Friday, July 25, 2003

 

Just waylaw any fears of Jack Bog, I'm a Tri-Met kind of a guy and I'll be bussing it home from the Beer Fest this evening.

Full report tonight..er...more likely tomorrow.

posted by The Brooklynite 8:57 AM

Thursday, July 24, 2003

 

Tomorrow is Brew Fest Time!!! Here's some of the brews I intend to try:

Double Dry Hopped IPA from Boundary Bar Brewery in Bellingham, WA
Demolition Ale from Goose Island in Chicago which they claim to be a Strong Golden Ale
Ramstein Blonde Hefe-Weizen from a brewery in New Jersey
Organic Green Elephant from Laurelwood right here in Portland
Skull Splitter from Rogue (they always make a special batch recipe just for the fest; they claim this one to be an Imperial Schwarzbier)
Ruination IPA from Stone Brewing home of Arrogant Bastard Ale
Domaine Dupage which is supposedly a French Country Ale, anybody bold enough to associate with the French these days deserves a taster


And many more, though I'm most excited about Rogue's special batch.

I hope to get out of work early (between 2 and 3 pm), but unfortunately I cannot guarantee that. I will head there straight from work no matter what. If you come down to taste a few, I'm the skinny guy with short black hair, small glasses, khaki shorts and a green tye-dyed Sierra Nevada shirt. My domain name website (as opposed to this blogsite) has picture that is a couple of years old but I'm recognizeable in the photo.

Woo Hoo! You scream, I scream, we all scream for GREAT BEERS!!

posted by The Brooklynite 5:06 PM

Wednesday, July 23, 2003

 

So Vera says she is not a lame duck mayor. Well, if I wanted something done that she opposed and could afford to wait, I'd just laugh at her and wait out the rest of her lame duck term. Sayonara, Vera. My previous rants have said enough about her. I generally like Earl but I worry that he has lost touch while serving in D.C. I'm no fan of Francesconi. Maybe Jake will run again? How about Charles Jordan?

Last week's Business Journal had an interesting interview with my former ultimate boss, Bill Furman, CEO of Greenbrier (parent corp. of Gunderson, Inc. where I was a mechanical engineer for 12 years). I'd link to it but they require registration and I that mostly annoys me. The gist of Bill's message was that manufacturing was being left behind even though it provides a huge percentage of employment in Portland. I agree on that point but his "solution" was murky at best. Anybody who read this interview and understand the business/political climate of Portland, I'd love to hear what you think. [I've got to get around to upgrading this site so that I can add comments.]

posted by The Brooklynite 4:13 PM

Tuesday, July 22, 2003

 

Just spent the last 1-1/2 hours pulling weeds and disentangling morning glories from volunteer cherry tomato plants. I like weeding. It's a solitary activity that takes patience and gives you time to think. Morning glories as a metaphor for life's complications. If you don't stay on top of things (emotionally, financially, etc) the morning glories will tangle up in everything and then you have to work that much harder to clean 'em out.

I've been conemplating Bhuddism lately. My last two fiction readings have helped push me in that direction and my last book just reinforced my view of most organized religions (IMHO organized religion has mostly become mysoginistic, patriarchal, controlling, spiritual rip-offs; and for context, I was raised Catholic including long stints as a non-abused altar boy with cool priests who have all since left the priesthood). The zealots of all religions (fundamentalists christians, catholics, islamists and even hippies) piss me off. It's all: "I'm right and you're wrong so I'm going to devoutly kick your ass." I think if folks got two basic things, love and education, we'd all be a lot better off. [this rant should attract some attention]

time for dinner with my SO, love of my life, now 100% live-in roommate. Take a moment and enjoy who you love.

posted by The Brooklynite 8:19 PM

Monday, July 21, 2003

 

This morning, the nice man from Heiberg Garbage & Recylcing reclaimed the drop box, now brimming with yard debris, moldy plywood and other miscellaneous bits of garbage. My two-car driveway is at least back to a one-car driveway (as opposed to a large pile of yard debris). And, I'll move the lumber over a bit this week and A & I will be able to park both our cars there. I'm sore and tired and on my second cup of coffee, but I got it done. The rest of this week will be spent disentangling the dreaded morning glories from my flowers and vegetables as well as general weeding and upkeep. And then a fine reward on Friday at Waterfront Park: great beer and lots of it.

I watched the final ascent of this morning's stage in the Tour de France. Finally, Lance got out of the saddle and showed us the magic of the previous 4 years, walking away Jan Ullrich and that was after a minor crash when Lance first started his attack. It was awesome to watch. Ullrich is in big trouble. I don't think he can afford to attack on the last hilly stage on Wednesday. He'll have to completely rely on the time trial on Saturday and IMHO that will not be enough. A completely dehydrated Lance (losing 15 pounds over 46k!!) still finished second to Jan last week. A properly hydrated and strong Lance will most likely obliterate Jan.

Happy Monday everbody (all one or two of you if I'm lucky). Time to grind my nose on the stone some more.

posted by The Brooklynite 10:50 AM