Weekend Update

Weekend came and went pretty quick...  Baby's room got 1 coat of paint done, which was a pretty big thing to check off the ol' to do list.  This little task identified two little observations: 1) paint with primer = joke still need two coats, don't care what they tell you at Lowes.  2) tape = waste of time, the $15 I spent on a paint brush may have been the best $15 I've spent in a long time.  If you have even a reasonably steady hand don't waste time taping.  I taped our entire house in Denver and I can honestly say (wife will back me up here) we had more mistakes due to tape bubbles, uneven tape lines, and ripped paint when pulling tape down than I did when I did it with hand and brush.  Coat 2 will be going on this weekend and then that HUGE to do will be done and done.

Of course with weekends in the Fall comes football, Saturday was the Sunflower State showdown, or as it were, the Sunflower State Beatdown.  KSU beat down KU 59-21... a fantastic game and I honestly loved it even more simply because it was KU and it's always good to beat the in state rival.  However, the next 3 weeks is essentially the Big XII's murderers row with Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Texas.  Ask me pre-season and I probably tell you 1 W and 2 Ls ... maybe even 3 Ls.  However, with the way Snyder has these kids playing I can honestly say that 3 Ws is not entirely outside of the realm of possibility and that is certainly the outcome that I am hoping for.  Chiefs pulled off a pretty impressive W against an improved Raiders team not only did they get the W but they pitched a shutout, which in this day and age of reasonable parity and guys that can bomb 50 yard field goals, is impressive regardless of the team you are playing.

Got a bit of family time in as well with a trip to Topeka to see the in laws, which was, as always, a good time.

That's pretty much it.  Remainder of the weekend was spent with laundry and lazy couch TV time, which frankly is always an essential piece of any weekend that is worth a darn.

Picture of the Week

Our puppies are ridiculous.

Video of the Week

wow....

Alpha...Mike...Foxtrot

I may take November off...

October 25

November 8

Modern Warfare 3 is, as the name states, the 3rd installment of the Modern Warfare series from Call of Duty and I can't wait.  MW2 was great so I very much look forward to the 3rd part of the story.  While the multiplayer and online games is where the real investment is because of the replayablity.  I am hooked on the storyline from MW and MW2 and am really looking forward to seeing how the events of MW2 evolve into the 3rd "episode".  That being said... my excitement over MW3 is only a fraction of the excitement I have for Battlefield 3.  I've never played or purchased a Battlefield game.  But from what I've seen in previews and the limited multiplayer Beta... I may have found a new love to replace the CoD franchise.  Something that I really didn't think would be possible.  The graphics, even in Beta, were great and the destructible environments were amazing.  Tree in the way + RPG = no more obstruction.  I will be buying both.  Taking days off for both.  And sleeping less for a few weeks after release.  I'm sure I will have some comments on each (probably more comments than most will care to read) after playing each.

More Beer

Not trying to make this a beer blog by any means, but the hunt for new and unique beers is one of my more interesting hobbies.  Accordingly my beer list should now be pretty close up to date and, aside from making me appear as a raging alcoholic ,it is growing to what I consider to be pretty impressive and pretty diverse.  I thought about an attempt to rank them... but that would not be very useful because I found myself giving everything 3s and 4s... maybe I'll try that at a later date, but for now it's just a list.  Any questions about any of them feel free to ask!

Picture of the Week

Letter of Apology

To Whom It May Concern,

I would like to apologize for my past transgressions and frankly ignorant criticisms of Soccer.  These were poorly timed and uninformed critiques of a sport I did not understand.  As I watched the Men and Women's World Cups I have grown a bit more and more fond of the sport.  I now have a great deal of interest in the local club's performance and standings.  

My understanding of the rules are still at the most basic of levels which will undoubtedly lead to inappropriate displays of exuberance and poorly timed and poorly rationalized outbursts of misdirected anger toward players and officials (a second apology here because I've watched football with similar passionate, yet knowledge limited fans and nonsensical outbursts about strategy/officiating/play are super annoying for those that actually 'know' the sport, so sorry again).  Lastly, my skill of actually playing the sport is likely at about the 5-7 year old level (at best).  

Again I apologize and hope my past does not impact my potential interest in this sport moving forward.

With regret & sincerest apology, 

Ben McMahan

Avengers

Excited doesn't even scratch the surface of my emotion for this movie.

Life Update

Blog maintenance has been less than sub par but we got a new look a new name and I'll try again to reboot and do a better job with updates, rants, pics, videos, rants and nonsense (yes I know I said rants twice, I'm a fan of ranting).  

ANYWAY... life update.  Life has been pretty boring since I last left, well as boring as life can be when you are expecting a tiny human to enter your life (due Jan 3).  Needless to say, life has been less than dull between furniture, car seats, paint, and general preparations... crap, babies need a lot of stuff.  And try as I might I honestly can't call any of it "unnecessary" in fact I'm finding the contrary point is true and there are likely several things that we are missing on the list that will need to be acquired later.  Anyway... I'm sure I'll have some updates as the day gets closer.  At this point in time we'll go with super excited and super nervous at a 50/50 split.  Work is work, travel has slowed a bit, but still there, not really anywhere out of the ordinary.  Coolest trip has been Paso Robles, CA though home of Firestone Walker Brewery, probably my number 2 or 3 favorite brewer.  Two nights of sampling was pretty amazing.

Bacon Sunflower Seeds?

Not as good as I hoped they would be...  :(

Adventures in Vegitarianism

Was walking through the grocery store a few weeks ago and as I passed by the tofu, I said to myself, self, I think we should give this a try.  So I picked up a brick, pretty proud of myself for stepping outside my chicken and beef lifestyle.  However, I soon realized that while it was pretty awesome that I had some tofu... I really had no clue what in the hell to do with it.  To Google I went.

Attempt one was to the Grill and BBQ sauce.  My thinking here was smokey grill + strong flavors of BBQ sauce would mute be the most approachable and mask any tofu taste more than any other method.  This was actually very tasty.  I went at it just as is, but I think with some additional fixins this would have been even more of a winner.  Attempt two was a bit more 'traditional' I went with the stir fry, tofu veggies, rice, the standard fair.  Again pretty good, I think my choice of sauce was the fatal flaw in this one... sauce I chose just wasn't that great so kind of ruined the whole experience frankly.

Final attempt was the scariest because it took something sacred... tacos.  This was by far my favorite prep meal.  Tofu, rice, black beans and cilantro was pretty delicious.  This one goes in the keeper pile for sure.  Let the tofu marinate in some spicy enchilada sauce sauteed it up and simmered in sauce a bit, warm corn tortillas and was ushered into flavor country.  Now to be clear I am not, nor will I ever, give up meat.  Ever.  Steak, breast, loin, ground you name it it's all delicious.  However, Every once in a while a change of pace is nice and it's fun to try something new.  Tofu was one new thing that was a pretty successful experiment.  I'll for sure be using this product again.

Top 5 Beers... Ever...

...or at least until I taste something better, which... really could be any day.

#5 - Boulevard Chocolate Ale

Set all the hype around this beer aside (I do have 1 bottle left...current Ebay price $60) ... I enjoyed this beer a lot and frankly how much I enjoyed it was a surprise to me, surprise enough that it earns a spot on my top 5 at least for now.  It's gone now, but will be back in Feb.  It's stay here will be highly contested as the fall beers come into stores.

#4 - Firestone Walker Velvet Merlin

Just when I thought Guinness was at or near the gold standard in this category into my life came Velvet Merlin (formerly Velvet Merkin) graced my palet.  Pretty phenomenal, light and extremely complex flavor profile, needless to say while at the brewery I drank several of these and am pretty bummed that it likely will never reach MO.

#3 - Green Flash Imperial IPA

Hops. Hops. Hops.  Very good double, really not much more to say here.

#2 - Bell's Hopslam

There's a reason this beer goes for $18-20 for a six pack it really is that good.

#1 - Firestone Walker Double Jack

My gold standard to which all beers are measured.  A very controlled aggression when it comes to the hops on this double.  It's there, you know it's there, but it doesn't beat you over the head.  As another note, the beer has far more alcohol than the taste shows... making it a proceed with caution brew.  

Top Beers to Always Have on Hand:

#3 - Boulevard Wheat

#2 - Miller Lite

#1 - Stone IPA

Video of the Week

This is just pretty amazing... wow.  I think skydiving would be a rush enough but this guy went flying full on flying squirrel.  

More videos on his YouTube page: Jeb Corliss