Toronto Festival of Beer Tickets

Hey everyone, I promised a co-worker I'd post this and see if there's any interest - if you'd like to buy them just let me know:

I have got 2 - 4 tickets available for the upcoming Beer Festival in TO. My tickets are for Thursday, August 9th and I cannot go now as I have to travel for work. The tickets also include the Spirit of the West concert. Let me know if you or anyone you know are interested in the tickets. Tickets were around $30 each.

I'm already going to the Saturday so I don't need them.

Things That Disappear

I need everyone here to help me keep a secret. I don't usually buy gifts for friends - or cousins - at Christmas, but I couldn't help myself. The perfect gift for Mark jumped out to me this morning and I had to get it. Let's all sign the card together and give it to him as a group.. but remember, it's a secret...

Walk In The Word

I'm an excited guy today - James MacDonald, my favourite minister, is in town for a special show. Not here to preach to anyone, but if Christianity is of any interest to you whatsoever it might be time well spent to join me at The People's Church (click here for a map) tonight between 6:15 and 7:00 with a scheduled 7:00 start. He's an amazing speaker who challenges organized religion in favour of actual Biblical teaching, which is something important to me. I actually side with those of you who take issue with religion as, it's true, religion can tend to cause a lot of problems. You might be pleasantly surprised at what he has to say. If you're interested in meeting up there, or for dinner beforehand, e-mail rickjessup AT gmail.com.

Cheers!

Boston 2007

What a trip! My first extended time vacation with my old friend Brent was a rousing success, and I'm convinced we squeezed every ounce of living we could out of the two days we had. The drive there was long and uneventful, and upon arriving at 9, I convinced Brent to join me at The Cheesecake Factory for some grub. He had the fish and chips alongside a Samuel Adams Summer Ale while I enjoyed their chicken tacos and a Blue Moon Belgian White Ale. It was quickly back to the room to sleep for our first big day.

We were out of the room and off to the train before 8:30 on Friday in hopes of getting an early start. The train dropped us off in the TD Banknorth Garden - heretofore known as "my house" due to my ECHL Bruins calling it home - and we waited for the Pro Shop to open to no avail. A few minutes after 10 it was off to the North End and Mike's Pastry for a cannoli, an absolute must in Boston. The North End - known by everyone but Bostonites as "Little Italy" - is my favourite area of town. It's almost like you've stepped back in time to see the old shops and architecture, great hilly roads often laced in cobblestone and brick; it was just a thrill to walk through. We briefly did a Geocache search but the previous rains were making it hard so we continued on into the downtown core and through to Boston Common, a massive park in the middle of town.

It was here that Brent got his first real taste of Geocaching as we sought out Troll Lord Magnar amongst the World War I statues upon a hill. It didn't take long to find it, scrawl our names in, and take the required picture with Magnar himself as we took in the rest of the Commons. We were approaching 1PM along Newbury Street (think Toronto's Yorkville mixed with Ottawa's Sparks Street and you're close) and popped into Joe's American for a libation: Leinenkugels Sunset Wheat for me, Samuel Adams Boston Lager for Brent. Minutes later we were refreshed and back on the go. We ventured back from the end of Newbury - and my favourite Newbury Comics store - through Chinatown and down by the Wharf, then back up to Beacon Hill to seek out Louisburg Square. This small square of townhomes was a unique design many years ago, never replicated due to space issues, and now valued at over $6,000,000 per home for a townhouse. Wild. Beacon Hill, much like the North End, is rife with history, old buildings, thin stone streets, and unique store fronts that are so interesting it's hard to leave them.

It was down to the famous Bukowski's Tavern, dangling precariously over I90, for what I thought would be a spin of the Wheel of Indecision for Brent. Instead we opted to try some of their amazing draught offerings - a Berkshire River Ale for Brent, and a hand-pumped Berkshire Whoa Heavy Scotch Ale on cask for me. At 7% and 8%, coupled with a day in the sun, I reluctantly admit we were both feeling less pain when we left than we were when we went in. Bukowski's, it should be shared, also offer $1.89 burgers and dogs on weekdays, so we each enjoyed a burger for less than a third of what our beers cost. Off we continued to Norman B Leventhal Park at Post Office Square, yet another in an unending series of urban parks, for a virtual Geocache we quickly swallowed up. The GPS held only two more - near Fenway - that we were saving for Saturday, and we were left wishing I'd stored a few more. General walking made way to more hunger (heat stroke was settling in, but we didn't know that yet) so we headed off to Durgin Park within Faneuil Hall, and home of cheap seafood served by ornery staff as the promise goes. Sadly, our waitress was quite nice, and Brent enjoyed a Fish Chowder while I sampled the Clam Chowder and Boston Baked Beans. It was roughly 7:30 at this point but both entering a state of exhaustion we decided to call it a night to save our energy for the game on Saturday and headed back - with a six of Sam Adams Honey Porter in hand, of course.

Saturday we allowed ourselves the luxury of sleeping in and started our day with a subway trek to Samuel Adams brewery for 11:30 or so. It was an entertaining tour of the original brewery culminating in samples of their Boston Lager, Summer Ale, and the not-yet-released Dunkel Weiss. All three great, the Dunkel probably the best of the style (Dunkel + Weiss) I've tried. Nice work, Koch! I saw a ton of barrels holding Samuel Adams Utopias 2006 batch, which makes me angry, and my request to stab it with a pen and suck it dry was denied by the tour guide amidst laughter from the others. Sad. Back to searching eBay, it would seem. From here it was directly to Fenway for an attempt at dinner before the game that had brought us to town in the first place. Our first choice - Boston Beer Works - was lined up for days and we had to settle for the only nearby watering hole without a line, Uno Chicago Grill. A decent lunch was had alongside a Samuel Adams Boston Ale for me, and we were off to our seats in centre field.

Fenway is amazing! I can't say enough about my first experience at an authentic, old-school baseball park. It all started outside where a massive street party had begun with literally thousands of people across all sides. Every single person seemed to be sporting something Red Sox - sorry, Leafs fans, but Red Sox fans are far more passionate about their team, as much as it shocked me to realize that. It was something to behold. The stadium itself was a thrill, a wonder to behold with the Green Monster, giant scoreboard over our heads, and neon Budweiser and Coca-Cola signs that were all too familiar to me as a Sox fan. The fans were loud and fun, the game was boring (11-2, almost all runs coming via bases-loaded walks!), and the experience was everything I'd hoped. I even ate ice cream from a helmet! We were pumped as we left, convinced the trip was entirely worth it, and quickly polished off two Geocaches (Victory Cache and Muddy River Cache) along the Emerald Necklace park system that surrounds Fenway's general area. It was a long walk back from one end of town to the other, taking it all in as we walked, and ending in a 10:30 dinner at the oldest restaurant in America - Union Oyster House, established in 1826. It took us an hour to get in and only 26 minutes to polish off our dinners and my Harpoon Dark, but Brent noted it was well worth it. Back to the hotel we headed to catch some sleep before the long drive home on Sunday.

I managed to interrupt my long haul back with a long-delayed stop in Saratoga Springs to meet some long-time Interweb pals, Laura and Julie. I've known the two of them for far too long without having actually met them, and while we only had an hour to chat over an afternoon breakfast, it was a great time and I loved the opportunity. Next time it's frilly hats and horses, ladies!

And that's that! Photo albums over at Facebook, I encourage you all to take a look, I think they're quite good. Don't understimate Boston as a destination - I've traveled to a large number of cities worldwide, and Boston is in my top two. A truly historical, exciting destination with something to offer everyone.

Hole Hearted

The tournament went off without a hitch with my event team hitting a home run for the company, vendors, and resellers. The rain held off and offered everyone a perfect day for golf, and the Club at Bond Head was a huge hit amongst the players. My job for the day was to drive from hole to hole and ensure people were happy and take care of the vendors. It was my arrival at Symantec's hole to provide them with bottles of water that leads to the story of the day..

Elio, my colleague, and I arrived with water in hand as a foursome arrived to take their shot. As you may have read in the post below this one Symantec was offering a $100,000 prize to anyone that would get a Hole-in-One on the 11th hole of the North Course. I asked how it was going and was told one person had come fairly close, and many others stuck it in and around the green. We joked with them a bit as the foursome prepared, and the first shot looked good in the air but settled on the left side of the green - a moderate putt for a shot at a birdie. The second guy got up and prepared his shot - in running shoes, with rental clubs - clearly not a regular golfer. He lined up and let one fly, sailing off to the right a bit but looking good distance wise. It landed just outside the fringe in the rough, but the forgiving grass actually kicked it back to the left and on to the green where it began it's roll. And it rolled. Slowly. I heard "there's no way" from one of his foursome partners beside me as it continued to roll.. and roll.. and roll.. and then disappeared from view. Into the hole.

Hands down one of the single coolest things I've ever seen in my life - a Hole-in-One by a very amateur golfer on the precise hole he had to. $100,000 for one shot, and he was completely stunned for the remainder of the day. His foursome, Elio, myself, and the Symantec reps jumped up and down, shook hands, and started snapping shots like mad. An incredible experience on an incredible day that I won't soon forget.

So with that I rapidly pack my belongings and head on the road to meet Brent in Boston tonight. Tomorrow we'll tour the city, and Saturday we'll catch a Sox vs. Sox game. Sunday I return through the Adirondacks. No access to e-mail or Facebook so take care of the place while I'm gone!

Cheers.

See the Sky About to Rain

Headed up to Haliburton with my wife, two of her brothers and their families, and a couple sets of family friends in a rented chalet along Highway 118. It was a very nice place, good company, and a relaxing time. I had hoped to camp outdoors but non-stop rain on Saturday quelled that desire quickly, but all was still well. A giant hot tub filled some evening time as everyone partook in their brand of libation - St Ambroise Oatmeal Stout and County Durham Signature Ale for me - and rested between the very hot tub and the very cold outdoors. After a few pops Mary's brother and a friend decided to try and get a nearby chair lift working (no kidding), and actually got it so far as starting to turn over before losing interest. Some unsuccessful and brief shallow water fishing with deep water lures on Sunday served no purpose so it was off for home afterwards.

Tomorrow is my long-awaited golf tournament at The Club at Bond Head's north course. Varying weather opinions on whether or not rain will kill my efforts, but I'm hoping not. Lest we forget Midnight Madness 2005. Lots of vendors and lots of prizing, including a $100,000 Hole-in-One contest on the 11th hole by Symantec. Coupled with Bond Head's $1,000,000 offer for the same shot somebody could be leaving very rich. It's been exhausting and way too much effort, and I applaud myself for scheduling a trip to Boston starting Thursday.

Indeed.. Brent and I finally begin the process we'd promised ourselves as children of seeing every Major League Baseball park with a trip to Fenway. Thursday will be driving, Friday a day to tour the city, and Saturday the game. Sunday I'll finally meet up with Laura and Julie, a couple long-time internet friends I've never had the pleasure of meeting. We'll catch up for lunch in Saratoga Springs before I complete my trip home through the Adirondacks. Should be fun.. I'll try to post from afar.

Cheers!

An Open Letter to Bud Light

Dear Bud Ad Masters,

I wanted to first offer congratulations on what is, actually, a very good television commercial for your Bud Light product. The ad I refer to contains a handsome gent informing the viewers that your competitors (*cough*COORS*cough*) claim to be the "coldest tasting" beer around, and subsequently take them to task as cold is a temperature, not a taste. Hilarity ensues!

This is so true! As a marketer myself I can't emphasize enough how irritating "marketing speak" is to me. I mean, I can understand you or Coors insisting we drink your fine corn and malt beverage in ice cold conditions, I think we've all caught a swig of a warm Coors and wished we hadn't. But it certainly doesn't taste 'cold' without the benefit of what my grandpa calls an "icebox" - so props to you for calling them out on it.

That said, please explain to me your radio commercial, currently airing on the FAN590 in Toronto and, no doubt, many other stations across North America. You know, the one where brewing your beer longer gives it a refreshingly smooth taste. Because I'm having a bit of trouble determining exactly what a "smooth taste" is. Not to call you out or anything, but smooth is a tactile sensation, not a taste, right?

Cheers,
Rick.

PS.. I know taste and flavour seem important to you. It's for this reason I've attached a picture of a hop, so you can provide it to your brewmaster as I believe he may not be familiar with them. Should he require more information please refer to www.wikipedia.org, an online encyclopedia created by scientists and wizards.

Late Night Conversation

I partially succumbed the requests for a Network Wars weekend this weekend past, instead calling for a second Social Wars to take place around console gaming, a barbeque, and a Transformers viewing. The quickly-called event brought Rob, Junior, Jon, and Mike out starting Friday night with some Wii playing straight away. I have to say, Wario Smooth Moves isn't a game I'd have ever looked at myself, but man was it fun. Full of 200 mini games it made for a great multi-player option with up to all five of us at any given time swapping the nunchuk back and forth to engage in all sorts of ridiculous actions. The Wii really has nailed down that "suitable for parties of all ages" thing as it's so easy and so much fun to play with a group.

Saturday was mostly spent around the house continuing to goof off on the games, with a small trip out in the early afternoon. It started with another installment in my efforts to introduce West 50 to everyone in the world, and once again they all seemed to enjoy it. From there we headed to Playdium for some video games and batting cages, then back home again. The scheduled barbeque didn't take place until 2:00AM when Rob and Junior got things fired up and produced a late-night spread of hamburgers and chorizo sausages. Oddly, only Jon was drinking though .. a Network or Social Wars with almost no alcoholic libations is a rare one indeed.

One thing I hadn't noted yet is that Mike and I, having planned to camp all year but unable to due to a combination of my work schedule and his Hollywood nose job ("deviated septum" is the fancy word..), decided to turn my back yard into tent city and stay there both evenings. Much fun, I must admit, even if I wasn't exactly roughing it.

Sunday - following a breakfast of eggs, bacon, breakfast sausage, toast, and coffee - was indeed Transformers, a very good adaptation of one of my childhood favourites.. unlike Dukes of Hazzard I didn't punch any kittens after this one, they actually treated it well. Rumours are Soundwave will make his appearance in the sequel.. I shall anticipate.

What did everyone else do?

One More for The Road...

Okay so I know it took me a couple of days to get around to this, but I’m lazy so sue me.

Yes folks this past weekend I was able to once again venture north along side my uncle to the historic Moose Camp near Shining Tree for one last fishing trip. I know the year is still young, but I’m low on time off, my uncle is going to be immobile shortly due to pending rotator cuff surgery, and really the summer is half over so its going to be hard to find the time for another trip. But take heart. I plan to attend the bird-hunting trip to the camp in September and if all works out well the Moose trip to Manitouwadge, Ontario in October so I will be guaranteed at least two more OA.com posts on the year.

Anyways back to the matter at hand. We packed up early Friday morning for the long haul north. Now as Rick will no doubt confirm the trip up is usually a long and grueling one accompanied by multiple Tim Horton’s stops and a drawn out lunch at a shabby little dinner in the middle of nowhere, but we were determined to make this tip in 6hrs rather than the standard 8hrs. So after a quick coffee at the Tim’s on Essa Rd in Barrie we were off. The weather was good and our hopes were high for an excellent trip. We made good time all the way to Chelmsford (3 hour drive, the half way point just outside of Sudbury) where we gased up, did our grocery shopping and grabs a quick sandwich. From there it another quick haul all the way to the access point on the logging roads in. Really the drive was rather uneventful. No moose, no bears, and really nothing to see besides the great forests of the north, but we had managed to make the trip in the desired time and reach the camp by about 2pm. We quickly opened up the camp and got everything set up before heading back up the access road to the main highway and Lower Opik Lake. On the way out we spotted a large black bear, but he didn’t sit around long enough to snap a shot. Now this was the lake that we fished in the spring that produced a lot of Pickerel so we had high hopes of pulling out some good fish. It was a little windy out and It was my fish attempt at driving the boat so things were a little interesting off the top, but we managed to make our way up the lake to where we were catching all the fish before. Now I’m not sure what the habits of pickerel are, but after fishing for 3 hours I had managed 2 decent pike, 2 bass and a half dozen small pike, but no pickerel! My uncle had faired no better landing only a half dozen small pike. Through further research I have learned that pickerel are in the shallows during the spring, but move to deeper water to hide in the cool shadows of rocks in the summer (DARN!). Oh well. We made our way back to the camp, but not with the fish we had hoped. On the drive back into the camp we spotted our second bear. This one was much smaller than the first, but equally camera shy.

Day two we were up early for the trip down the river to our favourite spot, Welcome Lake. This lake is great for many reasons including a wide variety of fish (and lots of them), an amazing trip down a river to get in, it’s very quiet and secluded, and on top of it all it’s a beautiful lake. The morning was quite cool and a little windy was we navigated the deadheads (sunken logs) on our way down the river. We got to the lake and decided to fish the mouth of the river, which has been a gold mine for bass the last couple of trips. In fact my uncle had been up there at the beginning of the week with a friend and landed close to 80 bass in that one spot. The water is very clear in the lake and usually you can see the bass swimming around in the shallows, but not today. We fished for an hour or so at the mouth and only managed to land 3 small bass and 1 small pike. I managed to lose 3 bass. For some reason they really weren’t biting hard and they kept tossing my hook before I could get them into the boat. After that we trolled around the sunken islands on our way to Lunch Island (that’s what we call it, I’m sure you can figure out way).

At this point I had managed 1 decent size pike off the sunken islands and my uncle had landed another decent bass, but it was a far cry from our usual haul out of Welcome. We pulled into the island to grab some lunch. On the menu was bass cooked on the open fire and beans along with some flat bread. Sure it doesn’t sound like much, but fresh fish is amazing and really is all we were interested in. The rest of the afternoon was no better. My uncle managed another good size bass and half a dozen little throwbacks, and I was almost entirely shut out. We decided to call it a day and head back to camp. Back at camp we attempted to fish Clarkson Lake near the camp. It’s sort of like our own private lake as the only access point to it is through our camp. We hooked up the trolling motor to a small boat down at the dock and made our way out to find some pickerel, but not 5 minutes from the dock we ran out of juice in the battery and had to paddle back to shore.

Day three took us back to Welcome in an attempt to better our results from the second day. Once again we tried all the usual spots with very little luck. The wind was still very high and we were starting to think we would never find a fish. In a desperate attempt we decided to make our way into some protected islands down at the other end of the lake. Normally we never fish down that way, but really we had nothing to lose. We trolled the sides of the islands out of the wind and it wasn’t long before we were getting hits. It seems all the bass had moved out the river and were now hiding in the rocky shorelines. In the span of an hour we hit a dozen decent bass (1lbs +) 2-dozen little dinks, and my uncle hooked one decent pike (3lbs). We had managed to find enough for a good lunch (kept 4) for lunch and made our way to the island to cook them up. Lunch was pretty much the same as the day before. After lunch we hit the shoreline across from the island in hopes that the bass were there as well. Sure enough as soon as we set out our lines the bass were hitting. We landed another 2-dozen or so decent bass on the shores and a whole bunch of little guys. After that we headed back out to the sunken islands for one last trip around.

We hooked a few more bass, enough to fill out our stringer with a couple good size ones to bring home. Now no fishing story would be complete without the tale of the one that got away. As I mentioned before my uncle had been up earlier that week. On that trip he managed to hook into a good size pickerel on those sunken islands, but lost it due to not having a net. Back to our trip now, on one of our last passes around the islands his road snapped back with what was no doubt a large fish. He managed to fight it all the way to the boat once again. We caught a quick glimpse of it before it tossed the hook and was gone. We still aren’t sure if it was a bass or a pickerel, but whatever it was, it was big.

Anyways that marked the end of another great trip to the north. Overall everything was good. The bugs were bad, but that’s to be expected at this time of year. We didn’t see any moose, but the bears made up for that and in the end we managed to get into some good fish. Next is the grouse-hunt in the fall. We did see a lot of rabbits this trip so I think my chances will be high for shooting one this year. Can’t wait for that one!

Banditos

Mark mentioned the Saturday portion of my weekend. For the third time in the past few years someone close to me decided to hold their wedding on a long weekend, thereby ending one of the few chances I had all year of fishing. I can't state this more concise or clear - long weekend weddings are selfish. I understand our friend Rob did it, and I feel I can speak my mind as he knew how I felt before he booked it, but no matter who you are people have things they'd rather be doing on their long weekends outside of attending your wedding. Those of you unmarried folks please understand this now so as to save yourself the anger and glares later. There are many other weekends to get married on, and short of being told you have a few weeks to live, I see no reason anyone needs to rush into a rapid wedding that requires taking the only weekends left at the hall. I see many reasons not to rush into a rapid wedding, but that's another post..

So the more entertaining element of my weekend was Monday when, along with our sporadic friend Alex, I headed out to catch two FIFA U-20 games at the National Soccer Stadium on the exhibition grounds. The tickets came courtesy of the aforementioned Rob who'd asked me to come with him and then got held up with work and was unable to go. Count me as one of the many Canadians who don't "get" soccer, but I was anxious to check it out live and take in my first game. I met up with Alex at The Friendly Greek near Pape and Danforth where our catch-up and lunch took longer than expected and placed us in the Portugal v New Zealand game with about 10 seconds left in the first half.

Rob had purchased some prime ducats putting us five rows back, just off mid-field. Great seats surrounded by great fans. The crowd was heavily pro-Portugal, and they were quite dominant during the game, so I kept my support of the Kiwis to a dull roar so as not to upset the apple cart. After the game Alex and I went for a stroll in the crowded thoroughfares of the stadium, picked up a $12.50 Carlsberg, and then back to our seats for Mexico v Gambia. I'm obviously a huge fan of Mexico and had adopted them as my home country for the afternoon, demanding all Gambian supporters stop "oppressing my peoples" with their pro-Gambian chants. It was all in good fun and I was actually impressed with the general good nature of fans on all sides. A boisterous but fun Gambian contingent were a few rows behind us, with a massive Mexican section to our left, and the interplay between the groups was fun and impressive. Some of the Mexican crew even wandered over at half-time to shake hands and offer up some hugs to the Gambians - good to see. As the Carlsberg's began to take affect on many I even managed to start small "WE LOVE FRENCH TOAST!" and "WHO WEARS SHORT SHORTS?" chants, thereby de-sophisticating the footie proceedings. :)

As for the games - well, I know little about the sport. Game two was fast-paced, exciting, back and forth with Gambia dominating for about 2/3 of the game, but the Mexicans capitalizing on their chances to win 3-0. Lots of fun, and I'd definitely look into a Toronto FC game in the future. If only MLSE weren't the owners and already pricing it out of the market...

Radar Love

Well I hope everyone had a good long weekend. Most of you know that I spent mine up at the Moose Camp once again, but that story will have to wait a bit. I decided that I wanted to take a quick moment to discuss something else before I spin my fish tales.

As I made my way south this weekend there seemed to be one common subject that was making all the headlines. No I’m not talking about the amazing (HA!) signing of Jason Blake by the Maple Leafs, or the fact that bring back Bates Battaglia assures a cup for the Buds next season, but instead the possibility of the Ontario Government re-instating the previously failed photo radar. It seems that street racing and high speed driving has taken such a toll on our roads that the safety council has decided the only option is to bring back the little vans with the big cameras to tag these folks that feel the need to speed down the 400 at 200km/hr. My question is does anyone out there really feel this will accomplish what they hope? Is there possibly a better solution? Am I the only on that feel this is not enough to stop people? For myself it seems a little lacked. All this will do is catch a person in the act and warn them by mailing them the ticket. Is this only a band-aid solution to an increasing problem? Lets discuss.

Anyways hopefully everyone had a good time over the weekend (well with the exception of the wedding locked Rick, sorry man. I can honestly feel your pain).