Are you freaking kidding me?????

World Series Rockies GM 4 Oct 28 4 Together
Fab 4 tix 10th Row Plate Side of Visitors Dugout
...$7500!!! Oh mein Gott im Himmel! There are 14 (fourteen!) bids!! It's a baseball game! And there are 15 hours left to bid for these beauts on Ebay. I have to say, at least the seller appears to be from Denver.

I read this interview G sent me the other day...David Chase of Sopranos fame talking about the ending of the final episode & how appalled he was that folks were so up in arms about what he chose for the finale. He said something about how there was a war going on & an intended bomb attack in London at the time, implying that people obviously should be more concerned about worldly things other than Tony Soprano's fate. I have to concur with that (although I add that as disturbing a thwarted bombing is, us common folk don't have a whole lot of say over what is happening in Iraq at the moment...don't blame me, I NEVER voted for King George). I now wonder at the fiscal morality of some people. $7500 for baseball tickets?!?!?! I could buy a car. Pay for a year of my daughter's tuition. Start a lending program for a whole village of women in Africa.

Then again, as I look down the Ebay listings, I see many pages of tickets being offered for starting in the thousands. Not a whole lot of bids.

Randomly checking location of the sellers leads me to believe that the tickets have originally been purchased evenly between locals, out-of-towners, and scalpers. What does this mean? The online purchasing scheme was fair? People bought tickets thinking that they'd make some easy money? I'd laugh -out loud & very loudly- if 1/2 these folks had to eat their tickets because no one coughed up the dough. Meanwhile, I would love to have gotten tickets...AND GONE TO THE GAME because I ENJOY BASEBALL.

yay! Snow! and projects

We had rain overnight on Saturday & I was irritated to wake too early Sunday (6:30am) & couldn't get back to sleep with the drip drip dripping sound of the gutter. As I listened, it slowed & then stopped. I looked out the window & it had started snowing! Yay!!! THAT put a bounce in my step. Excited littles could hardly get their clothes changed fast enough to get outside! In fact, only two other days have I seen these girls move faster to get up -you guessed it- Xmas & Easter.





Fi fills Lib's hood with white fluff (actually it was quite wet & heavy)


Busted!

Lib has recently taken to drawing bunnies -even on this lovely white canvas that is usually Fi's bedsheet


my swap-bot microbrew ATC offering

Monday haiku

How to heal girl's heart?
Best friend moved far, far away
-without a good-bye.


This time last week she still had hope that maybe it was a prank, maybe the bff was home sick. By Wednesday she had received a reply to her email inquiry. Sad but true. The bff had moved to CT over the weekend -suddenly & without a call or email. Poor Madster wouldn't -couldn't- eat. She cried inconsolably. She was on the verge of tears for days. I could only offer my hugs, kisses, & meager verbal attempts to allay her melancholy. It was difficult to watch, this painful lesson for a 9 year old.

How exactly does a mom help ease her daughter's breaking heart? I thought about the times I've had friends move away. Mostly it's been me who's moved. I did have my bff from high school move shortly after graduation to FLORIDA from PA. It seemed a world away. I had no real words of encouragement for my DD -nothing that I could speak of from experience as a one time nine year old. "I wish I could take away your pain," I whispered in her ear that night.

I know this is probably the first of many "heartbreaks". And it makes me want to cry to think that no matter what I do or say, she will always have to come through her experiences on her own, in her own way. (and that goes for all my girls...even the 19 yo DD who is "far" away & yet so very near...I felt the same when you had your little heart crushed for the first time in middle school -& even when you still cared for the boy for a few years after that). I guess this feeling of helplessness -this inability to fix all hurts- is just another role, another emotion, that goes with the title of "mom".

GABF conclusion

So I poured on Saturday afternoon & I remembered my camera. Unfortunately it was the "Connoisseur Session", meaning the tickets cost more & the attendees were a lot more sedate. Serious beer drinkers, in the literal sense. Hence, there was no bagpipe band to open the ceremony and only a handful of costumes. I hate to admit, I took nary a photo. I assure you, I will be there next year camera at the ready on all three NIGHTS.

The beer. I've already told you about the beers I was serving. I also sampled many many other microbeers from across the country. The especially notable ones were: Alaskan Brewing Company's Alaskan Smoked Porter. (Silver for “smoked beers”). Yum. Very. Yeah, here's were my memory fades. Next year I am taking a notebook & pen AND my camera. The oddest brew was from Chicago Brewing Company in Las Vegas (eh?) I sampled on a dare from some random drinker who said it tasted like battery acid. “Hawaiian Honey”. It was odd not at all like beer. More like barleywine (which, sadly, I did not have the opportunity to sample any this year). Sweet & honeyish. Definitely not something I would ever purchase to drink. It actually won 3rd place for “specialty lager or ale”. Iron sh*tty, I mean City, was there. I tasted it just to remind myself how bad it really is.

The hoppiest beer by far was the "Mean Manalishi" from the Hoppin’ Frog Brewery in Akron, OH. I had to sip my one ounce. Yes, you read correctly, sip one ounce. It wasn't awful, just hoppy beyond belief. I think it is the reason I was burping hops Friday night.

Dogfish Head Brewery (one of my favorites) from DE had the longest lines at each session. Could be that their offerings had the highest alcohol content -18%, give or take a few points depending on the brew. Potent stuff.

Also packed was Short's Brewing Company from MI. I sampled one of their offerings made with spruce needles! It was interesting. And tasty.

Surprisingly, the big national companies were packed too. Anheiser-Busch, Coors, Miller, Boston Brewing. Blech. Not for me. I can drink those anytime, why would I sample them at the GABF?

I sampled a gluten-free beer from Bard's Tale in CT. It was not so good. Glad I don’t have to be gluten-free.

Three more memorable beers. Two fruity & one chocolate-y. From Carolina Beer Company, the pumpkin spiced ale & the strawberry ale were quite tasty. The strawberry was light & not overly fruity, but it tasted & smelled like strawberry. It was very refreshing. The pumpkin spiced ale was one of the best I’ve tasted. Not overwhelmingly spicy like some, & not too fruity. It was just scrummy. Finally the Sexual Chocolate Imperial Stout from Foothills Brewing in NC was delish. More like dessert than beer. Gives me a new perspective on stout beer.

Whereas last year I discovered that I prefer hoppy beers, I think the biggest lesson I learned this year was that I don’t like lager. Not really. Not really at all. I much prefer ales, porters, or stouts. (Maybe the reason I never like Bud or most any of the other nationals).

I may run through my list of medal winners & post the brews I tasted. That may refresh my memory too. Or not. It was a feel good time for everyone, attendees & volunteers.

Now, who’s gonna join me next year???

ATCs & coolness

My two latest contributions to the CMP ATC exchange:

This is for the September theme "signs". I originally thought of street signs but figured it would be the same as other folks. I also thought of church marquees, but saw that someone else had already used that. So two other ideas came to mind - the movie "Signs" and zodiac signs. I went with the latter. I used my new semi-favorite tools, dip pen & ink. I had never used them before even though I had bought them a few months ago. What a great medium!


This is the August theme "journey". Of course my first impulse was to do a variation of a Journey album. On second thought I went with the mini-map of our summer vacation


This was the coolest old, semi torn down building I have ever seen. I discovered it on Broadway walking south to GB's fish & chips from the light rail station after the GABF on Saturday. I love how the chunks of cement hang seemingly in midair. It reminded me of a giant version of that jewelry you've seen with beads strung sporadically on monofilament.

This is what I saw as I walked past.

can I get a whoop! whoop!!

Blake St. Sweepers, baby! It's exciting to be around a winning atmosphere. (Funny side note: G made some comment about anyone can beat the Pirates -after a commentator for tonight's game said something about the Bucs. I did have to retort "anyone except the Rockies at home this year" -except the game I went to, of course). Phenomenal teamwork. Definitely rookie of the year in Tulowitzki. Fan favorite Matt Holliday delivers again. And sticking around finally pays off for Todd Helton. Oh, and how fitting was that final out?? Right back in Byrnes' face. Love it!

p.s. In case ya didn't know, Mayor Hickenlooper officially renamed 21st St "Rockies Road"

beer, beer, & more beer

So this year I volunteered to work security on Thursday night of the GABF. The new official title is "safety team". It took the coolness factor of the yellow t-shirt down a couple notches. Nevertheless, I can't complain about a comp ticket for 1 shift of "safety team". Granted I couldn't drink at all, but it was still fun to be there & people watch.

Friday night & Saturday afternoon I volunteered to pour beer. My team was pouring for on of the "South" sections. In particular, I was pouring for Boscos, "The Restuarant for Beer Lovers". They're located in Memphis, Nashville, and Little Rock. They had about 9 tasty brews. Very tasty. In fact, I have to say that of all the beers I tasted that night, Boscos was some of the best. I mostly poured their Hefe-weizen and their Roggen Bier. The hefe was paired with a prop of circus peanuts. The brewery reps said it was meant to be tongue in cheek. The Friday night when they opened the circus peanuts, I thought I might have to move to a different table, the smell was so off-putting for me. The Saturday I had to actually try it for myself. I have to say that, yes, it does go well with & indeed even improved the flavor of, circus peanuts (two bags of circus peanuts were emptied by the end of each session, in case you don't believe me; I only saw 2 people ixnay the "pairing"). The hefe won bronze last year & silver in 2005. The rep said maybe it was "over the hill"....but that hefe won gold on Saturday afternoon!

I was also pouring for a brewery out of Louisville KY called Bluegrass Brewing Company. Their motto is "Beer is Food". They had 4 or 5 beers presented. I never really got a rundown on what their beers were. Unlike Boscos, the rep for BBC wasn't around much in the early part of the night. I did enjoy one called "Du Hast" and one called "Anvil Steam". The next table over was also BBC, but a different location. There was a very tasty Bourbon Barrel Stout (aged in bourbon barrels) and an equally tasty porter(?? I probably should've written this down b/c darned if I can't remember now).

Saturday I bounced around between Bosco's, BBC, and another great brewery called Blackstone Brewing Company out of Nashville. They had a fine "kolsch style" beer called Chaser that is similar to Sunshine Wheat, but totally blows Sunshine Wheat out of the water. The brewery won silver for it's Nut Brown Ale -it was good & tasted "nutty", really. It was smooth & easy to drink unlike some nut browns -like Sammy Smith's- which is more like food -really- than beer. AND they won bronze for their St. Charles Porter -also yummy. The brewery at the next table over won gold for it's Red Brick Blonde. I'd say it was a prize winning section where I was located!

Tomorrow, more on the good, the bad, and the undrinkable...

GABF 2007

short post b/c I have to get out the door to pour. hahahaha :P Last night as I was waiting for light rail, I was burping hops. Well, not literally, just hoppy burps, iykwim. It was that kind of night. More later...toodles!

my renditions

Charles Rennie Mackintosh is one of my favorite artists. Last month I was fortunate to find a Rennie Mac themed ATC swap. These are two of the 4 ATCs I made. (the other two are nearly identical). I used vinyl and gel medium. I wanted to do a retro-mod version & the vinyl idea came one night at work. The gel kind of takes away from the vinyl effect, but glue just wasn't working for me that day on small pieces. I may try again with the new glue "pen" I bought recently. Then again, I'm already on to the next project, IYKWIM.

flashback

Really I wanted to post "Bitchin' Camaro", but I couldn't find it. This will suffice to bring back a few fond AIP memories. Like the time Laurie & Bryan & I (was Steve there too? Remember him?) had lunch at Arby's & we had to high tail it because Bryan thought it would be fun to squirt ketchup up in the air to the ceiling. HAHAHA! And you had totally forgotten about that, hadn't you, Laurie?! Yeah, me too. Until I heard this song.... And another thing...the smell of Sebastian Schpritz Forte is forever ingrained in my memory...oh the feel of big, crunchy hair. I can almost feel/smell it now.