I thought I’d do a little reader outreach and let you decide the first three of which I should partake.  When I find a good evening to have one, the top vote getter at that time will be the one I try.  Then we’ll continue on with more voting for the final four.  So either post in the comments or send me an email the top three you’d want me to try.  I’ll use a statistically accurate model to weight the first through third choices and come out with the three I’ll try first.

Here’s the choices:

1. Santa’s Butt Winter Porter (Ridgeway Brewing, Oxfordshire, UK)
2. Indiana Amber (Oaken Barrel Brewing Co., Greenwood, IN)
3. Mad Anthony India Pale Ale (Mad Anthony Brewing Company, Fort Wayne, IN)
4. Spaten Premium (Spaten-Franziskaner-Brau, Munich)
5. Third Coast Beer (Bell’s Brewery, Comstock, MI)
6. Dirty Bastard Ale (Founders Brewing Company, Grand Rapids, MI)
7. Warsteiner Premium Verum (Warsteiner Brauerei Haus, Germany)

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Uncle Jay explains 2008 - I may need to start watching this guy to get things explained to me.

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I finally got fed up with crappy non rewarding jobs in mid-January and started taking steps to rectify that.  I started relearning useful Java technologies.  The end result was supposed to put me somewhere around Columbus, but in the end that never quite panned out.  I’d resolved that I wasn’t going to find a rewarding programming position anywhere near L-town and the family and I finally accepted the need to possibly move.  Also, attending my first real software developer conference showed me a lot of cool technologies and things you could do with them.  (Sadly, I won’t be able to attend that in 2009.  CodeMash is definitely worth paying for yourself, but I’m not ready to lose 3 vacation days so early in the year.  Maybe next year.)

The wif-al unit’s grandmother passed away in February.  We also played tag with strept for quite a while.  Eventually, the wif-al unit needed to have her tonsils removed.  A few weeks of shear hell for her from that, mixed in with a couple job interviews for me, got us through March and April.

End of April/early May, I got offers from two companies.  Neither of these related to the possible position that started me down my path.  Thank goodness it did though or I wouldn’t have been ready skill wise.  One position was nearby at a tire manufacturer doing very narrow focused programming in C for a specialized tool used in that industry.  Not really a growth path there, and I’d already left one job because of narrow focused dinosaurian technology.  The other position was working on an ERP system under development that would require a move.  You already know which one I took.

May and June saw us working feverishly to get the house ready to sell.  If I can give any advice for people looking to sell, do all this prep work before putting it on the market.  Yeah, you’ll tell yourself that people will see the potential.  But trust me, people looking for a home to live in aren’t wanting to have to do work right away.  We corrected all the problems that had been hanging there for years and in the end it paid off.  The first (and only) people to look at it bought it.  It was a stressful 5-6 weeks getting it ready but I know it made a difference.

Something for me to remember.  If people can’t make it to something I’m putting on, don’t make a big deal out of it.  They may have a lot going on in their lives and don’t need extra stress from me acting real dissappointed.

I started the new job June 2nd, and drove 66 miles morning and evening for two months.  My back and butt are both glad that’s over.  As usual with my timing on most things, I picked the best time gas price-wise to be driving those long trips.  I’m being sarcastic.  Upper $4/gallon, keeps that tank hungry.

We sold the house and closed on our new house mid July and started the move late July.  A couple U-Hauls and multiple full vans later, all the junk had been moved.

Fall and winter came much too quickly for our tastes.  I coached the eldest girlywog’s 4th/5th grade soccer team for the first time and the youngest tried out karate.  We’ve tried to take advantage of our access to all the new things that are now close to us, minor league baseball, art museum, zoo, etc.  It’s been fun.  It still feels like it’s not real yet and we all miss the old stomping grounds and friends quite often.  But I’ve been told by people that they notice a change in me for the good.  And unlike the last job change, this one has stuck around.  I’ve been on the new job for over 6 months now and I’ve not woken up once complaining about the work I’m doing.  I think I may have mentioned that here before but it’s true and important for me.  Being miserable in your job, no matter how much you’re being paid, doesn’t do your family any good.  It takes too much of the good, fun you away from them.

The last month and half saw age old problems in my family resurface again.  I tried to make some people see things from a different point of view, but probably should have stayed out of it.  But then I’m enabling.  You can’t win either way.  It’s a shame when non-blood family’s stubborness and tunnel vision can ruin a whole family.

I did finally get to do some gaming and the family unit didn’t have to go anywhere on Christmas, which is a big plus.  We got a Wii for Christmas which is a very interesting system.  Yesterday we had another Christmas get together and in a couple weeks, we’ll get the last one out of the way.  Tomorrow the kidlings head back to school.  At work, we go into code freeze and begin the first of many testing and bug fixing cycles until a pilot install in May.

Should be an interesting and busy time, but I’ll give one of those outlook and resolution posts in the near future.  For now, I need to have that last Hell Hath No Fury…Ale.  Laters!

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I don’t like Mondays
Tell me why
I don’t like Mondays
Tell me why
I don’t like Mondays
I wanna shoot, the whole day down

The Boomtown Rats 

Walk!  No run! to your television and turn it on VH1 Classic (if you get it).  They’re playing 2009 videos for 2009.  They look like they’re all from the ’80s also.  Back when videos at least were trying to tell some kind of story (rather than showing dudes in chains with woman dancing around them that they’d never have a chance with) or concert videos at least, and back when the video channels actually showed videos instead of all the low budget reality crap they do now.

I just saw Sir Bob Geldof and his Boomtown Rats.  Classic!

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I’m pretty excited about the Winter Classic tomorrow also.  I really enjoyed last year’s edition between the Sabres and Pens.  Having the Wings in it this time makes it all the better.  Even if you’re not a hockey fan, you should tune in to watch some of this.  It’s a real treat!

No need for me to follow Shindo this year with a year in review gaming recap.  I’ve hardly got anything to recap.

Hope everybody has a great time, a safe time, and that the new year is good to you.

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young man, the power’s in your hand
slam your fist on the table and make your demand
you gotta make the right move

Youth - Matisyahu 

Nothing freaks me out more of late then those Xbox 360 commercials.  Their the ones that show people with this amazed and astonished look on their face.  Then the camera pans around their head revealing that their head is hollow and inhabited by some strange clockworks type contraption.  It’s just creepy if you ask me.  I’ll stick with our Wii.

Speaking of the Wii, my whole upper back is tight and sore, and I still lose to the girlywogs!  All except for bowling, that’s still Dad’s sport.  This is only after one day of the thing.  Anybody got some suggestions for good games on the Wii?  We’re hoping to pick up Wii Fit at some point.

These console manufacturers really have a racket going.  It’s stupid that only one controller comes with the console.  We were ready and now have three remotes and two nunchuks, but it’s annoying.  We still need to get one more remote.  I don’t know how many games use the nunchuks so I don’t know about needing additional ones of those.  Consoles should default to two people playing at the same time and provide the necessary equipment for that.

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I think you know that beers that have entertaining labels bring me immense pleasure. Nothing like the brewery putting some thought into the label as much as the brew. This one has a small funny looking devil, replete with horns and pointy tail. He has a very tentative smile and worried eyes looking up at a lady, hands on hips, looking at him with an unhappy look on her face. Very fitting given the name of the beer.

The description from the back reads “A brew that gives you either sympathy for the devil or the courage to face him. Goes especially well with your favorite lost my girl/truck/dog/trailer song.” Not present on the bottle, but the six pack carrier shows is as an American Dubbel Dark Ale.

Pours out black as tar in the glass with a creamy brown head. No seeing any light through this. Initial reaction to this would make me think of a porter. Smells of roasted or burnt malts. It really makes you question the ale name.

First sip - WOW! It’s definitely not what you’d expect. Flavor explodes in your mouth. The liquid flows with a creamy thick smoothness across your tongue. It’s such a surprise that you just want to keep sipping it to allay your disbelief. That could be bad as the 7.5% alc. by volume gives it a kick that sneaks up on you. I can speak from experience that this is a heavy beer. Even having just one or two in an evening, you wake up knowing you drank something of quality.

Time for my ruling, start the drum roll please. Bell’s Brewery continues to amaze me. I’ve still not found one of their beers that I wouldn’t drink again. This isn’t a beer that you’d want to sit down and drink a whole six pack in one sitting. This is the sort that you sip by the fire or as you gaze out on the snow falling. As far as rating, this is a strong Animals. I’m going to give it my favorite song off that album, Dogs. This would be a great beer to sit and listen to all 17 minutes of Dogs and reflect on its meaning.

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