Mudpuppy Porter

This is a chocolatey porter from Central Waters in Michigan. The label says it pours with a thick head, but I did not get one when I poured it. It has a chocolatey nose and a smell I've come to associate with a high abv, but the label does not list that info. It's dark as mud with an imperial taste and a slight coffee finish. One per night is probably enough.

Grand Teton Sweetgrass APA

I've tried a few Grand Teton's and this one was pretty good. It had a nice copper color and poured with a thick head. I think it's a little hoppy for an American Pale, which of course I like.

Metrolius Blonde Ale

This is the first beer I tried from this brewery - a brewery from Rochester, NY. It poured with a thin head, lots of carbonation and had some honey smell on the nose. This was not a bad blonde, but the label was a little better than the beer.

Midwest vs. East - from real bloggers!

I saw the headline for this column in the NYT this morning: http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/02/the-country-and-the-city/?emc=eta1  

They debate some of the same points that I raised in my initial posts on this blog way back when: midwest vs. east coast -- from fast food establishments to cars, family values to friendliness.  If you can get through the chatter at the beginning, there are some salient points about what I perceive to be the superiority of east coasters, especially New Yorkers.  I'm definitely ready to go back!

One year later ... Update on the rats

So, it turns out that the City of Chicago IS still interested in controlling the rat population. Turns out they have at least three coyotes that they turn loose in the loop after dark to hunt rats. These big cats have gps devices so they can be tracked and gathered up before the hard-working Chicagoans become coyote breakfast. I wonder whether if either of my coyote sightings have been city employees?

Shopping in the shadow

Last weekend was my birthday, or close enough, so we decided to take a day trip to a favorite brewpub followed by some outlet shopping. Which made me wonder, why are so many outlet malls built in the shadow of a nuclear plant?

Winner!

We bought lottery tickets in every state on our trip. We won on three tickets, including the $2 on the top ticket!

Clearance sale

I had heard that a large bookstore was closing a number of it's locations. I stopped in to look for some bargain CDs and a travel book. I did not know the reputable book store was also selling sex. And 60% off!! I guess I should have shopped sooner because the shelves were picked pretty thin.

Visibility = 0

Ok, that's an exaggeration. Visibility was more like 150 yards. You can't tell from this picture, but the snow flakes were about the size of half dollars. Every once in a while it seemed as though some urchin had thrown a snowball onto the windshield. Good thing this only lasted about an hour through the hills above Pittsburgh.

True

Road trips make for bad meals most of the time. Today was no different. I drove from Chicago to Bethesda under a little time pressure. Breakfast at the hotel was "free" and pretty good. Lunch, well, that's another story. Lunch was "hot and delicious pizza." True, if by hot and delicious you mean Luke warm and palatable. At least there was not a lot of traffic.

Rats!

Heard some disturbing news on the radio this morning: the city of Chicago is planning to cut back on efforts to control the city's rat population. The Norwegian rat, which is the variety found in the city, can produce 7 litters of 5-8 rats a year, can drop 50 feet without getting injured, can squeeze through a hole the size of a quarter, can jump 3 feet in the air, its teeth grow up to 5 feet a year but are continually ground down by gnawing through things like concrete blocks and they carry a disease which can be passed from your dog to humans. By all means, let them flourish!

View from the 23rd floor

I went to court this morning to pick up an order in one of my cases. The courtroom is on the 23rd floor. On a sunny day, the view is spectacular. Today, not so spectacular. I thought I'd take a picture anyway, in case it's my last trip there.

Overheard at the bus stop

Some days commuting gets the best of me. Some days it's mildly entertaining. My morning ride frustrated me (woman refused to step into the middle of the car and forced us all to go around her - unfortunately not atypical). My afternoon commute, however, went smoother and even entertained me.

At the bus stop, three young women were examining a device they had just purchased at a tobacco store. They were trying to figure out how to use it to roll something. After a couple entertaining minutes, a middle aged man in a suit approached the group and said, I don't know what you're planning to roll with that, but this is how you do it and proceeded to give them a tutorial. The women were embarrassed, especially the one who thought she knew what she was doing, but thankful. And I was mildly amused. Not a bad bus adventure (no stark naked drunk men).

Obstructed view

Great seats for the Yankees vs Nationals spring training game, except for this woman with the big hair in front of me. Her hair was so big that she did not even know that a large dragon fly had nested in it for an inning.

Tips for traveling or commuting

I'm sitting at my airport gate after what has been an interesting 24 hours of commuting and traveling. Here are some things that have annoyed me:

1. If the el car is packed and you are waiting on the platform, if I step off the train to let people out, don't try to get on before I re-board the train.

2. If there is one escalator up and one stair case next to it at the el station, don't go against the grain up the stairs when the rush hour crowd is trying to go down.

3. When you get dressed to fly: (a) don't wear flannel pajama bottoms; and (b) don't douse yourself in cologne or perfume, but DO shower and brush your hair.

4. Black checked pants are NOT gray and cannot be worn with a navy blazer, especially when your shirt is also black.

5. Flights to Florida are filled with people over 100 or under 2 or someone traveling with them.

That's it for now. I'm ready for Florida!

Too bad the drinks are so good

This is a sign posted at a local watering hole. The drinks are good, but the pretentiousness runs a little high for my taste. Every once in a while, however, I want a well-made cocktail, whatever the price.

The Chicago River

Chicago has been pretty warm the last few days and all of our snow melted! I took a walk along the Chicago River at lunch today. It was a little breezy but warm in the sun. I remember two years ago when I first moved to the city I could see the river from my office. One day in the spring, the bridges all went up and stayed up for a while. The bells kept ringing and it was sort of annoying. Finally, I looked out the window and saw what all the commotion was about - people were sailing up the river to Lake Michigan. It was beautiful. It's still a little early for the sailboats and we are expecting some more chilly weather, but the river was pretty this afternoon.

6 Degrees - and I'm not talking separation

This is a picture of the instrument panel on my car last night on my way home from the gym. Yup, it says 6 degrees, fahrenheit. That's pretty cold and it's supposed to get colder. But it reminds me of a few cool things about my car (and cold weather):

1. It is six and a half years old and still on the original battery. It sat for four days through temperatures in the low teens without me driving it anywhere. And the battery still had enough juice to start. That's pretty good.

2. It was nearly out of gas, so I filled the tank. I checked my records and the last time I got gas was November 28, 2010. Amazing.

3. It only has 53,194 miles on it, despite a number of round trips between Philadelphia and Nashville, then Philadelphia and Chicago.

4. It has heated seats! And during a cold spell like we are having in Chicago now, heated seats rock.

5. At -40, the Celsius and Fahrenheit scales are equal.

6. At -40, you can pour water out of a cup and it will hit the ground already frozen. Try it sometime.

A new s'more

This is an Oreo (minus the insides) plus a roasted marshmallow and a piece of gourmet dark chocolate with sea salt. Brilliant!

Finally!

The wait is over - whipped cream with alcohol in it. This is perfect for all those silly shots for which you are not supposed to use your hands. I don't plan on trying this, but if it's any good, let me know.