Holy Crap!

This still exists! Maybe I should update it someday, it's been over two years since I last posted...

In Other News...

We've moved in and are slowly getting unpacked. All the headaches of escrow were replaced by the headaches of moving and are now fading away.

We love the new house and despite our commute going from 5 min to 30 min we are doing ok. Eventually, we may even have a free weekend to just spend some time in our house!

BEER!

Spent the weekend up in Portland visiting my friend Brian and touring Portland's brewery and brewpub scene. Portland has more breweries per capita than any other city in the world so this is like Mecca for beer drinkers. I'm back and mostly recovered.

We started at Pyramid/Mactarnahans Brewery, home of the famous Pyramid Hefeweizen. We got a sampler there including a very interesting nitrogenated Pale Ale (think the creaminess of Guinness but with a Pale). The Pac NW is mostly known for the hoppiness of their beer, understandable as the region is a major source of hop agriculture. Next stop was dinner and another sampler at Bridgeport Brewing Company. Samplers are a great buy as usually you get the equivalent of 2+ beers for a fairly cheap price (and if you find one you don't like you're not stuck with it for a whole pint). I mostly stuck with the Pales and IPA's which were very tasty. We finished the night at Rogue, who doesn't brew in Portland but is native to Oregon. They are pretty famous for doing funky things with beer, like their Dead Guy Ale that is a German Maibock but is brewed with an ale yeast. We went through 3 samplers ($6 each, I love it) and introduced my friends to Barleywine. I also got into an argument with our cute waitress about the definition of "dry hopping", in short, she was wrong. :-)

Next day we slept in and dragged ourselves to Salmon Creek Brewpub in Vancouver for lunch and another sampler. They had a Scottish ale that we both thought was great and they poured us samples of a Belgian style IPA (interesting) and a seasonal Oktoberfest (just ok). We were the only people in there so the staff hung out with us and we all made fun of fizzy beer; they have a thimble sized glass they give to people who order Budweiser or Coors. Back to Portland to Laurelwood for a pint. Had a red ale, usually about as bitter as a pale but with more malt characteristics. Then headed to the New Old Lompoc for another pint. Had a high alcohol IPA made with fresh hops (as opposed to dried hops). The fresh hops gave an interesting bitterness and aroma. It would be like making tea using fresh tea leaves. We ended the night at a poker game. I lost but my friend won the second tournament after I couldn't hit any cards. No beer there, the host was from Kentucky so it was bourbon all around.

We didn't get out the final day till 5 pm. Hung out playing Space Hulk and video games and drinking lots of gatorade. Left to go to a party and ditched out of there to hit one last spot at the all organic Hopworks Urban Brewery for a couple last pints. I'm glad we did, Hopworks made some of the best beer I'd had all trip! I had Fest o'Fury, a beer I don't even know how to classify. I guess it's kind of a cross between an amber and a pale, really dry with a nice sharp bitterness and some malt but not over the top like I find many amber ales. Second pint was a classic IPA and a great way to finish the trip.

Joys of Packing

So while packing I discovered we have 80 bottles of wine and 40 wine glasses.

Does this make us compulsive hoarders or alcoholics?

Home Buying, Part One

So we are thiiiiiis close to buying a house (just picture my fingers really close to each other). We're pretty much all set except for one little hickup. The sellers of the house we're buying are working with a relocation company. That's great but our underwriter needs to know the real relationship between the seller and relocation company to make sure that the seller didn't sell the house to the Reloc company and then have them sell it to us. This would require a second FHA appraisal of the house (at the low low price of $500), and push back our close date a week or two.

So the underwriter said that if the seller provides some documentation outlining their relationship, the second appraisal might not be necessary. So she tells this to our mortgage broker, who passes it along to our realtor, who then tells it to the listing agent, who then tells the relocation company who I guess told the seller. So they get the information (well they get something that they think will be sufficient) and then pass it to the listing agent -> realtor -> mortgage broker -> underwriter who then sits on it for the past five days.

Five agonizing days.

Granted, things could be worse. I have heard way worse horror stories about buying a house and basically being jerked around for weeks on end. I blame the fact that there are like a dozen people involved and they all play a game of telephone trying to get us a house. I can buy a $200,000 car with a signature and an exchange of a pink slip but to buy a house I have to have a loan person, realtor, title person, escrow agent, appraisor, home inspector, and I'm sure there are another half a dozen people getting their share of the home sale.

But we're almost done, we should have our keys soon, and then we'll get our $8k from the government for being first time home buyers!

An Apology?

Kind of:

http://www.pbsblog.com/projects/spacemarines/deathtoys.html

How can it not be with this:

"We'll let you know if other hobbyists are rude and cranky or if it's Warhammer hobbyists in particular."

Followed by:

"It was never our intention to upset anyone, we don't want it to happen again, but no doubt some will still not be happy."

I don't know if this makes him less of an idiot or more so. Either way, he'll still be an idiot.

Space Marines: Won't Someone Think of the Children?

http://www.pbsblog.com/projects/spacemarines/deathtoys.html

Sigh....

Here are a few gems:

"No discussions about ethics are needed here, they would just get in the way of the pure conditioning going on in your child's brain."

"If that's not mind control, tell me what is."

"What about any of this is even tolerable to allow in your house? Who would even think of selling something this sick and inappropriate like a harmless toy, like a Mickey Mouse stuffed animal?"

"THIS IS HOW THEY GET YOU. THIS IS HOW THEY GET TO YOUR KIDS WITHOUT YOU EVER KNOWING IT. "

Regarding the genetic manipulation of Space Marines: "This teaches children to think of being defiled by the government as something cool. I can't speak for you but I've got REAL BIG problem with that."

And the biggest WTF moment: "You don't kill your own brother for anyone. The government does NOT over ride your family. EVER. You protect your family FROM the government if they tell you to kill your own family."


I'm really curious who the poster thinks "they" are? Is Games Workshop really a front for a fascist regime? Do their shareholders know?

It must be hard living life with no imagination and no ability to distinguish fantasy from real life.