Don't Panic!!!

I will be on vacation next week and not able to post and super awesome things on the interweb. I know, you are probably angry, confused, maybe a little sad... but not to fear. This is only 1 week. We can get through this!!!!!

http://www.mtv.com/videos/misc/520892/wrong-side.jhtml#id=1640140

Jay About Gross Town

So we were driving back from Portsmouth this weekend and we stopped at an ice cream joint (Harrison's? or something), to have a little snack. Well, first off, we all ordered "kiddie" sizes and they were 3 scoop behemoth's! The biggest cone of ice cream I have ever had and it was gross. I don't really want to throw away food but there was no way I could put that bad boy down without barfing. Well, a few other patrons had no such concerns. This was a family of 3 morbidly obese people all over 300lbs and covered w/ food and dirt all down their fronts. Now I understand that there are medical conditions and social issues and tons of crap like that but seriously... if you way 3 bills you should NOT eat 7506564 calories of f*ing ice cream!!!

Jay About the Upper Valley

So it being Father's Day as well as my brother's birthday, I packed up the tribe... oh wait there are only 2 of us... anyway we drove south to the Upper Valley to celebrate with the family. On Friday my special lady and I were pretty wiped out but we decided to grab a bite over at the Canoe Club in Hanover, NH. The space is pretty nice, seems like a cool bar & restaurant but not at all pretentious. Friday was local high school graduation so it was pretty loud but not in a bad way. They also had a decent acoustic live guitar player doing his thing. Dinner itself was actually very good. We started w/ a nice beet salad and an asparagus soup. Both were good, fresh. For our entrees I went with the halibut special, braised in a nice tomato and veggie broth. It was also clean, fresh, and had very nice subtle flavors. My lady went with the curry shrimp which was out of sight! The curry was amazing, sweet, spicy but not heavy handed or overpowering. I kind of wanted to steal it from here. The one criticism was the bathroom which had a leaking ceiling and puke on the toilet... Otherwise, 1 3/4 thumbs up. Solid food, service, and beer list. Really very good.

Another quick review is the Oar House down in Portsmouth. We were cruising around the town checking it out and getting a little ocean air and decided to grab some chow. This place is solid. They are right on the water in the bay downtown. The setting is casual, red checker tablecloth type stuff. The food is solid seafood though. My folks had some bacon wrapped scallops they enjoyed, and A-bird and I had oysters which were nice and served with really good horseradish and cocktail sauce. For our main course we all went w/ lobster rolls which were huge rolls filled with giant chunks of awesome lobster. I was not a huge fan of the pineapple coleslaw but it was ok. The fries were limp. Overall I'd give it 1 1/2 thumbs up. Good place to chill, eat some fast seafood, and drink a beer.

Tomorrow... the ice cream trip from hell/Walmart!!!!!

Jay About Results!

Interesting game between the Lakers and Celtics last night. It wasn't a good game... but it was entertaining. By the end it looked like an Ali-Foreman fight. Both teams looked exhausted, just gutting out the fourth quarter on fumes. Kobe played one of the worst games ever but he was rebounding so that is something. Ray Allen after that gem in game 2 might as well have been placed on a milk carton. Pierce was very uneven, Rondo was good not great, and KG was ok was but ran out of steam at the very end. Meanwhile, the Lakers were not spectacular but seemed to be just a little too big and had just enough fire power to sneak by. Pretty fun series. Plus Ron Artest's post game crazy interviews were must see tv. 2 thumbs up for that alone!

The U.S. today in the World Cup got jobbed by the worst refereeing call I have ever seen. That guy was bad all game but the final foul? call was unconscionable. No one actually knows what the call was. A foul? Offsides? Really awful. The next game that guy officiates should be 3rd grade co-ed. Clown.

I had a kobe beef burger at Sweetwater's today. Like the Lakers, good, not great. The burger was well cooked and tasty but the Portuguese roll was hard as if it was microwaved or something? The lettuce was limp, the coleslaw a little old limp. Plus it was an hour long ordeal. 1 thumb up though, it was not terrible and the setting on the patio was pleasant enough. Well, that does it for me... I am off to WRJ for my bro's b-day and a joint father's day for my dad and bro. Good times!

Jay About... Danger!!!

Yeah, check out my new template. Makes me seem kind of mysterious and maybe a little... dangerous? Really speaks to my nature I think. A guy who lives in the fast lane, playin' it loose, always one step from disaster. Just like Magnum P.I.!!!

It is summertime early apparently, and I am bored as shit. The World Cup provides some distraction but the phone is not ringing and emails are not exactly flooding in. There are only so many research pieces you can read before your eyes start to bleed. On the bright side I do have these 2 gems for you... oh wait... new blogger does not allow cut and paste? WTF!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAwVIDZAUF0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-fwUIEIzhk&feature=related

I just had to type that out... 2 thumbs down.

We had dinner at the Starry Night Cafe last night in Ferrisburg. It was one of the better meals we have had there. Lovely setting on the patio and the strip steak while an overcooked medium was still pretty good. I liked the potatoes gratin alot.

Lakers not really making it happen, other then Kobe it looks like they are giving up?

So I know I talked a bunch of crap about Staples and they deserve some of it but, we exchanged and got another HP printer and it also did not work. Same problem with the viewer after connecting to the computer. So let's split those 2 thumbs down. One for Staples... and one for HP.

Hey, Check It Out

Al Gore's daughter was recently caught telling people about my manhood! Just no privacy anymore!!!

Jay About to Score!

Bagged my first goal AND yellow card of the season last night. Pretty solid. I wish there was something fun to report on the local food scene but there isn't. One thing I can update is a little take on Zen Gardens. If you are looking for a quiet crowd of 5-8 senior citizens, an empty bar (devoid of bartender as well), and possible e-coli poisoning? Yeah, head on down to Zen Gardens and get in touch w/ your inner peace... via your insides.

I would like to send out congrats to TH on his engagement, and PH on house closing, and belated to SM on acceptance to ORE. for his PHD... what a BMOC!!! All big steps and very exciting.

Oh, here is a revue... of Staples. My special lady and I went to Staples to pick up... wait for it... some office supplies! In the mix was a printer as ours had reached its shelf life 20 minutes and promptly crapped out so it was time to upgrade. We spent about an hour perusing the 50 printers and even got some help from the 12 year old kid who seemed to be working there. We bought the thing at what seemed like a reasonable price and headed home. Well, I spent the better part of Sunday trying to get the f*cker to print. The wireless system did not work, then it did not work w/ a USB cable, then it did but only on 1 computer, then it did on both laptops, then the printer would not turn off! Of course at that point the scanner and the photo option no longer worked. This printer is less than 1 day old mind you. Yeah, technology kicks ass!!! So now I get on the phone w/ Pakistan to try and fix my little problem. After figuring out the language barrier I am passed through a screening process and a lackey before an engineer goes through several steps and an hour before finally deciding that he had never seen this kind of issue and would be happy to send me a new one... except they (HP the manufacturer) are out of that model. OK, Ramesh could still send me a rebate... how much did I pay for the printer. $129. $129? that is impossible, we at HP sell it for $79.99. WTF?!?!?! So I not only got a busted printer but i overpaid by $40?!?! F****!!!! Well, needless to say I was pretty pissed off. My lady and I then got in a fight about the printer which was fun. She was nice and took it back so now I get to go home tonight and try to set up the new one. Fun times. Staples, you get 2 huge thumbs DOWN!!!!

Oh yeah, nich shirt TH, matched your wizard hat!

Jay About the Burlington City Marathon

So this year my special lady decided to train for and then run a 1/2 marathon. That is 13 miles. Also known as early onset of insanity! Not sure how she was able to train given her 3 ongoing projects which she works very hard on and the constant project known as me. But she did. I have been in Burlington now for 8 years and have never seen even 1 second of the marathon. Shoot, we used to live about 200 yards from the course and never bothered to check it out. But with my wife in the mix we rolled down to take it all in this past weekend. First off the scene was electric. There were something like 8000 runners and a ton of spectators and this was like how you remember parades as a kick. People lined the course cheering and clapping and the whole downtown had a positive and energetic vibe. It was very cool. I staked out a spot near mile 3 and later at mile 9 on Pearl Street to check it all out. The fastest runners were really moving. I was also impressed by the 98 year olds and the 300 lbs folks out doing what I would not have a prayer of completing. There were all shapes and sizes. My lady did a stand up job... she ran a solid time and was not at all busted up afterwards. I was very proud. We then had a very nice time with her race partner and a couple friends drinking beers down at the waterfront. A very nice day all around. Especially for my lazy ass!

Monday, we took a quick trip down to Stowe to get out of the house for a bit. We had lunch at a place called Frida's. It was actually pretty good as Vermont Mexican goes. The margarita is made with lime juice rather than sour mix and was ok. We also each had a 3 taco plate. My lady had carnitas, pollo, and fried cod. I had carnitas, pollo, and rabbit. Rabbit can go very right or very wrong but this was quite good. All of the tacos had nice flavor. Not a ton of heat but the hot sauce at the table fixed that. The rice and beans were also very well cooked and very good. It was an appropriate amount of food for lunch, pretty decent food, and a reasonable price. Service was a little overwhelmed but they got a weird crush of customers at 3pm. I'd give it 1 2/3rds thumbs up.

Lakers in 6. Not sure the Celts have quite enough left in the tank. But, I have been surprised by them throughout the playoffs so who knows.

BP... booo. Obama... booo. Seriously, we are going to give Israel crap for this blockade and the casualties on that boat? These Palestinians launch rockets into Israel all the time. They did it today. Nobody seems to think that is f*cked up but if a civilized Israel tries to stand up for itself they have a diplomatic disaster on their hands. North Korea is sinking ships with torpedos... no problem there. Iran is slapping the U.N. in the face w/ a nuclear program... no big deal. But Israel kills a few agitators who attack them on a ship and all hell breaks loose. Sure, why not.

Speaking of oil leaks... I need to go, there is one happening right now here in Burlington!