "I'm Pissed man, now I can't go. Oh well, transfer me (my call) to the manager".
manager: "Hello this is the M.O.D."
Me: "Hey, it's pete".
manager: "whats up pete"?
Me: "I was scheduled to work today but I've been puking all morning".
manager: "Do you think it was something you ate"?
Me: "It probably was".
manager: "well call me back at 1:00 and maybe you don't have to miss you whole shift".
Me: "ok"
I knew damn well I would be jammin out to aqualung at 1:00, so in an act of despiration I called my mom to see if she could get me a fake doctors note, she said no it's unethical and said "just don't call back, and tell him you slept all day". So I didn't call back, I went to the show, had an awsome time.
Monday when I had to work again I saw the manager and he didn't say a word about it, he must've forgot. Can you believe that, it's that easy.
My coworker knew what my plans were because I had expressed my interest in going to Lollapalooza and he was able to put two and two together. So, using what I've learned in the military (trust no one, especially your fellow soldier) when I called it went like this:
Me: "Dude, I must have bad karma or something."
coworker: "Whats up?"
Me: "I woke up puking this morning at like 6 am"
coworker: "Ha Ha, Douchebag"
Me: "So now I'm calling in for real, for the first time, ever"
coworker: "Damn, what about lollapalooza?"
Me: "I'm Pissed man, now I can't go. Oh well, transfer me (my call) to the manager".
manager: "Hello this is the M.O.D."
Me: "Hey, it's pete".
manager: "whats up pete"?
Me: "I was scheduled to work today but I've been puking all morning".
manager: "Do you think it was something you ate"?
Me: "It probably was".
manager: "well call me back at 1:00 and maybe you don't have to miss you whole shift".
Me: "ok"
I knew damn well I would be jammin out to aqualung at 1:00, so in an act of despiration I called my mom to see if she could get me a fake doctors note, she said no it's unethical and said "just don't call back, and tell him you slept all day". So I didn't call back, I went to the show, had an awsome time.
Monday when I had to work again I saw the manager and he didn't say a word about it, he must've forgot. Can you believe that, it's that easy.
Thursday, August 03, 2006
Brew haus
I'm in the process of writing a little something of the microbreweries I've been to and I feel it might be wise to put the type of establishment into focus a little bit to inform the uninformed.
There are 22 microbreweries on my list, of all of them, I would say from #10 through #18 (give or take) are all about the same in terms of beer quality you can expect. There are some microbrew pubs that are brewing only because it seems like a good business idea, these places typically have mediocre beers. You can tell these places in the staffs behavior. They never sneak sips of beer, and after their shift they won't stay and have a beer no matter how free it may be, if you ask them about a particular beer they will say something really lame or have the menus description (horoscope) memorized. Avoid these places.
Some brew pubs really care about what they are serving and strive for the highest quality and consistency. These would be the top 8 or 9 on my list, and that comes naturally to these places. These are the brew pubs with a dedicated following that is very much an intricate part of the pub and a staff that takes the beer personnally. Common with these elite pubs, they won't have just one or two good beers, they will all be good with the exception of maybe one. If there is a pub like the near your home my advice is to really charish it, they are few and far between. An excellent example is the #1 spot on my list, Emmett's Tavern and Brewery.
As for the run of the mill brew pub here's some good rule of thumb, look around see what everyone is ordering while considering the beer list. Most brew pubs will have one beer that is really good. If the pub has a huge list of brews, none of them will be very good, hope for a couple decent beers. Some brew pubs try to confuse a well seasoned pallet into thinking its a good pub with styles that no ones heard of like (hard to think of an example of a nonexistent beer style) names that are words that are completely foriegn. Usually it seems that they try to mask a bad beer with an unusual name hoping to give the idea it's a good beer that most of us just haven't heard of. Here's what I do in that stituation, taste a beer, if it tastes bad it's not a good beer, try something else.
The bottom few on the list, again, these places will always suck until someone slaps the owner and/or brewmaster in the back of the head. I need to use an example, Water Street Brewery, I sat down at the bar and i thought "Man, cool place" I knew I didn't have all night so I ordered the stereotypical sampler paddle. It came and the bartender said what each one was dispite the labels. I did what any beer guy would do, start from the lightest moving to the heavier beers. I really wondered how the brewmaster tastes a beer and says "This is good, lets serve it". He must be a complete moron or have no real idea of what he's doing. The beer had a thickness to it and I found it to be not the least bit drinkable. I was curious so I read a brochure they had stating the bars history and I read that it was opened recently and the brewmaster was also the owner, disapointing but logical. I have to assume that running a restaurant is stressful now pile on top of that brewing, you're not superman asshole. It's no wonder the beer blows.
I have to include this last part. The ever present beer menu complete with a helpful description of the beer. These are absolutly no different to that of a horoscope. Completely vague, usually says nothing of the actual beer. I wonder if it's the idea of what the brewmaster was hoping to brew. The best advice I can give is to just ask the bartender or somehow find out the type of beer i.e. Lager, pale ale, stout. Go into the place knowing what types of beer you enjoy and the differences in a few types and order using that as your guide. A little fun later, read the description for a good laugh.
Anyway, so thats the jist of the microbrewery.
There are 22 microbreweries on my list, of all of them, I would say from #10 through #18 (give or take) are all about the same in terms of beer quality you can expect. There are some microbrew pubs that are brewing only because it seems like a good business idea, these places typically have mediocre beers. You can tell these places in the staffs behavior. They never sneak sips of beer, and after their shift they won't stay and have a beer no matter how free it may be, if you ask them about a particular beer they will say something really lame or have the menus description (horoscope) memorized. Avoid these places.
Some brew pubs really care about what they are serving and strive for the highest quality and consistency. These would be the top 8 or 9 on my list, and that comes naturally to these places. These are the brew pubs with a dedicated following that is very much an intricate part of the pub and a staff that takes the beer personnally. Common with these elite pubs, they won't have just one or two good beers, they will all be good with the exception of maybe one. If there is a pub like the near your home my advice is to really charish it, they are few and far between. An excellent example is the #1 spot on my list, Emmett's Tavern and Brewery.
As for the run of the mill brew pub here's some good rule of thumb, look around see what everyone is ordering while considering the beer list. Most brew pubs will have one beer that is really good. If the pub has a huge list of brews, none of them will be very good, hope for a couple decent beers. Some brew pubs try to confuse a well seasoned pallet into thinking its a good pub with styles that no ones heard of like (hard to think of an example of a nonexistent beer style) names that are words that are completely foriegn. Usually it seems that they try to mask a bad beer with an unusual name hoping to give the idea it's a good beer that most of us just haven't heard of. Here's what I do in that stituation, taste a beer, if it tastes bad it's not a good beer, try something else.
The bottom few on the list, again, these places will always suck until someone slaps the owner and/or brewmaster in the back of the head. I need to use an example, Water Street Brewery, I sat down at the bar and i thought "Man, cool place" I knew I didn't have all night so I ordered the stereotypical sampler paddle. It came and the bartender said what each one was dispite the labels. I did what any beer guy would do, start from the lightest moving to the heavier beers. I really wondered how the brewmaster tastes a beer and says "This is good, lets serve it". He must be a complete moron or have no real idea of what he's doing. The beer had a thickness to it and I found it to be not the least bit drinkable. I was curious so I read a brochure they had stating the bars history and I read that it was opened recently and the brewmaster was also the owner, disapointing but logical. I have to assume that running a restaurant is stressful now pile on top of that brewing, you're not superman asshole. It's no wonder the beer blows.
I have to include this last part. The ever present beer menu complete with a helpful description of the beer. These are absolutly no different to that of a horoscope. Completely vague, usually says nothing of the actual beer. I wonder if it's the idea of what the brewmaster was hoping to brew. The best advice I can give is to just ask the bartender or somehow find out the type of beer i.e. Lager, pale ale, stout. Go into the place knowing what types of beer you enjoy and the differences in a few types and order using that as your guide. A little fun later, read the description for a good laugh.
Anyway, so thats the jist of the microbrewery.
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Calling in
I've never called in sick before. I'm forced to do this on friday because my priorities are to go to lolapalooza and not work. I'm debating what to say. I'm pretty sure I'll just go with the classic "I ate something and now I'm puking and can't come in". Part of me is like, I really don't care, it's a part time job anyway. I've worked there for a long time so having never before called in they should give me this one. Plus whats the worst they can do, write me up, I'm currently looking for a full time job anyway, they can fire me for all I care, I'm so burned out on that lame-ass job. I should quit and then really pound the pavement looking for a full-time gig, but I won't, I'm spineless.
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