[I hoped to publish this yesterday but Blogger FTP is broken. It's been broken for 3 days, which isn't like Google, but I did find a workaround by publishing via the IP.]
Happy New Year everyone! Before you go all wonky on me about the post time, let me say I used future post and didn't write this instead of celebrating. We're actually going super conservative this year because we're trying to save money; a far cry from last year in London. We hope to do something small next year because I'll (hopefully) have just graduated... but this year it's fondue at home.
After reading Jeff's post about his 2008 stats, I decided to do quick year in review. I switched my site usage tracking mid year so I don't have that sort stuff to share (I think only Jeff and I only care about analytics anyway). Since I finally finished tagging all my posts with labels/categories, and had to read all the old posts to do so, I decided to summarize what's happened over the year. I'm pretty sure there are posts for all this stuff if you missed something and really want to read more.
I posted 103 times. That's 1 every 3.5 days.
We traveled to England, Japan, California and Hawaii.
I had somewhere between 2 and 4 boss changes. I honestly lost count.
I delved into the world of smartphones with a BlackBerry Pearl.
I turned 30 and had a great time doing so.
I took 2,550 pictures with my Nikon D70.
My Living Healthy campaign continued and I got halfway to my goal of 20% mass reduction.
I sold the Audi and got a new Subaru.
I competed in my 82nd through 89th amateur car races.
I served as a best man in two weddings... for the same couple.
I completed 25% of the requirements for a Masters in IST.
I developed somewhat of an obsession with Allagash beer.
We welcomed a new niece to the family.
We celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary.
Last night, I had Corsendonk's Abbey Pale Ale and while I'd love to share my thoughts I don't really remember a lot about it. I opened it after homemade fondue and two bottles of wine, so I didn't really pay the requisite amount of attention necessary to facilitate a review. I do remember commenting about unusual amount of carbonation and lacing but other than that, I just remember drinking it and then it being gone. Oh well, I guess there are plenty of internet reviews to fill the gap. It seems to review fairly well, so I guess that means I liked it. What I do know is opening another bottle of Allagash White after this one was a mistake.
Mike (or Mike H as Mike C requested he be called), who I don't think I've seen in the better part of two years, called on Friday to let me know he'd be driving through the area and to ask if we wanted to meet up. We'd just gotten back from AC and were mere hours away from a Caps game, but we managed to work something out. Since beer and food seem to be the only thing he and I ever talk about (how much else is there really?), it stands to reason that we met up for some serious grubbage. It wasn't until after the fact that it computed we spent a grand total of 20 minutes hanging out.
At Mike's suggestion, we met him at Ray's Butcher Burgers or Ray's Hell Burger as it's better known. An offshoot of Ray's the Steaks and located on Wilson Blvd in Arlington, Hell Burger is amazingly absent from the internet if you don't count reviews. I actually didn't know anything about it going in, which can make for a pretty significant scramble if you've only got 20 minutes to order, eat and get the hell out. What follows is my Hell Burger cheat sheet; I enjoyed my meal and will be going back.
Take a few minutes to digest the menu. It's fairly simple but I ordered based on suggestion because of the time crunch. I ended up with a burger that had a Post-It pad size slice of blue cheese and while I like the stuff, it was all I could taste. I'm convinced there are better combinations (I saw foie gras) that I just skimmed over. Note they ONLY sell burgers; no chicken sammiches here.
10oz really isn't all that much when it's high quality beef. You look at the thing and you're convinced there's no way you're going to finish but when the meat is super tender, juicy and extremely delicious it's surprisingly easy.
Only order medium rare if you really like it bloody. My medium was perfect but a couple of the medium rares at our table looked more like rare to me. It will be super juicy no matter what, so eat over your plate.
Be sure to eat it vertically (thumbs towards you, not down) or your bun will fall apart. A lot of the reviews I've read complained about the bun but if you eat it right, you won't have any problems. I even managed to eat mine without cutting it in half.
They don't serve fries, which is probably for the better. They do have cheesey tater tots that were pretty good but the best side is by far the mac and cheese. For what it's worth, the mac and cheese is enough to make a non-beef eater want to go back (ask me how I know).
Don't expect to have a beer while there, as they don't serve alcohol. They do have Dominion Root Beer on tap though, which is decent substitute.
Ninja edit: On a related note, my sister just posted this picture of my niece. Not only did I not know Five Guys has locations in NJ, I also didn't know they apparently have 300+ all over the eastern seaboard.
As you may have heard, we spent Christmas in Atlantic City. With no family local for the holidays, time winding down on my school break and a desire for just the two of us to get away, we decided it was time to take a break. We drove up to The Borgata on Christmas Eve and stayed two nights, with a quick road trip to have Christmas dinner with my sister's family and my mom. We ended up spending 12 of a 49 hour period in the car but I guess that's the kind of stuff we do.
I spent a lot of time haunting AC in my college days, but that was a fairly long time ago. The Borgata wasn't around then and since people say it's the most Vegas-esque casino there, we had to check it out. It's large, fairly upscale, the casino is freakin' huge and even the cheap rooms are furnished well with nice bathrooms. It's not nearly as ridiculous as some of the casinos out west but it definitely has that Vegas feel... especially when compared to other places in AC.
We had a "nice dinner" at Ombra on Christmas Eve and while the food was pretty good, the service and ambiance were just plain horrible. It's worth mentioning I had osso bucco and the marrow was just plain amazing. The sauce with it tasted a bit manufactured, but the marrow made that okay. The dining room was surrounded by glassed-in wine racks on 2 sides so even though there couldn't have been more than a dozen and a half tables in the place, we had to basically yell at the waitress to place our order. Well, that was if we could find her. I wasn't exactly keeping track, but I'm pretty sure we were seated 10 minutes before we saw her and waited another 20 to after dessert for the bill. Overall, bad times.
Things didn't go quite so poorly on the casino floor. I played nothing but craps and managed to only lose $10 during the course of the trip. I started off pretty poorly and it wan't long before I dropped the first $80. Eventually one of the tables got hot and I was up ~$175 before giving a good bit of that back when the table cooled off. I spent the remainder of the winnings over the course of Christmas night and finally ended down in the final roll. Spending $10 for hours of entertainment and free ($1 tip) drinks? That's a better ROI than a movie and definitely a win.
As a side, if you ever find yourself rolling along Route 40 in South Jersey, be sure to stop at the Elmer Diner. Not only is it a classic diner in every sense of the word, they also deep fry their scrapple instead of griddle frying it. It's fantastically delicious and if done right, it's actually better for you because a crust forms and keeps the oil from seeping in.
Merry Christmas everyone! Hopefully you all have a pleasant and enjoyable holiday season; I know I could use it. This post just isn't about well wishes though, I'm going to see how many different tags we can get on this post by talking about unrelated things. Actually, the other two things I'm going to cover are about Christmas presents I got from people... so I guess they are related.
First up, a present from Mike. My recent droning on about beer (at least partially) led to him visiting his local Total Wine store the other day. He saw an Allagash I haven't talked about before, so he called me up to see if I wanted it. At $20 for 750ml, the price was steep but I figured even if I hated it, I could say I had it. In the end, he didn't make me pay for it but said I had to get him something in return. I guess that's a fair deal. First and foremost, I need to say that no beer is worth $20 (for this amount) and Allagash Interlude is no exception. I honestly like the beer, but I can't justify the cost when I can get a bottle of Taylor Fladgate 10 Year Old Tawny for the same price at Costco. (Which I always have open on the counter - those more observant will recognize it from an Italian wedding soup pic.) So you're thinking, enough rambling... what's the beer actually taste like? It smells of cherries or apricot and at first taste, it's very heavy on copper penny. Continue drinking and/or give it some air and the copper eventually vanishes to reveal the closest thing I've had to red wine in a beer. A portion of the beer is aged in French Merlot and Sirah oak barrels , which you can most definitely taste. The finish is fairly dry and were it not for the yeast and carbonation, you might actually forget you're drinking a beer by the time you finish. All in all, it's a complex beer that's really unlike anything I've ever tasted. I'd definitely drink it again, I just don't want to buy it.
Up next is what my dad got me for Christmas. As I mentioned previously, we met up last weekend for our holiday dinner and it was then we exchanged gifts. I was surprised to find that not only did he have my race helmet airbrushed, but did so with an understanding of the things I'm in to. For a baseline, this is the man who bought his 10 year old son Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time. I probably shouldn't even describe it but rather make with the pictures. The basic gist is a gaijin slaying a dragon with my name in katakana on the front (A+ is my blood type - for emergency workers if I'm unconscious). Anyone who knows me, knows I'm nerdy for that kinda stuff. Rock on.
I hadn't heard of Blue Duck Tavern until it came up in my TripAdvisor search for a higher end downtown restaurant. We meet my dad for Christmas dinner every year and like to use the opportunity to find new places. BDT got decent reviews and being located in NW DC, we managed to get there in a half hour since it was Sunday night. It's located in the Hyatt on 24th and M but if you didn't know that going in, you wouldn't think it was a hotel restaurant.
The restaurant is pretty small, with probably no more than 15 tables, and the decor has a casual elegance that asks a bit more of your appearance while avoiding the old-world stuffiness of other places. The kitchen is very much open, so much so that it actually seems like part of the dining room. Open kitchens are definitely trendy these days, but this one avoids all the cliches of being open for the sake of openness. It seems likely they did it because the restaurant would feel smaller with a closed kitchen, but in this case it works well. The kitchen is efficient, professional, subdued and far from a distraction. Should you choose not to pay attention to the cooks preparing meals, you won't notice they're there.
Warm Roasted Beets, Poached Hen Egg Bayley Hazen Blue, Frisée and “Lardon”
Game Terrine with Foie Gras Quince Jelly
Lamb Shank Braised in Stout Gremolata
The food (my first 3 courses above) was surprisingly good. Going in, I expected a decent meal with nothing really impressing. While not all the dishes were home runs, most were pretty darn good. The portions seemed shockingly small at first but if you're doing the typical 3+ course meal, you won't likely finish all of them. (I think that says a lot about portion size conditioning in America.) My first and third courses were simply outstanding and had I gotten the bone marrow instead of the terrine for the second course, I think I would have gone 3 for 3. Our sides were baked endive, mashed potatoes and blue cheese grits; the latter two equally as delicious as my other winning courses. Desserts impressed everyone as much as any other dish, although I'd recommend sharing or getting 3 for 4 people.
The prices for mains were actually reasonable but I'm sure the margins are a lot higher on everything else, especially sides. After everything is said and done, expect to pay $80/head with 3+ courses and alcohol. All the courses were exceedingly rich, which I like in a nice meal, but you couldn't make a habit of eating there. Given the decor, the high level of service and good food, I'd recommend it as a date night, dinner for a special occasion or anything else where you're all dressed up and need somewhere to eat (hint: Kennedy Center is close).
Now if only I can manage this for the next year, I'll be golden.
What do we do when we have something to celebrate around these parts? We drink. The night after I got these grades, I decided to open the last bottle from the Magic Mystery Box™; Allagash Fluxus 2008. I should note that 3 of the 8 beers pictured were for wifey, so I didn't down 8 bottles in the last 2 weeks... just 5. This one is a double white so it probably won't surprise you that I like it, a lot. Hops are nicely controlled and the flavor is heavy on the yeast with hints of apricot and ginger. I can honestly say this is one of the better beers I've had in recent history, which is saying a lot given my new found love of sampling beers. The alcohol is almost non-existent and for what it's worth, crept up on me nicely at a mere 8.7%. I guess we can put to rest my previous concerns about tolerance. It's a lot like the Tripel, just not nearly as dry and much more complex. This beer went down easy... really easy... I just wish it wasn't $15 per 750ml. Highly recommended.
Bonus tip: Buy yourself some sopressata and your favorite ingredients for a salad. Pan fry four slices in a large, dry skillet (without overlapping) until they're crispy. Cool them on a paper towel, quarter the slices and put them on top of your salad. Dry frying will actually pull a lot of the fat out and adding the protein to your salad means you can make a meal of it without being hungry in an hour. For good measure, crumble some dry roasted almonds or walnuts on as well. The fiber will not only keep you regular but combined with the protein, will also aide in preserving that full feeling.
My first quad, Allagash Four wasn't quite everything I wanted it to be. The idea of fermenting a beer four times is intriguing but I'm not sure I can tell the difference between it and just a strong, dark beer. The taste is very malty, with a hoppy finish but I want to say the beer wasn't old enough for it's own good. You get the date or raisin flavor but there was a bit of a metalic taste that I didn't enjoy. I wonder if that doesn't go away with age but I've never been in the habit of cellaring beers so I won't start now. I've read some reviews that say the beer is "hot" or tastes of alcohol but I can't say I agree. Maybe it's my newfound alcoholism or just burnt out taste buds as it drank a lot better than the 10% it's sporting. Four definitely has the alcohol, flavor and price tag to prove it went through the uber-fermentation process and someone who is more discerning may find it to their liking. For my money, I'm rocking Allagash's Tripel.
Being part of Allagash's Tribute Series, Hugh Malone Ale sports a pretty hefty price tag. At first taste, I did not like this beer at all. It was hoppy, with a bitter finish and the alcohol actually made me do that exhaling thing people do after they chug a carbonated drink. I thought I was going to have trouble drinking the entire 750ml but after the beer got a bit of air, everything changed. The hops never did fade but the smell of the beer changed to something really fruity and sweet; so much so that I couldn't help but smell the beer between gulps. I actually think the beer smelled better than it tasted, which probably isn't a good thing given the price. Again, I think this one might benefit from aging, but I'm not inclined. For the money, I'd rather buy a sixer of Blue Moon, a sixer of Guinness and combine them for whole lotta Black and Blue.
A friend recommended the Unibroue brand, so I picked up a bottle of La Fin Du Monde. I actually meant to get Don de Dieu, which is a triple wheat, but I forgot the name and ended up the triple golden ale instead. Expecting a wheat, I was surprised by the color and amount of hops, but I can't say that was necessarily a bad thing. If I had to pick a word to describe this beer, it would be raw. It has a very distinct yeast flavor all the way through and a slight sweetness that very quickly gets overcome by malt and hops. The alcohol, at 9% ABV, doesn't do a very good job of hiding. The beer is drinkable but it's not nearly as smooth as some other high ABV beers I've had. This beer reviews well and while I'm not a big ale person, the uniqueness of the yeast makes me want to try it again. Besides, who wouldn't want to drink a beer named The End of the World?
Cointinuing with the tradition, I sampled another of the Allagash beers. I'm on a mission to try all their varities and up this time was the Grand Cru. India pale ales are my least favorite beer but I've seemed to like everything Belgian so perhaps I'll like their pale ale? Allagash seems to do everything well and this really isn'y an exception. It was a lot like the La Fin Du Monde, minus the yeast, so I won't repeat myself. It's a solid embodiment of a winter beer but as I've never really been much a fan, I can't say I'd buy it again. In my opinion, there are much better ways to celebrate Allagash. :-)
Two classes down, one to go. I'm still in the thick of the term paper for the final class, but I'm getting there. I'll be all wrapped up after my presentation a week from Friday and I'm really looking forward to the four weeks off. I plan to spend it waiting for my grades, praying the Cowboys make the playoffs, catching up on video games I refused to buy until the end of the semester and trying to get to New Years Day without gaining a single pound. I love gravy so I'm not sure how successful I'll be at that last one. If you're looking for a movie to see this holiday season, make sure it's not Four Christmases. We saw it free (with a donation to St Jude) and I think I would have rather just made the donation. I didn't think The Break-Up was that good, but it was waaaaay better than this. At least they didn't try and make Vince Vaughn, whom I find hilarious, a somewhat serious actor in that one. Hopefully The Day the Earth Stood Still can wipe my memory clean of it. Now on to the gobbling of gobblers!
It's a busy fall and I suspect things will only speed up before it all ends two months from now. This past week held lots of school work, a stats tutoring session hosted by me, the birth of a second niece and a one day race that included a new personal best lap time and my best finish of the year. More on those last two as soon I can get some proof online. In the meantime, lets take a look at the six month review of my newish car.
The Numbers Stuff
Miles: 4400
Hours: 133
Average Speed: 33.1 mph
Fuel Consumption: 22.2 mpg
Time/Day: 44.6 minutes
Distance/Day: 24.0 miles
The Bad Stuff
The car is sprung way too high and soft. It's not nearly as tight as my previous two cars (E36 M3 & B5 S4) and has a tendency to travel within the lane at highway speeds. I think the height also make it difficult to see where curbs are in parking lots. As soon as money is no object I'll probably put a pair of STi Pinks on it lower it and stiffen it up a bit.
The turning radius can be annoying at times. I still struggle swinging it into tight parking deck spaces at times and that shouldn't happen after six months.
I guess you could fault it for the fuel consumption. It gets 27 highway, 21 city... but since most of my driving is sitting at a light in the 4 miles to work, I ended up on the city side. I'm okay with 27 mpg highway (never really seen anything higher in my other cars) and if I wanted to save money of gas, I wouldn't drive a 250 hp sedan.
The windows are really slow. The driver's side has auto-down, which helps, but I would have preferred they all be auto-up/down like the S4.
The "next station" on the wheel mounted audio controls seeks instead of going to the next preset. As a result, I still have to use the radio mounted buttons to change station.
There are no places to attach trunk tie downs. It's got a big ass trunk so anything small is going to slide around a lot. Why they put them in the wagon and not the sedan, I'll never understand.
The Good Stuff
The engine is rated similar to my previous cars but surprises me at times. The car defaults to the "Sport" throttle map so I end up driving around in it most of the time. When I actually put it in "Sport Sharp" it's like a brand new car... and a fast one at that. I'm sure it's purely psychological but I'm okay with that.
The OEM satellite radio and navigation systems work well. While luxuries, they're part of the reason I chose the car I did... and I'm glad. The GPS is comprehensive enough to add value in getting me to the smallest points of interest and Sirius combined with an impressive set of speakers makes driving long distances less annoying. A six disc MP3 CD changer is a nice bonus for when I can't find something to listen to.
The onboard computer is the best I've had. Not only does it have all the stuff I've grown accustomed to (outside temp, distance to empty, trip computer), it also has other things I've grown to like (automatic trip timer, time on tank).
The car can actually fit four adults and several suitcases comfortably. I don't use it for this very often but it's nice not to eat steering wheel when driving to lunch to carpooling somewhere.
There are a lot of little things that work in the car: great cup holders, two power outlets, envelope holder on the visor, auto headlight shutoff, seat memory, etc.
Overall, I'm happy with the purchase. There are definitely things about the car I don't like, but you'll notice most of them are minor design flaws and not critical deal breakers. I like the car's looks and get a lot of compliments from older "car guys" about the balance of sportiness, features and cost. It's not going to win any awards with the younger crowd but it's probably the perfect car for 30-something to daily drive. I'm too old for a boy racer-mobile and too young for a midlife crisis car so it fits.
I'd like to take a quick paragraph and say that I think there's hope for America. We spent the weekend in the more rural counties of Virginia and were downright surprised at the number of Obama lawn signs. We were in the heart of pickup driving, cattle raising, gun toting Virginia and about half the signs (and there were a lot) were for Obama. It's no real secret that I'm a Libertarian that will be voting for Obama because I think the current Republican ticket is something to fear. It was actually encouraging to see that; I think Virginia could actually go Democrat for the first time since Lyndon Johnson.
Now that I've lured you in with beer and waxed politico, I guess I should get to the point. On the way home from the country, we paid a visit to my new friend Harris and picked up a few beers for an afternoon on the couch. Mr Teeter is my new friend because not only did he have a bunch of microbrews in 750 ml bottles, he also had a couple varieties of Allagash. I picked up a bottle of Allagash Tripel, since it's a favorite of mine, and also found one I've been meaning to try, Allagash Dubbel.
The Dubbel is much, much darker than the Tripel and as such, is a heavier beer. It's very malty with a hint of chocolate but like so many darker beers, has a bit too much bitter for my tastes. If I had to put a name on the bitterness, I'd say burnt caramel. I haven't had many doubles in my time, but it's better than the ones I've had. It's drinkable, especially given the 7.0% ABV and I'd probably like it more were I into darker beers. As is, I'd rather have the White or Tripel but don't let that stop you from trying it. Helpful hint: Two 750ml 7-9% beers is just enough for a day of football.
As you probably know, I'm a fan of Anthony Bourdain. It should come as no surprise that I enjoyed Kitchen Confidential, the book that really launched his career as a "celebrity chef". It's an unforgiving and gritty look at both what made him the person he is today and the lesser known things about the restaurant industry. It's as much an autobiography of the author as it is an expose of the lifestyle. It ends up a bit preachy at times but if you know Bourdain, you know he says things the way he does to be certain words are not misinterpreted. His raw honesty conveys passion (and disgust) for professional chefdom in metaphors that, from any other chef, would be trite. It's a solid, entertaining read and one I'd recommend for my food-loving friends.
People Who Should Read This Book
Any self-professed foodie
Anyone who's thinking of opening a restaurant
Anyone who has grandiose ideas about becoming a chef
People that want to know where restaurant food comes from
People that like Bourdain's unique style in No Reservations (not the stupid movie!)
People who like stories about degenerates and sex, drugs and/or rock and roll
People who want to know when to order that fish special
Anyone who is considering a visit to Japan (Tokyo is his favorite city)
People Who Should NOT Read This Book
Anyone who perfers not to know what goes on "behind the curtain"
People who are easily grossed out
Those who are averse to swearing
The less chefly among us that are looking for recipies
People who are easily offended by racial or sexual jokes
I think pretty much everyone saw it before me so I won't spend a ton of time explaining the finer points.
First and foremost, the dialogue was just plain great. It was so simple and yet so powerful. There were actually one or two times I had to pause the movie to grasp the weight of the dialogue... and it wasn't like they were written as purposeful epiphanies.
Josh Brolin and Kelly Macdonald were extremely convincing and the interaction between them provided the measured amount of comic release necessary to break things up. Brolin's character was just plain badass and I would have never thought Macdonald was a native Scot with a thick, thick accent (clip from Trainspotting; I was obsessed with it in college and didn't recognize her). I'm looking forward to seeing her in the big screen adaptation of Palahniuk's Choke.
I'm going to disagree with Mike about the ending. While it was most definitely atypical, I'm not sure it was detrimental to the film. I don't know the reasons he didn't like it but I do know that sometimes I like being left to wonder what happened. I appreciated the unanswered questions and I can't even think how it could be different without ending up as a cliche.
To be honest, I'm not sure what I expected of No Country for Old Men... but it wasn't what I expected. I liked it, a lot. I thought it was funny, dramatic, crazy, poetic and artistic all in one. Often movies are too smart for their own good but that wasn't the case here. The Coen Brothers had just the right balance of brains and brawn to make the movie work. One of the better ones I've seen in awhile.
First and foremost, if you're part of Cohort XIX and you googled me, hello. As one of my discussion topics in class would suggest, it's not hard to find me or people I'm related to via my last name. You did indeed find the person you were looking for so welcome to my slice of the information superinterweb. This site serves both as a hobby to help me stay current on internet technologies and as a way to communicate with friends and family about my goingson. Have a look around and feel free to leave a comment or drop me an email.
For everyone else, I've officially survived the first weekend of grad school. While there is still a lot to learn about the process, the unknown is now known and the learning can begin in earnest. Two classes a day is going to make for long days but the good news I don't have to switch from work to school mode in the same day. Speaking of good news, while getting a few supplies from Office Depot last night, I swung by Total Wine (will always be Total Beverage to me) to pick up a few beers for celebratory purposes.
First up was Duvel, one of Mike's recent recommendations. The suggestion was based on my proclivity to enjoy Belgians and Duvel being a Belgian golden, is a step into another branch of them. It's relatively smooth and drinkable given the 8.5% ABV, which probably makes it a favorite for a lot of Belgian lovers. The aftertaste of hoppy bitterness, while nothing like that of an IPA, is just a bit much for me. It's not a bad beer, but I can't say it's something I'd seek out again. Like others, I wanted to like it but can't say I'm a huge fan.
The second suggestion was for Aventinus Weizenbock but I didn't buy it because I realized I'd had it before. (Side note: Nice suggestion Mike, evidently it was my favorite in that review.) Instead I picked up Allagash Tripel Ale, since I previously enjoyed the Allagash White. I'm not going to beat around the bush, this beer gets added to my list of favorites. It has a bit of fruit and honey but isn't nearly as sweet as some of the other golden ales. The hops are balanced perfectly for my taste and the 9% ABV makes for a whoppin' good time. I really like this beer and will be buying it again. Please try it and let me know your thoughts.
The first weekend home in two months means not getting dressed, grilling a rack of ribs on the charcoal and drinking beer. I've really started to figure out the whole charcoal thing as the ribs were the definitely the juiciest and most delicious thing I've cooked on either grill. I also mananged to make one helluva salad, something that I didn't really think was possible, so it was a tasty meal all around. Combine that with a lot of time spent on the couch watching television and you have the perfect way to celebrate the holiday.
The Franziskaner Hefe-Weisse is right up my alley. It's a wheat, which I really dig, creamy and tastes of cloves and a bit of honey. I've had quite a few hefeweizens in my day and this is probably one of my favorites. I wouldn't think I'd like such a prominent clove taste in beer, especially a wheat, but I really like it in this. There's also some citrus but not so much that it tastes like someone fruited your beer. (A bad habit with wheats, I think.) Some reviews I've read complained of too much carbonation but I don't agree. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone who likes wheat beers and will definitely be buying it again. It's a good summer beer, now that it's over.
I can't say I'm as much of a fan of Young's Double Chocolate Stout. I'm not really a huge fan of stouts but have been known to enjoy the creamy or honey versions of them. I figured the chocolate was a gimmick but decided to try it anyway. There's definitely an initial taste of dark chocolate, then a strong stout and the aftertaste reminds me of a bitter chocolate. I think the combination works with the stout and I really want to like the beer, but I don't. I love dark chocolate (the darker the better) but I just can't get over the bitter aftertaste. If I really enjoyed stouts, in all their forms, I'd probably love this... but as it is I'm not a fan. If you've had it, or buy it any time soon, let me know what you think.
This was originally supposed to be a two-part post but we were so busy while away, I didn't really have a chance to write anything. Given the reason for our trip, a destination wedding, we had what I'd consider an atypical experience. I don't think it was atypical of flying somewhere to go to a wedding but I do think we didn't really do what most people do when they spend a week in Hawaii. That likely has an impact on my opinion of the place but I'll wrap it up with an explanation at the end. I'm not really sure how to best organize the random thoughts in my head so I'll opt for a list of activities and locations.
Honolulu - We spent most of our time in Honolulu proper. As such, a good bit of the trip was spent in a touristy area of what's essentially a big city. The benefits here are the huge amounts of great restaurants to choose from and the overall feeling of being on vacation. Walking around the Ala Moana and Waikiki area feels a bit like Vegas, actually. Pretty much everyone there is on vacation and out to have a good time. People are in a good mood and while you know the locals aren't living life like you while you're there, you don't really care.
The food was downright delicious at times. Hawaii being a major crossroads of Asian cultures and travelers, there is a TON of Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese and pretty much every other Asian restaurants. We did dim sum in Chinatown and a "Hole in the Wall" tour, both were tasty to the extreme. Besides that, I'd say at least 50% of tourists in Honolulu are Japanese and that's a cool thing. A lot of the restaurants and tours are bilingual, there are probably more GOOD Japanese restaurants than anything else and I can honestly say there were times I felt like I was back in Japan. A lot of places cater so much to the Japanese tourist that you can easily forget you're in the US. I'm not kidding, there were a couple times where I really did think I was in Japan for a few brief moments and I even ended up talking a bit of Japanese to some tourists. It was really cool to kinda "go back to Japan" as it were.
Pearl Harbor - This was on my Life List. I'm not a history buff but am somewhat obsessive about watching shows on military operations past and present on Discovery (et al). As such, I knew quite a bit about Pearl Harbor going in and was somewhat excited to see it. I gotta be honest folks, I was disappointed. I already knew nearly everything the educational piece had to offer and we didn't have time to go see the USS Bowfin or USS Missouri so that only really left the Arizona Memorial aspect of it.
The Memorial was definitely interesting and worth doing once but it wasn't nearly as stirring as I hoped it would be. I really wanted it to have an effect on me; make me feel something or even choke me up a bit, but it didn't do any of those things. It was cool to see the parts of the ship that were visible and the "black tears" but I found it hard to imagine over a thousand men lying in the ruins underneath me. I didn't have any family that died in WWII and it was long over before I was born so maybe I'm just too far removed for it to impact me like I wanted it to?
Volcano - We only had one day on our own so we took the opportunity to fly to Big Island and take a helicopter tour of the island. Including the short hop on Hawaiian Air, the day was extremely expensive but very, very worth it. First, I absolutely love helicopters (even though I have a fear of heights) and second, witnessing an active volcano (also on my Life List) was everything I thought it would be. I really can't explain what's so cool about it so you'll either have to do it yourself or just leave you to the pictures and video (when they're up). Flying into gorges/valleys to witness 2000' waterfalls was an added bonus and helped make this the most remarkable day of the trip. If you have the opportunity to do anything in a helicopter, especially fly over lava, do it.
Two side notes to this trip/day. One, Google Maps on my Pearl gets an honorable mention. It wasn't until after we were leaving the Kona Airport that I decided we should rent a car for the day. By the time we boarded the Avis shuttle, I'd used Maps to find my location via GPS, get the phone number of the nearest Avis location and discuss my booking options with an agent. Two, the reputation of AOL is still very much unchanged. When I told the helicopter pilot I worked for AOL he proceeded to tell me a story about being charged for two years after cancelling his dead brother's account. Yay AOL!
Luau - I really wasn't that crazy about our Luau experience. I was definitely in a mood to have a good time but we ended up getting bused to a back section of an industrial park where the proprietors built a bunch of huts and dropped tons of sand to make beach. It was ocean front, but the water lashed rocks (no native sand) and there was occasionally the smell of sewage or garbage. The food was decent and the entertainment was rooted in authenticity but everything just felt so manufactured. I appreciate that the bride and groom treated us to it as the rehearsal dinner but I really couldn't help to feel like the proprietors were taking advantage of us as stupid tourists. I don't know if such things still exist, but I would love to see a "real" luau hosted by indigenous peoples.
North Shore - This is probably the closest we got to experiencing the relaxed, tropical Hawaii that so many people love. The beaches and mountains were beautiful, the water was clear and the cool wind made the hot days comfortable. Life was slower there and you could see yourself just wasting the days doing absolutely nothing. We took a ranch tour that included film locations of Pearl Harbor, Jurassic Park and Lost but there really aren't any big name attractions... and that's okay.
Hawaii was pretty much what I expected. Aside from the few things I wanted to cross off my List, I never really had a desire to go there. We used the wedding as an opportunity to go somewhere we wouldn't have chosen ourselves and I came back glad we did. While we didn't really have an opportunity to relax (only spent one afternoon on the beach), I don't know that I really care that much. I can see how someone who loves the beach could love it but not only am I not a beach person, I also like to be active when I travel. I can appreciate a relaxing vacation, lord knows I'd like one, but I wouldn't recommend Hawaii for it. Having been to the Caribbean and heard a lot of great things about Jamaica and Costa Rica, I think you could get pretty much all the same things cheaper and with a shorter flight. Don't let me dissuade you from going, I'm just not really sure I'd ever chose to go back.
Stay tuned for the pictures and videos, which should be up by week's end.
I recently found myself having dinner at Tuscarora Mill (Tuskies to the locals) in celebration of a birthday. I've been there before, as has pretty much anyone who lives or works in Loudoun County, but this particular meal calls for an official review. Rather than blather on about the various nuances of the dishes, I'll try and touch on the main things that I care about when visiting restaurants. It's actually kinda hard when you've been somewhere a handful of times but I'll persevere.
It's kinda a pain to get to during rush hour since it's in downtown Leesburg... especially if the cops have a "Driver's License checkpoint" set up along the way. Besides that, the location definitely has a sense of history. Like several other restaurants in LoCo, it's housed in a historical building of one form or another. The largely wood interior is classic in that anitque way and it avoids the manufactured feeling other resaurants have. The atmosphere isn't so stuffy that you'll feel out of place in jeans but it's upscale enough that you can take a date there all gussied up.
Our server was pleasant, very knowledgable about the menu/ingredients and seemed to actually enjoy her job. She wasn't working there because she couldn't do anything else... well, she might be... but she did a good job of faking it. She seemed to take pride in the service she provided and the food the chef prepares. (Which is a lot more than I can say about that god-awful Clydes in Ashburn. It was great when it opened but the service has really hit the shitter as of late.) She was almost too pleasant, and by the end of the night I kind of wanted her to go away, but I shouldn't complain about that.
As usual, their beer selection is pretty good. If you like beer, be sure to head over to my post about their beer selection from 6 months ago. I chose this option (again) and chose the Fullers London Pride (again), Hofbrau Hefeweizen and had the bartender pour me something I forgot. The beer was tasty as usual and the ability to choose a flight is one of my favorite things about the place. Bringing me a half glass of Lagunitas Censored unprompted and without charge didn't hurt either.
The food was really, really good. I can't remember it being as tasty as it was on my previous visits. I expected a decent meal but both the wife and I were surprised at the quality of every single course. I rarely have a hard time figuring out what to order because I know what I like. Somehow, Tuskies managed to get a lot of what I like on the same menu so I had a tough time picking. Below is what I ordered; it was all great. Cheap? No, but I don't feel like I got ripped off.
HUDSON VALLEY FOIE GRAS | $17 Pan Seared with Roasted Peaches, Pistachio-Onion Marmalade, Grilled Ciabatta
WARM GOATCHEESE SALAD | $10 Local and Organic Lettuces, Poached Pears, Walnuts, Tomatoes, Aged Sherry Vinaigrette
BEEF AND BEEF | $24 Grilled Tenderloin Tips and Braised Short Rib Gorgonzola Mousse, Truffled Grits, Bacon Braised Brussels Sprouts
Besides our usual sushi joint, I think it may be our new go-to place for a nice meal out. We don't go to expensive dinners but a few times a year and it's nice to know there will be a place that can provide when we need it. It's expensive but not "OMG WTF!" and accessible to most local professionals, I believe. I really think it's one of the jewels of the Loudoun County restaurant scene.
I guess it's about time to offer my thoughts on our trip to California. We spent a week there, with most of our time spent staying with and visiting family. It was my first time in the state and also my first time going on a somewhat lengthy trip to visit relatives, so my perspective is probably somewhat skewed. The trip broke down into three distinct sections so I'll offer notes on each separately.
San Jose This is perhaps the area where my perspective is least valuable. We spent 4 days living with my grandmother-in-law in a gated golf community in the suburbs of San Jose. As such, we spent most of our time "visiting" and didn't really do much to explore the area. We did a day trip to Santa Cruz, hit up a redwood state park on the way back, did some minor sightseeing around San Jose and that's really about it. Santa Cruz was cool, with the whole Pacific Ocean thing, and the redwoods were freaking amazing but San Jose was fairly ho-hum. Now it's possible that's a result of the purpose of our trip but from what I understand, it's not a place tourists flock to. It's not nearly as humid as it is on the east coast but 86° is still too hot for my taste.
Laguna Seca Part of the timing of the trip was such that I could attend the MotoGP race at Laguna Seca. As I mentioned in a previous post, racing in person is never as good as racing on TV. You only get to see 2-3 turns at most and generally the action ends up being where you aren't. It was nice to finally get to see the motorcycles in person though, as you really can't imagine how fast, loud and just plain awesome they are until you see them. Time to cross it off the ole Life List.
Laguna itself was pretty crazy. The track was in the middle of nowhere and far, far more hilly than I'd imagined. It's nice to get an overall mental picture of the place because that helps puts things in context when you watch races on TV. The corkscrew, while somewhat of a gimmick, really is pretty nutso in person. It's steep, really steep, and I'd like to drive it one of these days. A lot of people say Laguna really isn't all that great for car racing but judging from my experience with other tracks, you just can't get a feeling for how scary things are until you drive it. I'm glad I went but I hope next time I'll actually get to be on the track.
San Francisco We drove the Pacific Coast Highway from San Jose to San Fran. While not part of San Francisco, I offer it here as something you should do when visiting the city. We left San Jose after dinner and drove to the coast via some fairly mountainous roads. Once at the coast, we chugged along the PCH until the sun closed in on the horizon. We ended up at a pretty decent overlook about 20-30 minutes south of the city and watched the sun set into the Pacific Ocean. It was neat and my lady friend seemed to like it.
We only had two full days in San Francisco so our experience was limited. Our itinerary included a Segway Tour, a night tour of Alcatraz, riding a few cable cars, a visit to Pier 39, eating several fine meals, shortening the 49-mile Scenic Drive to ~25 miles and celebrating the wife's birthday. It was a busy two days and while we saw/did a lot, there's probably a lot we were missing out on. We didn't take part in any nightlife and we didn't do a ton of exploration so my thoughts are based on what I call the San Francisco Express Experience.
The Segway tour was... interesting. I have to be honest and say that were it not for trying Segways for the first time, the tour would have been pretty boring. You get to see a bunch of things surrounding the marina area and do drive-bys for things like the Palace of Fine Arts, but that's about it. Given the amount of time invested in the tour, I would have liked to do more actual touring. The Segways were a lot of fun and really easy to learn but I suspect that's the primary reason the tour gets good reviews. If you dismiss the novelty of actually riding one, the tour was downright pedestrian (pun intended). The highlight of the tour was probably me crashing mine into Melissa's because I was being a jackass, not any of the sightseeing.
Alcatraz is one of those things you do once, I think. It's been something that's always been on my "if I have the opportunity" list and it kind of lived up to that. I can't say it was the OMG experience that walking on a glacier was but the history and scale of the place is worth experiencing. It's a lot like visiting famous racetracks in that you don't really get a feel for the place until you're there. The cells are tiny, it's dark as hell in solitary confinement, the hospital is down creepy and the water surrounding it is pretty ridiculous. Doing it at night/sundown offers an additional layer of spooky (wouldn't call it scary) as well as some unique photography opportunities, if you're into that sorta thing. I'd recommend the night tour, if you have the choice.
I've heard a lot about the food in San Francisco and I'm glad to report it doesn't disappoint. We only managed three meals while there, because breakfast was part of the hotel package, but all three were pretty darn good. Frascati was solid haute cuisine, if expensive, but it really served the purpose of the "special night out" that I picked it for. The food wasn't quite a home run (but close), the location was convenient (at a cable car stop) and the atmosphere was sophisticated but unassuming. Dim Sum Bar Restaurant was everything I expected a shithole in Chinatown to be. The neighborhood (Tenderloin) was dilapidated with its trash-ridden streets, you felt like you were going to stick to the floor, the owners were yelling at each other extremely loudly in Chinese and the food was great. Seriously, we had some made to order dim sum, pork chow fun/foon and wor wonton soup and it was all really good. The third meal, a lunch, was eaten at Cioppino's on the Wharf. While seafood at the Wharf is somewhat of a cliche, I really have nothing bad to say about the food. I had the dish that shared the restaurant's namesake and I'd order it again. The seafood was fresh, the broth/gravy were flavorful and I feel like I got my money's worth. The service was somewhat lacking but when your bowl overfloweth with seafood like it did, you can overlook a lot.
So what did I think about my short time in San Francisco? Well, let me get it out of the way and say that unlike quite a few people I know, I have no real desire to move there. Everyone's right, the weather was absolutely ridiculous and is definitely an asset of the city. It was great to get away from our opressive summers but I don't know if I could live there year-round. I like seasons, including winter, and I think I'd miss them. We didn't have the time to explore everything the city had to offer but I really can't say it's that much different than a lot of other US cities. I mean it's clearly no New York (that's a good thing) but I can't say it's somewhere I'd chose to live. Overall, it has a good bit of charm and is a nice place to eat well and take in the sights. I haven't started looking for jobs there but I think everyone should check it out for a few days and see what does make it unique.
Be sure to visit our California 2008 page to see all our pictures and a short clip video... if you're still reading, that is.
Nope, no details about California yet as I'm kinda waiting until I can post the pictures too. Instead, it's a review on how we got there. I'd never been on Virgin America prior to this trip and given that I like Virgin Atlantic and the ticket was half the cost of United, we decided it was time. Here are my thoughts based on a non-stop flights from IAD to SFO and back.
Price - Let's face it, this is the reason why most people choose their airlines. A round-trip ticket to SFO for $350/person is hard to beat.
People - They definitely recruit a younger, hipper crowd than the older airlines. I'm pretty sure a few of the fight attendants were younger than me and a couple of the women were fairly attractive. It was weird to see pilots in a just black dress shirt and pants though. Everyone at check-in and the gates were polite, if not too energetic, and the limited flight schedule helped minimize lines.
Plane Layout - They have both bathrooms at the back with the doors opening to where the crew and galley are. It's not that big of a deal until you have 3 crew and 4 people trying to work around each other to get where they need to go. It reminded me of a college party where there's lots of very personal parts touching those of complete strangers and you either enjoy it or are skeeved by it. The shelves of bottled water available for anyone to grab is a nice touch though.
Seats - Unable to use my trusty "upgrade every flight on United" trick, we had to slum it with the cattle in economy. I opted to pay extra for exit row so I can't speak to the regular economy seats. The legroom in the exit rows was worth it for a cross country flight but be wary of the window seat as the armrest is part of the window and raised a bit. It's not exactly what I imagined given the description on SeatGuru but at least the site warned us of the other exit row's seats not reclining. Row 10 is actually ideal because the row in front can't come back on you and you can still hose the person behind you. If you fly any distance on V-Am, go aisle on row 10.
Entertainment - I was pretty excited about Red, their in-flight entertainment system, but unfortunately it didn't live up to the hype. Live TV is awesome but all the channels I cared about (ESPN, ESPN2, etc) didn't work for most of the flight. I wasn't going to pay $7 to see a movie on a 9" screen and definitely wasn't paying $1 to watch episodes of Family Guy. The games were cool but I even got bored with Doom after 3 levels. The chat room functions didn't work the whole way to CA and no one was using them on the way back. I think it's a neat idea but I'm not sure it will ever be useful unless you're not sitting with your friends/family. I think the real value will come once they enable SMS and email. Ordering a drink with it is neat, even if I can't get a lousy fork without buying a $5 snackbox.
I think my expectations were too high. Having been spoiled over recent years by my ability to continually upgrade seats, my perspective is likely skewed. (I tried to get a free upgrade to First Class but alas, they denied me.) I wanted a really nice domestic carrier that had all sorts of cool things to impress me. In the end it ended up being what it likely was designed to be... a budget carrier that has a bit more creature comforts than others in the market. To be clear: It's really not at all bad, it's just not anything special.
Okay so restaurant is a loose interpretation of a fast food joint but it's the category I use for all places of eatery. I'd sampled my first In-N-Out food a few years ago in Vegas and I really wasn't that impressed. I was disappointed in the lack of choices and the actual food really wasn't all that different than a generic burger joint. I later found out, through the magic of the internet, there was a whole "secret menu" available to me. Armed with this information, I finally had the opportunity to make a proper go of it.
I opted for a double double and well done fries, both animal style. I'd considered going 3x3 or 4x4 but decided I was already pushing my luck. The actual burger was small, fast food style, but the addition of all the extra animal style stuff made it more delicious. The bun was sorta crunchy, which I liked, but overall the sammich really wasn't anything to write home about. The fries were really good, smothered with their cooked onions cheese and what was essentially Big Mac sauce. Adding calories to fries always makes them better and these were no exception. When you have to use a fork to eat them, you know they're going to be good, but they really cease to be fries at that point. I also liked the extra crispyness of the well done, although the wife described them as burnt.
Overall, I wasn't really that impressed. I've known a few people over the years that rave about In-N-Out and I'm not really sure I get it. If you get over the novelty of the secret menu, it becomes a lot like any other fast food joint out there. I'm sure an eating compeition of a 6x6 or 9x9 would have been popular back when I was in college but those days are pretty much gone. Given the choice, I'd likely choose Five Guys nine times out of ten.
Being a Marvel fanboy, I'm not a huge DC Comics or Batman fan. I've seen all the films and liked a few of them but didn't see the last one in the theater... so I'm definitely not a zealot. However, given the opportunity to see a free early screening of The Dark Knight and admittedly intrigued by a young portrayal of the Joker, it was a no-brainer. It's my hope I can offer this assessment not as a comic book dork, but as an avid movie fan. Heck, I didn't even like the last movie that much, if at all, so that take for what it's worth.
The Bad
The most annoying thing in the entire movie was Bale's "Batman voice". It's so gruff and over the top it's downright cheesey. I may have had this problem with the last movie but I don't remember. He's better than some of the other Batmans we've experienced and definitely a better Bruce Wayne... just tone it down a notch.
I don't think Aaron Eckhart is a good actor. I just didn't buy him in the role and I really can't think of anything I've ever bought him in.
I also don't buy Maggie Gyllenhaal as the damsel in distress. She doesn't have to be a smokin' hot babe but the way she carries herself and her face just don't sell me.
The Good
The movie wasn't nearly as dark as previous ones. Now I realize that Batman is supposed to be dark and Gotham is supposed to be a cesspit of despair, but it was nice to see Gotham as a real city. I liked the Tim Burton versions but the change of pace worked.
There was a distinct lack of cheese. Bale's voice for Batman was the most hokey by far and that's a good, good thing. Spiderman is geared towards a wide audience but this movie really felt a lot more "grown-up" than any of those.
The writing was pretty good. There were a few twists that you don't really expect, a nice chunk of witty banter and at no time did I think, "God, when is this going to end?"
Not a huge amount of action. They didn't rely on blowing shit up every 36 seconds to entertain us. They did it with the characters, the dialogue and the story.
Heath Ledger was amazing. You knew it was coming folks but hear me out on this. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm not one of those people that obsess over dead celebrities or place merit where it's not deserved. He was so creepy and funny and strange and scary that you forgot it was Ledger and really saw the Joker. Jack was good, but in that laughing hyena way. Heath was just downright demented and it worked. In a way I'm sad that he died. Not really because he's dead but because people will obsess over this role as his last. His performance deserves to stand on its own and not be cheapened by everyone playing up his death. I would have liked to see him reprise the role but I'm kinda glad the powers that be can't whore it by making him do it again.
What's the verdict? Go see it. Seriously, go see it... and not because there's a dead guy playing a villian. Everyone I've talked to from last night said it was "really good" and I'd tend agree with them. It wasn't one of those "omg, best movie evaR!" types but it's a decent two hours of entertainment.
...is not two bits anymore but still worth it. I've been going to Dulles Barber since it opened last year but always got just a haircut. They use straight razors for your neck, a hot towel after your haircut and have four 42" plasmas on ESPN HD to watch from your comfy leather chair. A few visits ago, I saw a guy nearly twice my age sprawled out on a chair getting a lather shave. Making best use of a half day at work, I went in for a haircut and with the place being empty realized it was finally time for my first.
Having successfully lived through the process with no major trauma or scars, I can say it's something every guy should do once. It makes you feel manly and also somehow connects you to the "days of old" when things were slower but better. Not only is it the closest any self-respecting heterosexual male should get to a day at the spa, the results are also somewhat amazing. It's the smoothest shave I've had... ever... something guys could likely use to their advantage with womenfolk.
As a side note, I'd heard of the Grooming Lounge before but have never been since I live west of civilization. I looked up their prices in response to my experience and was astounded to find a hot shave costs $58! I got a shave and haircut for half that price, excluding tip. I don't know if the shave is an identical service but they certainly sound it. I know I'm not nearly trendy enough to be the Lounge's target market but c'mon... $58? Sheesh.
So pretty much everyone has either read How to Win Friends and Influence People or knows someone who has. There are a plethora of reviews and synopsis floating around the internet so I won't bore you with an in-depth review. I just wanted to write a short post to say that I found the book helpful, despite being written 70 years ago. Some of the stuff you'll already know and a lot of it seems like common sense but the way it's all laid out in the book helps "tweak" the way you interact with people. I can't say it's changed my life in any drastic way, but it has helped me approach situations in a more successful manner at work. I'd recommend it to anyone who a) finds themselves frustrated by the actions of others, b) routinely butts heads with people who have a difference of opinion or c) wants to learn how to convince people your ideas are the best. It's basically about manipulation without malice... who doesn't want to learn about that?
Every once in awhile, a program/product comes along that makes you think "God, why haven't they thought of this sooner?" Other programs can do similar things, more or less, but these programs wrap it all up with a big fat bow on it. I'm thinking Netvibes, Google Sync, HijackThis, UltraMon and SUPER here... if you're familiar with them. I've only used Lightroom for a week and can already say it's one of those programs.
Rather than jump into all the reasons why I'm Lightroom's bitch, let's first talk a little bit about the RAW format. To summarize, RAW is basically the raw data captured by the image sensor of your camera without any processing of the image by the camera's brain. This is great if you want to work through all your pictures and post-process them on your computer or just use some program to convert them to usable images like JPG. This isn't so great if you don't have a good way to manage and process them; Photoshop not being an example of one IMO.
Before Lightroom, I decided I wanted to get everything right in the camera and do nothing after the fact. As I started doing more and more "photography work" it became apparent this was an unrealistic expectation and started processing images. I'd tweak the white balance here, adjust the exposure there, increase the saturation or just convert to he whole damn thing to black and white. Photographers generally keep/work on ~10% of what they shoot so while I wasn't adjusting every photo, we were still talking dozens of pictures that got "cleaned up" manually.
Enter Lightroom, the tool designed by Adobe with the direction of professional photographers. I'm going to blather on about all the cool features in a minute but before that take some time to "View the Feature Tour" on Adobe's Lightroom page I linked above. Go ahead, do it now, I'll wait until you come back... and make sure you watch at least through the 'Develop' section (2nd sub-clip). Pretty cool, right? Here's a list of the reasons why I love it.
Manage - If you're not using Adobe Bridge, which I wasn't, managing photos is a complete nightmare. If you take 300 photos and want to "keep" 30 of those, you're copying/deleting or using Save As to preserve your originals. Lightroom's ability to manage entire collections within the program, flag photos as "keepers" and filter on any number of conditions means you get only the photos you want in your face.
Non-destructive editing - It saves all your changes in a small config file separate from the original. When you open the picture, it applies all your changes instantaneously but the original remains untouched. No saving copies with your changes to preserve original files.
Presets - Photoshop has plugins that will allow you to easily do various things like sepia tone but Lightroom does it out of the box. What's more, Lightroom allows you to easily save your actions as a preset that can be automatically applied upon original import of a file.
Sliders - Who doesn't love slider adjustments? All the cool stuff isn't buried three menus deep with some obscure name. Instead, they have clear and concise labels and out in the open, laid out in a way that pretty much anyone can understand.
Cropping - The auto-cropping rotation is simply amazing. If you want to tweak a photo a few degrees in other programs, you're doing it by entering a numerical value, using a guide to check how it lines up and then cropping as necessary. In Lightroom, you move the little slider from side to side and it automatically overlays guides and squared cropping boundaries. Not only that, but you can undo cropping at any time, even after you do other things to the photo.
Export - Not only can you export "what you see is what you get" to a JPG but there also a plethora of plugins that allow you to export to a bevy of photo sharing sites. I've used the one for Smugmug, since that's where my portfolio is hosted, and can say it works pretty seamlessly.
So that's it, I can't recommend it enough. I used it for the last two galleries I posted and think it's changed the way I see post-processing. Let me know if you're having trouble finding a place to purchase it... I can recommend some good retailers. ;-)
It's been well over a week since my last post but with good reason. First, and perhaps most amazingly, I spent the entire holiday weekend away from a computer. The in-laws were in town so we spent Saturday and Sunday taking them around to some of the interesting places in the area. We did Harpers Ferry on Saturday, with a brief stopover at Charlestown Races & Slots, dinner at Yellow Brick Bank in Shepherdstown and the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center on Sunday. On Monday, we spent the better part of the day water skiing, drinking and soaking up the sun on a friend's boat before heading back to their place for some 4-person Wii Mario Kart (which I dominated). Second, I've spent the last few days working on all the pictures and video from the aforementioned adventures.
I'd been to Yellow Brick Bank before and from what I remember, the meal was pretty good. We were going to be in the area so I decided to make reservations to check it out again. Since I hadn't been in years, I wasn't sure what to expect but the menu was encouraging. Unfortunately, the good really ended there. It was hot inside, 76° to be exact, and I know because we sat right next to the thermostat. The decor, with its obscene colors that could be forgiven, wasn't exactly high class with dingy, water stained ceilings. Our waitress, who forgot what beers were on tap, was wearing a skirt and Crocs... 'nough said. The food was actually fairly decent, until the wife lost hers on the way home. We all ate pretty much the same thing all day so it had to be dinner. Evidently the restaurant changed hands about three years ago and local reports say the quality has taken a downturn since then. I'd recommend staying away at this point.
I don't think anyone needs reviews of Harpers Ferry or the Udvar-Hazy Center so I'll just link you to my galleries. These mark my first time (yes, first) shooting in RAW and with the help of Lightroom, I've been convinced to move to the format exclusively. I just got Lightroom and can already say the program is absolutely spectacular. It doesn't require that you shoot in RAW, as you can just as easily use JPG input, but I can't see why you wouldn't if you have the option. I don't want to go into too much detail because it's good enough to deserve its own post. Suffice to say, I'll probably be buying another memory card to support the larger RAW file sizes on longer vacations/shoots. I'd also like to mention the 18-200mm VR performed very well inside the Udvar-Hazy without flash or tripod. I tossed a bunch of pics out but it's amazing I got what I did if the Wii Fit is at all accurate measuring my balance.
The last piece of media I can offer is a batch of clips from our water sports efforts. Included in the clip are myself and two friends showing our varying degrees of both ability and success. Two things I've realized is that a) I simply suck at it and b) I'm not athletic/light enough to get myself up on skis. With the level of soreness over the last few days as an indicator, I've reaffirmed I'm not working all my muscle groups in the gym. The video probably isn't that entertaining if you're not watching yourself but here it is nonetheless. Note the soundtrack has language not safe for work/children.
Last night, I had Corsendonk's Abbey Pale Ale and while I'd love to share my thoughts I don't really remember a lot about it. I opened it after homemade fondue and two bottles of wine, so I didn't really pay the requisite amount of attention necessary to facilitate a review. I do remember commenting about unusual amount of carbonation and lacing but other than that, I just remember drinking it and then it being gone. Oh well, I guess there are plenty of internet reviews to fill the gap. It seems to review fairly well, so I guess that means I liked it. What I do know is opening another bottle of Allagash White after this one was a mistake.
