10/23/07 website posting

“Water, water, everywhere and not a drop to drink…” …at least that’s what my lawn must be thinking (if I use a little personification). To help conserve I’ve been using my kids’ bath water on several bushes and shrubs. Another option is to employ the battleship shower technique (as noted in the USS North Carolina). Turn the water off while you lather up. I haven’t done this but if the weather continues, who knows what measures we’ll take.

Rude awakening - It's a beautiful day Sunday afternoon, and we're out with some neighbors on their boat. All of a sudden on the radio I hear a cover of U2's With or Without You. Heard a Violent Femmes' song used for a Wendy's ad on TV. Heard a cover of a Billy Idol song for a TV show, and then a cover of a Chris Isaak song for the new season of FX's Nip/Tuck. For every single one of those songs, I can remember hearing the original growing up and watching the video. Man, do these things make you feel old, or what?

Robert Plant / Alison Krauss - Seems like a really strange pairing, but they've got a CD coming out soon called Raising Sand. Great reviews on Amazon.com. Sounds like it could be worth checking out. Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan sounded incredible together, and David Bowie and Bing Crosby made one of the best Christmas songs of all time with their rendition of Peace on Earth.

NCAA football – I know the immortal words of Ric Flair by heart, “To be the man, you gotta beat the man.” Well, this year it seems like no one is comfortable being number 1. There are a couple of unbeatens left, but from everything I’ve seen so far, the two best teams are LSU and Oklahoma. Les Miles, the coach of LSU, is either a mad genius or just plain crazy, but I love watching LSU play. He’ll call trick plays, go for it on 4th and 3 with a pass, and shove the ball down your throat. I’d hate playing poker against him. He’d treat a five-nine like a pair of kings and when you least expect it, he'd try to buy you out the pot with four of a kind to fall back on.

FSU – Don’t know what to think. Every time they get my hopes up, they’re squashed with a turnover or a dropped ball. NFL – It’s the Colts and Pats and everyone else is just playing for third. Personally I’ve got to root for the Colts when they face each other next week. Their owner paid a couple million for the original scroll of Kerouac’s On the Road. How cool is that? Plus I'm picking the Colts to win. Remember that saying by Ric Flair? However this weekend does set up as a perfect trap game between my Panthers and the Colts. The Panthers are coming off a bye week. Indy played away on Monday night and will have a short week to prepare for an away game at Carolina. Indy might be looking ahead to the Pats game too. Remember, anyone can win on any given Sunday. It'd be great for Carolina, but I just don't think it's going to happen.

Homebrew – The backyard porter is excellent and several dark beer aficionados heaped praise upon it. That always makes you feel good. My blonde ale has come to be known by my wife as “her beer.” As in, “Are you drinking my beer?” She calls it Amstel without the Light. I even did a taste comparison – drank an Amstel Light then a pint of blonde. You know which one was better? Mine! Served several pints at a card game Friday night. I’ll brew again in another week or two. Probably make another keg of the blonde ale, and then maybe another dark beer to bottle. Just brewed a porter so it could be a stout, a nut brown ale, or something along those lines…

The Lords of the North – Finished the 3rd book in Bernard Cornwell’s Saxon saga. The next one comes out in January. My name's already on the waiting list at the library.

Hollyfest 5K - It's this coming Saturday morning. Yes, I've been training the last few weeks for it, and I will beat my time from last year. Hopefully that won't be too hard because my time last year was flat out awful. Maybe I'll have to reward myself with a few pints Saturday night. Yes, that's what I call victory. Cheers!