J-Bird the Part Time Bachelor

Yup, here I am sitting in VT while my special lady is off in Alaska. Am I jealous? Your damn right I am! Work is pretty tough, the financial markets are like one long country song... my returns have left me, my pricing power is gone, and I have turned to cheap beer to ease my pain! Where is Garth Brooks when I need him!!!!! This weekend I actually slowed my boozing down ever so slightly. So Jay was about town looking for lunch around 2pm on Sunday in downtown Burlington and here is the rundown. We head over to a hippy joint Stone Soup... apparently not open at 2pm on a Sunday. Why would you be open on a Sunday? Who eats out on a Sunday? Oh yeah, all of the hundreds of tourists on the one main strip in the biggest city in VT!!!!!!!! Ok, so we decide to cruise over to newly re-installed to the rotation, Smokejacks. Closing, the reason being the chef was having difficulties. Seriously. What the F*ck does "the chef is having difficulties" mean?! Like the oven is broken? The water main is busted? The chef has diarrhea? What?! Ok, strike 2. So we head over to Mirrabelles. They close at 2:30 but it is only 2:00. There is only 1 other table busy. So the waitress who has already mentally checked out tries to put us @ a very special table. The one w/ shit all over it and a cluster of Cheerios some kid dumped under the table. The restaurant was dirty and smelled bad. Needless to say we bolted. Strike 3!!! So we went to Leunigs. It was pretty good. My lady had a pasta Carbonera, it was heavy but good. I went w/ a really chunky and delicious gazpacho. I also rocked the duck frites. They were only so-so, the maple dipping sauce was good though. Oh yeah, I also had a "French 75". If you go to Leunigs have the French 75, if you don't like it I will personally fight you.

One last note, I just finished reading The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson. It intertwines the stories of the World's Fair in Chicago circa 1893 w/ the tale of a mass murderer prowling the Chicago streets at the same time. Great story, well told... 2 big thumbs up. The murderer also spent a little time in Burlington just before being caught for his crimes.

So w/ that I bid you adieu, I need to drink some beers and make a mess of my house, and watch bad movies... in my underwear.

So uh....

Beerfest in Burlington... shit. I think the scientific term for my state that night was... wasted! Great beers, fun time. Glad that event is only once a year though because it is a killer. On a high note, Junior's pizza is great when you are drunk!!

In Vermont, why does the ATM machine ask if you want to transact in Espanol? Seriously, how many Spanish speaking people live in VT?! On the other hand we do live 1hr from a country that speaks French. Probably don't want them using the cash machine! Think the dollar is beaten down enough? There are so many Canadians in the U.S. I am starting to think about wearing cologne so I can fit in!

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is a fantastic movie. A real oldie but goodie. We saw the Batman movie this weekend as well. My special lady liked the first one better but I thought this new one was great. Even w/ all of the hype it was just really an entertaining film. 2 BIG thumbs up.

I hope this rain keeps up... I was starting to think my lawn would turn brown!

Need a tent? We picked one up from Cabella's and I am a big fan. I tend to think if you need outdoor gear, get what hunters would get. They spend a ton of time outside, killing stuff.

Well, gotta go... beers out there certainly cannot drink themselves. They NEED ME!!!!!

BEERFEST!!!!!

http://www.vermontbrewers.com/pdf/brewers_festival_guide_08.pdf

Not much of a drinker but going to give this a try tonight...

BTW, I Am Legend... no, you are a iffy actor who should not be given a full movie to ponder your own thoughts and hit on mannequins!

Boloco. New Mexican place in Burlington. It was actually pretty good. Meat was good, veggies pretty fresh, nice tortilla, and I liked the guac. The place is pretty sparse and the menu is still being worked through but overall I liked it for take out an will be back. 1 incomplete thumb up until they really get up and running.

I am really enjoying the "Mojo" channel on Comcast. There are a series of funny shows and this one 3 sheets (think I already posted about), that is great. Frankly, I need to quit my job and cruise around the world boozing and cracking jokes. Shit, I do that now for free!!! I am really enjoying the new Dos Equis commercial on that channel as well. http://youtube.com/watch?v=8Bc0WjTT0Ps

Wish me luck!

Happy Belated Bastille Day!

Sorry for the late post but I was busy eating cheese, drinking wine, and celebrating my own self satisfaction! Just kidding, work was busy and then I had to go to a soccer game where I proceeded to injure my hamstring early in the second half. Not sure when it happened but I suddenly turned into my dad... less hair, more belly, and if I don't spend an hour stretching before I exercise I inevitably get hurt! Damn!!

So this weekend my lady and I went to an outdoor camping concert/festival in Cabot. I haven't been to one of these things since college so I was a little reluctant. My days of cruising around w/ no shoes, twirling around in my white man dance, and eating "enhanced" brownies are over and that is ok w/ me. This was a pretty fun time though. The dirty hippy factor was relatively low. We also camped in a side section w/ other adults... we cooked marinated shrimp and burgers, and drank good beers. Then we rolled up to the concert and watched some cool bands. Toubab krewe was once again quite good and Midnite, a reggae band was really good (and played for hours). Mrs. Bird and I then retired at a reasonable hour and woke up Early the next day to bug out. By the way, camping is fun but sleeping on the ground sucks. There is a reason beds were invented and remain wildly popular!!! The next morning we stopped in Montpelier and cruised to Sandra Bullock's sister's bakery Gesine's. I didn't see Sandra (yeah, we are pretty tight), but I did enjoy my breakfast. We had a savory ham scone (holy butter!), a sweet strawberry scone (holy cream!!), and some doughnut type baked good. F*ck it was good! Coffee and tea was good too. I look forward to going back, it all looked so good.

http://www.gesine.com/elm_street.html

So I guess that's it, I am heading home to ice my old man body!

What the F* is starboard?!

Nice lifeboat, and on the heels of this gem I present the video of the day

This is fantastic...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21OH0wlkfbc

July 4th!

Well, it is another 4th of July in the books and I had just a couple tidbits.

Mt. Abraham is a nice mellow hike if you are in the Waitsfield/Warren area of VT. It meanders for awhile and then gets into a short steep incline to get the heart rate up. Then you are there! Nice views, not to crowded, pretty nice overall.

Starry Night. Bad service, pedestrian food, ok atmosphere. We have had three very so-so meals in a row. I think it is out of the rotation for awhile. Meanwhile, back in the mix, Smokejack's! We had a great brunch Sunday morning. Try the outrageous breakfast sandwich, it truly is outrageous! I enjoyed my turkey Reuben as well. Well played Smokejack's (still leaves a bit to be desired on the service end, it shouldn't take 15 minutes to get an Iced Tea refill).

Went to see Feist at the Shelburne Museum Sunday night. What a great venue. The weather was great and there was a fantastic sunset over the Adirondack Mountains. There really are not too many bad seats, plenty or porto-johns off the beaten path, and it is a very safe an mellow scene. You can leave your stuff and walk around w/out fear of it getting stolen and you very rarely run into some yo-yo that you have to yell at to sit down or shut the f* up. I wish you could take beer out of the beer corral but it is what it is. You can still see the stage just fine and the beers are nice local micro-brews. The concert itself? Feist has a nice voice and rocks here own guitar. The music is a little quiet and subdued for my taste though. It was pretty ok though and we had the added bonus of 1 funny drunk guy who yelled 4 songs in, "Play the Mac Song!". Good times.

Fireworks? Well, let's just say a hard day of rainy golf and beer had old Jaybird seeing the fireworks that go off on the back of his eyelids. Yup, the wife was pretty impressed w/ my 3 hour couch nap! I am quite a catch, sorry ladies!!!

Thanks to the Puma and Scooter for coming up, always a fun time! Special thanks to my special lady for making it all happen. Whoops I think I just heard the orchestra playing me off the stage...