At some time everyone has read something, gone someplace or done something that opens up a floodgate of memories of things from their past. This past weekend I had one of those experiences.

My re-enacting friend, Smokepoles, bought a ten manufacturing business and is working to get it up and running. With the purchase of the business came a computer that hasnÂ’t been made since around 1992. It was a Leading Edge WinPro 486sx/33. For those of you that are computer illiterate, a really old computer from a company that doesnÂ’t exist anymore. The kicker is that the CMOS battery was dead so if you had to reboot it, you had to setup all of the hardware each time. Fun, Fun! Now before I go any further, I knew the previous owner of the business, and he is one of the nicest guys you will ever meet. He is an older gentlemen, and from looking at the computer program, the notes that went with it and the program he was using, not very computer savvy. I'm not speaking ill of him, just acknowledging he may not have known better.

Graumagus came with me to help Smokepoles get the essential data off of this computer. What we thought would be an easy transition turned into a hellacious headache. First off we had to crack the case open to get the info for the hard drive, because we didn’t have the necessary information to set it up in CMOS. Then once we had it going it would auto start into what we dubbed “Bob’s program” because it was nothing we had ever seen before and it looks like it was written specifically for the previous owner. In which we spent some time trying to figure out. It was running MS-DOS V6. (Pre-windows, and thank god all of our DOS jockey days came flooding back to our memories.) The file organization on this computer was horrible. It looked like the thought of using directories and sub-directories never crossed anyone’s mind as a lot of programs were loaded right into the main C:\ directory.

We opened up the Autoexec file to find the .BAT was being run so we could find BobÂ’s Program. Which Grau found, but opening it up, it was about useless. It really didnÂ’t look like it was running anything. Finally we were able to find the name of file that starts BobÂ’s Program, there were two of them. Main.exe and Menu.exe. Both of them started BobÂ’s Program. Once we got in there, we tried to find the data files, but the programs just did not cooperate. We even tried to get the program to save files on a blank floppy so we could try to open it on another computer, but that wouldnÂ’t work. When we did find a text file associated with BobÂ’s Program, we couldnÂ’t find ANYTHING on the modern computers that would even open it up. Even a generic wordpad opening just produced symbols and junk.

While Grau worked on trying to find the data, I worked on trying to get the program to run on Smokepoles' new computer… with no luck. The new system, even in a dos shell, wouldn’t let the older program run properly. Even when I finally had a break through and was able to get the program to open up, the program wouldn’t open any of the data files. Which cause me to cheer out in joy when I finally got the program to run, and scream “F#CK!!!!!” when the files wouldn’t open. That wouldn’t be so funny, but Smokepoles’ in-laws were in town for the weekend for Easter. They don’t like him too much. He had asked that we be on our best behavior while there, and I had warned Grau a couple of times about it. Of course right as I screamed my expletive, was when his father in law walked into the computer room. I didn’t see the look on his in-law’s face, but according to Smokepoles the look on his face was classic.

Over all we could not get the program to run on the new computer, we could not locate the files specifically needed off of the old computer to try to read them. So we ended up printing out the data so Smokepoles could manually enter it into the new computer. This of course required getting a 17 year old bubble jet printer to work. We didnÂ’t have the proper cables to hook up a modern printer to it. Luckily, the 17 year old printer not only worked, but there was some ink in the cartridge. When that cartridge died, the local Cartridge World actually had a replacement in stock!

The only problem with printing is that BobÂ’s program either saved all the data together into one giant Word Processing style document or the previous owner never though of created separate ones for each template. The contact list was HUGE, every vendor had an entry, every person he ever sold to had an entry and organization he worked with had an entryÂ… and they were all mixed together. Needless to say Smokepoles was printing for over 3 hours.

Out of the hell of working on this computer, trying to reclaim much needed information, Grau and I kept joking around on how we felt like we were back in High School again. It was like back when I first started getting into computers. The old 2400 baud modems, and using dial-ups to get to a Bulletin Board System (BBS). How if you wanted to check your e-mail, you had to log onto the system it was sent on. Alternate means of getting data from California with out paying for it. Programs we used to use; games, word processing, file viewers, etc. Memories I had long forgotten, or suppressed in some cases, came flooding back.

Seriously, at one point I wanted to see if I could find an Â’83 Pontiac Phoenix to go cruising around in.

Posted by: Contagion at 06:25 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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1 O jeez. Knowing the former owner of said company, I guess this doesn't surprise me too much. But deep down, weren't you and Grau having a hayday?

Posted by: Petey at April 13, 2009 10:31 PM (TFKVi)

2 Kinda, yeah What really brought back memories is how stable the old Seagate hard drives used to be. That sucker was 15+ years old and didn't even have a hint of platter rattle.

Posted by: Graumagus at April 14, 2009 10:41 AM (/P4X3)

3 Was this written in English?

Posted by: T1G at April 14, 2009 07:35 PM (PCfVW)

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I haven’t talked much about my sister in the last four years of blogging. In fact most of you may not even know I have a sister. When I was younger I nick named her “Girl Schmerlie dude”, which she hated with a passion, so for the sake of this blog she will hence forth be dubbed… GSD (because I’m too lazy to type that out every time I refer to her.) GSD is four and a half years younger than me and we are NOTHING alike. Let me give you a breakdown:

She was a Cheerleader; I could care less about playing sports.
She was popular; People thought I was going to be the guy that pulled a Columbine
She was thin and considered attractive (I wouldnÂ’t know, sheÂ’s my sister); I was a big, ugly bastard. (We look nothing alike)
She struggled getting a C average in school; I wouldnÂ’t try and made the honor roll.
She thought I was favored by our parents, I thought she was favored by our parents.
She loved shopping, fashion and talking on the phone; I still hate all of those things
She hates camping, hunting, shooting; I love all of those things.
She likes NASCAR, I like Football.
She is very active with her cult Church, I donÂ’t like organized religion.
She doesnÂ’t have the common sense god gave a lemming; some people say I have too much common sense.

You get the picture. We were always at odds, and never really got along. Yet she was my sister and I was very over protective of her. IÂ’ve made ex-boyfriends of hers wet their pants and break dates. Rumor has it one of them still canÂ’t look at a natural sponge with out getting a twitch. I was so over protective that even my father wouldnÂ’t tell me things because he was afraid IÂ’d do something stupid. Such as the time an ex-boyfriend hit her, I didnÂ’t find out until months later because my Father was sure I would have ended up in jail. Actually he was more worried I wouldnÂ’t end up in jail because my friends would have given me an air tight alibi.

She went to college down state and just never came back. She lives only about two hours away, but we see/talk to each other maybe 2-4 times a year tops. We just arenÂ’t that close.

I received an e-mail from her that started with how lucky and fortunate she is to have found her place in her cult church. Right away I figured she was going to make another attempt to get me to join the local branch up here. After almost deleting it, I continued to read and found out that she is an advisor for her churchÂ’s youth group and that group is working to help underprivileged children. One of the activities they are doing this summer is going to Juarez, Mexico to build houses for the poor. ItÂ’s part of a missionÂ’s trip that her church is sponsoring.

She was looking to see if I would help sponsor her. Which of course I am going to do, because she is my sister and itÂ’s important to her. IÂ’m actually kind of proud of her for doing this. When she was in High School she was very self-centered, itÂ’s nice to see she changed. My only problem is that she is going to Juarez, Mexico. CouldnÂ’t they have found someplace her in the US to do this? I mean there are plenty of poor and needy here. Plus, it would be a bit safer here. There has been a lot of violence in that region. If anything happens to her...

I guess on the bright side, maybe more houses there will keep some from crossing illegally into the U.S.

Posted by: Contagion at 07:18 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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No, you didn't read that wrong.

At least once a year a “friend” finds a beer that looks like it would be absolutely nasty. A beer that looks so vile, so nasty, so evil that the only way you would drink this is out of extreme curiosity or on a bet. Of course that “friend” buys said beer and gives it to me to review because THEY want to know how it tastes and is afraid to try it themselves. Well the recently revived Graumagus has done just that. He found a bottle of Mamma Mia! Pizza Beer. It’s a contract beer made by the Sprecher Brewing Company for the Pizza Beer Company.

The label is red white and green. In the white part is a hand drawn picture of a male and a female wearing chefs hats. There is a signature on each person. The guy is Chef Tom and the Lady is Chef Athena. At the top of the label it says “originals Seefurth Family”. Above the picture in red letters it says Mamma Mia! Under it is Pizza Beer. At the bottom it plainly states, “Ale brewed with oregano, basil, tomato and Garlic”. The neck label claims, “Beer so good it Deserves… A wine glass!” Is your fight or flight center of your brain sending signals yet? Well mine was screaming, “NOOOOOooooooo. This may be the beer that turns you off of beer completely!”

There is a nice honey gold coloring to it. It is cloudy, but not so cloudy you canÂ’t see through it. Almost no head formed when I poured it. What did was thin and white. It faded quickly leaving nothing on the top of the beer. There is also no lacing on the side of the glass at all.

The smell was something I had never experience in a beer before in my life. They did a decent job of capturing the smell of pizza. Unfortunately it smells like a cheap frozen pizza that someone sprinkled an Italian Seasoning blend on, but still Pizza. The Tomato, basil, oregano and Garlic really does overpower any other scent in the beer. What malts that can be detected blends with the other scents to give it kind of a doughy/crust scent. Now this may just be my imagination because of the type of beer it is and that was missing from the scent was pizza crust.

The taste is much like the scent. All you can really taste is the Tomato, Garlic and herbs that are added to it. There is also a bit of saltiness to it. Realistically this tastes like someone took a piece of the above cheap frozen pizza and let it soak in a keystone light for a while. The pizza tastes about washes out any standard ale flavors one would get. The aftertaste is a bit salty and overpower. Honestly, I couldnÂ’t imagine drinking this beer with anything other than maybe pizza.

This is a medium bodied beer. There is a light carbonation to it, but nothing biting.

Honestly, I canÂ’t believe I drank this whole beer. IÂ’ve drank beers that are much worse than this, but not in a long time. IÂ’m not sure if the people that make this novelty honestly think this is a good beer or if they make it as more for entertainment. IE, in college I had a friend that used to make the most god awful punch for parties; nobody liked it, not even him. Yet he made it for every party because inevitably it would get drank in its entirety because people would bet each other they couldnÂ’t drink it, or do the olÂ’ switcharoo and give it to some unsuspecting individual. The fact that I drank this willingly just speaks volumes to how far IÂ’ll go to review a beer. Overall I give it 1.5 out of 10.

Now if youÂ’ll excuse me, IÂ’m going to go gargle with Everclear.

Posted by: Contagion at 07:49 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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I'm sitting at home when my phone starts to vibrate. It's notifying me of breaking news. I open the application and what do I see? Somali pirates hijack ship; 20 Americans aboard.

Somali pirates on Wednesday hijacked a U.S.-flagged cargo ship with 20 American crew members onboard, hundreds of miles from the nearest U.S. military vessel in some of the most dangerous waters in the world.

Okay Mr. President, Mr. Change, Mr. Hope... Do something about this.

I, as a citizen of the United States, demand that swift and decisive action be taken against these scofflaws. I understand that our Navy, as formidable as it is, can not be everywhere all the time, so there was no way for them to stop it as it happened. These pirates have not attacked American vessels in the past, so maybe we had other fish to fry and not focus on them. Now they have gone and attacked an U.S. –flagged ship and have 20 Americans hostage. It is time to do something about this, and do it NOW!

Or maybe Mr. Obama you are too busy bowing to foreign powers and stroking the press with stories about what TV shows you watch.

Posted by: Contagion at 07:32 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Yesterday at work, Bruce comes over to me and shows me an ad for a new place in town, Hope and Anchor English Pub. It just opened and he wanted to go check it out, probably because the ad boasted “the girls wear the shortest kilts in town.” I thought, "hell why not!" He met me at my house after work and we headed off to the pub.

We got there and the atmosphere seemed really nice. It wasnÂ’t too loud, there was music, but it never interfered with conversation. They had pool tables, dart boards and TVs, but the sound on the TV wasnÂ’t even audible, at least not from where we were sitting.

The menu only had a about a dozen items, but they did have Bangers and Mash, Cottage Pie, Fish and Chips, Scotch Eggs, Cornish Pasties and other English, Irish and Scottish food. Sorry, no haggis! They even had real HP sauce for the pasties! I had the pasties and a Scotch egg. The pasties were good, I was pleasantly surprised. The Scotch egg wasnÂ’t quite right. First it was served cold. I feel they are the best at room temperature, but you could tell this was pulled out of a fridge. Then they quartered it. I know they did that so that the patrons would have an easier time eating it, so I can forgive that. However, I donÂ’t know what they rolled the egg in, but it wasnÂ’t oats. It was some kind of breading. It didnÂ’t taste bad, but it isnÂ’t a traditional style Scotch egg. Somebody around us got the Fish and Chips and they looked and smelled fantastic.

The beer selection left a lot to be desired. They had Guinness, Bass, Stella Artois, Newcastle, Bud Light, Miller Light and Wood Pecker hard cider on tap. They had a handful of bottled beers, but the selection wasnÂ’t much. At least they had some good beers on tap. I couldnÂ’t help but to recommend some beers they may want to try stocking to go with the theme. As long as they have Miller Lite, Stella Artois, Guinness and BassÂ… IÂ’ll be fine.

Unfortunately none of the staff was wearing kilts. Apparently the girls only wear those on the weekends. Before you ask, we are planning on going back to check it out this weekend. We also had a great bartender, Amy. She was nice, personable and really kept us happy. Even later in the evening when it was just Bruce and I in the place she sat there and chatted with us.

The prices were good too. The average entrée was under $10.00 and the tap beer ran $2.50 for domestic to $4.00 for import. That’s pretty standard for Rockford.

On a Monday night it wasnÂ’t very busy, but IÂ’m interested to see how it is on a Friday or Saturday. I want to see if the music gets too loud or if it becomes impossible to have a conversation. Also they have a stage for bands to play on, so IÂ’m interested to see what kind of bands they will get. If it keeps up the high impression itÂ’s given me, this could move into my top five favorite bars.

Even if I do have to sit under a sign that says "God Bless the Queen" and I'm a Jacobite!

Posted by: Contagion at 03:43 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Sometimes people meet just don’t get along. It could be because of political or religious beliefs. Maybe it’s because of an incident in their past, such as a perceived slight or insult. Sometimes it’s just because their personalities clash. I’m sure we’ve all seen this. Ron meets Jerry for the first time at a friend’s house. Afterwards while speaking with the mutual friend they make the comments, “I don’t know, I just don’t like that guy. He’s a total douchebag.” These are the most fun, because they can spiral out of control quickly. They almost look for things to not like each other about.

Now these two can be even more “fun” in the workplace. Yea, you may not have to like each other, but you have to work together. They will do good for a while, and then something will blow up and they will drag everyone they know into it.

Well, I have this situation at work, and me being me, I couldnÂ’t help but to take advantage of it for nothing more than to make myself laugh. I have a Peer which henceforth shall be known as Talkative Peer (she never shuts up and turns a 15 minute meeting into a 2 hour meeting), who has a personality clash with another member of management that will be from now on referenced as Sports Girl, because she coaches and plays a lot of sports. Sports Girl and Talkative Peer have disliked each other for at least 3 years. They have always clashed and sometimes the arguments get so involved it was brought to staff meetings to resolve. We donÂ’t dare let them be in the same room alone. Yes, they hate each other that much.

Sports Girl used to be a peer, but she took a voluntary re-assignment to an Inventory Management position (similar to one I used to have). She didnÂ’t like the responsibility of having direct reports. In her position, we report to the same asst. manager. On Friday before I left for the weekend, they dropped the bomb on us that our current asst. manager is being moved to the other department in the office, and my entire department is going to report to one asst. manager, instead of two. Because of this Sports Girl is now going to have to report to someone at my level instead of an asst. manager.

IÂ’m sure you see where this is going, but IÂ’m going to finish the story anyway.

I walk up to Sports Girl this afternoon and say to her, “I hear you are going to be reporting to Talkative Peer” (Talkative peer has other management reporting to her, so this is a plausible situation.) Sports Girl eyes grew three times their size, her jaw fell into her lap, the blood drained from her face leaving her once copper tanned skin the moon pale look of a night shifting computer geek that only sees the sun when he has to wonder to the comic book store to buy the latest limited edition Laura Croft action figure to “play” with.

She looks at me with a horror that I had truly never seen in any humans eyes before in my life. Tears started forming, and her eyes became bloodshot. You could actually watch as the tiny veins filled causing the read lines to spread across the sclera (White part of the eye). Her breathing increased and small beads of sweat started to form on her forehead. In a very thin and wispy voice she says, “wh-what?”

Now I could have been nice and let her off at this point, but to be honest IÂ’m not that nice. So I said:

“You’re going to be reporting to Talkative Peer.”

Her eyes almost rolled back in her head and she wobbled a little in her chair.

Her, “Really?”

At this point, before it turned into a medical emergency because she was starting to hyperventilate. I let her off the hook with a, “Nah, I’m just horsing around.”

Her look of horror contorts into a glare of anger. Her wide open eyes narrow, her almost corpse like complexion flushes back to an angry red. I swear you could almost see the veins in her eyes bulge! Her muscles clench as if sheÂ’s getting ready to try to attempt to remove an arm and beat me with it.

“THAT’S NOT FUNNY!!!!”

Me, “The hell it’s not!” Meanwhile I’m barely able to stay upright from the laughter. The rapid and complete change of moods from content in work, to deep seeded fear and finally to rage in under 30 seconds. The complete physical transformation that went with it was HILARIOUS!

I’m holding onto the edge of her desk because I’m laughing hard enough to get dizzy. I’m trying not to laugh so loudly I distract the entire office, so I’m trying to hold it in. Watching me laugh so hard, she started laughing. Called me a jerk and said that “I was a real bastard” She only got away with the last one because I actually like her.

She told me that since Friday when she heard about this whole issue, she had feared that was what was going to happen to her. So when I verbalized her “worst fears” the thought that they wouldn’t have told her first ever crossed her mind. We then had a brief conversation about who she doesn’t want to have as a boss. She said she would rather have me then most of my peers. I told her she was a damn liar. Of course that got a chuckle out of her.

This is good, because sheÂ’s a bit uptight. Okay you could put a lump of coal up her arse and get a diamond in 24 hours.

Posted by: Contagion at 05:30 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Well IÂ’m off for a couple of days of fun with some friends in Western Illinois. First IÂ’m going to hook up with T1G for lunch, and then IÂ’m heading to the Galesburg area to hang with a bunch of the guys there, including blogspawn Petey. I have a six pack of Carlyle Scottish Ale, and when I say six-pack I mean six growlers (3 gallons) because CarlyleÂ’s doesnÂ’t sell it in any other take home variety.

So while IÂ’m away IÂ’m leaving you a question to ponder and discuss.

You receive the following text message, “I’m guna rape ur gurl!” from 815-555-5555. Now, in this situation you do not have a daughter. What would you do?

This did not happen to me, but to one of my minions. I know what I would do; I just want to see if my reaction was par for the course.

I expect good answers come Monday.

Posted by: Contagion at 06:28 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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MSNBC has a pole to Give President Obama A Grade.

At the time of this post, 38% give him an A, 7.3% Give him a B. 4.6% Give him a C, 12% give him a D, and 39% give him an F. That is with 1,430,640 responses.

So what this poll tells me is that people either really like him or really hate him, with under 25% somewhere in the middle. I'm curious to see what the outcome is when it is over.

Posted by: Contagion at 01:18 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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My company has decided that it is going to start to experiment with the new frontier of cost containment, employee retention and moral boosting. They are going the way of Work From Home!

We have been discussing this for over a year now. We’ve had some employees that already were working from home, because their jobs required a lot of travel and they where issued corporate lap tops. Over a year ago they decided to start rolling it out to positions that normally were “in the office” only. With the success they had there, they expanded it and just 2 weeks ago I sent a third of my minions home to work.

I have fifteen minions that directly report to me. There was a battle over which ones would go home. Now, I had wanted to take them out to the parking lot and have a last person standing competition for the slots, the other lairds decided that “No, we’re only going to send the best of the best home!” Okay, sure they deserve it, but what fun is it to determine where they get to work based on merit and ability as opposed to which one can claw the other’s eyes out faster? I’m kidding; don’t go all offended on me. I wouldn’t want one of my minions to loose an eye… then I’d have to hire a new one because the old one would be useless. Sorry, I couldn’t help myself.

Seriously though, since IÂ’ve sent my five minions home, they have not only shown an increase in productivity, but they really seem to like it. At first all five had the same concern about missing the social aspect of working on the job. Through the use of IM, e-mail and phone, they all say that they really havenÂ’t lost that much contact with their fellow minions that are working in the office.

For me itÂ’s nice because I get 1/3 less interruptions during the day. Where in the past they would just walk up to my desk and start spouting questions, now they have to call, IM or e-mail me. I can ignore those until a more opportune time to answer it. It frees me up to be able to manage my time better.

The only down side to this is that it is much harder to play pranks on people. Plus when I’m horsing around with them, I can’t give them an empty box when they “Cross the line” and tell them to pack up their desk. I mean they’re already home! I don’t want to have to go get that stuff from them!

But there are still ways to do it.

Like “turning off” their IP address on the firewall and telling them that their ISP is no longer an accepted carrier due to security issues and that they will have to return to the office permanently. My minion called me instantly when she saw that IM. That was hilarious. I only wished I could have recorded that phone call to share with all of you. She wouldn’t let me get a word in for five minutes as she gave me excuses and what she’s going to do to fix it and all of this other stuff before I told her that I was kidding and “turned on” her IP address. Funnier still was the IM I received an hour later, “I should have known better but I thought you wouldn’t be able to pull pranks on us once we were out of the office.”

Yes, a new and challenging form to have fun!

Posted by: Contagion at 06:32 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Finally I am able to review a beer that Petey gave me that didnÂ’t go bad. IÂ’ve heard of this beer before and it is made in different batches, each year a little different from the last. So tonight IÂ’m reviewing The Czar Imperial Stout by Avery Brewing Company in Boulder Co bottled in 2008.

It came in a large 1 pint 6 oz brown bottle. The label is orange with an imperial seal on it with the picture of what I am assuming is three Czars. In the top of the seal in the brim of the crown it states bottled in 2008. The name of the beer is at the top, and in a banner under the seal is the name of the brewing company. The bottle also states 1.103 original gravity, 70 IBUs and Alcohol 10.77% by vol. The bottle has some other information about the beer in it and recommends cellaring it as “The Czar will continue to mature and become denser and more complex with age.”

The beer pours a thick dark brown color like a dark coffee. There is a ruby tint to it that is brought out as the light catches it along the edges. ItÂ’s thick enough that light doesnÂ’t pass through easily. A tan head formed but rapidly disappeared into just a small ring around the edge of the glass. There was some lacing, but not much.

The initial scent after pouring had an acrid scent of alcohol. The following scents, if taken mildly, were much more pleasant. There was creaminess to the smell like one gets with a cream liqueur. It opened the way for the gentle smells of caramel and coffee malts. There was also a hint of dark fruit (raisins, dates, prunes etc) to it. No matter what, the scent of alcohol was always present. The first taste was a biting alcohol taste, but subsequent sips revealed a nice caramel malt taste with a chocolate malt follow up. There is a slight molasses finish to it. As the beer warmed, the taste of alcohol became more and more present.

This is a full bodied beer that has a more watery than creamy feel to it. ItÂ’s thick while in the mouth, but after swallowing, there is no coating.

This is not a beer I would suggest drinking in any great quantity. This would be something that you drink one bottle at a time, probably on a special occasion. This beer also gave me the impression that you have to be in the mood to drink it. I could see where if you were not expecting this beer, one would not like it, where as if you were anticipating it, it would be really good. I donÂ’t know if IÂ’d classify this as an excellent beer, but it is pretty good. IÂ’d be interested to buy a bottle and cellar it for a year or so and see how it ages. I may have to pick up an extra bottle and do a re-review in a couple of years. Right now as a fresh beer I give it 5.5 out of ten.

Posted by: Contagion at 07:39 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Wow, I’ve been really neglectful. Over the last couple of days, I actually started going down my blogroll… the one that is mislabeled “Blogs I regularly read”.

WOW. Just wow.

I knew that I had let my job kind of take over things in my life and that my blogging has really taken a dive for it. That includes reading and keeping up with my regulars. As IÂ’ve gone through and started clicking on links, I see that some blogs havenÂ’t been updated in years. Some have ceased to exist or the ownership has changed hands. Or it had been so long since I had been there that when I started reading posts I realized that a lot of big things have happened to these people and I just had no clue!

WOW.

Heck some of the blogs I used to comment on daily seem to have died to the point that the post maybe once or twice a week as opposed to once or twice a day.

Then again, the same thing goes for me. Then I realized what happened. I had “unauthorized” people from work find my blog. These are people that if they read my blog and went back and said something in the office, it would get me in trouble. Because of these people I really decided that I needed to scale back and not blog about some of the stuff I was… mainly work. Well those individuals that found me are no longer with the company or in my office and I just never got out of “private mode”

Yes, I still blogged some about work, but when was the last time I shared a really good Minion story. Hell when was the last time I even referred to my people as minions?

Well since I am fresh out of give a damn about work. IÂ’m turning the filters off and actually going to try to make some rounds from now on. Maybe not as actively as I was before as I do have some resemblance of a life, but more than theÂ… oh say NEVERÂ… that I have been doing.

IÂ’m gonna start with trimming the MIA from my blogroll and updating the new sites on there.

Posted by: Contagion at 03:48 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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1 I've been so busy it was a choice between blogging or reading blogs. I decided to just keep throwing posts out there. Although I had to finally open my feed reader and divide all my blog reading into days. This is just a sucky way to do it, but at least I can manage to hit most blogs I want to read once a week. If you can find more hours I can add to my day for blog reading, I'd really appreciate it.

Posted by: Teresa at April 01, 2009 06:33 PM (ybEr8)

2 Great site this miasmaticreview.mu.nu and I am really pleased to see you have what I am actually looking for here and this this post is exactly what I am interested in. I shall be pleased to become a regular visitor

Posted by: Sweecurebug at April 04, 2009 04:53 AM (3xhy+)

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Posted by: weabbike at April 10, 2009 05:05 PM (3xhy+)

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It's taken me a little bit to post about this, because I needed to let the whole gravity of the situation sink in. It appears that the boy has gone and gotten to know a girl rather intimately. OF course when this happens, there is the chance that there could be consequences. Well It appears we have one here.

Last weekend was Clones Birthday... wait, you didn't think I was talking about Boopie did you? Sorry! Anyway, He invited some friends from school and some boys showed up, but only one girl. Talking with her mother, she told me that the girl has had a crush on Clone for most of the year. Ever since she received the invite for the party, that's all she's been talking about. The girls mother works as a part time aid at the school, and she says that every day her daughter and Clone each lunch together.

At one point the girl wanted to sit next to Clone and eat a cookie, but wouldn't because she was too shy to with me around. She also had to have her picture taken with Clone. At the end of the party, all of the kids had left except her. I told Clone we had to leave and he needed to go say goodbye to her. I turned to say goodbye to her mother and when I turned back around, I couldn't find them. After a quick search I found them.... behind a statute of Ronald McDonald... Kissing.

My six year old son... kissing a five year old girl... behind a statue of Ronald McDonald.

I didn't know what to do.

I didn't know what to say.

I just stood there before yelling "CLONE!!! Time to go."

He comes out from behind the statue, and the girl just hid back there peaking around to see if they were caught. Of course I was too in shock to acknowledge it. We just left and Ktreva laughed at me the whole time because in the immortal squeaky words of me... "I DON'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT!"

So now Clone has gone and done two things that Boopie hasn't. Get a girlfriend and kiss her. hehehe, okay that was mean.

Posted by: Contagion at 06:13 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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After work on Friday I went out with Bruce for some drinks. Last week was filled with so much trivial drama that it just pissed me off and I needed to work out some anger issues. What drama? Well I thought you would never ask!

First we have the on going issue with the Spoon and Blade review. Yea, it's still on going and some are now calling for me to be outed from the ONW. Which, honestly I don't know how the one involves the other since I never made mention of the ONW in the review. Also, it's not like I actually think anything will ever come from it.

Next, on the same day the above drama started I received a notice from the city of Rockford saying if I didn't take care of a brush pile behind my garage and move a trailer, I'd be fined up to $750.00. The funny thing about it is that the brush pile was there when I moved in, and the trailer too. Yes, I added to the brush pile, but I had been slowly burning it off. They listed four ordinances that I was in violation. I had to call on the fourth one, because I wasn't sure what it was about. Come to find out, it was because I had a big sign in my back yard. I called the number on the notice to get an explanation and see what they wanted me to do to rectify the situation.

After talking to the city, come to find out one of my neighbors complained. I asked why it was an issue now, especially since the trailer and brush pile had been there for 10 years. Even the lady that wrote the citation stated she wasn't sure why we were never contacted in the past. I wasn't mad at her, she was just doing her job. Since I was nice, polite and civil about the whole thing (Shocker I know), she extended the dead line to get it cleaned up by a week. Now I'm on the hunt for my narcing neighbor so I can return the favor. hehe.

At work there was so much Drama, I don't know where to begin. I had everything from my peers screwing over my people on the day I had to stay home to take care of Clone. To them talking about sending me back to Okla-farkooking-homa. Yea, that's right, they were talking about sending me back down there. Those talks were abruptly ended with me in a meeting making the following statement, "I will NOT be going back to Oklahoma for this company." There was all kinds of stuff between there, but I'm not going to bore you with all of those details.

Then of course there was Clone's Birthday and Birthday parties. Where, that wasn't really drama, but dealing with a 6 year old asking daily about his parties and presents gets really tiresome.

Yea, let's hope next week isn't as dramatic.

Posted by: Contagion at 11:47 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Well between the drama I've created over my Macktown review from a year ago, to Graumagus' triumphant return, I'm kinda tapped out.

Today we are having Clone's birthday part. His actual birthday was earlier in the week, but we are having the kid party today. Yay! A bunch of screaming 4-8 year olds! Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go get ready for the party.

Posted by: Contagion at 08:51 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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After a year and a half in federal prison for gun running charges, Grau finally showed up again. He's moved... kinda. He's now at WWW.Frizzensparks.ORG. Yes, that's ORG, not COM. As he put it, Now Less dot-Commie, More dot-Orgy! To translate that for everyone. That means he likes the Orgy (hopefully not the 11 way. You know what happens in prison).

Go over and welcome him back.

Posted by: Contagion at 08:43 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I have a secret, a huge one. I've been sworn not to tell anyone. The only hint I can give you is that it involves this sentence, "Sex! Naked women with huge tits and buckets of viagra!"

And trust me, this secret has nothing to do with me!

Posted by: Contagion at 05:09 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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In the last couple of days I've been getting flack over my review of The Gathering at Macktown on The Spoon and Blade. Some of it by e-mail, some of it in the Guestbook.

Last year at Macktown the weather has been horrible, as you can see on this post. IF you don't want to read it, lets recap. The weather was rainy when we got there, it turned to storms, the wind picked up, over half the camp bugged out. Over at the Spoon and Blade, I put my review up, including my opinions. Well in the last couple of days, people have found it and started leaving comments in the guestbook, unhappy with me.

Now some of the comments are true. Frenchman's is not Rock River, I was misinformed and can not go back and change it right now. My ISP and hosting company are not getting along and until they work things out, I can't update it at all. The review on there is for Frenchman's 2005, which I did attend.

If you are a re-enactor and want to see the kind of "trouble" I'm in, go over and check it out.

Honestly, I posted my opinion and I stand by it. If they don't agree with it, that's fine. It's no skin off of my back. But I'm not about to change it or apologize for voicing it.

Posted by: Contagion at 02:48 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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Yesterday we got a call that Clone was sick. He had diarrhea and was "burping and it smelled funny". Sure enough, when Ktreva picked him up he was redecorating his shorts with colon paint. He was doing that all night long. This morning he was still at it. Thus I ended up taking the day off of work to take care of the poor kid.

I think the highlight of the day so far was around 7:00AM when he walked into my room to complain his throat hurt. Then he proceeded in puking all over the place.

Yea, sick kids are fun.

Posted by: Contagion at 02:21 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Alright folks, it is time to mark your calendars for the second annual Miasmatic Review Beer Tasting. This year we will be hosting the Beer tasting on Sunday May 24th Memorial Day weekend.

Having learned from my mistakes last year, this year will be run a bit different, and more organized. I will be supplying the beers for tasting. Any other beer you want for after the tasting you will need to bring your own. There will also be good provided by myself.

Before the beer tasting I will again offer a quick lesson on how to review beer for those that are interested. For those of you that were at last years, yes I will have the text book for you to take home again.

More details will be coming later.

If you are interested in attending, please let me know by May 17th.

Posted by: Contagion at 09:22 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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TonightÂ’s beer is one that I picked up at a local beer tasting. I was going to try another beer that Petey gave me. It, like last weeks, had gone bad. Again there was some kind of slimy sediment to it. Fortunately, I still had a back up beer. This week I am reviewing Morimoto Soba Ale by the Rogue Ales Brewing. This is one of RogueÂ’s signature beers developed by Chef Masahura Morimoto, of Iron Chef fame.

The beer came in a 1 pint, 6 fl oz brown bottle. The label is silk screened on and is a blue circle with white oriental writing on it and MorimotoÂ’s signature I assume. Bellow the art is the name of the beer in white lettering.

When poured into a glass, there is a nice golden orange color to the beer. There is a mild haziness to it, light passes through without difficulty. You can see carbonation bubbles flow up through the beer itself. It poured a thick white head made of a mixture of large and small bubbles. There was a nice thick lacing on the side of the glass.

The smell is different. I can detect malts and grains, but there is a scent that I am not familiar with. IÂ’m assuming this is the Soba (Buckwheat). The smell is very pleasant, unlike any other beer IÂ’ve ever had. The taste is malts and again something IÂ’m not familiar with (probably the soba/buckwheat). A slight breadiness is also present. There is a touch of lemon zest to the finish. The aftertaste is pleasant and non-distracting.

It is a light bodied beer. Almost no coating to the mouth and the carbonation is a present if not mild.

When I first had this beer at a tasting, I didnÂ’t know what to make of it. It was unusual, different and something I knew I had to try. I just couldnÂ’t tell if it was good or bad after just 2 ounces of beer. IÂ’m rather glad I picked up a bottle to do a full review on. IÂ’ve found the taste to be surprisingly pleasant. I bet this beer would go really well with a lot of different meals. I give it 6 out of 10.

Posted by: Contagion at 08:26 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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