Popskull!

This brown ale was aged in a paolo santo wood barrel. I was a little
scared by the label, but it was very very good. At 10% abv, it was
probably a good idea to split one bottle among the three of us. If you
have a chance, I highly recommend it.

Stay in school

These oak casks are filled with Popskull, a collaboration between 3
Floyds and Dogfishhead, a Delaware craft brewery. I bought a bottle to
take home and enjoy, although the label promises that it will make my
head explode. The tour was okay - it cost $1 and did not have any free
samples at the end (which was okay with me because I was the driver,
but Every other tour I have taken was free and ended with free
samples). Wait, I think New Glarus charged $5 for a small glass and
you got 3 samples for "free." The cask at the bottom left says "stay
in school" on it. I'm not sure who the target audience is for that
message because everyone on the tour is over 21, but I would have
given that advice to our tour guide. He, much like this post, rambled
on in a stream of consciousness that didn't make much sense.

Gumballhead!

From Halloweenhead to Gumballhead. I am at the Three Floyd's brewery
for lunch and a tour. Gumballhead is an American wheat beer and it's
pretty good. The cat looks a little bit like Bill the cat, but cooler.

Am I the only state employee who washes her hands?

I was disturbed by the first directive to wash my hands (as previously
posted), but now I understand that they have seasonal themed
announcements. Aren't we all adults? Don't we all know that we are
supposed to wash our hands? Is this sign really going to change
anyone's mind? Crazy.

Halloween Head

This post is a little late forthis year or super early for next year!
This bar is in Lincoln Park, or at least close. I think it is mostly
a university bar, but I'm not sure. They have this cool display of
carved pumpkins in front of the bar. Some quick fuzzy (aka "George
bush") math tells me there are about 200 pumpkins on dispay (there are
more that didn't fit in the picture). Some are lame, but some are
really well done.

The display reminds me of my favorite Ryan Adams song, Halloween
Head ... "head full of tricks and treats."

Inde is depressed

Inde is a dog. She lives in the now. She cannot delay her
gratification. The Phillies broke her heart. In 2007, she blamed Pat
the Bat. But this year, she does not have an obvious scape goat, so
she blames me. I cannot handle letting her down. I'm sorry, Inde.
Let's jump the bandwagon of some NHL team. Hey, wait, the Blackhawks
are supposed to be good. Let's go Blackhawks!!

Evil empire

I did all I could do, but the evil empire still prevailed. The
Phillies should hold their heads high. If we pick up one more starter,
a closer and a utility infielder who can hit, we're right back in it
next year! Way to go boys! It was a good year.

Game 6!!

I'm getting ready for game 6! Pedro versus Pettite. In Yankee
stadium. I've decorated the door and I'm wearing my heart on my
sleeve. Go Phillies!!

More cows

This one was a little out of my way, but I hiked down (and then up) a
couple flights of stairs to snap his picture. Technically, I guess I
should say her picture because this is a cow and not a bull? My
bovine knowledge is not very good, so I'm happy to be corrected. This
cow is at the UIC school of pharmacy and is a little scary with all
the drugs and pills. And she has funny pants!

Cliff Lee to pitch on 2 days rest!

Okay, maybe that is just a dream, but that's what we need! He only
threw 112 pitches in game 5, so maybe he will be available in the pen
for game 6 or 7!

Game 6, here we come!!

What a game!! I hate to say it, but all we need is Cliff Lee and a 6-
run lead going into the ninth! In the words of a good friend (last
seen parading around as a tub of oxy clean), it wasn't pretty, but
it'll do! I was on the edge of my seat as Damon got a lead-off hit in
the top of the 9th. But the Phillies pulled it out. We're going back
to NY to try to pull this out. Whew. Go Phillies! And Chase has 5
home runs in the World Series, tied with Mr. October himself. If I
recall, they made a candy bar after Reggie. How about a Cheesesteak
flavored candybar in honor of Chase Utley?

Philly pride

You can take the girl out of Philly, but you can't take the Philly out
of the girl. I'm wearing my Philly pride on my sleeve. Go Phillies!
Let's get game 5 and head back to NY!!

Foam!

When you pour Harpoon Leviathon into
a small glass, you get a tiny amount of beer and a very large head.

Lasagna

This pirate makes very good lasagna, I guess she is Italian. Yummy.
Too bad we are busy cheering for the Phillies. They are down 6-3 so
far in game 3.

Don't tell pip

But i'm going out for Halloween. Don't tell pip. I'm not sure I'll
make it home tonight.

Inde and Lily

Inde and lily are so into the world series! They also made us lasagna
with red sauce from scratch. Yummy. Now, go phillies!

Hair Net or Hair Cut?

You know you are getting older when you start sleeping in a hair net. Just as they say in those State Farm commercials, I'm so there. Three or four days this week my hair has been totally out of control when I woke up in the morning. I feel like the lead singer from Missing Persons in that, or any other, horrible 1980s MTV video. The way I see it, I can either start wearing a totally sexy hair net or I can get a hair cut. I used to wear my hair a lot shorter, but I grew it out about three years ago. I got tired of being called "sir," and I was also preparing to look for jobs in the less-liberal south, so I thought it was a good move. But now I'm in the midwest in a fairly liberal big city, I still don't have any real hair skills of which to speak, I'm tired of looking like a washed up 80s rock star in the morning, and shorter hair would cut down on the time it takes me to get ready in the morning and be better under the helmet. I'll keep thinking about it, but it might be time for a change.

Where do I put it?

I'm walking Inde after work when she stops to go to the bathroom. Isn't it embarrassing enough that she has to go right out in public with no privacy? Being the law-abiding citizen that I am, I whip out a plastic baggy and scoop it up. I tie the bag and look for someplace to throw it away. Not seeing any convenient bins, I turn to head home. On my way,I see this garbage can in front of a building. I wonder, where am I supposed to put my disease-transmitting pet waste if not in the garbage can? Should I just carry it around until I find some urban compost facility? I'm glad no city officials have been following inde around because I think she usually poops about two to three times day, times 400 days (approximately) that she has lived in Chicago, times the $1,000 penalty equals $1,000,000 in fines for merely picking up after my dog! This all seems crazy, but wait, there's more! Although I have not included a picture here, there are other signs in my neighborhood that say, "Pick up after your dog. $400 fine." Okay, I get it, it's $400 if you don't pick up after your dog, but it's $1,000 if you do and then try to throw it away. In this economy, I'm surprised anyone takes the financial risk of picking up after their dog! Don't even start with the cat ...

Scary

This is the second time I have used a picture from this storefront on my blog. Last time, it was the neon cow. This is the Halloween display. I don't know about you, but to me, this is a little over the top. I'm okay with scary, but this is horrorshow scary. Maybe it's the clown masks. I think we all have some leftover nightmare about clowns from our childhood. There was a two-headed infant chucky-type thing in the window, but they removed it. Good call. Let me know what you think about this window display.

Overheard during the Phillies game

After telling the story about the ghost tour and the boy whose ghost comes out of the Chicago River when a woman who is: (1) pregnant or a mother; and (2) has a birthday in the third week of March walks by, one of my guests (who happens to be pregnant), says that she can't be our ghost tester because her birthday is in January. One of my other guests says, "my birthday is in March, but I'm not gonna get knocked up for this."