Connoisseur
The building where I work has a little coffee stand on the first floor, and every day around 3pm, we head up there for coffee and a snack. Yesterday, I decided to add a couple of pumps of Hazelnut syrup, because it's free. And somehow, the coffee just tasted off to me. I wasn't sure if the coffee itself was too bitter, or what, but I suspected that they had slipped in a sugar-free syrup on me somehow.
So this afternoon, we went back up again, and I went over and checked on the syrup's label. Sure enough, sugar-free. So for all of you who doubted my beer reviews, that goes to show you just how sophisticated my palate is. Either that, or sugar-free syrup just really tastes that bad.
Glad to Recant
I had my doubts when I heard that NyQuil/DayQuil were changing their formulas to remove pseudoephedrine. But now that I've been slightly under the weather for a couple of days and taking the new version of DayQuil which uses Phenylephrine HCl as a decongestant, I have to say, I was so wrong. The new ingredient works great for me, and it doesn't have the side effects of completely drying out my mouth and making me feel light-headed. Now, not all is well. Lisa says it doesn't seem to work as well for her, so it may not be for everyone. But for me, it's a big improvement, and I'm glad I was wrong.
This is What I’ve Come To
We had a pretty busy weekend. Our friend (and Ellie's godfather) John was in from Chicago to visit before the tsunami of relatives arrives in 2 weeks. He's a smart man, because we're pushing 30 people who are going to be here for Evan's christening.
On Saturday, we drove up to Baltimore. My cousin Bill and his wife Maria are going to be Evan's godparents, so we figured it was probably a good idea if they met him before doing all that. They also have a rambunctious 7 month old puppy named Twist. Ellie had a blast playing with her, and somehow both of them made it out alive. I thought Ellie was going to knock the dog out throwing toys at her, and Twist was nipping at Ellie's ponytails the whole time.
We walked from my cousin's apartment on Eutaw Street over to the Contemporary Museum on Centre Street. They were running an exhibit on cell phone art, and since John works for Motorola, it seemed an interesting thing to see. Not bad, but we were glad it was free, as it was kind of small. After that, we stopped by the Walters Museum, which was also free. We didn't get to stay long, but we will probably go back sometime, since they have a cool kids area. Anywhere civilized that we can take the kids is good in my book.
Next up we went to an Afghan restaurant called Helmand. We showed up just after it opened at 5pm, and it was definitely hipster parent hour. The strollers were stacked up at the entrance, and they were out of booster seats when we asked for one. Good food, and the place is owned by Hamid Kharzai's brother.
After a day of two museums and a nice dinner out, we came back home and fired up the MSU-OSU hoops matchup on the Tivo and sat back with a cold beer. I was feeling pretty sick by halftime, and if John, a fellow MSU alum, hadn't been there, I might have turned it off at that point. Luckily, we stuck it out, and watched a huge comeback come up just short as the Buckeyes pulled the Gilbert Arenas defense on Drew "Hibachi Junior" Neitzel and forced Maurice Joseph to take the final shot, which he missed. They'll get a shot at a rematch this coming Saturday.
On Sunday, we got to check out a couple of places that we probably would have never gone on our own. John had a friend who was helping out with the music at St. Francis Xavier in SE DC. For those who know DC, you'll know that it's not exactly the best area in town, but they have a nice church, and they're real proud of their school, from what I gathered. We arrived there for the end of that mass, and then headed up to St. Augustine in NW DC. This was just north of U Street, which is well-known in DC for its vibrant music scene. Nice place, very disciplined (the ushers roped off the aisles during the sermon) and very energetic. They sang the same songs as we would sing in church, but since the vast majority of parishioners are African-American, it's totally different. We even got to see two babies being baptized, and they made all the newcomers, including us, introduce themselves at the end. Two churches in one day when we normally barely even go to one.
So it was a busy weekend, even without mentioning the geek stuff that me and John did after we got home on Sunday.
This morning, whilst perusing Amazon for memory upgrades for a cell phone (it's silly that you can get 1 GB of storage for $15 and it's the size of your fingernail, including the same thickness), I came across a "deal" that offered $30 off any purchase of $99 or more. The catch is that you have to spend $99 on Huggies products. We are seriously considering it. We just need to figure out which size and quantity to order. Indeed, this is what my life is like these days.
State of the Heroes
Anyone out there actually watch the State of the Union? Really, what's the point in listening to a lame duck president trying to sell his policies to a hostile opposition-controlled Congress? So no, I didn't watch a minute of the speech.
Instead, I watched "Heroes" on my PC in HDTV. As I mentioned before, I bought a cheap HDTV tuner card, added the Philips Silver Sensor antenna, and I was able to tune in all the major networks with no problems. The only remaining issue was the software. The NVidia PureVideo decoder was the only one that allowed smooth playback of the HDTV. I tried a bunch of different PVR software packages (the one drawback of the cheap HD tuner card is that it did not come with any bundled software, which might have made this step easier), before settling on GB-PVR. It could stand to be prettier (downloading a different "skin" may help in this regard), but it does have a decent interface, and was the only one that I was able to use to download a program guide in order to schedule recordings. So I scheduled Heroes to record a "season pass," and waited for it to start airing again.
On Monday night, my PC recorded Heroes without a hitch. Last night, I watched the episode during the State of the Union address. At two points during playback, there were some glitches which I attributed to the fact that I was doing other things on the computer while it was recording. But these were very minor blips, all things considered. The other drawback is that the 1 hour episode of Heroes took up about 8 GB of space on my hard drive. Until I'm able to get a second, bigger hard drive, I will really only have space for about 5 hours of HD recordings at a time. That's not too bad, as I could probably record Prison Break, Heroes, and Lost in HD and watch them each before the next episode airs. It would also be nice to have a real HDTV to watch them on, but I realize that's a long ways off.
Part of the point of this exercise was to see if it would eventually be possible to wean myself off of basic cable/satellite TV: Sci-Fi, cooking/home shows for Lisa, Ellie's kid shows and ESPN (noooooooo!). With cable TV shows being released on DVD not long after their seasons are over, I could definitely see myself catching up on Battlestar Galactica in the summer. The other ones are a tough sell, but it might be possible to get a different tuner card that has QAM (unencrypted cable) tuning capability and stick with the most basic cable possible. Or just read more books!
Cheesy Tots? Genius!
Burger King is adding a Value Breakfast Menu , which includes soda as well as a new "Hamlette" sandwich (ham, cheese, and egg, presumably a McMuffin competitor). They are also coming out with Cheesy Tots: tater tots with cheese filling. Looking past the artery clogging nature of the item, I have to say, this is pure freakin' genius. Has this been around and I just haven't noticed it? Plus, this isn't crap processed American cheese, we're talking (processed) mozzarella and cheddar.
Brooklyn Winter Ale
Finally reached the end of my six-pack of Brooklyn Winter Ale, so it's about time I reviewed it.
Nice amber color with a decent head to it. The malt comes to the forefront in the aroma, and continues as the predominant flavor. Still, it's not an overly sweet maltiness, as the hops bring in a bit of balance.
Solid warming ale for the winter months.
Overall rating: 3.95
Left Behind
Left Behind: A Novel of the Earth's Last Days by Tim LaHaye
My review
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
I ran across a Snopes item the other day that I thought was extremely appropriate for this book review. The claim: Airlines will not pair Christian pilots and co-pilots out of fear that the Rapture will snatch away both crewmembers capable of landing the flight.
The claim is, of course, false. But if you think that is something that airlines might want to think about, then this book is for you. Otherwise, you'll probably want to skip it. The word that kept coming to my mind while reading this was "awful." The plot itself isn't all that bad (although it's fairly easy to pull Bible passages, plug in a fictional modern-day analogue, and drive a story). The writing was just really grating to me. The characters had the worst inner monologues I've read in a long time, and the authors seemed intent on making sure every tiny detail was spelled out. The poor writing was not helped by the fact that the series goes 12 books long (plus 3 prequels, and the Left Behind Kids Series), and the ending is not an ending at all. Really, just skip this one. I've heard good things about The Christ Clone Trilogy, so I may try that at some point in the future.
Next up is Lisey's Story, by Stephen King.
Over? Did You Say Over???
Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Was it over when the Patriots went up 21-3 on the Colts?
I was rooting for the Colts and Saints yesterday. 50% ain't bad. I tell you, when I saw that Patriot offensive lineman manage to recover the fumble in the end zone, I was about to be sick. The Patriots luck seemed ready to continue. Instead, Peyton Manning calmly led the Colts back from the brink and turned the game around. The Colts even returned the favor, having one of their lineman recover a fumble in the end zone, AND throwing a pass to a tackle-eligible for a TD. Oh, and tell me the Patriots aren't wishing they had some real wide receivers left on the team. Hello, dropsies. Wide open dropsies. Multiple times.
We got our first snow of the year in Washington DC yesterday. Ellie and I had a blast playing in the snow. She even has her own little shovel and did a reasonably good job of helping. Unfortunately, it was still snowing when we shoveled, so now there is a nice layer of impenetrable ice over the driveway and sidewalks.
Evan was unimpressed by the snow. He doesn't react to much of anything really, so no surprise there. We got some good pictures of his first snow though.
Max, on the other hand, is a serious snow dog. He loves running around in the white stuff. Not so much the crunchy ice stuff this morning, but give him powder, and he'll run wild.
Personally, I like the warm beverages I get when I come back inside.
Scope It Out
Lisa's side of the family recently got two pieces of disturbing news. First, her brother, who is already afflicted with Crohn's and Colitis had some sort of polyps discovered in his colon. I don't want to get too into details, but suffice to say it's pretty scary. Not much in the way of treatment options, but since they seem to have found it early, he should be able to avoid chemotherapy. Secondly, "Uncle" Barney, who was the companion of Lisa's grandmother late in her life, has been diagnosed with cancer. I don't have all the details, but it's a big blow to us. Even though he's not a blood relative, he's definitely become part of our family.
So to honor and support our family members, Lisa and I will be running the "Scope it Out" 5K on Saturday, March 24, 2007. The race is sponsored by the Charles A. Kraenzle Colon Cancer Foundation. The Foundation is an all-volunteer organization formed to increase awareness of, encourage early detection of, and support research efforts in fighting colon cancer. Net race proceeds will be donated to the Cancer Research and Prevention Foundation, Colon Cancer Alliance, and the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Pledges are not required to participate, but if you want to support us in our efforts and pledge some money, we would definitely welcome the support. Just send me an email with your name, address, and pledge amount. Lisa's brother also does an annual charity golf outing for the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation in June, so if you want to donate to that too, let me know.
Amazing Race All-Stars
Entertainment Weekly has an interview with Bertram Van Munster, the producer of the Amazing Race about the upcoming "All-Star" edition of the race. Teams from previous races are back to compete again. The only previous winners back are Joyce and Uchenna, but the lineup includes David and Mary and Dustin and Kandice from the latest edition (they had 2-3 months between races), and my favorites, Boston Rob and Amber. I know everyone hates Boston Rob, but the man is a master manipulator. His gambit on the last Race when he got other teams to give up on a challenge was classic.
The Race doesn't start airing until February 18, but I'm looking forward to seeing Rob back in action.
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