My blog n'at

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.

I don’t usually write posts as soon as I hear news but this time I have to. Today MegaBus will begin service in Erie and while yinzers may go “Erie? really?” let me point out a few things for you. If you’re familiar with MegaBus you already know that prices start at $1. I’m not joking, ONE DOLLAR! You can’t even get a city block on that much gas in your car. Honestly if you want a great overview of it check out this story from KDKA’s Jim Lokay.

Here’s where it gets good. The total trip is 2 hours long and the drop off point is Presque Isle Downs. It’s a C-A-S-I-N-O with HORSERACING! If you get tired of the casino or you’re like me and don’t gamble, there is Erie’s mass transit which also picks you up at the casino and takes you downtown and to the Bayfront. I encourage anyone who takes the trip to consider making a weekend out of it and in fact the tourism groups for both cities should plan a trip deal around it. “If you’re coming in from “x” via megabus to our city here is what you can do in 1 day..” I think I missed my calling somewhere as a trip planner.

If you’re traveling Pittsburgh to Erie your day can look like this on July 9th for a 1 day trip.

1. Leave from Pittsburgh at 7:15am, arrive in Erie at Presque Isle Downs around 9:35am
2. Stretch, play some slots and hit up the buffet.
3. 3pm is post time for the horse races
4. Catch the 5:40pm EMTA into town
5. 6pm get off at 13th and State Street and walk 2 blocks to BrewErie for dinner and craft beers brewed on site or ride the bus down to the lake and have dinner on the bay while watching the sunset
6. 8pm catch the EMTA back to the casino and you’ll have 1 hour left to gamble before your 9:35pm bus takes you back to Pittsburgh by midnight. If you’re not exhausted yet you still have time to hit up a couple bars in Pittsburgh.

If you don’t want to hit up the casino the EMTA will take you into downtown Erie where you can either walk around or catch a taxi to Presque Isle and spend the day at the beach.  Honestly with this plan there should be some kinda shuttle to Presque Isle from downtown. If anyone in Erie knows of one, leave it in the comments.

total travel price for 1 person – $6.50 (plus bus fare which is $1.10 one way)

If you’re traveling Erie to Pittsburgh your day can look like this on July 9th for a 1 day trip.

1. Leave Erie at 2pm and arrive at 4:10pm in Pittsburgh at 10th St and Penn Ave (Convention Center)
2. Walk around the Strip District or through downtown checking out the city and grabbing a bite to eat
3. 7:05 Pirates vs Cubs
4. Game should end around 9:30-10pm. Post game you can head back into the city for a beverage or a walk around the cultural district. Maybe catch the T for a trip to Station Square and ride an incline to see the city
5. Return to the convention center for your pick up at 11:30pm to return to Erie at 1:45am Sunday

total travel price for 1 person – $6.50

The trip from Erie to Pittsburgh is more ideal if you want to spend a weekend or come down for an event at night and head back. Pirates and Penguins fans will be able to take advantage of this since both PNC Park and Consol Energy Center are walking distance (CEC is a tad of a hike). If there is a show in town that you want to see, the arrival at 4 is perfect to find a place to eat and relax before the curtain raises. If you want good craft beer check out Sharp Edge Bistro on Penn. Its pricey but you’ll have Belgian beers available you’ll never find in Erie.

By no means should you take my suggested schedule as gospel. Everyone has different tastes but this just shows you what is now available at a VERY LOW price if you want to get away for a day or 2.

By the way craft beer loving yinzers, Beer on the Bay is coming up in Erie. MegaBus may give a whole new meaning to beer run and I think SIDT may have a plan for you.

cheers!

Last week I spent a couple days in Baltimore so I could accept my award for Silver at the CASE II ceremony.  Let me rephrase that. I got all Smokey and the Bandit on that shit and went there and back in 24 hours including a dinner, ceremony, bar hopping and visit to a kickass museum.

Lets recap.

I won an award for my daytime job and was told myself and my co-worker could travel to accept the award. Gassed up the car, got the XM working again and started out on the 4.5 hour trip.

The Drive
I’ve never been to Baltimore so this was new to me, obviously. We took rt40 most of the way and saw some of the most incredible scenery that PA/MD has to offer. I can only imagine how kickass it is in the summer time. My car almost died climbing mountains.

The Roadtrip Food
We lived off Subway for every meal. Mostly because cold cut combos are like crack to me but also that meant extra beer money.

Baltimore – The first impression
I’m spoiled by being able to drive through Ft Pitt Tunnel and awakening to the glory that is the golden triangle and Pittsburgh. Every trip is like this one. Coming into Baltimore though was more like drivingon into a Detroit and Cleveland bastard child. Demilitarized zone.

Accommodations
We stayed at the Days Inn Inner Harbor and have to say this is the best Days Inn ever made. Talk about luxurious! I wish every one of their hotels were this nice. Its inexpensive and right next to First Mariner Arena plus walking distance to everything we had to go to. $80/night. DO IT!

The Ceremony
I loved being able to talk to others in the same field of work being honored. It was only 2 hours long but we had the best conversations along with the freshest sushi and killer Italian meats. We got the loudest applause out of everyone for our work with the students and the tours. I’m damn proud of how that turned out.

Bar Hopping
It started raining so we didn’t get to hit much. We hit a couple bars before settling on Pratt St Ale House since it was around the corner from us.  This is a must stop for any craft beer fan! The beers on cask were heavily and the samplers were an indulgent delight.

The Photos

Overall
The Inner Harbor is absolutely amazing and I will be going back this summer when I can spend some time to appreciate everything. There’s a fest in August with a bunch of us beercasters that I may have to go for. I wanna catch a game at Camden Yards and hit up the attractions.

July
We did that moving thing which pretty much consumed our entire month and turned in our keys to the skid row of Cranberry. The sky was more blue that day and birds chirp was sweeter. SIDT was featured as a “What’s Hot” on iTunes. I think the summer heat made people delusional

August
I had my first tour of the Pens new home, Consol Energy Center. This was big for me because, well hockey is life.

September
Its official, baby 2 is on the way. We had known for a few months but finally made it public. Steel City Big Pour 4 was a huge event for SIDT. Our second booth allowed us to play more with the live podcast plan. Well recorded live but it was still cool to have beer runners and brewers coming up asking to talk to us. All of this was made possible from our live debut at the Big Tap In back in April which we’ll be doing again in 2011. I did my first solo session at Podcamp Pittsburgh. It was a blast because for once I wasn’t talking about SIDT but social media in higher ed. I love social media. I love to talk about it and I love help people understand it. I should probably be charging for it but honestly with my schedule its more of a hassle to figure out a rate structure. Though, that was 2010 thinking, we’ll see about 2011. Daddy has some diapers to pay for

October
Fun thing about being a dad, taking the kid to the pumpkin farm. Pens open their new barn and while I loved the place there was a lot to work on. I found my first grey hair. *UGH* 5 year wedding anniversary proved that we just lost track of time making babies. I found something in my basement while cleaning that was totally badass. A rather preggers Lushie chased kids down the street for smashing our pumpkin and made one wet his pants.

November
Lushie and Jackson went away for one last weekend so I lived it up and had some of the best Pho in the area after a night at the BEV Lounge. Teaspoon microwaved his sneakers and I haven’t stopped laughing since. Lushie was told to take it easy so I cooked the entire Thanksgiving meal. Everyone survived. SIDT was named a finalist in the Podcast Awards for the 3rd time.

December
Lushie and I took an afternoon to ourselves and visited the Vatican Splendors. Most people don’t think of me as the religious type but hey, you learn something new about me. We took our former landlord to court and won our security deposit back. Funny that we had to “win” back our own money rightfully owed to us. It also taught me about how dishonest and shady people can be even when they swear they’re honest. This Christmas holiday I also got the greatest gift of all, my son Owen. With that I published a log of everything I was thinking from conception to birth. Final cap of the year was getting tickets to the Winter Classic Alumni Game and Winter Classic.

2010 was an incredibly busy year. More than we ever anticipated and I’ve never been so overwhelmed in my life. Its because of everything I have learned this past year that in 2011 I’m going to shift gears and focus more on my family, the house and my career. I graduate in June so that will be one burden off my shoulders. School, work, buying a house, moving, trying to get it organized, having a baby, trying to get SIDT to the next level and getting a side writing job off the ground was intense and I realized I need more balance.

We’ll see what 2011 has in store.

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

July
Began the month with recording at the BeerDependence Day celebration at Bocktown. Attended the Penguins Stanley Cup DVD Release Party. Started a contracting job at EDMC that would become the longest month of my life and that’s all I’m going to say. Enjoyed my first ever bowl of Pho. Rocked the Beer on the Bay festival in Erie which the videos are epic and may never be released. End the month being interviewed by KDKA for the Craft Beer Summit.

August
Won a 2009 Mustang! Bees invade our bathroom (landlord still has yet to remove the dead bodies). I got a full-time job in social media/web dev that has turned out to be freaking cool plus I’m on a rockstar team. Threatened Lushie with divorce after she gets rid of the Back to the Future marathon channels.

September
Attended “Best of the Burgh” at the Warhol with sickpuppy, PittGirl, Woy and Rachel. Go big time and hosted Beer School at the Cabaret downtown to a sold out crowd. Teaspoon hits 17lbs.

October
Hosted 2 sessions at Podcamp Pittsburgh 4. Should I Drink That passed 500,000 download mark. Pens start defending the Stanley Cup. Revised Google Maps errors. Celebrate 4 years of marriage with Lushie. Lay the smackdown on poor fact checking by the Post gazette about Erie. Teaspoon goes pumpkin farming.

November
I blogged the whole month. Seriously. Bought a X-box. Teaspoon’s first Thanksgiving. Wonders of fatherhood and a kid who grows like a weed. Craft Beer Dinner with Lew Bryson, Education on the Pittsburgh Potty. Making your own Bacon. BEER AT GIANT EAGLE! Yinz Bowl 2.o

December
Still living it for 5 more hours. Remembering dad on his anniversary. Hosted a Christmas beer sampling at Bocktown. Saw KISS in concert. Teaspoon’s first Christmas. Finished the school year with a 3.65GPA. SNOW!

So what do I have to look forward to in 2010?  Come back tomorrow and find out!

You’re reading that right. I won a 2009 45th Anniversary red Ford Mustang. Every year the parish I belonged to in Erie gives away a new car to the person with the lucky raffle ticket and this year it was in my pocket. Kinda.  Since I moved to Pittsburgh in 1998 I haven’t had many chances to return for the festival because of obligations in town so Mom will buy tickets for myself, my brother and all of our kids. The running joke with many of us from the parish is that it is never anyone young or local who wins the car so I’m proud to be the one to end that tradition. Well the never young at least.

My phone rang Sunday night around 10:20pm with a frantic mom on the phone. I forgot that the festival was going on and thought something serious had just happened.  Here is how the call went:

Mom: Douglas, are you sitting down? (great way to start a call eh?)
Douglas: ummmmm yeah. what’s wrong
M: You will NOT believe who won the car
D: Don’t really care but who? I’m watching TV.
M: IT WAS YOU!!!
D: STFU! I did not! No one ever wins that thing!
M: You did and you need to come to Erie and get it!
D: OK but mom… what car is it? (Seriously, I didn’t even know what car it was this year)
M: 2009 Mustang!  Here talk to Bill (member from the church). He’ll give you the details.

From there the dream quickly began to change. I had the choice for $10,000 or the car. The catch, the Mustang is a coupe and has NO room for a baby seat. There I sat speechless, father of a 5 month old and in dire need of a new family car. I would call Bill back in the morning and tell him my decision. Before I was even off the phone Facebook and Twitter was already buzzing from people at the festival announcing I was the winner. Calls and txt messages started coming in faster than when Teaspoon was born.

I can already sense everyone reading this going “oh no…”

After much debating, calming down and thinking logically we had made the decision. We have to trade in the car. If I this was even 1.5 years ago it would be a no brainer to keep the car (even store it) but the responsible father in me says “trade it in and get something for the family” and that’s what we did. We have 2 cars already with high mileage that we dumped a good chunk of change into this summer (nice when you’re laid off, huh) so we thought this was the sign.

This past Monday I drove up to the dealership with Lushie, told them I was trading in the car and needed to find something new. We spent the next few hours car shopping and test driving before we settled on a vehicle. (Now I’m not telling you what we’re getting cuz I know you crazy ass stalkers will get all “OMG! it’s spoon’s car! Hurry up get a picture and add it to our shrine because we crazy ass”. Yeah I don’t need that.) We would trade in the Mustang and one of our cars, which we owed on, for a new ride. Now it will be a couple weeks for the title transfer but until then its sit and wait as I know the anticipation will kill me. The way we saw it was “We got rid of the old high mileage car which we owed on for a newer vehicle and long kickass warranty and no car payments.” Besides, I won a car!

While it’s bittersweet to make this trade I did have to laugh at this fact. My dad worked that car booth at the festival for over 30 years and was the voice of the festival which could be heard for up to 5 blocks away. Now 3 years after he passed, his son wins the car.

(testing the beds while at Beer on the Bay 2, Erie PA 2009)

Craft Beer Fest Road Trip Season is here and 4 more are on the calendar. Being a craft beer podcaster is a tough job.

Things are changing which is why I haven’t been blogging lately and you’ll find out shortly.

Very very soon… this is gonna be great!

So far I have:

• Started the gym thing again
• Stayed offline as much as I could while on vacation (not including job searches)
• Got the layoff (as in unemployment, not a typo’d playoff) beard started
• Watched a lot of Welcome Back Kotter
• Had a vision of how this site will be redesigned
• Made the rough sketch of a business idea that I’ll probably never do because it’s so badass the world couldn’t contain its awesomeness. Srsly.
• Created a baby registry and will have it public shortly.
• Registered for baby CPR classes
• Came up with another idea for a blog, just need a name for it.
• Kept my promise of 2009 being a bigger year for SIDT

OK that last one is vague but it has to be for now. How do we top being in national publications? You’ll find out shortly. Somehow I have been sucked into the enjoyment of new media marketing and pushing SIDT further. Sponsors maybe? exclusive road trips? bigger contests? Subscribe and you can have the next 11.5 months to find out

Here are some more random things…

• My bowling still is the sucketh. Maybe if I actually bought a decent ball and had time to practice I would be better. Maybe I could bring world peace but I don’t see that happening either.

• All of my in-laws are Penn State fans. I grew up loving and attended PITT. You can imagine what my holidays are like. 80 million vs one. Lushie eggs them on.

• We had an incredible meal at a new local restaurant. Manager asked me to suggest a new craft beer menu. That’s right, hell hath frozen over.

• Listening to Pearl Jam’s 10 and VS right now. I’m not kidding. There hasn’t been a greater band since.

• Bitch all you want that the Pens are the sucketh right now but they’re only 7 points out of first in the Atlantic or 3.5 games to you baseball folk. Beating Atlanta last night was like Kramer fighting kids. You’re expected to win and all it does is build confidence for playing Nashville, the “How did you get invited to the party?” of the NHL.

Escape is never the safest place. A dissident is here.

(Favorite pic I took on the trip. Sergels Torg at night)

No doubt that “Välkommen” (Welcome) is what the Pens saw as they landed in Sweden this past week for a special season opener along with the Ottawa Senators in Stockholm. Since pictures of the Pens trip are well documented I thought I’d share my pics from when I was in Stockholm. I fell in love with the city when I was there in 2006 and honestly would move there if it was an option. Then again, they do get worse winters than Erie but it was an incredible experience.

I was never a fan of the architecture in European countries until I experienced it first hand. I was also blown away by the culture of the residents. Everyone was polite, well groomed and spoke English very well. Their dependence on public transportation was impressive as most rode the subway system or rode bicycles.

If you’re going to make the trip though, the only way to go is first class but avoid the Philly airport of you can. Place is a mess to get around and go through customs

Photo album from Stockholm 2006

Skal! (cheers!)

We watched Bella this past weekend and made sure it was filled with activities to keep a 2.5 yr old moving.

Saturday was an interesting day. We spent the bulk of the afternoon at our community pool which neither of us knew about prior to this weekend. What a great place for a family. Lushie and Bella played in the sand, in the water and on the playground while I got to lay back in the pool while soaking up the sun and listening to music with laps shortly following. I have to give a lot of credit to the community for putting this place together. Clean, large and not only very family friendly but also adult friendly. I may have to hit some night time swims after work. My joints felt like a million dollars.

Late Saturday we came back to the house after hopefully tiring Bella out so she would nap. This would be when I had my first experience with Noggin, the Latina Whore (as BurghBaby so lovingly calls her) known as Dora and her pimp Diego. I’m not a fan of making the TV a babysitter for a kid (ahhh the 80′s were great for that) but I do think that, like everything else in life, moderation is good. Personally I found Dora annoying as hell but Bella likes her so I sat back and watched.

Sunday morning we packed up the car and headed to Erie so Bella could see the beach for the first time. The weather all week long was positive and wouldn’t you know it, Sunday turned into a 60% chance of rain. We decide to make the trip up anyways and meet up with the rest of my family who already was up for the weekend.

We’re 30 minutes into our stay at Presque Isle, my brother has dogs on the grill and the day seemed to be going great until Mr. park ranger showed up with some troubling news.

A storm had formed over Lake Erie and was being pushed down from Canada. Per the Life Guard Weather Center Doppler Radar it was big, red and due within the hour. He also suggested that we pack up and get the funk out while we can because it’ll be the end of the world. We oblige and as we’re about to leave the winds kick up and the monsoon hits. Trees are falling down, people are driving like morons and Bella kept saying “WHOA”! I can only image how cool it must have appeared to her.

We head back to my moms and spend a few hours visiting before heading back to Pittsburgh. It was a fast but eventful weekend. Anytime we get to watch the little squirt though it’s a good time.