Last week

• 2 pints Rainier - West 5
  

sound & vision

• a bottle of some Merlot from Chile by way of Trader Joes given to us by Susan's aunt from Olympia - home

Remember that scene from "Risky Business" where Tom Cruise dances in his underwear to Bob Segar's Old Time Rock and Roll? Even though I do not dance in my underwear (most of the time anyway) I love to listen to music loudly when I am home alone. And I love to listen loudly when it's least expected. In the morning before work when I'm the only person in the house I can turn it up so loud and be surrounded by sound, or at night (not a Friday or Saturday when it might be expected) after dark when the neighborhood is asleep.

I absolutely love my speakers. I've had them since UCLA when I bought them in a stereo shop (before there were Circuit City's and Best Buys). I traded in a large pair of Cerwin-Vega's (which were rockin' too) for the JBL's I have now, because they allowed that. When it was Final's Week (which is probably the equivalent of the stress-inducing "Report Card Week" that I'm suffering through now), everyone in Westwood would make as much noise as they could at midnight each night throughout the week. I would turn up my stereo as loud as I could and play a fitting song for the Final's Week occasion. Some I remember playing were It's The End of the World (As We Know It) - REM and Where Is My Mind? - Pixies. I'm not sure if my roommates appreciated it, but it was fun and now it's a great memory.

I've hauled these damn speakers around for about 20 years now. They are heavy and fairly large, compared to today's typically smaller speakers, but I just can't seem to give them up. Susan tolerates them, and I think about when we're "with child" and how easy it will be for him/her to knock them over and I think, "What am I to do about them?" And to make matters worse, my dad gave me his surround sound speakers a few years ago, and I love the subwoofer, which takes up even more space in the living room. Anyway, the JBL's sound so good and I don't think I can part with them.

"Risky Business" is one of my favorite all-time movies. I think it's actually one of my first favorite movies. I saw it with my mom when I was under 18 years old (it's rated R) and then saw it again with my dad and step-mom (who were very embarrassed to see it with me and swore they would never take me to see another R rated movie), but I loved it right from the beginning when it was released. I bought the soundtrack and loved that too. I think I love the movie so much because Tom Cruise wasn't well known at this time (and I still think it's his best movie ever...I don't like him as much now) and the movie just flows.....it's one scene after another of dark, sexual, comedic intensity. *"What the fuck" gives you freedom.*

So, if you haven't already guessed, that's me in my underwear above listening to my dad's reel-to-reel in a rental in Lakewood, WA; back in '68. I've always loved and listened to music. My earliest memories of music were singing along to Don McLean's "American Pie" and listening to The Door's "Light My Fire". In fact, my mom has "Light My Fire" listed as my favorite song in my baby book! We also listened to Simon & Garfunkel, Elton John, Carly Simon, The Beatles, Neil Diamond, James Taylor, The Rolling Stones, The Guess Who, and CCR. There were undoubtedly more too. I suppose my dad is my main electronic geekness influence. He always had hundreds of records, and now he has as many CD's too. I don't think he's gotten into digital downloads, but I'm amazed at how many records he still has. And, he does love his electronics.

So, it's late and I need to sign off. My cd is over, the bottle is gone and I need to get some sleep.

Au Revoir,

cheshire

Happy Birthday Kevin!

• 5 plastic pints Heineken (fuck that shit!) from a Heineken mini-keg (fun!) - Kevin & Donna's
• 2 tablespoons Absinthe (mmmm, 150 proof licoricey delight) - Kevin & Donna's
  

FRIDAY!

• 0 drinks
  

Terrible Twos

• 2 pints Rainier - West 5
• 2 Bartender Margs - Mission
• 2 cans Rainier - Young Whore Village
  
• 2 songs sung - Yen Wor Village (Faith & Sweet Baby James)
  

Animal Drinks

• 1 Wild Turkey bourbon rocks - home
• 1/2 bottle Dancing Bull zinfandel - Duke's
  

"Ah, you know....another day, another dollar."

• 2 bottles High Life - Alki Tavern

- Overheard.

Talarico's

• 1 pint Birra Moretti - Talarico's
  

stratus

• 1 bottle Modelo Especial

I hate the gloom and gray like today was. There is no sense of time because the sun can't be seen. It feels and looks the same at 9 am as it does at 6 pm.

Looking at pictures of sunny days and blue sky brighten my mood just a bit.

Brazil vs. Canada

• 2 cans PBR - Donna & Kevin's
• 1 shot Conmemorativo anejo - home
• 1 can Bud Light - Patrick & Kamila's
• 2 caipirinhas - Patrick & Kamila's
• 3 bottles Corona - Qwest Field parking lot
• 1 pint Bud Light - Qwest Field

Brasssssiiiiiiil!

Schemin'

• 2 cans PBR - the Jeffs
  

- with a Mario Kart chaser!

Zoiks!

• 1 mug Manny's Ale - Zeek's Pizza
  

Bomb-Ass Specials

• 4 super pints PBR - Redline Music and Sports, West Seattle

$2 a pint x 4 = $8
$1 Cheese Blocks x 1 = $1
$1 Jalapeno Checkers x 1 = $1
$1 something else i can't remember = $1
$1.50 Big Buck Hunter Pro x 5 = $7.50

$18.50
Priceless

Tequila!

• 1 Herencia Mexicana reposado - home

Memorial Day

• 2 bottles Budwieser (The King Of Beers!) - home
• 1 mini-margarita - home
  

Rocky Mountain High

• 2 pints IPA (nitro) - Ken's & Laurie's
• 1 Jack Daniels rocks - Rock Bottom Brewery, Denver Airport

Today was my last day, so we took a leisurely drive around the Fort Collins area and up into the surrounding foothills. It's a beautiful area. While the area around Fort Collins is hilly, much of Colorado is flat, that is, until you get to the Rocky Mountains.

Ken and Laurie have three cats and two dogs, all more or less living together in a tolerable relationship - kind of like Ken, Michelle, and I....hahahahahaaha!

This is Showna and Bluema (my spelling is probably incorrect)

This is Chloe ("She's a bitch." says Ken.") I found her quite cuddly.

And I forget which one this is! But she was friendly.

And my favorite....Kazoo. I could never be in a sour mood around Kazoo. Her tongue always looks like this, her legs are half as short as a normal cat's legs, so her belly nearly drags the floor when she walks, and she has a round little rump. She is adorable.

This is me and Ken. He's a big Lebowski fan (pun intended), hence the shirt (which I bought him many years ago. Glad to see it doesn't have paint on it.)

And this is Laurie and Ken.

It was a great visit.

It has always bothered me that when I ask Ken what I thought was a simple yes or no question, he would never answer it that way. He gives me some roundabout answer that I never fully understand and I end up asking him other questions to fill in my blanks. He'd get frustrated because he thought that he did answer my questions, but I was still confused and I'd get angry and things would get bitter. This happened a few times during this trip, but then, in the middle of a conversation, I realized something. He's a lawyer. This is what he does. This is what he's good at. He doesn't do it on purpose; it's just the way he answers. And then I began to wonder, does he answer questions this way because he IS a lawyer, or did he become a lawyer because he answers questions this way? What I realized on this visit, however, is that it doesn't matter. What matters is that I now understand that, and so instead of getting frustrated and argumentative, I just smile and laugh and know that it's all good...whether I understand his answer or not. :)

Hanging at the House

• 1 pint IPA (nitro) - Odells Brewing
  
• 2 Imperial pints Albert Damm Bitter - Coopersmith's Pub and Brewing, Fort Collins, CO
• 1 pints IPA (nitro) - Ken & Laurie's home
  

Saturday we hung out at Ken & Laurie's house, which is a 1914(?) 4 Square shown below. It has a beautiful yard with a lot of room and character on the inside.

The back yard has lots of room for their two Border Collies, Bluema and Showna, to run around. The carriage house on the left is where hay and horses were kept (Clydesdales, perhaps?).

People in Fort Collins bike everywhere! Here I am fixing Ken's bike so that he and Laurie can join their fellow neighbors in keeping Fort Collins green and clean.

Ken has been orderly ever since he was a kid ("I can tell you moved that clock on my dresser!") but I had completely forgotten that when I went to visit. When I opened his refrigerator, I was immediately reminded.

It gets better...

And the freezer...

I love it!

We finished the day by going to another brewery, Coopersmiths, where I had some delicious British Bitter. It was as if I was in England.

Beer, Beer, Beer

• 1 glass Bud Light Lime - Anheuser-Busch Brewery, Fort Collins, CO
• 1 glass Budweiser Select - ABB
• 1 glass Budweiser - ABB
• 30 ounces various taster - Odell Brewing, Fort Collins, CO
• 32 ounces various taster - New Belgium Brewing, FC, CO
• 2 glasses 7 Deadly Zins Zinfandel - Bisetti's, Fort Collins
• 1 bottle PBR - Vault, Fort Collins

I arrived in Denver last night at 10:30. After Ken and I drove the hour to his home in Fort Collins and toured his house, I didn't get to sleep until 2 am this morning. We were up by 8 however (the promise of beer!) and drove down the freeway a few miles to the Anheuser-Busch Brewery(!) which is pictured below. It's one of the 12 Anheuser-Busch Breweries in America, and only one of five that allow tours. Lucky us!

The Can Filler. This whizzing wonder can fill 30 cans a second.

The Lager Cellar. These giants were meant to ferment. There are about 30 containers this size housed in this cellar.

This is Darth. He's a genuine Clydesdale and is used for hauling cases of Bud to neighboring communities through the Colorado snow. Recently Darth delivered Bud Light Lime to victims of the tornado. What a horse.

After our fill of sub-par beer, we headed to the New Belgium Brewery, a model of renewable brewing practices, not to mention tasty suds. You'll notice right away that it's a much different building from the A-B plant. Also, it's a mile down the road from where Ken lives. That's Ken in the lower left hand corner trying to get away from the tourist in me.

This is Ken. He's flashing a pretty healthy smile. Maybe it's because he's standing next to the fermenting tanks and the smell of hops is in the air.

Because two breweries just isn't enough in a day, we hopped on over to Odell Brewing which is right down the street from New Belgium. Fort Collins means "heaven" in Coloradian.

These are the Odell flights. Unfortunately Ken couldn't drink any, but an older brother is always willing to help out the younger.

Sitting on the deck at Odells.

After a day of brewery tours and samples, we ended it with wine and dinner at Bisetti's and then a stop at a dim and dirty bar, The Vault, for some PBR and Photo Match. The Vault used to be a bank, back in the day. Seriously.

Thursday

• 1 bottle Kona Longboard Lager - home
• 1 Jack Daniels rocks - Chili's SeaTac

To Tally or Not To Tally?

• 1 bottle O'Doul's (I feel like I should count this because of it's beer-like taste and it's beer-like bottle and it's beer-like label. What do you all think?) - home
• 1 bottle Kona Longboard Lager - home