Chicago... and Random

What is going on with the weather?  I know April showers, but this is getting insane, so cloudy and dreary out it's downright depressing.  Hopefully May will bring some flowers and some stinkin' sun.

I did get out yesterday and had my first experience with an experienced trainer at the gym, kicked my arse.  It was good to work with someone to tailor some lifts to what I want to do, best part was the workout was intense and lasted 1 hour.  Which is perfect, I'm not trying to spend 3 hours at the gym every time I go.

Weekend outlook is good I'm hoping to go see X-Men Origins: Wolverine which opens on Friday I'm pretty excited about, mainly because of Gambit, my favorite X-Man.  Even more excited that Taylor Kirsch is playing the role, big fan of him in Friday Night Lights.  So hopefully he won't disappoint.

For those Facebook users out there, change the language on you page to Pirate.  That's right Pirate, go to the very bottom where it says English (US) click and change to English (Pirate) beta, hilarious.  The phrases are priceless and will provide you with lost to laugh about.

Other than that it's been a pretty quiet week, busy with work, rearranged the living room furniture ya know real exciting stuff.

Video of the Week

Family Guy Brilliance

Yet another of the many many reasons why I absolutely love this show, Peter Griffin on the confusion of How I Met Your Mother:

"Why is the voice of the guy from the future Bob Saget?  I mean the guy on the show, he's already an adult, ya know, so it's not like he's going to grow into Bob Saget. Doesn't make sense."

Draft Day!

The NFL draft was Saturday and Sunday, the official sign that Football is alive and will be back sooner than we know (but not soon enough).  The day was a festival of good food and drink and even better company.  Mother nature did not fully cooperate with us, raining out several games of washers, but the day was still a blast, except getting owed in darts which never happens... but it did I'm losing my mojo.  Scrumptrulesant ribs and homemade poppers were consumed and many beers passed the lips.  All in all it was a pretty fun day an excellent kick off to the spring/summer months.  As far as draft commentary I have a few observations, rants, predictions:

• Mel Kiper, this should go without saying, but I'll say it anyway: greatest hair in America.
• KC... I hope you know what you're doing, Aaron Curry is a beast not sure how I feel about the pass, but in Pioli I trust.
• Al Davis is officially the worst drafter in the history of the NFL.  How on this planet do you pass on Michael Crabtree?  Did they not watch the Texas game?  I mean he That Dude (that's right I don't even remember his name and refuse to use Google it to find out) before Jeremy Machlin, which Machlin before Crabtree would have still been pretty stupid IMO,  at least that move would be somewhat defensible.  I predict that Crabtree will be one of the most dominant receivers to ever play the game, and it will further solidify the fact that Al Davis has lost his mind.  I (along with EVERYONE but Al) think he's that good.  
• Remember this phrase, you're going to hear it often: "Davis to Crabtree... for 6."
• A cap on Rookie salaries is needed.  $42 million in guaranteed money for a guy who's never played a down is absolutely insane.  If the guy busts (cough cough Alex Smith cough), sorry something in my throat there cause a choking sensation, to proceed, If the guy busts the Lions are still on the hook for $42 million, that's a lot of cabbage and ties the hands of the team for a LONG time.  Now I hope it works out because it suck have a team that is that terrible.  But having a top pick in the draft should cause for excitement for a team, not total dread because of the $ that will have to shelled out.  

Josh Hamilton

Last night I watched "Homecoming: with Rick Reilly" on ESPN, Josh Hamilton was the guest.  I know a lot of people have heard his story already, but I'd strongly recommend trying to catch this on a re-run because to hear him tell it is pretty amazing.  Particularly in a day where sports seem to have a fair number of alcohol, drug, and steroid related incidences it's "nice" to hear someone who has struggled with these demons and who has fought so hard to get back.  The most compelling part of his story is how he continues to fight everyday to deal with his demons.

Earth Day Idea

I think that ALL cabs should be converted to Hybrids, I mean think of how much that would cut down on emissions, gas use, etc, etc, etc.  I think there is a very easy way to do this too, get rich tree huggers to do it, they have plenty of money.  Get Clooney, DiCaprio and all their cronies to go in on it.  Lets face it celebrities are some of the biggest pushers of the "green" initiative and most of them have more money than 5 generations of their family can realistically spend.  So this initiative would be a very easy way for them to, put there money where there mouth is, so to speak.  And to make it so it's not a totally unfair and a total "handout" give them a substantial tax break for every Hybrid they purchase.  Think about it it's winner winner all the way around.  Pollution in cities down.  Check.  Tax bill for rich people down.  Check.  Tree huggers happy.  Check.  Car companies happy.  Check.  The last one is huge, I mean think about it if all the rich started throwing money at this initiative it would provide a pretty solid kick start to the auto industry, I mean there are something like 13,000 cabs in NY City alone.  Somewhere along the way someone will poke some holes in this idea because I came up with it and thought it through for all of 5 seconds, but hell seems like a lot easier and more practical than the whole "everyone turn off all your power for 1 hour starting.... now" or "don't anyone buy gas on Thursday April 23, 2009" ideas that are floating around.  The only hole I see is what to make the cabbies and cab companies do so they aren't getting a "free lunch," maybe make them pay for 1/2 or a 1/4, something like that.  I dunno, while I'm kind of opposed to handouts, I can't see a good way to make this change without someone getting a freebie.  At least with this we have a lasting impact on the environment and some pretty nice short term benefits as well, which I think can cancel out the freebie.

Wedding Weekend!

Went to good old Baldwin City, KS this weekend for a wedding of two of our college friends.  The wedding was a great one (Happy wishes to you both) and the company couldn't have been better.  After the nuptials we retreated to our college watering hole before the reception, the Salt Mine, where we had a few brews and some laughs capping our short time there off with a little Macho Mug.  It was great to get to see everyone and hang out, if only for a short time.

Video of the Week

In an effort to even further solidify my geek/dork/nerd status I'm going to recommend that everyone watch the show The Big Bank Theory.  It's a "smart" humor show about physicists and engineers that are too smart for their own good and have a very difficult time interacting with the idiots of the world.  The jokes and banter are hilarious and Sheldon's inability to interpret, life in general is awkward and hilarious.  CBS Monday nights!  Below are a few clips.  

Beer of the Month

Again in an effort to encourage future postings I'm going to try to have another regular post. Title kind of says it all in this one too, Beer of the Month, each month I'm gonna buy a beer, drink it, and let you know what I think of it. At first as a disclaimer: my knowledge of terminology is very limited and a more astute reader will likely cringe and some of my descriptive terminology but feel free to comment and correct me, or provide me with a more appropriate (i.e. correct) term. I'm reading up though and hopefully it'll get better as time goes on. And with any luck it'll be result in some new found favorites.

This month is going to be a slight deviation because I did a double tasting. I happened to have two Irish Ales in my fridge so I decided to pit the two against each other in an Irish battle. Going in I favored Conway's, because historically I've not been a huge fan of Boulevard's departures from their staple Wheat. However, the Boulevard Ale was full of flavor and aroma that won out. Both were great beers for sure, but the Conway was just a bit too subtle for me in comparison.

Boulevard Irish Ale, Boulevard Brewing Co. Conway's Irish Ale, Great Lakes Brewing Co

Quit my Job

I'm gonna quit my job and become a pirate. I got it all planned out me and a co-worker (Jessica) are going to start small pillaging unsuspecting floaters of the Colorado River to gather supplies (hot dogs and beer) and work our way South to warmer climates. Once we hit the seas we will begin or primary objective of searching for sunken treasure and consuming rum. Our better halves I'm afraid will take some convincing as to the feasibility of this plan, but I'm confident that with a combination of witty banter, wicked quick logic, and duct tape we can get them on board.

Yo ho, yo ho a pirate's life for me

Rant...News Ruined my Television Shows

Okay so let's get the embarrassing part of this post out of the way, I watch Grey's Anatomy. I said it there it is, lets move on to the rant.

First off I generally make it a point to avoid watching the news, in part because no mater where you watch it it is biased one way or the other, but mainly because it is nearly all negative and frankly down right depressing. Here's a typical news cast: crime, darwin, weather, crisis, crime, crisis, sports, crisis, weather, darwin, crime, crisis, weather. Weather in Chicago is terrible 75% of the year and my favorite teams are generally on the low end of the talent pool so even weather and sports offer me no sanctuary. But in an attempt to keep up since I've been on the road so much for work I began watching the news the last two weeks. And just yesterday for the second time in as many weeks, the plot line on one of my favorite shows was revealed thus ruining it for me. The first was last week's Kutner plot line on House, the second and most recent was the plot line to be incorporated into the season finale of Grey's Anatomy. I won't post it here and ruin it for you but I am now left knowing and will have no surprise at the ending. Frankly, it sucks. I will take some responsibility for the House one, because in fairness I DVR'd it and the news report was on the day after the episode aired. But still at the end of the day there was a hostage situation in the year 2009 A.D. involving PIRATES they were reporting on Kumar going to White Castle, I mean the White House.

There are Jack Sparrow wannabes out there cruising the 7 seas and they report on TV show plot lines. Texas is trying stir the pot by throwing around the idea of exiting the union and they interview a canine expert to assess the Obama's choice of first dog. Utter insanity people, it's like the whole news media conglomerate is on Crazy Pills.

Work Things

I didn't forget about this, I was onsite at a bank this week though and really had NO time to write, it was a hectic week to say the least. Lots of work to do onsite and a ton to do to keep up on my ongoing work. In addition, I just found out that starting Monday I'm going to be in charge of one of the bigger associations in our portfolio. Which is a great opportunity but a bit overwhelming as well. It'll be a challenge for sure.

Baseball season is upon us ladies and gentleman! KC Royals are in first place baby 2-1. I feel it man we're playoff bound.

Other than that not much new around Chicago, still cold and windy which sucks.

1 Hour 54 Minutes

1 Hour 54 Minutes was my final time of the 1/2 Marathon (13.1 miles) that I ran this weekend in Springfield, IL.  It was a pretty tough course with several hills in the last 1/2 of the race that sucked the energy right out of you.  I did however maintain a pretty steady pace of 8:30 miles throughout the entire 13 mile course, which was about 30 seconds per mile faster than I'd planned for the day.  I guess excitement and adrenaline were good for a little extra nudge.  All in all it was a pretty fulfilling day 10 weeks in the making.  It was nice to see the training payoff, I never thought I'd ever run that far for any reason, but now that I did it was actually kind of fun.  I'll likely do a few more races here and there, as far as a full marathon... the jury is still out on that one.

Thoughts on Beer

The other day I was asked the seemingly simple question, to rank my favorite beers, which on the surface does sound like it would an easy question, and may not be hard for most people because they have a narrow view of what counts as beer.  I make it a point to drink as many different beers as I possibly can.  So I have a very large sample to try to pick from, and what if I forget about one?  Now some go to a restaurant and the reply instantly to the "what'r ya drinkin?" with the safe and standard, Coors, Bud, Miller Light (or Lite in Miller's case).  However, with me this is an agonizing process Partly, because I want to try to find that beer that is going to make me say "Now this, this is what beer should taste like" (and partly because I'm an overcomplicator).  So I'll pour over the tap handles and try to remember what I've had and what I thought of it, weighing each carefully as I make my final decision.  It's borderline ridiculous, but hey I like beer, I want to make the right call, I may never get the chance to sample a rare local brew again, so I must choose wisely.

That being said I would answer the question like this: I would have to rank my beers by brewery rather than individual beer, mainly because I could never decide on just one, and because I tend to  view the brewery as the band, and the individual beers are their songs.  If I really like a band chances are I am going to like their catalog of work.  I mean that's not to say that individuals will really hit the taste buds just right and sneak in there from time to time (Guinness) because there are for sure a lot of those.  But, I do have a reputable stable of breweries in my mind and if a beer comes from one of my preferred breweries I'm going to look forward to sampling it with 6 year old on Christmas Eve enthusiasm.

That being said here are a few of my favorites, that I would say are my top 4 (in no particular order):

Odell

New Belgium

My Brother (Not sure if he's come up with a name yet, but he makes some darn fine brew if you haven't tried it, I'd highly recommend twisting his arm for a bottle or two to sample)

Boulevard

Video of the Week

I know I promised to only do one video of the week, per week otherwise it would become videos of the week.  But I assure you this one was just too good and too timely to pass on.  The look on Roy's face is priceless.