Posts
Monday, August 31, 2009
RIP Margaret Hernandez
-- A Taste from TheInkFlowsLikeWine.com
In the midst of the madness of the weekend, I heard via the cactus line that a friend of mine from my days in Arizona had finally succumbed to her demons...
Maggie was a great person in a bad situation, and while I'm not going to get into any details because they just don't matter, I will say that AZ had its hand in her death...
When I left AZ to move to NYC, I was so close to taking her away from the situation, out of derision for the state, and escaping with her to NYC, the place she had wanted to go home to, but it wasn't meant to be...
She's really the first person around my age that I've spent time with whom has passed and it makes me feel quite old, but I guess I shouldn't because she was so young... Such a shame for someone to go after 25 short years... For those that knew the real you, we'll miss you Maggie, I hope you've found some peace at last...
THE TASTING ROOM - "Best Home Theater Speakers Under $500"
-- A Taste from TheInkFlowsLikeWine.com
What a whirlwind of a weekend...had a great time, ended with a flat tire in downtown at 10 pm. Le sigh... Nonetheless, had fun wine tasting, checking out the sites, and eating a lot, pretty on par for having the rents in town...
Had a big week for Bestcovery stuff, so there's a bit Bestcovery of an extravaganza coming this week!
Let's start it off with some cheap Home theater speakers (under $500)...
Check it out here - http://bestcovery.com/node/46243
Enjoy!
Thursday, August 27, 2009
THE TASTING ROOM - "Best Home Theater Speakers Under $1000"
-- A Taste from TheInkFlowsLikeWine.com
The parents have arrived...let the insanity begin...I'll be holding down the blog with some more Bestcovery. Here's a freshie... Best Home theater speakers under $1000
Check it out at - http://bestcovery.com/node/46081
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
THE TASTING ROOM - "Best High End Home Theater Speakers"
-- A Taste from TheInkFlowsLikeWine.com
Busy week for me before my parents arrive tomorrow, but here's another list for Bestcovery, Best High End Home Theater Speakers.
Monday, August 24, 2009
THE TASTING ROOM - "Best Home Theater Speakers Overall"
-- A Taste from TheInkFlowsLikeWine.com
Another sweet list for Bestcovery. This one is for those of you really ready to throw it all away and buy the best home theater system you can.
Check it out here - http://bestcovery.com/node/8301
Enjoy!
Sunday, August 23, 2009
THE TASTING ROOM - "Best Bookshelf Speakers Money Can Buy"
-- A Taste from TheInkFlowsLikeWine.com
I did a little bit of redesigning on my site, not sure if I like it or not, but just trying it out...Feel free to tell me how awesome or embarrassing it is.
Enjoy!
Another Bestcovery list. This time, Best Bookshelf Speakers Money Can Buy, for the hopelessly poor and gifted alike -
Enjoy!
Friday, August 21, 2009
THE TASTING ROOM - "Best Floor Standing Speakers for Under $5000"
-- A Taste from TheInkFlowsLikeWine.com
(Picture credit - Paul Rego)
Still recovering a bit from Vancouver, trying to catch up on some work. I ended up getting food poisoning on Sunday night after we got back from Vancouver, so the camping never happened. I thought I was never going to be able to eat again, it had to be that chicken from My Thai, damn them, I love their food so much too. Oh well, vacation over, time to get on some writing, recording, and music overall.
This weekend I'm going to focus on getting my recording services up and running again, so people in the Portland area that need some audio captured, feel free to contact me. Keep your eyes peeled on the blog for more than just the small section I posted on the left sidebar advertising my studio, Awkward Silence Productions, where you can download a PDF detailing what I can do for you. Just gotta figure out some HTML and such to make it a bit more permanent...
In other news, I've been doing some stuff for Bestcovery still, and I've got a lot of assignments from them, so I need to start getting through them all. Just did another one on floor standing speakers under 5K. Check it out at - http://bestcovery.com/node/45736
Enjoy!
Thursday, August 20, 2009
DECANTING THE SOUL - Vancouver Day 3
-- A Taste from TheInkFlowsLikeWine.com
With Day 1 and Day 2 down, it was time to get on a boat, and then get back to the states...
Aaron's friend Ike met us outside the Cambie at 11 a.m. as we stepped out into the daylight blinking ourselves awake. We were meeting Ike's friend Mike that lived on the other side of the city within the hour to shoot over to the harbor and get on the boat to do some sailing. Went to a deli across the street and had some Asian lady make us sandwiches while we gathered our thoughts. Having pounded down sandwiches, we checked out, bid Gastown adieu and headed off towards the boat.
The boat was parked under one of the many bridges that connected Vancouver to the outside world. It was a small sailboat, but we all fit just fine. Aaron and I had never actually been sailing, but we were all pumped from having listened to Lonely Island's "I'm On a Boat" all morning, so it didn't even matter. Sadly the wind wasn't too strong but we made the best of it and raised the sails, each of us scrambling to do what Mike said. I was exhausted and ready top head back to the states, but I did what I could to help. In the end, it wasn't happening, the wind wasn't with us, so Mike docked us at a nearby market and we went in for a beer.
After a quick pitcher we walked through the market, which reminded me a lot of Pike's Place in Seattle. It had the same feel to it, but more Asian food. We didn't have much tim to spare though, it was already about 2 p.m. and we had a long journey ahead of us. So we bid the Vancouver kids goodbye, and thanked them for showing us around and boating with us. We piled into the Saab, and tried to figure out how much gas was in a liter as we left town.
When we reached the border we couldn't believe our eyes as a sign told us there was a 2 hour wait. Kind of by mistake we ended up in the Nexus line, which was basically an express line. Neither of us knew what the line was for, but I was freaking out because I thought the border guards would make us go all the way back to the end of the line and we'd be stuck there for 2 hours. When we were almost to the guard, we asked someone in the regular line what the Nexus deal was. Apparently you need some kind of card to get through that line with, which of course we didn't have, so we begged the guy to let us in front of him. He was pissed, but he let us in anyways, and we were shortly over the border and back in the states. We avoided the whole line, but I wouldn't recommend that unless you play really dumb. But as writing this I just checked out Nexus cards and they're only $50 if your record is clean. Why doesn't everyone do that?
Well past the border we stopped in a random town to pick up some of our belongings we had left behind for the border crossing. After Aaron rummaged through some ferns to acquire them, he came back into the car with odd bumps all over his hands and a crazy itching sensation. We drove to the nearest bathroom so he could wash off whatever reaction he was having to the ferns, though for the rest of the night his hands and legs would be numb. The drive continued through Seattle and we hit plenty of traffic throughout, until pulling up at the house for a much needed shower at around 9:30 p.m. The trip had ended, but Aaron had never been to Portland, so we needed to make moves.
We grabbed some food at Doug Fir, a pretty cool venue/restaurant, and relaxed a bit with Jenny until we headed down the street to Rontoms to get a few drinks. We were fading fast though and soon were found ourselves heading back home to sleep off the long day and get into some craziness in Portland the next night before we headed off to Mount Hood for some camping on Sunday.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
DECANTING THE SOUL - Vancouver Day 2
-- A Taste from TheInkFlowsLikeWine.com
Heaving a sigh we sat down in the bar area as they gave out the hostel's free breakfast, which consisted of coffee and a piece of toast. Jesus... We had to get out of here, but with rain pouring down, we didn't know what to do all day. We asked the front desk what they thought, and they said to visit the aquarium or maybe the museum. Both of us had dropped a lot of money the night before, realizing quickly that Vancouver is quite an expensive town. If we did decide to go to one of these places, then we wouldn't probably be able to stay Friday night as well. So at that point we decided we'd live it up that day and then leave Friday afternoon.
Aaron went to a pay phone to call his friend that lived outside of the city whom he'd met traveling. We figured his friend, Ike, could maybe find something fun to do in such crappy weather. Ike told us he'd be out to the city around noon and he'd meet us at the Cambie, so we drove over to that area and found a cheap parking garage to keep the car in all day. The Cambie wouldn't let us check in until 2pm, which was a shame because I was so ready for a nap. I didn't think I'd make it through the day without one, but it didn't seem possible at the moment, so we walked down into Gastown in the rain to find food.
Gastown is a mostly brick building area, complete with cobblestone roads. It had a nice homey feel, despite the rain, and many of the shops looked inviting. After glancing at several menus we settle on a small bakery called Brioche and ordered some ridiculously expensive eggs. The rain subsided a bit, so we decided to walk over to the New Amsterdam to have a tea, but it was packed. You could barely see through the cloud of smoke, so we walked back over to the hostel and hung out in the bar, checking the internet for stuff to do until Ike arrived.
Ike and his cousin from Hong Kong, who barely spoke a word for the next two days, joined us at the Cambie and we decided to take a walk down through Gastown toward Stanley Park, a large, popular park on the north side of the city. The rain was feeling wishy-washy and kept reappearing for random moments. We shrugged and hoped for the best, heading back onto the cobblestone paths. We wove our way through the streets toward the park, glancing at the occasional shop, snapping photos like fiends.
A few blocks up we arrived at Canada Place, a huge commercial facility that housed the convention center and an IMAX theater, as well as much more. It was placed on a pier, so that provided a chance to go out onto the water and see the city from a small distance for pictures. We observed some planes landing in the water and some boats coming to harbor throughout our time there. It was quite the walk to circle the building, so afterward we were ready to stop and decide what to do. The park was really only a 15 minute or so walk up the water, so we decided to hoof it, as the sun was beginning to show signs of life.
The waterfront was pleasant, filled with joggers and tourists who had bore the rain. We stopped at a small pond and had a smoke to relax after all the walking. It was warming up, so we shed our hoodies and headed into the park. We walked along the water toward the aquarium with hopes to possibly check it out. The park is quite huge and is even equipped with shuttles to get you around, though they're no longer free. There were countless trails throughout the park, and we made it fairly far up the seawall before the rain kicked in and eventually sent us into the trees.
We ran across some odd Jesus freaks dancing to Indian drums and praising oddly near a massive cutdown tree that had been placed into an arch. Apparently that area of the park had been home to a beautiful arch that had fallen many years back. It was often the site of huge gatherings. The park had a lot of sad recent history when a massive storm in 2007 took out some of the oldest trees in the park. Walking around you noticed a few massive stumps that made you wonder.
Arriving to the aquarium we found a long line and a lot of kids. We bypassed the queue and went into the gift shop to see if we could find a brochure that said what they had. They definitely had some great stuff, and after going to the Oregon Coast Aquarium last week, I was interested. But as we pondered the line continued to grow, so we decided against it ultimately. Instead we walked along the water a bit more and checked out the huge pile of sulfur they had at the opposite shore. Its yellow glow was ominous and more than a bit disconcerting.
After a pass by Beaver Lake, a small body of water that was slowly turning into a bog, we decided to head back to the hostel and get some rest for the evening. We walked out of the park and headed to the first bus stop we saw to get back. We got out half way back and jumped on a Skytrain, the Vancouver light rail, to get to the waterfront. Ike then took off with his cousin for a bit to check out North Vancouver, while Aaron and I headed to the Steamworks Brewery to get some food and drink.
Steamworks is one of the oldest and most successful brewpubs in Vancouver. We sat for a bit, drinking in their Heroica oatmeal stout, and talking with their bartender, Ryan, for a bit about beer and the city. While continually feeding us 4 oz tasters of whatever we wanted, he spoke about the brewery and the town's selection of good beer. Eventually he invited us to check out the rest of the place, which we didn't realize had 2 floors. There was 5 bars, each with their own unique rooms, and he even brought us down and back near the tanks to check out where they brewed. He was a beer nerd like us, so we ate it up. He even told us about a bar we had to try called the Alibi Room, which he said was owned by a guy who traveled around and bought kegs of beer he liked for his bar so he only had the best. Sounded great to us. He also lived in Gastown, so he let us in on a few cool bars as well.
We also spoke of the upcoming Olympics and from Ryan's company's standpoint it was a great thing. They had rented out the building across the street that they owned for $25,000 for one of the countries. They also had decided to keep the bar open for anyone that wanted to come in because they had so many extra rooms. Several other residents we spoke with weren't so sure about the event, thinking that the city would be paying for it for years to come, much like Montreal did in the '76 games. One such person was Alibi Room owner, Nigel, that we would meet later. Many business owners in that area, as well as him, were planning on closing down during the games because they'd most likely lose business and money trying to stay open with the city basically shut down.
But more on Nigel's thoughts in a bit. After a couple hours with Ryan and beer, we headed out and checked into our room at the Cambie. It was roomy and much more pleasant. The beds were twice as big! It seemed like a no brainer, next time I was here I'd always stay at the Cambie. Ike then left a message at the counter for us and we met him outside. His friend had invited us to come sailing the next morning! We generously accepted and he bid us goodnight as he headed back out of the city for the night until the next morning.
We went down to the bar and had a quick drink to keep ourselves awake, as a nap at this point seemed unlikely, and headed over towards the Alibi Room. We passed a bunch of bars and new stores, having walked the opposite way on the water beforehand. In a small square there were people watching a band play in a tent. They were pretty decent, three part harmonies and all, but we got an itch to drink more, so we headed off toward the bar.
When we first arrived at the Alibi Room, we almost turned around. It seemed empty and not really our style from the outside, with its low lighting and classy decor. But I persisted against Aaron's wishes and we went in and sat at the bar. After scanning the beer menu, I realized that I liked this place, I liked it a whole lot. There were so many good beers, and so many that sounded amazing, not to mention their top whiskey selection. And each time a plate of food headed off to the beer hall style seating, we found ourselves wishing we didn't fill up on food at Steamworks.
Of course, let's discuss the beers. I first tried Phillips Brewing's Double Chocolate Porter. Ryan from Steamworks had told us about Phillips Brewing and how excellent the beer is, so I jumped at it. This beer was amazing, not quite as sweet as Young's Double Chocolate Stout, but it was close. It was interesting because I hadn't had such a sweet porter before, that flavor is usually reserved for the creamier stout. But it was a great flavor and I'd love to have it again sometime.
Next I tasted Crannog Brewing's Back Hand of God Organic Stout. This stout had a bit of an espresso flavor and was quite strong. It was pretty good, and the guy next to us swore he only came back to that bar for this stout, but I was almost too full at that point with all the dark beer and food we had consumed up to that point, so I decided to get something a bit smoother.
Next I got a Swans Buckersfield Coconut Porter. I had tried a coconut beer a while back at the Oregon Brewers Fest, so I was intrigued, and I knew it'd be smoother. It had a lightly sweet flavor of coconuts and a smooth finish, just what I wanted. Aaron liked it better than the Double Chocolate, but I wasn't so sure.
Aaron had a couple good beers while we were there as well. The first he had was an RnB Hoppleganger IPA that they had on cask. Not my favorite, but he's into IPAs. He also had a beer that Ian of Yaletown Brewing had conceived. It was a Brown Ale on nitro pour, an amazing thing to behold. This beer was probably the best we had, it was so smooth and refreshing at the same time, something quite rare for a brown ale, especially since it's one of the hardest types of beer to make.
There were a number of rare and limited release beers on tap, so much so that I was almost sad to leave. Aaron had decided this was his favorite bar in the world, though I still love the Chapter House in old Ithaca, NY, but this was a close second. This bar basically made the whole trip worth it. We spoke at length to Nigel, who owned the bar with his sister, about the area and his beers. He was quite proud and rightly so, this was one of the only bars in Canada with so many craft beers. We thanked him and promised to spread the word and to return as we headed out into the Canadian night.
With lots of alcohol in us, we decided to go back to the Cambie to have some drinks and food, and to people watch a bit. It was packed at the Cambie when we pulled up at a spot at the bar, and we watched the Europeans and the locals dance to American music from the 1990's as we ate cheap food and drank pitchers. The night wore on and the Cambie closed at 1 am. We stepped outside to take in some air, and talked to some Swiss that had been denied from entering the border a few days before until we decided to walk down the street to find an open bar.
The first we found had a huge line and some scumbags that tried to make us pay them to let us in for 20 minutes. We asked the bouncer where we could go that was still open and he directed us around the corner to a quieter pub. Upon getting a drink and turning to survey the place, we found Ryan from Steamworks and laughed at how we ended up seeing him at the end of the night again. We told him about our adventures and he told us more about the neighborhood and some breweries we should hit up if we ever got the chance as we left town. That bar closed shortly after and we headed back to our room to unwind a bit. That night I slept like a fallen tree and dreamt about being on a boat....
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
DECANTING THE SOUL - Vancouver Day 1
-- A Taste from TheInkFlowsLikeWine.com
To say it's been a long week since I last posted is to greatly belittle the madness that occurred. So let's just focus on the pinnacle of the overall adventure, which was my mad dash to Vancouver, the supposed Amsterdam of the West. However, after having visited both, I have to say that the only similarity is the overall European feel of the city itself. So let's get into it...this story starts somewhere on the I-5 heading North toward Seattle...
I'm about 50 miles outside of Portland, heading North to pick up my nomadic friend Aaron as he awaits in Seattle on our way up to the Great White North, and I'm suddenly hit with sheets of rain that make it almost impossible to see more than a car's length in front of me. Not a great way to start off the trip, tempting a hydroplane left and right, countless puddles littering the freeway. Most of the other cars have slowed to a crawl except for the trailers, which almost seemed to have sped up. I saddled up behind a VW bus and waited out the bout, only to have the same sudden downpour occur again and again over the next 100 miles. About 30 miles outside of Seattle, the rain disappears and the sun parts the clouds so that by the time I get to the city it looks like it had never rained at all.
I find Aaron sitting on the deck of a classy place called Salty Dog in the harbor south of the city. He's eating Dungeness crab and sipping beer as I enter slightly frazzled. I haven't seen him in over 6 months, so it was a good reunion. We sat and admired the city from across the sound and waited until his friend he was staying with finished his salmon and then we headed North.
When we arrived at the border, which was probably the most beautiful border crossing I've ever been to, we were told to pull over to the side and then walk over to a building to wait. We suspected they just wanted to check out our records to make sure we were okay to enter the country, so we waited patiently until someone showed us over to a counter and asked us our situation. Aaron is a frequent traveler, having been all over Southeast Asia and India in the last year, so they were interested in him for sure, especially since he was unemployed and had no residence anywhere. My situation was quite boring in comparison. After checking our pasts, which were both clean, we were sent back to our car and we headed off.
The first thing we noticed upon entering the country was the amazing view of the ocean and the immediate switch to kilometers, which always confused me whenever I used to enter the country near Niagara Falls in my youth. We hit traffic almost immediately and slowly plowed through to Vancouver. We didn't actually see the city at all until we came over a hill and descended a bridge. It was quite an awestruck moment, the whole city splayed out before us, looking like a futuristic civilization from decades ahead. The side we came in at was covered with shiny condo towers, glimmering like brand new thermoses lined up all along the water. We snapped pix and drove into town around 6 p.m., searching for the hostel we had booked.
Arriving into quite a hopping area, with bars and stores aplenty, we found our hostel, Samesun's, nestled within it all, glowing ominously. It looked nice and new, filled with Europeans and slightly helpful employees. There was a bar on the first floor with several people already slogging back beers. We checked in after a quick walk over to Money Mart to change our cash to Canadian and found ourselves passing through several secured doors to our dorm above. What we found was a room the size of a cubby crammed with 3 bunk beds, and barely enough room to walk around them.
There were supposed to be lockers for each person in the room, but we only found 2 lockers that were locked and four wooden boxes with no doors and cracked sides. Aaron wasn't pleased, considering his whole life was in his backpack and he didn't want to just leave it with people we hadn't met. So he complained to the hostel employees who had no sympathy, saying they were sold out and if he didn't like it than they could hold his stuff behind the desk. That didn't satisfy him, so Aaron called a couple other hostels and found one we could crash at for the next two nights for a private room at the same price ($30), so we relented to stay in the dorm for the first night because we had no choice. Throughout all this, I was sitting in my car next to an expired meter. Parking in Vancouver was a huge hassle, the meters had weird hours and the whole city seemed to be under construction.
After finalizing plans, we sped off towards West Hastings, the supposed center of the marijuana culture in Vancouver. While most people believe that pot is legal in British Colombia, this is actually false. The police turn a blind eye to smoking and dealing, and most citizens do as well. This might be why most of the time I felt like I was in Europe, as there seems to be similar attitudes there. Canadian police are a different breed than American ones. They seem to be more like orderlies, not carrying guns or seeming too overbearing at all. I think of all the cops that I saw in my few days in town and realize that they generally just walked around with a smile and acknowledged you with a friendly gesture despite the insanity happening around them. Quite a jump from daily life out in the USA, though NYC cops pretty much act oblivious to what's going on around them frequently as well. Or maybe it's not that they don't know, it's that they're not out there to police you as much keep you safe. Again, I felt this same way in Europe, which is odd considering how Vancouver is a far shot to anywhere in that continent.
So we pulled up in the area that is ground zero for such activities, the edge of the Gastown area of town, which was much more suited to our style of people than where were staying that night, and found a couple hot spots. The BCMP Bookstore is the center of the marijuana movement, the headquarters for the pro provincial party, and a decent head shop as well. It is home to the Cannabis Culture, and home to Marc Emery, the soon to be extradited leader of the movement. We actually saw Marc sitting at his desk, huge bong in hand, talking politics with some visitors as we walked around the shop. It was so odd being in a place where you can try out your new glass literally right after you bought it, which is what we saw a couple people do as we walked in. They also had vaporizers for rent down the hall, it was quite the place.
We then stopped next door to the New Amsterdam Cafe, a small little coffee shop with munchies and drinks for the patrons that mostly come in to light up. It brought me back to old Amsterdam in my mind, which I had visited a couple years back. The clientele ranged in age from 18 to 68, everyone with a big smile on their glazed faces. Aaron and I glanced around and walked out to the park across the way, which had many people engaged in similar activities on the grass. It was a far cry from the commercial, stimulation overload section of the city we were staying in that evening. Like any city, it's all about where you are. The Gastown area of town is the only part that survived the great Vancouver fire way back in 1886, so its raggedy brick buildings look quite different than the steel and glass high rises that currently coat the coast. Gastown reminded me of parts of Brooklyn and Boston, lots of friendly faces and good times to be had.
We found ourselves strolling by our soon-to-be hostel for the following night, the Cambie, which has quite a history as being one of the oldest bars in Vancouver and somewhat of an institution. A random guy came up to us and pointed out, though not quite actually pointing out anyone at all, that if we were looking for anything of the green variety, not that we were, that we could literally go and ask a long haired gentlemen who stood next to the Cambie all night (and the entire time we were in Vancouver). Such a blatant act of selling pot with not a soul batting an eye, or a cop even doing more than greeting him on such a nice day, was almost overwhelming to both of us. We shrugged it off, and headed into the Cambie to check it out a bit.
While the Cambie was many, many years older, the bar itself seemed to suit us more. It was filled with locals and travelers alike, which provided a more relaxed atmosphere. Not as many would be clubbers about, popping their collars as they soaked up cheap Canadian ale. We sat out on the deck having a pitcher of some Cambie ale, which we later found out was simply some cheap lager brewed by a local brewery in exchange for a small sponsorship fee. It tasted like a watered down Molson. Decently quenched, we then headed back to the car to find a spot to park for the night and get some food near Samesun's.
After an endless spiral around downtown, we found a spot to leave the Saab until 9 a.m. and walked around the area looking for something still open. It was after 10, so many of the places that looked promising were closing down. Aaron wanted sushi, so we traversed the streets until we found one open another hour with insanely cheap prices. We grabbed a bunch of rolls for like $9 each and enjoyed a late night pitcher of beer, closing the place down.
Full of raw fish, we lit out to the bars, hopping through a few, looking for WiFi to check out activities for tomorrow. My iPhone was in airplane mode to save money, but Wifi is always free, so we relied on the occasional unlocked network to get around. After picking a couple spots to check up on, we decided to head closer to the hostel and maybe hit up another bar. We ran right into the clubbing crowd, as there were at least 3 clubs up the street from Samesun's, and did our best to avoid them, though it didn't work so well. We ended up at a bar with club runoff, so we downed some whiskey and headed back to the hostel to people watch a bit before turning in.
Both of us had wanted to be plenty tired by the time we headed into the dorm room, so we could pass right out and not think about the other 4 people stuffed in there. I had brought some ear plugs because of Aaron's infamous chainsaw snoring, so I wasn't worried about that. It just seemed pretty cruel to stuff that many people in a room like that for the same amount of money I was going to pay the next night for our own room. For shame, but that's hostel culture I suppose.
We took in the crowd as they stumbled out of the crowds and had an interesting conversation with a drunk Irish girl who wanted "the biz," and a homeless guy carrying a sign that said "Smile if you masturbate," and I stepped in vomit. All in all, I'd had enough of the long day, and we headed in to the dorm for a partial night's sleep.
Monday, August 17, 2009
THE TASTING ROOM - "Best Home Theater Speakers Money Can Buy"
-- A Taste from TheInkFlowsLikeWine.com
Here's a wish for the dreamers, for those of us with the absolution of becoming richer than your neighbor. It's over at - http://bestcovery.com/node/44656.
Enjoy!
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
THE TASTING ROOM - "Best Budget Home Theater Speakers
-- A Taste from TheInkFlowsLikeWine.com
Here's another Bestcovery list of mine that was just published concerning the budget end of home theater speakers, in case anyone is in the market for such.
Also, after much discussion, I'm off to Vancouver for a few days! Enjoy your weekends all!
DECANTING THE SOUL - Tillamook and Camping at Jones Creek
-- A Taste from TheInkFlowsLikeWine.com
After a restful evening of watching yet more Die Hard, a bit of Wilco on Austin City Limits, and some other random crap I'm not used to seeing because I don't have TV, I nodded off for the big day we had in store. Day 1 was complete, on to Day 2.
After a quick walk of the dogs and a whirlwind rush to pack up and leave, we headed North on 101 to find a nice breakfast place. We ended up several towns up the coast at a nice little place called Richie's By the Beach and pounded down some eggs and toast to continue toward Tillamook, which was just a bit over an hour from Newport.
We had some bad directions it seemed when we arrived at Tillamook. So called the factory for directions. The town itself was a cute little burg that happened to have its County Fair going on as we passed through. The featured event was a Model T Pig Run where you do laps holding a piglet. Uhh...yeah...anyways, we found the factory at the Northern edge of town. The place was bumping, the obese and trailer bound seemed to think this was Disneyland.
With little time to spare before our friends were to meet us at Jones Creek, we headed into the factory to find 3 winding lines. 1 was for the bathroom, another was for the cheese samples, and another to buy ice cream. We bypassed the cheese line, and headed upstairs to take a glimpse in at the factory floor. Below were many a hair-netted folk pushing blocks of cheese down a conveyor. Very exciting. After a couple pix, we got in line to get one of the 38 flavors of ice cream. Jenny decided on a double scooped waffle cone with mint chocolate chip and caramel toffee crunch. I got a peanut butter chocolate milk shake that tasted like it was straight from the cow. Good was an understatement, we both sat in rapture as the people scrambled around us.
Suddenly Jenny' phone rang and it was her friend Ellen and her husband. Apparently they left early and were already about 10 miles from Jones Creek. We jumped into action, bypassing the long line to sample cheese (like 3 measly types, not worth the line at all), bought a small block of garlic chili cheddar cheese and headed off to Jones Creek. It was only about a 20 minute drive, so we got there shortly after.
The first thing we realized when arriving was we had no cell phone service, so we'd have to look for Ellen. We started to drive up the dirt road we'd be instructed to follow to find a free campsite and happened to run into them as we rounded the third turn. Having completed our crew, they followed us as we climbed the trail. The area was mostly designed for dirt bikes and ATVs, so every turn we had to be careful not to run one down. A lot of the spots we found seemed to be in the middle of a bike trail, so we continued to climb until we were at the cloud lines, about 3 miles up. There was a small cliff area that was used to do a controlled burn on some of the clear cut trees in the area and it seemed like a good spot to camp because it was off the road and away from the trails.
We set up camp and built a fire pit with some rocks to keep the flames away from the endless piles of wood in the area. At least we had no problem finding stuff to burn. After a couple hours of drinking and relaxing, we realized that we wouldn't have enough alcohol for the night. So we sent the girls off to get more booze, and Ellen's husband, Phillipe, and I sat back and took in the view. It was impossibly quite up there, not even the sound of birds permeated the air. If we sat still, the silence almost pushed air against your ear drums it was so finite. The valley was beautiful, the clouds seemed to get stuck on the trees like cotton. The air had a chill, but the wind was restrained. Once in awhile the overcast clouds drooled on us a bit and then subsided. This continued throughout the night.
About an hour later the girls showed up with more beer and we decided to start cooking dinner in case the rain decided to thicken. We threw some eggplant, onions, and green peppers on the mini propane grill I had and made a big salad. Then we tossed a piece of salmon marinated with a Thai peanut rub, and a big steak on, letting the sweet smells fill the valley. After an amazing meal, we sat back and opened the growler of Rogue's Chocolate Stout. We all sipped on it, had a couple more beers by the raging fire, and then I started to fade a bit. Shortly after we turned in and had a good night's sleep as the mist dusted our tents in the night.
The next morning we awoke in the middle of a cloud, you could only see our two tents and the edge of the cliff. After dragging ourselves and the dogs out of bed, we made egg and cheese sandwiches on the griddle and packed up. By that time the sun had come out (of course) and we headed back down the mountain to get to Portland in time for Jenny to go to work.
Overall it was a great camping experience, and I'll definitely recommend that spot for future camping endeavors, especially because it's almost impossible to get a quality spot in Oregon during the summer without a reservation.
My next trip begins tomorrow. Im not actually sure where I'm going, as my hippie friend lives by the moment, but either way it should be crazy and confusing all at once. Stay tuned...
Monday, August 10, 2009
DECANTING THE SOUL - Newport, OR
-- A Taste from TheInkFlowsLikeWine.com
Like I promised, here's my report on my Oregon Loop trip. The plan was to hit up Newport, OR for a day, check out the Aquarium, Rogue Brewery, and see the sights of the town. Then wake up the next morning, head to Tillamook Cheese factory for some tastings, and then mosey over to Jones Creek and find a campsite for free. It all sounded good in theory, so how did it go? Well, as you'll find from this first posting, I can't complain.
To break this trip down, we're gonna go by day, as I took a ton of pictures with the new iphone, and, seriously, the camera is great. I even took some video, as you may find here in the future. So let's get into, the first stop as we entered Newport, after a slow going 2.5 hour drive southwest, was the Yaquina Bay State Park. The beach had rolling sand dunes that my dog, Eve, and D.O.G., a friend's dog we were sitting for, loved to run through. They often got away from us and to our delight, they ran into the ocean and immediately rolled in the sand, coming away a lovely mess for my car and the rest of the afternoon. The beach was a bit chilly, but the ocean breeze was great and the bay was quite beautiful, despite the grey day.
After a short PBJ break we loaded the smelly mutts into the car and headed off for the Oregon Coast Aquarium. It was nestled underneath the bridge that connected South Beach with the rest of Newport, just up the road from Rogue Brewing on the south side, but we'll get to that later. We left the dogs sleeping in the car (windows cracked of course) as we paid our $15 to check out the fishes. The first room we went to ended up being the best. I think it was called Weird Creatures of the Sea or something similar, but each tank was lit with black lights and throughout each one was intricate glass art that was made specifically for the tanks. It really made each one much more exciting to look at, especially when creatures such as the seahorse would change their colors to blend in with the multicolored glass.
The jellies were probably my favorite, they had many types that I caught on camera just doing whatever it is jellies do besides bump into each other. They really do look like aliens, the undersea depths yield some pretty odd creatures indeed. We also caught a clownfish (Nemo), the legs of a shy octopus, some Dungeness crabs, and sea anemones galore. Those were always my favorite as a kid, and you could even reach into some touch ponds the aquarium had set up to feel their tentacles.
Overall, I thought $15 was a bit steep for how much they really had to look at, but the underwater walkthrough tubes were kinda cool, especially the one with the sharks. Speaking of sharks, I almost forgot to mention the staff member who was dissecting a shark right in the middle of the aquarium with a huge crowd around him. It seemed kinda crazy to do with so many kids around, but they seemed to be the least grossed out.
Overall, it was fun, but nothing too far flung from other aquariums I've been to. We grabbed some chocolate peanut butter fudge and headed back to the dogs. With a couple hours to kill before we could check into our sweet motel, we headed over to Bay Ave, which is sort of a little strip of shops and such under the bridge on the north side. We took the over excited dogs on a short walk along the street to check out the shops and the scene, making sure to stop at the piers on the way to see the sea lions. They had to be the biggest ones I've ever seen, and some of the loudest. The dogs were quite interested in them, but they were too confused to really understand who was barking at them.
After a bit we left the dogs and walked around, not really seeing anything life changing. We attempted to check out a wine tasting that only had white wine, not our favorite, so we headed back to the car, drove the motel, and sat around watching Die Hard as we rested up. After finding out that we couldn't bring the dogs to the brewery, but only to a small Rogue owned pub on Bay Ave, we decided to risk leaving the dogs in the room, even though we risked getting booted.
We headed to the brewery and I felt kinda excited. I'd been to other Rogue houses, and this honestly wasn't so different. They had way more beers on tap (50) and a lot of beer in bottles you couldn't find elsewhere, but in a way it was just cool to be there and see where it began. I've had all their dark beers, but I was still pumped to eat a bit and have them again. We tried the Oregon Sesquicentennial Ale after the waiter dropped off two free ones as he came to say hello. It wasn't bad, a bit hoppy, but good for free. I considered trying a couple other beers, but nothing I hadn't tried seemed to really jump out at me. Also the pints were quite expensive (6.50!!!!!) so we avoided getting more than needed. We also grabbed two Kobe burgers and mowed those down while I drank a Shakespeare Stout, a Hazelnut Brown, and a Mocha Porter. All still quite delicious as the last time I had them. We then loaded up my growler with Chocolate Stout for the next day's camping trip and headed back to the dogs.
Here's the thing about Rogue, which I've maybe said before, they make great beer, there's no denying that at all. They do massively overprice their beer and food however. I mean it's good, but not $6.50 for a pint good. That's NYC prices. If you can deal, and love good beer, than whatever, you pay it and deal. Most Oregonians seem to feel the same way, and often say there's much better Oregon beer for cheaper. They're right, of course, but back East, Rogue beer always just seemed kinda different and interesting in some ways.
Newport was a fun town, but it's a bit sleepy for me. I'd love to go back and go on a deep sea fishing trip, as it's a huge fishing town, but otherwise I'll probably stay away. I'm quite glad I went, and it's worth checking out if you're in Oregon, but it won't hold your attention for more than a day.
Part two to come tomorrow, this week will be short, as I'm heading off to the great white north on Wednesday to Vancouver....
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