Weekend with C, H & KJ

Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen,

 

Last Friday night after work & watching some of the “Good Eats” collection on Netflix, Izzy & I decided to use the Beer Bread kit that my brother gave to me for Christmas… along with one of our Red Ales… and it turned out pretty damn good. Thanks to Alton Brown, we’ve probably got a pretty damn good recipe to use with some of our other brews for decent bread… but we’ll let you know about that when it comes up. Hmm… chocolate hazelnut porter beer bread? Anyway, here’s our Irish Red Ale Bread…

 

Saturday, our friends C&H from our epic Oregon trip last year (REMEMBER?) visited from their new home in Sacramento… and they also brought along their little six-month old KJ. (Don’t worry… I realize that KJ is a little over six months old… and about nine months before that was right around our Oregon trip… so I’m pretty sure that wonderful trip helped to bring an adorable baby into this world) Anyway, we went on a quick hike up to Inspiration Point, had some lunch at Pizza Orgasmica, wandered around the Presidio a little bit…

 

… and then while sitting around the apartment, we decided to pull out the Robopanda and traumatize little KJ…

 

All weekend, the Golden Gate Bridge was closed to road traffic for some construction (I think adding an alternating lane or some sort of financial rape machine or something) but not to walk across, so Izzy & I thought it’d be a good day to walk from my apartment, to the bridge, across to Marin County, and then back… all in all, about 8 miles. We totally did it… and probably will again… here are some beautiful pictures…

 

Anyway, that was last weekend, so pretty much caught you up on my shenanigans. Tune in next time when we brew another batch of amazing beer, probably review some movies, make Love and/or War & celebrating the great Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, junior. Have a great weekend everybody!!!

Pain Don't Hurt

Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen,

Fun little weekend with the ladyfriend Dizzy, after a long week at work (and next week is going to be HELLA longer), yesterday we went to Fort Point at the base of the Golden Gate Bridge for some Civil War Reenactment. Yup... that's how awesome we are. While there, we did some nice hiking around the beautiful coastline, wandered through the giant hundred-plus year old Fort Point, with volunteers in full regalia. We also asked the volunteers about the reported ghosts in the area... and who was eavesdropping... but a man who runs ghost tours of Pennhurt Penitentary in New Jersey (as seen on EVERYTHING ghost related). "That's cool, we'll have to hit you up if we're in the area. What's your name?" "Just call me Juice." Dig it. Here are some pictures...

This week, I caught a few flicks too. First up was "Ted" starring Marky Mark, Mila Kunis & the voice talents of producer/director Seth MacFarlane. It's the story of  a boy (Wahlberg) who makes a wish as a child for a friend... and of course, Christmas miracle, a teddy bear comes to life & becomes his best friend. The switch is... now it's 25 years later... and the talking bear Ted is still his best friend... and they're both kind of lazy drunken sh*ts... but some how he's got a superhot successful girlfriend (Kunis) but hey, hilarity ensues. I'd say check it out if you're into dirty R-rated humor... but if not, pass.

Next up was "The Descent: Part 2", the obligatory sequel to the successful (and very well done) horror flick "The Descent." In the original, six adventurer ladies go spelunking in the Appalachian mountains... and discover a subterranean race of humans perfectly adapted to the cave dwellings... but are more animal than human now & go on to devour them... spoiler alert, one woman makes it out alive at the end of the first. The sequel picks up from there... she's in a hospital & (of course) can't remember what happened or where the others are (really?). Well, one of the girl's was a senator's daughter or something... so they make her help them to go back into the caves to find her... and yeah, you can kind of guess where it goes from there. It was okay as far as unnecessary sequels go... but yeah, not nearly as well done as the original.

Next up was another obligatory sequel to a rather well done horror flick called "Quarantine 2." Where the original was basically one of those Blair Witch found footage single camera movies about an apartment building being quarantined with a zombie virus, this one was your standard told movie story about a plane (with really hot stewardesses) where one guy gets sick, another guy brings hamsters onto the plane... and the hamsters bit somebody and then there's just a bunch of vomiting & death... this one is really bad... don't even check it out. See the original only.

Thursday night I watched "Double Dare" which is a documentary about stuntwomen starring Jeannie Epper ("Wonder Woman" TV series) and the great Zoe Bell ("Xena", "Kill Bill" & star of "Death Proof"). Basically it talks about the history of stuntwomen... and basically just how badass they are... and chronicles their struggles & follows the path of how the incredible Zoe Bell even has trouble finding work... through the audition process, overcoming injuries, incredible physical conditioning, etc. It's a great documentary if that kind of stuff interests you... and being a bit of a moviefile it certainly did for me. Check it out!

Last night, Dizzy & I watched "Road House" starring Patrick Swayze & Kelly Lynch... while also listening to Adam Carolla's basic cable commentary. Now, I had never seen this movie before... I know, gasp of disbelief. I had seen bits & pieces on TV here & there... but yeah, never watched the whole thing. I just knew the references about ripping out a guy's throat, the tai chi on the beach shot & stupid sh*t like that. Well, it's even more ridiculous than that... but yeah, it's about a bouncer named Dalton (Swayze) who's the best in the business (and they'll never let you forget it) and he's hired by a guy to clean up a bar called the Double Deuce in Jasper, Missouri. Apparently the city is ran by a super corrupt business man... and for some reason, there's nobody that any of the good 90% of the city can turn to... except Dalton... and his fellow bouncer buddy Warren (Sam Elliott). There's a superhot doctor (Lynch) interested in the lead... and there's fight scenes... about a thousand knife wielding rednecks... horrible dialogue... poor plot development... but yeah, it's one of those guilty pleasure movies for sure. I don't mean to rag it that bad... I mean... I love Pootie Tang, how credible of a source does that make me? Anyway, check it out... with friends... and be prepared to laugh at inappropriate times.

That should do it for today. Only a few more days until I go to New Orleans... and I might be able to update before then... but if not... I'll see you after Valentine's Day! Have a great day everybody!!!

Happy Birthday Goldie!!!

Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen,

Let’s see… what has happened since the epic Carla & Larry Show? Work is its usual busyness… which is good, but difficult when being short-staffed… but over my now TWELVE YEARS of being “short-staffed” with the company, I’ve become used to it. You remember the days at Tahoe, right? I just had more free time in my lack of social life & cultural activity to keep this blog updated. You know… when you work during all the daylight hours… and it gets dangerously cold once the sun goes down, you’ve got a lot of stay-at-home time. Anyway, so that’s that. No worries, just means the time flies by & it takes care of most of that pesky free time that I simply had too much of anyway.

Sunday night, the roommates & I watched the usual HBO lineup including “Game of Thrones”, “Girls” & “Veep” but then afterwards somehow stumbled onto TLC… and watched “Sister Wives”. Yes, the “reality TV” show about the polygamist family in Vegas but what’s worse is we continued to watch the show after it… “My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding”! Now, I’ve seen the British version about gypsies and their… let’s say unique (and possibly antiquated) lifestyle… but the American one was a new breed to me. Basically, if you haven’t seen it, I suggest that you check it out… but be warned, it’s kind of addicting. The men go and work (though they never specified what they do to earn money other than there’s a season for it), the women stay home & take care of the kids and clean, the boys are absolute douches (like Jersey Shore on even MORE crack) & the girls are as whorish & slutty as unwed virgins can be, they’re all crazy and LOVE BEDAZZLING EVERYTHING!!! It’s perfectly okay though… because it’s their tradition.

Fun fact: The episode I saw was a Thanksgiving celebration at a hotel… and then a guy famous in the gypsy community as “Fightin’ Frank” came to the party. Long story short, the party was shut down at 8:30 PM because Frank punches a hotel worker in the face & ran like a b**ch. Who could have possibly guessed that? Besides everybody? Oh… and everybody was already REALLY drunk by 8:30 too… but that’s to be expected when you start drinking with your corn flakes. I warned you… it’s addictive.

Tuesday night, Dizzy & I went to a little art show at Café International in the Haight district for one of her friends at school. Have I mentioned that she’s an art student? Probably not… but there you go. The collection was about a dozen drawings of nude models in various positions… and was pretty amazing stuff. If you’re interested, he’s on the Facebook & I’m sure he’d friend you. His name is Terry Koch. Great guy.

The rest of the week was basically work... with basketball watching, TV and working out in between... occasionally sleep too... then Friday night, Nurse, her cousin Nursette, one of her friends & I went to a little celebration in honor of the Golden Gate Bridge's 75th birthday. This instance was the first installment of outdoor movies that they have in the Main Post Green with movies featuring Goldie herself. This one was "It Came From Beneath The Sea" (but we didn't stick around because it was pretty chilly). They also had live bluegrassy music from the Whiskey Family & food trucks... so we enjoyed some Chairman Bao & grilled cheeses (mine had bacon & macaroni & cheese in it).

Saturday night was a beautiful fireworks display for the bridge. They had fireworks coming off the bridge, off the port at Marin & from a giant boat in the bay. It was pretty amazing... and I was able to get a few pictures before my cameras inexplicably died almost instantly.

Sunday was a lot of relaxing with Dizzy & the roommates. That's really about it... and now I'm getting ready for the big party week with the Wingmans as they come to visit & we're planning on visiting Half Moon Bay, Monterey, Wine Country... and of course I have to show off my city by the Bay. Anyway... more on that in future posts... busy busy... have a great evening everybody!!!