How we choose to react...

Imagine you are driving along on a quiet Saturday morning from Baltimore, MD to Ocean City, MD. Traffic on the road is light. You are making good time. You are passing Salisbury and have only a half hour left on your trip.

Now imagine that your car starts to react strange. You push down on the gas and the engine revs - your RPMs shoot up but you don't feel any pressure back from the drive system. You release the gas pedal to let the RPMs fall below 2000. You still have momentum, but are now in the right lane with hazards flashing. You accelerate again. But once you hit 2000, the tachometer shoots up again past 3000-4000+. You pull off the road. Maybe cycling the power will help.

Turn off the car. Turn it on. Try to pull out and go again. Same reaction. After a while you the get car into a gas station (no garage). You now call a service garage and ask them to diagnose the issue over the phone. They say "it's the transmission." On no - that's not an easy fix.

You have a choice to make. You were on your way to a conference for the weekend. Do you focus on the car and let THAT consume your thoughts and time OR do you leave the car in a safe place and go to your destination?

I recently heard that 'destiny is a series of choices or decisions.' You don't want for it to just happen, instead you make it happen. What you let consume your mind will consume your life. I choose to leave the car so I can benefit from the conference. The following day (on the way back), I took care of the car. Fortunately, I was with people who focused on solutions rather than issues. A little masterminding with a friend lead to simple decisions on how to get the car to a garage and getting a rental for the week.

I hope your car doesn't break down on you, but I do hope you don't let situations slow you down.

~J^3

post script: It was the transmission. With help from a bunch of people for a variety of things, I got the car to a garage. I had a rental for about a week. The Tribute is back and on the road again. Thanks folks!

$200 million per day and a 300 person entourage

So as you might be aware, President Obama is overseas in Asia heading to the G-20 summit. The above headline is what his travels are costing America.

The question I ask is whether this is normal and justified. I mean, what did it cost President Bush to travel? For that matter, did he travel - outside of the US? The math works out to about $666,000 per person! I can only guess what the fuel costs for Air Force one are, plus armor plated vehicles in every country.

So while I could fact check most of this on the 'Internet', I am writing this entry on my phone. Feel free to correct me.

Thanks for reading,
J^3

PS. So the initial estimates might be wrong:
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/05/india-on-200-million-a-day-no/
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/india.asp

Smart phones may require smart people

So this is my current contention. Case in point, my buddy Mike. He got his first smart phone yesterday - a Motorola Droid 2. His last phone was a typical clamshell style of the non-smart type. He was an early adopter of Google products and already uses gMail. While you could consider him an advanced user of gMail, he hasn't needed a unified contact manager so far.

Prior to yesterday, he had phone contacts in his mobile, email contacts in gMail, and business contacts (email+phone) in his work Outloook. One of the features and requirements of an Android device is its connection to a Google account. This allows the user to synchronize their selected gMail contacts with their phone. Handy, since this will be the primary tool to manage said contacts.

However, for my friend, this proves to be an issue. You see, he uses Verizon Wireless which gives their users access to an over-the-air backup utility which backups all the phone contacts to Verizon's server. Quite handy with a non-smart phone. Mike made use of this and had all 200+ contacts stored on the server. So naturally, when you start-up your new Droid 2, you expect to connect to the backup server and magically get your 200+ contacts back. Sadly, this didn't happen. The Droid-Verizon connection was able to push only 122 out of 209 records to the phone. Ones that were missed - his sister, his parents. If the service knew any better, these would be deemed of higher importance.

Scouring the web for the answer proved fruitless. Yes, you can connect to Google but it would be first nice to get back the old ones you had. Finally a call to Verizon solved the mystery - Backup Assistant was broken. Broken for the past several days and no expected fix date. Their suggestion, use Google contacts.

Now fortunately, you can export the contacts from Verizon into a CSV (comma-separated variable) format. But then you need to merge that with your Google contacts. I'll spare you the blow by blow. This is not a trivial process especially if you use the time to cull your old phone contacts and current gMail contacts. Using advanced Excel functions like VLookup, Mike was able to create a merged import file of all his contacts. A mass delete of the current contacts and an import using the file finally got him to state he wanted - all old phone contacts are stored in gContacts. Time to finally sync the phone to Google. And voila!

Whew! You might wonder how it seems I have intimate knowledge of all the steps taken. I was there. Four hours of watching, helping, waiting, and not lunching. But it is done. Yay. How do the 'normal' people do this? Maybe they just abandon the tricky methods and go for straight re-entry. Who can say. I hope your Saturday morning was just as fun.

Thanks for reading,
J^3

More bike riding!

Hello all to a sunny, cool fall Saturday. What a great day to break out the bike and ride. So I did. I packed a lunch, grabbed some water, my camera, and decided to check out a new place: Lake Montebello.

The ride there was great. From my apartment, I head out towards Johns Hopkins and the Waverly Farmer's Market. Another mile or so past is the man-made lake. It is a beautiful setting, much like Druid Lake. There is a nice track around for bikers, walkers, runners, dogs, and whatever else. It's apparently 1.35 miles around the lake.

What was cool was after I arrived and took a spin around, I found a nice shady area to have my lunch. Thanks to Mom for the idea! Lunch was a nice tuna-fish sandwich, some coffee cakes, and an XS Classic. Post lunch, I took another ride around the lake and headed back.

It's funny how you see things more when traveling via bike or walking versus driving. I stumbled upon a labyrinth right off 33rd. It is the Stadium Place-Thanksgiving Place Labyrinth. I was re-introduced to labyrinths only recently. There is one at the Delaware Art Museum in Wilmington, DE. This one is very pretty and complemented with a bell tower. I stopped for a little while and walked the path and reflected. Very cool.

One of the fun places in Waverly to check out is The Book Thing. Since I hadn't been in a while, I stopped by. You really can't go without picking up some books. I came away with four. One or two will probably end up as gifts.

The ride back was nice. The hills was a bit challenging as I working on building strength in my legs. But, I got through it. Each time it will be better, no doubt.

Oh, I tracked my progress with GPSed again. You can check out the route and some pictures I took along the way: http://www.gpsed.com/track/395697906001622736.

Thanks for reading. Have an awesome weekend!
~J^3

We're number one?

We all like the idea of winning. And we should. However, I believe that it should be less of 'being the best' and more of 'doing our best'. Small distinction. Being the best basically is doing more or better than others. Depending on the situation, we might not have to do much. However, doing our best requires a whole lot more. It requires us to push our boundaries of what our potential is.

I came across an op-ed in the New York Times today. I encourage you to read it here. Tom Friedman explains what he feels are some of our country's underlying reasons for falling behind. In general, as Americans, we can't imagine a world where America is not the leader. And I believe that many nations around the world hope/expect that the US remains the leader. Unfortunately, we (the country) don't exude the qualities of a leader.

I think that it is great that many more people today feel they have the opportunity to be on TV, be a celebrity, be a star. However, there is sacrifice and hard work which comes with that. Dedication and focus towards a goal is what keeps this nation strong. And, there is a lot of that around. But they are not whom we hear about everyday. Columns like Tom Friedman's shed light on the problems. What we need to do is start focusing on the solutions.

Don't misunderstand, I believe in 'play hard'. But the first part of that phrase is 'work hard'. Only I can evaluate whether I 'worked hard' and deserve to 'play hard'. I encourage you to look around and learn what sacrifices your friends/relatives are making. Don't judge - just listen. And if you don't have a passion or drive for something right now, maybe you'll find something along the way. Until then, as the Boy Scouts say, 'do your best' ... in everything you do.

Thanks for reading,
J^3

Stuffed animals

Remember back to your childhood? Remember when you had a few choice stuffed animals to keep you safe at night? Or maybe you had a favorite which had to come EVERYWHERE. We will had a few growing up. My brother and I both had our favorites - a bear, a lion, a bunny, a seal. But the collection grew well beyond just those. As you can see in the picture, we had a menagerie. This came to being because we were not alone in our appreciation of the stuffed animals. Our mother essentially collected them.

Sadly, it has been a long while since these guys were played with. The reason they were reunited was to take stock before we donate the lot. A few were saved and hopefully cleaned. The rest will hopefully bring joy to another child or neighborhood of children.

How would you redesign it?

A few weeks back, a friend posted a link to a blog article which I found interesting. The author, Erica Goldson, displays her valedictorian speech given earlier this year (one assumes). In her speech, Erica questions the method in which our current education system evaluates whether students have learned enough to move on. I encourage you to read her speech first:

http://americaviaerica.blogspot.com/

“But now I have successfully shown that I was the best slave.” What a line. I agree with the sentiment of the speech. We should be taught and encouraged to think beyond the facts and rote memorization. One of my friends once told me that educational systems are mostly an experiment. There is little science or testing which shows that one way of teaching is better than another. Mostly this is because you can't truly tell until at least ten years later.

I believe that we as a society need to encourage life-long learning. No matter our degree or profession, we are all capable of learning new things. We should strive to build that desire within ourselves and the youth. In today’s economic climate, this idea is more than just a suggestion, it is required. Many people are finding that they are faced with learning new skills, techniques, and entire vocations in order to survive.

Coming back to schools and education – Erica suggests for students go beyond what is required for testing and not worry about grades. How does that work? I agree - metrics stink. But how do we, as a society, evaluate which schools need support, which are 'succeeding'?

Malcolm Gladwell, in his book ‘Outliers’, examines commonly used stats showing reading comprehension between students of different socio-economic status across several years in school. Looking at the numbers, it appears that the schools are failing at helping the students from low income backgrounds keep up with their middle and high income classmates. But then Gladwell has the reader look closer. The low-income are not falling behind in school. They are falling behind during summer. It comes back to a difference in what happens at home. When a family is struggling to make ends meet, there is less time to encourage summer learning. On the flip-side, the middle and high income families create more incentives for summer education. It comes through required reading, trips, summer camps, and similar activities.

I believe that our attitudes towards education are impacted by the school, the teachers, and our classmates. But they are so much more affected by our family, relatives, and friends. In essences, it comes back to association. Be careful who you spend time with.

In Erica’s final sentences, she directs her thoughts to her classmates and instructors. She challenges them to change, to grow, to learn. We all should listen and try to learn, grow, and change.

Thanks for reading!
~J^3

A Baltimore First

So I did it. After nearly seven months living here in the city, I finally did it… I took a bike ride. Oooo. Ahhh. OK, so maybe it is not that exciting to you. But since bringing my bike down here, I was excited to finally take it out and use it. Back in Delaware, I would ride the bike about once a year. Typically, it would be on the fourth of July. I would ride down to the reviewing stand and help setup the sound system and podium. The reason I rode my bike was that at some point the road would be closed for the parade and there was little need to bring my car there. But I digress.

So in a recent post I mentioned that I would write stuff in no specific order. So you might ask, “When did you take this ride?” Today – Saturday July 24th, 2010 - reportedly the hottest day in Baltimore this year. According to wunderground.com, it was between 99 degF to 100 degF outside. And I biked almost 9 miles in that heat.
Was I thinking? No. Did I at least prepare for a hot ride? Yes. I was smart enough to wear shorts, a t-shirt, a ballcap, and bring water. It really didn’t hit me though until I was 20-30 min into my ride and about 3-4 miles away from my apartment. First, I am getting into shape (positive talk), but I do have some way to go. So biking even that long wore me out. Plus it is warm out. Fortunately, I was not racing nor had a timetable. Also fortunately I was biking in a park with benches. I stopped a few times to catch my breath, breathe, and walk the bike a little. But mostly I powered through it. That felt great.

The route was nice – I wasn’t biking through the streets of Baltimore. From my apartment it takes about ten minutes to get to a bike/walk entrance of Druid Hill Park. The signs read for the Jones Fall Trail. I followed that into the park, past the Maryland Zoo, in front of the Conservatory, and down to the Druid Lake. There is a nice 1.5 mi path around the reservoir which I did twice. The ride back to the apartment started out rough. I was pretty winded so I took my time. At certain point though I was feeling better and was able to power through the rest. You can check out the route I took at GPSed.com here. GPSed Lite is a cool, free app for my Blackberry which uses GPS to record my path.

Recently I was having a conversation with my friend Sara where I told her about a high school incident where I managed to scare a fellow classmate (Kayvon) through my driving. She noted that most high school boys have this ‘invincibility’ idea that nothing can ever stop them. I don’t know if Mrs. Hitchens still teaches at AIHS and whether she still runs the Math League team, but if you wonder why no one is allowed to carpool to offsite matches, you can thank me. Because of the incident, students would either use the bus or go alone.

One could argue that I still believe I am invincible in a few areas of my life. Chalk it up to being single, unattached, and still alive. I think my decision to bike on the hottest day this year goes right along with this notion. But I survived. Thank God for that. Next time, I’ll be a bit smarter and start with shorter runs to build up endurance. I must add though, when I got back to my place, I had two things which helped my body recover very quickly: endurance cubes (berry flavor) and an antioxidant twist tube.

So that’s it. I was able to start biking and I hope I can make it a habit.
Thanks for reading,
~J^3

An adjustment

Have you ever been to a chiropractor? Ever been adjusted? Well I had my first experience today. It was interesting.

I went to one of those booths at the HonFest which offered a free 10 min massage. Well along with that I was offered two free chiropractor consults. Sure, I thought. Why not?

They checked me out and even took a few x-rays to check out my spine. As it turns out, I need to correct the curvature of my neck and my middle to lower back.

Fast forward to today. I went to my first appt. The doctor felt my neck and them made two quick, sharp adjustments. Wow, did my neck crack. And that was it. I then was given 10 min of some electric stimulation to ease the muscles. Strange.

We'll see how it goes. I hope it helps to reduce the general back and shoulder pain. I guess time will tell.

~J^3
Sent via BB

Does order matter?

Since the whole blog thing is new to me I have this feeling that posts should have chronological order. Well that creates an issue when I have posts in mind and then new ideas come up. I get this anxiety about finding time to write. Forget that!

I have a plan to write a post summarizing the road trip. That'll happen. I also have starting writing one about a recent trip to Bethany Beach. Right now, I am at a local haunt - Golden West Cafe in Hampden. If you haven't been, check out the long bar. A few great bartenders - Tony, Eaden - and an every changing list of beers on tap. The food is pretty banging too.

So look forward to other posts. Who knows when they'll come or in what order. Yay for randomness.

~J^3
Sent via BB

Kids, final beers, and NREL

On Sunday, Dan and I got to take care of Loren and Lily without Lindsay. She went up to Denver for a hair appointment and some much needed quiet time. It was fun. The kids have a play room area in the lower level. They each had an indoor tent set up from a previous day, I guess. I found an old Transformer (Jetfire) of Dan’s in Loren’s toy box. Loren gravitated to the space shuttle toy. For some reason, we were good and evil (I was good) and we were battling. Of course, nothing could destroy the shuttle. And everything I stated that I had (lasers, missiles, bombs), Loren’s shuttle had too. At first, he didn’t like that the plane turned into a robot. But then I told him the robot could fly too and that made it all better. Dan was watching Lily paint with her water colors. It was a relaxing afternoon. Eventually, the robot and the shuttle became friends. I added a deep voice to the robot when he “spoke” to Loren. That was received well. Then Loren brought down a hand-puppet: Squacky. He of course had a higher voice. Squacky even helped Ace (Loren’s stuffed dog) and became Dr. Squacky.

After getting dinner down, the kids and we got to watch Wall-E. Such a great film. It was interesting watching the film from the perspective of a 4-year old. I take for granted that I can watch a scene, study a character’s actions and facial expressions and guess what emotions and thoughts they might be having. To a four year old, it is silence. What is going on? What is Wall-E doing now? Why doesn’t Eve move? Where are they going now? I’m tired. Where is Wall-E? … and so on. Don’t get me wrong. I wasn’t annoyed. I answered the best I could and let him keep asking. Curiosity is good.

After the kids went to bed, Dan and I tried beer from our last brewery: Capital brewery. It wasn’t
open for tasting when we visited, so Dan had procured some mixed six packs. We split six bottles and were impressed. They get a five out of six. We could only imagine what these tasted like on draft.

So the following day – Monday – was my last day in Dodge, rather Colorado. Dan and I took the kids up to Denver and got another opportunity to hang with Katie. This time, we got a tour of NREL! Well, I got a slightly better tour than Dan because he chose to wear shorts and flip-flops to a pilot plant. Unfortunately I didn’t get any pictures. I found out I was allowed only after we left the building! But it was great to see that our money is going towards some great study into gasification of organics for fuels.

The rest of the day was typical end of vacation stuff: head to airport – get through security – have a delay in leaving – fly – meet people – land – wait forever for a bag – have a great friend pick me up – chill in the apt for an hour – drive to Delaware.

Thanks for reading all of this. Even though the roadtrip is complete, I am sure I will find more things to ‘blog’ about.

~J^3

World Cup and Ft Collins Brew Fest

The fever was “brewing” at the Dry Dock brewery in Aurora, CO on Saturday. The US was going to battle Ghana for the chance to move on from the top 16 to the top 8. Dry Dock brewery opened at noon. We (and a few others) were there by 11:45am. We found our seats at the bar, the TVs came to life and the beer was poured. I ordered a sampler flight which was six beers of my choosing. At 12:30pm, the game started. I don’t think I need to replay the rest of the game for you since you probably watched it. Dan and I only watched it to half-time because we had to get up to Ft Collins. But I will tell you that I tried 9 beers in total and was very happy with the choices. Dry Dock knows their stuff.

I don’t know if you (the reader) have ever been to a Brewer’s Fest. I had not. This one was setup so that for $25 you received a small plastic 4oz mug and could taste about 50 beers from over 30 local breweries. The setup was pretty good. We would get in a quick moving line to get a taste, receive said taste, and hop into another line while finishing our beer. I did this about four times when I made a better effort to find food. While you could get drunk pretty quick, I was not looking to do so. I started taking a few sips when I received my pour and tossing the rest. I got smarter and started asking for just a half pour (2oz). By the end of the three-hour tasting period, I had tried beer from 16 breweries. Not bad. I hit half. I captured a picture of each tent to track where I went. I’ll document in a later post.

The rest of that evening was interesting. Dan and I had joined his brother-in-law’s bachelor party group. Toby, the groom, was pretty lit and in need of food. About an hour later we strolled up on Big City Burrito, which according to Toby, is a local must. Though he also said DP Dough was a must. I like DP Dough but whatever. The burrito at Big City was good – potato burrito, no rice or beans, carnitas, green sauce, tomatillo, cheese. After dinner and taking the group back to the hotel, Dan and I departed and went back to Colorado Springs. It was another good day.

~J^3

Atari Rocks!

Friday was a no beer day. That sounds strange coming from a guy who generally doesn’t drink very much. But when you are on a brewery tour, it is nice to take a day off. Most of the day was a family day hanging with the Lee’s – spending time with Loren, Lily, Lindsay, and Dan as they did their daily routine. In the early evening, I borrowed the car and headed to Denver. I got a chance to spend more time with Katie and her boyfriend, Lance. The Highlands area where Katie lives is a cool town. We had dinner at a place focusing on New Mexican food and dessert at Après which makes homemade ice cream sandwiches!

After playing on swings and discussing musicals (old, new, and foreign), we found ourselves back at Katie’s and ready to play some Atari. That’s right – Katie was testing games for a co-worker! What a treat. We played some Q*bert, Frogger, Beserk, Haunted House, and several others. I was happy to help.

~J^3

Denver breweries

As a friend of mine states, I am a people collector. I like to think of it that I have friends everywhere. One of those amazing friends is Katie. She lives out in Denver after she spent many a year on the East Coast. I couldn’t come out to Colorado and not find a way to see her (in her ‘native’ habitat). What a better way than by visiting the second largest brewery in Golden? There’s a little house on Cheyenne street that contains a fun experience – Golden City Brewery. If you plan on going, come early. Last call is 6:30pm and they close at 7pm. They are surrounded by residential homes and like to be nice to the neighbors. The beer was great. The atmosphere was better. We sat out in side lawn enjoying our brew and the warm weather. To top it off, one of the ‘bartenders’ sang us two Irish drinking songs after last call to help us pass the time. Katie was able to enjoy a beer before last call. Unfortunately, she had work to do that evening (sheesh!) and couldn’t join us in our next location.

Dan and I traveled to downtown Denver and were joined by Tyler at another local favorite – Great Divide Brewing Co. Speaking of friends everywhere, this is a time when Facebook comes in handy. I love how I can search an area for people I know. Because of this, we were also joined by my friend Wendy and her boyfriend, Daniel. Amazingly, Wendy and I know each other all the way back from high school. So we all tried some Great Divide. They offer four free tastings. Between our free tastings and a couple of pints we drunk, Dan and I tasted another ten beers. It is safe to say Great Divide is good but not a top five contender. Their popular beers hit the spot but the more experimental ones were off. This evaluation is much to the chagrin of Tyler who rates them higher on his list. If you stick to the main beers, I can understand.

~J^3

The Presidents and Beyond

So Wednesday morning (last week), Dan and I found ourselves in Rapid City, SD. This was our final overnight before ‘home’ – Colorado Springs. The storms had passed and it was a gorgeous day. Perfect for seeing some carved mountains.

Mt Rushmore was impressive. While looking at the faces of four past presidents could bring up cause others to contemplate history and how these men impacted it, I found the construction/sculpting of the mountain face more interesting. Just like most things in our world, the vision of one man led to what many come to see today. In the visitor’s center at the monument, they had on display some of the original sketches and busts of what the artist envisioned. Had there been more time and probably money, he wanted a full figure of these men to grace the mountain side. An undertaking of this magnitude seemed only possible back in those days. It is much harder to imagine sculpting on this scale today. Until you visit Crazy Horse.

Ambitious. That is pretty much what you call what is being done a few miles away. Started many years ago (1947 or so), this monument was not funded by the government and therefore has taken a long time to move forward. The face is carved and they have the plans on how to sculpt Crazy Horse’s steed. I hope years from now that I can return to that place and see what private donations have accomplished. Who knows – it could be another Wonder of the Modern World.

After our cultural intake, we drove straight on to Ft. Collins, CO. I didn’t mention it before, but it was fortunate that Dan grabbed a number of podcasts from NPR while at the hotels. We were able to here great episodes from Car Talk, This American Life, Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me, Planet Money, and more.

In Fort Collins, we had two more breweries to review: New Belgium and Odell’s. Tyler, Dan’s brother-in-law, joined us for this part. New Belgium was popular! Especially since many people could bike over from town. A new concept here was three free tastings. Overall, we found the beers tasty. The atmosphere was busy yet also a bit touristy. Odell’s on the other hand seemed like the lesser known local brewery. We got two flights – the Classic and the Co-Pilot. Wow. All 10 beers were a hit. Paired with the laid back atmosphere, Odell’s makes it into our top five.

Post Ft Collins, we headed directly to Dan’s new home in Colorado Springs. If you haven’t been out to Colorado at all or in a while and you are like me, the views of the foothills and the open sky is just breathtaking. I understand what draws people to the mountains.

--J^3

Quick update

And the journey home begins. I have a bunch to write about the last few days. I hope to do so on the plane ride home. Until then ... Baltimore, here I come!

Bikes, Corn, Wall Drug, and Storms

So, if you are reading this, I hope that I am keeping you interested. Writing it all down is great for me so I get to log what happened. And maybe, you enjoy it too.

Minneapolis is a bike-friendly city. That's great for its inhabitants. But now, it is also great for visitors, if you are fortunate to stumble upon Nice Ride stands. We were so lucky. Just outside the hotel was a stand for these free bikes that you could borrow and ride around town. Well, this morning, we did just that. We grabbed a couple bikes and headed downtown for breakfast. Recommendation: Hell's Kitchen. I don't believe it has anything to do with Gordon Ramsey. The food, the atmosphere was fantastic. Dan liked it so much he bought the chef's cookbook.

From there we rode to the river (headwaters of the Mississippi) and along the river path. Since it was a Tuesday morning, there weren't many people out. We headed over to campus (Univ of MN). Finding the bike stations did prove hard. This program was really new so signage definitely needs improvement. After a nice 2 hours of riding we got back to the hotel and got ready to hit the road.

Driving through the southern parts of MN and across SD is well, relaxing. Rolling hills, long straightaways, cows, hay, big sky. There is not much between Sioux Falls and Rapid City. Well, expect for two things: Corn Palace and Wall Drug.

Corn Palace is a building with a corn facade. Corn husks, corn cobs, and probably just corn too. I assume that inside they have sculptures made out of corn and even the history of corn. But we didn't go in. Seeing it from the outside was enough. Look it up. I am sure they'll convince you to visit.

Now Wall Drug is a different story. Located in Wall, SD, this place has pioneered the roadside advertisements. Look them up and check out their story. Better yet, do a search for 'Wall Drug' and 'Time Magazine' - you'll understand what I mean. We did stop off, saw the 3/4 block store, the 'backyard', the 'T-Rex', and had dinner. Lots of eclectic things to buy there.

Looking back, we traveled about 600 miles today! Rapid City was just over an hour from Wall. And heading into that area, we hit an impressive storm front. Seeing the lead clouds, we expected to spot a twister. One or two may have formed, but fortunately no were near us. We actually headed directly to the Firehouse Brewery in downtown Rapid City. Unlike the Town Hall in MN, this place had only 4 crafted beers and one was out. Dan and I tried the Barely Blonde and the Eagle Pale Ale. Both were decent and both were pale ales. Satisfied and tired, we retired to the hotel.

Tomorrow is the final push through South Dakota, Wyoming, and finally into Colorado. It's hard to believe that I started this 5 days ago. Until tomorrow!

~J^3

Go (north) West, Young Man

The trek from Madison to Minneapolis is now a blur. The first stop was Capital Brewery. At 9am, they were not tasting, but the gift shop was open! From there we headed... south. This may seem counter-intuitive, but it was required to get to New Glarus, WI.

New Glarus is a little Swiss town with an amazing brewery. New Glarus brewing was pretty awesome. They have built a new facility on the hill and it is pretty. We tasted six beers there and 5/6 were great. If you take in the whole package - town, facility, beer - they win. If we had more time, touring around the town would have been nice.

After New Glarus, we headed northwest towards Minneapolis. The twin city (St. Paul - Minneapolis) area is nice. We ended up seeing some of the rush hour traffic as we got into hotel, but nothing too bad. The Holiday Inn was in a great location - pretty close to Univ of MN.

After a little bit of rest, we found our way to the Mall of America. Have you been? Just about every major retail chain has one or two store fronts in the three floors of this massive complex. The center is where all the fun is though. There is a sizable theme park! Three to four roller coasters and whole bunch of other rides. We were planning to go on one of the coasters, but that's not how the tickets work. So, we ended up just walking around... lame, I know.

Post mall, we headed back to the hotel. Next door to the hotel was Minneapolis Town Hall brewery. After Great Dane, we didn't have high expectations. Boy, were we surprised! Ten beers and ALL were great. Unfortunately they don't bottle it, so you'll have to come to Minnesota for this one.

Flight pictures

A few pictures of from the breweries...

3 Floyd's (Munster, IN):









Revolution Brewing (Chicago, IL):









Tyranena (Lake Mills, WI):









Great Dane Brewery (Madison, WI):

Ambtious day completed

When you last left our travelers, they were headed with great haste from Revolution onto their next destination, Tyranena. First, a quick stop at Binny's Beverage Depot for some 3 Flyod's brew. (Thanks Jen!)

At this point we are back on the road traveling through a traffic heavy Chicago. The GPS is telling us that we are to arrive at Tyranena (Lake Mills, WI) at 7:50pm CDT. Mind you, the bar/brewery closes at 8pm. That's close.

Once we get past Chicago and the northern spur toward Milawaukee, the travel gets better. Dan is driving and we are gaining time. Time is getting closer. Then we hit a wall. A wall of cars that is. Detour is required. I call Tyranena to find out what time they stop serving: 7:45pm. Estimated GPS time of arrival: 7:50pm. I tell the bartender (Jennifer) that we are coming from far to taste the brew. She understands, but says she needs to get out by 8pm. OK, I say.

We re-enter the highway a few miles west of the accident. No traffic - which should be able to make up some time. As we take the exit, I call back to the bar. This time she answers, "Hi. Yes?" I tell her that we are taking the exit and could she pour us a flight. "No problem", she answers. "See you soon."

We turn down the road and GPS leads us about 200 hundred yards past a non-descript building. I call again, "where are you located?" We turn around and run into the bar. It's 7:48pm. A flight of 6 beers and a tasty root-beer are ready. Awesome! I taste each and it's Dan's turn to drink the rest. We both like the Bitter Woman IPA and the root beer. Unfortunately. they don't bottle the root beer.

We catch some dinner downtown on a quaint Main Street in Lake Mills. Then it's off to Madison, our final stop. By the way, if you are keeping count - that's 20 beers.

Last stop, Great Dane Brewery in Madison. The best thing about this place - shuffleboard. And for all the trash talking Dan did prior to our arrival, I am proud to say I beat him, 2 games to 1. Six more beers - not that amazing, but good flight for playing some games.

So, 600+ miles, 18 hours, 26 beers, 4 breweries, NPR, bacon-covered popcorn, and shuffleboard. It was a good day.

And now, a good night!
~J^3

An ambitous day

We are more than midway through what could be called an ambitious day. It's Sunday and Father's day. Dan and I left Lexington at 6:30a after another Holiday Inn breakfast.

The Air Force museum in Dayton at Wright-Patterson AFB is a must see. It is three hangars full air history. Hundreds of planes and lots of info. If you are history buff, plan for two days to see it all.

From there we had a long-ish drive to 3 Floyd's brewery. Awesome! Beers tasted (full glass):
Arctic Panzer Wolf
DreadNaught

Sampler (Dan; I tasted each):
Pride & Joy
Robert the Bruce
Alpha King
DreadNaught

Then Paul (the bartender) recommended that we shouldn't pass up Revolution Brewing in Chicago. Done. This time it was an 8-beer sampler (5 oz of each) suggested by Matty. I drank them and Dan only had a taste:
Workingman Mild
Cross of Gold
Bottom Up Wit
Iron Fist Pale Ale
Best Coast IPA
Eugene
Mad Cow
Coup de Grace

After that amount of beer I am glad we had a 2-hour drive to Tyranena. Time for me sober up a bit.

You might ask what I recommend having tasted 13 beers so far. Well, I'll give that wrap up later. And probably some pictures. Onward to Tyranena!

~J^3
Sent via BB

Bourbon and Beer

Hello there! If you are just joining us, then you are late. It's probably not your fault since you didn't know that this little place on the intraweb even existed. Well, now you do. There's not much here yet, so don't worry.

You might read the last few posts and figure out that I am in Lexington, KY right now. I've spent the day with friends tasting some fine Kentucky bourbon. From here, we (Dan & I) begin our trek North and West towards Colorado Springs. We plan to stop off at a number of breweries along the way and taste-test our way across a few gorgeous states.

Tomorrow is a well planned day with a fair amount of driving included. I'll be sure to either give updates somewhere along the way or at least tomorrow evening. For those following along at home, we expect to go through:
* Lexington, KY
* Dayton, OH
* Indianapolis, IN
* Munster, IN
* Milwaukee, WI
* Lake Mills, WI
* Madison, WI

See you around!
~J^3

Distillery wrap-up

Back from the distilleries... I think I appreciate bourbon a bit more. Not that I really knew about it before. But it's was nice to head to Maker's Mark first and get the full tour and explanation of the process. The bourbon there was quite smooth and sweet.

The other two places, Buffalo Trace and Woodford Reserve, were nice places too. There was a noticeable difference in the bite and spice of the Buffalo Trace bourbon due to the rye. They did let us taste a creme liquor which was much easier to gulp down. At Woodford, we went straight for the tasting. The 'bartender' was helpful in showing us how to taste the product. Adding an ice cube cooled down the bourbon and definitely smoothed out the taste as well.

Here are a few pictures from the three places.
~J^3

Bourbon Trail

This morning started early-ish (7:30 wake up). After a nice breakfast at the hotel, Dan, Janet and I hit the road down the Bourbon Trail.

We started at Maker's Mark and got a fun tour of the "oldest distillery structure". We didn't get to see the bottling line and the 25/min hand dipping. Though we saw people hand dipping at the gift shop. We thought about buying a bottle and doing it, but instead we signed up to be Ambassadors. That means in 6 years or so we can get bottles of bourbon from a barrel that had our name on it.

Onward to Buffalo Trace!
~J^3
Sent via BB

First (text) post

Hello friends! Wait, no one even knows that this blog exists. That's ok. Maybe it'll just be for me. Maybe I'll share it.

So there are a few immediate questions I can answer - cause I know you are asking... why lordmufasa? why blog? Can I follow you?

LordMufasa: the short story is that I really liked The Lion King movie when it came out. I really associated with the Mufasa character (Simba's father). Not that I hoped to be killed by wild animals (or evil uncles) - but I liked the message, his words. It helped that James Earl Jones was the voice too. Yay for Vader! And the Lord part? Liked the regal nature of it. So since college, I have used the moniker Lord Mufasa or Mufasa.

Why blog: why not? Everyone is doing it. :) My reason is for a place to record my thoughts, my activities, my ramblings. I don't know how often I'll post. Depends if there is anything interesting to discuss.

Follow me: absolutely. I like followers. I hope I give you a reason to.

So see you around folks. Thanks for reading.

~J^3
Sent via BB

Birthday cake