Memorial Day, a day off work, so I think I can squeeze out an update. Finally. We're supposed to be in mid-BBQ by now, but had a few cancellations so Morgan, kids, and Maggie are out back and I'm computing. Photo update later, for now just the words. On the plus side, the house is nice and tidy.
I feel like I've been productive in what little free time I have - we splurged on a new laptop with our tax refund, so I sold our old one on ebay, as well as our old digital camera with the half-wonky screen; made and hung a swing on the tree out front last weekend, made a raised-bed garden out back which is showing initial signs of success with tomatoes and an assortment of other sprouts coming up. My hops are coming back this year, let's hope for success on them.
I've got a keg of hefeweizen sitting in the closet, waiting a few more weeks for Brian and Sonya's wedding, plus 3 bottles of Mirror Mirror in the garage fridge to enjoy sometime in the distant future. As Brian put it yesterday, we're living in times of some of the best beer availability. It's an obsession, tracking new special releases, what might be available in Reno or not, tasting sessions with friends, stowing ultra precious bottles away to age or wait for the right occasion. I love it.
My other favorite thing besides beer (coffee) also has developments to report - Grandpa Dave sent us a big drip coffee and espresso machine recently that we just put into service. It'll take a few pots to figure out just the right grind, amount, and setting for the perfect cup, but the iced espresso I had earlier put me into this weird "tired from antihistamines but feeling heart palpitations from the caffeine" state that I didn't like very much. I'm reaching equilibrium now, both substances wearing off a bit.
On other fronts, we seem to be battling sickness on a regular basis. We thought Lola's ear infection had passed, but more recently she had such a bad cough that it kept us all up most of the night, so we took her in. She was diagnosed with asthma and put on a daily steroid mist treatment that's not much fun. And her ear was still infected, plus a hold in her eardrum. She seems well enough, but we're to see an ear-nose-throat specialist next week and get this all figured out. Sid's mostly well, except for some mystery diarrhea the last couple days that we have no clue about. Me, just allergies kicking my butt with everything in bloom this time of year, thus the aforementioned antihistamines.
EcoReno continues to keep us busy, although we could certainly use more business. We've more or less decided our biggest impediment to raging success right now (besides the generally poor climate for business everywhere) is location. We get virtually no drop-in serendipitous walk-in traffic, so we might be looking at moving at some point. We'll see. The people who do shop with us really do love our store and our merchandise, we just need more of them. No big news otherwise, we just keep chugging along, looking for ways to grow and succeed.
My work continues to plod forward in a dismal situation - the library's budget cut 36% means doing more work with a lot less. No layoffs for now, but lots of vacancies that means everyone's working harder. Our hours are being cut at the end of next month, and my schedule will change, so the child care situation will need to change as well. And then again in a few months when Sid's sitter goes to nursing school.
Well, I guess I've been a computer hermit long enough. Time to open a cold one and relax on the deck I hosed off earlier today. Days off are good.
Showing posts with label Beer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Beer. Show all posts
Monday, May 25, 2009
Monday, December 8, 2008
Hell hath no fury
Wow, keeping up some semblance of a regular schedule of posting amusing anecdotes here is getting harder and harder. Between family, the store, and now the holidays descending upon us, blogging keeps getting pushed further and further down the priority list.
I'm here to tell you about what happens when a four-year-old cumulatively loses about 4 hours sleep in a weekend. We had people over on Friday and Lola was up late being the life of the party. Then Saturday, we went to dinner at friends and she stayed up late with her DG who was babysitting. So last night, the trifecta was completed and Rayna and Kelly came over for dinner. We were determined to put Lola down and hour early, at 8pm, because she didn't even get a good nap. We started at 8. Over the course of the next hour, we bargained, scolded, spanked (yes, we spank, but it's pretty rare and really just for these most hellish occasions), coerced, and generally fought with our daughter. She wants Dada, she wants Mama, she wants milk, she's cold, she's hot, her head hurts. One thing after another, the games get played. And Dada gets more and more frustrated and pissed off. The screaming reaches a crescendo and another round of spanking. Eventually, Lola got so upset she threw up in her bed. And then on her floor while we were stripping the bed. Great. We took away her little Christmas tree. Finally, after what felt like hours of battle, she settled in and went to sleep. Let us never schedule a weekend like this again.
In other family news, we're gearing up for the holidaze, the (real) tree is up, stockings are hung, and "we'll tell Santa if you're naughty" threats are tossed around casually. I can only think of two things that might comprise my list, so I should really be thankful for all I have and don't lack. EcoReno is joining in - Morgan's building a trash Christmas tree to show off during the CalAve merchants' annual Holiday Stroll (in which we are participating). Winter is a mere two weeks away according to the calendar, but we have yet to see any real snow, and people are still riding bikes outside.
Library work is its typical self, but we're circling our wagons for yet another cut to the budget. People are now getting concerned about layoffs, but they are still telling us that's the last possible option. I'm feeling pretty solid and lucky to be able to feel that way - we're seeing more and more people we know, or one degree of separation away, that are impacted negatively by the state of the economy. If someone could please turn things around, now would be a good time to do it.
Been drinking some interesting beers lately. Between two friends, I secured three bottles of The Abyss this year, as well as some Hallertau, and one precious bottle of Palo Santo. As long as we're talking festive, Morgan and I got a chance to go out to a movie recently, saw the new James Bond movie. A little disappointing as a Bond movie, acceptable as a movie, and enjoyable as an opportunity to go out for an evening.
Not much else to report really, so I'll sign off here. I've got some EcoReno blogging to do too, so take a look there if you'd like. We did just buy a new camera since the old one started failing, so I'll have a whole slew of new photos of kids and holidays and stuff to post soon, but for now, check out this cool website.
I'm here to tell you about what happens when a four-year-old cumulatively loses about 4 hours sleep in a weekend. We had people over on Friday and Lola was up late being the life of the party. Then Saturday, we went to dinner at friends and she stayed up late with her DG who was babysitting. So last night, the trifecta was completed and Rayna and Kelly came over for dinner. We were determined to put Lola down and hour early, at 8pm, because she didn't even get a good nap. We started at 8. Over the course of the next hour, we bargained, scolded, spanked (yes, we spank, but it's pretty rare and really just for these most hellish occasions), coerced, and generally fought with our daughter. She wants Dada, she wants Mama, she wants milk, she's cold, she's hot, her head hurts. One thing after another, the games get played. And Dada gets more and more frustrated and pissed off. The screaming reaches a crescendo and another round of spanking. Eventually, Lola got so upset she threw up in her bed. And then on her floor while we were stripping the bed. Great. We took away her little Christmas tree. Finally, after what felt like hours of battle, she settled in and went to sleep. Let us never schedule a weekend like this again.
In other family news, we're gearing up for the holidaze, the (real) tree is up, stockings are hung, and "we'll tell Santa if you're naughty" threats are tossed around casually. I can only think of two things that might comprise my list, so I should really be thankful for all I have and don't lack. EcoReno is joining in - Morgan's building a trash Christmas tree to show off during the CalAve merchants' annual Holiday Stroll (in which we are participating). Winter is a mere two weeks away according to the calendar, but we have yet to see any real snow, and people are still riding bikes outside.
Library work is its typical self, but we're circling our wagons for yet another cut to the budget. People are now getting concerned about layoffs, but they are still telling us that's the last possible option. I'm feeling pretty solid and lucky to be able to feel that way - we're seeing more and more people we know, or one degree of separation away, that are impacted negatively by the state of the economy. If someone could please turn things around, now would be a good time to do it.
Been drinking some interesting beers lately. Between two friends, I secured three bottles of The Abyss this year, as well as some Hallertau, and one precious bottle of Palo Santo. As long as we're talking festive, Morgan and I got a chance to go out to a movie recently, saw the new James Bond movie. A little disappointing as a Bond movie, acceptable as a movie, and enjoyable as an opportunity to go out for an evening.
Not much else to report really, so I'll sign off here. I've got some EcoReno blogging to do too, so take a look there if you'd like. We did just buy a new camera since the old one started failing, so I'll have a whole slew of new photos of kids and holidays and stuff to post soon, but for now, check out this cool website.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Update
That's about all I can muster for now. Birthday and Halloween behind us, Election coming soon. EcoReno in full swing. More news to come soon.
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Beer Mecca
I'm back in one piece today from my first pilgrimage to the Great American Beer Festival in Denver. Needless to say, it was immensely enjoyable. While poor Morgan was stuck here with kids who turned sick upon my departure, complete with vomit and lack of sleep, I was tasting some of the best beers in the nation, nay, world. Brian and I went Thursday and Friday sessions, tasting probably somewhere around 70-80 beers if I had to guess. No, we weren't a total wreck, they only pour one ounce tastes, and over the course of about 4 hours each night, it's pretty moderate if you're there to actually enjoy the magnificent diverse world of beer and not just party like a frat boy. Denver seems like a nice city, too. I find myself lacking any real narrative of the last few days other than thinking in images and little sound-bite-like nuggets of recollection. So with that in mind, here are some highlights in words and pics:
Some pics, courtesy of Brian since I didn't bring my camera...
[caption id="attachment_432" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Great American Beer Festival"]
[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_433" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Lance, Brian, and Marc at the GABF"]
[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_434" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Cool buildings in our neighborhood"]
[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_435" align="alignnone" width="225" caption="$15,000 55-year-old Macallan single-malt"]
[/caption]
Yes, that scotch is really priced at $14,999. That liquor store has 64 cooler doors full of beer.
PS: added a smattering of new pictures to the miscellany album, from a few various outings, none enough to get their own album. Oh yeah, and I missed our first snowfall while I was gone.
- Best brewery we tasted - Dogfish Head
- Best beer we totally missed out on - Utopias
- Quite memorable beer - The Abyss
- Local breweries represented - Buckbean, Brew Bros, Great Basin, and Silver Peak. Reno, represent!
- Best schwag - stamped leather Mirror Pond coasters from Deschutes (honorable mentions: Session Lager temporary tattoos, stickers galore, and at least four free beer magazines)
- Best non-festival things we did - Killer shopping for beer with Lance and Rosie, lunch at Bull and Bush, and late night snack and beer at Cheeky Monk Belgian Beer Cafe, breakfast at Tom's Diner (straight out of Pulp Fiction, seriously), coffee at Illegal Grounds in a neighborhood full of cool old houses
Some pics, courtesy of Brian since I didn't bring my camera...
[caption id="attachment_432" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Great American Beer Festival"]
[/caption][caption id="attachment_433" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Lance, Brian, and Marc at the GABF"]
[/caption][caption id="attachment_434" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Cool buildings in our neighborhood"]
[/caption][caption id="attachment_435" align="alignnone" width="225" caption="$15,000 55-year-old Macallan single-malt"]
[/caption]Yes, that scotch is really priced at $14,999. That liquor store has 64 cooler doors full of beer.
PS: added a smattering of new pictures to the miscellany album, from a few various outings, none enough to get their own album. Oh yeah, and I missed our first snowfall while I was gone.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Winding down in Michigan
Starting to lose track of what we've done on which days. As the road out front gets dug up, I try to reflect on the last 36 hours or so...
I know yesterday we spent visiting Grandpa's sister Marilou in Milford. Quite a nice little place, from what little I saw, and she's got a great old house nestled in the woods near a park. We even saw a snake.
Aside from that, it seems like we've more or less driven around a bit, gone to stores, taken walks, and bounced a ball in the street. Paige and I took a nice long walk up to and through Siena Heights University which is more or less just up the street, then by one of the water towers here in Adrian. We had some speculation about why all these little towns have a water tower, most of them with the town's name painted on the side. This seems to explain pretty well.
Anyway, I think that about does it for now. Lots of pics to add to these little tales, of the snake and the water tower and other assorted fun. No cable or card slot to upload them here, so they'll just have to wait until we get home.
Beerlog: Hmmmm...another one (hoppy amber?) from Magic Hat, and one bottle of Hops Infusion from Weyerbacher I picked up in Toledo on a whim.
I know yesterday we spent visiting Grandpa's sister Marilou in Milford. Quite a nice little place, from what little I saw, and she's got a great old house nestled in the woods near a park. We even saw a snake.
Aside from that, it seems like we've more or less driven around a bit, gone to stores, taken walks, and bounced a ball in the street. Paige and I took a nice long walk up to and through Siena Heights University which is more or less just up the street, then by one of the water towers here in Adrian. We had some speculation about why all these little towns have a water tower, most of them with the town's name painted on the side. This seems to explain pretty well.
Anyway, I think that about does it for now. Lots of pics to add to these little tales, of the snake and the water tower and other assorted fun. No cable or card slot to upload them here, so they'll just have to wait until we get home.
Beerlog: Hmmmm...another one (hoppy amber?) from Magic Hat, and one bottle of Hops Infusion from Weyerbacher I picked up in Toledo on a whim.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Michigan Friday and Saturday
Had a fabulous time at the zoo yesterday, mostly what you would expect ~ elephants, giraffes, polar bears, and a very friendly sloth bear. We skipped the reptiles and amphibians towards the end as we were all winding down, but the monkeys, apes, and hippos all gave great delight to us all. Camels weren't out yet for the summer. While in Toledo, we stopped for some excellent grocery shopping at The Andersons, including some great stuff from their meat counter. Also stocked up some excellent beers since Toledo offers a bit more than Adrian, including some Dogfish Head and Flying Dog bottles that I don't see at home.
Today we hit the local farmer's market, the quite respectable Adrian PL, a pretty acceptable burrito for lunch, and, after a couple errands and ice cream for dessert, the afternoon naptime.
Beerlog: Tons bought in Toledo, only thing new tasted was pale ale from the previously mentioned Bell's.
Today we hit the local farmer's market, the quite respectable Adrian PL, a pretty acceptable burrito for lunch, and, after a couple errands and ice cream for dessert, the afternoon naptime.
Beerlog: Tons bought in Toledo, only thing new tasted was pale ale from the previously mentioned Bell's.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Michigan, day two
Good day to start our visit ~ nice leisurely morning followed by a big fat delicious breakfast. "The Abner" is a skillet meal composed of hash browns with shredded cheese, diced ham, and gravy on them, topped with two eggs over easy. And toast on the side. It's not as grotesque as it might sound. Reasonable portion and oh so good. After that, a visit to Grandpa Dave's Lowe's (bought a new shower head and a little gas grill to cook dinner upon) and some quality time at the park.
After naptime (and grill assembly time), we ventured back out for steaks and assorted other goods for dinner. On the way, we stopped and looked around the house that Grandpa's dad built when he was a kid. Empty for a year now, it's in kinda sad shape, but it was neat to visit anyway. Grilled ribeyes and corn on the cob are as good a way to end the day that The Abner started.
Toledo Zoo tomorrow.
Today's beerlog: Leinekugel's Red Lager
After naptime (and grill assembly time), we ventured back out for steaks and assorted other goods for dinner. On the way, we stopped and looked around the house that Grandpa's dad built when he was a kid. Empty for a year now, it's in kinda sad shape, but it was neat to visit anyway. Grilled ribeyes and corn on the cob are as good a way to end the day that The Abner started.
Toledo Zoo tomorrow.
Today's beerlog: Leinekugel's Red Lager
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Michigan trip, day one
We're in Adrian, MI tonight, visiting Morgan's dad. Woke up at 3:30am, Reno time. Quick layover in Denver, then on to Detroit, followed by a short drive in a rental to here.
Beerlog: Magic Hat's Not Quite Pale Ale and Bell's Two Hearted Ale. Both very nice beers.
Beerlog: Magic Hat's Not Quite Pale Ale and Bell's Two Hearted Ale. Both very nice beers.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Happy Earth Day
Just a few minutes to catch up before heading to work, seems like lots to talk about here.
First, off it's sort of spring birthday season around here. Happy birthday to Lola's Nana today, and last Friday to Morgan. Had a nice little gathering Friday night here, followed by dinner out at Lulou's on Saturday night. Quite delicious, quite expensive. I celebrated Morgan's birthday by paying a visit to Reno's first microbrewery, then picked up ingredients for a honey wheat beer I'm planning to brew and rhizomes to plant some hops out back.
Also speaking of birthdays, I just heard from an old friend (Bret for you out there who might remember him), announcing the birth of his daughter Evalina on Saturday night. Congrats to Bret and his wife, welcome to Evalina.
In a recent spate of eco-activity around here, partially Earth Day inspired, partially coincidental, we've been purging some plastics around here to avoid bisphenol-A, and I've been ballparking solar systems. Sort of dismayed to realize that just to offset about half of our electric consumption with solar, we're looking at probably close to $20,000 up front, even after generous rebates. So I dunno if that's going to happen. Might start with solar water heating.
Two final brief blurbs and then I'm out:
Sidney has two new teeth coming in. Yay for teeth, but boo on the accompanying crankiness and how bad it makes him feel. :-(
Recent movies seen: No Country for Old Men - excellent, violent, tense, really enjoyed. Juno - Excellent in all respects, story, characters, music, dialogue. Totally loved it.
First, off it's sort of spring birthday season around here. Happy birthday to Lola's Nana today, and last Friday to Morgan. Had a nice little gathering Friday night here, followed by dinner out at Lulou's on Saturday night. Quite delicious, quite expensive. I celebrated Morgan's birthday by paying a visit to Reno's first microbrewery, then picked up ingredients for a honey wheat beer I'm planning to brew and rhizomes to plant some hops out back.
Also speaking of birthdays, I just heard from an old friend (Bret for you out there who might remember him), announcing the birth of his daughter Evalina on Saturday night. Congrats to Bret and his wife, welcome to Evalina.
In a recent spate of eco-activity around here, partially Earth Day inspired, partially coincidental, we've been purging some plastics around here to avoid bisphenol-A, and I've been ballparking solar systems. Sort of dismayed to realize that just to offset about half of our electric consumption with solar, we're looking at probably close to $20,000 up front, even after generous rebates. So I dunno if that's going to happen. Might start with solar water heating.
Two final brief blurbs and then I'm out:
Sidney has two new teeth coming in. Yay for teeth, but boo on the accompanying crankiness and how bad it makes him feel. :-(
Recent movies seen: No Country for Old Men - excellent, violent, tense, really enjoyed. Juno - Excellent in all respects, story, characters, music, dialogue. Totally loved it.
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Updates and such
I'm posting this pre-upgrade to the Wordpress software that runs this site, just in case I break everything horribly. If you can read this tomorrow, I've probably been successful. That, or I ran out of time.
Mostly just decided that it's been a shamefully long time since I added any photos, so we now have Easter photos, a few photos from Utopias night, a new Sid video on his page, a new Lola video on her page, and new photos in Sid and Lola's albums, respectively. Whew. Lots of uploading today.
It's been sick time around here lately, first Lola's cold, then Morgan's cold and stomach issues, now Sid's cold and my stomach issues. Nobody bad enough for professional care, just enough to feel crummy. Still, it's getting easier to feel better as the weather gradually turns more spring-like. Another sign of spring: the nest out on our back deck that has been here since we moved in has been re-habitated, they're adding on with more detritus, and looks like we might have eggs and baby birds before long.
Aside from that, I just have a few random tidbits to scatter to you, o faithful readers.....
That's all for now. Upgrade time. Fingers crossing....NOW.
Mostly just decided that it's been a shamefully long time since I added any photos, so we now have Easter photos, a few photos from Utopias night, a new Sid video on his page, a new Lola video on her page, and new photos in Sid and Lola's albums, respectively. Whew. Lots of uploading today.
It's been sick time around here lately, first Lola's cold, then Morgan's cold and stomach issues, now Sid's cold and my stomach issues. Nobody bad enough for professional care, just enough to feel crummy. Still, it's getting easier to feel better as the weather gradually turns more spring-like. Another sign of spring: the nest out on our back deck that has been here since we moved in has been re-habitated, they're adding on with more detritus, and looks like we might have eggs and baby birds before long.
Aside from that, I just have a few random tidbits to scatter to you, o faithful readers.....
- New brewery coming to town. Excellent. In other beer news, still expensive.
- Latest online game obsession pairs well with my sweepstakes obsession. Register for the sweepstakes, then Clear the Skies. Also found this fun little game today, perfect for me. I hate overly complicated games that take forever to finish. In case it's not clear, you have to burn the rope.
- And lastly, I've been thinking about emergency preparation lately, partially due to hearing a speaker from the County department that plans for such things, partially due to recent earthquakes and murmurs over the possible impending big one. So one of my goals for the future is being ready for disaster.
That's all for now. Upgrade time. Fingers crossing....NOW.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Radar report
Seems like more and more posts around here are just dumping of "what's on my mind" lately. Here's another one. Just too much bobbing around in my head not to post some stuff, but too crazybusy to wax poetic about anything much.
Well, I guess that actually wasn't much to say. Just felt like I had a lot on my mind. Happy birthday Pop!
P.S. This is funny.
- Heard a blurb on NPR this morning following the recent Starbucks annual shareholders' meeting. Not particularly interested in the business/finance angles, but for coffee buffs like me, sounds like some interesting things ahead. This press release gives a pretty good rundown, but I'm particularly interested in the Clover brewing system. The quote from the CEO on the radio was along the lines of "I was in this (non Starbucks) coffee shop and they're serving coffee for $7 a cup. And there's a line. I'm not happy." So he bought them out.
- In the finance department, we just wrapped up our refinance of the house. Bottom line: by my estimates, we'll save $150,000 by refinancing to a 20-year 4.75% loan. And it'll only cost us $9 more each month. I'm also going to open a 529 account for each of the kids, and Lola signed up for preschool today, so come FY2008-2009, I'll have them start taking out some pre-tax dollars from my paycheck for that. Savings all around!
- I need to start brewing more. It's a hobby I have a passion for, I can save money by brewing my own beer, and, well, it's good beer. But dang, hops are getting expensive. Tina and Bart's baby shower is this weekend, and I'll be serving a homebrewed pale ale.
- March madness is here, so that, of course, means the annual library pool is on. Wish me luck!
Well, I guess that actually wasn't much to say. Just felt like I had a lot on my mind. Happy birthday Pop!
P.S. This is funny.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Just a quickie
- Sid is starting to crawl. Mostly in reverse, but he is on his way. Other new moves are clapping and shaking his head from side to side - as in "no, no."
- Just received a new bag from www.trixerdesigns.com. Fun bags. They are made well and look great! Thsnks, Chrisite! (and Maggie, for being related to Christie!)
- I love the weather. It was great to see it get in the high 60's. If we get a vote, I'd like to avoid any further snow.
- Looking forward to a trip to Michigan in May.
- Garage sale season has officially started for me. Lola, Deej and I went last weekend. They are few and far between, but they are there!
- I love Sam Adam's Cherry Wheat. It makes me want to drink too much beer. Good thing it is a bit pricier than Marc wants to spend.
- I'm ready for an addition to the family. I mean a dog!! Are you kidding? Lola and Sid are going to be the only offspring from Marc and I. We love them, they are perfect, and they are just enough. The only addition should be a dog. Cina's lonely.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Food and stuff
Meant to write this yesterday, ran out of time.
I was recently feeling all boo-hoo for us, that there seem to be a spate of interesting, delicious, new restaurants (and actually, some not new at all, that I continually drive past thinking "We have to try that place some time" but never think about when we ponder where we should go for dinner) that we hear great things about but don't go to, either feeling handicapped by kids, disposable income, or whatever reason. Finally, we got to try the lunch spot that everyone seems to love, Süp. Very delicious, as expected. A bit chaotic, felt a little pretentious, but in the end, the food was great and that's what matters.
Also on our list of places we simply must try sometime: Zagol, El Pescador, and La Fuente.
I also failed to mention here, our little beer tasting get-together here last weekend. Turi did a fine job of describing and documenting, so I'll defer to his already-posted review. He didn't mention the fabulous edibles that Morgan (and with a tiny bit of help from me) came up with to complement the beer - Arrogant Bastard chili (amazingly delicious), Sam Adams Brown Ale bread, Old Rasputin bread, and Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout mocha freezes for dessert.
Speaking of eating, we had dinner at Jack's last night. Good time visiting with their little one who's a week younger than Sid. In doing so, I remembered some photos I've been meaning to post, a series of sorts:
Happy weekend, everyone.
I was recently feeling all boo-hoo for us, that there seem to be a spate of interesting, delicious, new restaurants (and actually, some not new at all, that I continually drive past thinking "We have to try that place some time" but never think about when we ponder where we should go for dinner) that we hear great things about but don't go to, either feeling handicapped by kids, disposable income, or whatever reason. Finally, we got to try the lunch spot that everyone seems to love, Süp. Very delicious, as expected. A bit chaotic, felt a little pretentious, but in the end, the food was great and that's what matters.
Also on our list of places we simply must try sometime: Zagol, El Pescador, and La Fuente.
I also failed to mention here, our little beer tasting get-together here last weekend. Turi did a fine job of describing and documenting, so I'll defer to his already-posted review. He didn't mention the fabulous edibles that Morgan (and with a tiny bit of help from me) came up with to complement the beer - Arrogant Bastard chili (amazingly delicious), Sam Adams Brown Ale bread, Old Rasputin bread, and Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout mocha freezes for dessert.
Speaking of eating, we had dinner at Jack's last night. Good time visiting with their little one who's a week younger than Sid. In doing so, I remembered some photos I've been meaning to post, a series of sorts:
Happy weekend, everyone.
Friday, December 14, 2007
Marc's enormous post about all kinds of stuff in our lives
OK, here I am, back again so soon. Still not loading pictures, but my mind was racing last night after posting the last little blurb, full of other little items of note. When I converted the old cheztiar into this blog format, it was in an effort to preserve our little familial goings-on, rather than losing them each time I revised the front page. So at this time, as we approach the end of the year, when everyone is looking back on the past and ahead to the future, I want to toss out a bunch of stuff in that spirit. It may not make for the best reading for you, dear readers; the minutiae of the Tiars' recent lives, spouted forth like a broken sewer main does not "Ulysses" make. But if you're into stream of consciousness, random tidbits, and odds and ends recorded here for posterity, read on...
In the kids department, we had another one this year. Young Sid is going on five months old now. Doesn't sleep through the night. Taking formula isn't going very well. He cries more than Lola did and takes really short naps. But he's growing like a weed, cute as a button, and going to turn out OK. Lola turned three recently, and she's still our little princess. Adorable barely describes her on her worst day. That's still little comfort when she calls us back into her room 3-4 times for a sip of water or other ridiculous reason after going to bed, or when she wakes up at 4am still, or insists on pooping in her diaper (she still sleeps in one) when she knows darn well how to use the toilet like a big girl. Perhaps some regression due to baby brother and new house is going on... Both kids have had their share of colds lately, lots of runny noses, coughing, etc. but we bought a nice vaporizer that keeps a room nice and humid through the night. Speaking of devices we bought, as of a couple weeks ago, we're the proud owners of a remanufactured Roomba robot vacuum. It's still more of a novelty than a real labor saver since you still have to pick up a bunch of toys and shoes and stuff, but it works OK and it's kind of fun. Returning to the topic of Lola for a moment, Morgan toured a couple preschools this week, so we're starting to think about it. Expensive! Need to figure out the best schedule and what's affordable, but we think we've found the place when it's time. No daycare for Sid yet though, we're not ready for that yet.
(This is silly, I started writing this as a text document that I would paste into cheztiar later, but I'm having to do it in such small bits as time permits, I should just be writing online in the first place...but I digress.)
One other thing I envisioned doing a lot of on this here website was sharing books, music, and movies that I've enjoyed (or not) with you all. Not much reading going on these days - by the time I get to bed, too tired to read much, and what I've been reading is pretty dull. I picked up a book on coffee, a sort of reference book on personal finance, and one on making beer. I need to get back into some page-turner fiction. Most of my reading these days is Wired magazine, trying to get through one issue before next one comes, or the various blogs and websites I try to hit every day. I guess reading is reading, but a book would be nice sometime soon.
Speaking of personal finance, that's the other thing on my mind these days. I must be a real grown-up now, I think a lot about ways to retire early, save a lot for retirement, writing a will, and look forward to doing taxes so I can see just how much having a 2nd child and a home equity loan will improve our tax situation. This year, I opened a Flexible Spending Account, another tax break for medical expenses, and enrolled in the Hartford's 457 plan, yet another way to save on taxes and save for retirement pretty easily. Fat nest egg, here I come.
Musicwise, I just recently started listening to Sublime again. After getting the box set earlier this year, it's kind of sat on the shelf for a while, so I brought it out to listen to again, and have been really enjoying it, getting back into their music again. I have to say, I really think they claim the title of "my favorite band ever". Which brings me to a trivial little anecdote. With my renewed interest, I thought I'd look to see what Wikipedia had on Sublime. As expected, a good thorough entry, and good entries on each band member. So, reading through the entry on drummer Bud Gaugh, it mentions he now lives in Nevada. Huh, interesting coincidence. So I visit his MySpace page, read about his new surf band (which sounds great, looking forward to hearing what they put out), and it turns out he lives in Reno at least part of the time. More coincidence. Among all my reading and websurfing, I am referred to a recent SPIN magazine which has a good article on Sublime's legacy and a tribute band back east called Badfish. So I go to find that issue at the library, and Foo Fighters are on the cover. Foo Fighters just announced a concert date here in February, which I think I'll be attending. And the final coincidence...Dave Grohl is wearing a Bucket of Blood Saloon t-shirt on the cover...it all comes back to Reno. (I've always maintained, besides being a great place to live with lots of interesting history, Reno is forever destined to be the footnote to history...famous people get arrested here, relatives of famous people die here, we're mentioned in songs randomly.)
Movies...never get to those much anymore. Netflix (and the library) keeps us in recent release, but all our time is getting sucked up by Six Feet Under these days. I can't give up any more time to TV series!
Changing gears again here, let's talk food and drink. Morgan and I celebrated our fourth anniverary with dinner at Harrah's Steakhouse, probably the oldest fine-dining establishment in town. A bit disappointing, mostly the crowd, but the food was nothing that special. We'll probably return to LuLou's or 4th Street Bistro in the future. And there's always our usual splurge that doesn't really qualify as fine-dining, SUSHI. For now, our attention is on Amish Friendship Bread since receiving a starter for a coworker. I continue to dwell on my love for two beverages - beer and coffee. Someday you'll all be regular customers of Marc's House of Barley and Beans (I still need to work on the name...)
In the technology realm, we're still happily wireless and using the laptop around the house most of the time, but I had an epiphany recently and added 1GB of memory to the desktop PC in the office and it runs SO much better now! Still need to tidy up the hard drive some, and I think I've committed myself to migrating to Picasa to organize and tag photos. With two kids being reared in the age of digital photos, we're rapidly accumulating hundreds of digital photos with little organization. At least I've got some piecemeal backup systems in place, but I need something more systematic I think. Picasa and some kind of offsite storage may be the answer. Not sure when I'll have the time, but at least I've started thinking about it... I dabbled in trying to burn a movie onto DVD, wrestling with the matter from every angle before deciding the DVD burner on the laptop is kaput. Sigh.
I'll toss out a plug here for a game we've been enjoying quite a bit lately, courtesy of Grandpa Dave, Apples to Apples is our latest party-game fascination.
And lastly, I just want to give a shout-out to our little dog Daisy. She's seen some rough times lately, with her diagnosis of Cushing's Disease, recent stomach issues, difficulty with stairs, and general aging. We still love her, and hope she'll stick with us comfortably for a little while longer.
And with that, dear readers, I'll come to a close. If you've read all of this, I owe you a coffee or a beer. Keep coming back to cheztiar in 2008.
In the kids department, we had another one this year. Young Sid is going on five months old now. Doesn't sleep through the night. Taking formula isn't going very well. He cries more than Lola did and takes really short naps. But he's growing like a weed, cute as a button, and going to turn out OK. Lola turned three recently, and she's still our little princess. Adorable barely describes her on her worst day. That's still little comfort when she calls us back into her room 3-4 times for a sip of water or other ridiculous reason after going to bed, or when she wakes up at 4am still, or insists on pooping in her diaper (she still sleeps in one) when she knows darn well how to use the toilet like a big girl. Perhaps some regression due to baby brother and new house is going on... Both kids have had their share of colds lately, lots of runny noses, coughing, etc. but we bought a nice vaporizer that keeps a room nice and humid through the night. Speaking of devices we bought, as of a couple weeks ago, we're the proud owners of a remanufactured Roomba robot vacuum. It's still more of a novelty than a real labor saver since you still have to pick up a bunch of toys and shoes and stuff, but it works OK and it's kind of fun. Returning to the topic of Lola for a moment, Morgan toured a couple preschools this week, so we're starting to think about it. Expensive! Need to figure out the best schedule and what's affordable, but we think we've found the place when it's time. No daycare for Sid yet though, we're not ready for that yet.
(This is silly, I started writing this as a text document that I would paste into cheztiar later, but I'm having to do it in such small bits as time permits, I should just be writing online in the first place...but I digress.)
One other thing I envisioned doing a lot of on this here website was sharing books, music, and movies that I've enjoyed (or not) with you all. Not much reading going on these days - by the time I get to bed, too tired to read much, and what I've been reading is pretty dull. I picked up a book on coffee, a sort of reference book on personal finance, and one on making beer. I need to get back into some page-turner fiction. Most of my reading these days is Wired magazine, trying to get through one issue before next one comes, or the various blogs and websites I try to hit every day. I guess reading is reading, but a book would be nice sometime soon.
Speaking of personal finance, that's the other thing on my mind these days. I must be a real grown-up now, I think a lot about ways to retire early, save a lot for retirement, writing a will, and look forward to doing taxes so I can see just how much having a 2nd child and a home equity loan will improve our tax situation. This year, I opened a Flexible Spending Account, another tax break for medical expenses, and enrolled in the Hartford's 457 plan, yet another way to save on taxes and save for retirement pretty easily. Fat nest egg, here I come.
Musicwise, I just recently started listening to Sublime again. After getting the box set earlier this year, it's kind of sat on the shelf for a while, so I brought it out to listen to again, and have been really enjoying it, getting back into their music again. I have to say, I really think they claim the title of "my favorite band ever". Which brings me to a trivial little anecdote. With my renewed interest, I thought I'd look to see what Wikipedia had on Sublime. As expected, a good thorough entry, and good entries on each band member. So, reading through the entry on drummer Bud Gaugh, it mentions he now lives in Nevada. Huh, interesting coincidence. So I visit his MySpace page, read about his new surf band (which sounds great, looking forward to hearing what they put out), and it turns out he lives in Reno at least part of the time. More coincidence. Among all my reading and websurfing, I am referred to a recent SPIN magazine which has a good article on Sublime's legacy and a tribute band back east called Badfish. So I go to find that issue at the library, and Foo Fighters are on the cover. Foo Fighters just announced a concert date here in February, which I think I'll be attending. And the final coincidence...Dave Grohl is wearing a Bucket of Blood Saloon t-shirt on the cover...it all comes back to Reno. (I've always maintained, besides being a great place to live with lots of interesting history, Reno is forever destined to be the footnote to history...famous people get arrested here, relatives of famous people die here, we're mentioned in songs randomly.)
Movies...never get to those much anymore. Netflix (and the library) keeps us in recent release, but all our time is getting sucked up by Six Feet Under these days. I can't give up any more time to TV series!
Changing gears again here, let's talk food and drink. Morgan and I celebrated our fourth anniverary with dinner at Harrah's Steakhouse, probably the oldest fine-dining establishment in town. A bit disappointing, mostly the crowd, but the food was nothing that special. We'll probably return to LuLou's or 4th Street Bistro in the future. And there's always our usual splurge that doesn't really qualify as fine-dining, SUSHI. For now, our attention is on Amish Friendship Bread since receiving a starter for a coworker. I continue to dwell on my love for two beverages - beer and coffee. Someday you'll all be regular customers of Marc's House of Barley and Beans (I still need to work on the name...)
In the technology realm, we're still happily wireless and using the laptop around the house most of the time, but I had an epiphany recently and added 1GB of memory to the desktop PC in the office and it runs SO much better now! Still need to tidy up the hard drive some, and I think I've committed myself to migrating to Picasa to organize and tag photos. With two kids being reared in the age of digital photos, we're rapidly accumulating hundreds of digital photos with little organization. At least I've got some piecemeal backup systems in place, but I need something more systematic I think. Picasa and some kind of offsite storage may be the answer. Not sure when I'll have the time, but at least I've started thinking about it... I dabbled in trying to burn a movie onto DVD, wrestling with the matter from every angle before deciding the DVD burner on the laptop is kaput. Sigh.
I'll toss out a plug here for a game we've been enjoying quite a bit lately, courtesy of Grandpa Dave, Apples to Apples is our latest party-game fascination.
And lastly, I just want to give a shout-out to our little dog Daisy. She's seen some rough times lately, with her diagnosis of Cushing's Disease, recent stomach issues, difficulty with stairs, and general aging. We still love her, and hope she'll stick with us comfortably for a little while longer.
And with that, dear readers, I'll come to a close. If you've read all of this, I owe you a coffee or a beer. Keep coming back to cheztiar in 2008.
Monday, November 12, 2007
Finally, an update
Yes, it's time again for Marc to take to the keyboard, whine about how busy he is and never gets around to updating this site, and tosses up a handful of new pictures for your viewing pleasure. First, a fun little photo from recent weeks, we've been trying to keep the bird feeder out in the front yard filled, then enjoying as various little birds, mourning doves, and sometimes blue birds and quail. This particular morning, the quail were THICK at the base of the tree picking up remnants...
Since I last wrote here, we: had a nice visit from Nana, had (sorta) two visits from Maggie, celebrated both my birthday (sushi dinner one night, brewed beer, dinner at Silver Peak the actual night) and Lola's (big party in which the birthday -brewed beer was consumed, Morgan already wrote about it), went in for the big V, trick-or-treated several times (Raley's, our neighborhood, Riverwalk District), got a new windshield for the van, had the kids' pictures taken, flew to California and back in a day for work and visited Ray at the same time, and visited an aunt in Vacaville and a friend in Fernley. Whew. And I wonder why I never have time to write. Of course, now that the holidays are virtually upon us, it may be a while again.
Speaking of beer, I had a great shopping trip to BevMo while in Vacaville, picked up a bunch of micros and imports that I can't get around here. Also on the horizon, a bottle of Utopias with my name on it, probably this week.
Now, about those pictures...you'll find new Lola pics in her album, including a couple from when we met up with visiting friends of the family from France in SF, and a couple from her birthday party. Also a number of new Sidney pictures in his album. And finally, amazingly, a couple Sidney videos so his page actually has some content.
Until I write again, and really, I'll try to get out little posts more frequently, this is Dada, signing off.
Since I last wrote here, we: had a nice visit from Nana, had (sorta) two visits from Maggie, celebrated both my birthday (sushi dinner one night, brewed beer, dinner at Silver Peak the actual night) and Lola's (big party in which the birthday -brewed beer was consumed, Morgan already wrote about it), went in for the big V, trick-or-treated several times (Raley's, our neighborhood, Riverwalk District), got a new windshield for the van, had the kids' pictures taken, flew to California and back in a day for work and visited Ray at the same time, and visited an aunt in Vacaville and a friend in Fernley. Whew. And I wonder why I never have time to write. Of course, now that the holidays are virtually upon us, it may be a while again.
Speaking of beer, I had a great shopping trip to BevMo while in Vacaville, picked up a bunch of micros and imports that I can't get around here. Also on the horizon, a bottle of Utopias with my name on it, probably this week.
Now, about those pictures...you'll find new Lola pics in her album, including a couple from when we met up with visiting friends of the family from France in SF, and a couple from her birthday party. Also a number of new Sidney pictures in his album. And finally, amazingly, a couple Sidney videos so his page actually has some content.
Until I write again, and really, I'll try to get out little posts more frequently, this is Dada, signing off.
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