My blog n'at

Its good to be the king!

Teaspoon, I’m not quite sure how to sum up this past year besides saying it was amazing and educational. You came to us 2 months early, weighed just over 3 pounds and were born shortly after 3pm but we wouldn’t get to hold you until 9pm that evening. The nurses kept telling us you were a fighter and that there was something special they could see in you. For the next 28 days your mom and I spent every possible hour by your incubator in the NICU as you fought to get stronger with feeding tubes and wires monitoring your heart and lungs.

Now 1 year later you’ve lived up to the fighter title. Coming in at just under 21 pounds, you’ve proven to be a healthy and vibrant young bald headed man. You have 8 teeth already, can speed crawl and have almost mastered walking on your own. I’m proud of you son and can’t wait to see what you have in store for us next.

love,
dada

and I’d do the same thing.

I don’t see what the big deal is and people, give them a freaking break. They busted their asses for years preparing for this one event and they came out with the gold. From all reports I’ve read this was after the fans have left and the media remained. There is absolutely no harm in celebration 30 minutes after the fact and just because it was smokes and beer over probably champagne and some other boring ass dried up tradition some people are having a fit. You’re not disrespecting. You’re celebrating the moment and when the fans are gone who cares, you’re not breaking any laws (well maybe the girl was is 18 was) and not being lewd or crude. You’re having a beer and smoking a cigar. If you’re worried about your kids you should stop watching professional sports and get a grip. Is your issue the fact they drank and smoke or that they came back out on the ice… when everyone was gone?

Granted I would never drink that Molson crap but its the beer of Canada so whatever, fire it up girls you deserve it!

My 34th birthday was Sunday and overall my weekend was pretty uneventful which is kinda how I wanted it. Most people have the 25 freak out, me its 34. I’ve always dreaded that age because when I was growing up I remember thinking how old my brother seemed at that age and now I’m there. What do you expect, I was 16 at the time so in perspective it’s similar to my nephew/godson Ben right now.

Lushie calls me last Wednesday to say that the ceiling in the kitchen is falling in. I get home and see our beloved vagina ceiling which I’ve now named Betty White. We both agree that her and Teaspoon should go to her mother’s for the weekend since the landlord said he would be over to fix it. Friday morning arrives, they leave and I wait… and wait…. and wait… and well you get the picture. I burned 2 vacation days to wait for repairs that never came. I love this guy.

Once late afternoon rolled around and I realized I was stood up there was only one thing I could do; buy a case of beverage. If you’re unfamiliar with my birthday treat I present to you the Weyerbacher Big Beers case ($54/case)

You may be scratching your head as to why I selected this one. When I first started ever performing beer reviews this was my first case which was purchased with Griff. The smallest AVB is 9% in this variety case.  In it you will find Old Heathen(10%), Double Simcoe IPA (9%), Blithering Idiot(11%) and Merry Monks Ale (9.3%).

Dinner Friday night night was; bah who am I kidding it was a Friday during Lent… I didn’t eat. I got word that our big surprise for SIDT was happening that day and not a week later so after catching my breath and checking a few things made the decision that I wasn’t going to spend my first bachelor birthday weekend doing any work. I’ll have time for that this week.

Saturday was spent with 2 things on my mind, NHL10 and BBQ. One of those two took me down for the count and it wasn’t the video game. I went to Smokey Bones for a rack of ribs and would soon find out this would be an epic fail.  You’re gonna have to wait to find out why though. Its worthy of its own post.

Saturday night was me, curling and chatting online until almost sunrise. Damn you west coasters but thanks for the birthday wishes and great time

Sunday, the birthday, was pretty mellow and I chilled at home, visited some fam and then the house was packed once again with Teaspoon craziness.

So there’s my recap. I have plenty of posts coming up when I’m dodging falling ceiling.

1 year ago today my 10+ year career came to an end at ForeSystems/Marconi/Ericsson and since then life has been most educational. I don’t think anyone ever knew how close I was to packing up the family and moving out of state. Thankfully I said no and now have an amazing job doing something I love.

There isn’t much to say about the last day. I came in at 9am, turned in my laptop at 11 and was unemployed by 11:30am. I left immediately because, and this you probably didn’t know either, went downtown to meet with Dennis Roddy from the Post Gazette. He wanted to do a story on me about unemployment and how I was going to handle being a dad-to-be and jobless. The story never went to press (at least not that i know of) but he did take some incredible video I heard. Hey Dennis, still have it?  It was an emotional interview and he was smart getting me moments after I was let go.

So now we’re here 1 year later and on the eve of my 34th birthday. I have a great job, a fantastic family that I would do anything for even when Teaspoon beats on me while I sleep and I have a giant vagina in my ceiling. Eh, 2 outta 3 ain’t bad.

I have a vagina in my ceiling. That is what it has been aptly named by quite a few of you so we’re going with that. In fact twitter has named it “Paris Hilton” or “Tila Tequila”.

That’s the latest damage in our house. I’m working on the splash screen for videos so you can see first hand how we got to where we are today. Needless to say I’ll be staying home today.

I’m beside myself. Rational thoughts at this point is amusing to me. If you follow me on Twitter there’s no doubt that you know of the destruction that the Pittsburgh snow storm last week laid on us. In case you missed it it went something like this: it snowed, it snowed more, kept snowing, started to melt, massive water damage.

I had to get on my blog tonight for a few minutes just so I could forget about the water world around me.  I will do a full recap this week to get everyone caught up. First of all you guys rock! I have some of the greatest friends in the world! The outpouring of support has been incredible and while ppl want to dog Pittsburgh I have to say yinz have the biggest hearts and I thank you.

I appreciate all of the help with tips and legal support and as great as it would be to “sue the fckers”, as I was told many times, there is a process for everything and as always we have a plan. I can’t go into details just yet but when the time is right I’ll flash the bat signal. The dining room (you know it as the pregnant wall) is starting to have issues where the window pictured above won’t open or close. We are safe for now and just hope the rest of the ceiling doesn’t come down.

Pictures and more video coming soon.

Hey didnt we do this last year and in 2008? Oh yeah and 2007…

Upon reading an article in the Post Gazette we found out that Vintage Estate in Boardman, Ohio was ranked as the number 1 beer store in the world. You read that correctly, THE WORLD… in Boardman, Ohio! If you’ve never been to Boardman its basically strip mall heaven. Take Upper Peach in Erie or say 19 in Cranberry and multiply that by 10.

We’ve always heard about this place but never traveled. I guess we thought it was farther than it really is plus we think “Ohio? that’s another goddamn state!” (see, I’m a geography whiz). Turns out that it’s only 30 minutes from Cranberry TWP where we have SIDT Studio A. That’s right, it’s faster for us to get to Boardman than it is to Monroeville, Murrysville or anything in the South Hills.

We arrive shortly before 7pm at a store front that looks the size of Bocktown. Walking in the clouds parted and angels sang from the heavens. Immediately to our right were shelves of beers that we have never seen in PA; most importantly The Bruery.

That gives you a rough layout of the store. Its wall to wall beer and even more wine in the middle.  There is a tasting table in the back and also a bar in a side room that serves drafts and incredible flatbread. You can purchase a bottle and drink it in store but someone at the bar has to open it for you plus there is a small corking fee. Even with that the prices were considerably cheaper than PA. Keep in mind PA’s bullshit system for selling beer and the incredibly high tax (Johnstown flood was 74 years ago and we still pay on it). Hopslam in Pgh – $4.75/bottle | at Vintage Estate $2.99.

Vintage Estate is beer heaven and you need to visit. They have roughly 748 different beers and I would say 80% are ones we can’t get in PA. Its a short drive and if your significant other is giving you grief there are strip malls galore to keep them occupied. Downside, your beer wont be stronger than 12%abv. You’re not getting DFH 120 Minute here.

Here you go… The Beer List (some were doubles and triples):

• Alesmith Horny Devil
• Alesmith Speedway Stout
• Alesmith Wee Heavy
• Avery Hog Heaven
• Avery Salvation
• Avery The Reverend
• Allagash Curieux
• Birrificio Le Baladin Super Baladin Ale
• Brasserie Dieu Du Ciel ! Rigor Mortis Abt Abbey Style Brown Ale
• Brew Kettle Dark Helmet Imperial Schwarzbier
• Cantillon Classic Gueuze Ale (aged in oak barrels)
• Dark Horse Amber Ale
• Dark Horse Crooked Tree IPA
• Dark Horse Raspberry,
• Dark Horse Scotty Karate Scotch Ale
• Dark Horse Too Cream Stout
• Great Divide Oak Aged Yeti
• Kiuchi Brewery Espresso Stout
• Kiuchi Brewery Japanese Classic Ale
• Kiuchi Brewery Red Rice Ale
• Kiuchi Brewery Sweet Stout
• Kiuchi Brewery XH (matured in sake casks)
• Left Hand Brewing Company Fade to Black
• Mikkeller It’s Alive Wild Ale
• New Holland Charkoota Rye Smoked Doppelbock Lager
• Ommegang Biere de Mars (Batch 2, October 2008)
• Rust Belt Brewing Coke Oven Stout
• Rust Belt Brewing Old Man Hoppers IPA
• Rust Belt Brewing Rusted River Irish Red Ale
• Stone Brewing/Brew Dog Collaboration Bashah
• The Bruery Hottenroth
• The Bruery Orchard White
• The Bruery Saison Rue
• The Bruery Rugbrod
• Troegs Javahead Stout