tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59993876027121571972024-03-13T13:31:58.929-04:00hot dogs & beerfrankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14811603010906886771noreply@blogger.comBlogger72125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999387602712157197.post-46396301858434129482008-03-25T06:54:00.002-04:002008-03-25T07:02:03.601-04:00Hot Dogs & Beer becomes Bagels & Coffee?The 2008 baseball season is here.The bad part, it started at 6am EDT. Hence the temporary name change. It could be the first time I've ever sat down to watch a game with coffee, but thats ok.The game of course is being playing at the Tokyo dome in Japan. As of this writing, the A's are winning 2-0 and Matzuzaka has no control of his breaking ball. But its early. The crowd at the Big Egg is frankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14811603010906886771noreply@blogger.com26tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999387602712157197.post-76987699328992403002008-03-25T06:53:00.000-04:002008-03-25T06:53:55.545-04:00Only 354 days until Philly beer week 2009(NOTE: I wrote this a week ago, but apparently forgot to post it, hence the number in the title)Ok, I don't know for sure when Philly beer week will be in 2009, or even if its a certain event, but I'm already anxiously awaiting.The past 10 days of Philly beer week were filled with many many events, most of which I could not attend (need that job to be able to afford beer).Best new bar: This goes frankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14811603010906886771noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999387602712157197.post-33588733269290184492008-03-14T12:08:00.005-04:002008-03-17T13:42:05.479-04:00Philly Beer Week, Part III: The return of the hopsSo Wednesday was a much needed night at home. Did this stop me from enjoying a beer? Of course not. I had the Avery Fourteen, a beer brewed specifically for their 14th anniversary.On Thursday, we headed to Old City. The first stop was Eulogy where their were having a Harviestoun night, featuring their beers aged in Highland Park scotch casks of 12, 16 and 30 years. The beers were pricy so I frankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14811603010906886771noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999387602712157197.post-53417050735426247672008-03-12T11:49:00.003-04:002008-03-12T14:26:46.850-04:00Philly Beer Week, Part II: The liver strikes backI've learned a few things in the past couple of days attending beer week events. First, Philly has even more great beer culture than I realized. And second, I'm not as young as I once was. For that reason, tonight will be an off night.On Monday we went to the Joe Sixpack doppelbock tasting at Dawson's Pub. The pub is no more than a 5 minute walk for us and is one of out favorites, this frankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14811603010906886771noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999387602712157197.post-27399020242599105212008-03-10T12:19:00.002-04:002008-03-10T14:38:53.944-04:00Philly Beer Week, Part ISo I know blogging has been slow lately, but have no fear, its almost baseball season. Plus, we are in the middle of Philly Beer Week and there is much to discuss.On Friday we went to the Joe Sixpack beer event at the East Falls Market. This was being touted as the kickoff event and it did not disappoint. The number of people was ideal as I rarely had to wait for any beer. Mayor Nutter was onfrankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14811603010906886771noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999387602712157197.post-81595223852574800812008-02-11T11:54:00.001-05:002008-02-15T11:46:25.698-05:00Philly pub crawlSaturday, the wife and I had tickets to the Rangers game here in Philly. Due to a ticket office mixup, we got seats in the club box section for the cost of corner upper level tickets. This section includes a much nicer bathroom, waitress service, a bar in the club and a wider food selection. The liquor selection at the bar was decent, but I was more in a beer mood and their beer selection was frankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14811603010906886771noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999387602712157197.post-8816620803166252712008-02-04T11:33:00.000-05:002008-02-04T12:37:15.038-05:00Eli Manning won a super bowl MVP?And yet hell did not freeze over.I'm still somewhat in shock and very happy (as a Giants fan) over the result of the super bowl last night. So here are my thoughts on the outcome.1) In the regular season, the Giants lost to Dallas twice, Green Bay and New England. They proceded to beat each of those teams in the playoffs. I don't feel like figuring it out, but I suspect no team has ever beatenfrankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14811603010906886771noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999387602712157197.post-82235089650172507542008-01-28T12:08:00.000-05:002008-01-28T12:27:34.964-05:00Big moves down underThe Australian Open wrapped up and people may finally realize just how well Djokovic can play. He was his first (but certainly not last) grand slam title. The results, with Federer losing points and Nadal gaining points, leave the top 3 players closer than they've been in a long time (I'd guess at least 3 years). As of now we have:Federer 6630Nadal 5980Djokovic 5165Everyone else below 2800.So,frankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14811603010906886771noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999387602712157197.post-71299766292356536852007-12-12T10:53:00.000-05:002007-12-12T13:59:08.128-05:00Random thoughts of the weekOur Netflix queue has 497 "movies". I put movies in quotes because I'd guess 1/4 to 1/3 of the items are TV show discs. The strange part is that the queue has consistently grown since we signed up, it never really goes down. I watch plenty of stuff, but add at a faster pace. How long can that continue? Keep in mind that I almost never put something on the queue that I've already frankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14811603010906886771noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999387602712157197.post-5676233082755271212007-12-11T12:20:00.000-05:002007-12-11T13:42:24.164-05:002 new restaurantsI figured I'd get myself ready for lunch by talking about 2 new restaurants I've recently tried.First is the Belgian Cafe at 21st & Green. This place is owned by the people who own Monk's, so the Belgian theme is fitting. The decor of the place was simple, lots of wood giving the bar area an old feel to it, even though the place opened this year. I got a mussel dish that was very tasty, lots frankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14811603010906886771noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999387602712157197.post-64990362184253317402007-12-03T12:48:00.000-05:002007-12-03T13:06:05.424-05:00Best of CraigslistEvery so often I love to peruse through the Best of Craigslist. Here are some interesting posts:M&MsSEPTACar for salefrankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14811603010906886771noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999387602712157197.post-35323200494427314972007-11-30T13:54:00.001-05:002007-11-30T15:07:26.233-05:00If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around, does it make a sound?If a football game is on the NFL network and no one sees it, did it really happen?The answer in both cases is obviously yes. But there has been a lot of complaining lately about games being shown only on the NFL network which some cable companies do not carry and some (like Comcast in Philly) carry, but on a special sports tier that most people do not have.So is this such a bad thing?Well from frankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14811603010906886771noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999387602712157197.post-43535498420302803542007-11-20T14:28:00.000-05:002007-11-20T15:07:49.296-05:00And the award goes to ...The baseball awards have been handed out so now its time for some fun facts. I'm not going to delve into whether or not voters made correct choices, there are enough people doing that already.Rollins won the MVP a year after Ryan Howard pocketed the award. How many times have different teammates won the award in consecutive years? Well its happened way more than I orginally expected, 20 times frankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14811603010906886771noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999387602712157197.post-3071766728001098112007-11-20T11:20:00.001-05:002007-11-20T11:41:36.891-05:00Eating in PhillyWe spent a lot of time in center city over the weekend, so I thought I'd review some new places we visited.On Friday night we went to Marathon Grill on 16th & Sansom. The place was not too large, but we had no trouble getting a table. The service was a little slow, but it was a Friday night. The menu sounded really good and I had a tough time deciding. The seafood bisque did not impress me, frankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14811603010906886771noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999387602712157197.post-33216386829172638452007-11-06T13:32:00.000-05:002007-11-06T14:39:35.843-05:00hockey statsThe NHL has gone through several somewhat major rule changes over the years, which makes it somewhat difficult to compare players and teams across eras. So here's my attempt at rectifying this.From the beginning of the NHL up to and including the 1998-99 season, points were awarded as follows:Win in regulation - 2 pointsLoss in regulation - 0 pointsWin in overtime - 2 pointsLoss in overtime - 0 frankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14811603010906886771noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999387602712157197.post-63513303091531973672007-11-06T11:14:00.000-05:002007-11-06T11:31:12.731-05:00At a loss for wordsAs of yesterday, the writer's guild is officially on strike. While I'm not a person who will automatically side with unions, I am definitely on the writers' side here. The main reason for the strike as I understand it is the negotiations over newer forms of media including internet content. The studios (and probably most management) tends to try and create the rules or carry over old rules frankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14811603010906886771noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999387602712157197.post-45917838595548285182007-11-06T09:37:00.000-05:002007-11-06T09:56:12.879-05:00Mad DogOne of my favorite pitchers of all time, Greg Maddux, re-signed with the Padres for another year. Obviously at 41 he's no longer the pitcher he was in the mid 90s, but he's still a slightly above average start who stays healthy. Since 1988, the fewest starts he's made in a non-strike shortened year was 33!! For comparison's sake, Pedro Martinez has started 33 games 3 times, but thats the most frankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14811603010906886771noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999387602712157197.post-91288911510694542802007-11-05T11:10:00.000-05:002007-11-05T11:22:31.624-05:00random thoughtsThe Gmail inbox always has a link on top to some random website. The title of the website is related to whatever emails you've recently been reading. These are quite humorous to me, especially when the keywords in the email they read have multiple meanings.Our neighborhood (Manayunk) has lots of college students and other young adults, so weekend parties are common. Walking around on a frankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14811603010906886771noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999387602712157197.post-81855932880224896642007-11-05T10:50:00.000-05:002007-11-05T10:59:56.166-05:00When life gives you lemons ...some people make lemonade.I make limoncello.For those unfamiliar, limoncello is an Italian liquor made from lemons (obviously) that is often served (chilled) as an after dinner drink.I got a recipe from my parents and decided to make some. The process is fairly easy, although zesting lemons can be tiring. I finished it this weekend and had some last night. It was pretty good. I was very frankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14811603010906886771noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999387602712157197.post-81138621722506481082007-11-02T09:31:00.000-04:002007-11-02T09:47:17.746-04:00Tennis updateFederer lost to Nalbandian again.Did I just write that?Anyway, we're down to 6 as Berdych loses missing out on Nalbandian's gifts and the 8th place holder heading into Paris (Haas) also loses.Gonzalez can't like Federer going out, but he'll still advance unless Youzhny beats the Gasquet/Murray winner in the final OR Robredo plays the Gasquet/Murray winner in the final.Robredo is in ok shape. He frankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14811603010906886771noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999387602712157197.post-85807906771477123692007-11-01T10:09:00.000-04:002007-11-01T13:04:44.849-04:00Booking a flight from Paris to ShanghaiThe tennis season is coming to a close. The final masters event in Paris is currently in the round of 16, and next week we have the masters cup for the top 8 players in Shanghai. 6 players (Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Davydenko, Roddick, and Ferrer) have locked up spots in the tourney. The results in Paris will determine who will get the final 2 spots.Going into this tournament, an amazing 18 frankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14811603010906886771noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999387602712157197.post-65269022532859715832007-10-31T10:30:00.000-04:002007-10-31T10:39:49.524-04:00Cheesesteaks or Chowder?The Philly metro had a fun article yesterday comparing Philly and Boston as sports towns.frankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14811603010906886771noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999387602712157197.post-65577813057017974242007-10-31T10:32:00.000-04:002007-10-31T10:39:09.286-04:00Everybody must get Stoned!I'm a big fan of the Stone Brewery from California. They continuously amaze me with their beers, the Russian Imperial Stout, Arrogant Bastard (regular and oaked), the Vertical Epic series, etc. All tremendous beers. Last night, for the first time, I tried the Double Arrogant Bastard. This may be my new favorite Stone beer. Its quite hoppy (would you expect anything else from Stone?) but withfrankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14811603010906886771noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999387602712157197.post-50886047465600551912007-10-29T10:53:00.000-04:002007-10-29T15:43:44.020-04:002 ounces of heavenI attended a beer festival this past Saturday in New York City. I've been to several beer festivals in the past including the World Beer Festival in Durham, NC (several times), the Brewer's Jam in Knoxville, TN, and the Philadelphia Craft Beer Festival. For those familiar with the movie Bull Durham, the World Beer Fest is held annually on the field from the movie, which is the former home of frankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14811603010906886771noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5999387602712157197.post-48198032310717392842007-10-05T14:36:00.000-04:002007-10-05T15:34:36.836-04:00The return of hot dogs and beerIf I had to name 1 day of the year when I'm least likely to be focused on work, it would probably be either of the first 2 days of the ncaa tournament. But after that, the wonderful time of october playoff baseball is a close second.Now, its 85 degrees in Philly today, so the crisp early fall weather that I love has been put on hold, but the desire to watch 3 meaningful baseball games a day has frankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14811603010906886771noreply@blogger.com1