My blog n'at

But not in July. I took a well deserved break from the interwebs and focused on work and my family.

August 2011
I sat down with Pitt Girl… err Jane Pitt… err Ginny and gave her a quick education on craft beer while we mocked each other for 2 hours at Bocktown. It appeared in her August column in Pittsburgh Magazine.

September 2011
I drank a box of Franzia. I provided, served the beer and attended Podcamp Pittsburgh 6 briefly and made the most out of the after party in true SIDT fashion which included tailgating the party. The Teaspoon Project took shape and also forced me to buy a new digital camera. Craft Pittsburgh had a nice spot of us in their latest issue. I had Dave’s Hot n Juicy in my mouth. Yes, I’m still giggling over it.

October 2011
I planned and executed the perfect homecoming concert with the help of 76F weather and Scott Blasey playing a standing room only show. Hockey season started which lead me to eating a $12.50 burger. The infamous (That means more than famous, Dusty) Jim Lokay said farewell and left Pittsburgh for Bawwwstun. Yinzer traffic hasnt been the same since and Beantown got classy. Kadhafi was finally held accountable for Doc Brown’s death while his people shoved many things up his ass. I really don’t understand my kids some days.

November 2011
I finally learned how to home brew. I’m proud to say that as I’m typing this that my stash is just about gone. Google Plus proved it’s absolutely insane.  My ongoing battle with a root canal started and still isn’t  finished.

December 2011
Chris Cornell played one of the best solo shows of any artist in the history of music. I fell in love with LuLu’s Noodles. Dealt with a very emotional day as I celebrated the 5th anniversary of my dad’s passing by cracking open my very first bottle of homebrew with him. I visited the Golden Corral for the first time and was left speechless. The kids took down Santa and O-man turned 1.

So there is 2011 in a nutshell. 2012 the world is supposed to end of the world so I’m debating if I should plan to do things or kick back and take it easy. Who am I kidding, I’ll be running between work and kids activities while bitching my basement still isn’t clean.

Stay thirsty my friends…

One thing that I’m bad at is remembering the year. I kept thinking it was 2010 for some reason and have no idea why 2012 doesn’t seem far fetched. Maybe I have a thing against years with odd numbers? This past year was eventful personally but when it came to blogging it was kinda meh. Either way here’s a quick recap so my kids don’t have to sift through archives.

January 2011
Year started off great with the Winter Classic (even though Pens lost) and spending the first 2 weeks home with my new baby. I also decided that I would attempt to go a full year without drinking a Bud/Miller/Coors product. Not to be some elite prick but to see for myself how tough it would be. With the amount of picnics we attended and moments of weakness for going cheap I’m proud to say I’ve made it a full year and some days.

February 2011
Kept the busy pace with a quick trip to Baltimore to pick up the first of what would be many awards for a website I made. Even thought it was winter I was falling in love with the city. I will be going back soon. I also hit my mid 30′s while only suffering a minor “oh shit, I’m getting old” moment and Teaspoon got his first haircut while hitting the terrible 2.

March 2011
2 things happened, we got sick and I ate a lot of fish.

April 2011
My mom wanted to know why I didn’t invent Facebook, the internet or cure cancer. I had some views on the sale of Iron City which turned out to piss off a bunch of yinzers and Pittsburgh purists. Eh, it happens.

May 2011
Should I Drink That turned 5 years old on the 5th and we had a whirlwind bash in Boardman, Ohio as we took over the Big Tap In after party. We cracked open a 101 oz bottle of Double Arrogant Bastard that we have been sitting on for 4-5 years. It came with a padlock. Nuff said. I figured out how you can take a trip with Megabus to Erie (or Pittsburgh from there) and have a very low cost time. I celebrated national Craft Beer Week and if you haven’t heard me talk about it yet, am on the planning group for Pittsburgh Craft Beer Week coming in 2012. This month also was record breaking numbers as we raised money for March of Dimes which helps preemies such as my boys.

June 2011
After many years of hard work I graduated cum laude from college. It was incredibly stressful when I threw work and the family into the mix but the support was fantastic! I’ll probably have my student loan bills paid off when Teaspoon is starting school.

Last year I posted what it was like from the moment we found out about our next child up until his birth. Now I sit here a year later and wonder where the time has gone.

O is the exact opposite of Teaspoon. He’s very reserved, chilled out, and from what I can tell, is studying everyone. When he does unleash his fury though Teaspoon is usually the one taken out.

It’s been fun to watch the 2 boys interact. At first Teaspoon wanted nothing to do with him and now they play like best friends. O has started to walk, not far, but he can hold is own. Once he is completely mobile Teaspoon’s life will change dramatically as now his little brother will be able to keep up.

I look at O now and still can’t believe he was a preemie. He’s around 20lbs and is mastering the art of diving on you if you’re laying on the ground.

It was around Teaspoon’s first birthday that his personality really started to take shape so I can’t wait to see what this little guy has in store for us.

Shortly after this picture Santa met his demise at the hands of Teaspoon attacking him like a spider monkey.

Hard to believe it but my youngest wasn’t even around this time last year. In fact Lushie would go into labor on the 26th and pop the little guy out 26 hours later.

Christmas tree is already packed full of presents for the monsters and around 6am my mother-in-law will be showing up with gifts from the out of towners. Monday we”re hosting brunch for my family and then comes a week of slacking before 24 hours of geeking out over hockey (4 games in 24 hours. LOVE IT!)

Being a dad has changed my life in ways that I never imagined. My life has become providing the best I can for my boys. I’ve started to appreciate the smaller things and cherish the time I get to spend with them. When I was 25 I used to mock people like me. Now, I snicker and tell that whipper snapper to get off my lawn.

I know the boys wont remember Christmas in too much detail but I will. Of course I’m going to be a camera whore and take as many pics as I can. I really don’t have pictures of Christmas as a kid (one lady in my office said she was sorry I don’t have any family, wtf ever that means) since we lost most when our basement flooded at the last place so I’m happy to make new ones.

I hope everyone is able to spend some time kicking back and visiting family, no matter how batshit crazy they may be. I’m thankful for my friends I have met and those I’ve only chatted with online. All of you have played a part in my life and I’m blessed to know such kickass people.

Last night my father in law treated us to Golden Corral for dinner since he knew with the boys we needed something quick and if it was tasty that would be a bonus. After being stuck in the house all day doing work we just needed to get out for the night.

I have never been to a Golden Corral before. In fact, I’m not even one for buffet style places because I really don’t eat a lot in a sitting (I’m not fat, I’m cultivating mass) but it is fast and easy for the kids plus my good friend Jimmy swears by them. This night would prove to be a lesson in people watching.

If you’ve never been to a Golden Corral before its a buffet style dining establishment where  you can start with salads, go to chicken, steak, seafood/pasta and finish on deserts (for their online menu click here). Sounds pretty basic and kinda like a Ponderosa right? Hold on buccaroo it gets better.

1. the price – children under 3 eat free (score!) and our dinners were about $11 an adult.
2. the food – I never question my F.I.L. when it comes to food. The man has the same palate as me so if he says something is good, I listen. The quality of food was rating high with me. The fried chicken was juicy and crunchy, I asked for a medium rare steak and for one of the first times in a restaurant I actually got it the way I ordered it. Bourbon chicken was a dropkick to the mouth of spice. I never made it past those because I kept going back for steak but the Shrimp Alfredo looked amazing along with mac n cheese.
3. the service – the place was jammed with holiday shoppers and our servers were a level of politeness I rarely see. One kid was being a jag to his table but others we encountered were top notch.
4. the customers – Now there were a lot of normal folks eating but this is where you’re going to get your bang for the buck. You know that site People of WalMart? Well there should be one for here. I don’t know if it was the holiday season but as I was told online last night “you go there when you want to feel better about yourself”. Last night was a collection of 70′s Steelers shirts with matching tats, nascar jackets, missing teeth and some serious hardcore yinzers with 6 kids. Oh yeah and I saw a guy with a Charlotte Hornets Starter jacket and hat. The highlight of the evening was the table next to us enjoying a family meal with a very “manly” aunt who didn’t wear underwear. We all had a show.

I had a fantastic time eating with my family and can see why friends of mine have raved about this place. Strap on the feedbag and go to town Johnny, this is a quality place I’m going back to!

A package arrived for me today which I completely forgot about redeeming for online. I had to think for a second before I realized what was in the box.

Because of my “Klout” score I received a free copy of Stephen King’s “Bag of Bones”. I don’t read non-tech books and I don’t read books for pleasure. Never have and eh, I might someday. Since I got this free I may give it a shot so we’ll see. Now if I was as cool as The Girl Blogger I would have found a way to get a free flight but since I’m not, I got a book. (By the way she’s a 38 and I’m 57. I should get a RT plane and beer tour of the west coast since I’ve never been there)

Baby steps…

Klout has been a questionable service for awhile with social media diehards because there have been found ways to cheat the scoring system. Personally I’m honest with it and just roll with the ranking.  For the longest time no one knew what the algorithm was they were using and if you weren’t on twitter you were basically toast.

Since I do social media for a living spanning different subjects I try to stay on top of everything so I know what’s new and what to watch out for. (Have you heard of Path yet?)

Do these scores need to be taken seriously? Let me put it this way, they’re making a name for themselves and really takes no effort on your part to use it. I’ve already had inquiries because I have a high score when it comes to Craft Beer and people writing for publications that aren’t as social savvy use sites like this for stories… which means my name gets out more… which means I get gigs… see where I’m getting at?

What a freaking day. Never have I seen a family go down this fast due to a bug.

I started to feel something when I was in Erie but passed it off as nothing major. Figured it was the good ole weather.

Yesterday at work I get a call around 3 that Teaspoon and Lushie are sick. Not upset stomach but full blown yackfest. She tells me its manageable and since I have an event to just hurry home afterwards.

30 minutes into it I get a frantic call that the sickness is full blown mass hysteria. I head home and on Parkway West it punched me in the gut.

Now its 7am and everyone is exhausted.  Each of us slept only a couple hours and all are very weak while trying to stay hydrated.

I don’t get sick. My whole life I’ve been pretty immune to things so this whole experience is new to me.  It got me thinking…

1) always have Gatorade in stock
2) this is the first sickness for Teaspoon, he got his first taste of what it will be like when we’re old
3) Mt Dew with sugar should never go away. The case we had saved us
4) Angry Birds next level is available at 3am EST. Kept me entertained
5) im buying time typing this on my phone so I don’t have to go back out there
6) Nina on the Goodnight Show are new episodes and of you stay up long enough she plays all night. Daddy likes
7) I think I lost 10 lbs over night

Yesterday was the 5th anniversary of my dad passing so I decided to take a drive up to Erie and toast the old man. What better way to salute the man who taught me hard work, discipline and dedication will take you places, not handouts and whining.

Usually at this time in Erie there would have already been a couple feet of snow but thanks to our friend Global Warming it was in the 40′s and raining. Mom and I drove up to the cemetery and as we got to dad’s grave I sat down a bag and pulled out a bottle with 2 glasses. Mom, looking really confused, asked me what I was doing. I smiled, opened, poured and said “celebrating dad of course!”

It was with him that I shared my first bottle of my first homebrew.

I don’t know where this hobby may take me but I couldn’t think of any better way to christen it than with the man who’s inspired me most.

Cheers pops!

I’ve wondered how I was going to handle today. On this day back in 2006 my father had a massive heart attack while snowblowing for 3.5 hours. Why so long? Well it was Erie and he wanted to make sure the elderly people and mailman would be able to get through.

My brother and I drove up the night of the 5th and honestly expected to see him bitching to get out of the bed because he had work to do at home. It was a running joke that we couldn’t visit Erie without someone making a trip to St Vincent ER. However on this night, we wouldn’t be leaving. We walked up to the 3rd floor and walked in stunned as we saw him hooked up to machines which doctors said were keeping him alive. The strongest man I have ever known was now gone and we knew it, we just didn’t want to accept it. The doctors kept him on support until the morning when my mother, brother and I told them to turn the machines off. I was the last one to hold his hand and within seconds he had flat lined.

I’ll never forget that moment when my life changed and I can still feel his hand in mine.

A lot has happened in the 5 years since he’s passed and I’d give anything for him to have been around just a bit longer to see one of them. I’ve had 2 beautiful sons, bought a house, lost a job and gained a new career plus I know he’d be damn proud of what I’ve done with SIDT (dad was a closet audio junkie). I get angry at times because he’s not here to enjoy being a grandfather to my boys as he was to my brother’s kids (you KNOW he’d be best friends with Teaspoon) but if he did pull through that heart attack he wouldn’t have been the same person.

There is so much I still had to learn from him and now I don’t have that chance. What we’ve gone through with the preemie births of both sons and the layoff were intense and I didn’t have him to lean back on. Stupid little things too like house repairs or car problems go unanswered. Its the void of not having a father around that has made this part of my life difficult.

Dad and I had a project we started and I’m determined to finish – his family tree. He knew stories about relatives but nothing solid and growing up I knew very little about his family. We never got to finish this while he was alive but recently I’ve made a vow to finish it as very rare documentation has surfaced. How this incredibly cool story goes though is for another post but if you’re into genealogy and can offer tips let me know!

As I type this I look in on my sons watching morning cartoons while the smell of bacon is in the mmmmmm bacon… just a sec. *ahhhh* in the air, the way him and I would start our Sunday mornings.

He was a great man who was always looking out for others first and this veteran spent 20 years working for the state making sure the people of Erie could find work. At the funeral home there was almost a 2 hour wait just to pay their respects. He was the head usher at his church my entire life and there wasn’t a parish festival where you couldn’t hear his voice bellowing up and down Buffalo Rd. When he passed things got a lot quieter.

Dad was an American flag addict. In his military photos he always had a flag with him and every holiday mini flags would adorn his yard. As a sign of final respect for him my wife and I got up early the morning of his funeral and in 2ft of snow put 50 of his flags in the yard. The funeral procession passed in front of and stopped at the house. As if staged the wind kicked up and all flags started blowing in sync as if it was their final salute.

I miss you dad and I think you’d be proud of how things have turned out.

Here is a video tribute that the funeral home made. Enjoy the pics of me as a kid. What were they thinking dressing me like that?

Chris Cornell is my favorite singer of all time. He’s above Eddie Vedder and all others and Friday night I got to spend 2.5 incredible hours listening to him make a guitar sing, cry, love, hate and bleed.

The show was held at the historic (isn’t everything in Pittsburgh historic by this point?) Carnegie Music Hall which is attached to the Carnegie Museum of Art & Natural History in Oakland.

Chris rocked out a set list and took requests from the audience for 2 hours before handing out a solid 30 minute encore. He covered songs stretching across his career from Temple of the Dog, his time with Soundgarden and Audioslave to his multiple solo collections. This wasn’t just a night for the greatest hits but for a man and his guitar to tell the stories behind the songs and why/how they came to be. He covered Led Zepplin and multiple Beetles songs before closing the night with a hair raising, goosebump inducing, tearjerker rendition of Blow Up the Outside World (my favorite song for those of you keeping track at home. Surprised its not Spoonman eh?).

Our view was fantastic also. 1st balcony section 4. No obstruction, just a straight up view of Chris.

In almost 20 years of being a Soundgarden fan this was my first chance to see him live and it was well worth the wait. I wont hold out another 20 years to do it again.

The show was everything I had hyped up in my head and I only wish there was someway to relive it again like I can with Pearl Jam (there are bootlegs of every show. Recording is welcomed!)

Here is the setlist I found online. Looks pretty accurate but take the net for what its worth.

1. Scar on the Sky
2. Ground Zero
3. Hope and Promise Fade
4. Can’t Change Me
5. Be Yourself
6. Wide Awake
7. Fell on Black Days
8. Call Me a Dog
9. Hunger Strike
10. You Know My Name
11. Billie Jean
12. Outshined
13. Sunshower
14. Getaway Car
15. State Trooper
16. When I’m Down
17. Seasons
18. Wooden Jesus
19. Burden in my Hand
20. Mind Riot
21. Like a Stone
22. Doesn’t Remind Me
23. A Day in the Life

Encore:

24. Thank You
25. Black Hole Sun
26. The Keeper
27. Say Hello to Heaven
28. Imagine
29. Blow Up the Outside World

All in all it was a magical night but there were a few problems. Always is eh?

1. No photography – This is an absolute bullshite rule and I don’t mean professional cameras, I’m talking about your cell phones. During the whole show we were constantly distracted by ushers flashing their lights in everyone’s faces telling them to stop taking photos or they’ll take your phone. Even if you were texting (why weren’t you watching the show?) you still got harassed. When we entered the venue the ticket taker asked to see our phones and if they took pictures we would have to hand them over. We chuckled and kept walking.
2. Heat – The seats are small and very close together. With a sold out show it was next to impossible to get air and after almost 3 hours one of the ushers finally opened a door for us.
3. Drunks – I don’t care what state of mind you’re in but if you yell Free Bird over and over you’re going to get beat down. Better yet you shout out after every song the same title for him to play and when he does play it you say “Oh, I meant something else.”
4. Recording – if the artist isn’t going to record the show for later release then why can’t I have a pocket recorder on me? I’m not saying you need to walk in with a studio but I saw a guy with a small handheld in his shirt and you’d think he was strapped with a bomb.  I would love for a copy of last night’s show so I can relive it over and over again. This is where Pearl Jam and KISS do it right
5. Merch – I really wanted a shirt but $30? Didn’t happen. Thought maybe I could get one online a little cheaper and I was wrong, merch from the show isn’t even online. I would have gladly paid for a hoodie or make someone else buy me the shirt for Christmas.