Bachelor(ette) Party

Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen,

 

This past weekend was my Bachelor Party… well, sort of. Originally it was going to be a gaggle of us (male & female) just having a wonderful weekend in Santa Cruz… but unfortunately one guy hurt his back, others had work & other real life stuff happen… so essentially it was just a wonderful weekend with my future wife, her best friend Flea, and her cousin Amy briefly. TEAR IT UP!!! We had dinner at Lazy Dog in Cupertino Friday night, then spent the Saturday checking out breweries in the area & the Santa Cruz Boardwalk.

 

First stop was the taproom for Santa Cruz Aleworks where we had some pickled eggs, chips & salsa, and some of their beers on tap including an Oatmeal Stout, Kolsch & their season “Rye Like An Eagle” IPA. Good stuff, check them out…

 

  

Second stop was Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing about two miles away. Their taproom had a REALLY cool copper tree growing behind the bar… and their drink selection was pretty impressive as well. I personally loved their People’s Porter. Here are some pictures…

 

Then we stopped at the Santa Cruz Boardwalk to have some lunch, play some arcade games & take great pictures…

 

The third brewery of the day was Sante Adairius Rustic Ales in Capitola about ten minutes from the Boardwalk. He had visited this location a while back and… frankly weren’t that impressed with the selection. However, our beer buddies informed us that apparently we must have hit them on a bad weekend where they were doing a bunch of festivals or something because they have DOZENS of distinct beers available typically… so we tried them again. This time, there was definitely more selection with about a dozen different brews that were essentially a variety of IPAs, saisons & porters… and yeah, they’re pretty damn good. Check them out if you’re in the area. I wouldn’t make it a destination brewery just yet… but definitely worth a stop along the way…

 

The fourth & final brewery of the day was New Bohemia Brewing and… frankly this was our favorite of the entire day!!! This is the first time that I’ve heard of them, but the taproom is on point… their beer selection was low in variety but great in quality. They had a beer called Queen Bee which was an “Imperial Honey Lager” which is a style-bender kind of beer… but it was very malt forward, very potent with nearly 10% ABV, and extremely delicious. Check THAT out! The others were really good too, including a Dunkelweizen. They even let us bring in some badass burritos from down the street to the bar. Best of all though… they had LIVE bluegrass playing BEHIND THE BAR!!! Check out Wail Aways online!!! Definitely check them out if you’re in Santa Cruz… heck, I saw check their schedule for live performances & coordinate a trip to go see them. Great place… here are the pictures…

 

  

So yeah, not your typical Bachelor Party… and honestly it was just a wonderful weekend hanging with my fiancée & her best bud… but yeah, absolutely fantastic weekend! Can’t wait to do it again!

 

Also, we brewed a Honey Amber...

 

...and we tested our Cheese Fountain for the wedding... spoiler alert, it works lovely.

 

Since then, I’ve been… experiencing some unpleasantness. My work has been accusing me of completely ridiculous things… I assume to get a rise out of me (or keep me in the company as long as possible for as little pay, which is a poor method of retaining exceptional talent). My former roommates are trying to extort money from me too. Basically when I moved out, upon their request, I left them a couch and gave my stereo to a roommate. Well… six weeks since the last time anybody has contacted me concerning… anything, they send an email requesting that I pay half of a trash pickup bill for those items (and stuff from another roommate who wasn’t officially on the lease so good luck proving that SHE even lived there… dizzy cunt). For many reasons, this is ridiculous. If they didn’t want the stuff, gladly would’ve taken it or disposed of it back when I did the rest. Also, there’s a free service with the apartment that takes care of all of that. ALSO, send me a text & I can take precious time and effort out of my day to remove my items for you. Nope. Just send an email saying that I owe them hundreds of dollars because… they decided that they didn’t want the free stuff six weeks later. Yup, I told them that it was completely ridiculous & wished them the best of luck with their new living arrangements. Drop mic.

 

The “Event Horizon” episode is up at eilfm.podbean.com on the Everything I Learned From Movies Podcast, but coming up in a few days… the next episode will feature a fairly similar movie, 1998’s “Sphere” starring Dustin Hoffman, Sharon Stone & Laurence Fish… NOPE, SAMUEL L. JACKSON!!! You may want to listen to the podcast to find out why I specifically had to point that out. Beers were involved… as is always the case on EILFM. Until next time, have a great weekend everybody!!!

Mokele Mobembe

Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen,

 

Thursday night, Izzy, her aunts & I had dinner at Elevation 66 Brewing for the first time… and it was fantastic. Super Dave was even there just doing his brewmaster / owner thing, helping run the place. I got there first (because I'm a man) and had a Coast 66 Double Rye IPA while waiting. Dave stopped by & we chatted it up for a minute or so, but then he was off doing owner stuff. The ladies showed up, we ate some GREAT food including house-made sausage (probably the best I’ve ever had) with spaetzle that was incredible…  fish & chips with three full large pieces of fish… a delicious Reuben sandwich… and even the mushroom Panini sh*t that one of the aunts got was pretty good. Of course their beer that we helped (in a small part) to make was great as well. Super Dave even stopped by a few times to say hi & introduced us to his wife Esther, the namesake for their vanilla stout. That's cool as well. Best part: With four full meals (ladies had leftovers) and two rounds. and even some snacks & tremendous beer & cheese soup while I was waiting… the total came to like $85. Not bad at all for a bit of a fancy night at the pub. I highly recommend it if you’re in the El Cerrito area. It’s just two blocks from the BART station for El Cerrito Plaza, check it out.

 

Unfortunately I didn't get any pics of the food... but here's something that Izzy & I made... it's flat steak marinated in soy sauce, Worcester & Mangria... wrapped around bleu cheese and slow roasted in a crock pot. It wasn't perfect... but yeah, delicious.

 

 

Saturday, we went on a little road trip down the Pacific Coast Highway towards Harley Farms in Pescadero. If you remember from a few weeks ago, we went out there & took the tour… and they mentioned that the farm was expecting dozens to hundreds of baby goats around this time of year… and with Izzy being such a HUGE fan of goats and all cute four-legged creatures, we thought we’d go check them out. We would’ve went on another tour… but they’re pretty much booked up for the next few months… so we just went on the cheap (free-99) and saw a few cute guys. Here are some pictures…

 

Next stop was a brewery that I had heard great things about called Sante Adairius Rustic Ales in Capitola. They pride themselves on unique brews… and using a variety of different methods of brewing to kind of experiment with flavors. For example, they had cask-conditioned IPAs & porters… along with a variety of saisons (farmhouse ales) with mixed types of fermentation & yeasts available when we stopped by. I admire their determination to try new things and to go into the unknown wholeheartedly… however, I just didn’t particularly care for the beverages that were on hand. Now, that being said… I not a huge fan of saisons in general (see Beer Talks) nor cask-conditioned ales unless their more suited for cask-conditioning. For example, English Ales & some of the maltier choices (porter was much better than IPA) work well with the cask method… but for me personally, it just tastes like flat lifeless beer otherwise. Again, if you like saisons & cask ales, then I highly recommend that you check this place out if you’re in the beautiful area of Capitola. The proprietor of the establishment is a wonderful bearded man who came out to greet me & share in height-advantaged conversation for a few moments… it has a good vibe full of dog owners… and the beer is okay… but perhaps I’m just spoiled by constantly being surrounded in AMAZING beer, that I felt this stop was just okay. Again, go check it out for yourself… and stop by some of the other sights down there by Aptos, Santa Cruz & Watsonville like we did.

 

Speaking of which, here are some of our stops along the way while down there… including an okay BBQ joint called Sid’s Smokehouse… and then back out to Aptos to see the beautiful Seacliff State Park...

 

Saturday night, we stopped by Izzy’s friend Peter’s Birthday Bash at his house… and as is usual with his house parties, they’re amazing & awesome!!! Dozens of people filling the place, enough booze to poison an elephant’s liver beyond repair, dance floor competitions, live entertainment, just a great time. We also brought some of our Hefeweizen & Nut Brown Ale bombers… and our 5 Day Cider which was ready for consumption. We had tried it Friday night & it was pretty splendid… basically just like sparking apple juice but cloudier and maybe 3-4% ABV. You could easily drink it all day. Anyway, several guests wanted to try our beer… and they all seemed to like it, with most LOVING it. There was even one drunken guest who offered to help with financing a brewery if we started one… but we’ll see in a few months when he sobers up & we come to collect. Regardless, it was a fantastic time with good peeps & everybody made it home safe thanks to public transportation & designated drivers like me. Yup… that’s right… I was drinking coca-cola most of the night… cuz that’s how a G do.

 

Over the weekend we watched Season four of “Archer” now on Netflix (in like one sitting it seems) and also a 1999 movie called “Pirates of Silicon Valley” starring Noah Wyle as Steve Jobs & Anthony Michael Hall  as Bill Gates about the early days of Microsoft, Apple, IBM and basically the computer boom in general in the late 70’s early 80’s. There have been a number of movies about this subject recently (in particular Steve Jobs since he died and apparently once somebody dies you can do whatever you want with their image) but this movie was apparently one of the first & most acclaimed. The story is essentially about these college students (Jobs at Berkeley & Gates at Harvard) who see the future potential of the computer world & try to get in on it… and because nobody else really seems to see the potential that they do or have their business savvy… or even a little ruthless cutthroat behavior… they basically end up OWNING THE WORLD! Well, not quite that much… but spoiler alert, Bill Gates does become the wealthiest man in the world by the end of it. I thought it was a pretty interesting little piece of (controversial) history based on the times… and I would recommend it. It’s not the best movie obviously… but not too bad. I liked it.

 

My bathroom in my apartment is getting torn up & remodeled (leaking pan) so hopefully when it’s all said & done, I’ll have a new bathroom with a raised shower nozzle (you know, for a man of 80 inches in height as opposed to 60). It’s a bit of a pain sharing the bathroom with the other three lady roommates but… whatever. I’m low maintenance & plan ahead. Also, Jackie D is in town again… and we’re going to check out some apartments while she’s in town, getting ready for her move back. Have a great day everybody!!!

Birthweek Update

Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen,

I’m officially 31 years old now, which seems like a big number… but whatever. I’m just 21 with a decade of experience & better retirement savings (now that I’m not wasting money on college… stay in school kids!!!). I celebrated the big birthday by… well, going to work. My coworkers put streamers up in my office (closet) and some Golden State Warriors logo… because they knew that I was going to the basketball game at Oracle Arena that night… just might’ve missed that it was against my favorite team since I was 8 years old, the San Antonio Spurs. Still pretty cool & thoughtful of them… and they gave me some of my favorite treats too so, kudos!!!

After work, Dizzy & I met up at Oracle Arena (she drove, I took BART) and we wandered around the arena because it was the season finale & Fan Appreciation day… which meant that food, beverage & merchandise were 50% off!!! So basically it meant that AVAILABLE food, beverage & merchandise were reasonably priced instead of the usual ridiculousness. The lines were long… but I bought some Warriors relax pants (basically long underwear), t-shirts & a few little things, even though I was really looking for a jacket… but I’ll probably just get a SF Giants jacket, cuz the colors are a little better… and I have to represent for the REAL Giants, not those suckers in New Jersey.

We also grabbed some beef brisket sandwiches and a few beers to start the game. Again, this was the regular season finale… and the Spurs were #1 in the west & going to the playoffs… and the Warriors missed the playoffs yet again… so it was basically a matchup of their last 5 available bench players with all the stars resting for the playoffs or starting their summer vacations early. Regardless, I love basketball… so I enjoyed watching these less popular professionals… and it kept the game good & close down to the final minutes, which is really what you want, right? Good times.

Friday was more work… but then my karaoke birthday party at Pandora in the Blue Moon room (yes, based on the beer). Bubbles, Dizzy & I walked through the Tenderloin (corner of crack & cocaine) to get to Pandora, but we also made a stop at a nice little bar based on an old speakeasy called Bourbon & Branch. There’s really no signage or anything from the outside… but then you knock & give the password (make it up?) and they have a few different rooms behind bookshelves & mirrors and such… and it’s pretty cool. I enjoyed it. I tried a drink called the Citizen Shame… and it was delicious.

The party at Pandora’s was fantastic. I sang a few classics like “Superfreak” & Jay-Z’s “Girls Girls Girls” while about a dozen other people came by & donated their talents as well. By the way, I have a coworker named Red… who may be on American Idol one of these days, she can perform… and she did “The Last Dance” & “Lady Marmalade” like she knew what she was doing. Anyway, a few beverages were had (but not too many) and definitely some good times. Afterwards, Dizzy and I went with CC & her Russian friend to Bourbon & Branch again for a drink, then around for some late night burritos & then we called it a night fairly early (I had been up since 6 AM as most people so not too broken hearted by it).

Saturday, Dizzy & I went on a fantastic road trip (all arranged by her) to Santa Cruz. We started off by using coupons from the Warriors game towards some free sourdough jacks at Jack in the Box (delicious) then went to the Boardwalk of Santa Cruz. If you’ve never been there, it’s a mini amusement park / arcade / eatery / historical landmark all in one. The amusement park portion is basically on par with Lagoon in Utah (only frame of reference really & a lot of VERY similar rides… like infringing on trademarks one side of the other, I’m sure) then a full arcade with a LOT of video games, a very decent miniature golf course, the usual funnel cakes, Dippin’ Dots, chocolate covered bananas & all that kind of fair fare… with one added perk… it’s located on a GORGEOUS coastline & it was a beautiful spring day… and I’ll say it, there was a LOT of ladies putting their goods on display. I felt overdressed with a T-shirt & jeans. We also enjoyed some great fish & chips on the pier there & saw sea lions enjoying the warm weather. Here are some pictures…

After a few hours there, Dizzy drove me to her favorite beach in ALL the world in Aptos – Seacliff Beach. There were some stairs down a cliff to the coast, but at the bottom was a pier… and at the end of the pier… was a sunken cement ship. The S.S. Palo Alto to be exact… and the story goes that this cement ship was ooriginally launched in 1919 and was once connected by a pier and used as part of an area amusement park in the late 1920s. A winter storm broke the ship in half, so it was stripped for salvage and turned into a fishing pier in Seacliff State Beach. The pier juts out to the edge of the ship so that you can check out it’s crumbled remains… which is usually covered with sea birds .. but still pretty cool from a completely nerdy perspective, which you know I’m all for. Not only that… we were out on the pier admiring the view as it was approaching “the golden hour” and we saw something off the pier… DOLPHINS!!! LOTS OF THEM!!! Then… as if that wasn’t enough… A MUTHA LOVIN’ HUMPBACK WHALE!!! Like… 20-30 yards at most from us at times. I could’ve easily pegged it with a football… it was truly a romantic & magical moment. Here are some pictures…

 

 Can you see the humpback in this photo?

By the way, I just wanted to mention… since I know that I haven’t been keeping up with this thing… that yeah, I officially have a girlfriend named Dizzy. We started out very casual & it kinda grew from there… but yeah, it’s official, just in case you were speculating out there. As you may also know, it’s been a LONG time since I’ve had one… but apparently I’m doing a pretty good job at being a boyfriend in her eyes… so yeah, finally I was in one of those romantic moments & had somebody to share it with. Awesome!

After a while there on the pier, we decided to head over to Capitola for some more wandering through a little tourist trap town… and it was great as well. The sun started going down & chilling a bit, so we then headed back to my apartment for a fine meal of strawberries, salami, gorgonzola cheese, sourdough bread, dark chocolate & other antipasti as well as bottle of wine that she had prepared. She’s a good woman to have around, right? She must really like me. We enjoyed it while watching… “The Conqueror” starring the great John Wayne. Okay, for those who haven’t seen this film… it’s John Wayne… as Genghis Khan. Now… think about that for a few seconds… ready? Okay. Yes, THE John Wayne plays the role of Mongolian warlord Genghis Khan… which should be awkward enough, right? Well, throw in the fact that he’s playing this notorious murderer of millions as THE GOOD GUY… and he takes a (very white) woman (Susan Hayward) as his prisoner… and then he finds that he can avenge the death of his own father… by killing her father. PLOT TWIST!!! Yeah, so… there’s a lot of betrayal… and then non-betrayal… and romantic lines like “Mother, I take this woman for my pleasure!” in John Wayne’s voice… and yeah, it’s pretty ridiculous to watch for many reasons… but yeah, what do you expect? Good times were had by all.

Sunday was mostly a stay in bed (you know why, don’t deny) and relax kind of day. We watched TV & went for walks in the Presidio & ordered a pizza for sustenance but yeah, pretty lazy day… so that was pretty much the fantastic birthday week. So good that it’s up there with last year’s adventures in New Orleans & the Mexican Riviera for my 30^th, Vegas for my 26^th, even Chuck E. Cheese for my 27^th. Big shout out to Dizzy for making it happen. Seriously! Warriors-Spurs game… karaoke party with friends & coworkers… road trip to a beach wonderland… sea lions, dolphins, whales… perfect weather… great meals… lots of snuggling in between it all… what more could a man want for his 31^st birthday celebration? Have a great night everybody!!!