Tiny Dancer

My special lady and I ventured into Burlington Saturday night for dinner w/ friends.  After a couple glasses of wine we decided to get a cab home.  It is always sketchy trying to cab it to Charlotte but we found a guy in a pretty clean cab who actually had a meter!  He estimated $35 for the ride which was about right.  He was a big dude w/ a accent and huge hands.  Like a Russian mobster or something.  He actually looked like Buddy from Friday Night Lights.  Whatever he was pleasant enough.  Well, we start driving and he turns on the cd player.  Peter Cetera.  Not just Cetera like whatever I don't want to offend senior citizens... he is blaring it!  And rocking out to it!!!  For the next 20 minutes we rocked out to an all time easy listening mix turned up to 11.  It was pretty amazing. 


Probably never thought you would be watching a Peter Cetera video on this blog didn't you.  Well, I guess you

Depressing

I was waiting to grab a coffee at a local coffee shop this morning and I started to feel depressed.  It wasn't anything to do w/ me though.  It was being in that place.  Can you imagine being in a place all day drinking coffee getting your heart and mind racing, meanwhile everyone is dressed like a hobo, speaking in hushed tones, and always... ALWAYS listening to the most depressing music available.  I am not sure why these local spots have the XM radio set to the kill me please channel but shit!  Not exactly like Friends, and not just because you never see Jennifer Aniston there either.

Stupid F*ing Math!!!!

When is 1+1+1+1 not equal to 4?  When that four is four Hill Farmstead Ephraim beers... at 10% alcohol!  Had 4 beers last night which in Bud Light terms is like a Pepsi Cola.  But dang, those Emphraims f*d me up!!! The small group of us were loud, obnoxious, and this morning telling war stories.  Oh Hill Farmstead, you are sneaky, very sneaky!!!  Well, I owe my wife something special for her understanding.  Here it is...

Well, what do you know?!

My special lady had a girls trip w/ friends this past weekend so old Jaybird was prepared for a nice weekend of football, crappy movies, and possibly a beer or 2.  The weekend started off right w/ a team building hike up Stowe Pinnacle and then a goodbye to longtime Stowe staple The Shed which closes its doors after 50+ yrs in its current incarnation.  That place was one of the first I ever went to in Stowe and has been a steady go to after a day on the mountain ever since.  The food is decent pub fare and the beers for brewed in house are not too bad.  Anyway, after some wings and such I found myself asleep on the couch at midnight w/ mac and cheese on the coffee table, an opened but un-drunk beer, the TV blaring on some random channel like the Cartoon Network, and the cat out in the mudroom losing his shit.  Time for bed!  The next morning I awoke at a reasonable hour but w/ a bit of a hangover.  The home phone rang.  WTF?  The only people that call on the home phone are my wife and parents and both know not to call me before 10am.  An emergency?  Nope.  It was friends calling to see if I wanted to go to the Shelburne Museum.  I have lived in northern Vermont for about 10 years and in Charlotte for 6+ and even though it is less than 5 miles from my house and has an amazing collection of Americana... I had never been to the museum.  Why would I want to go w/ my friends and their small children while hungover you may ask?  A good question I asked myself.  But what the f***, I wasn't doing anything else.  It was a little rainy and cold which sucked but otherwise it was actually a quite pleasant experience.  They have a ton of cool shit there and we didn't even see everything.  I liked the circus room which had some cool old circus posters, the train was pretty cool, the old Dr office and the straight razor collection was intense.  Even the old toy shop was very neat.  Not sure it is politically correct to have a "darky" penny tossing bank anymore though?  The old toy train was cool.  We even went on the carousel which was really something.  Mid day we hit up the food service joint which was for mass catered food pretty solid.  I had a pulled pork sandwich and root beer.  It was pretty good, could have used a little more BBQ but was cooked well and the pork had decent flavor.  The funny thing about the whole museum was that it seemed like an excellent setting for a horror movie.  I mean, old scary dentist and doctor tools?  Straight razors?  A gun exhibit? Scary clowns?  The sketchy blacksmith?  Don't go alone!  Or w/ multiple teenage hot couples who just want to drink beer and have sex. 

One last thing... it was funny to watch the guy running the old printing press screw up and then explain why he screwed up and then watch all the knuckleheads nod and chirp as if they too knew why he had f*d up the red coloring on the apple tree.  That and the folks who cruised around the 1 acre property on the shuttle looking at stuff and never actually got off the shuttle... you know to see the shit in all of the buildings they paid to see!  "And here you have a building w/ cool stuff in it... and here is another one, and over there is the train but the shuttle does not drive that way...".   Pretty ok day, and thanks to the KB/DG faction for getting me out to check it out. 

After that I drank a Manhattan and watched Horrible Bosses which was only ok and a bit of a let down.  Indecent Proposal  on HBO 8 was much better.

How about a new game where you "Occupy" a J-O-B!!!! And 1 review

I really hate those dooshes and their Occupy Wall Street bullshit.  Do you even know what you are protesting?  Now we have Kanye West in the mix.  You charge $100 for a crappy 1 hour concert, that is less of a rip off than $7 per E-Trade!?!?!  Politicians want to get involved?  F*** you!  You spend $500 on a f*ing toilet seat!!  Most of these choads just don't want to pay off their loans and that sucks.  Hey, if you are a struggling family I get it... it is no picnic out there and lots of people are not getting a break.  But if you are in your 19th year of school getting your 4th PHD w/ no intention of ever paying those student loans off?  Or the couple trying to unload their $800K vacation home, or just some punk stoner who doesn't ever want to work hard?  F*** YOU!!!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VL-0F3IAVfo

OK, so we went out w/ some friends Saturday night.  First attempt was Flatbread.  2 hour wait.  2 hours?  For pizza?  I must have not noticed that they make the pizza out of unicorn breath?  Oh, did they start offering free massage w/ every salad?  Right... I forgot that you get a free trip to space when you eat there.  We ran into the issue Sunday when we stopped in early afternoon for possible lunch.  There were several empty tables and no discernible line but the wait was 40 minutes?  That is a long time to clean off a table.  But not when it is done by hostage Smurfs!!!

Anywho, we did get a reservation w/ LB squared at San Sai.  I like the space down there a lot.  We rolled in and it was pretty empty.  Ok, no problem. There were a few tables around us still covered in dirty dishes and checks that had not been picked up.  Uh, oh... better strap in for a long one!  And a long one it was.  There were 2 servers for maybe 6 tables and it was no where near enough.  We had like a 3 hour ordeal (possibly exaggerated)!  The company was pleasant and we knocked down a few saki's so it was not a problem but still.  They were out of several items as usual even though they were not that busy.  That place does a terrible job of stocking the proper amount of fish.  We also had to wait a ridiculously long time to get water filled and saki reloaded.  The food was not bad.  I enjoyed the sushi pizza quite a bit.  We got short shifted on the lobster which they ran out of after one app.  It was very good though I am not sure cooked lobster in butter and garlic is Japanese?  I am not very cultured though so what do I know?  The fluke w/ ponzu sauce was pretty good.  The spicy scallop was nice. The smoked eel was very good as was the shrimp tempura roll.  I like the food but the service, the lack of organization, and the price are off putting.  I am giving that place a pretty short shelf life.  That said... we had a really fun time.  It was topped off w/ rowdy conversation and a beer at the Daily Planet.  Then a cab ride home w/ a "rapper" blaring Mariah Carey or some shit?  Good times!!!

Ok, now that I have complained about everything else how about myself.  My folks were really great and came up this weekend to help us put siding on the house and put the gardens (such as they are) to bed.  My dad bangs in a nail in like 3 shots and leaves nary a mark.  I hit the f*ing thing 12 times (actually I swing 12 times but only hit it 7) and by the time I am done there are indents all over the wood and I have possibly snapped off the head of the nail.  I am a shitty carpenter.  Not very handy.  Kind of a prince.  And very handsome.

OK how about a little fun.  Run, run, run, run, you have to run like an antelope... out of control!!!
http://www.brobible.com/videos/watch/mountain-biker-taken-out-an


sorry, had trouble embedding those 2...

Jay About Date Night

Last night my special lady and I went on a little date night and it was quite nice.  We cruised down to Tourterelle in New Haven.  We started with a drink at the bar and a little small talk.  As w/ most specialty cocktails, these were a little overly sweet w/ too many ingredients but not bad.  My lady had a modified martini and I had a "new fashoin".  We then sat down at a table by the bar for a nice meal.  The lighte were low, the space was comfortable, and the service was attentive.  We started with a Napleon au Saumon and Escargots.  The escargots were tender, well seasoned and served w/ a delicious savory pancake and nice sausage accompainiment.  The salmon was also very good.  The corn pancakes were very good, the salmon was nicely smoked and not overly fishy.  We then moved on to the entrees.  My wife went for a chicken crepe with Manchego cheese tomato and basil.  It was excellent.  I had pork tenderloin with poached figs and very crispy buttermilk onion rings.  We finished at home w/ take out apple brandy tirimasu and a glass of courvousier.  It was all very delicious.  They do an excellent job at the T. if you ever find yourself in the area or are looking for a little something special and off the run.

Steve Jobs... very sad.  The guy was an inovator who definitely changed the game.  I think we will miss him and his wonderful ideas. 

Seriously, we may be about to choose between a guy we knoe is killing the economy, Weekend at Romneys (cause he might actually be dead), and a dude that does not believe in dinosaurs for president.  Is Dave Chapelle not available?!



Hey, how about those Wall Street protestors?  Good for you assholes.  You are wasting tons of resources and what are you angry about?  Some vague idea you have from Time magazine about how some folks are spending your money?  How about you don't get a 10-1 arm loan to buy a house you knew you couldn't afford?  That might be ok too.  Nice elbow patches on your tweed coat... dick.

Go Yankees... awwww too soon?!  HAHAHAHA!  Join the pity party!

I have one word for you Mars!!!!

Congrats

To my friend T-Pain and his new bride B-Pain!  A crew of us headed to the Edson Hill Manor for the wedding and I for one and a darned fun time.  Tried not to be #1 guest, and I think I largely succeeded.  Food was good and despite the rain the setting was also very nice.  I think the company men really carried on like some good old fashioned muckety mucks!!!  Good to see and hang w/ some of the guys I don't see on a daily basis as well.  Always fun.  We also rolled in a Middlebury Transit "luxury van" which was nice as I was not really in a good spot to drive a car.  It was a f*ing long trip but they were professional and put up w/ a tone of nonsense.  As did my wife who slept while I tried to see how close I could get my finger to her face w/out touching it (1/4" if you were wondering).

Second quick thing... we were able to play at the Country Club of Vermont in Waterbury yesterday which was fun.  It is a private club but we got an in.  It was a little rainy and very wet but the course is beautiful.  They really keep it in great shape.  Lots of traps, trees, and a long ass course.  I lost several balls.  It was tough.  One thing that was odd though, I got there at 7:45AM and the clubhouse was locked w/ a cleaning lady inside vacuuming.  Don't old people members like to play early before work?  Shouldn't it at least be open if the first tee time is at 8am, you know... in case you want to change, get a coffee, take a f*ing shit?!  Weird.  We only saw 2 other people on the course all day, even when the sun came out.  After the round we rolled in for lunch and found one guy watching TV in the clubhouse.  He worked there.  After getting our lunch in order he struggled mightily to figure out the touch screen computer.  My 4 year old nephew could have worked the damned thing.  He also struggled to figure out our drink order and execute on it?  By the time we left the was the one guy watching TV and another one vacuuming the piano in the corner.  This is a private course that costs thousands of dollars to be a member and hundreds to play a single round.  WTF?!?!  It was fun anyway.