Sorry for the absence....

Again, I find myself back at the keyboard, apologizing for my disappearance from this blog. Life has been challenging for my family and me this year, and I found I was writing this blog out of a sense of commitment, rather than for my enjoyment. I think I'm at a point where I would like to get back to it. I may not post every day, but I will be visiting here more frequently.

Happy New Year

Well, I went on a bit of a blog hiatus and decided to come back for the New Year. Happy New Year to everyone reading these posts!

Virus False Alarm

Well, it appears that I decimated my blog videos for no reason. According to some info I have received, the problem was due to a false positive from my Anti-virus software. What a waste. Oh well...

Virus problems at Youtube?

I just discovered that a virus had attached itself to each of my Youtube videos in my blog, so unfortunately, I had to delete them all. I don't understand what happened, but I nuked all my funny commercials because I didn't want to deal with a !%#$ virus.

A Week without blogging....

Well, my "real" job dragged me kicking and screaming out of Florida this past week, so I've been unable to do any blogging. Thankfully, I'm back home for the foreseeable future, so my entries should become more consistent again.

Strange Brew Tavern in Manchester, NH

A few weeks ago, my wife and I went on a vacation in New Hampshire, to celebrate our 27th anniversary. We spent a couple of nights in Manchester, and while there, met some friends of ours (two couples) who were also celebrating anniversaries that week. Since one of the couples was honoring their first year of marriage, they went all out and rented a limo for the night. We got to ride along in style, and we had our own official designated driver. After a great dinner at a local wine and fondue restaurant, we headed to downtown Manchester to a bar called "Strange Brew Tavern". My wife and I aren't much for the bar scene, but we decided to tag along. "Strange Brew" was very crowded that night, and had a live blues band performing. The blues band was very good, but the main attraction was the beer selection! They had over 65 different beers on tap - including local microbrews, such as Smuttynose, Woodstock Inn, and Ipswich - as well as imports from England, Germany, Quebec, and Belgium. Their list of bottled beers was even more extensive! Unfortunately, by the time we arrived, we had already had more beer than I normally drink in a week, so I limited myself to 1 beer - Stone Brewing's Smoked Porter. It was nice and roasty with enough smoke flavor to live up to its name. Shortly after finishing our beer, the limo had to be retired for the evening, so we headed back to the hotel. Since getting back home to Florida, my wife picked up a copy of Imbibe Magazine, and found "Strange Brew Tavern" listed as one of the top 100 places to drink beer in America. It's the only 1 on the list that I've been to, so I guess I better start working on the list! If you're ever in Manchester, check it out.

The new issue is here!

I just received the new issue of "Brew Your Own" magazine, the "How-to Homebrew Beer Magazine". As usual, there are lots of interesting articles and recipes. The most interesting recipe I've found is for "Hop Hammer Imperial IPA". If you've been reading this blog for a while, you know that IPA's are one of my favorite styles of beer. "Hop Hammer" uses 5 different varieties of hops, and creates a beer with an alcohol level of 8.8% abv. I will definitely be trying this recipe! There's also an article on how to build a great kegerator with 10 taps! It looks like a piece of furniture. If you're a homebrewer, you should take a look at "Brew Your Own" when you get an opportunity. You can even get a free trial copy from their website - www.byo.com.

SURPRISE!!

Today started out as a pretty normal Sunday, except that my sister and brother-in-law are down from New York, on vacation. Being a good sister, she brought me some Saranac, and some beer from a brewery I was unfamiliar with - Otter Creek Brewing, which is in Vermont. We ate a late breakfast, and had plans to do an early dinner at my daughter's house, so my sister could see her niece's new home. I decided to go do some shopping, in preparation for my 50th birthday, which is coming up in a week, so my sister and her husband and I jumped in the car and took a ride. Our shopping trip ended just in time to get to my daughter's home at the designated time. I knocked on the door, and as I was let into the house - SURPRISE!! My family had thrown me a surprise birthday party for my 50th. I was floored! Totally clueless! I never suspected a thing. It was a great party, with good friends and family, lots of good food, and plenty of good beer. I was touched that they had planned this for me, and I had a great time. When I knew I would be just in time for "dinner", I asked my wife to bring one of the new Otter Creek beers with her to go along with my meal. So the first beer I had was Otter Creek's Stovepipe Porter, a roasty robust version of the style. I then switched to Flying Dog's Snake Dog - a very snappy, hoppy IPA. I cut myself off at 3 beers, so I picked a classic - Samuel Adams Boston Lager. I think this is one of the best lagers on the planet. The time flew by, the party ended, and I think everyone left smiling. I had a great early birthday! And now I know why my wife wanted me to get a haircut!

The AC is back!!

Well, my AC is back from the dead. The repairman took all of 30 seconds to spot the problem - a capacitor that had swollen due to a possible lightning strike. Come to think of it, there was a lot of thunder around the time we noticed that the house was getting hot. Thankfully, the capacitor was 63.00 rather than the 300.00 he estimated for the fan motor. Sometimes, luck does fall your way!