So the wedding page is now updated with user selectable themes, there are only 2 right now: spring and winter. I had to figure out php sessions to get it working to my satisfaction, but it is there now. check it out.
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Monthly Archives: February 2005
Detailed Vacation Report
My weekend vacation to the U.P. was great.
Friday Feb. 18th
I set my alarm but forgot to turn it on so Bridgit and I didn't get up until 7 am instead of the planned 5am. We were on the road at about 7:40 am. Once in the U.P we missed the exit for M-2 and went about a half hour out of our way. We stopped for a lunch/bathroom/gas break in Naubinway and I got a couple of Pasties. We got to Marquette about 3pm and met Dan, Betsy, Rich and Sue at the Public Library which is across from their hotel. The ladies went to a bridal shop in town and us guys went to an outdoor store so I could add to my XC wax collection and then went back to the hotels' hot tub. When the ladies got back we got bundled up to go see the UP 200 dogsled race. Man it was something to see those dogs go. We watched them come down the hill towards the lake and then make a 90-degree turn at the bottom. After the race we had dinner at Upfront, which is an amazing restaurant /club.
Saturday Feb. 19th
We all went out to breakfast at a little restaurant in town and then headed to Houghton to see Dan and Bridgit's Uncle Fran and Aunt Joanne to go skiing. We ended up all XC skiing at the Michigan Tech Ski Trails. None of us had ever been on trails like it. In the L.P. we are used to only small amounts of snow, but in Houghton they have gotten 207 inches (17.25 feet) and it has been a light year. The trails are wide, hilly and groomed. They are nice, but my wide backcountry skis are not designed for the type of trails there. After skiing we went to Fran and Joanne's and had some food then headed into town to look at the ice sculptures from Winterfest. There Dan and I were mesmerized by the awesome sport of BroomBall, which is like Hockey but without skates and brooms and a ball instead of sticks and a puck. It is a sport which celebrates clumsiness.
Sunday Feb. 20th
Bridgit and I got up and went to church at St. Peters Cathedral in Marquette and then went to pick up stuff for breakfast. We went back to Ben's apartment and made eggs, bacon, and biscuits. After breakfast we packed up and then drove around town. We all helped Ben on his movie for class which involved a car turning on its left signal and then turning right. After the movie was shot we started the long trip home. It snowed all the way from Marquette to Dexter. The L.P. had a winter storm warning and the roads got worse as we got closed to home. Flint ended up getting almost a foot of snow. There were tons of accidents, most of which involved snowmobile trailers. People just don't know how to drive in bad weather. We averaged about 50mph all the way home and it took us 10 hours instead of the 7 hours it took to get there.
wedding page idea
To da UP, eh!
Bridgit and I are taking a long weekend and going up to visit Ben VV in Marquette. Hopefully there will be enough snow for both kinds of skiing and maybe even some snowshoeing. We are meeting Dan, Betst, and the VV's up there.
Scurvy Bastards Dominate
Friday night the Scurvy Bastards won 9-0 the ref forgot to put a point on the board so the official score was actually 8-0, but with that spread we weren't about to complain.
Wedding page
Now that I am getting married I now have a wedding web page. There isn't much up because I have only been engaged for two weeks, and there is very little done in the way of firm plans. You can go to BridgitandTom.com to see the page, or you can just go to tomcook.net/wedding. They both go to the same place. I am using a cool PHP JavaScript replacement thingy for the nav bar images. Also there are some issues with CSS and IE on Windows. Firefox is the best option, but others will work. I had to sacrafice some of my vision to get it to look right on IE, but I have to design to the lowest common denominator.
Aussie recap
We had some great Australian wines, and here are the tasting notes we came up with (as compiled by Dan)Collected notes from the last tasting (Australian Reds and a surprise Australian Dessert Wine):
d' Arenburg Winery/ “The Footbolt” Shiraz/ McLaren Vale (Barossa Valley)/ 2001
-A nice dark cranberry red hue offering Ink, Tar, Damp Earth and Alcohol on the nose with some green herbs. This wine opened with some damp greeness of moss or fern that gave way to damp dark earth and Morels seasoned with a peppery kick. A bit of firm tannins. The berry fruit hangs out in the background. A big tasty wine.
16.5 points
Penfolds Winery/ “Bin 138″/ Grenache, Shiraz, Mouvedre Blend (G,S,M) / Barossa Valley/ 2002
-Intense dark red. The nose is cherry and red fruit with some green. Fruity with a sharp acidity and medium body. Medium loose tannins and slightly sour. Nice but not very exciting.
12 points
Kaesler/ “Stonehorse”/ G,S,M Blend/ Barossa Valley/ 2003
-Great nose with cedar, cassis and yeast dough. A very good full flavor showing blackberry, black cherry and currant against nice dark earth and black pepper. Fruit and earth with some spice- Yum.
15 points
Peter Lehman/ “The Barossa”/ Shiraz/ Barossa Valley/ 2001
-Earth and cedar came through in the subtle nose of this Shiraz. Black fruits and dark earth. This one is more delicate than “The Footbolt” but offered a really well structured complex wine.
17 points
d'Arenburg Winery/ “The Dead Arm”/ Shiraz/ Barossa/ 2002
-Whoa! Black-red and opaque. Awesome nose. This tight, complex, intense wine slowly unraveled to show off deep berries, cocoa, ink, tar, leather, cherry, prune, cranberry… Gorgeous wine. Smooth, rich balanced and complex. Quite a treat that delivered on its $75 price tag.
19.5 points
Joseph Winery/ “La Magia”/ Botrytis Riesling and Traminer Blend/ ?/ 2002
– A great example of a Botrytis wine at a great price. This unctuous dessert wine had a great honey and spice nose with a nice sharpness from the Botrytis. The wine is like liquid gold with intense honey offset by tart apple flavors. Also on the palette were golden raisin and a sweet spice blend. Spectacular stuff to serve with dessert or as dessert.
Not Rated (personally I give it a 17+)
Italy
This Friday the Wine-O's are doing Italian wines. Should be lots of fun.A recap of our last wine tasting follows at the end. Next Saturday at 7:oopm we'll be exploring the reds of Italy which, to say the least, i a daunting task. Italy grows some 2000 grape varieties for wine-making and the wines are sometimes named after a region (like France), the grape (Like the US and S. America) or both or even by the method in which its made! Whereas every wine-growing country has its quirks Italy is quirks. So I've listed some possibilities below as well as tried to give just a bit bit of information on each. As always I recommend getting to know a good wine monger who can help you pick out something.
If you can find someone who knows their wines and get to know your taste it will be much harder to pick mediocre wine. Also (warning:
shameless plug coming) there are a few good italians at Everyday Wine in Kerrytown and if we don't have what you want we can probably get something for you. In general expect to pay $20+ but there are some bargains out there.
Barbaresco- From the Piedmont in the far North-West and little brother to Barolo
Barolo- Also from Piedmont its the “King of Wines”. Typically awesome, the name refers to the region and is made from the same grape as Barbaresco.
Barbera d' Alba (or Asti)- Also Piedmont, Barbera is the grape and Asti and Alba the regions. Usually Alba is better but not always.
Valpolicella- A blend from Veneto in the North-East this wine is made with a very unique method.
Chianti- Most well know Italian wine from around Tuscany. Primarily one grape.
Brunello di Montalcino- Also from the Tuscany area.
“Super Tuscans”- A blend of certain grapes from the Chianti region. They cannot be called Chianti since they are not the right grapes
according to law. Can quite good.
Montepulciano d'Abruzzo- Grape from Abruzzo in central-Eastern Italy.
So that's just a small sampling to get you started. Please e-mail me or everyone as soon as you know what you're getting so we can avoid overlap.
The tasting will be at Kelli Konkle's in Chelsea. Directions will be sent out later this week.
there are ants…in my canoe
I didn't get a chance to paddle at all in January, I think that this weekend its going to be in the 40's so I might go out in the river where its not frozen over. Not the best time to tip….
Zombies!!!!!!!!!!!
Here is a totally cool web site with other cool sites linked to it. They are all zombie simulations that track zombies being let loose in a city, there is a 3D one, a couple where the humans/military fight back, and two that involve the dropping of nukes.
Check it out, have some fun, kill some Zombies and Zambies(well dressed zombies).