I am --> Brewniversity Pledge

Last night I officially became a Pledge in Taco Mac's Brewniversity! In order to become a Pledge (and get a shirt) you have to buy 13 different beers. I went to The Fred last night and was planning on just having one beer there and then heading over to the Taco Mac in Duluth so I would be closer to the hotel for the end of the night. Well, that plan failed.. I went in and met some awesome people and decided to stay. I ordered a Avery Hog Heaven to start along with a five cheese crab dip. The Hog Heaven is a Barelywine which has a very IPA flavor and feel. While I was drinking that Sean ordered a Corsendonk Christmas and Natasha (the bartender) asked if he wanted the tap or the bottle so he ordered both to do a taste test. Sean let me and Jeff have some as well so we could all make partake in the test, all three agreed it was better in the draft. My second beer of the night was a Rodenback Grand Cru which is a sour red ale, the first sip sorta punches you in the face but after that it's amazing! A little bit later Jeff ordered a La Rulles Tripel and let us all have some.. Was still hungry after the dip so I got their spicy fried shrimp which was so hot my mouth was on fire, need more beer to wash it down with so I got my own Corsendonk Christmas to finish off the night. While I was eating my shrimp Sean and Jeff both left and when they were leaving we did the whole "nice to meet you" and another of the regulars who towards the other end of the bar said "what?! you guys just met tonight!?" lol! Finished off the night chatting with a guy named Tony who had just come in and was a big foodie so we were swapping exotic food stories.. All in all, it was a great night. Now I did not officially hit my 13 purchased beers but since I don't live in the area Natasha counted the ones I shared and gave me the shirt! :D

It was so icy last night, I don't think Georgia even has rock salt or sand for the roads and sidewalks. I almost fell on my ass like 3 times going into The Fred.. Today has been a "take the good, take the bad" day so far, woke up to find my water in the room undrinkable again so I didn't shower or brush teeth. I had extra water at the room the first night I knew the water was undrinkable but then it was fine so I didn't get any last night, turns out they had another pipe issue last night.. Apparently Duluth is not meant for prolonged cold. The good, got my seat upgraded to first class!

Currently sitting on the plane and using the free WiFi, Delta is offering free WiFi during the holidays.. :)

Busted Pipes and Power Outage

The problem with living in an area that is generally warm is that the buildings are not built for cold.. The Courtyard is no exception to this rule, they had a few pipes freeze and burst.. I got back to the hotel after work and went to the hot tub to raise my temperature because I just can't seem to get warm this week. Then some nice relaxing time and finally a shower before heading out, turned on the shower and was shocked by the brown water and the loud noise coming from pipes! I let it run for a second and it didn't change, tried the sink and the same thing.. Went to the lobby and the lady told me they had "a few pipes" freeze and burst, how many is a few? Apparently a few was enough to close the first floor on half the hotel, they had 6 inches of water in some rooms! Well, no rinsing off chlorine for me.. Off to Taco Mac and the speak easy!

Not tonight!! I drove to the Taco Mac and asked the guy at the regular place if they served food downstairs, his answer was only finger foods so I decided to eat at the regular Taco Mac to eat. Had a Portabella Mushroom Wrap and a Tommyknocker Hop Strike before heading downstairs. I went to "The Fred" and after ringing buzzer a few times went upstairs to ask why they were not answering door, found out they are closed on Monday and Tuesday! Wish the website would have said that! Went back to the closer Taco Mac and had a few more drinks with the guys from class. Ommegang Adoration and Terrapin Hopsecutioner to finish the night before heading back to hotel. Water issue was not cleared up so I messed around online a bit and then headed to bed, as I was getting ready for bed the hotel lost power! Ok, end of that night, it's bed time... Just as I was falling asleep the power came back on and so did my lights which woke me up..

The water issue was resolved this morning so I was finally able to take a shower..

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More updates since last blogs..

My car is fixed.. Guy from Virginia paid for the damage his plywood did and the lady's insurance company paid for the damage to my bumper/fog light area.

Jessie's elbow is healed, it actually healed really quick.

Taco Mac

I know I have not blogged in a long time and I'm not going to do the recap thing because it would just be too darn long..

The problem with blogging your life is when it gets too complicated to sit down and write about it.. That and I guess some stuff does not need to be in a public forum, at least not while it's happening..

Anyway, I'm down in Duluth GA this week teaching and it's smeggin' cold! When I found I had a class in Duluth in December I figured it would at least give me a break from the cold, boy was I wrong! It was 20 with a wind chill of -5 when I landed (those numbers are Fahrenheit unfortunately.. Last night it fell to 10 with wind chill of -11!

My students told me about this placed called Taco Mac which is a 99 type restaurant with 100+ beers on tap and 200+ beers in bottle! They have a frequent drinker program called Taco Mac Brewniversity, you get credits for each different beer you drink and when you get a certain number of credits you get benefits like 13 gives you a shirt, 125 gives you a 20oz for the price of a 16oz and so on.. The food was good, I had buffalo chicken tacos and the beer was awesome! Beers had last night: Unibroue La Terrible, Left Hand Nitro Sawtooth, Red Brick Laughing Skull and Warsteiner Dunkel. They have a bunch of locations, was talking to a random guy at the bar and he was telling me one of them is designed like an old speak easy, apparently you have to knock on the door and show your Brewniversity card to get in.. Going to that one tonight.. Not that it should surprise anyone but within five minutes of being there I had made a new friend who lives in the area now but is from NY and a Mets fan! I am meeting him tonight at the speak easy...

Laire was good this weekend, I played "Brother Hawk" because Daimone is still a Drowned One and finally started to learn Warlock skills. Still no word on my Druid quest but at least I have one master class started. I left Saturday night so I could be home for Sunday since I had to get laundry done and what not to get my flight on Sunday.

Speaking of my flight on Sunday. I got to the airport and found my flight was delayed from 6:07 till 7:00 then 7:30 then cancelled! I was in a bit of a panic and found out that AETravel's website does NOT work on the Droid OS! I had Becca log in and start looking for alternate flights but luckily it was not needed since the 3:30 flight was getting ready to leave and they had extra seats which they put all Elite status people from the 6:07 flight in. Even my luggage made it on the flight which shocked me because they told me it probably wouldn't till the morning..

Other news since last blog..

I got my renewal notice for the Mets season tickets and I mailed it back asking to move to section 424 again. In past years I have heard back in late January if not early February and was shocked when they called me a few days after I mailed the letter in to move me. They could not get me 3 seats in 424 but they did move me to section 426 which is a significant move from last year. That and the price went down about $40 per seat so it's all good all around... :)

Jessie's mom is having financial problems, no surprise here, so we are trying to sell her stuff out of the Kingston house and will eventually be trying to sell the house as well. The sale is this weekend so most of our free time has been spent driving back and forth and trying to get things ready to be sold. Thanks to Shane for helping us out during the week when we couldn't be there. If you want to come shopping come on down, she has a lot of good stuff and we are selling it all pretty cheap.