Miasmatic Review

Motorboatin', Bunkers and Zombies.

We were supposed to go on a vacation this week. We were headed to Wyoming to participate in the 1838 rendezvous there. Unfortunately multiple factors arose and we ended up not being able to attend. The close to $800.00 gas fun was just part of it. So instead of doing some big elaborate vacation this year, we decided to take a smaller more local staycation. You know, where you stay home and take day trips to places.

Friday started off easy. We took the boys to go see WALL-E. It’s not a bad movie. It was amusing, there is a bit of hippy, save the planet message to it, but it’s easily ignored. The boys really loved it.

Saturday Ness was sick so I took the boys and we went to see our re-enacting friend, Smokepoles, go “motorboatin’”. Well okay, it’s some kind of powerboat, I know he told me but I really can’t remember. All I know is that they are little boats, but they move pretty fast on the water. I keep calling it “motorboatin’” because I called it that one time and his reaction was hilarious.

Smokepoles is the well-groomed mountain man in the tie-dye t-shirt.

We didn’t get to see any racing. The weather was not cooperating. Wind speeds were too high for them to allow the boats on the water. They had a guy go out and take a couple of laps to see what it’s like, but at one point the guy about flipped the boat. These things are basically wings the skim the surface of the water. If they go too fast apparently they fly… and they don’t like it when that happens, something about crashing and death. We were going to stick around and talk just in case the weather broke and they got to race. But the rain came through and just drenched everything. I also learned that boats can’t get wet. I’m not sure why, but as soon as the talk of rain started everyone tarped their boats so they wouldn’t get wet.

On the way back to Rockford, I took the scenic rout and I was telling the boys some history of Rockford and Camp Grant. Camp Grant was built in 1917 and was used as a training facility during World War 1 and World War 2. As we drove through New Millford and I was telling them about the bunkers at Atwood Education Center. Boopie made the comment that he really wanted to see one. So I pulled into the park area, we crossed the footbridge over the Kishwaukee River and headed to the bunker.

Since this area was part of a target range and training facility there are signs all over the place warning of the dangers.

I had attended numerous outings in this park when I was younger. In fact I know that I personally have been in at least three bunkers on the property. As a kid I found shell casings there, in fact I’m pretty sure somewhere in the house I still have one. Another time while we were doing a canoe trip down the Kish one of the groups I was with found a rusted out old leg trap. I was also with a group that found a hand full of lead bullets while we were looking for insects during an activity. They aren’t kidding when they say that you can find stuff out there. I know that sometime between 1996 and 2004 the Army Corp of Engineers went out and policed the area looking for unexploded ordinance. They cleaned up some 2,500 rounds if memory serves. They had a sign out there stating as much, but I can’t find anything online.

We did find a bunker for the boys to look at. They really were nervous getting close to it. It had to coax them into standing next to it so I could get a picture.

Saturday night Boopie had a friend spend the night because on Sunday we were going to have a Zombie Movie festival. We watched 4 Zombie Movies, Diary of the Dead, Redneck Zombies, Zombie Town and Undead or Alive. Other than Redneck Zombies, the boys really liked the movies.

So if you don’t hear from me for a couple of days, don’t get worried. We just got busy having fun.

Someting for the Guys.

This is for the guys. Over at AskMen.Com they have Top 10: Chicks Kissing Scenes. Now these are mainstream movies, not from the adult industry, so these are actual legit actresses.

I just thought it was time for me to re-introduce some "art" to my blog.

Knight Rider GPS

Part of me thinks this is cool, but the other part thinks that only an ultra fan boy or a real geek would want this.

He deserved it.

I don't know why this kid was kicking the wall, I really don't care. All I know is that at the end of the video I couldn't help but laugh at him.

But what will the illegals do?

Don't like to mow your lawn, but you don't want to hire someone else to do it? How about getting a Lawnmower Robot?

With the introduction of the LawnBott LB3500, KA Home Robotics has raised the bar in home robotics for lawn care. The LB3500 is the world’s first Bluetooth compatible home robotic device. The owner can program and directly control the LB3500 through any Bluetooth compatible cell phone or PDA type device!

They aren't available yet, but it says they are coming soon. I'm willing to bet these things will cost a small fortune. Luckily, I have a teenager to do my mowing.

This takes more grace than I have.

Anyone that is a fan of the Movie Labyrinth is familiar with Contact Juggling.

Here is a guy in a park, presumably Japan, that makes it look really easy. If you like this kind of performance art, you'll love what this kid does with a crystal ball.

We win! UPDATED!

Supreme Court Says Americans have right to guns.

I received a text message in a meeting with this news. I jumped out of my seat and cheered. Then I got to explain to the anti-gun liberals at work why they were wrong!

Drinks on me tonight for anyone that can make it to my house!

UPDATE: Shadoglare sent me a link to the NY Times article (Justices Rule for Individual Gun Rights and Gun Control Supporters Show Outrage)on the story. They of course put a very anti-gun spin on the whole thing, especially the second article.

If there was any doubt that other bans would be in peril, the National Rifle Association quickly put those questions to rest when it announced shortly after the ruling that it would file a flurry of lawsuits challenging restrictions in San Francisco, Chicago and several Chicago suburbs. The law in Washington, which spelled out rules for the storage of weapons and made it extremely difficult for most people in the district to legally possess a handgun, was among the strictest in the nation.

...

In Chicago, Mayor Richard M. Daley, a staunch supporter of gun control, called the decision “frightening” and said he was bracing for a fight with the gun lobby, which has long criticized the city’s ban on the sale and registration of handguns for everyone but police officers and a handful of others. Enacted in 1982, the law was created in response to the murders of two police officers and the assassination attempt on former president Ronald Reagan.

“Does this lead to everyone having a gun in our society?” he said at a news conference. “If they think that’s the answer, then they’re greatly mistaken. Then, why don’t we do away with the court system and go back to the Old West? You have a gun and I have a gun and we’ll settle in the streets.

“They’re changing the rules,” Mr. Daley said of the Supreme Court. “Why should we as a city not be able to protect ourselves from those who want guns in our society?”

Senator Dianne Feinstein, a former mayor of San Francisco, which also restricts the owning of guns, reacted strongly to the ruling, saying she was “viscerally affected” by it and worried for the nation’s safety.

“I speak as somebody who has watched this nation with its huge homicide rate, when countries that have sane restrictions on weapons do not have that homicide rate,” she said. “And I happen to believe that this is now going to open the door to litigation against every gun safety law that states have passed — assault weapons bans, trigger locks, and all the rest of it.”

Of course they went straight to Daley. That man would try to take away any rights a person has if it was a threat to his power in Illinois. And, no we don't want to get rid of law and order. We, the law abiding citizens of the US, want the rights that are afforded to us in the Constitution. Just because I own a handgun, rifle or shotgun that does NOT mean I am going to commit a crime. In fact if you look at the statistics, most firearm violence is perpetrated by people that own them ILLEGALLY!

We don't want the wild west, we want law and order. We just want to have our own firearms and to be able to protect ourselves, go hunting, sport shooting or just collect them. But these individuals don't see it that way. They believe anyone that wants a firearm is going to commit a crime or become a vigilante.

I'm not touching the part about McCain and Obama, since they both equally annoy me and I'm not voting for either one.

UPDATE AGAIN: I thought New York was Bad, The Chicago Sun Times article, Court gun ruling has Chicago thinking it's next is even worse. The second half reads like an editorial.

Badger Porter

This evening’s beer is another left over from the Beer Tasting. Tonight I’ll be reviewing Badger Porter by the Sand Creek Brewing Company in Black River Falls, WI. The funny thing about this beer is that three people brought a six-pack of it. Wes, Graumagus and I each brought a six-pack of Badger Porter to the tasting.

It comes in the standard 12 oz brown bottle. There is a brown label on it that has the picture of a badger’s head right in the middle of it. Across the top of the label it says “Badger Porter” and at the bottom it has the information about the brewing company.

When poured into a glass it has a nice deep brown color with a ruby highlight to it. There was a half inch tan head that faded slowly to a film on top. There was very minimal lacing on the side of the glass.

The smell is a mix of roasted malts with a touch of nuts. There is a soft undertone of cocoa that is also noticeable. It has a taste of coffee malts with a touch of bittersweet dark chocolate. There isn’t much else to it. I really could not make out any hop flavors in it.

It is a medium bodied beer with good carbonation. There is a silkiness that coats the mouth and tongue and makes it pleasurable to drink.

At the beer tasting it wasn’t rated bad, but we all thought it was really bitter for a porter. In all actuality when drank alone it is just fine. It’s not too bitter, and it’s much more palatable. At the Beer Tasting I gave it a 5. Tonight on a clean pallet I’m giving it a 6.5

Ashamed to be from Rockford.

I know I've said this before, but this time I'm really pissed off. It has nothing to do with the government or politics. It has to do with a group of people that live here in the city.

I was browsing the local rag newspaper when I saw the headline Neighbors worry about home intended for homeless veterans. It took me a second, I had to re-read the headline. I was sure that I misread that. No, it said exactly what I thought it did. Then I thought to myself, "Maybe, just maybe the Rockford Register Star is putting a spin on the headline to attract attention". So I read the story. Nope, the headline was pretty farooking accurate.

Carpenter’s Place closed Friday on the three-bedroom ranch home at 3426 Ridge Ave. It moved in furniture over the weekend, and on Tuesday, a group of employees and volunteers stood in a circle in the living room, held hands and prayed for the people who will live in the house and the neighbors.

The only thing missing now is the tenants, and that’s what has neighbors worried.

Located in a quiet northwest neighborhood, the home will be used to house three military veterans who are transitioning back into society.

“It’s got the neighbors in an uproar,” next-door neighbor Betty Percey said Tuesday afternoon. “They’ve been exposed to war. What happens if one night one of them goes off the deep end? All of this looks fine and good now, but is it going to last?”

I know, maybe it was just one of the neighbors, there can't be more right? Wrong

Betty, and her husband, Curlee Percey, sat in their driveway Tuesday afternoon and watched a contingent of Carpenter’s Place workers tour the home. They were joined in their driveway by neighbor Oneal Tennial.

“You see people who have had flashbacks or relapses,” Tenniel said. “A lot of people look normal, but they’re not.”

Barbara Garrison-Harris, also a next-door neighbor to the veterans’ home, expressed her reservations as well.

“First of all, if they don’t have a problem why do they have to be put in a house and watched over? And why didn’t they talk to us before they (bought) the house? And what about the senior citizens here who helped build this neighborhood? Don’t they have any regard for them?”

Holy cow these people actually think that they should be consulted before the sale of a house? Remind me of this the next time one of my neighbors moves out so I can tell them that they have to run all approved sales by me first. Since when do neighbors get a say in who buys a house or lives there? They don't get a say for rental properties either. It's kind of arrogant to think that they should.

Now I know some chuckle head is going to pipe off with "This isn't the same". The heck it isn't!

Located in a quiet northwest neighborhood, the home will be used to house three military veterans who are transitioning back into society...

...Through a special Veterans Affairs program, Carpenter’s Place was able to buy the Ridge Avenue home for $53,437, or half the market price. The only requisite is that the house be used for housing homeless American veterans. Because the home will house only three nonrelated people, no special zoning from the city is required and the sale did not have to go before City Council for approval.

Carpenter's Place, the group that bought the house, is basically using it as a staging point to help homeless veterans get back on their feet. It's no different than habitat for humanity giving houses to the homeless or renting homes for the homeless to live in. The only difference is that the men in this case fought a war for our country.

These are soldiers that at one time put their lives on the line because their country asked them to. They fought and bled for this country. They watched friends and colleagues get injured or even killed. These men did something that a lot of others have never done in this country, including probably the individuals quoted above. Don't they deserve us treating them with some kindness and thanking them for their service? Shouldn't we offer them any assistance that might be needed to help them get back into society? Isn't it our duty to help take care of and look after these heroes?

As for the comment about them being exposed to war... There are more mental issues out there than Post Traumatic Stress Disorder... or what ever the catchphrase for it is now. I know a lot of people that have served and fought in wars for this country. From World War 2 all the way to the current conflict. Most of them have returned to normal life with out any noticeable difference. The one that I have met that hasn't, I couldn't tell he was having issues until he told me about it.

Now if you'll excuse me. I'm going to go cool off.

Celis Grand Cru

Spontaneous beer review night has struck again! Tonight I’m finishing off a bottle of Celis Grand Cru by the Michigan Brewing Company in Webberville, MI. This was one of the beers that Graumagus brought to the beer tasting.

It came in a standard 12 oz brown bottle. It has a green label with the name in white letters across the top. In the middle of the label is a wood carvingesque picture of men making beer. . There are laurels around the picture and pictures of hops in the bottom corners.

There was a beautiful honey coloring to this beer. It was clear and light passed through easily. The thin white head faded quickly to nothing more than a ring around the glass. There was no lacing what so ever.

The smell is not overly pleasant. It was a mixture of Coriander, hops, citrus and yeast. Combined they actually give off a slight liver scent to the beer. In fact it was very reminiscent of liverwurst. The taste was much like the scent. It had a mix of coriander, yeast and malts that gave it liver-like flavor. There was a little burn to the finish of the beer.

This is a light bodied beer, and it was a little heavy on the carbonation for my tastes.
This is the second Belgian-style ale I’ve reviewed and I’ve come to the conclusion that maybe I just do not like that style of beer. Over all I did not find this pleasurable to drink.

I know at the beer tasting it garnered a lot of similar reactions. It was the lowest scoring beer at the beer tasting with a group average of 1.5. At the beer tasting I gave it a 2. I’m going to stick with my rating of a 2 out of 10.

Eating silage.

Okay, in an effort to help my gastro problems and just to be healthier I’ve started eating “Healthier” breakfast cereal. I’ve tried four different kinds so far and I’m about to give up on it, especially this last one. Let me give you a run down on what I’ve experienced so far.

A) Kashi Go Lean Crunch: Interesting flavor, I wouldn’t say it’s bad, but I’m not sure I’d say I like it either. There is a very interesting texture to it. It gave me gas.

2) Kashi Go Lean Crunch with Honey Almond Flax: Again interesting flavor, I think this one tasted better than the regular, I’m still not sure I like it. The texture was interesting. It gave me gas.

D) Life: Okay, this one may not be considered a “Healthy” cereal, but it had the green sensible solution box on it and comparing it to “healthy” cereals it matched up pretty good. I liked the flavor, I liked the texture. My family liked the break from the gas.

4) Grape Nuts: How this cereal stays on the market is beyond me. Seriously the smell kind of reminds me of silage. The flavor reminds me of the remnants of the mash they use to make beer. It doesn’t taste like beer, it tastes like fermented grains that were boiled, dried and served with milk. I kid you not I think I’d rather eat the box. I put four packets of sweetener into my cereal container just to choke it down this morning. Now I’m sitting here feeling like there is a lump of soggy cardboard in my stomach. Except the soggy cardboard would probably have tasted better. To make matters worse not only did it give me gas, but it gave me unspeakably foul gas. I emptied a conference room with a tiny squeeker. Fortunately the cheek flapping, sphincter hurting colon bomb I let loose in the bathroom. When I regained consciousness and picked myself off of the floor, I helped the other victims evacuate the restroom.

I just want to know, is there a decent healthy cereal that A) Tastes good and most importantly 2) Doesn’t give me gas.

Another legend gone.

"I'm completely in favor of the separation of Church and State. My idea is that these two institutions screw us up enough on their own, so both of them together is certain death." ~George Carlin

Comedian George Carlin Dies at Age 71.

George was one of my favorite comedians and actors. Even Clone loves George Carlin, however he knows him as the conductor/narrator on Thomas the Tank Engine. I always loved his routines and really could listen to him for hours. Anyone that has ever received an e-mail from me has seen my tag line:

"I'll bet there aren't too many people hooked on crack who can play the bagpipes."

That was stolen directly from one of Carlin's books.

George, thanks for the laughs and I hope you rest well. Hopefully you never converted to Frisbeetarianism, I'd hate you to spend the rest of eternity on the roof.

Update: I found this.

Ktreva's eye for that Contagion Guy.

Today Ktreva decided that I need to get some new clothes. Apparently she decided that a major update to by wardrobe was past due. The last time I went clothes shopping for non-work related clothes was the summer of 2003 before Clone was born. These do not count novelty T-shirts I buy. I'm in my mid-thirties and no longer feel the need to actually dress "trendy". As long as the clothes aren't ragged and fit, I'm happy to wear them.

Since most of my "going out in public" clothes are hardly worn, they are all in good condition. Usually I spend the weekends wearing shirts that really were never meant for me to wear out in public for a social gathering. You know, they look fine, but the message on them is a little "disturbing". IE My zombie, blogger, fire arm t-shirts, etc. Usually on the weekends I wear those or if I'm going out with friends I'll still wear them as Ktreva is not coming with to be embarrassed by me.

Today, Ktreva had enough and decided it was make over time. I was going to get some new clothes that she won't be embarrassed to be seen in public with me wearing them. Ones that are fit for proper social occasions. Not only is she making me get new cloths, she's making me grow my facial hair back. And when I mean making, I really, truly mean making. She vowed never to do that thing she does that I like very much that she doesn't do very often, but she's really good at it until I grow my facial hair back. She also said if I shave it off again with out her permission she'll stop all together. It's amazing what the power of blackmail is.

We spent our entire lunch looking for new clothes for me. I had to try items on pick and choose things... it was hell. There was some negotiation, and I earned a couple of concessions. There was this nice embroidered Jack Daniels shirt I found that I wanted. She wasn't going to let me get it because she didn't want to be seen in public with me wearing it. But I agreed to get this orange plaid shirt she found if I can get the Jack Daniel's shirt. She agreed and I got the shirt I wanted!

I also found a t-shirt that said "Case Worker" on it and it had a picture of a case of beer. She found a green safari shirt she thinks would look good on me. We negotiated and I got the t-shirt and the safari shirt. All in all I picked up a week and a half's worth of new shirts. 7 of them "going in public" shirts. Even though I got some shirts I don't like that much, it's more important that I picked up a couple that I liked a lot. As for the orange shirt and the safari shirt... yea, between you and me, they're never leaving the closet.

It's not just my office.

Okay, my office doesn't break out nerf guns and start shooting each other, but there is a definite division between the departments. Plus my peers and upper management in my office would never, ever be this much fun.

Where in the heck has Contagion been?

Okay, I know I haven't posted in a couple of days. Sorry, about that. Let me fill you in on what happened.

First Friday at work we had a big meeting about the Hot Dog issue. First the other department had to be included, then they decided not to. Well long and short management said that they had to I got the the pleasure of cooking the hot dogs. We went over logistics and who is going to do what and when. It really was a colossal waist of time.

After work I went out with what was to be some of my peers for drinks and just kind of a"get to know you" think outside of work. It ended up just being me and one of my other co-workers as the rest all backed out. Fortunately Ktreva trusts me because me going out to a bar with another woman could seriously look like a date. However, since I'm completely devoted to Ktreva and not about to screw up the best thing in my life, I was just having drinks with a peer and talking shop. It was fun. My Peer had been going through a rough patch in her life and really needed to go out and get drunk. Fortunately for her, while many of you know me as Contagion... my secret identity... I'm also the heroic (Insert music) Drinkin' Buddy! (insert more music).

Yea, I learned two things about my peer that night. First is that she really has no self-esteem and she gets drunk on 6 drinks... in a 6 hour time span. At least she's not a crier.

Then today I had to go to work and cook the farooking Hot Dogs. I was borrowing a grill from Wes and I had meant to pick it up earlier this week. Unfortunately I had forgotten to, so at 7:30 AM I went to his house and picked it up on my way to work. I found out this evening when I dropped it off that while I thought I was being quiet, apparently I woke up his wife and a neighbor. OOPS!

Work was kind of a joke. I spent 7 hours there not actually working but being more of a morale coach. Of course I was wearing my "The floggings will continue until morale improves" t-shirt from the Bristol Ren-Faire. But I'm not going to go into that, lets just jump to the nitty gritty of it okay, the hot dogs. We had taken a roll call of how many people said they were going to work on Saturday and that wanted a hot dog. It came out to 40, I ended up getting enough food for 45 (feeding the 5 supervisors that were going to be there as well). At two hot dogs a piece, I bought a bulk amount of 90. The other department showed up with 3 packages of 80 hot dogs. So we had a total of 330 hot dogs.

Of course none of them helped me, and to be honest I told them they didn't need to help me cook, but I could use help in shuttling the finished hot dogs into the office. Well, I guess they took that as I didn't want their help at all. So I was cooking from 10:00AM until 1:00PM. It was a long hot day for me.

When all is said and done, at 3:00PM when the office closed, all of the other management but one of my peers from my department stuck around to help me clean up. There was about 100 hot dogs left over. I tried giving them away, I told the employees they could take some home. But no, nobody wanted them. I ended up taking home the left over hot dogs and buns. When I dropped the grill off to Wes, I showed him my gratitude for letting me use his grill by giving him 24 hot dogs and buns. It's not much, but hey I figured he could use them and they'd probably end up getting tossed.

All in all the day sucked. I hate my upper management and the peers from the other department, I'm annoyed at my peers from my department.

The only bright side is that I didn't get one complaint. Everyone like the hot dogs. For which I'm sure upper management will take credit for the idea.

It's just rude.

I can’t believe the gall of the upper management in my office. Last month they advised us that on June 21 and 28, both Saturdays, we are going to be open to work It is expected that all management at my level be there 7:00AM to 3:00PM both days to support the staff that is there. Fine, not really a whole lot I can do on a Saturday, but okay. The problem is that one of my peers is getting married at 2:00PM on the 21st. This has been planned months prior to them deciding this was going to be a mandatory workday. Many of my peers, including myself, were planning on attending the wedding. Since I’m going to be on vacation on the 28th, I volunteered to cover the entire afternoon shift and not go to the wedding.

It was decided that we were going to provide a meal for those that came in to work 8 hours as a token of our appreciation for working during the summer months. They discussed everything from salad bars, box lunches, potato bars, pizza, pasta, catered food and sandwiches. The problem is that this is all very pricey stuff and requires manpower to over see. Since it was originally going to be myself after 12:00PM, I wanted something easy. So I volunteered to grill Hot Dogs for those that committed to working 8 hours. Our department has about 80 people in it, there are a lot of people on vacation, and I figured we’d get maybe 15 that were going to work the full 8 hours. I could handle this easily enough. I grill the hot dogs outside, between noon and 1 they come out get two hot dogs a bag of chips and a bottle of water on their lunch. Easy as pie.

Then the micromanagement began. “We should extend this to anyone that works over 6 hours. Fine. That’s still only maybe 30 people. Then it was anyone that works 5 or more hours. Okay, now we are about 40 people. Still, that’s not too bad, I had to make some changes in my plans to make sure that I could cover everything… remember I was doing this alone.

Finally the mentally obtuse upper management in my office got together and decided that they were going to extend this to the other department in the office. The one that has about 250 people in it. With out consulting me they sent out to the management of the other department notice that ANY of their people working on Saturday will be given Hot Dogs and that I would be doing the cooking and shopping for it. Again, I’m doing this by myself.

Now the kicker is that my peers in that department would pitch a fit if they planned something like this and my department was invited by management to participate. Case in point, last January’s pancake breakfast. They had one and we had to hold our own on a different day as to not interfere with theirs. They really are a group of manky gobshite gits.

Well the manky gobshite gits got upset with me because I said “NO!” That’s right, I said I was not going to do the cooking and overseeing of a food distribution of about 300 people estimated to be here by myself. I said that if they want to come in and bring their own damn grill and do their own damn cooking, they are more than welcome too. If the people that have are coming in to help with claims processing and are putting in over 5 hours, I’d feed them too. But I am, nay, I WILL not solo handle this entire thing. Now of course because I stupidly pointed out to management I was doing this alone, they are making some of the peers in my department come in and stay the afternoon, despite my saying they didn’t need to. But my peers from the other department are refusing to, so they today decided they were not going to participate. Happy me.

Anyways I went shopping based on 40 people, and then one person added 5 more. Fortunately it worked out just right that I’ll have enough for exactly 45 people, no extras.

And when upper management returns to the office Friday, I’m giving them an earful. What they did was rude, disrespectful and just down right idiotic. I volunteered to do this for a specific group of people, but they just kept adding on more. It will be a long time before they see me try to do anything nice to help out anyone in that office again. I seem to get burned every time.

Pioneer Black River Red

Lets get this party started! It’s been a rough day and I’ve been daydreaming about this review since 9:00 AM. I started work at 8:45 AM. Yea, it’s that kind of day. Tonight I’ll be reviewing Pioneer Black River Red by the Sand Creek Brewery in Black River Falls Wisconsin. This beer was brought to the beer tasting by Ktreva.

It comes in a standard 12 oz brown bottle. There is a light brown label with the word “Pioneer” most boldly in yell across it. A small black circle with a picture of a guy holding a hoe(?) has the words “Black River” at the top of the circle. A banner goes across the bottom of the circle with the word “Red” in red letters on it.

When poured into a glass it has a nice copperish orange color to it. There is a little bit of cloudiness to it. Light passes through easily enough but images are rather fuzzy. It had a nice off-white head about a half-inch thick that slowly faded into a thin layer on top. There was no real lacing to speak of.

There is a nice roasted malt smell to it. You can also detect a hint of a biscuity smell along with some spicy hops. The taste is a combination of caramel malts and a hint of spicy hops. The flavor is very mild and unobtrusive. What aftertaste there is fades quickly and doesn’t last long.

It is a medium bodied beer. It is a little heavier on the carbonation that I prefer, but it’s not bad.

At the beer tasting this one scored decently, about average. Some people really liked it, others said it was drinkable; I thought it was better than your standard. The flavor on it is very mild, but again this goes as yet another example of why not to do a beer review at a beer tasting. Everyone, including myself, thought it had a very week, almost no flavor to it. Today I can taste it much better. At the beer tasting I gave it a 4. Honestly it’s more like a 5 out of 10.

Putting the cart before the horse.

Every year in July our company has it's annual reviews of all the hourly employees. We give them their reviews and then we give them a merit increase based on how good/bad they did. It sounds like a simple task, and it really should be. Except that the upper management in my office could make flicking a light switch into a ten part process that requires paperwork and approvals from three different people.

This year, because they live to micromanage every aspect of the office. Including giving out the reviews and raises. This year their eternal brilliance decided that those of us that have direct reports have to turn in a spreadsheet of all of our employees, their performance level, current salary, raise percentage, the dollar amount of that percentage and the new salary. They want this so they can approve the raises we give, even though corporately we are locked into how big or small of a raise we could give. Sounds easy enough, except there's one thing. This was due today.

We were only able to get the data for their production and quality since the 11th of June for the review period. To make matters worse, the information to do the full review can't be done for another week. That's right, they want us to figure out what kind of salary they do prior to being able to do a complete and total review of the individual.

When I questioned this decision I was told, "You pretty much already know how your people are going to do. Just go with that."

Anyone that knows me knows that I don't just make guesses or snap decisions when it comes to things that are going to have a direct impact on other people. Especially when it comes to the fairness of salary increases. I want data. I want facts. I want to make sure each person is getting what the have earned. That means I HAVE to do a full review prior to figuring out their raise.

Let me give you an example. Overtime. I take the amount of overtime a person works into consideration. We have so many "required" hours a year. Plus there is a lot of voluntary hours. One of the things I touch in on the review is the number of OT hours that my people work. If they aren't doing at least the minimum required then I start docking part of the raise the lesser they work OT. However, I also adding to it if they work a lot of OT and are productive. If they work a lot of OT and aren't productive, then I also start docking.

Last year I was sure that I knew that four of my people's OT figures were. I had two that always worked OT and two that never worked OT... or so I thought. While writing their review I discovered that Employee A, whom I thought wasn't working OT, actually put in twice the minimum required. They just never spoke about it and were very quite. Employee B, whom I thought was putting in a lot of OT actually was doing less then the minimum, they were just very vocal when they did OT and made a show of it. Employee C, whom I knew did a lot of OT was so unproductive on OT that I ended up banning her from working it for three months. Employee D, which never worked OT, actually never worked OT and was always trying to weasel out of it.

Basically out of the four I thought I was sure on, I only got one right. So what I "knew" wasn't exactly correct. You get my point, if I had done the raises prior to the review two people would have received raises more then they earned, and a third would have received one less than what they earned.

Well since they want me to do it their way, I just decided to save myself time and I'm giving all of my people the maximum raise they could have earned based on their production and quality. Hell it's a merit increase, why should their merit have anything to do with it?

Canoe Trip

I spent a weekend with Petey and Wil and my butt is sore! Well, I guess I should explain that. I went on a canoe trip last weekend. Petey and Wil were on the same trek. Actually Wil put the trip together. Well most of that trip is sitting on your butt. In fact the canoe I sat in had a seat that was about 4 inches wide. That was just a little too narrow for my behind to be comfortable on.

Overall it was a good trip, I had a lot of fun. Then again looking at the company I kept there is almost no way I was not going to have fun. The weather was beautiful, and the scenery was picturesque. Heck, I took over 120 pictures and 80 some of them turned out pretty darn good. Now I'm not going to post all of the pictures, but I do have some up over at the Spoon and Blade, along with a really crappy map of our route.

Now I know that some of the guys I went on the trip with read this blog, and I don't want them to take this the wrong way, but this canoe trek was more of a canoe float. I think my paddle spent more time out of the water than in it. In fact I know I made the comment at least once I thought it was getting dry rot. Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with sitting back and relaxing on the river. You can put me in a tube and give me a cooler full of beer and I'm a happy man, but sitting for hours in a canoe is just kind of boring. First off your legs and butt get sore. It's not like you can stand up, stretch and move about. So you are constantly shifting trying not to be too uncomfortable. You're also trying not to flip the canoe. Also just sitting there watching the banks go by gets a little tiresome. I know it's been years since I've done a canoe trip, but I was looking forward to the paddling.

That being sad, I really did have a wonderful time. I'm really looking forward to going next year and doing the last leg of the river. I know that next year I need to bring more whiskey with. The two bottles of Dragon's milk and the bottle of corn squeezin's I brought with were gone on the first night. Hey, don't look at me, I had a lot of help drinking it. I've also got to figure out a way to store beer in a barrel with out it leaking out or going bad. There has to be a way and I'm going to figure it out!

MEME, oh my.

My latest spawn, Petey, has tagged me with a meme, I’m not sure what I’ve done to him, but since it’s been a while, I’m going to play along.

The rules:

1. Post the rules of the game at the beginning.
2. Each player answers the questions about themselves.
3. At the end of the post, the player then tags five people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read the player’s blog.
4. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.

What were you doing five years ago?

Five years ago at this time I was in a great amount of pain that I kept hid from my family really well. I had jacked up my knee something fierce in 2000 and had refused to have the surgery they wanted done on it because I had just started a new position and couldn’t afford to take the time off of work. By June of 2003 I was seeing an orthopedic specialist and taking oxycontin for the pain. I had worn away all of the cartilage in my knee and had bone grinding on bone. I ended up having knee surgery in August 2003.

What are five things on your to-do list for today?
1) Finish packing my gear for the canoe trip I’m going to take with Petey and Wil. I’m pretty sure they are planning on tying me to a log and leaving me in the middle of the river… after trying to have their way with me.
2)Drink Beer.
3)Do the dishes.
4)Drink moonshine.
5) Try to talk Ktreva into doing that thing I like a lot that she hardly ever does, but is really good at it. I mean I am going to be gone with a bunch of guys for three days!

What are five snacks you enjoy?
1) Beer
2) Whiskey
3) Ice Cream
4) Popcorn
5) Chips and dip.

What are five things you would do if you were a billionaire?

1) Pay off the debts of myself, my immediate family, my closets friends and a couple of random people that I think just need a break.
2) Buy a large plot of land and build my dream house on it including an area to host my own rendezvous.
3) Open my own bar. If I’m already a Billionaire I don’t care if I make a lot of money at it, I just want a place to hang out that I really like. He’ll I probably wouldn’t even work there!
4) Help various Boy Scout and youth organizations financially. I’d set up a fund so that each year various groups meeting the criteria could get new equipment, money for camps or for what ever various projects they have. NO STRINGS ATTACHED (Glares angrily at the United Way.) If we want to turn America’s youth around, we need to bring back the support for these organizations.
5) Try to talk Ktreva into doing that thing I like a lot that she hardly ever does, but is really good at it. You just don’t understand, she’s really good at it, and she just doesn’t do it that often. Maybe if I were a Billionaire she’d do it more often!

What are five of your bad habits?
1) I drink… a lot.
2) I tend to let my emotions hold up until I burst letting them out on someone (who usually deserves it). IE how many times I’ve gone to sensitivity class.
3) I bite my fingernails.
4) When I meet someone new I profile them and decide if I’m going to get along with them or not usually with in the first 5 minutes. My first opinion rarely changes.
5) I keep trying to talk Ktreva into doing that thing I like a lot that she hardly ever does, but is really good at it. Look, I’d smash my left testicle with a hammer and still enjoy it… she’s that good!

What are five places where you have lived?
1) Cherry Valley, IL
2) Macomb, IL
3) Rockford, IL.
4) Yea… that’s it. I’m not giving you individual address.
5)

What are five jobs you’ve had? (A short list)
1) Welders Assistant.
2) Cell Phone assembly worker.
3) Law-enforcement.
4) Inventory Specialist (Management)
5) Supervisor. (No, I’m not telling you where. If you don’t know where I work already, that’s because we haven’t met face to face.)

Okay…

Five people to tag huh. Let’s go with Bloodspite, Shadoglare, Richmond, Harvey, and Roses. Because I care.

BlogCrawl 2008

Alright folks, it's months away but it's time to mark the calendars and start to get things ready. The next BlogCrawl is going to be Scheduled on Saturday September 20th, 2008!

The day's activities will start off with the second annual BlogCrawl shooting fest at the Buffalo Range in Ottawa, IL. This is open to anyone that wants to go shooting, even if you don't want to do the rest of the activities. If you are interested in carpooling with me, we'll make arrangements when the time gets closer.

After shooting we can all get together for a Beer Tasting. Taking in some of the lessons I learned from the last event, we'll only be tasting six beers before getting to business. The actual Beer Tasting will be RSVP. You need to let me know if you want to participate in the beer tasting and if you want to supply one of the beers. The deadline for this will be September 1st. If you want to come and socialize and just hang out, you are more then welcome and you don't need to RSVP.

After the Beer Tasting we will have an open party. In stead of going to a bar, we'll be building a fire and drinking beer here. I have a computer and wireless so we can all comment together for the actual BlogCrawl.

Please go out and spread the word, I'd like to see more participants than last year.

Oscar's Chocolate Oatmeal Stout

Tonight I was in the mood for a little something darker, so I actually dug through the stock pile and pulled out Oscar’s Chocolate Oatmeal Stout by the Sand Creek Brewing Company in Black River Falls, WI (Hey Company guys, this is up by winter camp!) This is another Beer Tasting left over. Graumagus of the now defunct Frizzen Sparks provided us with this beer, this also is his first donation and puts him up on the Enablers list. He is now part of an elite few.

This beer comes in a standard 12 oz brown bottle. The lable is brown with a picture of a bears head in an oval. Oscar’s Stout is prominent across the center. In the top of the oval are the words Chocolate Oatmeal. At the very bottom is the picture of bear’s footprint.

There is a nice dark brown color to the beer, light passes through with difficulties around the edge of the glass. Even though you can’t see through it, it is thin enough that you can see that it appears to be clear. There was a nice inch thick tan head when I poured it. It was dense and made up of tiny bubbles. It slowly faded, but there was still some head when I finished the beer 15 minutes after pouring it. Lacing did form on the side of the glass that lasted for a while.

The smell is a mix of roasted malts, chocolate, coffee and oatmeal. It has a taste that starts off as a mix of dark chocolate with a coffee finish. There is a touch of bitterness that enhances the flavors and really opens it up to the pallet. The flavor leaves a mild aftertaste that isn’t distracting.

This is a medium bodied beer. There is a creaminess to it that coats the mouth. However, for a stout this is a bit on the light and watery side. It is still heavier than your average beer.

This is one of the beers that scored really well at the tasting. At that time I gave it a 7 and I’m going to stick with that rating. It’s a solid stout, good for drinking by itself or with a sandwich. Definitely a 7 out of 10.

Winnebago County Considers concealed carry

For those of you that don't live in the state of Illinois, or even if you do, you may not have heard but the Winnebago County Board is considering approving it's own concealed carry law. For those of you that don't know, Winnebago county is where Rockford is located, my home city. This goes against the laws that the State of Illinois has in place. Illinois is one of only 48 2 states that doesn't have some kind of concealed carry law or permit. The other is Wisconsin.

Now, none of this is new information. As you can see in the above article which was dated May 8th, 2008, this has been discussed or written about a lot over the last month. Over at IllinoisCarry.com they have a whole thread dedicated to this topic. If none of this is new, why am I posting about it?

They had another meeting with the sub-committee on it tonight. Unfortunately I was not able to attend due to work and family. Since I was not able to attend, I thought I would voice my opinion on the whole matter here. Plus if I did attend, they would have limited me to two minutes and anyone that knows me knows I can't introduce myself in under two minutes!

First off I applaud Doug Aurand, D-3, and Randy Olson, R-1 who are chairing this committee. It's nice to see two politicians of different parties putting lines behind them and doing something that not only is right, but also actually beneficial for the community. In this state of strong anti-firearm sentiment, AKA Chicago dictating policy to the rest of the state, to have two politicians buck the questionable legislation in this state to keep firearms out of the hands of honest, law abiding citizens is refreshing!

Secondly, anyone that has done any reasonable research into gun control knows that concealed carry actually does deter crime! There are numerous sights that support this, one of the better free online resources is GunFacts.info. There are other sites out there that also confirm the fire arm statistics. It's hard to argue with the statistics, well you can if you want to completely just ignore they exist. Firearms in the hands of honest citizens that own them legally deter crime, plain and simple.

Now I know that if Winnebago county passes this, the State of Illinois will bring down it's full wrath upon it for going against them. The whole thing will end up in the courts and what not. I'm hoping that this legislation and, more than likely, upcoming lawsuit is something that brings about freedom to the rest of us living in Illinois.

It will let us take back our streets.
It will let us take back our neighborhoods.
It will let us take back our cities!

And more than likely, it won't be because we fired a gun, but because criminals hate an armed populous and the fear of honest, armed citizens will push them back into their holes.

Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy

It’s time for our first extra-curricular beer review! Tonight we have Summer Shandy (Not shanty as the ladies like to yell at us drunks when we miss pronounced it at the Beer Tasting!) by the Leinenkugel’s brewery in Chippewa Falls, WI. This beer(?) was provided by blogspawn Bruce. Why am I questioning calling this a beer? Because it is “Beer with natural lemonade flavor”. Yea, it’s beer and lemonade.

We have the standard 12 oz brown bottle. There is a yellow label on it that has the standard Leinie’s design. You can see a lake with a boat on it in the background. There are lemons in the upper right corner and on the bottom ribbon there is a lemon flanked by wheat stalks.

It pours a murky pale yellow color. It’s cloudy enough you can’t see through it, yet it still lets light pass through. There was a half-inch head on it that faded to a ring around the edge of the glass. There is some lacing, but not very much.

The smell is a combination of overly sweet lemonade and cereal grains. Mostly what you smell is the lemonade. Fortunately the taste isn’t as strong as the smell; in fact the taste is rather weak. What you do taste is lemonade and cereal. It’s almost like someone spilled lemonade in a wheat beer.

It’s hard to describe the body of the beer, because it is a mix, but I’d say its light bodied. For the body it has, the carbonation was a bit on the heavy side.

Overall this is going in my “not a beer” category. In and of itself it’s not horribly bad; I’ve had much worse. Yet at the same time if you are looking for a beer with beer flavor, you are not going to be pleasantly surprised by this.

As a beer I’m giving this a 2.5 out of 10. As an alcoholic beverage I give it a 4 out of 10. At the Beer Tasting I rated it a 3 out of 10.

By the way, Bruce... the next beer you donate better be at least a 5 you son of a beaotch! out of the seven beers you've donated you're average score is a 3! You're damn lucky I'm not giving you credit for the Chelada!

It was relaxing.

My parents took Clone to the Rockford Airshow yesterday. They picked him up around 10 AM. They also kept him so that Ktreva and I could hit the Raptor's game together last night. Since they knew it was going to be a late night they offered to keep him until Sunday morning and they would drop him off after church. Basically we had 24 hours of no kids!

As two child free adults what do we do?

Go for a nice lunch in a sit down restaurant, go see a movie, meet up with two of my three blogspawn, Petey and Bruce at Carlyle's, hit the football game and end up having a camp fire in the backyard. And finally sleeping until a storm called us from bed.

Yea, I realize we were pretty lame.

That's what I'll get Ktreva for her birthday!

Guys, do you have a hard time finding the perfect gift for that special someone in your life. I always say, "You can never go wrong with jewelry." Well that was until today. Because today I found OctopusME! Jewelry made from REAL Octopus!

Thank you so much for stopping by the OctopusME! Store where most of the jewelry is made from REAL Octopus!!

The Octopus is a symbol of Transformation and Regeneration. Because of its reputation of changing colors to match its backgrounds, the octopus is also known as the Master of Disguise. Octopuses also have the power to regenerate. If an octopus loses an arm in battle it can grow a new one. Some can even detach and arm to distract predators and then grow another! Don't mess with the octopus because they can stun or kill you with one poisonous bite. The poison is called tetrodotoxin which is the same as Fugu, the puffer fish served in Japan. So treat your Octopus with Love!

Dirty Fingers Rock!!! : )

(o)(o)(o) (suction sound)

OctopusME!

Yea, I'm not thinking any of the ladies that I know would want something like this. Really, I don't.

Just a quick SciFi fix.

This is a compilation of different "space battles." Some of the scenes aren't in space and some of them aren't battles. Like the space station blowing up in Armageddon. There is a lot from the Star Wars sagas in there, but there are also from other movies, including Serenity.

The music is pretty good too.

Pissing the game away

Not that I play golf, because I don't, or that I would have this problem, because I wouldn't, but I found this interesting. The Uroclub.

How many times has this happened? You arrive at the golf course, and soon you’re on to 18 holes with your best buddies. After drinking sport ades, water, beer, and whatever, you’re on the 3rd hole with no rest room in sight. There are no trees or bushes around and you just gotta go, what are you going to do?

Basically it's a piss can made to look like a golf club.

Every aspect of this piece of equipment has been meticulously worked out to make it simple and trouble free to use. To start with, the UroClub™ is designed from a light weight resin with a molded grip. The cap opens and closes easily and is designed with a triple sealing system to ensure that it is leak proof.

The privacy shield hooks to the sides of the pants or belt and adds stability. This allows freedom of the hands to manipulate the club and zipper.

The entire club is made of a non-porous material. Therefore, caring and cleaning is effortless!

The UroClub™ is intended to eliminate anxiety and any feeling of uneasiness on the course. It can be emptied at the nearest restroom or later on, when the golfer returns home.

Capacity: Over half a liter, twice the volume commonly urinated.

Length: Like a standard 7 Iron

I give them credit for the genius behind the idea, but honestly when I did golf and something like this happened to me... I really did just pee in front of everyone. I maybe shy, but my bladder is not.

Grrrrrr Arrrrggggh... Sexy?

Okay, I thought I had posted this years ago, but I can't find it in my archive. As we all know I have a bit of a zombie infatuation. Yes, I admit that it may be a bit on the unhealthy side, but that's okay. It could be worse, It could be candles.

Much to Ktreva's chagrin, friends of mine encourage my obsession with zombies by sending me news stories or articles. Well this morning I log on the computer and T1G sent me a link to Zombie Pinups.

Yea, Ktreva is not going to like this at all.

Whew, it's over.

Lets see... two days of non-stop interviewing and most of the candidates really just wasted my time. I mean seriously people my partner and I felt embarrassed for these people after the interviews. I finally finished it off. After interviewing 15 candidates I had only one that was passable to the second round. ONE!

If I wasn't interviewing I was in stupid meetings. It was either on topics that didn't involve me or were just so drawn out by the gaggle of women I work with each having to voice their exact same opinion as the person before them only using slightly different word combinations. I seriously started dozing off in one of the meetings. When someone asked me a question and pulled me awake, I just honestly said, "Sorry.... I was sleeping." After that I kept asking some of my peers that I liked if they wanted to go for a beer after work. Unfortunately no one could take me up on it.

Bruce then contacted me and asked if I wanted to go to Fritz's tonight. Hells yeah! So right now I'm waiting for him to get off of work so we can head down for some frosty beer goodness.

And since it's seriously warm in the house right now and humid as all hell. A good beer in a bar sounds mighty perfect.

Extra Beer reviews.

After tonight I’m starting a twice a week beer review. I have a backlog of beers to review and with it being summer, I want to drink them before they start to skunk on me. I’m going to keep with my standard Wednesday beer review, but I’m going to throw an extra one in sometime during the week. It will fit in whenever I decide to do one.

Rogue Mocha Porter

Tonight we have another beer from the Beer Tasting. It is Mocha Porter by the Rogue Brewing Company in Newport, Oregon. Shadoglare gets credit for providing tonight’s beer.

It comes in the standard 12 oz brown bottle. There is a black label with the word Rogue in large red letters across it. In the top in a slight arch in blue is “Mocha Porter”. The bottom center of the picture is a guy in a blue shirt holding up a clinched fist and holding a mug of beer. There is also a star with a yellow border in the middle of the O on rogue.

When poured into the glass, it has a nice dark brown color to it. It’s almost black. Light barely passes through and it’s so dark you can’t tell if there is any cloudiness to it at all. . It poured a three quarter inch tan head that faded to a film on the top of the glass. No lacing was noticeable.

The first thing you smell is a strong scent of hops. It is followed by a kind of sweet chocolate. The first thing you taste is bitter hops, but it turns to a dark chocolate flavor. There is a roasted malt accent that comes through as your drink it as well. It has a very dry finish. The after taste is a bit bitter.

This is a nice medium bodied beer. There is some creaminess to it. The carbonation isn’t over done.

I liked this beer at the tasting. It’s not too bitter for a beer, but in my opinion it is too bitter for a porter. Porter should be a bit maltier and less hops. Easily drank with just a very mild hint of bitterness. At the beer review I gave this a 5.5. It was the seventh overall beer of the event. After giving it a proper review, I’m giving this 6 out of 10.

Another day down.

I've been spread so thin at work that there is really almost no chance for me to successfully get anything accomplished. Too many projects, too little time, not enough resources. I'm almost getting the feeling they are trying to set me up for a fall.

I'd say they were, but my office management isn't that devious. Hell, I'm the one they use for such plans.

Needless to say, I just got done killing a crap load of robots in Robokill and now I plan on kicking back a beer or twelve.

A New Mortar Maiden.

I have a new Mortar Maiden up, Liosag MacNamara. The sad things is that the young lady that posed with the mortar did it three years ago. After I've used a series of photos from one girl, I move them to my "used" folder. Somehow I accidentally moved hers into that section. While cleaning out the files today, I found them. So, better late then never.

I know, it's about time!

I finally got around today, a month later, to updating the Spoon and Blade with pictures and reviews for the last two re-enactments I did, The Gathering at Macktown and Bloody Lake. If you want to see some photos and just read the stories, head on over.

That's just not right...

...funny, but not right. I'll warn you now, that this video has mature content and could be questionable for work. There is no nudity nor harsh language. All I can say is that this is one warped babysitter.