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In this almost empty gin palace . . .

I planned to try out 12 new (to me) gins in 2010. I was going to write about one each month and add a “My Year of Gin” feature to my blog. I gave up on that idea pretty quickly and decided to sample a whole bunch over the course of the year:

ginyear

If you click through to the flickr page, you’ll find notes (and links) on all them. In addition to these bottles (please note that not all of them are empty; I’m not that much of a lush), there are a few I haven’t tried yet, including the “high test” version of Old Raj (110 proof), Blue Gin, and North Shore No. 11. Also, I had a very nice G&T during my November trip to New Orleans using Right Gin, which I haven’t picked up a bottle of yet.

No, I don’t have any resolutions for 2011. Why do you ask?

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Unrequired Reading: December 31, 2010

Happy New Year’s Eve, dear readers! Welcome to the final installment of Unrequired Reading! That’s right! Not a dream! Not a hoax! Not an imaginary story! This feature is O-V-E-R!

For a while now, I felt like I’ve been battling against the tide of instant/mini-blogging by posting a weekly collection of links I enjoyed and wanted to share. The thing is, most of the items I put on Unrequired Reading are recycled from my twitter feed or my facebook page, so it hasn’t made much sense to collect them here, except to allow me to say, “I posted something!”

So, it’s the end of the Unrequired Reading era. I’m planning to use this blog for longer writing, travelogues and the like. If you’re interested in keeping up with those links I posted to Unrequired Reading, then follow my twitter feed: twitter.com/groth18.

Twitter also auto-tweets links to my new blog posts, but adding my RSS feed to your reader will clue you in to any long-form posts I write, as well as my What It Is posts (the necessity of which I’m also reassessing). I really hope to do some longer writing next year, but I make no promises. I’m much more intent on getting a regular podcast series off the ground.

(I know, I know: podcasts are even more passe than short-form link-blogging, but I’ve wanted want to work in that form for a while now, and I think I have a recurring segment that’ll make it something more engaging than The Gil Roth Show.)

If you want to keep up with my pictures, check out my flickr posts here or subscribe via RSS.

In other news, I turn 40 in less than 2 weeks, so if you want to buy me something nice, you can check out my wish list on Amazon.

And now, on with the show! Have a happy new year, dear readers!

Continue reading “Unrequired Reading: December 31, 2010”

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“Dear Continental Airlines” . . .

We made it home from Louisiana last night, following a 650-mile drive in a rented Ford Edge from Cincinnati. I’m busily composing the story of the Rothyssey, which will likely include the “Dear Continental Airlines” letter. Suffice to say that we’re home safe & sound, and our dogsitters were kind enough to offer to keep Rufus & Otis one more night, knowing how zonked we’d be by the post-blizzard trek home (we were supposed to come home on Sunday). I’m off to get the boys now; we’ll see if they still recognize me after a week away.

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Snow Way Home

One of my neighbors just sent me a pic of our snowbound home. She got her snow removal guys to make a sweep of our driveway, and another neighbor came in with his snowblower to help out later. I’m so thankful to have neighbors (okay, friends) who’ll help out like this.

(Looks like less than the 22″ reported in town, thankfully.)

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What It Is: 12/27/10

What I’m reading: I finished Black Swan Green on the 24th, read The Humbling on Christmas Day, and am undecided on what to start. Im tempted to begin Anthony Powell’s A Dance To the Music of Time, but it is 12 books long. I should probably write a post about reading/writing projects.

What I’m listening to: Not Christmas music.

What I’m watching: On the flight down to Louisiana, I watched a Ken Burns doc about Huey Long (which made me want to read All the King’s Men again), and started a second viewing of Danny Boyle’s Sunshine. Amy & I went out to a ratty theater to catch True Grit on Sunday. Of course, A Christmas Story was on its 24-hour rotation. And, if I haven’t mentioned this before, virtually all of my in-laws will watch college bowl games regardless of who’s playing. I also discovered that they would rather watch high school football than an NBA game. Boo…

What I’m drinking: Except for a Beefeater & tonic on Christmas night when Amy & i went to Bistreaux in the French Quarter to listen to my pal Paul Longstreth play piano, I’ve been dry for a week.

What Rufus & Otis are up to: Playing with their grey-girlfriends, Ruby & Willow, while we’re away.

Where I’m going: Back to NJ, I hope. We were supposed to fly home Sunday afternoon, but the blizzard rolled up so quickly that Continental cancelled all flights for that day by Saturday evening. They put us on an early morning Tuesday flight, for which we’ve just checked in. Good thing I always pack a few extra days’ worth of contact lenses.

What I’m happy about: Not being home for the blizzard, which may have dumped around 2 feet of snow on our place.

What I’m sad about: That I started the year with a funeral (my pal Sang) and ended it with one (one of Amy’s elderly relatives).

What I’m worried about: The volume of snow waiting for me when I get home. Bad enough that I parked the car on the roof of the parking garage at Newark; I’m hoping my neighbors remembered to ask their snowplow guy to take care of my driveway, too.

What I’m pondering: Borrowing my mother-in-law’s car and driving in to New Orleans for a few hours today. Also, I keep thinking about Achilles and how that recent reading of The Iliad affected me.

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What It Is: 12/20/10

What I’m reading: Continuing Black Swan Green (not to be confused with Black Swan or Black Swan), and made the mistake of re-reading Jim Woodring’s Weathercraft before going to bed one night.

What I’m listening to: Hounds of Love, Barking, and general shuffle.

What I’m watching: Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work, Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World, Celtics/Knicks, and the last 8 or 9 episodes of season 1 of In Treatment.

What I’m drinking: Ethereal gin & Q-Tonic

What Rufus & Otis are up to: Being bored and running around the house. Amy was sick, and I was pretty zonky, so I didn’t take them on the Sunday hike. Oh, and Rufus demonstrated his sneakysmarts: on Sunday, both of them walked into my home office as part of their strategy of never leaving my side. There was only one dog-bed in the room, and Otis took it. Rufus looked at him for a few seconds, walked out of the room, picked up a squeaky-toy in his mouth, walked back in, and placed it on the floor in front of Otis. O promptly picked it up and started playing with it, and Ru took his spot on the bed.

Where I’m going: New Orleans, if Continental doesn’t throw us off the overbooked flight.

What I’m happy about: Getting the final installment of the $1,900 in vet bills that our neighbor incurred when his dog mauled Ru. That attack took place 19 months and 1 day ago. Go, wheels of justice!

What I’m sad about: It’s more “What I’m pissed about”. My salespeople ignored the deadlines for closing our year-end gigantor directory/profile issue, and then flipped out when I told them that it’s not going to be finished by this Wednesday, for that reason. I’m all for maximizing sales, but it’s been 11 years that we’ve been working together and they never seem to have gotten over the notion that when they’re done selling pages (and directory logos, in this case), the book is magically finished. So I get to spend the next 3 days pounding out pages (except for Tuesday morning, when I have to do interviews for our Jan/Feb issue), and then have to pick it all up again when I’m back in the office on January.

What I’m worried about: Finishing the year-ender by Jan. 4.

What I’m pondering: Whether Rufus was engaging in trickery or negotiation, and what he has planned for us.