DCDayTripper: April 2014

22 April 2014 ~ Happy Birthday to Me!

Listening to: Pink Floyd ~ Time

Nifty Nifty ~ Look Who Is Fifty!

Marshall and Robert presented me with this Beaver hat in honor of my hometown. Thank You!

I rediscovered a liquor store here in Berkeley that has lots of interesting choices. Here is some of what I've been sampling this week.

A 1999 rum from Trinidad.

A Belgium Ale "Delirium Tremors".

And a Kansas City, MO Ale "Long Strange Tripel"

A ~before~ picture.

Then the ~after~ picture. (No, this was actually the first picture I took, just blurry...Hah Hah.)

The liquor store also carries Turkish Rakı, which I haven't been able to find. It was a new brand I hadn't had before, called Burgaz Rakı, and very tasty. It went really well with a Turkish dinner I made recently. Afiyet olsun.

21 April 2014 ~ Fantasy League Champion

Listening to: Blaze Foley ~ Clay Pigeons

After what feels like an eternity (but has probably been more like 10 years) I won the NBA Fantasy Basketball League hosted by my brother.

Hah! I beat 9 guys!

20 April 2014 ~ Easter

Listening to: Hollies ~ Long Cool Woman (In a Black Dress)

Happy Easter!

Nice family photo - we are smiling as we just finished eating birthday cake.

My brother and his kids.

One never knows what the weather will bring in Wisconsin in April. Here are gumball size hail pellets.

Enough to cover the ground.

And then on the day I flew back to California, the temperature was 34 degrees and I had to scrape the ice and snow of the rental car.

And people wonder why I don't live in Wisconsin anymore.

18 April 2014 ~ Cocktails & Around Beaver Dam

Listening to: Marshall Tucker Band ~ Can't You See (6/19/1973, Ultrasonic Studios, NY)

Here is the house I grew up in on Liberty Street. At least no snow (well, for this day anyway).

After Hunter's birthday party, those of us over 21 headed up to our favorite watering hole, Cocktails.

Across the street is the church I attended growing up. We did stop by after services a few times. The best part was we could actually walk from the house.

Here we are enjoying our Old Fashion drinks...as only they can be served in Wisconsin.

Bartender Brian, and my aunt Carol.

My Middle School as seen through my sister's car window.

The local movie theater. The first movie I ever saw there was Jaws in 1978...when I was in 8th grade.

The view of Beaver Dam lake (with a headless fisherman).

16 April 2014 ~ Hunter's Birthday Party

Listening to: Garland Jeffries ~ Dragons to Slay

Whew, survived another Tax Day!

Other notable tragedies of April 15th...President Lincoln died in 1865 after being shot days earlier.

The Titanic sank early in the morning on this day in 1912 after hitting an iceberg in the North Atlantic Ocean while steaming from Southampton England to New York City. 1517 people were lost; only 706 people, 31.8% of the total, survived.

Luckily my grand-nephew Hunter was born on the 11th. We celebrated with blue cake/chocolate frosting (it looked like smurf food but was very tasty).

Lighting the candles.

Blowing out the candles.

Happy to share the day with family and friends. And of course...the presents!

12 April 2014 ~ Beaverfest

Listening to: Little Big Town ~ Pontoon

I came to Beaver Dam, WI, my hometown, for the weekend. My Dad wanted to take me out to dinner for my birthday this month. Today is my great-nephew's 4th birthday party.

I don't have any pictures today, but thought I would share from the Urban Dictionary, one of several meanings of Beaverfest (and the only one viewable my all age groups).

Beaverfest

(bee-ver-fest)–noun
1. An annual celebration once held in Beaver Dam, WI, over Memorial Day weekend where softball teams drank heavily and bands played songs like "Radar Love" and "Keep Your Hands to Yourself." The event's name was changed subsequent to a story in Hustler Magazine where pictures of the Beaver Motel and a sign outside of Beaver Dam which read "Home of 15,000 Busy Beavers."

Beavercdam was held at the park just at the corner of my house street so we got to walk there. And we got to watch the carnies setting up the carnival rides and games.

This is an image of my High School mascot.

6 April 2014 ~ Tas

Listening to: St Paul and the Broken Bones ~ Broken Bones and Pocket Change

I went out with my old teammates for dinner while in London. Here they are after a pint while we waited for a dinner table across the street.

We went out for Turkish at Tas.

They had a group menu deal so we got all of the mezes (appetizers) listed here.

Then we also got to select a main course from this list. I ate the chicken kebabs.

The restaurant was nicely decorated and included Whirling Dervish pictures. I saw them perform once in Washington DC.

I read the book "Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die: Musings from the Road" by Willie Nelson. A simple read, but entertaining. One of my favorite quotes: "Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you'll start having positive results."

And my favorite Joke for Drunks: A drunk went into the bar and asked another drunk what time it was. The first drunk looked at his watch and said "It's thirteen o'clock". The second drunk said, "Let's get out of here! It's later than it's ever been!"

Probably not funny unless you use military time like I do on my clocks.

2 April 2014 ~ St Stephens Tavern

Listening to: Elephant ~ Elusive Youth (Sky Swimming - Debut Album)

I arrived in London yesterday (no April Fool's Joke). I am here for a work conference and will be a speaker on Friday.

I didn't have the opportunity to do anything once I arrived at the Park Plaza Hotel yesterday.

But it's in a great location, right off the Westminster Bridge, near the Eye, and Big Ben. So I took these pictures walking from the Westminster Underground Station to the hotel.