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Pencible
Dec. 30th, 2009
01:57 pm
1. What did you do in 2009 that you'd never done before? Go on a cruise.
2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I don't think so, and probably not.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth? Eric and Emily, Pam and Mike
4. Did anyone close to you die? my grandma (mom's mom)
5. What countries did you visit? Haiti, Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Mexico.
6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009? A baby! and a new driveway.
7. What date from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? I don't remember dates very well, but I will always remember when Carly first told me she was pregnant (the first Tues after my birthday, whatever date that was).
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Continuing to progress in my career, getting new windows for the house, lots of landscaping around the house.
9. What was your biggest failure? My fantasy football team (in my work league).
10. Did you suffer illness or injury? No.
11. What was the best thing you bought? Nursery stuff, new lease on a Rav4 to replace the Mazda3, and the aforementioned new windows for our house.
12. Whose behavior merited celebration? Carly for graduating college, Courtney for getting her PhD, and Cassidy for allowing Carly an easy pregnancy.
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? Maybe some political or Hollywood people, but I can't think of anything specific at the moment. And nobody who matters to me personally.
14. Where did most of your money go? Mortgage, bills, and other home related expenses.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? A baby!
16. What song will always remind you of 2009? Can't think of any. I wish I listened to more music.
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder? Happier.
ii. thinner or fatter? Fatter. The ol' metabolism is finally slowing down.
iii. richer or poorer? Richer.
18. What do you wish you'd done more of? Exercise, read, and church stuff.
19. What do you wish you'd done less of? Channel surf.
20. How will you be spending Christmas? Xmas day with the Smiths and the rest of the weekend at the Nusbaum cabin.
21. How will you be spending New Year’s Eve? Locally with family.
22. Did you fall in love in 2009? No.
23. How many one-night stands? None.
24. What was your favorite TV program? Same as last year. Sports (mostly football and tennis), Heroes, and The Office.
25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year? No.
26. What was the best book you read? Perelandra
27. What was your greatest musical discovery? I think I already knew about Muse, but I really like them. I also just learned who Rhianna is, but that wasn't such a great discovery.
28. What did you want and get? A coffee table set that Carly and I both like, and a reclining leather sofa for our den.
30. What was your favorite film of this year? Up!, The Pursuit of Happyness, Spirited Away, and Jet Li's Fearless.
31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? We celebrated at the cabin for my 28th, as part of a tandem celebration with Carly's graduation.
32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Either not having the deck collapse at the townhouse, or at least having a reasonable contractor fix it in a timely manner.
33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009? Slightly better.
34. What kept you sane? Family and prayer and rest.
35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Will Smith continues to impress me with his films.
36. What political issue stirred you the most? I don't follow politics that closely, but I've heard some really bad things about the cap and trade bill.
37. Who did you miss? Should have visited my (still living) grandma more often.
38. Who were the best new people you met? Eric and Emily, and Matt and Sarah are pretty cool.
39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009: God has perfect timing.
40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year: See response #27.
Feb. 23rd, 2009
02:24 pm
2009 md states:
carly and i didn't make it to any major foosball tournaments last year, and we hardly even made it to any local (weekly dyp) tournaments. so needless to say, our competitive edge in foosball has gotten pretty rusty. nevertheless, we decided to attend the 2009 maryland state championships this past weekend.
by the numbers - i played 25 matches this past weekend, and won 13 of them (52%). out of 7 events that i played, carly and i won 1 of them, and i had unimpressive results in the other 6.
here's what i'm proud of - carly and i won FIRST PLACE in amateur doubles. we had to beat some pretty solid teams for this, and now we've earned jackets, trophies, and some cash. woo hoo!
here's what i'm disappointed in - my singles game is bad. i had really made some decent results in the 2006 and 2007 tournaments (at both maryland and virginia). but this year, i lost a lot of "gimme" matches. i'll have to hone my skills to climb back up that ladder!
otherwise - carly and i lost a few matches in doubles that we "should" have won, but our games just weren't as polished as they were a year ago. i think we had a decent shot at semi-pro doubles and open mixed, but it just didn't happen for us.
summary - it was a great tournament, well run, and lots of fun. it was great to get back to playing competitively, and now i'm motivated to attend the local tournaments more often (especially the byp at 999's). i'm not sure if virginia is going to have a state tournament this year (they did in 2006 and 2007, but not in 2008). but if they don't, carly and i will have to find another mid-atlantic state tournament for us to kick some butt in.
Feb. 12th, 2009
11:10 am
1. Where is your cell phone? pocket
2. Your significant other? Carly
3. Your hair? uncombed
4. Your mother? kind
5. Your father? hurried
6. Your favorite? secret
7. Your dream last night? math
8. Your favorite drink? beer
9. Your dream/goal? family
10. What room you are in? cube
11. Your hobby? foosball
12. Your fear? cholesterol
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? NoVa
14. Where were you last night? home
15. Something that you aren't? extroverted
16. Muffins? blueberry
17. Wish list item? windows
18. Where you grew up? Herndon
19. Last thing you did? formatting
20. What are you wearing? suit
21. Your TV? free!
22. Your pets? orange
23. Friends? funny
24. Your life? good
25. Your mood? quiet
26. Missing someone? nope
27. Car? RX-8
28. Something you're not wearing? tie
29. Your favorite store? WholeFoods
30. Your favorite color? none
31. When is the last time you laughed? Demetri
32. Last time you cried? Lance
33. Who will do this? nobody
34. One place that I go to over and over? sleep
35. One person who emails me regularly? John
36. My favorite place to eat? home
Jan. 4th, 2009
06:39 pm - 2008 year in review
So I've basically stopped posting on LiveJournal. It just doesn't have the same allure that it once did. However, for my own sake, I'm posting this end of year list:
(I really thought that I filled this out every year, but I can't find any record of it for 2007 or 2006. I guess I'm just remembering reading other people's?)
1. What did you do in 2008 that you'd never done before? snowboarding
2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I don't think I had any resolutions last year, but I'm making a few for this year. Let's hope they stick.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth? Jeremy and Ashley
4. Did anyone close to you die? Carly's godfather Larry
5. What countries did you visit? I actually traveled less in 2008 than in other recent years. Nothing outside America.
6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008? A coffee table set that Carly and I both like.
7. What date from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? June 11th was Aubrey's birthday. Nothing else is sticking out right now.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Tiling the laundry room, and generally improving our entire house.
9. What was your biggest failure? Not reading the Bible enough (hence it's one of my New Year's resolutions).
10. Did you suffer illness or injury? not really
11. What was the best thing you bought? No real major spending this year, but a bunch of "small" things to fix up the house. I also really started investing in beers to age. (Although if you ask Carly, that's probably the worst thing I bought.)
12. Whose behavior merited celebration? Carly, for making it through calculus (and so much more)
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? certain people getting separated
14. Where did most of your money go? home
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? Donkeys! Also Busch Gardens, and I'm sure some other stuff.
16. What song will always remind you of 2008? None, really. But I have a fond memory including Scarborough Fair from this past year.
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder? I feel about the same.
ii. thinner or fatter? Roughly the same, although perhaps a bit heavier.
iii. richer or poorer? With the stock market down, my total net worth has probably dropped. But I don't know if that counts as poorer, since those are long term investments.
18. What do you wish you'd done more of? exercise
19. What do you wish you'd done less of? work on weekends
20. How will you be spending Christmas? locally with family
21. How will you be spending New Year’s Eve? locally with family
22. Did you fall in love in 2008? stayed in love
23. How many one-night stands? lame
24. What was your favorite TV program? Heroes, followed by The Office, followed by misc sports. That’s about all I really watch.
25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year? I don’t hate
26. What was the best book you read? Out of the Silent Planet
27. What was your greatest musical discovery? singing in parts for my church’s Concert of Carols
28. What did you want and get? a new washer/dryer, and new floors for the laundry room
30. What was your favorite film of this year? probably I Am Legend, but Wall-e was really good too
31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I don’t remember, but probably just had some friends over for a small party. 27.
32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? I can measure any realistic level of satisfaction.
33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008? keep wearing the same clothes
34. What kept you sane? limiting extra-curricular activities so stress didn’t get the best of me
35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? nobody in particular
36. What political issue stirred you the most? economic bailouts applied unevenly
37. Who did you miss? nobody in particular
38. Who were the best new people you met? I like some new coworkers
39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008: I learned a lot about parenting, through spending time around my nieces.
40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year: no
Jun. 6th, 2008
01:37 pm - here we go again
federer will face nadal in the french open finals, again. nadal has looked better than ever leading up to this, so i'm guessing this won't finally be the year that federer finishes out his grand slam.
congrats to the redwings for winning the stanley cup for the 4th time in 11 years. they play great hockey. but congrats to the penguins for proving that playing an empty net for the last few minutes of a game actually CAN help.
hiking tomorrow. hopefully i won't die of heat stroke.
the a/c wasn't working at home, so we had a guy come over to check it out. the circuit had tripped, so the guy flipped it back on. that was it. i felt pretty stupid for not checking that myself before calling the pros. but at least he didn't charge us anything. and at least my house is nice and cool now.
i can't wait for the annual nathan's hotdog eating contest.
May. 12th, 2008
02:31 pm
as it the cyclone in burma wasn't enough, more devastation just hit southern asia, with a huge earthquake killing thousands in china. craziness.
on a lighter note, congrats to cary and josh and everyone else who just graduated. and happy mothers day to all the moms out there. also, i finally got footage of the local news report they did on foosball. carly and i are only in a couple quick scenes (and i'm on defense, of course). but it's still pretty cool. also, i beat mario kart (gold in 150cc special cup, yes, for snes of course). never thought i could have done it, but luck was on my side. now i'm ready to try the new wii mario kart. also, carly and i recently put up the dart board in our basement, so i'm learning how to do that. carly's much better than me so far. oh, and carly and i are going to see rem in concert in june. should be a good time. it's been a while since we've been to any concerts, and rem is one of carly's favorite banks, so.
i wish it would stop raining.
May. 10th, 2008
10:56 pm
wondering what to do with your economic stimulus check? how about giving some of it toward relief for the myanmar cyclone.
oh, and in case you haven't heard about it yet, this is one of the worst natural disasters ever. over 20,000 people are confirmed dead with up to 100,000 presumed dead. over 2 million people have been effected.
the really frustrating part is that american news is retarded. no wonder they're not broadcasting anything about this catastrophe, if they only think 350 people died. instead of focusing on this terrible disaster, let's find out who was voted off american idol last night, and then see what obama had to say about hilary since 2 hours ago.
May. 8th, 2008
11:28 am
i have decided to not post beer reviews here anymore. instead, i'm putting them all on on beer advocate. that should leave me with less to post here, but at least they'll be meaningful posts (to a degree).
and for those of you that were wondering, no i didn't sign up for facebook. carly signed me up. and then it started sending me emails, so then i had to add more and more friends. i've been duped! i still think it's a fad that'll die in a year or two. i was hoping to avoid it altogether, but i guess now i'm just another sheep.
how far can your car go?
the music makes this great
now that i'm only working one project at a time instead of two, hopefully i'll have time time to not work.
Mar. 29th, 2008
02:06 pm
**Carolina Cottonwood Almond Stout – The last of the beers from the membership Carly got me for my birthday last year. This poured pitch black with dark tan head, looking more ominous than I expected. It had a bold smell of coffee with striking almonds, and some earthy malt. It tasted like sweet almonds and milk mixed with mocha with slight bitterness. It was thick with no carbonation and a mild aftertaste. Overall this had a very well executed flavor, and was a great change of pace. My only complaint is that it could have used a bit more bite in the finish.
**Flying Dog Double Dog Double Pale Ale – This poured a clear bright copper with light tan head. It smelled like copper and floral hops with some refined yeast and a slight bit of alcohol. It tasted like semi-bitter orange hops and dry persimmons, with some floral hops and a light malt for some balance. It was oily with no carbonation and had a smooth, somewhat bitter aftertaste. Overall this was definitely a double pale ale, and not a double IPA. It was more bland and generic than I’m used to from a “double” style. Nothing was necessarily bad, but nothing made it memorable either.
**Sierra Nevada ESB – This poured a slightly hazy golden color with off-white head. It smelled like refined yeast and light malt mixed with fairly potent floral hops. It tasted very bitter, partly due to the floral hops and partly due to a weak earthy malt that provided little sweetness to balance the hops. There was also some refined yeast noticeable in the flavor. It was oily with almost no carbonation and had a dry and bitter aftertaste. Overall this was an interesting beer with a sharp and clean flavor, but it wasn’t all that tasty.
**Troegs Nugget Nectar Imperial Amber Ale – This poured a clear bronze with tan head. It smelled sweet like peach hops and nectar (not quite honey), mixed with a sort of cornmeal malt. It tasted like bitter copper hops and semi-sweet burnt honey. It was oily with slight carbonation and a bittersweet aftertaste. Overall it was very clean and smooth, with an interesting flavor that improved as it warmed. In the end this was quite a tasty and drinkable imperial.
**Troegs Troegenator Doublebock – This poured a hazy mahogany with tan head. It smelled like caramel malt with brown sugar and a bit of yeast. It tasted like a mix of semi-sweet earthy malts and caramel malts with some hay, but no real hops bitterness. It was watery with a bit of carbonation and slight alcohol warming in the aftertaste. Overall this had a definite lager character, but it was still decent.
**Dogfish Head Burton Baton Oak-aged Imperial IPA – A brand new limited brew from Dogfish, this poured a clear auburn color with light tan head. It smelled like a mix of copper and floral hops with noticeable oak and burnt caramel malt, along with a hint of alcohol. Its flavor came in waves, first of brown sugar and molasses, then of copper and floral hops, then of oak and roasted malts, then of brown sugar again for a smooth and sweet aftertaste. It was oily with very slight carbonation and a bit of alcohol warming. Overall this was a very unique and enjoyable beer that was well balanced and had great, creamy flavor. Hooray!
**Clipper City Holy Sheet Über Abbey Ale – This poured a dark and clear reddish brown with white head. It had a very sweet but earth smell like wild wheat, caramel malt, and floral hops. It tasted almost like a dry chardonnay grapes mixed with sour cherries, along with floral hops and some yeast. It was watery with some carbonation and had a moderately bitter aftertaste. Overall this had nice flavor for an abbey ale: very clean and drinkable.
**Morland Hen’s Tooth English Ale – This poured a clear copper color with light tan head. Although it was bottle conditioned, it came in a clear glass bottle, and I believe it was improperly stored, causing it to be “skunked”. Therefore, the scent was very sour, like soy sauce and limestone, with undertones of wheat, cultured yeast, and caramel malt. It tasted mostly acidic and chalky like vitamin C, although there was noticeable earthy and caramel malts with copper hops. It was watery with some carbonation and a slightly bitter aftertaste. As it warmed, the true rich malty flavor became a little more noticeable. It’s a shame it was ruined, because I think this would have otherwise been a very delicate and enjoyable beer.
**Hitachino Nest Beer Weizen – This poured a pale straw color with fluffy white head. It smelled like potent yeast with a bit of rice and floral hops. It had a light and watery flavor of sweet and sour lemon grass, but it lacked any further tastes for balance. It was watery with tons of carbonation that actually made it more difficult to taste the flavor, but it had a crisp and bitter aftertaste. Overall this was a little more enjoyable (to me) than most weizens, mostly because its bland flavor made it more drinkable. But as a beer in general, it simply wasn’t good.
**Arcadia Big Dick’s Olde Ale – 2006 vintage. This poured a dark, hazy brown with orange accents and tan head. It smelled like a blend of delicious malts including caramel, barley, and rye, as well as mild orange and copper hops. It had a very complex and well balanced flavor, tasting first like sweet caramel and milk chocolate malts, then like bitter floral hops, then like earthy and leathery malts. It was somewhat thick with no carbonation and a very smooth and sweet aftertaste, and it had a bit of alcohol warming. Overall this was a fine example of one of my favorite styles of beer. Delicious.
**Allagash Musette Oak-aged Ale – This poured a hazy, dull copper color with light tan head. It smelled like a perfectly balanced blend of wild Belgian yeast, caramel malt, and floral and pine hops. It immediately had a watered-down oaky flavor, along with the semi-sweet/semi-bitter taste of burnt honey, caramel, salt, and lemon hops. It was slightly thick with some carbonation, and had a clean and sweet aftertaste. Overall this was an interesting drink with many good elements, but could have been further refined with a bolder flavor and body.
**Smuttynose Imperial Stout – This poured pitch black with a tiny bit of dark tan head. It smelled strongly of alcohol, along with mocha and some hints of cherry. It tasted like bitter dark chocolate, burnt coffee and leathery malts, and even lemon and pine hops. It was thick with no carbonation, had a bitter aftertaste, and had significant alcohol warming. Overall this was a very powerful beer that was good for sipping, but had a really hard bite. It would be interesting to see if the flavor mellows some with aging, which could make this an exceptional beer.
**Lost Coast Eight Ball Stout – This poured opaque black with only a bit of light tan head. It smelled like sweet molasses and dark bitter chocolate malts with some toasted oatmeal sweetness. It tasted like a good mix of dark chocolate and robust roasted coffee, although the flavor faded some as I drank it. It was watery with a bit of carbonation and a bitter but short aftertaste. Overall this was a solid stout that was very clean and easy to drink. I would love to try a thicker and more powerfully flavored imperial big brother to this beer.
**Clipper City Peg Leg Imperial Stout – I thought I had tried this a while ago, but didn’t have any records of it, so I tried it again last night. It poured opaque black with tan head. It smelled like caramel and coffee malts, citrus hops, and a bit of alcohol…sweet but without the typical chocolate. It tasted like caramel and oatmeal malts mixed with mild coffee and milk chocolate, creating a surprisingly delicate and subtle flavor for an imperial. It was slightly thick with a bit of carbonation and had a lasting, bitter aftertaste with some slight alcohol warming. Overall this had an interesting balance of flavors that shifted from sweet to bitter. It was very clean and drinkable, but they could have cranked it up one more notch to reach its full potential.
Mar. 25th, 2008
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