It's a mess

This weekend was a mess up here in the North Country.  While NYC enjoyed a 70 degree day, we had rain/sleet/freezing rain/snow... that left a sheet of ice on everything. My car was covered in snow and then a 1/2 inch layer of ice.  I really wish I had a garage. It made it tough to really do anything. Am I stoked to drive around in the freezing ice tomorrow? You know it!!!

One thing that did happen was that my kids turned 1 yesterday. I don't want to jinx it but after a very difficult beginning they are awesome. They are still small and there may be challenges ahead but when I think back to where we were in December of 2012 to where we are now it is amazing. My little boy is a bowling ball w/ tons of personality, no interest in sleep, and a hard head which he likes to use for head butts. My daughter is sweet and intelligent, and a little snaggle tooth. They are great and interesting in their own ways. They did get the shaft from their bummer parents though. A puzzle toy and banana bread w/ a couple candles. Boooo.

For Christmas I would like for my son to stop waking up at 5AM and screaming. That would be a cool gift, and pretty cheap.

So I know that the media loves themselves some Peyton Manning. Maybe it is because he is a goofy dude who is unattractive and does not have a super model wife, and often chokes in big games but people in general seem to love him and hate Tom Brady. That is fine. I thought I might point out that the record for touchdowns that Peyton just grabbed from Brady is impressive, kind of. Manning now has 51 touchdowns versus the 50 Brady threw in 07. Manning has thrown the ball 631 times so far. Brady threw it 578 times in the entire season. So if Brady had another 53 attempts would it matter? When you throw a touchdown every 11.6 attempts, that would actually put him on pace for 54+ TDs. So sure, the record is fine but anybody tossing the ball 700 times a season should find a nut or two along the way.

Merry Christmas and assorted holidays everyone!

Holy Crap!

Russia has sprinted by the U.S. as the top reader of the Jay About Town Blog! Thank you Russia!!!

Um, Hi

Yeah, I know... it's been awhile. And you might be asking, what have you been up to? None of your damned business!!! Actually, I have been busy I suppose but not really doing anything particularly interesting. I have been mildly addicted to the Discovery show Alaska: The Last Frontier. I am not sure it needs a full review though. All you need to know is that for people who live off the land and are homesteaders... these people are pretty darn good looking and well educated. They could make the show 20 minutes instead of 48 by removing the scene replays.  Oh yeah, and they are all related to Jewel. Yeah, the one who used to have the f*d up teeth. She was still quite attractive... for a homesteader.

I have recently watched a few movies... I really was excited about The Iceman with Michael Shannon. Sucked. No plot, and hard to figure out why they needed to make the movie.

We had our office holiday dinner at Hen of the Wood in Burlington.  I thought it was another excellent meal. I actually escaped w/out the heartburn I had last time, although maybe I could not feel the burn due to the raging headache I was rocking?  Anyway, the flank steak was nicely cooked and very flavorful. The pork rinds were also pretty greasy and delicious.

My kid has recently discovered the joys of night screaming. I was on solo duty last week and he was losing his shit so I brought him into bed.  He screamed in my ear then turned himself perpendicular to me, kicked me in the ribs (while screaming) for a bit, then finally fell asleep. Thanks pal.

Service at the Icehouse in Burlington gets 2 thumbs way down. I think I have figured out why the place is always empty... not very good food, priced way too high, and served by absolute morons. If you have recently "changed the menu"... then you should probably change the actual f*cking menu!

I was meeting a buddy at Barkeater's for a drink last week. When I popped in I was the only one there (5pm or so?). I asked for a Manhattan. The woman behind the bar got immediately flustered and started explaining how (even though she was behind the bar) she was not actually a bartender but she could probably make me a Manhattan.  Whoa!!!! Back up chief, I'll take a beer. She then told my buddy and I that there was an older guy who was about to arrive and he liked our seats and liked for his buddies to be able to sit there w/ him. So even though the bar was completely empty could we move down? When did I get to the Icehouse?!



I would like to thank the older woman who cut me off several times on Rt 7 the other day. I forgot how much I hate other drivers the other day! I am not sure why they put rearview mirrors in cars anymore. As with cigarette lighters they are only used by about 2% of the population. I should text that joke to a friend of mine tonight on my drive home. While swerving in between lanes looking at my radio.

Only one thing will make me feel better about the state of things...

Jay About the Public House

I could bore you with the tale of my Thanksgiving but it truly was uneventful. With babies in the mix it is nice to get together w/ family but it is boring to think about after the fact. It is not like we turned it into a rager or Uncle Jerry passed out and pooped his pants. We just had good food, pretty low fuss, very calm. So I will avail you with grand tales of our family venture to the Public House in Hinesburgh.  The weather in this part of the country is shit right now. It is too cold to really take the kids out and there is no snow to play around in anyway so it is just cold, gray, and gloomy. We were getting pretty restless by Sunday afternoon and w/ the kids deciding to say f*** you to their naps and their father... we needed an exit from the homestead. We tried driving for a bit but they were not interested in a car nap so we cruised over to Hinesburgh and decided to try a new to you joint, the Public House. Now the P.H. bills itself as a place for "Food. Friends. Drink"... when you bring two over tired babies into an establishment you test the "friendly" factor pretty damn quick.  Well, they were friendly. It helped we got there early, like 4:15PM or so but they seated us right in the mix in a booth near the bar. The place was pretty quiet but had a nice vibe. The space was a little industrial but warm and inviting. We did not want to test fate so we ordered a beer and a couple apps. I wanted to continue to get not slim so I stabbed my lady in the back and ordered fries even though she was not really interested. Our server looked by a kid who should have been selling meth on Church Street but to our surprise he was very friendly, professional, and courteous. Our beer and food came promptly and was all pretty solid. The owner stopped by and said a quick hello. A hostess stopped by to say hello. My son has been a real ball buster all week. Seriously. This blond woman stops by and bends over to chat and he edges his way over and flashes a huge smile and his twinkling blue eyes in a shameless flirt that his old man has never attempted not thought to attempt. Little pip. The kids were very well behaved actually. We had a couple close calls w/ the plate of fries and my beer but otherwise they were quite and content to play w/ the menus. The food itself was pretty good. We ordered a side of fries that were hot, a little crispy, and maybe slightly too garlicky but really pretty good. We also ordered a pretzel (actually 2 per order). They were warm and crusty on the outside, soft on the inside, just a little salty and very good. The honey mustard dipping sauce was also tasty with a little kick. Decent beer selection on tap. Nothing crazy but plenty to choose from. As he brought us the check, our waiter advised us to take it easy, the weather was turning a bit and might be a bit slick. That small gesture earned him a little extra gratuity. I appreciate that effort and often find it lacking in Vermont. 1 3/4 thumbs up.

BTW, I watched the original Oldboy as it is supposedly a classic and a Spike Lee remake was bombing in the theaters this weekend. Pretty visually stunning and certainly unexpected. While not shocking by current standards(which are very low), it was a grade A f***d up premise and movie. I can not exactly recommend it but I also found it entertaining and at times very good. So on thumb chopped off and sent to you in a box sideways...

Still Sucks

So I was reading about the 25th anniversary of the VT Pub and Brew last week and I started to get a little nostalgic. When I was first able to drink we often went to the sister brewpub the 7 Barrel Brewery in West Lebanon and the craft beers were a revelation. When I moved back to VT in the early 00's the Pub and Brew was our go to spot. The beers were decent and the liquor pours were stiff. Then a funny thing happened... the rest of the world caught up. Craft brewing became a thing and there were delicious beers all over the place. The P&B did not keep up. In fact their beers were often flat, lacked flavor or nuance, and generally gave you diarrhea. Not a recipe for success. We just stopped going. Like the Tavern on Church Street, they still get plenty of traction from tourists, college kids, and morons... the P&B will be fine without me and my boozy buddies. I just miss it. Kind of. So on Friday I had a short window and thought f*** it! Let's hit up the P&B!!! A few of us cruised up and took a look at the bar. It was mostly empty (5PM on Friday) and looked seriously depressing. We ended up at Manhattan's Pizza which has revamped its interior and beer list and generally is a cooler more hip place to be. They got it and updated.

So I was in the Farmhouse last night and they had a collaboration from the P&B and Magic Hat... a sour IPA of sorts. Well, shoot... that is close enough to celebrate all of the things Greg Noonan and the P&B did right not? Wrong. It was flat, didn't have any depth, and was a pretty shitty beer. Well, the P&B generally makes shitty beers these days and so does Magic Hat so teaming up why would I expect two bad brewers would suddenly figure out how to make a good beer? It is too bad but the beer movement has passed these two gray beards, much the same as it once ran over Catamount brewing. It happens. Doesn't diminish the legacy but if they want to stay relevant than it is time to update and move forward. One man's opinion.

Big Day for the Birds

So yesterday was Veteran's Day, a day some people have off... some don't. I do. My special lady decided to also take it off. My children's caregiver did not. So you know what that means... DATE DAY!!!! There is not much in the way of date night these days, just date day. Take what you can get. We went for a walk without a stroller. It was a fast walk! We watched some crazy dudes wield chainsaws like butter knives and cut down our old dying maple. That was sad. As my wife said, the tree grew for hundreds of years, was taken down in 2 hours. Many thanks to you maple... you were a good friend to our home.

Next stop... Tiny Thai in the Noosk for some cheap Thai food. Place was quite when we got there, absolutely packed by the time our food came. It was fast and delicious. I had a cold ginger tea w/ a spicy Tom Yum soup, and drunken noodles. 2 lunch specials ran us $21 w/ tip. I spend $12 for a f*ing sandwich most days. Big fan. We then did some grocery shopping and I almost ruined date day and went mental at the damned auto check out at Hannafords. It is a dumpy grocery store and the thing kept misreading what we had in (or out) of our basket.  The final indignity was the 12 minutes it took me to swipe a container of hummus. I really almost lost it. My wife calmed me down and we cruised to a movie. Pretty slim pickings but we opted for Thor in 3-D. Is it Citizen Kane? Nope. But it was an enjoyable 2 hours. Entertaining, kind of dumb, kind of funny, lots of action. I was a fan and suggest seeing it on the big screen. 1 thumb and a pair of 3-D glasses up!

We finished up w/ a quick antiquing trip and then a beer at the Old Grey Shed in Shelburne. First off, I think I added the "Old", that is not really in the name. Second... speaking of slim pickings, trying to find a beer at 4pm on a Monday is pretty hard. I would say harder than you may think, but YOU, may not have the same instincts as I do and may find that quite above board. In any event. We were greeted by 2 weird old guys smoking in the doorway. Classy place, with greeters and such. Inside there were 3 spots w/ glasses in front of them. Then there was the woman who looked like a normal mom or a teacher or something (as opposed to a train wreck) drinking a Switchback solo and eating popcorn. She was just sitting there quietly drinking, not chatting or reading or anything. Odd combo? Guess I was the freak also there to see it so who am I to judge? We opted for Bud Heavies. Don't f*** w/ taps you are unsure of dear readers. My lady is pretty hardcore no? Meanwhile bartender rushed out to check out a person who had been hit by a car while riding bike. Check please. It was a nice date day.  Even when we saw the very much alive bicyclist laying like a dead person on the ground covered by a sleeping bag w/ just 1 foot hanging out.

2 thumbs way up!!!

Jay About Pizzeria Uno

Yeah, that's f***ing right... Uno's!! So we played our last round of golf the other day and needed a place to have some lunch. Quick tangent, it was like 50 degrees w/ 125mph wind gusts and nobody really working there. On the bright side, at the turn we went into the clubhouse to grab a drink for the back nine. My buddy asked for "your cheapest scotch". The look of shock and disgust on the bartender's face was impossible to explain. He said that the Dewar's was the "least expensive... they did not carry anything cheap". Fantastic.

So anyway, after that tough round we were not going back into the clubhouse to get a burger w/ a side of attitude and over expensive face ripper sauce. So we cruised over to Uno's... why not?! We have known for awhile about the joys of the Uno's bar. It is a big horse shoe bar on Rt 7 across from the Audi dealership. They have decent beers and serve up a nice 20ouncer. What about the food? Well, none of us had ever eaten there so it was a risk. A serious risk. The shit looked like airport fare. I ordered a special. Caesar salad and sliders. The salad was ok not great. Lettuce was a little limp, the croutons were ok. A little under dressed which is unusual for Caesar salads in my experience. It was fine though.  The real surprise were the sliders. This is where I thought I could really be going in the wrong direction. They were good. Very good actually. The meat was of pretty good quality and they seemed like a fresh burger not an old gross fake patty. The bun was soft and not stale. The cheese was decent and the sauce was spicy and pretty tasty. It was just plain solid. I might even go back... but not too often! 1 1/4 thumbs up.

Rented This is the End last night. I had high hopes and they were not met. The funny parts are all in the trailer. It was like an ego project for a bunch of d-bags. Made me really not like Seth Rogen actually. I did enjoy Danny McBride though. I would not recommend it.  I was much happier w/ the Triumph the Insult Dog clip show I watched afterwards on Netflix.

I did my own pic above... copyright stuff.

Boom!!! Red Sox done did it again!!!!

I try not to write too much about the Sox, especially in the playoffs because I am superstitious and don't want to jinx them. I liked this team a lot this year. Winning is great but much like the '04 team it was fun to root for this group. They played hard, they seemed to enjoy being out there, and they were perpetual under dogs. The beard thing was fun and guys like Gomes just killing themselves on every play was refreshing after a couple years of assholes like Carl Whiny Crawford, and Adrian Backstabber Gonzalez. Shoot, even John Lackey, who I have never liked, came across as a fighter and someone you could almost get behind. Throw in some aggressive Koji Uehara high fives and you have something special!  So kudos fellas on making it fun to be a Sox fan.

Couple side notes. Even though a ticket to the World Series in Fenway cost $1937549874.00... the games rarely sold out this year which is unusual.  Thanks Bobby Valentine. Has there ever been a team who got less respect wire to wire than the 2013 Sox? They led the American League and all of baseball for much of the season yet made it to the top of various power rankings maybe 4 times through out the season. They plowed through a stacked Tampa Bay pitching staff after getting very little chance of winning the series. Then they did it to an even tougher Detroit staff who was supposed to have a good batting lineup as well. And against St. Louis? Even up 3-2 everyone who wrote or talked about sports for a living discounted their chances and sucked up on Wacha and the Cardinal "way". The Cardinal way? It is through Logan airport direct to St. Louis and then onto a beach in Palm Springs. No parade attached. And the unhittable Wacha? The Sox saw him once and the second time they lit him for 6 runs. And that was after he walked Ortiz every time he came to bat. I was going to tear apart the naysayer experts (often Yankee homers) like Joe Lemire, Jerry Crasnick, and Jim Caple, or even all time uber d-bag Dan Shaughnessy... but let's be positive and give it up for the good guys who saw the light. Of course our own Gordon Edes and Jackie MacMullan, but how about Tom Verducci, the only guy at CNNSI to get it right?! I will even give a little credit to notorious Yankee homers Dave Schoenfield (late but eventually) and John Heyman who finally came around to the truth by the St. Louis series (although Heyman took a few unsolicited steroids shots, never one to actually give up gracefully). Here are the ESPN experts, a little more evenly laid out. http://espn.go.com/mlb/playoffs/2013/story/_/id/9864637/espn-expert-predictions

At the end of the day, the team w/ the better lineup, better depth, best starter (Lester), and best bullpen won.

Jay About Hen of the Wood Burlington

Anyone who has read this blog in the past probably knows I have a love affair with the Hen of the Wood in Waterbury. I have thought it was the best local restaurant in terms of higher end dinner fare for a few years now. Needless to say I was pretty stoked to learn they were opening a restaurant here in the metropolis known as Burlington. Unfortunately for me my 2 lead weights... I mean kids, have kept me and my wife from checking the new joint out. Well, we finally got a babysitter for the evening and headed for an early dinner. The space is a little off the run on Cherry Street, not actually attached to the new Vermont Hotel where it could gain most of its clientele. That said, the space is beautiful. Woodsy industrial with an open kitchen, large horseshoe bar, and plenty of exposed beams and brushed steel. If you venture back to the bathroom you can see the back kitchen and even the refrigerator and meat curing station behind glass. I arrived first and bellied up to the bar. Manhattan? Don't mind if I do. Solid presentation, good drink. My wife then showed up and ordered a bubbly rose. Service was a little slow at first but our bartender was hand shucking, checking for quality, and preparing raw oysters in quantity. The other 2 bartenders were poached from the Bluebird Tavern and are good... solid hires.

How about the menu?  Solid...and not overly expansive.  We opted to start w/ oysters and then share a few small plates.  The oysters tasted fresh, briny, and delicious. Very good mignonette. Next up we had fried squash blossom fitters. The batter was not too heavy or greasy and they were quite good w/ a nice hint of honey drizzle.  We then had creamed kale, lobster gratin, and gnocchi in a bolognese sauce if I recall correctly? The kale was a little heavy on the cream but the slightly bitter green was nice to cut that cream as well as the rest of our heavy meal. The lobster was nicely cooked and had a good flavor and texture. It was swimming in a delicious parsnip puree that was the real star of the show. Big time parsnip flavor if that can be done. The gnocchi was also nice and had good texture (not too gummy) although the ground beef/pork along w/ all of the cream and butter came back to haunt us later in the evening. F*** it, it was worth it!

We left w/ a too go bag of sweets that were pretty good, a few cookies/truffles. Overall expensive but not egregious. It was fun, I will definitely go back. 1 3/4 thumbs up.

Jay About Lucky Next Door

Forgive me for this post, I don't sleep these days so my "work" really suffers... That said, my folks came up to watch the kids on Sunday so my special lady and I went out on a lunch date. We were undecided on the right spot and then came upon the new venture from the people who brought you Pennycluse... Lucky Next Door. We immediately gave ourselves the timing rope. We would not wait longer than 20 minutes. Usually at the Cluse you can expect a 45hour wait on the weekend. You can put your name in, drive to Canada to shop, and come back later in the weekend to eat. Imagine our surprise when we stepped in and the place was empty?! There were literally 3 other patrons in the whole place. Not a great sign but f* it. The space is not huge but it is well decorated w/ a slightly industrial unfinished feel. They have a nice beer selection highlighted by a few Zero Gravity offerings.  There are a few solid cocktails offered as well. The menu is pretty concise w/ a brunch/lunch theme going on. I like a smaller menu. Stick to what you do well. We ordered a ham and apple sandwich and an avocado and hearts of palm salad to share. My lady had a delicious champagne and grapefruit juice cocktail. I ordered a beer. 12 or 20oz sir? Obviously he could not tell from my beard I was a 20oz man but whatever, I am a big boy... give me the big glass! We sat up near the window overlooking the Rite Aid which is the nexus of the Burlington junkie universe. The food came pretty quickly.  The salad had nice texture and was pretty good although pretty heavy handed on the garlicky dressing. The sandwich was very nice. Good flavor, nice ham (almost like a bacon cut), delicious cheese, and an accompanying cabbage salad which cut the heaviness of the sandwich well. Pretty reasonable cost. Service was eh, but not any worse than Pennycluse. I would like a slightly more robust scene but if it stayed an undiscovered gem I would be fine with that as well. 1 1/2 thumbs up to one of my new sit down lunch spots!

Bonus review for Apple/I-tunes. F*** them!!!!  I have rented 4 movies on my Apple TV. The first played ok. The second froze to load half way through the movie.  The third and fourth will not load. I called Apple and after being disconnected was told that they do not service I-Tunes.  Apple does not service Apple I-Tunes. The support for I-tunes was a 15+ minute wait. Emails went unanswered. I finally got through to support the next day after another long hold and got a refund. I still have not seen Iron Man 3.

Jay About Saint Louis

How did I end up in St Louis you may ask?  Wedding. So out went, sans wife and kids. Sleep was great but otherwise I don't really like going to weddings w/out my wife anymore. Not looking to hook up w/ bridesmaids and not looking to get blackout drunk so really I am just missing my dance partner. Anywho, St. Louis is an interesting city. Not like cool interesting but like odd interesting. Very small but spread out.  There is no traffic. The houses are mostly small brick numbers. It seems friendly enough I suppose and pretty livable. The cool section is not cool though and it is not really nice or special in any way. It is just very nondescript. I suppose that is fine. It is like that super average person drinking a boring beer, eating a burger no cheese at the local Applebee's. I was staying at the Moonshine Hotel on the Delmar Loop. It was nice. Big clean room, nice shower, friendly service, not expensive, nice rooftop bar. The loop itself is supposed to be very hip. It isn't. It is fine, there are a couple places to eat and some ok bars, and a couple comic book stores and vintage clothing stores. But it just doesn't have that "something". It is a safe but slightly seedy area. For instance, there was a nuisance abatement van in the local gas station all weekend, and a random guy tried to get in my parents' rental car, but I never felt unsafe.

Highlights? I had a very nice lunch at the Mission Taco joint. It had good, well seasoned fresh tasting ingredients. I would say it is similar to El Cortijo locally but quite a bit better. I had Neploata (?) or cactus, a beef brisket, and a slow roasted pork shoulder. All three were great. Service was not awesome. It was pretty inexpensive. Interesting sidebar... St. Louis seems to be pissed that Bud sold out to a non-U.S. company. They do not sell it in decent places and treat it like Old Milwaukee. They do have a bunch of local breweries and a large selection of different beers. None of them are good.  Schafly in particular is a bland over malted glass of crap. But they love it? Ok, That night we had a party at Pi pizza.  We had mostly deep dish style pies. They were ok. I mean, pizza is never really that bad right? This was good, I liked it fine. Pretty solid apple pie. The next morning I stopped by Piccione Pastry shop. Store hours say it opens at 9AM. Door was still locked at 9:30. This was not atypical. While generally friendly, service was slow and a little blase. Save for the Moonrise which was very attentive. The pastries themselves were good.  The bomboloni, or donuts... were awesome. The meringue cookie was a little dry but pretty good. To be fair I ate that one when I came back drunk after the wedding so, you know, take that review w/ a grain of salt. Finally, the Blueberry Hill. A total tourist trap owned I think (at one point) by Chuck Berry. They have a walk of fame by the way which has all sorts of funny characters. So back to the Blueberry. They stole their food from Denny's. It was terrible. Pretty good Bloody Mary. The walls were covered w/ chatchkies and all sorts of crap. We did have fun playing BuckHunter on a big flat screen for awhile. Otherwise it is a pass.

The arch is actually pretty impressive. So there you have it. No reason to go there unless to want to chill out and watch a ball game. But if you do go it will be fine and you will probably have a fine time?

Jay About Rosebank Farms Cafe

This past week I traveled down to our southern office for some work and play.  There were several highlights including gators on the golf course, warm weather, excellent Costco chicken salad (seriously, it was good), Firefly and lemonade, among other things.  The real winner for me though was the Rosebank.  Billed as quite fancy by the big boss (very tongue in cheek), we rolled to a family hole in the wall in a mini strip mall on the river. The decor was cafeteria at best. Right away, even though I was still hung over I noticed interesting beer menu. Kiawah Island for some reason is a huge importer of Fat Tire from Colorado which is great. I had one of those and some other not great IPA from St Louis (where I am heading tomorrow). Anywho, we let the boss take care of ordering and went family style on a not so deep south menu. I started w/ the She Crab soup. While a little tepid in temperature, the Aged sherry and fresh crab roe soup was really quite nice. Creamy and well balanced w/out being over the top on butter and cream. Next up, fried green tomatoes. Big thick fresh tomats that were lightly breaded and fried and slathered in cottage cheesy pimento cheese.  Delicious. If you have not had pimento cheese it is really something. Apparently it has many different consistencies and can range from great to gross but this one was a little spicy and very flavorful. Loved it. For the main course we shared fried chicken with collard greens and smashed potatoes and cheesy grits w/ spicy shrimp and crawdads.  After I was revived from my heart attack I was able to remember excellent flavor. I wish the chicken was a little crispier but the flavor was nice, and the gravy was decadent. The collards were a little bitter but cut the grease nicely. Smashed potatoes w/ butter and cream?  Come on. The grits were cheesy, creamy, and the spicy shrimp were so f*ing good.  The whole thing was really quite delicious.

Of course the beer, liquor, and rich foods gave me terrible heart burn and possibly permanent artery damage but I loved it all. Reasonable prices, huge servings, friendly service... 1 6/8 thumbs up.

couple things

Had a bacon egg and cheese on a sesame bagel from Feldman's the other day.  It was excellent.  I also had a sandwich from Pine Street Deli... not so excellent.  Ok. but a ton of onions.

Got some lunch meat from Lantman's in Hinesburg.  They asked me how I liked the thickness on the first cut and just made it happen.  Much different experience than the Shelburne Supermarket where the high school kids that work there all act like, well, like high school kids.

Lawson's and Otter Creek got together for a Double Dose IPA and it is pretty A-OK. I'd drink 1 or 12.

My f*cking fat cat totally whiffed on a mouse the other night.  My wife and I have slept in the guestroom 2 nights in a row as the mouse is somewhere in our bed room.  Thanks Boomer, you are an excellent mouser and housemate in general.

I had to use the facilities in the woods the other day. I am not proud of it.

I shot about a 184 at VT National the other day. Was goofing around on the 18th and hurt my wrist. I am old and an idiot.

I think I just waited for poop in my pants...

So my special lady had an excellent idea this weekend, let's toss the kids in the car and take a ride up to Hill Farmstead.  We had a few growlers we wanted to return or exchange and why not grab a beer while there? Perfect. So we got everyone ready and headed up late morning. Well, it takes almost 2 hrs to get there and it is in the middle of no where. No problem. It was a nice day on Saturday, and the kids were in a good mood. We get there and the line is long. Real long. Ok, well, there is a long line for a tasting, $5 for 4 small beers and a super long line to fill growlers. Ok, kids in the front packs... it's tasting time! Well, the line went ok. Time to get in the longer one. An hour in and we were not really close. But once you are that deep you are committed right? Lady went to the bathroom (2 port-o-sans) to pee and wash her hands. No TP. Or way to wash up. Ok, so it is like a frat party. No problem. People in line were friendly, kids were still in a good mood, and the sun was still shining. Well, just as we get to the opening of the brewery my son starts to lose his shit. We are about 1hr 45min in so it is understandable, I was about to lose mine as well.  We finally get in and they inform us that they do not take back growlers. So those 3 we have at $10 each are ours forever? Really?  Sure, well, only one of them is clean can we just trade out for some clean ones. Oh, you don't clean out bottles either? F*** you Hill Farmstead. Listen, I understand your beer is really good and you want to run your business like the bathroom of a dive bar but jeez... Well, if you can be a dick I guess you have to do it. Needless to say as our kids lost it all together we had no choice but to stop for a cheeseburger and feed the kids at a McDonald's.  That was fun.  At least they had toilet paper. A good day turned pretty ugly. We will not be going back, at least not on a weekend.

This is also fun. We stopped by the Whiskey Room yesterday for a quick beer and wanted to sit outside as it was a sunny day. I swear I am not embellishing this story. The bartender hands us a whiskey menu, and one for bottled beer and wine.  She says the waiter will tell us the draft list. There are only 2 other people in the entire bar.  After waiting for a pretty long time the waiter comes out. He informs us there are too many beers for him to remember and that they change frequently so we will have to go in to look at the board. Well, this is contrary to what the bartender said and what... you can't remember 10 beers? It is your f*ing job!!! No problem we remembered a few. One co-worker ordered a Heady Topper, one a 6 Point Resin, and ordered a Peeper, As in the Maine Beer Co. Peeper Ale. After another long period the waiter comes back w/ just the Topper. They are out of the Resin. Ok, 2 Toppers. He comes back w/ the second Topper and asks me what I ordered again.  Peeper Ale.  He goes back in and then comes back. What beer was that, we change them out a lot, when did you last have it?  Peeper Ale.  I just saw it inside on your current draft list.  Just now?! Plleeper Ale?  Peeper Ale!  Peeper Ale?  Yeah, form the Maine Beer Co. Oh, the Maine Beer Co. I did not understand your lingo, I am from Ireland. What?!?!?! It is the name of the beer not lingo.  I did not ask for the Peeps, The Peep Hole, the Peeperdoodle.  I asked for a Peeper Ale... the name of the f***ing beer!!!!  And you are Irish?  What does that have to do with anything?  We were both speaking English? I was not giving you hand signals!!!!  Anyway, I finally got my beer. And then had to go home... it had been 1 hour. I needed to carve out an additional 6 to get an Edward from Hill Farmstead and figure out how to wipe my ass w/ a sock.

I need more sleep.

I am a mess today

So after working from 9:30AM until 6PM with a brief break for lunch my mother asks me if I think my father has slowed a bit. I thought maybe she was crazy?  My back was seizing up and I was about to pass out. My dad is 20 odd years older and was tired but fine. I hope I slow down like that. We did a bunch of demo and rebuild work on a shed and then I loaded wood and did some more clean up on Sunday. I have not done manual labor like that in years and I was already a mess heading into last night. We went to bed early and I looked forward to just resting my body. My kids had a different interpretation on how the evening would play out. My son started fussing at 10:30 or so. He had taken a huge shit. Oh well, no problem. Changed him and back to bed. Except he was back up around 11:30 and woke up his sister. Awesome. Around 1 or so is when he really ramped up, screaming his guts out. We struggled to get him calmed down as he began to wake his sister who A) was seeming to be coming down w/ a cold and B) is really tough to settle once she wakes up. Well, we got them back down, by bringing him into our bed. His sister woke up about an hour later screaming like a horror movie was being filmed in her room.  Into bed where they both squirmed and fussed. I got the boy a little settled and took him back to his own bed. This backfired when an hour or so later he went absolute bat shit.  I am not sure how often we got up and down but needless to say I woke up on a sliver of bed w/ my son's head firmly jammed into my spine and having gotten maybe 4 hours of sleep. I tried to sneak down to get ahead of the morning while my special lady took a shower. I heard fussing.  F***! Back upstairs I ran w/ bottles for breakfast. Wife gets out of the shower and here are two smiling laughing babies. Little shits. Nice to be able to lounge about and nap all day.

When Folino's first opened we thought the pizza was ok at best and the service sucked balls. The Fiddlehead Brewery next store was not very good either.  Well, several months later service is a bit better and the pizza is really quite edible to good at times.  The brewery is also getting better and their flagship IPA's is one of the more drinkable things going. So there you go... time heals many wounds. Not my lack of sleep but other ones.

I Am Thinking About A New Business

So if you want in on the ground floor of Jay About Mugs!, Well, let me know.  I had an idea for one w/ Alf and a totally inappropriate comment about how he liked to eat cats but thought maybe that was going too far?

Well I am baffled

WTF w/ Syria?! We somehow have a uber liberal President who is very hawkish in matters of national defense?  Ok, that is odd but whatever.  So he makes a play to bomb Syria even though we don't really like either their current administration or the rebels that are fighting them. What happens?  Republicans tell him to hold on, that is not the right way to do things (what about Iraq?). So he waits.  And then there is an even more obvious chemical weapon attack (if you believe Obama or some guy's smart phone in Damascus). Ok, so now it's go time right? Well, hold on say the Republicans... we need more evidence. So Obama waits and goes to Congress for a vote. During the voting lull the conservatives attack Obama for not making a strong case, not being a leader and dithering. He says there is clear evidence and we are going to bomb. Even Republican leadership in Congress gets on board. Now the members of Congress seem unwilling to follow their own leadership or even their own advice and will not vote for to support. Meanwhile Russia is making us look like ineffectual pussies. Seriously Congress... get your shit together.

I managed to attend my first fantasy football draft the other night and I hate my team. I usually miss the draft and get my team auto-picked.  I have done well the last few years. This year? Well, my hand picked team would have dominated... in 2007!!! F***!! To make matters worse I ran into a opponent who had Peyton Manning in week 1. Guy has a f*ing career game in week 1. Shit.

I gave my son a new rattle I just bought for him. He promptly puked on it.

Just had a quite nice meatball sandwich from the Guild Meat Market. The sandwich unfortunately has made it known to me in no uncertain terms that we will not be going for a run this afternoon.

Why does the stock market like bad economic data, poor job growth and a potential war?

Late review, but I have gotten my hair cut at Bugatti down on Battery Street twice now. $15 for an easy cut and they do a good job. Also trimmed my beard and eyebrows.  A little chatty for my taste but overall has been a solid place to get groomed.  You can see my glamour shot above. Yeah, on the left... they did a nice job w/ the beard right?

Yikes!

Well, crazy guy who used to storm around Burlington staring people down in his military fatigues was storming around in high heeled boots, a tank top, men's jeans, and make up.  Sure, f*** it, why not?  If you are going to be crazy might as well be batshit crazy.

Great Irish meal and Irish beers at the new B-G abode.  Nice work, very good lamb and all the fixins'.  Of course just as soon as desert was over we had a double meltdown and had to flee like we had just stolen something (the silver picture frame).

Did I mention my recent business correspondence w/ a older male prospect who TWICE used a smiley face :) thing in an email?  Still haunts me.

I do not like Ben Affleck as Batman.  I just don't.  Good Batman stars have been crazy.  Michael Keaton and Christian Bale both had a screw loose.  So did Adam West.  Josh Brolin would have been better, more unstable. Just saying. You call me a nerd?  Want to fight?!

BTW, what is up w/ Syria?  What a disaster.  Now that they have dropped chemical weapons against their own people we almost have to get in the mix no?  Foxnews and other conservative outlets have skewered the President for his inaction there.  Now that we are all but committed hot long before they criticize the military intervention, 24 hours, 48?

There is this big story about how Bobby Riggs tossed the match against Billie Jean King to pay off gambling debts.  It always seemed to me he was dogging that match but at the end of the day who cares?  Was it really a landmark statement?  He was a washed up 55yr old playing the #2 ranked woman in the world. That is like me playing in a 5th grader pickup basketball game to show I've still got it, or conversely allowing them to stand up for 5th grader rights?  Story different these days... is there anyway Jimmy Connors could play a match against Serena Williams?  No f*ing way.

Now if you will excuse me, I have some important Twerking to attend to.

Jay About Guild Fine Meats

I am a little worried about the interweb crowd that header may draw?  In any event... the Catamount Hospitality group opened their latest creation Guild Fine Meats in the old Pacific Rim spot next to Flatbread in Burlington.  As it just opened Wed. I had to make my move to check it out.  The place was billed as an outlet for their own fine meats butchered and prepared in Winooski I believe. I imagined a butcher that might have some accouterments a little like Shelburne Meat Market but more thoughtful and local in product.  Well... it is only the first week. There is a butcher shop and there is a nice selection of bottled beers and wines as well as some other treats such as moon pies and anise candies. There is also a decent size sandwich counter.  It is obvious that this is the first week and they have all hands on deck including one of the owners behind the counter cutting meat.  As far as the meat... it all looks nice but it is just Laplatte Farms beef and I did not notice any of the aging or curing I was hoping to find.  It was kind of a standard butcher which is fine and necessary but certainly not unique.  The space itself is nice but snug.  I sauntered up to the sandwich counter and ordered a warm roast beef w/ tarentaise, red onions, and horseradish aioli on wheat. There was a little confusion behind the counter but they banged it out pretty quickly.  It was a bit petite for the cost which was reasonable for Burlington but only if it is a bigger sandwich? That said, the roast beef was tender and had nice flavor, bun was pretty good, and the cheese was delicious.  It was a good, not great sandwich. Overall I think it is a welcome addition to the scene.  I was not blown away but it is early.  To be fair, I felt the same way about the Farmhouse and now I go there pretty regularly.  I will hold off on thumbs until I go again but I'd suggest checking it out if you are in the market for lunch.

A bit off the run as I used my space for an A-Rod rant earlier but my special lady and I were able to ditch the kids w/ the in laws and catch the Black Crowes down at the waterfront last Saturday.  Like current Phish tours we both found it tight, well constructed and enjoyable but lacking that certain passion of earlier shows.  I suppose like heroin you are always trying to get back to that first intense experience but really never can because you don't accurately remember what that first time was really like in proper context.  Or so I have heard.  That said they took a few of the standard its and really rocked out, in particular moving from Hard to Handle to Deep Purple's Hush for the encore that was really something special.  Special props to old couple slow dancing and grabbing handfuls of butt, #1 fan 80 year old guy rocking out like he was having a seizure, and the couple consisting of girl dancing her heart out around her partner who did not move one inch.  Fantastic!

The Depths of A-Rod and the Yankees

The current situation with the Yankees and Alex Rodrigez is one of the most fascinating case studies in fan behavior I can remember.  Everyone from Lance Armstrong to Barry Bonds always provided a relatively clean exit after they were finally caught cheating w/ PED's.  They were caught and they left the game.  At that point you either still rooted for them or you hated them.  But those who rooted were able to root for past performance that may have not been tainted.  You could wax nostalgic.  Andy Petite and Jason Giambi were slightly different in that they were caught, paid the penance (of sorts) and played on but in a diminished state.  You maybe never saw them the same way but they seemed contrite.  A-Rod and maybe Ryan Braun are entirely different animals.  A-Rod lied about cheating, then was caught, then admitted it but said he was young and dumb, and then was caught again!  He continues to lie and to cheat, and to scheme. The more of the story that comes out the dirtier he seems.  The Yankees have tried to extricate themselves from the circus but they were so clumsy they made it seem all about the money and in these times a huge rich organization trying to claw back money are as big a villain as the cheater they are trying to take it from.  Making it an even more difficult situation is that A-Rod has been suspended for cheating.  But there are rules and even though nobody really wants him around you cannot just kick him out of the game. Apparently you can only do that to gamblers like Pete Rose but not drug users. OK, so he gets suspended and pays the penance and can come back and get his 32nd chance like every other celebrity right?  Not so fast!  He appeals and lawyers up.  So now, the known cheater, liar, schemer is back and playing even though he will at some point be suspended for cheating.  So let's forget the past for a second and not go think about the validity of recent seasons (such as the 2009 championship team littered w/ PED cheats). This year the Yankees are scratching and clawing just to make the playoffs.  If they do it certainly will be with some contribution from a known cheater.  If it is your team to you really want to win or just quietly go away this year and come back next year with a clean slate?  If you are a Yankees fan you have long loved cheaters so it is championship or bust!  Queue the music for Clemens, Petite, Giambi, A-Rod, Cervelli, Mariano (sorry, he has not been caught yet).  The fans cheer him, the writers like Wallace Mathews defend him, John Sterling orgasms every time he gets a hit, and his manager and team rally around him.  Are they all admitting that the game is a mess and rife w/ drug use? Shouldn't you bristle at the thought of supporting your co-worker who has taken money out of your pocket directly from the result of cheating?  Maybe I am just a hard ass... Apparently Joe Giardi very rarely curses but used several blue lines last night after Ryan Dempster showed A-Rod what Boston thinks of him. Good for you Joe... support your scumbag player.  He is one of your guys. I am fully in support of standing up for your guys... unless they have screwed you over, multiple times. All bets are off at that point because they are not really a teammate, or a friend.  It is just a guy taking your money. So what am I saying?  F*** you A-Rod... you are a piece of shit. And f*** you Yankees.  You could do the right thing and park that cheater on the bench, or you could treat him like a mistreated victim. By doing the latter you tarnish your image as a beacon of baseball light.

Pretty Good Little Weekend.

The kids were pretty well behaved and we got quite a bit done this weekend.  We even packed the little ones up and did a short hike which they not only tolerated but mostly slept through. One blip in the radar was a perfect illustration of the difficulty twins present.  So, my wife had to work an event Sunday night.  No problem I said.  I got this I said.  My smuggness was oozing.  To this point they had been great.  Even when not smiling they were at least chill.  We had been at a BBQ and the little girl was very social.  My son, was a little cranky but he mostly just kept to himself in the stroller.  So I figure, shit, we will play for a little bit, I will feed them, get them ready for bed, and then boom... daddy gets a beer and Netflix movie to celebrate his triumph!  The little bird had other ideas.  Once the lady left there was a double implosion the likes of which I had not seen.  Screaming.  Didn't matter if they were sitting, lying down, in the crib, on the playmat, in the swing.  It was screaming as if we were in a B-slasher flick. Maybe I don't know any better but the only way to soothe a new born is to pick them up and comfort them right?  Trying that move w/ 2 writhing screaming banshees is next to impossible.  So I pick up one and try to calm them down for 2 minutes and then I put that one down and try the other one who has ramped up to level red meltdown, then back to baby number 1 who has taken over trying to break the sound barrier, and so on.  The whole time wishing I had cracked that beer earlier and trying to curse at the top of my lungs as I plead for them to calm down.  Pacifier?  Yeah, f*** you daddy. Pick that shit up off the floor. Again. Rattle? Yeah, I am going to bash myself in the face and then my brother and really get this party started before chucking it at the cat. Obviously the cat jumps in the mix whining for food. I have to try with every last bit of energy not to kick Boomer in the face.  Needless to say diaper change did not go well.  My only respite was food as I do a double feed jamming a couple bottles in their mouths at the same time and stare off into space... a broken man.  They did take it easy on me and go down to sleep in a somewhat reasonable time frame. Finally, Miller Time.  BTW, if you are on Netflix and think the Lakey Peterson surf movie might be kind of cool?  It is not.  It is a long movie that seems like it is written and directed by a teenager and funded by her parents.  She is a sick surfer but like most teens a mental midget. You will want to shoot yourself in the face after 20 minutes.  So I wanted to shoot myself in the face for about 1 hour and 15 minutes as I watched the whole thing.  I am an idiot.

Is That Your Final Answer?

So how bad does your food have to be to be honest w/ waitstaff?  When the waiter comes over and asks how the food is you are sometimes caught at a crossroads. I love and hate when they get me w/ my mouth full. I am annoyed at being snuck up on but I also do not have to answer the question.  So my wife and I were eating at the Canoe Club in Hanover Sat. night and my wife says to me "This is worse than airplane food.".  On cue, the waitress pops up out of a trap door in the floor and asks "How is everything?" to which my special lady responds without missing a beat "Good, thank you.".  I just stared like a deer in the head lights and pretended I did not speak English.  So when you think the food is worse than the shit you get on an airplane but you still answer good it begs the question, how bad does it have to be to say something?  It was not cooked incorrectly and we were not ordering anything else so the chef spit/testicle rub retaliation was not in play. It is not really fair to future patrons not to point out the terrible fare and yet we still always just shrink away from the cold reality.

So what, you may ask, sucked so bad about out meal?  The atmosphere was quite nice and they made me a nice Manhattan. The waitress said the bread was just going in the oven and would be right out. Was in the oven huh?  The bread was so dry and flavorless I could not believe it was actually food. There was not enough butter in the restaurant to make it edible. Oh well, just bread.  The heritage beet salad came out and looked like beets out of a can.  It was limp and lifeless and while the flavor was not disgusting it was nothing you would ever want to pay for. The dressing was thoughtlessly dumped on the salad covering parts and not others. Hazelnuts were good. My gnocchi was fine. It had a tremendous amount of oil and garlic but was fine. Fine.  Really it is the only fitting description. So there you have it. 1 thumb down.

Of course this all followed up our trip to see The Wolverine at the Nugget Theater.  I thought it also was fine. Good to see in the theater, lots of action, kind of a lame plot.  My lady thought it was pretty bad and could not get past the plot issues. I am a dumb animal, it does not bother me as much if there are bright shiny lights. That said I would not recommend it either. So I guess 1 thumb sideways?

We finished up at Murphy's which had a lively scene and an attentive bartender.  A group of women was on a girls night out and were having more fun than anyone we had ever seen.  My lady almost ditched me to hang with them.  Also having a fun night out were the too older dipshits having a guys night out.  They had clearly gone big as they were now on water and beer, called for a cab, were speaking gibberish, and one of the guys was blatantly turning to stare at my wife's chest. I was close to saying something but my beer was gone and it was time to go home.

After all of that you may ask... Jay, how do you rate that pile of shit date? 2 thumbs up!!! We got out, just the 2 of us for a night and genuinely had fun laughing at out predicaments. It was humorous and good to be together as nearly normal humans. I still did not get lucky but we were staying at my parents' house. And my dad was drinking a Mike's hard lemonade when we got home.  2.25 thumbs up.

I have a solution!

So my day has sucked balls. My kids are a little constipated, I am the opposite, they did not sleep well at all last night and neither did I.  I came in and had emails issues and had to deal w/ several unpleasant and unnecessary work issues.  Went for a run and my gym did not have any clean towels or anyone working at the front desk. On Track sucks... why do I pay for a membership at a beat up dirty gym w/ lazy employees and no towels?  Because I am a fool.  So I toweled off w/ the equivalent of a washcloth.  That is hard when you have as much muscle mass to dry off as I do.  The sandwich I usually get and enjoy at Logan's was super greasy and oily today. I went for a jog and a woman in flip flops ran by me leaving me in the dust.  So why am I not in a worse mood?  Well, at least I don't live in f*ing Detroit!  Seriously, that is a shithole. Bankrupt? Something like 60% of the street lights don't work.  The 911 response time is closing in on 1 hour.  There are whole streets of dead houses making virtual ghost towns in the city.  This was a once proud center of American industry. Somebody call OCP... we need Robocop!!!!! I'll take that for a dollar!

**anybody get that last reference?

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

Watching Obama on TV... and getting pretty mad.

I am watching our president pander to some crowd in who knows where.  He rips the 1% as usual and then says he wants to get back to an America where if you work hard you can be successful. But not too successful apparently. Work hard, until you get to the middle class and then you might as well coast because the administration wants to crush you.  Some call that Socialism.  Obama calls that "Hope" or "Change".  He wants home borrowers the chance to refi and wants to cut red tape to make it happen.  So you want banks to be responsible but you also want them to lend to folks who can't pay that loan back?  Because the process should be fair and clear of course.  Oh, it was not clear you could not afford that 20K square foot home for $1MM when you only earned $30K a year?  Huh.  So let's sort out college loans.  Yup, we will cap those payback amounts to 10% of your future salary so if you want to take on huge debt for years of unnecessary schooling and then become a preschool teacher you can just wipe out those debts.  Because that money just disappears right?  It is not like somebody had to loan you that money and is now screwed by you not paying them back right?  Or the schools, they don't need that revenue you promised them right?  All of the resources they provided you as a student were free I am sure. Healthcare?  Why not just provide universal free services. F*** it.

What Obama does not seem to understand is that all of the loans he wants to forgive were based on someone who was willing to work hard and then loan someone else their hard earned money.  That social contract is now worthless.  Would you loan your co-worker $10 for lunch if you knew Obama was going to make it so that person would not pay you back?  Only if you were a fool. Do you think when you push debt forgiveness banks or private companies will ever loan money again?  Hell no!  You will get jammed in a 2 year queue and never get that home loan.

He just said in America you are not guaranteed success.  F*** you!!! When you guarantee nobody has to ever pay a loan back and can just get free shit you basically are making that promise.  Why work hard if you never have to pay your debts?!?!?!

This is America and you are not entitled to a house.  Or a free college education.  Or access to the best doctors or lawyers, or bankers.  You have to work hard for good things and make smart choices.  And yeah, you need a little luck.  So maybe you have to rent an apartment, or go to community college. Maybe you have to eat burger as opposed to steak. I want to help my neighbors but I don't want to blindly throw good money at bad and that is exactly what the President is trying to do.  It may be easier to give money away when you are rich.  I don't know.

We need more economic stimulus, there is not enough artificial money out there.  Somebody call Ben Bernanke.

Hey, Check this out.

These are my recent weekly stats.  As you can tell I am huge in Finland!!

Entry	Pageviews
Finland	54
United States	49
Russia	33
Latvia	7
South Africa	6
Ukraine	2
Canada	1
Denmark	1
France	1
India	1

Jay About to collect social security

I turned 37 this weekend and it is kind of brutal.  I am certainly in middle age territory. My son helped me celebrate by not sleeping all night.  Thanks buddy. My gift to myself was a brutal pre-birthday hangover. My wife was nice and let me sleep in, that was a pleasant gift.  We had good friends up and it was a lot of fun but 3 newborns and another small child made us all feel like the inmates were running the asylum. That many small people instantly turns the tide.  You realize there is a 98% chance at least one of the kids will be fussing, or hungry, or napping at all times. Trying to get out of the house is like trying to escape a maximum security prison. We did have a nice pizza from Folino's? To go of course.

The new ice cream counter at the Charlotte Brick Store is a nice feature.  I suggest the root beer float. The ice cream is apparently some sort of organic local thing.  Whatever... the consistency is not as good as the fake shit but the flavor is nice and it works well w/ the local root beer which is actually quite good.

So I have been watching the new season of Arrested Development on Netflix and I am not a fan.  The show always revolved around a silly family in turmoil and on the brink of disaster but it was just that, silly and cheeky and the jokes were solid.  This recent season is really just tragic. The actors all look haggard, the jokes fall flat, and I find myself just feeling bad for everyone involved. Please do not make another season.

On the flip side of that I watched Expendables 2 over a couple evenings and it is fabulously terrible. Stallone can't move his face but it has been frozen in a crusty beat up Stallone pose. Arnie looks like he is done in CGI, and Bruce Willis is in full on mail it in mode.  I am not sure when Dolf Lundgren forgot how to speak English? Van dame is an amazing cheesy villain. He nails the camp.  Chuck Norris is well, Chuck Norris... w/ a fake black spray painted beard.  The whole thing is so over the top it is like a SyFy movie but w/ once real big actors who all seem to get the joke.  Jason Statham (or however you spell it) is great. Overall two thumbs up then shot off and shooting fake CGI blood in my face!

BTW this summer is a mess.  It rained non stop for 2 months, now it is hot as f*** w/ 100% humidity.  You may ask hot hot f*** is?  REAL F*ING HOT CHIEF!!!!  My kind are going bonkers.  They are like little space heaters covered in a sheen of drool.  Can't strip them down enough to get comfortable.  Even in diapers they are at 125 degrees... and chirping. I meanwhile have infinite patience for this at 3AM. I am like a skinny very attractive Buddha in that way. Needless to say, I walk around during the day like a zombie from the Walking Dead.  I am sure more than one coffee barrista has thought me stoned when I stare through them for several seconds pondering how I will compensate them their $1.75.

Jay About the Bell & Anchor

We took the kids on their first big road trip this long weekend down to the Berkshires and they did great.  One added bonus was that my special lady and I had a night out for date night.  We decided to head into Great Barrington and have dinner at a newer place the Bell and Anchor.  I was a little suspect of the fact that they did not have an actual website rather they used a Facebook page which I find obnoxious at best but whatever.  The place was cute and there was not only a good looking crowd but ping pong and cornhole (the game) out front on the lawn.  The place is a redone big old mansion.  Even though it was like 90 degrees and 120% humidity the outside was packed but the inside was open and we got a table right away. The waitstaff was also good looking and well dressed.  The crowd was NY hipster replanted w/ their parent's money in the Berkshires.  Except me who has no family money and was a sweaty no tattoo mess. I liked that the maitre di who we guessed was an owner was drinking a cold Tecate... solid.  We ordered a couple drinks and got down to it.  My "Trophy Wife" sounded feminine but was juiced w/ white bourbon, cava, and Saint Germaine and was delicious. We started off w/ a Parmesan broth soup that was salty and delicious despite the heat in the air. Next up was roasted beets w/ golden raisins, roasted squash and yogurt that was excellent and a house mad coppa (headcheese?) w/ greens, shaved Parmesan, and focaccia that was a little greasy but really wonderful.  We then shared a Pollock dish finished w/ black eyed peas and garlic scapes (every dish seemed to feature scapes) and was also well cooked, and very fresh tasting. We finished up w/ a delicious sponge cake w/ roasted rhubarb and creme fraische whipped cream that was sick.  Overall expensive but great service, good crowd, and solid food. 1 7/8 thumbs up.

We finished w/ a beer in town and were able to witness a stupid young woman irrationally freak out about a bug in her hair and then a possibly drunk woman berate a maitre di for 10+ minutes in a totally unnecessary way before storming out into the middle of the road.  Fantastic!

We stopped in Rut-Vegas to change diapers on the way home and had a couple cheeseburgers at McDonalds. Really a high to low weekend. Very low.

BTW, I know I spelled a bunch of shit incorrectly here but spell check in Blogger sucks. So F*** off smart guy!!

Boy oh Boy!

I have a feeling that header will garner unwanted hits on the interweb?  In any event... the kids regressed so my sleep is a mess.  I have gotten REM sleep maybe twice in 2 weeks.  We were able to get down to see friends in Barnard this weekend and that was nice.  My lovely wife also let me sleep in on Saturday which was amazing. Funny how well you sleep when you have more than 3" of space and no one is making noise and punching you in the face w/ tiny hands?! So the Skinny Pancake opened their new expanded space and my co-worker and I went for a little look.  The patio was huge and very busy.  Inside it looks like the kitchen is a little bigger and the space is huge.  It is industrial meets forest and it pretty solid looking.  The bar is not huge but still much bigger than before and the open space means you could easily get a beer and stand w/ friends if a seat was not available.  We hit it early so we were able to belly up to the bar. We had to wait for a dip shit from Jersey to figure out what beer to order in the absence of Miller Light.  He was confused by the concept of Morrisville (is that where you just ski and make beer?). Yup... that is all they do. And hump cows, don't forget that one. We settled on a pilsner and finally moved away.  We ordered up a couple delicious Zero Gravity double IPA's and I followed up w/ a Lost Nation Pilsner. The beer and liquor selection are very well thought out and quite interesting. I thought that the bartender was easily distracted and did not provide great service (grabbed tips too fast, only 4 people at bar but took awhile for him to notice my empty beer, was often wandering to the back for no apparent reason) but I find that alot around here. That said, I liked the space and what they have to offer so it will no doubt have a spot in the rotation.

Also had a nice lunch at San Sai w/ my lady Monday afternoon.  Place was empty, food was delicious.  Very odd. Great lunch spot, a little pricey but quiet, private, and good food.

So now back to no sleep town... population 4.

It's unsolicited commentary time

Dwyane Wade (how do you actually pronounce that?) just released a new home workout tape... I received an advance copy as you can see above. http://espn.go.com/nba/truehoop/miamiheat/story/_/id/9416620/dwyane-wade-miami-heat-releases-driven-fitness-home-app

Can we just kill that Snowden guy? He is obviously a traitor and an asshole.  Maybe we can get Aaron Hernandez on that?

I really don't like the Red Sox pitching right now, particularly the bullpen. Shaky....

James Gandolfini's death got me thinking about the state of culture currently.  Why are we lionizing douchebags?  I liked the Sopranos.  I like Mad Men. I enjoy Family Guy. I never got into Breaking Bad or Sons of Anarchy but they seem fine.  The point is we really like the guy who is a giant asshole but knows he is an asshole and once in awhile tries to do the right thing but still does the wrong thing.  If you try to make a show about a genuinely good person it seems corny.  But why?  Because those people don't exist?  Isn't that the point of TV and movies, to create a fantasy?  Maybe even a fantasy of a reality we should strive for?  That certainly is not a jerk headcase murderer. That said, Gandolfini was great in that role and the show was very well done. See, I am such a hypocrite.

I am stoked about this non stop rain by the way.