2008 March archive at RunawayJim.org

Archive for March, 2008

Brü Room at BAR

Published on March 29, 2008 in Review, Ale, Food and Beer. 3 Comments

I’m in Connecticut for the night. I decided since Susan is out at her “Bachelorette” party and one of my groomsman’s wives is out with her that I would hang out with him and my brother. I wanted good New Haven pizza. We tried Modern, but they were packed, so we ended up at BAR. There was an hour wait for a table, but they have a “Take Out” window where you can order a pizza and then bring it into the bar in the other room. That’s exactly what we did. BAR is kind of a strange place. They have a separate, yet connected place called the Brü Room, which is a brewpub. So there’s the restaurant on one side, a bar on the other and in a back room on the bar side is a dance club. It’s kind of strange. This place holds a cask ale festival every year (and I’m gonna try to make it next year). Anyway, back to my story/review. We sat at the bar and got some beers while waiting for our pizza. This is another of those brewpubs that has a selection of commercial beers along with their own.

I started with their Damn Good Stout. It’s a dark black beer with a tan head. It’s super roasty goodness, though it’s on a nitro-tap (the same thing Guinness has), meaning it comes out smoother, but it also loses some flavor. Next, I had their Toasted Blonde Ale. This one was maltier and sweeter with a slightly toasted flavor. It’s a good refreshing beer. Finally, I had the Pale Ale. This one was nice and hoppy, like a west coast pale ale. It reminded me a lot of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.

Now, the pizza… If you’ve never had New Haven style pizza, you must. It’s seriously the best pizza in the world, and that’s no lie. BAR makes an awesome pie, right up there with Sally’s and Modern. We got a white mashed potato pizza and a red fresh tomato and basil pizza. They were both awesome. I’m glad we didn’t end up waiting at Modern. I couldn’t have gotten 3 great local beers. This is the only place I know where you can get awesome local beer and awesome pizza in the same place. It really is a one of a kind type of place, though I could do without the dance club.

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Southern Tier Choklat Imperial Stout

Published on March 29, 2008 in Review, Ale and Beer. 0 Comments

I managed to get my hands on one of the single most sought after beers from the past year. No, it’s not Dark Lord or Surly Darkness or even The Abyss. It’s Southern Tier’s Choklat Imperial Stout. It was more widely available than the other 3, but it was bought up like crazy. Susan and I had it for dessert last night and, man, this is one excellent beer.

The beer pours a thick black with a very small brownish-tan head. Smells of dark roasted malts, dark chocolate, hot fudge, and a hint of roasted coffee. Upon the first sip, I knew I was in for a real treat. The beer tastes of smooth chocolate. Not necessarily dark chocolate, but not milk chocolate. This is a chocolate flavor I have rarely tasted. The beer was brewed with fine Belgian chocolate. That’s the taste. It’s a great chocolate flavor. The roasted flavors are there, but just as an afterthought and balancing act. This is one very drinkable beer for the 11% ABV. I didn’t even notice it at all. Unfortunately, I don’t think you can easily buy this anymore. If you happen to see it, pick up 2 bottles (1 for you and 1 for me). It’s worth every penny.

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Dogfish Head Aprihop

Published on March 29, 2008 in Review, Ale and Beer. 0 Comments

I picked up a 4 pack of Dogfish Head’s Aprihop on Thursday. I tried one last night. The beer is an apricot flavored IPA. It’s quite interesting. The beer pours a nice amber color with a small white head. Smells of hops any fruity sweetness. Now, as a quick disclaimer, I am not a fan of the Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA (which may come as a surprise to any hopheads out there considering IPA is one of my absolute favorite styles). Let’s move on to this beer. The flavor is quite different. It mixes the grapefruit flavor of the hops with the sweet apricot flavors. At times, it’s completely mixed together, at other times I get one followed by the other. The beer leaves a slight hoppy grapefruit aftertaste, but it’s nothing like a regular “in your face” IPA. The sweetness of the apricot really gives a nice balance to the bitterness of the hops. I was very impressed with this beer, but I wonder why it was released now and not closer to summer. This would make an incredible summer IPA. It’s very refreshing and would make a great summer addition to their already great Festina Pêche. This is a very drinkable beer and absolutely worth trying (even if you don’t like the 60 Min. IPA).

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5 Months-ish with the MacBook Pro

Published on March 28, 2008 in Hardware, Software, Apple and Technology. 23 Comments

It’s been just about 5 months now that I’ve been using the MacBook Pro as my work computer. It’s not my primary computer at home, but when I don’t feel like being tied to my desk or I am away from home, it is my computer. I am quite familiar with it, though not an Apple expert, by any means.

I have gotten used to everything as best I can and there are still a few things that annoy me - some related to Apple, some not. I’ll start with the stuff that’s related to Apple.

First, I should preface this with the fact that I use an external keyboard at work. It’s easier on the hands and I have the full number pad. I don’t like the command+c and command+v key combinations for copy/paste. It’s a much more cramped position than CTRL+C and CTRL+V in Windows, though I am glad there is a key combo for that, I use it all the time. The other issue I have is with deleting files. Everything goes to the trash can automatically, which is nice because I can recover stuff from network and removable drives without having it automatically delete and gone forever. However, I can’t delete a file using the “forward” delete key. I have to use the “backspace” delete key. That’s just weird and confusing.

This one is something I’ve complained about many times before and the comments left were “Expose rocks, it’s so much better than Alt-Tab”. Wrong… well, at least in my case. I Alt-Tab quite a bit. I use it to get between programs and windows. I still am not 100% used to Command-Tabbing to the program and then Command-Tilda-ing to the window. That’s not intuitive and not easy. Expose is cool and all, but I have to grab the mouse, drag it to the hot corner, and then drag it to the window I want, and if I’m not on the correct virtual desktop (yes I use Spaces), then I still need to Command-Tab. Perhaps I should stop using Spaces? I don’t think so.

The last thing that annoys me is the lack of a “Start Menu” (I know the Start Menu is something that Windows haters love to hate). The thing I like about the Start Menu is easy access to all my applications without having to open Finder, choose Applications and then go to the one I want. With the Start Menu, it’s all in a nice easy menu. Personally, I think Applications should be a sub-menu of the Apple menu. I like the Dock, it’s nice and easy to access all my more frequently used applications. I generally use Spotlight to find the applications I don’t use as frequently, but sometimes I like to look through the whole list of them. For some reason, I remember this being part of MacOS at some point (might have been pre-OS X).

Print Screen… Why the heck is there no Print Screen button on the keyboard? Instead, there are some crazy key combinations that do, admittedly, perform some nice functions (taking a snapshot of an active window or the menu bar or something like that, or taking a snippet of a window, or doing the whole damn screen). But when I want to quickly take a screenshot, I have to remember what those keys are (and I don’t, so I have Apple’s OS X keyboard shortcut page bookmarked).

Now onto the non-Apple stuff…

Entourage… The new version (2008) is better than the previous. It looks better and fits in better. That’s all fine and well, but it’s still not Outlook. I know it was never meant to be Outlook, but I don’t understand why. So if someone from Microsoft or who knows someone (or knows someone who knows someone who knows someone) at Microsoft, find out for me. It’s really annoying and really pointless. Just face the facts… not everyone is or has the option of using Windows, yet they are in an Exchange shop (like me). I do like everything else in the new Office 2008, but Entourage still annoys me. The biggest issue I have with it is that it will not sync my distribution lists on Exchange with Entourage, but it did grab all my other contacts from Exchange. I had to sit and re-build all the distribution lists I had because of that. The next version of Office for MacOS should have Outlook, not Entourage (which is really some crazy combination of Outlook and Outlook Express). Still somewhat on the topic of Entourage is My Day. I was originally under the impression that it was part of Entourage, yet it runs as it’s own application. That surprised me the first time I ran it. I do use it and refer to it often, but it should be part of Entourage, like the “To-Do” panel in Outlook 2007.

Firefox… I’m still on Firefox 2, mainly because I am not willing to play with beta software. I know Firefox 3 should fix some of my issues, but I doubt it’ll fix all of them. My biggest issue is the looks. It looks like a Windows app. That’s going to be fixed. That’s good. I don’t know why it wasn’t originally themed to look like an OS X app to begin with. I hate that it doesn’t use the Apple widgets. That should also be fixed. My next biggest issue is that I use Firefox in it’s own virtual Desktop to avoid clutter. When I Command-Tab to it or click on it’s Dock icon, it brings me to Firefox, but doesn’t give the window focus. That’s stupid and really annoying. Every other app I use works normally with that. I have gotten used to having to click on an app before I can click a link or something, but when I click on an app’s icon or Command-Tab to it, it should have focus, that’s why I did that to begin with. Finally, the Home and End keys do not work in web forms in Firefox (like the one I’m using to write this). Instead, I have to hit Command-Left or Right Arrow, and even that doesn’t work all the time depending on the page.

So those are all my issues so far… now here’s what I like. The keyboards (external and laptop) are really nice, though I wish the external one had extra plastic as I find myself leaning and accidentally pressing the Control key. They have nice feedback and have a great feel to them. I have finally gotten used to the ambient light sensor and I love it. The battery life is awesome. The wireless easily (more easily than Windows) connects to the enterprise Wi-Fi connection at work. Fast user switching is nice and slick (I like the box rotating and wish that’s how Spaces worked).

However, I still stand by my notion that this is neither better nor worse than Windows. They are both simply different tools to perform the same tasks. If I knew nothing about computers, maybe the Apple would be more intuitive, but I know plenty of people who switched from Windows and had a very hard time figuring out the Apple way (one with an iMac even said that she needed an external optical drive, not realizing it was a slot fed drive on the side of the thing).

Someday, I’ll switch my primary home PC to Ubuntu Linux and I’ll write a review on that. That will be a big project, though, and I am not sure when I’ll have the time for it (I need first backup Susan’s data onto my computer, reformat hers for XP Pro, then backup my computer to hers, and do the switch… hers needs to be done first so that she’s not without a computer).

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I agree with this cute kitty

Published on March 28, 2008 in Fun Stuff and Beer. 1 Comment

see more crazy cat pics

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Hilarious Trial Transcript

Published on March 28, 2008 in Fun Stuff. 4 Comments

I just had to share this. I think I saw it on Boing Boing. It’s a trial of a guy who stole 40,000 hotel coat hangers. During his testimony, he gives the prosecutor the complete run around, making him (the prosecutor) seem like a total idiot. Here’s a brief snippet of the testimony.

Counsel: Are you serious when you say that clients of yours drink from their own minibars in their own bedrooms in their own homes?

Chrysler: Certainly. And just as in a hotel, they grumble about the price and size of the bottles, and the absence of ice.

Counsel: So why don’t they get a proper fridge in their bedroom?

Chrysler : Because then it wouldn’t be like a hotel.

Judge: Tell me, Mr Chrysler, do these businessmen of yours also have Gideon Bibles by their bedside at home?

Chrysler: Many of them, sir.

Judge: And where do you get the Gideon Bibles from?

Chrysler: Alas, they, too, have to be taken from hotels.

Judge: Then why are you not also up on a charge of Bible-stealing?

Chrysler: Because the Bibles do not belong to the hotels. They belong to the Gideon Society. And the Gideon Society has decided not to prosecute me, but to forgive me and tell me to go and sin no more.

Judge: And have you sinned no more?

Chrysler: Alas, no.

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Pavement - Slanted & Enchanted: Luxe & Reduxe

Published on March 27, 2008 in Review and Music. 0 Comments

So I picked up an album last weekend that I hadn’t written about. It’s Pavement’s Slanted & Enchanted, but a re-release of it with lots of extras. I’m not normally a big indie/punk/underground fan, but this is pretty good. I’ll admit that the reason I picked up an album by Pavement is because Trey Anastasio (of Phish fame) has said they’re his favorite band. They’re a band from California playing mostly indie/alternative/punk music. They don’t exist anymore, but they were popular (at least in that scene) in the 90’s.

Since I know nothing about that style of music, I can’t say they’re one of the best or great or anything, but I like the album. It reminds me a lot of Modest Mouse (but not overly like Good New for People Who Love Bad News, that one’s pretty tame).

Anyway, since they’re a lesser known band, I thought I’d give them some press. If you like that style of music, you’d probably love Pavement.

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Wal-Mart vs. The Record Labels

Published on March 25, 2008 in Music. 0 Comments

Anyone who knows me knows I’m old school and still buy music CDs (my collection at the time of this article is about 415 albums, some double, some triple, and some boxed sets, and that doesn’t include burned bootlegs, which is probably another 200-300 discs) and not digital music files (such as MP3s). The reason I do this is because I want to be able to do what I want with my music, I want the higher quality of the CD rather than a compressed audio file, and, honestly, I like the liner notes and being able to look at a physical collection of music. However, I don’t buy CDs very often anymore because they’re expensive. At $15-18 for a single CD, it’s not cheap (granted, I spend that amount on beer every week, but I like my beer). While I prefer new CDs (they’re nice, no scratches, and the whole package is in good condition), I have started buying a lot of used CDs from Newbury Comics. They’re a lot cheaper (especially the super cheap section at the one in the Providence Place Mall where they’re $3 each) and the money doesn’t go to the record companies, preventing me from feeling like I should boycott major label music (which I do on the new CDs I buy. Wal-Mart (of all retailers) is looking to change all of this.

Wal-Mart is the largest retailer of music in the country, accounting for about 20% of major label record sales. They currently sell CDs at a loss because they want people in their stores buying other things (disclaimer: I think Wal-Mart’s business practices are unethical and the company should be boycotted, which I do). They know people don’t want to spend more than $10 on a CD, and they’re 100% correct. Why do you think people have turned to illegally downloading music? The answer is simple - they can’t afford to buy it. Wal-Mart knows this and has supposedly threatened to take music off their shelves and replace it with something they can make money on. The labels know this will hurt them immensely and will do what Wal-Mart wants, but not without a fight.

This is all from an article in Rolling Stone entitled (you guessed it) “Wal-Mart wants $10 CDs“. The article is definitely worth a read for a little insight into the music industry and why music costs what it does. I’m all for lowering the price of the CD, but not at the expense of the artist… instead at the expense of the label. Here’s a breakdown of where the money goes from a $15.99 CD taken from that article:

This breakdown of the cost of a typical major-label release by the independent market-research firm Almighty Institute of Music Retail shows where the money goes for a new album with a list price of $15.99.

$0.17 Musicians’ unions
$0.80 Packaging/manufacturing
$0.82 Publishing royalties
$0.80 Retail profit
$0.90 Distribution
$1.60 Artists’ royalties
$1.70 Label profit
$2.40 Marketing/promotion
$2.91 Label overhead
$3.89 Retail overhead

As you can see, the actual cost of making the CD itself is minuscule. The artists’ share is only slightly more. The rest goes to some other questionable accounts (publishers, labels, promoters, unions, etc.). With the internet, there is no reason artists need major labels to get a large audience unless they want to be quickly throw into the spotlight and get tons of radio play. If your music is good, you can go indie and still get a good-sized audience and sometimes even make a living off it. There’s a lot to be said about word of mouth and grass roots marketing of music.

Anyway, if you have any interest in the music industry, this article is a major eye opener. I found it on Slashdot.

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SBC Restaurant & Brewery - Branford

Published on March 25, 2008 in Review, Ale, Food and Beer. 0 Comments

On Saturday night, Susan and I went to SBC Restaurant & Brewery for dinner. I had heard a while back that Branford got a brewpub. It turns out that this is it. SBC stands for Southport Brewing Co. The original is a brewpub in Southport, CT (a second of Bridgeport next to Westport, I think or maybe it’s the other way around). I had gone there for dinner once several years ago, though I don’t remember getting beer (the person I would have gone with wasn’t old enough to drink).

The restaurant is pretty sparsely furnished and doesn’t really seem to have any kind of vibe to it. The outside looks pretty bland, like any chain restaurant and the inside doesn’t have a lot going on. It lacks “personality”. I had wanted to try it for the beer (being a brewpub in my hometown) and we wanted to check it out for Susan’s bachelorette party.

They have a beer menu on the table that divides their beer into 3 tiers. The first is lighter stuff, designed for people who drink stuff like Bud or Bud Light (or any similar macro). The second gets a bit darker and less accessible and includes their IPA, a Brown Ale, a Pilsner, and an Irish Red. The third tier is darker beers - a stout, a porter, and an English Pale Ale (which I would probably swap with the IPA for which tier they belong to). They had a total of about 10 of their own beers on tap. I have this thing about always trying a brewpub’s IPA, and I wanted to try their stout. I ordered the stout first. It reminded me of Beamish. It wasn’t all that full bodied, not on a nitro tap that I could tell, but had a nice roasted flavor to it. It wasn’t anything spectacular, but it wasn’t bad either. I had the IPA second. This was disappointing. It was malty, but also hoppy. It lacked any real character. I’ve had American Pale Ales that have more hops than this, but it wasn’t an English IPA either. It just didn’t know what it was trying to be.

So the beer was a little disappointing, but for those unadventurous types, they also had several commercial beers on tap as well (I have no idea if they also had bottled beer or not, but there were a couple guys drinking beer from bottles outside when we left, I think it was Bud Light). This was very different to me from a brewpub. Most brewpubs only serve their own beer. Part of me also wonders if the beer is actually brewed here or if it’s brewed in Southport and shipped to their other restaurants. They had tanks in random places with hoses hanging off of them, but one of them was just behind this low, knee high wall near the entrance and the others were on a platform above the bar. It didn’t seem like good places for the tanks. So I’m curious about that.

The food wasn’t spectacular. I ordered the BBQ ribs. They were cooked well, but the sauce lacked any “zing”. It was supposedly made with their IPA, which to me would make it a little spicy, but it was sweet and kind of bland. The coleslaw and mashed potatoes that came with it were good though. Susan got the trout special and she liked it. The risotto that came with it was really good and the vegetables were cooked perfectly (usually mixed veggies come out mushy). I didn’t try her fish at all. They also gave us bread and butter to start, which was good.

All in all, it wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t anything special either. I’d go back because it is a brewpub in my hometown and I’ll have to try their other beers and just get a burger to see how that is.

Branford does have a history of brewing. Back when I was younger, I think it was when I was in high school, a couple wanted to open a brewpub in the center of Branford. They had a company called Indian Neck Brewing (New York Times article) and made beer at home (I imagine they were just homebrewers who wanted to start a brewpub). Now, if you don’t know the town at all, Branford is a suburb of New Haven and it’s quite suburban. The center of town is actually a nice little urban village and a truly 100% walkable neighborhood where you can walk to get all the necessities (something Providence really lacks). It’s currently filled with small cute shops and a couple restaurants. This brewpub would have been a perfect fit and probably would have made a killing there. It could have possibly transformed the town center into a pretty happening place after hours. Instead, a restaurant and building owner in the center of town sued because he feared that his tenants wouldn’t find parking and would leave (me thinks he feared the competition, as the store owners were hoping this would happen). Branford Center at night is pretty dead. There’s a few kids hanging out on the town green and some people going to Ben and Jerry’s for ice cream, but that’s it, except when there’s a concert on the green or during the Branford Festival weekend (held annually on Father’s Day weekend). I would still like to see Indian Neck Brewing come to fruition, but I have a feeling they’ve abandoned their plans (considering it was 12 years ago).

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Irish Red, Stoudts, and Coast Wine & Spirits

Published on March 25, 2008 in Review, Ale and Beer. 0 Comments

This past weekend, I spent some time in Branford, CT visiting family for Easter. While I was there, I managed to make it to a couple package stores. The first, Wine Pirates, didn’t overly impress me, but my mother was forcing me to pick out some beer for her to buy for me for my Easter “basket” (yeah, I’m almost 30 and she still does that). For lack of anything else, I grabbed a 6 pack of Sam Adams Irish Red. After doing some more shopping, I wanted to head to Coastal Wine and Spirits as I heard they were getting a better selection of beer than they had when I lived in Branford (over 4 years ago). I knew if anywhere in town had something I couldn’t get in Rhode Island, they would. Sure enough, I spotted a bunch of beer from Stoudts Brewing Co. Never having the chance to try in when I visited Susan in Philly (you either pay a whole lot in a bar/pizza place for a 6 pack or buy a whole case), I had to pick up a couple. They had 2 beers that really interested me, Fat Dog Imperial Oatmeal Stout and a Double IPA. I grabbed a 6 pack of each (and there were other beers I can’t get in RI, but I passed up on those). Coastal is doing well with their beer selection. There was a recent post on Beer Advocate about hiring a beer manager. I imagine they’ll be expanding their beer selection in the near future. Anyway, here are some reviews of the 3 beers I picked up in CT.

Sam Adams Irish Red pours a reddish amber color with a medium sized white head. Smells mostly of malts, some caramel and probably some crystal malts. There’s a slight note of hops added for some balance. The beer is quite malty in flavor with a very slight hops bite that balances it out nicely. Never really having been into this style, this is the first whole true Irish Red Ale I’ve had. The beer is great. It’s medium bodied, easy drinking, and an all around great beer. I’m glad I decided to try it. It’s another great beer from Sam Adams.

Stoudts Fat Dog pours a dark black color with a thin tan head the quickly runs away. Smells of roasted and chocolate malts, though the aroma is not too strong. Tastes of more of those roasted and chocolate malts along with a slight hint of hops. It’s not as full bodied as I would prefer, but the body is just fine. It’s very easy drinking and very smooth. This is worth trying if you can find it. I’m glad I picked it up (I picked this one so Susan wouldn’t get upset at me bringing back three 6 packs).

Stoudts Double IPA pours a pale amber color with a moderate white head. Smells immediately of citrus and piney hops. This is a sticky beer with a sweet malty taste followed immediately by the hops, though they’re not quite as in your face as I prefer. It’s got a medium body, and, like I said, is sticky and oily in feel (not a bad thing). It’s a fairly easy drinking Double IPA. Again, I’m glad I picked this one up. It’s worth trying, though I don’t think I’ll go for it again as there are plenty other Double IPAs that I prefer.

I also visited SBC Restaurant & Brewery while in Branford. That deserves a post of its own.

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