Miasmatic Review

Guess the Song

When I first watched the clip I swore the guy was singing in a different language and had no idea what was really going on. I tried to figure out what the song was and didn't have a clue until about halfway through when the video switched to "normal".

What I think is most impressive is the fact that the guy had visual effects so you could see that it really was him singing it.

Sci-Fi Sounds

I knew I watched a lot of Sci-Fi when I was kid, heck I still do. It just never dawned on me how much I watched until now.

	I received 100 credits on The Sci Fi Sounds Quiz How much of a Sci-Fi geek are you?
Take the Sci-Fi Movie Quiz canon s5

I'll admit I did guess on one, but I had it narrowed down to two different answers.

Hangin' with the in-crowd.

Last night Ktreva and I were able to meet up with some mighty fine bloggers at Klas in Cicero. We had Blackfive, Tammi and T1G. Unfortunately others couldn't join us for work or family obligations. Not that this wasn't a perfectly fine group to begin with, it's just sometimes it's fun to meet other bloggers and talk to them face to face, not via e-mail or comments.

The food was excellent, there were plenty of great stories, and a great time was had by everyone. The highlight of the night was some sweater wearing Czech guy kept hitting up on T1G. I'm not sure it was for friendship or date, but the guy was persistent. At one point Tammie and Ktreva asked me to run interference. After looking at Blackfive, I told them all the only kind of interference I know how to run is as a Wingman, and I don't think T1G wants that kind of help.

It was a lot of fun, and a perfect way to have fun this time of year.

Even more assembly required

I love it when the boys get something that needs assembly. It's hours of fun. Not only do you have the fun of trying to interpret cryptic instructions and try to get pieces to go together that just don't want to fit. But once you are finished you get to do it all over again! Why?

Because your four year old can only play with it for about 10 minutes before completely disassembling the whole thing!

Then they want you to put it back together. Now of course in their disassembly process they have bent or damaged the pieces so they don't go back together as easily.

Time to go reassemble Thomas the Tank Engines Sodor Station.

Nintendo thumb no more...

...it's been replaced with Wii shoulder. So I bought the family a Wii. We spent a lot of time yesterday playing it. It was a lot of fun, but after bowling as much as I did and playing some of the other games, I noticed my shoulder was starting to ache. At first I thought it was just me, but no KTreva stated that her shoulder and wrists were starting to get sore as well.

When I was younger I remember playing the Nintendo for hours and getting what my friends and I called "Nintendo thumb" That dull ache and stiffness in the thumbs from holding the controller for hours and the pushing of the buttons. As I sat there yesterday I realized that my thumbs weren't sore at all. Nope, not one bit. Mainly because most of the action of the games revolves around the motion of the controller, not the pushing of buttons. After doing all the bowling, tennis, golf, shooting games, extra, my arms felt like I'd given them a steady workout.

On the upside, I did work off the Christmas dinner I made for the family.

Merry Christmas!

At this time I would like to wish everyone a safe, fun and Merry Christmas. May you have a wonderful day!

I thought a little Billy Idol singing Oh Christmas tree would be a good way to start the day off. I know my family loves to listen to Christmas music on Christmas day, and I really happen to like the way he does this song.

The boys have opened all of their presents and are pleasantly surprised. I was able to score a Wii earlier this month. It was a complete accident. Ktreva and I wanted to get the boys one for Christmas, but you couldn't find them. We were just going to give the boys a picture of one and tell them they were going to get it after Christmas. When my grandmother died I had some time off of work. I stopped by a local game store to see about picking up a Christmas Present for Ktreva. It didn't open until 10:00 AM, I figured I'd wait the 20 minutes. I didn't have anything else to do. Shortly after I arrived another gentlemen pulled in, jumped out of his car and headed to the store. I figured it must be Christmas hours and they opened early, so I joined him.

He was waiting outside the door so I asked, "What are you waiting for?" His response was, "They are getting a shipment of Wiis in today." I stood in line. A couple of seconds later more and more people started showing up. Next thing I knew there was a line of 20 plus people. The store opened and we waited for the UPS guy to arrive. Sure enough he did, but it didn't look promising. The clerk comes out and tells everyone they did get some Wiis in, but only 3. The lady that was in the fourth position was really annoyed. She has been trying to score one every day since Thanksgiving and here I am getting one and it was my first attempt. I almost felt bad enough to give it to her... but then I remember I'm arsehole. It was worth it to see the boys faces.

I figured this was Grandma's last gift to the boys, because if she hadn't died, I wouldn't have had the time off of work and wouldn't have stopped in at the time that I did.

But now on to your Christmas presents. They are in the extended entry. They are kind of NSFW, but not too bad. I hope you enjoy!

Naughty little Christmas lady waiting to warm up a guys yule log.

For the ladies I have Santa wanting to give you a package!

Don't hurt yourself playing with the new toys!

Achmed the Dead Terrorist Christmas

Jeff Dunham is what I consider the only truly funny ventriloquist comedian. Although not my favorite character of his, but this is too funny for the holidays.

Flow Chart Fun.

Anyone that has worked in the business world knows what a flowchart is. You've seen them at one point or another either in the idea phase, engineering phase or conception phase of planning. Here is a list of some of the funniest flowcharts on the Net.

It's so true.

Gas Mileage

Ever wonder how far your vehicle can go once the low-fuel light comes on? Well you can look up and see what others have experienced at Tank on Empty.

The in-laws

Sorry I haven't posted in a couple of days. My in-laws are in town and I've been entertaining them. As you may remember, my in-laws don't tend to like me very much. They were supposed to leave this morning, but ended up deciding to stay longer. So now I'm getting ready to head out to meet them. Fortunately this afternoon Graumagus of the now defunct Frizzen Sparks is coming over to watch the Bear/Packer game. Ktreva is letting me off of the hook since all the way up to yesterday evening the original plan was for the in-laws to leave by 10:00 AM this morning. My plans were made before they changed their plans.

All though it was uncomfortable at times, it really didn't go bad. I only got snarked at a couple of times. And I did get to spend some time with Ktreva's Grandfather talking to him. I really like him, he's a good guy and the only one I know that actually likes me. He was telling me World War 2 stories. I just found out that he was in the 101st airborne during the war and fought at Normandy on D-Day and the Battle of the Bulge. For those of you that are Band of Brothers fans, this is one of the guys that was actually there.

Well I need to head out, they are waiting for me at a restaurant. There will be more later.

Forcing your beliefs on others.

So you work for this company that likes to pride itself in being "diverse" and respecting different religions and beliefs of it's employees. Yet when it comes to this time of the year they show their true colors. You see that they are all talk because they are only tolerant of differences if it coincides with what they want.

Let's say you don't celebrate Christmas for various reasons, including religious. You've made it clear to not only your co-workers, but supervisors, managers and anyone you work with that you don't. And as part of your beliefs you do not accept or give gifts this time of year. If you've made this clear every year, you'd think they would catch on. Nope, they do things like ask you to put on Christmas plays, join in on Christmas gift exchanges, and participate in Christmas activities. Now sure they try to mask it by saying, we'll just call it a "Holiday" party or celebration. And just accept the gift as a celebration of your holiday.

The narrow minded don't always realize not all religions have a holiday this time of year.

Every day for the two weeks before Christmas you have someone, who knows better, continually try to get you to join in on the Christmas activities, or give you gifts even with your protests. It's just falling on deaf ears. They continually do it Management and co-workers. Some people respect your beliefs and support you, but the vast majority doesn't.

If this person worked in your office, would you give them the same advice I did? Contact a lawyer and sue for hostile work environment?

The person I'm talking about is very tolerant of other religions and beliefs. They don't complain about all the activities and Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanza themes floating around. They really don't care, yet other than myself and one other person, no one is respecting their decision.

She LIVES!

With Jeebus returning to Northern Illinois, miracles are happening. My long lost, and presumed retro aborted blog spawn, Virtue of The Rantings of an Indentured Servant has arose from the grave.

I've seen her around as she is a friend, re-enacting buddy and babysitter, but I thought her blogging days were done. Head on over and welcome her back to the land of the living. Maybe this time around I can keep her on life support.

Samuel Adams Winter Lager.

Tonight I’m reviewing a beer by another company I’ve never reviewed before, Samuel Adams. I’ve never been a huge Sam Adams fan, but when I went to the store they were the only winter beer they had that I hadn’t already sampled. Thus leaving us Samuel Adams Winter Lager as the choice.

It comes in a 12 oz brown bottle. This one has the signature of Samuel Adams cast on the bottle where it starts to narrow into the neck. The main label is done in blue and white with the name of the beer taking up much of the label. There is a small picture of Samuel Adams hoisting a stein at the bottom. Four snowflakes also grace the label.

When poured into a glass you can appreciate the nice dark amber color. Light passes through the body easily; there is no cloudiness at all. It poured almost no head at all. I even tried to pour it so as to create more head just so I could discern the color. What filmy head that did form quickly faded to nothing. There isn’t even a ring around the edge of the glass.

There is a nice caramel malt scent to the beer. It’s not very strong, but it is the only prominent scent you can get. If you concentrate you get a hint of prunes or plums. The scent of alcohol can also be detected. When drank, the flavor is much like the scent. Caramel malts are the primary flavor with just a touch of prunes and a slight hop bitterness that finishes well. The aftertaste is very mild and doesn’t last very long.

It is a medium bodied beer with a light carbonation to it. It’s very easy to drink and would probably go well with most holiday meals. At 5.8% alcohol by volume it’s surprising at how mellow it really is.

Overall this beer pleasantly surprised me. I thought it was well worth the drink and wouldn’t mind drinking another. Overall I’m giving this a 6 out of 10.

huh... I just don't see it.

You'll die in a Bar Fight.

You are the angry type when drunk, and you can't help but be violent towards perfect strangers. Unfortunatly for you one of those strangers is a kung fu master.

'How will you die?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Really, I'm right there on the cusp of murder and bar fight. This quiz is obviously wrong. I'm a mellow guy that everyone loves.

As stolen from Tammi.

Tonight's lessons.

So I took the boys out shopping tonight so they could buy Christmas gifts for Ktreva and their grandmothers. It was really interesting. I learned a couple of very interesting lessons.

The first is that when we went into a store (can't mention the name as it will give away a gift meant for KTreva) it had a very strong feminine scent to it. Ie perfume, scented soaps, etc. Apparently the boys loved the scent as much as I did. Listening to a four and fourteen year old gag in harmony to their father was amusing to me. Also when a man with two boys walking into a store for women filled with nothing but women, you stick out like... well three guys at a feminist convention. We got a lot of strange looks. Especially when someone made the comment, "It stinks in here, doesn't it." I did apologize.

The second lesson is that I need to have a talk with whomever has been teaching Clone jingle bells. They need to make sure he has a better understanding of the lyrics or at least enunciates better while singing it. All night he kept singing Jingle Bells. At first I blew it off until I noticed someone snicker. I thought they were just laughing because it was kind of cute. Then I heard what Clone was singing. The actual lyric is "In a one-horse open sleigh" Clone was singing " In a whore's slurping pay."

Yeah, and he wouldn't stop. Even after I tried to help him enunciate it better.

Drunken days are here again!

The great an honorable T1G of Drunken Wisdom is finally coming to roost back here in the the good ol' Northern Illinois area for a period of time. He's put up an agenda of some of his places he's going to be. I'd like to see some, if not all of you join us at least one of the times. It's the time of year for family and friends... well at least friends.

Bad movies gone good?

Yesterday I went over to Shadoglare’s dwelling for what we dub Cheesy Movie day. Basically people bring over a slew of B-movies or ones that are so bad they are good. We watch them to find the rare gem that is the truly great B-movie. We had a slew of movies to choose from, but here are the ones we ended up watching.

Cannibal: The Musical (AKA Alferd Packer: The Musical). It’s almost too bad we started out the day with this movie as it was the best cheesy movie of the day. It was made by Trey Parker and Matt Stone while they were in college. So this was before their South Park days. It’s not out on video apparently, but somehow Shadoglare obtained a copy of it. This was absolutely hilarious! If you get a chance to see, it’s one shpadoinkle of a movie!

The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires. Okay, it’s a cheesy kung-fu movie with vampires and zombies. It really made no sense and to be honest I was pretty bored with it. I ended up dozing off a couple of times. I like cheesy kung-fun movies, but this one didn’t do anything for me.

Dorm of the Dead. This is a movie I brought. It was bad. Before the opening credits we had zombie kills, and up skirt shot and boobies. I, uh, well we all did, thought I had gotten zombie pr0n. The acting was horrible, the cinematography was awful and the writing was horrendous.

Flight of the Living Dead. Okay, when I first heard about this movie I figured it couldn’t be more than 15-20 minutes long. Zombies on a plane, there’s not much more that can happen. You have an outbreak and with in 15 minutes the flight is overrun with the undead. To be honest, this was the second best movie of the day. It was done really well and the way they did it, they filled an hour and a half with zombie goodness. I will say that when the outbreak finally happened, the plane was overrun in 15 minutes. (we timed it). It may not be a top 20 zombie movie, but if you like that genre it’s worth watching.

Space Truckers. Okay, we debated if this was really a b-movie with such actors as Dennis Hopper and Stephen Dorf as main characters. It’s cheesy, but I don’t think it was a b-movie. I enjoyed watching it, but it really is stupid, especially the square pigs. I think they could have done this better, but hey it was made 10 years ago and it didn’t last in the theaters very long.

Overall we had some good movies and we had some bad ones, but they were all enjoyable. Half the fun was making fun of the movies while watching them.

How most holiday accidents happen.

Guys, make sure you get the right gift for that special woman in your life this year. You don't want to end up like one of these fools.

Yea.. unless they ask for it, any of these gifts are bad!

Superman... the lyrics.

Ever wonder what the lyrics to the Superman theme song was? Well wonder no more!

I know this is a parody, but it's really funny.

IM IN UR MANGER KILLING UR SAVIOR

What happens when three Live Action Role Playing (LARP) nerds are cast as the roll of the three wise men in a living nativity scene? Let me tell you, hilarity ensues. If you have any experience with fantasy movies or Dungeons and Dragons you'll really find this sacrilegiously funny.

Made by For Tax Reasons.

Lobo Vs. Santa

Shadoglare has some Christmas themed videos up to help everyone get into the spirit this time of year. Now I'm not a huge Christmas fan, but Ktreva and the boys are. Yet, I love the Lobo Paramilitary Christmas Special.

I have the original comic book from when this first came out. Tonight I think I'm going to have to read it to Clone as a bed time story.

Post meeting glogg.

Here I sit drinking Glogg. Why, well because my meeting today went way longer than I anticipated. It was supposed to last for one hour, but ended up taking up almost two full hours. To be honest it wasn’t as bad as I expected. Mainly because I only walked in there with one sheet of paper and didn’t go into a lot of details. We have all heard the old adage that the squeaky wheel gets the grease. Well if you’re a male management in my female dominated office and you are the squeaky wheel, you don’t get the grease… but you do get hosed. Actually they would probably hammer me until I didn’t move so I couldn’t make any noise. That seems to be the standard operating procedure for this office.

So why did my meeting run two hours if I didn’t talk about anything? Well because we had to “dish about my people”. IE we had to gossip. Any of you that have met me know that I do not gossip. I don’t like it; I’ve severed friendships because of their gossipy behavior. Most of the meeting was me talking about how good of a team I had, all of their strengths, where I want to develop some of them and where our weakness as a team is.

From the serious fishing expedition that was going on, I knew she wanted the dirt. Since I don’t gossip, I don’t have any and on the couple of people I did have something I wouldn’t share it with her. The couple of situations I have my people told me stuff in confidence and I’m not about to sacrifice their trust just so I can win points with the new management. I know my peers did, because they gossip all of the time. In fact the one that was in the meeting right before me I could make out parts of her conversation while I waited outside, she was gossiping like an old woman at a quilting bee.

I figured after maintaining my integrity and dignity for two hours, I deserved a hot beverage of happiness. By the white cockade on my pretty blue bonnet, I’m going to have it!

Meetings

Tomorrow at 11:00 I have a meeting with my new manager. She wants to know what all of what my unit and my responsibilities are. I'm supposed to go in there with all kind of documentation and reports regarding my people and including what duties I have that are outside the standard for someone in my position. I do almost three times the amount of work that the other's do. I'm also the one that ends up having to carry the burden for the rest of the unit when something goes wrong. I could use this time to bring that to light...

... or I'll do what I'm planning on doing and not saying a damn thing. See if I actually go into detail I know the answer I'm going to get. In a previous position I had, I reported to this individual. Thus I am familiar with her management style. I know if I say anything, not only will I still not get any support, but I'll be expected to fix the problems that they created by putting me in this situation. Her answer to EVERYTHING is, "How would you change it." So the conversation would go like this:

I get done explaining in great detail my extra duties, finishing with, "I really need some relief and assistance."

Her: If you where in my position, how would you change it?

Me: Well, I'd distribute some of these extra duties to others and on the shared duties I'd make sure they were doing them as they are supposed to and not leaving it up to one person.

Her: So why don't you do that?

Me: Honestly? Because I'm not my peers manager. Thus I can't force them to do some of this stuff. Especially since upper management assigned everything to me.

Her: I'm sure if you talked with them they would be more then willing to help.

Me: I've spoken with them, and asked. They say they will help, but don't do it.

Her: Do you say something to them?

Me: Yes, I've asked why they didn't follow through and they state they forgot or didn't have time. And since it needs to be done today I end up having to do it all. Most of these projects and duties are time sensitive. I can't just leave them to not get done. Especially since it's ultimately my responsibility they get done.

Her: I think this is something you need to work out with your peers.

Me: Okay, I'll do that. (Desperately trying to hide the sarcasm.)

Her: Good, I'd like to see the final proposal on my desk by the end of next week, including any other documentation you might have. And can you please add a 100 page analysis on the efficiency of your proposal.

Me: ... Sure ... (Figuring I won't do it and she'll forget anyway)

The gist of this is that I know I will be wasting an hour of my life tomorrow being told that I need to do more.

Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale

To continue with the Winter Themed beers, tonight I tried Celebration Ale by Sierra Nevada Brewing Company. I’ve never reviewed a beer by this company; in fact I’m not sure I’ve ever had a beer brewed by them in the past.

A very festively dressed 12 oz brown bottle is the delivery method. The label has a nice winter scene of a cabin with red flowers around it. The label just screams, “HAPPY HOLIDAYS!” The neck label, also very festive… has the year of the beer on it as well as a little story about making winter brews.

The beer has a nice copper and orange color to it. There isn’t a hint of cloudiness to it at all. The only thing that obstructs the view is the carbonation bubbles. A thin off-white head is produced that fades quickly to a film on top of the beer. There is some lacing, but not much.

On the first scent the nose is assaulted with the scent of hops. A slight citrus and spice scent can also be detected. The combination almost gives the beer a pine scent. The taste is much like the smell. The bitterness of the hops overpowers the rest of the flavors. You can barely taste anything else. The aftertaste is much of that of pine. It’s so bitter it’s difficult to drink.

It is a medium bodied beer with a normal carbonation level. There is a nice smoothness in the mouth. It coats the mouth and throat; unfortunately that coating helps the taste to linger.

I was really hoping for a nice somewhat spicy winter or Christmas ale, this however is more like a bitter IPA than anything else. The scent is overpowering and the taste is almost overwhelming. Over all I have to give this a 1.5 out of 10.

Now if you excuse me I'm going to go gargle with Jack Daniels to get the taste out of my mouth.

Boopie gets socks and underwear.

I’ve been trying to help Ktreva Christmas shop for Boopie. Trying to find a Christmas gift for a teenage boy that only wants large ticket items for Christmas is difficult You know, an Xbox 360, A Playstation 3, A Wii, and the entire Rock Band kit. The boy isn’t very forth coming with ideas. Other than the ones listed or games for those systems. Well I can pretty much tell you he isn’t getting any of them. I can’t justify spending that kind of money on a video game system. Especially since he has an unhealthy preoccupation with them already. Heck he isn’t even allowed to play video games right now until he gets his grades up.

So do any of you have any ideas?

Avoid the holiday party!

Saturday night I did something I’ve never done before, I went to my company’s Holiday Party. When I say never, I mean never. Not for this or any company or organization that I’ve worked for have I gone to their Holiday party, and I can pretty much tell you I’m never going to go again. It was a mistake that I shall not make twice.

I should have known the night was going to go bad when we arrived. I had thought it started at 5:00 PM, but it didn’t start until 6:00PM. Fortunately at the hotel they were having the party, there is a decent bar. Ktreva and I spent the first hour and half sitting in the bar priming our livers. It didn’t take long before other people from work started showing up. That’s when I noticed I made my first faux pas. They were all dressed nicely, I was wearing work boots, jeans, a black “Guns don’t kill people, Zombies Kill people” t-shirt, an old flannel and a Packer hat. Not that I cared, I wear a shirt and tie every day; they can see how I normally dress for once.

After 6:00PM we headed into the room were the part was, luckily it was right across the hall from the bar. We quickly found a group of people we know, including Bruce, and sat down. Being the festive kind of guy that I am, I brought along a little cheer. After sitting I pulled out a thermos filled with Glogg. I poured myself a cup and shared some with the rest of the table. Needless to say fifteen minutes later no one was feeling anything. I also was sharing it with people as they passed by. It’s funny to watch their reaction to drinking it. Actually I received my first two negative reviews of my glogg. That kind of hurts, because I now only have a 99% approval rating.

They served dinner buffet style. After dinner was supposed to be some presentations and awards. Well to be honest I’d had enough of the atmosphere as I could have taken. There were people I didn’t want to talk to coming up and talking to me. So I slipped out the door and headed back to the bar. Only to find my people from work there doing the same thing. Mainly because drinks were cheaper in the bar than in the party room. I sat down with a couple of people that I knew and got along with and started drinking there.

Ktreva had disappeared long before I left. She was quite the social butterfly, probably because she was heavily socially lubricated. In fact I think in the 45 minutes I sat at the table she was there for only 15 minutes. Which was fine by me, as long as she was having fun than I didn’t care. Well that and she didn’t try to make me socialize with people I have no intention of dealing with outside of work. I figured she’d find me if she needed me.

After a while I decided it was time to leave. Not only was I starting to spout of angry comments at other management and my manager, but also I was starting to get the urge to throw things at them. Now you could say this was because I was socially lubricated… and I was, slightly, but it was mainly because I was in a very uncomfortable situation. Alcohol doesn’t make you do things you don’t want to do. It lowers your inhibitions to do things that you know are wrong. Thus there are people I’ve wanted to hit in the head at work for a while; I just had a nice heavy beer glass to do it with this time.

Besides me hitting the uncomfortable/angry zone, Ktreva was getting overly flirty with other guys. I needed to save us before one of us did something really stupid.

We ended up leaving and heading down to Fritz’s. Why waste a perfectly good babysitter? Plus Fritz’s is a happy place where I can be comfortable and happy. We ended up leaving just before close. Fritz’s is better than any therapy session.

Today at work I caught an earful about Ktreva and my antics. First off, there were a lot of people that didn’t know I was even there. Since we sat by the door and left right after dinner was done, most of the people didn’t see me. Secondly, there was talk about the glogg. I think next year they are going to have a “don’t bring your own alcohol” rule” Lastly was some of the overheard comments I made to other management, including insinuating one of them was an idiot.

So in recap, going to the company holiday part is a bad idea.

I wont even tell you the reaction I had when other management suggested I help plan it next year.

Christmas in Hollis

By now we've all seen a video of Christmas lights that "dance" to music, the most popular being the video of the house that dances to Trans Siberian Orchestra's Wizards of Winter. Well, here we have a house in Minneapolis that is done to Run DMC's Christmas in Hollis.

Giant Shotgun

This is one giant gun.

Christmas Shopping with an Attitude.

I know I posted this last year, but it just fits too well with everything that's been going on. For the first time ever I actually camped out to get a couple of gift items for the family. I can't tell you what they are yet, because some of the family members actually read here.

Yea, after dealing with angry parents and kids, I really wanted to drop kick a couple of people... well okay give them a noogie.

Don't Shoot Your Eye Out

Just in time for Christmas, here is a fun little time waster; Don't Shoot Your Eye Out. A Christmas Story is one of my favorite holiday movies, I just couldn't pass up a game that reminded me of the movie. The point is to get as many bounces of the BB as possible and not to shoot your eye out.

Citizen Soldier

Last night I took Ktreva to see the movie "The Golden Compass". Which Ktreva enjoyed... but I really miss those two hours of my life and seven bucks. Seriously it was the Ice Capades, Bears on Ice... it was stupid and when the movie was over I was surprised I only lost 2 hours of my life, because it felt like 3.5.

Anyway, before the movie they showed a National Guard Tribute by 3 Doors Down, Citizen Soldier. I thought it was a really cool video as it spans the history of the American fighting men and women. I wanted to share with those of you that may not have seen the video.

Lutefisk is here again!

The annual Lutefisk dinner was tonight. For the first time Ktreva joined the boys and I there. In years past it was always men only, but they opened it up to women a couple of years ago and my Dad figured that if they are going to let other women be there, might as well let one he likes come along as well. Of course she tried the wonderful lutefisk. It was delicious! They did a wonderful job cooking it. The rest of the meal was wonderful too. Pickled herring, Korv (Swedish cooking sausage), Swedish meatballs, rice pudding, pickled beats, lingonberries, beans, red potatoes, ham, etc. It was just full of all kinds of Scandinavian cooking delights. There wasn't any lefse, but I can wait a couple of more days for that.

Overall it was a great time. It did make me miss my grandparents. When I was younger my grandfather would go with Dad and I to this every year. It was an annual tradition. When Ktreva and I got together I started bringing Boopie with and Clone came every year since he was one. It's because I remember attending this function since I was younger than Boopie, most of those years with my grandfather, and my grandmother just dying that made me think about him even more and how much I miss Grandpa and how much I'm going to miss Grandma.

Great Lakes Christmas Ale

As Christmas Season is upon us and it was my Grandmother’s favorite time of the year, I’ve decided that I’m dedicating tonight’s review to her memory. Actually I’m going to stick with the theme all month and do nothing but Christmas style beers for the next three weeks. Tonight we are starting off with Christmas Ale by the Great Lakes Brewing Company.

The standard 12 oz brown bottle once again graces us with its presence. The label is black. In white lettering at the top is the name of the brewing company and at the bottom is the name of the beer. In the middle in a gray square is a green toy train car holding red Christmas ornaments. There is short description of the beer on the label as well. It brags a sturdy 7.5% Alcohol By Volume (ABV).

It has a nice dark copper color with a slight amber hue. The body is clear with no sign of cloudiness. A quarter inch off white head formed when poured into the glass. The head faded into a film on the top of the beer. It left some lacing on the side of the glass, but not a lot.

Cinnamon is the first scent you notice to this beer. There is a mixture of raisins, ginger and honey also noticeable. A touch of coffee malts can also be smelt. The taste starts off with a strong cinnamon flavor that is followed by ginger, honey and coffee malts. The flavor covers the higher 7.5% ABV. The combination leaves no doubt in your mind that this is a Christmas beer.

It’s a medium bodied beer. The carbonation gives a little bite to the tongue, but not much. With the higher ABV, one would think it would affect the drinkability of this beer, but it really doesn’t.

It’s a little sweeter then I normally like, but it’s not a bad beer. I don’t know if I would go out of my way to buy it for anything other than maybe a Holiday party, but I definitely wouldn’t turn one down if it were offered to me. I’m going to rate this a 4.5 out of 10.

Highland Garden of Memories is disrespectful of the dead.

I'm so angry right now that I'm not sure how to tell this story. When someone dies there is certain amount of respect and sensitivity that needs to be shown to the deceased and their love ones. Unfortunately my Grandmother did not receive that. It wasn't any guests that did it, it wasn't family. It wasn't the church or the funeral home. It was the cemetery and their staff that was disrespectful to my grandmother and my family.

We all know you don't get to plan a funeral months in advance. You have a short time in which all arrangements need to be made and to schedule everything. My grandmother already had a funeral plot, next to my grandfather that passed away 9 and a half years ago. My uncle took care of contacting the cemetery. Highland Garden of Memories in Belvedere, IL. He had originally scheduled the internment at 3:00 but because the manager of the cemetery told him it would conflict with another burial, they moved it back to 3:30. The manager told my uncle that wouldn't be a problem, we just wouldn't have a tent. That wasn't an issue.

The visitation and services were lovely and there were no problems. When we arrived at the cemetery instead of going to the grave they took us to a chapel on site. I was confused, so where the rest of my cousins and family. We figured they would have the graveside services... well graveside. No apparently they decided it was too dark for them to do the work so they were going to do it the next day. We ended up having to leave my grandmother in her casket inside this chapel overnight. We had family friends, relatives and others that wanted to pay their respects there to see my grandmother interred, and weren't able to. They had us over a barrel, it's not like we could take her and go someplace else.

I went back this morning at 10:30 AM for the interment because I felt someone should be there and say something. Fortunately My uncle that made the arrangements was able to take the extra time to drive two hours down to attend as well as an aunt that was able to come down from Milwaukee to join Ktreva and I. The funeral home even sent someone out to supervise the workers to make sure everything was done properly. My aunt and a friend of hers were the first to arrive, I arrived shortly after them. When the cemetery workers and manager showed up they asked if we were ready. My aunt told them we were going to wait for the my uncle and the funeral home representative. The funeral home representative arrived next and the manager wanted to get started. Again we had to tell him we were going to wait for my uncle.

While waiting the manager and my aunt had an exchange of words. My aunt, who is in seminary school studying to be a Lutheran minister, told the manager just how unhappy she was. She was very angry and upset, and she had ever right to be. Now you need to understand, my aunt is a very docile person. I've never seen her get angry, raise her voice or say a harsh word. When she laid into this guy, it kind of threw me off.

When my uncle arrived we moved Grandma from the chapel to the grave. This cemetery doesn't have standing headstones, it has grave markers flush to the ground. Thew workers put my grandmother's casket onto a trolley and rolled her across the grounds to the grave by rolling over other people's markers and graves. I escorted my grandmother on the trip because I was a pallbearer, and I wanted to make sure she was handled properly. My aunt walked with me and we both were kind of taken back by this non-caring attitude the employees had. I felt bad walking across other peoples graves. I tried to not, but with the snow on the ground and the markers being flush to the ground I had no idea where the graves were.

The whole situation really pissed me off. Last night after I got home and the more I thought about it, the more irrational I was in my anger. I wanted to go back out there and camp with my grandmother, to make sure she was okay. I also wanted to do many things that are even more irrational... and illegal. Fortunately I didn't do any of them.

Here's what really pissed me off about the whole thing. They never intended to inter her yesterday. They never dug the hole. When we arrived, they said that it was too late in the day. The workers wouldn't work that late. It was 3:30 on a Monday! Then they said it was too dark. They never made any of those statements to my uncle when he offered to push back the internment. They said everything would be fine and normal. Then the manager not only was smug about the whole thing, he was absolutely unremorseful. The guy didn't give a damn that he lied and/or mislead my family about what was going to happen. He didn't care that he denied many of them closure and caused them mental and emotional trauma.

People, and those of you that might stumble upon this post, if you need to bury a loved one heed this warning. Don't purchase plots at Highland Garden of Memories in Belvedere, IL. It's at the corner of IL route 76 and Squaw Prairie Rd. If I had a choice I wouldn't use them again, but my brother is buried there and my parents also have plots there wanting to be buried with my brother. I really don't have a choice. If you do have to deal with them, make sure you are real clear on the details and expect to be lied to.

Glögg update

The first batch of Glögg is done. Just a tip for future Glögg makers; you can use the fruit to make other things, I just don't recommend eating it straight. It tastes fine, but my nasal passage feels singed. Right now I'm sitting on about 2 gallons of glögg, and I have another 2 to two gallons making. It should be done in about 30 minutes. Then I figure an hour after that I won't be sober enough to update you anymore. Oh, and according to the hydrometer, I'm at about 75% alcohol.

It's Glögg time!

My grandmother's funeral is visitation is tomorrow and I have nothing going on today, so I'm going to start marking my second annual Glögg for the holidays. Hey I figure what goes better with mourning than alcohol? Glögg will help numb... well everything. So if you don't hear from me in a while, it's because I'm in the kitchen with alcohol.

Bring back the business?

I know this is an older clip, but either Monday or Thursday night during the football game one of the announcers made a reference to this call.

I really would like to see this rule come back. Part of me would really love to see Ed Hochuli, my favorite ref, start calling this.

UPDATE: T1G pointed out that just last weekend a college ref made the same call which is why it was being talked about.