Big Changes

It’s been a pretty big month for me. In the rare case that there is someone out there that reads this blog that I don’t see almost every day, I thought I would recap what’s been going on.

1. From New House 6/2008

   I moved from San Jose to Santa Clara. No longer am I living in a small two bedroom apartment in a mid 70′s architecture complex with crappy management. I now live in a spacious four bedroom modern house with a surprisingly accommodating landlord. Biggest plus: my drum set now lives in a garage instead of a living room. Woo. How about pictures from when I first moved in? How about a house warming party in the near future?

2. I’m starting a new job on Monday. Same company. Different building. Different team. Different things to do. I’m pretty pumped. I’m hoping to be doing some fun stuff and meeting a lot of new people in the new role. Of course, I’ll be certain to stay in very close contact with everyone from my old team. Not only because they are my friends, but also because they are the only people linking to my website and giving me PageRank.

And in unrelated news…as I was just about to leave work yesterday evening, I get a phone call from an old high school friend from good ol’ Fulton, NY. He tells me that he just rode his motorcycle across the country as is currently just down the road from me. It was a pleasant surprise. Beers consumed that evening: New Belgium’s seasonal Skinny Dip and Lost Coast’s Downtown Brown.

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Wegmans on The Office!

I was watching the season finale of The Office tonight and noticed some familiar lettering on a can of soda.  It was in fact a can of Wegmans brand soda.  For those of you unfamiliar with the Rochester, NY based grocery store chain, I’m sorry.  It’s a magical place — much more than a grocery store.  Besides having an incredible selection of fresh produce and organic stuff that I’ve never heard of, the stores will typically have restaurants inside!  It wasn’t uncommon to go eat at a Wegmans for lunch.

And before all the Google shenanigans, Wegmans was named the top company to work for in 2005.  Yup, a grocery store.

Some quick research revealed that it’s actually quite common to see Wegmans products featured in episodes of the Office.  I guess I just wasn’t paying attention before.  Apparently the Scranton Wegmans will occasionally supply the show with some free stuff.

Alas, there are no Wegmans on the west coast  But we do have Safeway here, which is a crap hole.

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Boston Trip!

So I managed to obtain a (nearly) free flight voucher by purchasing some Docker’s pants a few months ago.  The voucher was good for only a few select cities in the US.  After a few months of working way too hard here on the west coast, I found myself in one of those “I need to get away” moods.  So I got about as far away as I could without leaving the country.

I only made one plan — to see a Red Sox game — and even that was done on a whim.  Other than the Red Sox game I pretty much just wandered aimlessly.  I probably walked over 50 miles during the five days I was there — and now my toe doesn’t work.  I also met up with some people, partook in some of the nightlife, and ate a lot of clam chowder.  Very good trip.  I want to go back.

Meh, words are dumb.  Look at pictures instead!

Here’s a preview:

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Earth Hour, how I spent mine…

I figured since Google considered Earth Hour important enough change their famously consistent home page for a day, that I could at least participate in this demonstration. So at approximately 8:09pm I turned off all the lights, poured myself a tall glass of Barney Flat’s Oatmeal Stout, put on my Audio-Technica headphones, and listened to The Mars Volta‘s new album, The Bedlam in Goliath, for the first time. The beer was good, the album was even better.

The Bedlam in Goliath has been out for about two months now, but I just got around to listening to it. I usually “obtain” Mars Volta albums long before their releases, but after two sub-par releases, this one drifted a bit off my radar. I wish I had listened to it earlier.

This is the first release featuring acclaimed drummer, Thomas Pridgen. His influence is immediately obvious. Unlike all of Mars Volta’s previous releases, this one kicks you right in the face at 00:01 of track 1. No extended intro, no buildup. In fact, in this album they didn’t include any of the overly extended random noise that annoyed me in previous releases. Just straight up energy all the way through. It’s hard to describe something like this in words, so I encourage you to give this album a listen.

Would I consider this album better than De-Loused in the Comatorium? Hmm…I don’t know if they ever could top that masterpiece. We’ll see how I feel after a few more listens. But it’s by far their best effort since.

P.S. Here are some tips to help you truly appreciate the depth of this album:

1. Use headphones. Good headphones. Dan Chow would agree with me.
2. Adjust your EQ to either the default “Jazz” setting, or adjust it to focus specifically on the extreme highs and lows.
3. Don’t multi task. Just focus on the music. In fact, turn off the lights…just don’t wait until next year’s Earth Hour.
4. Take the time to separate the instruments in your mind for a bit. There’s a lot going on at once.
5. Drink a tasty beer or two. Because, why not??

Posted in Beer, Cool | 3 Comments »

A Visit to the New Belgium Brewery, Fort Collins, CO.

OK, so this post is about 6 months late, but I didn’t have a blog back then, and now I do.

Last September, I made a trip out to Denver, CO to visit my brother and cousin. I did a lot of fun stuff while out there, but by far the highlight of the trip was a tour of the New Belgium Brewery in Fort Collins. Anyone that knows me personally will tell you that I act like a living advertisement for this company. I show up to every social situation with at least a sixer of New Belgium Beer with me, usually Fat Tire or 1554. Yeah, it can be awkward at first when I show with beer at my Grandma’s birthday party, but it usually helps gets the rowdiness started.

New Belgium also has an amazing reputation as a trend-setting environmentally conscious company. I encourage you to read about their commitment to sustainability.

OK, picture time.

Proof I was there, and that I can ride a bike.

A view from the outside.

The bar. I’m guessing this is what Heaven looks like.

Blue Paddle, 1554, Abbey, Trippel…did I mention this was all free?

A random view from behind the bar.

There was funky stuff all over the place, like this muralesque thingy.

Shiny vats. I believe this is where the magic happens.

Correction. THIS is where the magic happens.

A crappy picture of the bottling line, with floating ghost people.

Silos of some sort outside. I’m assuming these are filled with deliciousness.

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