State Law Librarian Things

Well, I did not get the position as acting state law librarian. The search team decided to put Judy Rehak in as acting State Law Librarian. Good choice, she will be really good for the library. She is a good patron and knows everyone in the library. She will lead impartially and well. I am especially glad DL did not get the position. It seemed he thought of himself as the 'chosen one' to lead the library. A real prat who is full of complete tosh.

I had not really thought about applying at first, however, nudged by my colleagues, I went for it. In the process, I realized I did have the potential to lead the library and do a good job.

Did I really and truly want it? No and then ... yes. I wanted to lead the librarian into a new direction using some of the new web 2.0 technology. I probably will still do that. I am very excited about the Twitter account for the library. Now I need to act on the MySpace and Facebook. The extra money would have been nice. I worked hard but neglected to tell them what I really wanted. This is now all in the past and the library will survive as it has in the past.

April Vacation Things Pt. 1

Recovering still from the epic drive down to Orlando and back. It was a great trip, long but great. We had some amazing food down South. They are without a doubt the best place to go for real regional cooking. The bbq, the veggies, and the grits all are sooooo good. We had a good deal of eating Southern food with a few exceptions.

The first night we stopped in LeRoy, Illinois. The first place we stopped for real Southern cooking was at Swett's http://www.swettsrestaurant.com/ in Nashville. Chicken was the specialty and you could have it fried or rotisserie. Both were really good and the sides of cornbread, greens, squash, sweet potatoes, and mac & cheese were tasty. When we walked in some people going in, looked like a man and his mom, said it was the best place in Nashville. Rated by the tasters **** out of five. Afterwards, we stopped and saw the only full scale reproduction of the Parthenon (Athens). It was very cool.
That night we stopped in Decatur, Alabama.

The next day we stopped at the Ave Maria Grotto in Cullman, Alabama. The grotto was created by a monk from the Abbey of St. Bernard's http://www.avemariagrotto.com/index.php?cPath=159&osCsid= This grotto is a must see. The amount of time and dedication to this work was amazing. He did miniatures of famous buildings from all over the world, mostly religious. He does a miniature of the city of Jerusalem. It was all very cool. We also stopped in the Cullman Flea market bought some things. I bought whoopie pies from some Amish ladies, excellent. We also grabbed a snack of tacos. They were made with pulled pork and they were rated by our panel as a ***** treat. We arrived in Orlando at 10:30 that evening and katherine was there awaiting our arrival.

The following day, Kat and I went to Winter Park http://www.ci.winter-park.fl.us/
and the Skrades went to Wet & Wild. K and I sought out Vegas Cafe home of the Cuban sandwich. It was closed. We went across the street to Chan's for dim sum and it was very good. Rated **** by our impartial panel. K and I took a boat ride for an hour. It was very relaxing and then went to the Morse Museum http://www.morsemuseum.org/home.html This for me was one of the best things on the trip. They have an incredible collection of Louis Comfort Tiffany stained glass and art. They also have his Byzantine Chapel http://www.morsemuseum.org/collection/tiffany_chapel.html which is an amazingly beautiful, reverent work. It was created for the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893. They also have a nice painting collection and an American decorative arts collection from 1870-1920, roughly. We went to a Vietnamese restaurant Saigon not far from Chan's on Colonial Drive. We had a very tasty oriental meal. Rated *** 1/2 by our expert panel.

Nex day we went to Universal World http://www.universalorlando.com/index.html?__source=ps.yssp.tlp and spent the going on rides and walking around. I went on two rides that were completely different than what I usually do. The Revenge of the Mummy and the Simpson's Ride. I thought I was going to lose it both times. We also went to four other things Disaster (Nic was picked as an extra), Jaws, Horror Film techniques, Terminator 3D, Shrek 3d, and Universal City Walk. After a long day of walking we decided to stay close to our hotel, Best Western Universal. In the evening we went to Kobe Japanese Steak House and had a teppanaki meal which was very good. Rated **** by our non-partisan panel.

The Skrades went to the other half of the Universal Theme Park and I took Katherine to the Airport. We stopped at Vegas and split a sandwich and I drove to Winter Park to search out more museums. I stopped at the Cornell Museum in Rollins College, $5.00 and the Orlando Museum of Art, $8.00. The Orlando MOA wasn't worth the price of admission. The best things I saw were the African art mostly textiles, Aztec and Zapotec art, and a very nice collection of netsukes. Rollins had an exhibit of portraits of ladys from around the turn of the century 1900 and a small exhibit of Delftware. We are lucky to have a very strong art scene in the Twin Cities.
That evening we went for pizza. It was okay. It was rated *** by our discerning panel of judges.

To be continued....

Scotch Whisky Things

Here is the results from a tasting that happened a last year. I must confess I am particular to islay Scotches. Three stars is the highest.

** Bruichladdich 14 yrs - Islay single malt, bourbon cask and finished in a sherry cask, great nose with vanilla, dried fruit. Finish is long with beautiful legs.
*** Bruichladdich - 32 yrs (1970)- Islay single malt, 100% bourbon cask, viscous with beautiful legs, pear and vanilla notes, slight taste of salt in the front, smoky peat in the aftertaste. A superb dram!!
** Glen Moray, Serendipity - Highland single malt, smoky and lemony
** Ardbeg Uigeadail, Islay single malt, cask strength, distilled in the 1990's, Scottish edition, sherry notes, smoky, 108.4, phenolic peat characteristics, toasty
**3/4 Laphroaig 10 yr., Islay single malt, cask strength, bourbon cask sweetness (Maker's Mark bourbon casks), astringent long finish.
** Bruichladdich, Infinity, Islay single malt, caramel notes, fiery nose with smoke and peat
** Glenmorangie Ardbeg, Islay single malt, 1st fill casks, very young, sassy, peppery
*** Ardbeg 1976, Islay single malt, smooth, bottled 2004. This is a perfect whisky with all the characteristics you love in an Islay single malt. YUM YUM YUM!!!!
*** Port Ellen, Islay single malt, distillery closed in 1983, Diageo releases bottlings every now and then, this is one of the great single malts of the island of Islay. YUM YUM YUM!!!!!

There you go. My memory is slightly hazy about the tasting but somethings are never forgotten i.e. a lovely kiss, a memorable moment in ones life, and a memorable single malt.

Feis Things

Well, I am getting closer to putting all the pieces for the Islay trip together. Bowmore Distillery emailed back with the times for our tours and tastings. We are now booked on tours, tastings, lodgings, and airlines. I need to hire a car and obtain my ferry tickets from Kennecraig to Port Askaig and back. John will be handling another set off tours between 31 May and 3 June.

Here is the schedule for the Islay Feis:
http://islayfestival.org//activate.php?name=Sebastiaan69&sess=3e2dd58790c152024e55bb3e462b07f3

We will be visiting Kilchoman, Lagavulin, Bruichladdich, Caol Ila, Laphroaig, Bowmore, Jura, Bunnahabhain, Ardbeg distlleries. A distillery a day for 9 days. Perhaps a few more when we return to the mainland.

March things

I haven't posted on the blog for awhile. For those of you who are following me, I am sorry. In the intervening time, I had been busy preparing for St. patrick's Day and playing with band on all of their gigs.We did Emmetsburg which was really good but a long, long day. I even curtailed my day by 5 hours, stopping around 9pm. Some of the lads continued on till 2-3am. I was quite good as I did not drink anything till our next to last bar, the Corner Bar. Their we were able to score some Sam Adams Winter lager and Michelob Amber Bock. Okay beers, but better than all the varations of light beer you could swill and some even light green beer. YUM YUM YUM!!! I drank a whisky and some beer. At the last gig, we ate and had some more normal beer, Fat Tire, Guinness, and something else. It was a lot of time spent doing this gig, however, the people of Emmetsburg love us. We can do no wrong. The weekend was shot.

On Monday, Thom and I played at Barley John's Brewpub for their 9th anniversary. We had food and beer. I drank the Anniversary Ale (red ale with lots of hops), Wild Brunette, and a couple of the Double Oat stout (excellent). A good time was had by all and we played really well. Damian, Molly, and Doug were there as well.

St. Patrick's Day, I came to work to do time cards and left around 9:30 to catch a bus to O'Gara's. The band always meets at O'Gara's and has for years. I guess always. There we tuned up and took a band picture jumped onto the bus and went to Summit. Bill Gilchrist joined us as well to hitch a ride to the parade. At Summit Brewing, we played for the employees and their yearly St. Pat's feast provided by Rahr Maltings. We played and then went onto the bus to the St. Paul parade. We were no. 29th in line. We played a lot. It felt like it was no stop. The weather was nice not as nice as Monday but really nice. We played through the landmark center for their IMDA event hosted by Phil. After the play through, we walked to the Liffey and played there as well as having some beers. We then got on the bus and went to the Bulldog in Lowertown, St. Paul. Played in and then had some world class beers, Maredsous 8 and the Duchess de Bourgonine. We made some converts to those beers. We then went back to O'Gara's for the world's shortest St. Patrick's Day Parade. We had a couple of beers. I actually shared one with Mary.

For Mary, this was her first parade and first St. Patrick's day. She was a good sport. A woman asked her what was under her kilt and she said, "running shorts". So we instructed her on clever retorts to the silly request. In O'Gara's, I was playing behind her, when we walked through a fetching brunette slapped her on the bum as she marched through. I related this to her and other band members and we had a laugh. But Mary did not want to be fetching to anyone especially another woman so she let her hair down. In her kilt though, I could see where someone think she amy be a guy. She has an androgynous look about her. I think she looks feminine but I am one person.

Thom and I then off to Barley John's to play for the crowd there. By this time our reeds were really wet so we needed to air dry them so we could actually play them. We met John's mother in law and children Rose and Nick. We couldn't play for them because our reeds were so wet. We did get them dried out enough to play a couple of tunes. We had drinks and food here as well. I should say really good food and really, really good beer. We met Katherine, Damian, Jen, and Jen's friend Terry who took to perry cider as a duck to water. I think she drank 3 glasses full which is a lot considering the perry is at wine strength. Katherine and I shared a Pizza Laura (named after John's lovely wife Laura), a vegetarian pizza which is to die for.

Next day, I was so shagged. I hurt everywhere. I went to the Historical Society for a CALCO meeting and learned more about Twitter. We also saw an exhibit on maps curated by Pat Coleman. the map exhibition was excellent.

Grand Marais Things

We left for Grand Marais on a beautiful Saturday morning 14 February headed for up North. Our ultimate destination was the Outpost Motel in Colville, MN 8 miles east of Grand Marais. We would stay until 17 February. The journey up was uneventful save for all the bathroom stops on the way up, too much water before the trip. We had an audio book along as well 'Kalahari Typing Club for Men' by Alexander McColl Smith. We really enjoyed this book and finished it in our room when we arrived.

Our first stop on our journey was at Fitger's Brewhouse. It is the official beginning and ending of my trips to the North Shore. It has been with all the women I have been with since Ann has died. K and I had lunch and I had beer with my food. She had the best veggie burger the the world the Fitger's wild rice burger and I had the Turkey ruben with a small salad. I started out with the Champagne of the North, a Berliner weisse with raspberry syrup. I followed it with an Antwerp ale and finished it off with a Black Paddle porter. All were really tasty and hit the spot.
When we were finishing up with lunch, who should walk in but Cathy and Jeff. It was our second chance meeting with them in Fitger's. Pretty, amazing but great minds think alike or so it seems.


We headed North and to our final destination, the Outpost Motel. We stopped in Grand Marais at the Coop for some extra food stuff for our stay. We checked in and started to relax straight away. We played scrabble, read, listened to music, and ate. The book I started and read the whole time I was up ther was Shenandoah 1962 by Cozzens. Heralded as the definitive book on Stonewall Jackson's Valley Campaign. It is a good book, easy to read and the author does well to use both sources and display everyone with all the talents and foibles. He includes Jackson as well. I am a Jackson fan and have been since I was a wee lad but there really wasn't much in the way other things to reveal. He probably is one of the most written about American commander and famous save for Washington. I am finishing up with the book now and should have it completed by the weekend . Jackson is about to give the Yankees a thrashing on the upper valley at Port Republic and Cross Keys.

On Sunday, we walked part of the Devil Track River, Superior Hiking Trail in our hiking boots. We did well until the last hill it was deep and no one had ventured it until we did. There was no use negotiating the climb as it would mean climbing on our hands and knees in 3 foot snow sinking continually. We turned back after trying for 15 minutes. On the way back, we slid down some slopes. It seemed easier to do that than risk a slip and not controlled slide. On the last slope I was going way too fast and hit a bump and strained my back. My poor back, it was the same injury or felt like it, as I had a year ago. I was in pain. When we got back to our cabin I iced it, streched it, and had K massage it. She does not know how to massage. She tries and wants to but she just doesn't have the skill. She is just rough and ready treating the muscles like they were something else. I was bouncing on the bed from her ministrations. God bless her. She tries but my god she is a not a sensualist. We went out to listen to music at the Gunflint Tavern and have some dinner. We had their veggie pizza. Excellent!!! I had a couple of Summit Oatmeal stouts, medicinally taken.

Monday, I stayed in and made a nice veggie curry stew with baked apples for dessert. K went skiing along the shore and was out for over an hour. I read my book, Shenandoah 1862 and played my chanter to nail down some tunes. We played scrabble, cards, listened to music ate. I stretched my back. K read Bill Bryson's book 'Neither Here Nor There'. I looked at it and it is the usual Bill Bryson, lots of humor and interesting facts put together in a great volume.

Tuesday, packing up and getting ready for the journay home. We stopped in at the Ben Franklin in Grand Marais and K bought some very warm mittens. I bought Bananagrams for Jeanne's b-day. It was nasty and snwoing when we left Grand Marais but not enough to call in and say we are stuck up North. I can't image K ever doing that though. We stopped in at Fitger's on the way back. K had a Smoked lake Trout wrap and I the fungus burger. We also picked up beer courtesy of the lads for our cellar at home. It was a good trip.

When I arrived home, Brent told me he was going in for surgery the next day, hip replacement surgery. So I went over to his place to hear him piss and moan about everything but mostly to allay his fears about his surgery and help him to order his place. What a fucking mess! What is it about single guys and housekeeping. They need mothers and/or a spouse but they are the biggest slobs and there is no excuse. I am wandering so time to sign off.

Lutheran Sunday Supper Things

I always have great fun at a church potluck. Lutheran church ladies make the best hot dishes. The various dishes are so nuch fun to look at and taste. What with the variety of spices, how much beef, or chicken, tomatoes, and onions. Everyone brings such great hotdishes, salads, and a potpourri of whatever. You will see 3 or 4 ramen Asian salads, some with sunflower seeds, cabbage, and other greens. There are some with lots of ramen noodles.

There are several different noodle dishes featuring tomatoes, beef, and some seasoning. Some jello dishes are on the table. We have a lovely raspberry jello surprise and then the lime jello marshmallow cottage cheese surprise. Beans are in various dishes and all of them are good tasting. There were several three bean salads. Some are bean salads with corn, peppers, and at least three different beans. Black beans, red beans, kidney beans, garbanzo beans are all featured at the church dinner. Bean and beef crock pot dishes in a variety of combinations make their appearance and are quite tasty. There is fried chicken, cocktail wieners, and meatballs.

For drinks, we have church coffee a combination of half decaf and half regular coffee. Water and Countrytime powdered lemonade for the non-coffee drinkers. But the best part fo the dinner are the people and the conversations. It is a unique social gathering and should be done once a month.