How About That Sturgill Simpson

Last night my special lady and I had date night. We grabbed a bite at the bar of The Guild and then cruised over to Higher Ground to check out a new age country singer Sturgill Simpson.  I have reviewed the Guild several times before so no need to get into the weeds but it was excellent. Very good service including the host who was hustling big time. The drinks were well made and delicious and the food was also great. It was packed on a Wednesday night. Packed. We were very pleasantly surprised by the whole experience.

On to Sturgill. Well, I think I went in with my expectations a little high. I had been watching Youtube videos and was expecting a pretty high energy situation. The guy said he was sick and maybe that was the case. The music was fine but there was no soul, no fire. It seemed like they were just cashing a check and not super happy to be there. It is amazing the voice that comes out of that little guy and the band is obviously pretty talented but Simpson mumbled the words to songs and they really only unleashed on two tunes. Overall it was fine, nothing I would recommend though the tickets were only $15 a piece so for that I guess it was worth the price of admission. The whole thing was over by 10:30PM by the way.

Fun little post game at the Upper Deck pub at the Windjammer. Pretty decent nachos and cold beer. Nice work Upper Deck Pub!

Jay Back to Puerto Rico!

My folks were down in PR for a conference and stayed for what is turning out to be an extended extended vacation down there and invited the bird family to join. Trade in bitter cold with very little snow for warm sunny days on the beach? Hell to the yeah.  The flight down was pretty easy w/ a short layover and pretty on time flights. We picked up our rental car and headed for the beach. The Mazda 6 was ok to drive I guess and was very roomy for a mid size car but the it was very difficult to get the seat in a decent position and rear visibility was terrible as the A-Bars? over both shoulders were huge. Change lanes at your own peril.

We were staying in a condo in Luquillo Beach which is an odd but pretty cool town. The beach is wide, pretty clean and beautiful. There were rougher surf spots as well as some very serene spots great for the kids. It is always fun to watch the surfers head out and never actually try to catch a wave. They just float out there. Call it the lifestyle if you want but I think you can't actually surf and are scared to death you might actually catch a wave. We saw 4 girls go for it in pretty choppy surf our last day. A for effort as they got right in the mix. F for execution which actually was an A+ for entertainment.

Right next door to our condo was the bar Boardriders. It was great. Super chill, no pretension, decent food, and cold drinks. We were among the regulars. A band played the first night who could not have sucked worse. Couldn't sing, or play instruments, or keep time. The next night a reggae band was very good though. The main drag in front of the bar was a spot where Puerto Ricans drove their pieces of shit super slow with the radios turned up to a volume no stereo should ever go. That was fun. I also enjoyed the regulars who grabbed a beer to go for the ride home. Didn't even opt for the U.S. obligatory paper bag.

The town was interesting. There were nicely kept houses up on the hill behind the grocery store but on the beach places were in varied states of disrepair. Many houses were abandoned all together. Premium beachfront just left empty and busted. It was weird. The town square was very nice though and on Friday night the town packed in with a mixture of tourists, families, and retirees all listening to live music, eating street food, and having a fun time.

If you go, check out the kiosks featured on one of those Anthony Bourdain shows. They are fun and the food ranges from yikes, to delicious. Plus it is a great place to grab a beer walk around and check out the nice beach behind.

So I had never noticed but in PR they have this shit called Gasolina. It is weird booze packaged like a Capri Sun. Seriously. Booze in a pouch and it is called Gasolina!!!

The missus and I had a night away at the San Juan Water and Beach Club. Nice beach, beautiful view from our cool but small room. The elevator is a cool glass thing where you can watch the ceiling come at you. It is fun. The rooftop bar has a great view but service is excruciating and expensive.

The restaurant in the hotel was very solid though. Very good service. People not even eating there came and gave our waitress a hug. No lie. The apps were very good, we had a nice watermelon soup with a great broth and lamb empanadas which were a nice size, not at all greasy and delicious. Our main course of fried Snapper was way too salty and the mufungo was dry. The pumpkin donuts got us back on track though!

Overall a fun trip except the 7 hour layover in Philadelphia. It really sucks to fly these days. United f*d us over and re booked us on a shitty flight that then got delayed a few hours. Try keeping 2 toddlers entertained in an airport for 7 hours.

BTW. congrats to LB squared, who are now cubed!

Boom!!!

What a game. I almost lost my shit several times last night. Should have been 34-14 Pats but the same old leaky defense had some big lapses. Still so many Brady haters... of course he is the best QB of all time now. If you are still picking Peyton than clearly your number 2 is Dan Marino. And Carmelo Anthony is your favorite basketball player. Hey Sherman, you mad bro?

Was I partying and making it rain last night?! Yup, if by party you mean sitting alone on my couch watching it on an IPad while eating Trade Joe's pot stickers while my kid hacks up a lung upstairs? Then yes. Yes I did.