Miasmatic Review

BlogCrawl the aftermath.

I see I got home and made the rounds last night. I also see that I missed some blogs... sorry.

Well I survived, but now it's time for me to go do the Sunday football thing. Bruce is on his way over to kidnap me for some more high stakes drinking. So I'll talk to you all later!

blog Crowl 2007

aight, I'm homw. there is a glass of jack in front of me and I'm a ery happy man. I was ablt to hang out with Bruce, Grau, Shadoglare, Harvey, Tammi and Ktreva today. Harve jouned grau and i for shootign. had a lot o fun there.k We were the loudsiest thing until som arse showede up with a 50 cal bmg. Fark hgim. Gootta love those russion m44s.

Any way in nweed to go make a shite loud of comments. see ya tuestday when I sober up.

2007 BlogCrawl is here.

Today is the BlogCrawl, since I'm going to be out and about today, you aren't going to get my normal Saturday posts. With that in mind I'm just giving everyone a reminder of today's activities.

This morning from approx 10:30AM until 2PM: Shooting at the Buffalo Range in Ottowa.

This afternoon between 3:30PM and 4:30PM: Arrive at Fritz's Wooden Nickel in Stillman Valley for big drinking fun!

Tonight around ??:?? ?M(depends on how drunk I get): Home to post and comment on all the blogs.

Now for the Rules (again):

A) You have to be 21 years old to participate and drink. I don�t want some minor�s parents coming back and saying I told them to get pissed drunk and go on the Internet. If you are under 21, you may still participate as a designated blogger. If you don't want to drink but still make stupid comments, be my quest!

2) Drink as much as you comfortably feel you should. This is for fun, I don�t want to have blog fodder stories involving charcoal slurries and ER visits. Be responsible, especially if you have to drive. I�m saying right now that if you do something stupid and hurt yourself I will make fun of you. I am neither legally, morally nor ethically responsible for anything you do either in the real world or on the Internet. You are all adults and responsible for your own actions.

D) Please attempt to limit the Blog Crawl comments to the hours of 7:00PM September 29 and 7:00 AM CST September 30th. Just so it�s easier to track and the time zone differences for all the participants. Not that I�m going to link to every single post that has a comment on it, I just don�t want to search for them Sunday to see what everyone said. Oh, and a drunken post on your own blog is perfectly acceptable and encouraged. Same with day after posts.

4) Try to leave a comment on every blog in the Bad Example and Frizzen Sparks family. You may use my side bar as a reference if you don�t know who they are. Do not feel limited to these blogs only, go ahead and hit any other blog you would like as well. Oh, and a drunken post on your own blog is perfectly acceptable and encouraged.

To help kick off the BlogCrawl, I thought this sign was appropriate:

Now lets go have some fun people!

My fingers are numb.

For all of you beer fans and fans of the movie Beerfest, you'll appreciate this. Since I've been doing so good with my "diet", Ktreva took me to my favorite German restaurant for dinner and bought me a present

I have two words for you.

DAS BOOT!

AND IT"S ALL MINE!

Now if you'll excuse me, I think I need to go sit. I'm out of beer drinking shape and it took me just over two minutes to do that.

BlogCrawl 2007 update 2

I have a couple of updates for tomorrow�s blogCrawl. First off, Thank you to Harvey of Bad Example for having the talented Pam of Pamibe make some 2007 Blogcrawl logos. If you would like, place one on your side bar or in a post for you. Harvey has three up at his place, but Pam did such a good job I�m throwing all of them up here so that you can pick which one you like. THANKS PAM!

For the Designated Bloggers:

For the Drunks:

For those that survive the night:

Damn those look good.

Now for the big news! Since this is also my birthday I�m going to share the love with all of you. We all know how much I love to talk on the phone, but for this one time only if you would like a drunken phone call from me just let me know before 9:00AM tomorrow. You can leave me a comment OR if you�re not sure if I have your phone number or not you can e-mail it to me at Contagion_1 AT Yahoo DOT com. If you designate a time, I will do my best to call you during that time period. So IE if you say don�t call after 9:00PM, I will not call after nine� unless I�m too drunk to tell the time and then it falls on Ktreva to keep me from doing it.

Anger Patrol

Have you ever been so mad that you�ve wanted to kill someone? I�m not talking about a friend doing something to piss you of and you say you�re going to kill them. No I mean go home, get a weapon and go hunt the individual down type of anger?

I�ve never been that way and could never fathom how someone could get that mad� until yesterday. I�m not going to go into details, just to protect parties involved, mainly me. However I will tell you that someone for the last couple of days has really been pissing me off. Yesterday it was so bad I finally realized that I wanted to go home, grab an axe off the wall and dismember this individual into bite size chunks for stray dogs.

At first I thought it was just a stray thought, then I found myself actually contemplating it. Finally I ended up having to convince myself that it was a bad idea. A VERY bad idea. It took a long time to convince myself that ridding the world of this individual would probably have some serious repercussions on my family. Yet here I sit still thinking about it� and contemplating on how to dispose of the body in a way that would be hard to track back to me.

Have any of you ever been like this?

Point Oktoberfest

This week I happened to stumble across a beer I hadn�t seen before. During the football season opener a friend, Scroatie, had a six-pack of beer from the same company, but not this exact type. Since I hadn�t done an Oktoberfest beer review yet, I thought it would be a good time to do one, even if it is a little late. This week�s beer is Point Oktoberfest by Stevens Point Brewery.

Like most beers, this comes in your standard 12 oz brown bottle. The label is really busy. There is a blue and white checkerboard background with the scene of people celebrating Oktoberfest. The bar maid is actually quite stunning.

The color is a nice amber/copper. Light passes easily through the beer, and there is no cloudiness at all to it. It poured a thing white head that faded quickly to a film. The film faded into a ring around the glass that eventually disappeared. There was no lacing on the glass at all.

The scent was a bit surprising, I was expecting a much stronger, more German beer scent, instead it smelled of Malts, slightly sweet and a hint of hops. The taste was much the same a slightly malt sweetness with a hint of hop bitterness. You could also taste a slight nuttiness to it.

It is a smooth medium bodied beer, light on the carbonation. It�s very easy to drink and has a nice feel to it.

This was pretty good, I was figuring on a slightly different style, but still pretty good. I could see myself drinking this during a game or while eating a big plate of brats with sauerkraut. I give this beer a 5 out of 10.

Here they come out of the woodwork.

Any of you that have read me over the last 3 years know that I'm a Green Bay Packer fan. Tried and true, I'm loyal to my team. Anyone that has known me for longer knows that I've been a Packer fan since the early 80's which is when I truly started watching football. Technically I can say I've been a Packer fan all my life as my father raised me one, but it wasn't until I was older that I started following football and actually caring about the team. Hell, that was back in the Lynn Dickey period where you could hear Packer fans exclaim after a loss, "You might beat the back, but you can't lick our Dickey". I remember watching him play, he had a great arm, but couldn't scramble to save his life.

Being a Packer fan to me is part of who I am. It's like being a Husband, father and re-enactor, I identify myself with it. I live it, I breath it and I love it. The heritage, the memories, the excitement and the disappointment. I remember watching the games with my father and learning new ways to curse with out it being an actual curse, such as my infamous "For the love of Pete!" and "Oh my heck!" My father had much better control over his tongue then I do.

After the domination of the NFC in the 90's there were a ton of Packers had a ton of "fans". People that swore they were true Packer fans and loyal to the team. Then a couple of years ago they started to disappear. Sure the Packers had a very bad losing season and then a mediocre 8 and 8 season. It's not a winning season, but it's not a losing season either. Either way, you didn't see as many people claiming to be Packer fans or wearing their Green Bay gear. In fact you started seeing some of these people wear the Blue and Orange of our arch rivals, the Chicago Bears.

Now the Packers are 3 and 0 on the season and the Bears are 1-2. Sure it's early into the season, but these bandwagon jumpers are already rearing their ugly heads. At work, at the store, on the radio I've heard and seen people who had been cheering on the Bears for the last couple of years raising a boisterous voice to the cheer, "GO PACK!" I was happy when these fair weather fans where cheering for other teams. It makes me sick to think I'm someplace talking with someone about the greatness of the Packers when just a year ago they were pulling for New England, the Colts, the Steelers or the Bears.

I just feel that it waters down the fan base and the opportunities for real fans. But I guess it's too much to ask them to pick a team and stick with them through thick and thin.

BlogCrawl Reminder

Here is a quick reminder that next Saturday is the BlogCrawl. I�m hoping to get enough people to turn this into a big giant comment festival. Lets spread the love if you are going to participate. Here is also a quick reminder of the Rules:

A) You have to be 21 years old to participate and drink. I don�t want some minor�s parents coming back and saying I told them to get pissed drunk and go on the Internet. If you are under 21, you may still participate as a designated blogger. If you don't want to drink but still make stupid comments, be my quest!

2) Drink as much as you comfortably feel you should. This is for fun, I don�t want to have blog fodder stories involving charcoal slurries and ER visits. Be responsible, especially if you have to drive. I�m saying right now that if you do something stupid and hurt yourself I will make fun of you. I am neither legally, morally nor ethically responsible for anything you do either in the real world or on the Internet. You are all adults and responsible for your own actions.

D) Please attempt to limit the Blog Crawl comments to the hours of 7:00PM September 29 and 7:00 AM CST September 30th. Just so it�s easier to track and the time zone differences for all the participants. Not that I�m going to link to every single post that has a comment on it, I just don�t want to search for them Sunday to see what everyone said. Oh, and a drunken post on your own blog is perfectly acceptable and encouraged. Same with day after posts.

4) Try to leave a comment on every blog in the Bad Example and Frizzen Sparks family. You may use my side bar as a reference if you don�t know who they are. Do not feel limited to these blogs only, go ahead and hit any other blog you would like as well. Oh, and a drunken post on your own blog is perfectly acceptable and encouraged.

Lets have some fun!

Green Bay fun.

What a great weekend! Ktreva and I left Rockford around 10:00AM Saturday Morning. We were to our hotel and out shopping in Green Bay by 2:00 PM. We found some new items for each of us. Ktreva was extremely happy as that she got a new ladies cut Jersey that JUST came out. It�s all sparkly and glittery in off colors and everyone was asking her were she got on game day. She loved the extra attention. It also got her some extra attention for the legendary Packalope. This man is in the NFL Hall of Fame as a fan, and has been on countless television specials, documentaries and sporting magazines as an �Ultimate Fan�.

Giving the Packalope some love.

Of course Ktreva wasn�t the only one that got their picture taken. We were doing some pre-tailgating tailgating. Yes, I that is correct. As we were walking around what did I see, a giant walking inflatable bottle of Miller Lite with two of the Miller Girls in tow. They were handing out stuff and about for photo opportunities. Me being the dirty old man that I am couldn�t pass up a chance to have my picture taken with the Giant inflatable bottle and the two slightly less attractive than my wife Miller Girls. Unfortunately the bottle did not find it amusing when I tried to pop his top for a frosty one. Later on they had the Miller Lite Ref girls walking around as part of the Beer League policing. Ktreva wouldn�t let me get my picture with them though, something about me being a perv.

Trust me that smile is real.

We had club seats for the game, which were really nice. Cup holders, waitresses, private bathrooms, a special lounge, and VIP access. Well worth the price of admission. We sat around some of the best and nicest people we�ve met at a game. We made friends with the people around us and had a great time. There were some Charger fans sitting in the �commoner� section right below us that were really obnoxious. Of course once the game started going against them, they shut up. They also left with more than 2 minutes left on the clock. We met some really nice Charger fans, so I�m not saying all of them are obnoxious, but this group of 20 definitely was. To make matters worse, I think they were related to one of the players.

One of the guys were sitting with took a picture of Ktreva and I together. Between her Jersey and my necklace we were a hit. Oh, I forgot to tell you about the necklace! You have all seen the Packer Cheese wedges; well this year they have the �Wisconsin Lei�. It�s a lei made out of foam cheese and bratwursts. I saw it and had to buy one!

She couldn�t keep her hands off of my meat.

Every year Green Bay has a specialty hat they sell for various charities and causes. A couple of years ago it was a pink hat for breast cancer, last year was a red hat for heart disease, this year it was a charcoal gray hat for the Military. They even had a wall were fans can sign a thank you to the troops. Of course I bought the hat and signed the wall, $5.00 of the hat goes toward charities that focus on veteran health, counseling and family support.

Me signing the wall after buying the hat on Saturday.

We had a great weekend. A lot of football (Packers beat the Chargers 31 to 24), we even had time to catch a couple of movies we wanted to see, ate at some great restaurants and just had some one on one time that we really needed to have.

More time Wasters

I really meant to be on the road for Green Bay by now, but I started playing this game. I'm not sure what it's called as it's mostly in Japanese. Depending on what order you pick the different panels depends on how your island grows. There are so many different combinations that it's really hard to figure out what is the best pattern.

How to Cope with Death.

Here is a funny animated short on how to deal with death when it comes.

Why don't he write?

Okay, I�ve had enough people ask me about the poor demise of Graumagus and Frizzen Sparks. People it�s really not my place to give you all of the details, but I will give you some. But in fine re-enactor tradition I�m going to do it in song format

(Sung to the tune of General Taylor)

Graumagus has gone away.
Nothing to read John, Don�t go to read.
Graumagus has gone away.
Nothing to read at Frizzen Sparks dot com.

To me way hey, hey Grau
Nothing to read John, Don�t go to read.
Way, hey, hey Grau
Nothing to read at Frizzen Sparks Dot com.

Forgot to renew the domain.
Nothing to read John, don�t go to read.
The address didn�t remain.
Nothing to read at Frizzen Sparks Dot com.

To me way hey, hey Grau
Nothing to read John, Don�t go to read.
Way, hey, hey Grau
Nothing to read at Frizzen Sparks Dot com.

Someone claimed up the domain.
Nothing to read John, Don�t go to read.
Grau with anger has gone insane.
Nothing to read at Frizzen Sparks Dot com.

To me way hey, hey Grau
Nothing to read John, Don�t go to read.
Way, hey, hey Grau
Nothing to read at Frizzen Sparks Dot com.

Grau�s not sure what to do.
Nothing to read John, don�t go to read.
Grau�s mood has turned blue.
Nothing to read at Frizzen Sparks Dot Com.

To me way hey, hey Grau
Nothing to read John, Don�t go to read.
Way, hey, hey Grau
Nothing to read at Frizzen Sparks Dot com.

Frizzen Sparks is dead and gone.
Nothing to read John, Don�t go to read.
Frizzen Sparks is dead and gone.
Nothing to read at Frizzen Sparks dot com.

Hey writing a song about this is not that easy. For those of you that missed the point. He forgot to renew his domain and thinks someone poached it. He�s not sure what he�s going to do right now. And that is all the information any of you are getting from me regarding it. If you want to know more, you�ll have to talk to him.

Oh, and I didn't like the address because I didn't want to drive any more traffic that way if it was indeed stolen.

100,000 visits.

Well hell it looks like I just passed the 100,000k visitor mark. The lucky(?) person was refered over from Quality Weenie with the Internet provider being Wide Open West.

Huh... I wonder if I should have offered a prize for that... but what the hell would I give?

Big weekend.

This weekend I'm actually taking Ktreva out of town on a romantic weekend for two. Saturday I'm going to take her shopping and on Sunday I have tickets to a very hard to get show. I know people that have been waiting years to get their hands on these tickets.

To learn more, see the extended entry.

That's right I'm taking Ktreva to Green Bay for a football filled weekend! We are leaving Saturday and not coming back until Monday. This is some much needed alone time. We hardly get to do anything just the two of us. This weekend is shaping up to be beautiful too. 76 degrees in Green Bay as a high with clear skies. Sure it's not perfect football weather, but I'll take it over rain any day.

So while all of you are at home watching the Games on TV, remember I'll be hoisting a bottle of water (blech!) to your health up in Lambeau Field.

Home from work again.

I'm at work and my mother calls. Clone has explosive diarrhea and had to leave pre-school. So I'm home taking care of him. The worst part of this is that he doesn't feel sick or bad at all, he just has liquid poop shooting out his boot. There is also the problem that it happens so fast there isn't time for him to get to the bathroom.

Yea, I think I'd rather be at work.

Not sure what will help.

It looks like Boopie is up to old tricks. Ktreva has been asking him for a while now if he�s been doing his homework and what not, he of course has been saying yes. Well due to a history of the boy not doing his homework, she called the school. Guess what, so far two of his teachers have confirmed he has not been turning in his homework and that he could end up failing some of his classes this quarter.

LOVELY

So now Boopie of course is mad at us because not only did we not trust him, but also he�s grounded and loss the use of his cell phone. (All his phone are belong to me.) Of course since he is a Gen Y or millennial, he feels this is completely unfair. My thing is that he�s going to pass High School if it kills him and he�s going to start learning to tell the truth if I have to beat it out of him.

To be honest I�m almost at my wits ends with the boy. He won�t put on clean cloths, he won�t shower, he won�t eat, and then he lies about it� badly. I�m tempted to start looking into boarding or military schools, but I just don�t know if he would last at either one before they sent him home.

Fat Tire

Tonight I decided to review a beer that I�ve had many people ask me if I had tried one. I�ve seen it around for a while now, but just never tried it. This week I decided due to the fact I kept meaning to review it and I was asked 5 times in the last two weeks about it, that I was going to do a review of Fat Tire Amber Ale by the New Belgium Brewing Company in Fort Collins CO.

Even though it comes in a 12 oz brown bottle, this one has a different shape to it. Along the base of the neck there is a band blown into the glass with the name of the brewing company on it. The label is blue and red with a picture of a red bicycle on it and the name of the beer under the bike. There are hops in the blue border framing the bike. On the side there is a story of how Fat Tire got it�s name.

When poured into a glass it forms about a quarter inch white head with large bubbles. The head fades fast leaving a film on the top of the beer and some lacing on the side of the glass. There is a deep clear amber color to it. Light passes through easily with no problems.

I had difficulty making out the full scent of the beer initially. The scent was not weak, just very subtle. There was a pleasant combination of malts with a citrus accent. The taste was very mild. It had a light malt flavor with a mild hop backbone. There was just a hint of bitterness that enhanced the flavor. There is almost no aftertaste.

This is a medium bodied beer with a light carbonation to it. It�s very easy to drink and leaves almost no coating in the mouth.

This is another beer that I had heard a lot of people say was a great beer, and it is very good. The flavor was a little mild and the nose was kind of weak. Over all I thought this was a good beer. I could see someone sitting down on a hot summer day drinking a six-pack of this with some friends while they grilled. I�m going to rate this a 5.5 out of ten.

Twas hell i'twas.

I'm back from my retreat. God that was awfully boring, especially since most of the stuff they covered we covered at the Conference I went to in August and other meetings I've attended in the last three months.

I'd tell you more about it, but I really need a beer right now. For the beer review that is... yeah for the beer review.

Off again

Work is sending me off on another retreat. No, this one is not sensitivity class. What burns me about this whole thing is that again I asked "Do I have to go?" Because I have a lot of stuff going on at work, at home and with my health I didn't feel that two extra days out of the office would do me any good. In their infinite wisdom it was decreed that this, indeed, was a mandatory event and I have to go.

So last week I'm finishing up details and seeing who else is going from my office so we can carpool or what not. They have 8 of these seminars going on through out the year, so the sups attending were spread out. Come to find out that no one else from my office is attending this one. Even the ones that were assigned to go at this time aren't going. It seems that they weren't able to register, so they aren't going.

In fact most of the other management in the office is not attending. Needless to say this rather irritates me because if I had known that if I just held off registering for this and waited too long, that I wouldn't have to go.

This double standard at work is really starting to piss me off.

Week 2 hijinks.

Yesterday Tammi invited the family down to watch football with her and her Sunday Ticket. She even was going to cook stuff I could eat. How could I turn that down? The only thing that would have made it better is if we could have talked the ladies into wearing cheerleader outfits and serving us male folks, but hey I know that will NEVER happen. Unfortunately this was the first time Tammi, Harvey and TNT got to see me in football mode. Ktreva and the boys have seent his many times in the past.

There I am in her house in a nice quiet small community. Her windows were open so that the cool September air could keep us cool. She has a nice spread set out and there I sat on the Golden Throne with remote in hand. A glass of Glenmorangie 10 year in my other hand and I�m talking in a normal and respectable manner (for me). Then it happens, a play, a big play. A play that involves either my team or a player I have on a fantasy team, and any ounce of respectability dies and my voice carries across the valley.

Such terms as:

�Run! Run you magnificent black man you!�

�For the love of Pete, just let Colston get a touchdown!�

�F@#$ Toomer!�

�Give the ball to Colston already!�

�Run faster, run like you stole it!�

�DAMMIT! That�s not Colston!�

�F@#$ Brees!�

�Eli, Archie doesn�t love you anymore. Peyton gets all of daddy�s love.�

�Is Colston even playing?!?!�

There were many more, but I just wanted to give you a sample. The best part was that since the windows were open my voice had to have carried out of the house and Tammi�s poor neighbors had to have heard most of them. I think I just took her fine respectable reputation down a couple of notches.

The sadest thing is that I was holding back.

A gentlemens Duel.

Here's an entertaining animated short that is rather amusing. It has an interesting steampunk theme to it. It runs just under 8 minutes, but it is worth the watch.

The Chewbacca Defense?

I've heard of people using various different defenses while in court. There is self-defense, insanity, temporary insanity, justification and many more that they can plead. Until now I've never heard anyone plea "I was Chewbacca."
See what happens when a Chewbacca impersonator goes in front of Judge Joe on an battery charge.

For Harvey...

...because it's what he wanted.

It's Harvey of Bad Example Birthday today. He had one wish for his birthday.

This year's theme... Boobs.

Specifically adult human female breasts.

Since he is one of my blogging mentors and just an all around good guy I decided to get him exactly what he wanted. The problem is that I just couldn't pick out one pair. I spent most of the day shopping. It was really hard to find the perfect set of Golden Bozos for him. I obsessed all day over the gift. Searching everywhere I just could not make up my mind.

Finally I found the perfect gift. I'll warn you now this is NSFW I hope you enjoy Harvey!

As a bonus gift since it is football season, I also added in this football fascinated well endowed girl.

Happy Birthday Harvey!

Who would have thought?

I discovered something new last night about my wife. Apparently gently slapping the sides of her breasts in a playful manner is not something she enjoys.

Ktreva also didn�t seem pleased when I referred to them as �fun bags�.

My head is still sore this morning.

I'm afraid he'll never learn.

Well it looks like Boopie is up to old tricks. It was discovered through deductive reasoning and his inability to tell a lie. Well he can lie, but he�s really, really bad at it. Apparently he�s just been getting up in the morning, watching TV and not making his lunch or anything. He�s been borrowing money from a friend with promises to pay it back and buying a lunch. Then he comes harassing me about his allowance, which won�t cover how much he�s borrowed. He gets his financial sense from his biological father.

It started with me noticing that the items I bought for him to take for lunch were not being used. I knew he probably wasn�t eating, but I wanted to get his side of the story before I confronted him. And this is what happened:

Me: What did you have for lunch today?

Boopie: A Sandwich and some chips.

Me: Really? What did you make the sandwich out of?

Boopie: We�re out of bread aren�t we?

Me: You tell me. What did you make a sandwich with.

Boopie: My friend A-boy gave me a couple pieces of bread to make a sandwich with.

Me: Really? He gave you the meat and cheese too?

Boopie: No, I brought some of ours.

Me: Boopie, that has to be the worst lie I�ve heard you tell.

Boopie: �

Me: We aren�t out of bread, we have a brand new loaf. When I made my sandwich this morning I used the last of the old loaf, I can see you didn�t open the new one. I can also see that you haven�t been eating the lunchmeat or cheese.

The conversation went on from there, but he told three more obvious lies, got grounded, and is now sulking in his room. I also told him that it�s time for him to start taking responsibility for his actions. The next time I catch him not making a lunch, eating or telling a lie; I�m going to make sure the consequences match his actions.

If only he could tell a half way believable lie.

Demolition

This week�s beer was donated to the cause by my blog spawn Bruce. He gave me a bottle for tonight�s review because he was tired of me pouring the remaining 5 bottles of a six-pack down the drain. That and I have the sneaky suspicion he just didn�t want to drink it. Today�s brew is Demolition by Goose Island Beer Co.

Again we have the standard 12 oz bottle brown bottle that we see most beers come in. The label is tan and looks like a bad photocopy job, but I think it was meant to be like that. In the middle of a long story about the beer is the name, �DEMOLITION� in bigger bold lettering. On the back label it states that this beer was bottle on 042006 and states (Flavor will continue to develop over fiver years.) That list bit may be important later on.

It has a nice golden honey coloring to it. It is very cloudy. Light will pas through, but you aren�t able to actually see through the beer to the other side of the glass. When poured it produced a quarter inch white head, but it faded quickly to just a film on top and then a ring around the edge of the glass. There is no lacing at all.

The beer has a scent of citrus and grass. A slight hint of honey is also noticeable. An underlying aroma of hops is also present. The taste is bitter, bitterer than an IPA. In fact it�s so bitter that it overpowers most of the other flavors. The best I can give you is a hint of citrus. You can also taste the alcohol in it, this beer is 8% Alcohol By Volume (ABV), and it�s noticeable in that slight grain alcohol taste to it. And not good grain alcohol, but run through the radiator flavor kind of grain alcohol.

The beer itself is medium bodied and has a nice silky mouth feel to it. It is a little heavy on the carbonation, but not too bad.

Ben Franklin has the famous quote, �Beer is proof that god loves us and wants us to be happy.� Well after drinking this I can say, �The fact that Bruce gave me this beer to drink is proof that he hates me and wants me to live in gastric pain for the rest of the week.� This is a seriously unpleasant beer to drink. In fact this will be in the running for the worst beer I�ve drank in the last 5 years. Now, maybe I should have let it sit the five years in my fridge as the label suggests, but it already had a year aging and it tastes god awfully bad. To be honest I had this beer for the first time a year ago (Same six pack) and it�s been kept refrigerated since. It tastes worse than it did then. I�ve got to give this a 2 out of 10, and I may be being generous with that score.

This guy(?) needs a life.

Yet another example of why I'm going to hell. This video clip is of either the gayest guy on the internet or a very masculine woman crying over Britney Spears being blasted by the media. I laughed so hard I almost popped a stitch.

Normally I would leave this for Saturday, but it's too good to hold onto.

UPDATE: Apparently Yahoo and ABC have gotten a hold of this video and think it's "news".

BlogCrawl Update

Okay, just a reminder that Blogcrawl 2007 is kicking off in exactly 17 days. That means you all have some time to prepare. Now, for those of you that are new to the Blogcrawl or have forgotten what it is, the point is that you are supposed to get intoxicated to a level of personal comfort and make comments on blogs. Why? Because I love reading drunken comments. Of course there are some rules with the blog crawl and they go like this:

A) You have to be 21 years old to participate and drink. I don�t want some minor�s parents coming back and saying I told them to get pissed drunk and go on the Internet. If you are under 21, you may still participate as a designated blogger. If you don't want to drink but still make stupid comments, be my quest!

2) Drink as much as you comfortably feel you should. This is for fun, I don�t want to have blog fodder stories involving charcoal slurries and ER visits. Be responsible, especially if you have to drive. I�m saying right now that if you do something stupid and hurt yourself I will make fun of you. I am neither legally, morally nor ethically responsible for anything you do either in the real world or on the Internet. You are all adults and responsible for your own actions.

D) Please attempt to limit the Blog Crawl comments to the hours of 7:00PM September 29 and 7:00 AM CST September 30th. Just so it�s easier to track and the time zone differences for all the participants. Not that I�m going to link to every single post that has a comment on it, I just don�t want to search for them Sunday to see what everyone said. Oh, and a drunken post on your own blog is perfectly acceptable and encouraged. Same with day after posts.

4) Try to leave a comment on every blog in the Bad Example and Frizzen Sparks family. You may use my side bar as a reference if you don�t know who they are. Do not feel limited to these blogs only, go ahead and hit any other blog you would like as well. Oh, and a drunken post on your own blog is perfectly acceptable and encouraged.

That�s it for the rules. They are pretty simple, aren�t they? Okay now here is the fun part. I am going to head down to Fritz�s Wooden Nickel in Stillman Valley to get my drunk on, I probably will not get home until after midnight. I�m planning on hitting Fritz�s between 3:30 and 4:30 PM and drinking the night away. Hey, it�s my birthday and my liver, don�t you judge me! Any and all of you that want to come and meet me there for the celebration would be great. However, if you could let me know if you plan on being there in advance I would appreciate it. That way I can give Fritz a head�s up on how many to expect. If someone does set up a chat channel this year, it�s all good. Just don�t expect me to be on there until well after midnight and even then I may not be all that active as I�m trying to make drunken comments.

Before I go to Fritz�s I�m planning on heading down to the Buffalo Range in Ottowa, Illinois. It even looks like they are having a Pig Roast on that day. See even they are getting into the Blogcrawl! There is a $25.00 range fee for shooting.

So please let me know if you want to play, and lets drum up some excitement for this. If you post about it, please link back to this one and leave a comment so I can return the love. In 2005 we had one heck of a turn out, I�m hoping to do so again.

Definately not routine.

Well this day is not going as planned. First I got up late due to a miscommunication with Ktreva. I rushed to work, got some stuff done and then ran to the doctor for a standard appointment. This appointment didn�t go anywhere what I thought it would. It started with a small appointment to check out some of my medical issues and turned into a small surgical procedure.

I couldn�t believe how fast this went. The Doctor�s office called the insurance, faxed the information did the pre-cert and got benefits in less than 10 minutes. People, I�ve never seen such a rapid response in my life. I went from the exam room to the procedure room in under 30 minutes, had the procedure and was sent home in less than two hours. Now I�m at home �taking it easy�.

Unfortunately the stitches itch.

Please let it be mud.

You�ve been driving for hours. Your bladder is stretched to its limits and you really regret drinking that last 4 ounces of water even though you are really, really thirsty. With much anxiety your legs are bouncing up and down and wiggling back and forth as you try to hold back the flood. Finally after hours of travel you find a place that has a public restroom. Just the site of it makes you smile and laugh with glee. Quickly you park the vehicle, jump out and run inside. You�re barely able to keep the contents inside and know that if you go any further you�d lose control. As you walked into a public bathroom, you find it to be really disgusting. I mean horribly and massively disgusting.

Have you ever had anything like this happen to you? It doesn�t matter if you were at a gas station, a rest stop, the mall or a restaurant, anywhere you�ve been have you found it so dirty and unclean that it�s technically unusable? Now due to the circumstances such as the ones listed above, have you gone ahead and used it anyway?

I�m just curious if this has happened to anyone else. A couple of weeks ago I stopped in a gas station just because I had to go so bad it hurt. As I walked into the bathroom it looked like it hadn�t been cleaned in weeks. There was mud (In my head it was mud, and yes I had to convince myself of that) all over the floor and sink. The entire room stank of stale urine and feces. The toilet was clogged with toilet paper, feces and urine.

But I had to go really bad�

�so I did. The next bathroom was at least 30 minutes away and I wasn�t going to make it and the thought of pissing on the side of the building did come to mind, but so did the arrest that goes with it. The whole time I�m trying to convince myself that I�m standing on dried mud, yet that didn�t work when I was finished and went to wash my hands. I couldn�t bring myself to touch the sink. Folks, I don�t have a problem being dirty, but I do have a problem handling what could possibly be another persons arse droppings.

To make matters worse when I told the girl working the counter their bathroom is in dire need of cleaning, she replied, �Yea we know. We�re waiting for the cleaning guy to get here.� They could have at least put an out of order sign on it.

Clone says it's healthy.

Tonight after work I grabbed Clone and headed to the grocery store to do our weekly grocery shopping. I prefer to do it on Mondays because it�s less busy. To make him feel like he�s helping me, I like to have him �help� me make a menu and grocery list. In other words, I already know what it�s going to be, I just give him choices on which night is what. He is young enough not to realize that he�s not actually picking the food, I�m just giving him choices of stuff I�m going to make anyway. Sometimes I actually decide on what we should have.

Clone has over heard Ktreva and I having conversations about eating healthy and what I can and can�t eat. When I asked him what he wanted for dinner on Saturday he says, �I want pizza with pepperonis. It�s healthy with the pepperonis, then the cheese and the sauce under it. It�s really good for me. Really daddy, it�s health for me.� He was as serious as a heart attack that Pepperoni Pizza was healthy.

I almost ran over a Prius because I was laughing so hard.

Week 1 down.

After the first week of the NFL season I want to share some observations and opinions with everyone.

There were some really good games and some that were really one sided. The Packer game was a good close game that I thought was interesting to watch. It was a strong defensive game, the type I like. Plus the Packers won, which always makes it a good game. The Bears Vs Chargers game started off good, but turned bad in the second half when San Diego started running off with the game. I think it was due to the fact that the offense could not hold onto the ball and that the defense was getting worn down being hammered on by LT and Gates. However Grossman performed almost exactly how I thought he would against the Chargers. Now Bear fans take solace in this; it�s only week one and the Chargers are a tough team.

What is up with the running backs this week? Other than Addai in Indianapolis, most of them put up dismal yardage. If they did put up over a hundred yards, they didn�t score. It�s almost as if every team in the NFL decided to forgo the ground game and stick to the air. Is it because defenses are stacking against the ground? Maybe they are preparing for an onslaught of rushing all season and that�s how every team except New Orleans built their defense.

Speaking of sticking to the air, what the hell is up with all the QB�s that got 4 or more touchdowns in one game? Brady, Romo, Rothlesberger, Eli and Peyton Manning. That�s not even including the four QBs that are going to be playing tonight! Potentially there is a chance of adding a couple more names to that list. Usually if you get a QB that scores that many touch downs, it�s only one maybe two a week. It is NOT five or more that sling the pigskin for the touchdowns.

I�m wondering what is going to happen with the obviously horribly missed off sides against the Bears that wasn�t called. It was clear that the Bear�s defensive tackle, Tommie Harris was off sides and possibly encroachment when he forced the goal line fumble of Philip Rivers. But none of the officials called it.

We have two more games tonight and then it�s on to week two.

Oh, it's go time for Football!

Pool sheets printed, Fantasy Teams rosters printed, stat books on the ready and tip sheets loaded. 10 pounds of meat, buns, condiments, snacks all ready to go. A couple of gallons of water chilling (Because I can't drink Beer!) Ktreva has hung her "We put this marriage on hold for Packer Season" sign up. It can only mean one thing.

IT'S OPENING WEEKEND FOR NFL FOOTBALL!!!!

Yea, I'm a little excited. I'm getting ready to head over to Bruce's house for a kick off Sunday party. I haven't been this excited since the Raptor's Season started last April.

She sucks as a CSI.

Well we know what her social life is like.

I remember in college during my investigations class when I first learned about this technique. Shortly after I installed a black light in my room just to piss off my roommate. He had his girlfriend over all the time and well, they wouldn't necessarily clean too well.

Managerial how-to video.

Here's a little educational video for all of you supervisors, managements and those aspiring to be in a position like that one day.

I would love to do something like this at my job. Unfortunately I think I would get sent back to sensitivity class yet again. What's even funnier about this video to me is that the complaining about headsets is something that I've had to deal with in my previous positions. The complaint about the headset being 5 years old and a "a little unstable" was one I received all the time. The headset I'm currently using I've had for 8 years and it's just fine.

Cheerleaders going down.

Okay, maybe it's because I'm a arsehole that I find this amusing. Maybe it's because I'm a bit on the sadistic side. Actually it's both of those and the deep seeded hatred I still have of Cheerleaders left over from High School. I'm not saying they aren't cute, and I don't want Ktreva to dress up as one at least once a month, but in general cheerleaders tend to annoy the crap out of me.

Since I found it funny and it is prime high school and college football time, I felt this video was appropriate. Enjoy Cheer leading routines gone bad.

Zombie Time Waster

Here's another fun little zombie game, Zombie Horde3. You need to raise money to buy more weapons, armor, ammo and health so that you can accomplish missions.

It's fun, and I lost a couple hours of my life playing it.

Best singing Muppets.

Here is a blast from the past. A video clip of the Swedish Chef, Beaker and Animal singing one of the worst Irish songs ever, Oh Danny Boy. When they sing it, it's not bad.

Baking while you work.

It may be a little too late in the year to post this, but I'm going to anyway as I just found it. All of us have gotten into a a car on a hot day at some time. We know it's hot and we've heard all the warnings about leaving kids and pets inside a car. Well lets put that radiant solar energy to good use. How about the next time you are at work you get some baking done? Over at Baking Bites they have an article on Car-Baked Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Go Fred Go!

For those of you that haven�t heard, Fred Thompson declared he is running for the U.S. top job, President of the United States. Since he is the first candidate in years that not only I like, but I also agree with on a majority of the topics, I�m going to help with some local campaigning.

One of the things I�ve done was put up a donation button for his campaign. Not that I think I�m going to drive a lot of donations his way, but I figure it couldn�t hurt.

Right now I�m just excited by the fact that I actually have a candidate that I like and will support. In years past I ended up debating on which candidate was the greater evil and actually ended up not voting for one person, but against the other.

Clone chooses a career.

Last night I had some one on one time with Clone. Ktreva went to a local spa after work to get a message and Boopie finally was able to go over to a friend�s house to hang out. After I did the dishes and started dinner, I discovered that the poor boy had fallen asleep on the couch. EXHAUSTED I tell you, it�s hard work being four. It took me an hour of rousing him to get him awake and keep him that way. It didn�t help I did my beer review in that time. Fortunately when I served him dinner he finally woke up and stayed awake.

I spent an hour making dinner. Fresh herb crusted salmon, steamed fresh asparagus with a roasted garlic glaze and a dinner salad. Of course I was the only one to enjoy it. Clone loved the salmon but could care less about the asparagus and salad. After some fighting I got him to eat enough of it to satisfy me. After dinner I asked if he wanted to play a game, but he said no. He �just wanted to watch TV.�

As I sat down on the couch he climbed up next to me. Then he climbed up onto my lap and together we watched Ghost Hunters. We would talk about what we saw on the TV and I�d explain they were out proving there were no ghosts. (He�s four I�m not going to tell him they are trying to find ghosts or he�d never go to sleep) He�d ask questions, I�d give him the answers if I had them or a couple of times we had to go look it up on the internet.

At the end of the night as I was putting him to bed he told me, �When I get big like you dad, I�m going to prove there are no ghosts.� After that he told me I was the best dad in the world. Which I highly doubt, but it makes me feel good that he thinks that.

Arcadia Ales Scotch Ale

Tonight�s beer I had seen in the stores for a while, but something about it made me not want to try it. I�m not sure what it was, but it was almost like maybe the display or packaging was trying too hard to get my attention. Finally I caved in and bought it to try. You�ll see why that�s surprising. Tonight I tried Arcadia Ales� Scotch Ale by the Arcadia Brewing Co in Battle Creek MI.

It came in the standard 12 oz brown bottle. The neck label had the brewery name on it and some Celtic knotwork. The body label was the Cross of Saint Andrew�s with a pair of two-handed claymores crossing and a thistle in the middle. The name of the beer was in purple under center.

The coloring was a rich dark brown with a ruby tint. Light passed through it with some difficulty, but was able to pass through. It poured no head. The best I got was a ring around the edge of the glass. It left no lacing and after a couple of minutes the thin, barely noticeable ring had faded to nothing.

The beer smelled of a nice smoky peat you get with a good Scottish ale. A mixture of sweet spices and molasses helped round off the scent. The first sip revealed a taste that was a combination of smoked grains, caramel and a slight raisin accent. It had a rich malty flavor. There were some hop accents, but not much, almost no bitterness at all.

It had a good medium body to it. A slight creaminess helped coat the tongue and mouth. There was a nice level of carbonation that gave a slight bite to the tongue.

I�m a huge fan of Scottish Ales; they are of my top three favorite beers. (Can any of you guess what the other two are?) This is not a bad Scottish ale. Unfortunately it�s not one of the best out there either. I found this to be appealing, yet still there was something about it that made me feel like it was trying to hard to cater to the �Scottish� crowd. Over all I�m rating this a 5 out of 10.

Teenagers!

Have you ever noticed that if you give a teenager the choice of doing a chore today or tomorrow, they will always choose tomorrow? I told Boopie Monday that he could either mow the law Monday or he had to do it Tuesday. Now since Monday was Memorial Labor Day he decided that he was going to do it yesterday. He didn�t want to �ruin his holiday by working�. Which is fine, that�s why I gave him the option of doing it yesterday instead. However, I told him that he would be mowing the lawn prior to going to his friend�s house or anything else.

Last night he�s pitching a fit because he wants to go to his friend�s house. He knew I was going to say no, so he tried asking Ktreva instead. Unfortunately for him, she knew he had to mow the lawn first. Then he tried to pull, �The lawn doesn�t look like it needs mowing.� Well it does. Hell even if I didn�t have him to mow the lawn it would have been me to mow it, it�s that bad.

He tried one last thing. He has a lot of homework to do tonight and he doesn�t like it when everything falls on the same day. Of course my response was, �Mow the lawn, oh and you had the option of doing it Monday. You chose to put it off until tonight. Also if you have that much homework, you need to do that before going to your friends.�

The joys of teenagers.

UPDATE: Yea, I get Labor and Memorial day confused.

How the weekend was spent.

What a fun weekend... for me. I spent most of the time over the weekend watching movies and working leather. This surprisingly enough was so much fun I�m actually looking for some more leatherworking projects to get started on. I calculated the amount of time spent working leather and I figure I spent at least 35 hours at it.

When I wasn't working leather I helped Bruce move a couch from another friend�s house to his. Where he proceeded to drop the steel framed beast on me. I'm okay, just a slight twang in the arm. I also spent some time with Wes drinking some Jack Daniels on his front porch. Allegedly we got quite loud yelling at people as the passed by oh and started pissing in his front yard. I don't know how much truth is to that last part, but I do know that Ktreva came from three houses down to get me under the guise that she was worried I didn�t have my keys to get back in the house. When in all actuality it was because we were being loud and I think I embarrassed her.

Over all it was a good weekend. We had a lot of fun and I got a lot of work done.

Happy Labor Day.

It's labor day, a time for people to get together, grill some meat, drink beer and celebrate the American worker and women that have given birth. Well, maybe not that second half.

To me it also symbolizes the end of the summer. Technically it's not over until September 21st, but you know what. It doesn't technically start on Memorial day either. And guys if you are lucky enough to have a beautiful lady doing the grilling for you, let me give you all some tips.

Make sure that you give her the meat she needs. It has to be thick and juicy.

Then make sure she fans the flames so it's nice and hot. She can do what ever she needs to warm it up for you.

Happy Labor Day!

That's the way to go.

COOL! That's how I'd want to go.

On the down side the next time some guy tells me he's going to kill me, I'm going to get real nervous about what EXACTLY he's going to do. Now the next time Ktreva tells me she going to kill me, I know its time to head to the bedroom!

As stolen from VW of One Happy Dog Speaks. She got it from Mrs. Who of House of Zathras.

Alcohol Therapy.

It seems that Graumagus of Frizzen Sparks finally got off his ass and decided to do something about his great emotional funk he's been in. He decided to get rip-roaring drunk on flavored vodka mixed with energy drinks (Which means he can now officially be called a Metrosexual at best).

Anyway, in his drunken stupor he put up a crap load worth of posts in what appears to be a relatively short about of time. Some are amusing just for the drunk factor. Go over and make his foggy headed morning for him and leave lots of comments, loudly.

And for the record I don't have three nipples, and if you want me to prove it, better bring some sunglasses. That much glowing white skin can damage your retinas.

Labor day

I spent most of the day yesterday working leather for new moccasins and a reinforced leather sheath for my new knife. Today I'm helping Bruce move a couch and when I return it's back to working on the moccasins. Tomorrow I'm sure it's more leather work and doing some high intensity grilling.

I guess labor day is aptly named. Normally I don't do this much work on a weekend, let alone a holiday weekend.

Must see movie.

For years they've made movies based on video games. Now they've finally made a movie based on a classic video game that looks like it's worth watching.

Another "good" parent.

This is absolutely hilarious. I'm not sure what's funnier, the kid as he's holding on for dear life or the way his mother just laughs at him through the whole thing.

Okay, I'm going to go to hell for laughing at the kid.

WTF????

Okay, this isn't in English, but what the hell is up with the Japanesse and a bug that bites people in the arse?

High Tech Noon

If you like old westerns and/or Sci-Fi you will have an appreciation for this one. Someone took an old western added some special effects, digital enhancement and some sound effects and made it more futuristic.

Personally I love the sound effects when the six-blaster is out of ammo.

US Vs. Zombies

It's been a while since I' brought this subject up, but you need to know this. I have even more proof that the Zombie Threat is real. Just see this press conference that George Bush held! I mean a politician wouldn't lie to us would they?

People, grab your arms and push the undead horde back into hell!