I've learned the following about beer through many beer hunts, brewery tours, sampler sets, blog entries (V) and sipping of the frosty brew.
1. I now know what things like lacing, mouth-feel and tannins are.
2. I realize that I enjoy the story behind the beer more than the beer itself sometimes.
3. There's a massive beer community that gets very little respect from liquor store owners and Wine snobs.
4. I don't like High ABV beers. They're just not for me.
5. I like banana-ey beers. Not the banana bread one, but I like the banana after tones of many hefe's. I could almost go so far to say I like beers with a fruity taste, like
6. I like light colored beers despite proclaiming myself a "Stout" man.
7. While Guinness is still my number two favorite beer, it's not the same as a true Microbrew stout. In fact it's not even in the same league.
8. Liquor store owners can either be the most helpful and accomodating person or the biggest asshole or jerk.
9. I LOVE the thrill of the hunt of either rare or hard to find beer. I love things like serial numbers, limited production, special days, seasonal brews and anything that's illegal in the US and/or near impossible to get.
10. My favorite beers are, in no order....Koenig Ludwig Weissbier, Guinnes Stout, Westvleraten 10 and then 8, Founders Breakfast Stout, to name a few.
11. It's ok if I don't like the beers others do, especially the heavy bourbon and whiskey beers. They can like it, I don't have to, and it doesn't mean I don't appreciate a good beer, just not THOSE beers.
12. When you wear a PIG shirt in a small town at a local bar you get stared at.
13. Mohawks attract attention, not always the right kind.
14. Cooking your own steak on a stone at the table is awesome.
....
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Resume tips from an IT Manager
I've been reviewing hundreds of resumes lately and I have a few tips. I know these are all published elsewhere, but here's my suggestions and pet peeves.
1. Use a consistent font, and preferably one that is nice and clear. Good choices are Calibri (my fave), Times New Roman, Arial, etc. Avoid flashy or weirdly justified fonts.
2. Be consistent in your format. If you underline one heading underline the next one, don't change bullet types mid resume, make font size consistent throughout, etc.
3. Use the goddamn spellchecker. Multiple or blatant misspellings will get you DQ'ed instantly with me.
4. Put accurate contact information and indicate which you'd like me to use. Your email address should be professional and not ostenatious. Avoid things like partydude@gmail.com, hot_biker_dude@yahoo.com and l33thax0r@hotmail.com. These are lame and have no business on a resume. Also, if the number 420 is anywhere in your email you won't get a call from me, I'm not an idiot.
5. Understand that I WILL look you up on MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. These represent you and your professionalism. I won't discriminate based on race, religion or that other stuff, but if your MySpace background has pot leaves on it or swastika's (to name a few) don't wait near your phone.
6. I don't care about perfect attendance in high school, if you were in the Thespians Club or if you were Employee of the Month at Dairy Queen. What I want to see if relevant work experience, education and affiliations. It's great that you set the state discuss record, but I really don't give a shit. Only put down RELEVANT job histories. If this is your first resume that's fine, I'd rather have you put that down rather than try and relate Waffle House Cook to what we do.
7. References are lame and I never call them. No one ever puts down someone voluntarily who will not vouch for them.
8. If your GPA is under 3, don't put it on their, I'm less likely to call. Why advertise you're dumb?
9. Avoid obvious BS and lengthy objectives. Your objective is to get a job, I get it.
And in conclusion....
10. Be reasonable. If you're a recent college grad you're not going to get into managment. Accept entry level work. And don't ask for $45k a year and stock options. I don't care if you graduated Summa Cum Laude, in IT you need to prove yourself and all that paper shows me is that you're able to memorize stuff and see something through to completion. These are great skills, however they don't mean you're worth more to me than someone who has 5 years of OJT and can handle himself/herself during a real live IT crisis.
1. Use a consistent font, and preferably one that is nice and clear. Good choices are Calibri (my fave), Times New Roman, Arial, etc. Avoid flashy or weirdly justified fonts.
2. Be consistent in your format. If you underline one heading underline the next one, don't change bullet types mid resume, make font size consistent throughout, etc.
3. Use the goddamn spellchecker. Multiple or blatant misspellings will get you DQ'ed instantly with me.
4. Put accurate contact information and indicate which you'd like me to use. Your email address should be professional and not ostenatious. Avoid things like partydude@gmail.com, hot_biker_dude@yahoo.com and l33thax0r@hotmail.com. These are lame and have no business on a resume. Also, if the number 420 is anywhere in your email you won't get a call from me, I'm not an idiot.
5. Understand that I WILL look you up on MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. These represent you and your professionalism. I won't discriminate based on race, religion or that other stuff, but if your MySpace background has pot leaves on it or swastika's (to name a few) don't wait near your phone.
6. I don't care about perfect attendance in high school, if you were in the Thespians Club or if you were Employee of the Month at Dairy Queen. What I want to see if relevant work experience, education and affiliations. It's great that you set the state discuss record, but I really don't give a shit. Only put down RELEVANT job histories. If this is your first resume that's fine, I'd rather have you put that down rather than try and relate Waffle House Cook to what we do.
7. References are lame and I never call them. No one ever puts down someone voluntarily who will not vouch for them.
8. If your GPA is under 3, don't put it on their, I'm less likely to call. Why advertise you're dumb?
9. Avoid obvious BS and lengthy objectives. Your objective is to get a job, I get it.
And in conclusion....
10. Be reasonable. If you're a recent college grad you're not going to get into managment. Accept entry level work. And don't ask for $45k a year and stock options. I don't care if you graduated Summa Cum Laude, in IT you need to prove yourself and all that paper shows me is that you're able to memorize stuff and see something through to completion. These are great skills, however they don't mean you're worth more to me than someone who has 5 years of OJT and can handle himself/herself during a real live IT crisis.
Monday, June 16, 2008
Horrible day
Today was a horrible day at work. I had 2 on vacation, 1 stuck at a client, 2 home in bed from late night work, a new guy starting and 2 leaving early for drs appts. Left us extremely short handed and made for a tense day.
Got some good stuff done, but found out a good sized customer was bought and upper management got canned. Things like that make me worry, but not too much, nothing I can do.
Golfed in a Best Ball tournament on Saturday. On Friday night I bought my new driver, it's a Nike Sasquatch Sumo2 square. It's ridikkulusly large and makes a hell of a noise when hitting it. I hit it well on the swing trainer and pretty consistent on the course. I had a few errant drives, but I definitely got some additional distance.
One thing that was funny was we had this douchebag in our foursome and he was spouting lines from Larry the Cable Guy, Caddyshack, Happy Gilmore and more all day long. He really needs to work on his comedic timing because 20 times a hole every hole is not funny. Also, a funny thing happened. The 8some behind us hit into us about 2 holes in. And I mean REALLY hit into us, like dangerously close and they knew we were there. We politely asked them not to do that. On the very next hole we're on the green and here come a ball, not 5 feet from 2 of our golfers. Then another, then a third falls short of the green, then another in the trees near us...etc.
So, we of course all got pissed off, me perhaps more than others as I hate assholes and also because I was one of the ones close to getting hit. So, we put out and I look up the fairway and don't see them yet....oops, my putter shoots out of my hands and jacks the ball into the lake. Hmmm, I guess they didn't drive the green on that par 4 after all. :) I had a little remorse, but not much.
Tomorrow we have a management offsite at a hotel. Our second one in a month, should be a barrel of laughs. I'm very frustrated right now, but not suffering from anxiety, so I guess that's good. I am looking very much forward to our vacation to the Wisconsin Dells next week though. We'll leave here on Saturday and come back the following Sunday. Should be a blast.
Ok, all for now. L8r.
Got some good stuff done, but found out a good sized customer was bought and upper management got canned. Things like that make me worry, but not too much, nothing I can do.
Golfed in a Best Ball tournament on Saturday. On Friday night I bought my new driver, it's a Nike Sasquatch Sumo2 square. It's ridikkulusly large and makes a hell of a noise when hitting it. I hit it well on the swing trainer and pretty consistent on the course. I had a few errant drives, but I definitely got some additional distance.
One thing that was funny was we had this douchebag in our foursome and he was spouting lines from Larry the Cable Guy, Caddyshack, Happy Gilmore and more all day long. He really needs to work on his comedic timing because 20 times a hole every hole is not funny. Also, a funny thing happened. The 8some behind us hit into us about 2 holes in. And I mean REALLY hit into us, like dangerously close and they knew we were there. We politely asked them not to do that. On the very next hole we're on the green and here come a ball, not 5 feet from 2 of our golfers. Then another, then a third falls short of the green, then another in the trees near us...etc.
So, we of course all got pissed off, me perhaps more than others as I hate assholes and also because I was one of the ones close to getting hit. So, we put out and I look up the fairway and don't see them yet....oops, my putter shoots out of my hands and jacks the ball into the lake. Hmmm, I guess they didn't drive the green on that par 4 after all. :) I had a little remorse, but not much.
Tomorrow we have a management offsite at a hotel. Our second one in a month, should be a barrel of laughs. I'm very frustrated right now, but not suffering from anxiety, so I guess that's good. I am looking very much forward to our vacation to the Wisconsin Dells next week though. We'll leave here on Saturday and come back the following Sunday. Should be a blast.
Ok, all for now. L8r.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Ping Golf Balls
I'm getting ready to golf again on Saturday and decided to try and find a sleeve of my favorite balls from when I was a kid. I remember golfing all day during the week at Spring Creek in Spring Valley, IL and using some of my hard earned money to buy the cool 2 color Ping golf balls. At one time I'm sure that every ball in my bag was a 2 color Ping, man was I COOL! Anyway, it turns out Ping got out of the golf ball industry in 1997 and now the balls go for big money on Ebay. I'll still try and get lucky and find some cheap, but I doubt I'll have much luck. If you're either like me and loved these balls or have no idea what I'm talking about check out this great FAQ here.
http://reviews.ebay.com/Tips-for-Collecting-Two-Colored-Ping-Eye-Golf-Balls_W0QQugidZ10000000000763235
Also, check out this site : http://www.pingballs.com/ Click on Colors and Values on the left. Those prices are PER BALL people! I know for a fact that I had a Jordan ball and the 8 ball. Who would've thunk in 1990 that I would have a few golf balls, that if kept would be worth more than all my clubs combined and probably have paid for my golf membership for those 3 years I played all that golf.
Another golf memory that just came to me was the Wilson Firestick. It was one of the first jumbo headed drivers and was still actually made from wood. I remember buying it from Jimmy Thompson, the Junior Pro at Edgewood for the whopping price of $100. Man, I was a stud back then. Had the headcover to match.
Ok, enough of a trip down amnesia lane.
http://reviews.ebay.com/Tips-for-Collecting-Two-Colored-Ping-Eye-Golf-Balls_W0QQugidZ10000000000763235
Also, check out this site : http://www.pingballs.com/ Click on Colors and Values on the left. Those prices are PER BALL people! I know for a fact that I had a Jordan ball and the 8 ball. Who would've thunk in 1990 that I would have a few golf balls, that if kept would be worth more than all my clubs combined and probably have paid for my golf membership for those 3 years I played all that golf.
Another golf memory that just came to me was the Wilson Firestick. It was one of the first jumbo headed drivers and was still actually made from wood. I remember buying it from Jimmy Thompson, the Junior Pro at Edgewood for the whopping price of $100. Man, I was a stud back then. Had the headcover to match.
Ok, enough of a trip down amnesia lane.
Panic and Anxiety
Well, my panic and anxiety has hit an all new high, or is it low? Either way, you get the drift.
I've had GAD (general anxiety disorder) for about 7 years, and I've had runs of good times and runs of very bad times. Right now, I'm at an all new low. I'm having panic attacks pretty much every night, and am feeling some anxiety during some days. I know what my triggers are but they're unavoidable, so I'm trying to deal.
I took today off work and went to the doctor and told him my Lexapro wasn't doing shit and is now weaning me off of that and putting me on Effexor XR and Xanax XR. I've previously had a prescription for Xanax, but that is only to "get me off the ledge" during a bad attack. On the scale of seriousness my recent attacks have been about a 4/10 with some at a 8/10. It's been a nightly thing for almost 2 months and for the first time ever its affecting my job and personal life.
I had to cancel a business trip to Atlanta that I was looking forward to because my anxiety is much worse away from home. Also, we have a vacation planned for two weeks from now and I need to get it under control so I can travel for that. I know, how stupid is it that I'm stressing over vacation, but that's the case. Is anyone else battling anxiety right now? I know in the past there's been a few.
I've had GAD (general anxiety disorder) for about 7 years, and I've had runs of good times and runs of very bad times. Right now, I'm at an all new low. I'm having panic attacks pretty much every night, and am feeling some anxiety during some days. I know what my triggers are but they're unavoidable, so I'm trying to deal.
I took today off work and went to the doctor and told him my Lexapro wasn't doing shit and is now weaning me off of that and putting me on Effexor XR and Xanax XR. I've previously had a prescription for Xanax, but that is only to "get me off the ledge" during a bad attack. On the scale of seriousness my recent attacks have been about a 4/10 with some at a 8/10. It's been a nightly thing for almost 2 months and for the first time ever its affecting my job and personal life.
I had to cancel a business trip to Atlanta that I was looking forward to because my anxiety is much worse away from home. Also, we have a vacation planned for two weeks from now and I need to get it under control so I can travel for that. I know, how stupid is it that I'm stressing over vacation, but that's the case. Is anyone else battling anxiety right now? I know in the past there's been a few.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Surprise!
Well, the surprise party for Kris on Saturday was a great success and I think everyone had a great time. I am working on uploading some pictures of the event to the blog and you have any good ones please send them to me, I'd love to have copies. Thanks to everyone from coming, especially those who drove long distances, I know it was appreciated by Kris and I.
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