I added some pictures. There's an Estiah write-up in the works along with a site re-write in Python. I'll probably update my static pages since they are 4 months old and I'm starting to get comfortable at work. Things are going well in the office and I'm keeping busy!
Finally, I'm on a small break from drinking in an effort to work out more and drop 10 lbs for summer so I probably won't have any beer updates for the next month. I'm not a big fan of pilsner season so its probably good timing. I'm up to 176 lbs after a fun weekend with some family.
The main focus of this grand website update is the photo album added here.
Our mothers visited us for Thanksgiving to escape the cold weather emanating from the midwest frozen tundra. The highlights of that trip were an excellent meal cooked by the Buell side of the family, a trip to the Ginger Man pub in Uptown, and several trips to the dog park. The Ginger Man pub is an elegant bar built into an old home similar to other Uptown businesses and it has an amazing atmosphere with a good selection of beer and the only cask conditioned ale I've found in Dallas. This trip inspired me to stake out their new location in the Shops at Legacy in Plano for my birthday celebration in January (more on that later).
I had the opportunity to take 3 weeks off between jobs in December so Mackenzie and I ended up in Omaha with our family and friends. Midway through the trip we were buried by 14 inches of snowand barely made it out alive. The people in Omaha are amazing but I'm not coming back next December. In Dallas the weather is a cool 50 degrees and I can run outside!
Fortunately there was good news: The Nebraska Cornhuskers stomped on Arizona during the holiday bowl and solidified their end of season ranking. Yet again Ndomukong Suh put on a stellar performance in preparation for the NFL. The thing that impresses me most about this man is how humble he is; he's a team player and he genuinely appreciates the Nebraska fans.
Some of the pictures added in today's album comes from my 25th birthday celebration with several of Mackenzie's classmates and Dawn, the recent Council Bluffs to Oklahoma City transplant. We had dinner at Naan, a four star Korean and Sushi restaraunt in the Shops at Legacy and ended the evening at the Ginger Man pub. The dinner was probably the best meal of my life and we ended up trying nearly every obscure sashimi item on their menu. The Ginger Man depended on outdoor seating and it was a rainy evening so we didn't have an excellent experience. The highlight of the bar was my first taste of a Cask Conditioned Saint Arnold Elissa IPA. I'll spare the review for beer nerds, but cask conditioned ales are naturally carbonated by fermentation in a cask rather than having air pumped into them via a traditional tap or keg. They are very agitated on the pour so the texture is not typical of a keg poured or bottled beer.
In addition to the Saint Arnold cask conditioned IPA I've had the pleasure of tasting the following beers since my last update, with reviews pending on several of them:
- Bomber - Rogue Double IPA (steel bottle)
- Bomber - Lagunitas 2009 Correction Ale
- Bottle - Harpoon Leviathon IPA
- Bottle - Samual Adams Imperial Stout
- Bottle - Bear Republic Racer 5 IPA
- Draft - Maredsous 8
- Draft - Bridgeport IPA
- Draft - Stone Ruination IPA
- Draft - Harpoon Leviathon IPA
- Draft - Saint Arnold Winter Stout
- Draft - Saint Arnold Divine Reserve #9
The final topic of this evening is running. My Five Fingers shoes have been killing my legs below the knee in a good way. I'm able to comfortably run 10k stretches in these shoes but the blisters have been bad - its worse than breaking in a traditional pair of shoes because the callouses are not formed in the same areas. My toes went numb this evening from cold and water as well, so these are probably not recommended for all-weather running. My calf muscles have never been this worked in my life and my running form is improving by the day. When I first ran in these shoes I landed heavily on my heel but now it is a very fluid roll from heel to toe with very little impact. I've signed up for a half marathon in April and I have a tentative plan to run a Dallas marathon in December of 2010. Wish me luck!
This weekend I had a bomber each of Chimay Ale (red) and Ska Brewing Company (CO)'s Decadent Imperial IPA. The Chimay was great as expected and it was a nice break from IPA hop overload I've been experiencing lately. As far as flavorful beers go its hard to get much better than Chimay's complex flavors and malty texture. The Decadent Imperial IPA on the other hand wasn't so great. I get the idea that the brewer kept adding hops just for kicks and lost track of time based on the 10% ABV. If there were some bold flavors to support the bitterness it could have been a great beer, but alas all I could taste was alcohol near the end of the glass. Its quite a shame that the beer tasted quite good when served around 40 degrees but I have a hard time getting through 22oz of bitter imperial IPA before it warms and exposes the ethanol. On Sunday night I finished the weekend's beer tourism with a visit to a brewpub in Fort Worth called The Covey...
The Covey review in Fort Worth, TX
We stumbled upon this Restaurant and Brewery simply by driving in the area. It looks very upscale and reminded me of the Upstream based on the fixtures outside so I wasn't surprised to see the white table cloths in the restaurant and pub area. We opted to sit in the bar to watch the Cowboys (they lost) and browsed the menu of Texas exotic game offerings while drinking some great brews. Pheasant Quesadillas, anyone? I started with the Smokestack Stout seasonal and it was amazing except for one problem: It, and the 3 other beers at our table were all served without a lick of head. How does a brewery charging $5 per glass get the pour so wrong? Oh well, this was the one and only strike against the place and we really enjoyed our visit. Our server checked up on us often and was very nice and knowledgable. She touted the Buffalo, Antelope, and Kangaroo trio of wild game but Mackenzie and I resisted the nearly overwhelming temptation. Instead we had chips with salsa, cheese, and guacamole, French Onion soup, and the Southwestern Stuffed Avocado. The soup was served with bread chips and was very rich with flavor and the avocado luckily was served without any kangaroo.
The Covey was expensive compared to every other brewpub I've visited. I consider the Upstream in Omaha to be too pricey but we nearly doubled the typical tab. My growler with bottle rental totaled at $23 - that's $5.75 per pint in my own home. Entrees were all $20+ but most of them featured cute, fluffy animals that I really had no interest in eating. I just wanted the beer, man. I also didn't like how each of their beers were priced differently ($3.50 to $7 if I recall correctly). All told Mackenzie and I paid nearly $100 after tip for a split entree, appetizer, soup, salad, 3 beers, and a growler. I probably won't be spending $17 to refill the thing.
NU versus Texas
I have to keep this brief because its getting late but I'm not upset with the referees or Nebraska's performance. I think the Big 12 referees caught Texas with as many undeserved yards as they caught us and they did it in just as bad of a position. Texas' kick return on the 1 yard line was clearly fumbled and we had a solid chance at giving them a safety but their receivers are just too clutch. Come to think of it those receivers won the entire game for them and I wonder what Zac Lee would look like if he had a similar arsenal. NU has some repeat offenders for stupid penalties (looking at you Asante) and it made a difference in the game. The horse collar tackle can't be considered unexpected given this guy's history but I'm not sure about the kick out of bounds. Every place kicker will kick a ball out of bounds once in a while, this one just happened at the absolute worst possible time. No doubt the air inside Cowboys Stadium has different characteristics than Memorial Stadium. I'm upset at the pass interference calls we took but I believe they were forced because we were simply outplayed in a couple of one-on-one situations. The outstanding play of our front four made up for the pass defense by not giving McCoy a chance to think on his feet.
Nebraska and Arizona should be a great bowl game but I'm upset that I won't see NU in Dallas again. The Big 12 championship were $150 each for corner seats on the fourth deck (although the view of the television would have been great!) We have been under-ranked since our loss to Iowa state but we have regained some resolve. I'm worried about Cody Green given his poor performance in the very high pressure snaps he's taken. On one hand I want a quarterback who works as well as Alex Henerey under pressure but I need to be more forgiving of a red shirt who has only played in difficult situations. Maybe he'll get over it before next year.
Four of Six sections of the new site are complete with the career and biography sections falling behind. What else is planned, you ask?
Pictures
We have taken far too many pictures of Gilbert but aside from that there are a few of the family over Thanksgiving. Both my mother and Mackenzie's mother visited for 3 days and we had a fun weekend at the dog park, Ikea, and several restaurants in Addison and Plano.
Beer Reviews
I have reviewed 7 beers thus far and 5 more bombers are chilling in the fridge. I am admittedly a novice at the craft but improving with every drink. This is one of the more entertaining hobbies I have tackled without a doubt! Please check out the beer section of the site and feel free to send me suggestions or comments at bwoodle@gmail.com.
Book Reviews
I'm taking the site in another new direction and writing reviews for the new books I read. I recently finished Chris Jericho's A Lion's Tale and Mick Foley's Foley is Good: And the Real World is Faker than Wrestling, and I'm currently working on McMafia by Misha Glenny. I'm interested in reviewing these books to improve my own writing skills which I feel have faltered a bit since graduation. The final book I am working on is Microsoft Visual C++ Windows Applications by Example to prepare for my new career at Corepoint Health, which brings me to the next section...
Career
My career chapter at Raytheon will be complete at the end of this year. The experience is great and I plan on writing a good recap of it for the career section of this website in the coming weeks. I'll have a 3 week break in between jobs and aside from holiday travel I intend to complete my Blackjack Card Counting Android project, make improvements to the Shadow Warriors website, finish this website, and complete the aforementioned Visual C++ book.
Mackenzie and I have been enjoying a relaxing winter around the house. We've kept Netflix moving (Pineapple Express, Burn After Reading, Raging Bull, Animal House, and more..) and we watch Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations on Monday nights. We're also anxiously awaiting Season 5 of the Office on DVD.
Remember when Gilbert was tiny?
He is twice that size now! 14 pounds and counting. He hasn't been groomed yet so he's a hairy little guy and he loves the snow. Mackenzie has pictures of him running through 7 inches of powder that dropped on Friday.
Mackenzie and I booked flights and a hotel for Las Vegas in the middle of March. I'm saving up money for the Blackjack tables now. At the end of May I'll be going to Washington D.C. and soon after that we will be going on a cruise for our delayed honeymoon.
Last but not least I'm still working on the beer collection:
The main goal is to visit as many breweries as possible and grab a pint glass where available. The current glass collection doesn't go beyond Kansas City, but stay tuned after this year's vacations. I'm also planning on adding a beer list to the site.. if you have any suggestions please feel free to email me - I prefer a good IPA.