entombed in the shrine of zeroes and ones

You know, if 2wanda and i have to stand in line with a bunch of scruffy, chain-smoking hipsters waiting for the doors to open, i would expect to actually have the band start playing sometime in the vicinity of the posted start time of 21:00.  At 22:35, we said, "Fuck this," and left, because she needs to sleep and i need to get to work.

On the bright side, stoat recognized us and we chatted a bit over the din of the warmup music (why does the pre-concert music have to be played as loudly as the live music?).  Oh, and the Anchor Steam was excellent and fresh (which it ought to be, given that the brewery is only a few blocks away).  But i'd be hard-pressed to give Bottom of the Hill, or Battles, another chance.

This is most of the liter of Bitburger i was served with my meal at Teske's Germania.

On Thursday, many talk_bizarre members converged upon haineux's house due to the visit of justjenine and torkington and their two little Torklets.  Alas, 2wanda couldn't come because she was stuck at work.

On Friday, i took my wife out on a dinner date and enjoyed entirely too much German food, washed down with a liter of beer.

On Saturday, Kimmy and i split our time between two parties: racerxmachina's birthday party, and a gathering of Centavo (my Thursday soccer team) for BBQ at Dino's place.  Both events featured somewhat athletic activities; racerxmachina had piñatas and balloon batting, whereas Dino had a bocce court (Dino mentioned that his dad laid down the oystershell bocce courts at the Campo di Bocce in Los Gatos, which i've been meaning to patronize almost since i first noticed it about a dozen years ago).

On Sunday, after community garden duty, we had lunch with sandollar17, her mom, and her Spanish friend Ana, who's been visiting for the last three weeks.  Then we took Ana shopping at the mall... the goddamn mall.  After that harrowing experience, we had to go to Rock Bottom for some beer (BJ's is too damn full of yuppies and other pretty people).

All these damn friends and relatives making demands on our time... it's ridiculous and exhausting.  Life was easier when we were hermits.

Today some coworkers and i did the Anchor Brewery tour. This time around, we got to taste their Small Beer (light, clean, bitter), then the Summer beer (which is OK for a beer that's half-made with wheat), Steam, Liberty Ale, the Porter (which i actually enjoyed today), and then the Old Foghorn (sweet and packs a punch). I declare the rest of March to be "Find A Local Brewery That Offers Tours And Visit It" Month. So hop (HA HA, "hop", me so funny!) to it.

Just came back from the Anchor Brewing Company tour. I went with six coworkers (including my boss). The smell of malt was evident as we approached the building (a scant five blocks from work), and increased a lot as we went inside. After a not inconsiderable wait, it turned out that the tour guide was out of town, so someone was rushed up to replace her. He did a good job and showed us around for about 40 minutes, then fed us much beer. I didn't care for the porter, but then i don't like porter, but this particular porter was lighter and had a nicer balance than other porters i've tried. The barleywine was nice. Their 50/50 barley/wheat beer was good, and of course their Steam and Liberty Ale were their usual rock-solid selves. Unfortunately, i wanted to try their Small Beer but he had none available. A great experience.

OAK-JFK on JetBlue: TV on an airplane is a good thing.  You just get sucked into whatever you're watching and the time just flies by, just like at home, except on a plane, that's exactly what you want to have happen.  I heartily endorse this service and/or product.

Watching Mets-Cubs, hoping to see Sammy Sosa's 500th home run.  Cliff Floyd steps up to the plate, and waves his bat just so, saying, "Put it here."  So Matt Clement winds up... and puts it there.  Floyd puts it out of the park.

Getting out of JFK is a trip in itself.  Mostly a bad one.

Carnegie Hall is... impressive. Awesome ("Remember what 'awesome' meant before it applied to pizza?"). Belleville High School starts us off with the Overture to Candide, one of my favorite pieces, and one that, due to its difficulty, i didn't expect high schoolers to perform. They also played Ives' "Country Band March", which sounds like a Sousa march arranged by a drunk Bill Bruford. The Leigh kids play damn well (they came away with a gold rating, so the judges must've agreed); Whitacre's "October" was especially impressive. Concord High School played Copland's "Danzón Cubano", which felt like a flat, sterile version of Gershwin's "Cuban Overture", except captain_nesky tells me that Copland's piece came first. The Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music's wind ensemble was the best group of the night, playing a wonderful selection (including a Wagner piece which i found very enjoyable[!]) at a high level of talent and emotion; they also added an unlisted encore, a piece that was based on "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" and resembled those cringeworthy Christmas medleys in structure except it didn't suck, as a tribute to the troops in Iraq.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is very nice. The medieval arms and armor display is my favorite; their array of various polearms is the coolest part. Afterwards, Kim, elmuchacho, and i had dinner with Ed and Elena at Jacques Brasserie, which was superb, especially their ale and chocolate soufflé.

Envision a busy Grand Central Station hallway. On one side, a corridor leads to the restrooms; the line to the ladies' room snakes out into the hallway. On the other side, a gathering of men placidly await their women.

Note: if you are as allergic to the Bee Gees' music as i am, do NOT eat at Ben Ash on 7th Av. Yeah, the food's good —a bit pricey for a deli, but the portions are huge— but godDAMN, how can you enjoy your meal when it's all motherfucking Bee Gees, all the motherfucking time?

The Sumerians had a goddess of beer, Ninkasi. They even wrote a hymn to Ninkasi. That's just plain cool. Someone should set it to music.

Sure, $5 for beer might seem a little steep... but it's so good. Mmmmm.

Kim and i (and Kim's friend Harry) went to Oregon to visit her friend Judy (in Eugene), and we took the opportunity to visit her and Harry's friends Carmen and Dorie (in Vancouver, WA), and i took the opportunity to meet Alan Scott, a t.b acquaintance, for the first time (in Portland). I was actually the first Cabal member he'd met. We ate at Ya Hala, a Lebanese restaurant (which meal included a bottle of Lebanese wine, which was quite nice), and after that we dropped by his house. We met his lovely wife and two cute and studious children.

We also took a trip east of Portland to the Full Sail Brewery, in Hood River. Good beer, but the selection of food offered was pathetic, and the food itself was not good. The chili was easily the weakest i've ever tasted. On the way there, we checked out Multnomah Falls, and on the way back to Portland we saw Beacon Rock.

We decided to head home via the scenic coastal route. Nice idea, but it took us WAY too long to get home... not until 04:00 on Thursday. Ugh. On the way, we drove through Coos Bay, a small logging town. There we found the Blue Heron Bistro, an island of civilization where local microbrews and Belgian ales were offered along with some very tasty food, amidst WW2 and East German propaganda. There i sampled Liefman's Framboise, an incredible raspberry beer which i must find (i hear Beverages & More carries it).

And, remember, kids: in Oregon, "lottery games should not be played for investment purposes."