Those of you familiar with my refrigerator's click, will be happy to know it's gone, not however before the refrigerator stopped working.  As a result when I got home from the week in NJ last Thursday night I was greeted to a fridge that was room temp. Which meant nearly everything had to go.

Fortunately since I travel all the time everything consisted of 2 shelves of condiments and spreads, and that's probably OK, I think I've had that ketchup since I moved to Chicago.

The part that was most depressing was the wast of alcohol.  Through various parties I had a decent stash of beer.  To be fair it's not like it was a artisanal collection that I'd spent hundreds on, and in fact I was never going to drink it, but it was good to know it was there when others came over and wanted a brewski.  So thanks to all the party goers late last year who stocked up.  But know the next time I'll really be starting from nothing.

I took a photo before dumping everything.

Inventory:

• 7 - Heineken
• 3 - Sam Adams
• 3 - Hacker-Pschorr
• 2 - Goose Island 312
• 1 - Magic Hat - Winter Seasonal
• 1 - Sam Adams Light
• 1 - Coors Light
• 1 - Miller Lite
• 2 - Bud Light cans (yea they embarrassed me too, that's why I hid them in the back)

To be fair to GE I went online last Friday, scheduled an appointment for this morning between 8AM and noon, the guy was here by 8:15, and gone by 8:30, he spent most of his time pulling the fridge out and pushing it back.  The board went bad, he replaced it under warranty.  So I do appreciate the efficiency of the repair, however, I still think it's ridiculous that the board went bad in less than 5 years.

So kudos to GE for efficiently repairing and not charging, boo to the fact that their product went bad in such a short time, it's just as much companies, as it is consumers fault we live in such a disposable society.

It’s time to plan a couple of fun (back to back) weekend trips!

Who’s coming with?!?

First up:

What: The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage festival.

When: Fri April 24- Sun April 26

Why: I can talk for hours about the Big E-Z, The Crescent City!  We’ll start with great food, cocktails and music and go from there.

Where: I have reservations at the Renaissance Pere Marquette Hotel

Who: Everyone who’s Anyone!

What: Loose itinerary:

• Friday - Drinking in the French Quarter (The hurricane was invented here)
• Saturday
  • Catch the bus to the Jazz Fest. 
  • Dinner at Commander’s Palace. (Featured this month as one of Saveur’s “12 restaurants that matter”)
  • More drinking (a Mint Julep to prepare for next weekend, perhaps). 
• Sunday
  • Beignets at Café Du Monde
  • Cocktails to go – Bloody Mary, Mimosa, Screwdriver take your pick.
  • Lunch at Port-of-Call (best Baked Potatoes and Burgers of your life)
  • Cocktails as we walk back to the hotel, off to the airport.

Followed the next weekend by:

What: The Kentucky Derby

When: Race is Sat May 3.  (Probably leaving Friday and returning Saturday)

Why: I just bought a new outfit (anyone know how to tie a bow tie?), and I’ve never been.  Besides who doesn’t love all the ladies in large floppy hats.

Where: I have reservations at the Fairfield Inn Louisville South

Who: Whoever!

What: I’ve never been to Louisville (or a horse race for that matter) but it sounds fun, right?  Some of my friends who are going have been to town many times and assure me it’s loads of fun.

Yup I'm still around. Rather than trying to recap the last several months I'm going to talk about my family trip over Christmas and New Year's.

Ever since Thanksgiving 2006 we (Mom, Dad, my sister, and I) have been talking about a trip at Christmas time. In 2006 we came chose to going to Hawaii, but didn't. this year we link the plunge and headed Is my favorite country and city... Italy!

We found flights departing on Christmas dg and returning the first Friday of the New Year. Non, my parents (and sister, but more on that later) had never bun to Europe, let alone Italy before, so we decided on a week long bus tour to see me than just Rome. Iprsteskd and said we needed more than the scheduled 1.5 days in the eternal city, if you did the math you realize he were gone more than a week, so we had a couple of days before the tour in Rome, and a day after.

I'm back in the windy city, after 2 weeks away.  I spent last weekend visiting Sean and Melissa in Hoboken.  Gloriously last Thursday was the first big winter storm of the season in Chicago, so after being several hours delayed getting out of DSM I got to spend 3 hours at ORD, my 6pm flight to Newark didn't take off until 9:30, so I didn't land until after midnight on the east coast.  In addition the flight was full of "slight to heavy chop" pretty much the entire way.  I'm pretty sure a couple of wine glasses were broken at one point.

So, since it was so choppy, and I hopped on a differnt flight out of DSM I didn't get nearly as drunk as I'd hoped in first class.  At least the service was good.  Then on the flight back into DSM on monday we were delayed for a couple of hours, and the jet bridge didnt work in DSM, so we sat at the gate for 15 minutes while they dicked around with it.  The silver lining came on Tuesday when I received an unsolicited e-mail from UAL apologizing for Thursday's delay, and crediting me 8000 miles.  Today I was concerned we were going to be in trouble due to high winds in Chicago, the flight 2 flights before mine was delayed for over and hour, the flight right before mine was cancelled.  Fortuantly we boarded early, and got our delay lifted, and actually landed early.  Joyiously (and as to be expected) traffice has been horrible.

So, last Friday we went into Manhatten, I got to see Melissa's office (in the Wall Street Journal building), and we went to a great russian reasteraunt.  The flavor infused vodka was great (And inspired Sean to try to make his own later in the weekend), and the food duck was quite tastey too.  However, the salt lick that Melissa and Sean shared left me quite parched from the couple of bites I had.  The caviar was lovely, although the samon variety was a bit too salty/fishy for my taste.  We were shit faced and home by 1.

Saturday we did a bit of shopping on 5th avenu (I know the magnificant mile doesn't have much shopping going on, so I had to go to NYC).  We saw the tree at Rockafeller center.  In fact while we were looking down on the skating rink we watched a guy drop to one knee and propose, it was kinda neat.  That evening we stayed in Hoboken, and went to meet up with a couple of Sean's friends at a swanky new resteraunt/loung.  IT was a realy fun place.  The drinks were a pricieer than the pub we started at, but that was to be expected.

Thanks for the Link Scott!

Bacardi 151 Congratulations! You're 134 proof, with specific scores in beer (60) , wine (133), and liquor (95).

All right. No more messing around. Your knowledge of alcohol is so high that you have drinking and getting plastered down to a science. Sure, you could get wasted drinking beer, but who needs all those trips to the bathroom? You head straight for the bar and pick up that which is most efficient.

"You are generous to an extreme and always think of the other fellow."

Does anyone love fortune cookie fortunes as much as I do? Aren't they great? Always good for a laugh!!

mmmm crack donught....

So the line was still emense this morning, so we had to pass, but some other kind soul brought some in. So now i've had one, i'm ready for another 6 or so...