biodork

lol sorry, I'm still a noob with the whisky and trying to find the best way to drink it. :blush: Adding water to good liquor just feels wrong, but I need something to tone it down for me while I get acclimated. I'll get there!

Nifty soapstone glasses for chilling (but not diluting) your drink: http://www.thinkgeek.com/homeoffice/mugs/e9e9/?cpg=165CP&link They look like sake glasses, but neat idea. I've definitely struggled with getting the amount of ice right to chill but not ruin my scotch.

If you ever find yourself in Northern California, check this place out: http://www.eelriverbrewing.com/index.html The bf and I stopped there for lunch on vacation a few years back, and it was good stuff!

Here's to many more of those. :beer:

If you ever find yourself in the vicinity of central PA (Harrisburg / Lancaster), this place has some good brews: http://www.lbcharrisburg.com/OurBeer.html The Strawberry Wheat sounds girlie but it's a nice light beer with more strawberry aroma than flavor (not sweet). The Winter Warmer is a huge seller in the colder months, and it's not listed here but they sometimes make a Belgian Triple late fall / early winter that is insanely popular (and 12% ABV). The Oktoberfest was always a winner, too. I'm not much of a beer drinker personally, but I like learning about the stuff (used to tend bar at LBC Harrisburg).

Yikes. Definitely too much at once... sorry to hear that.

Haha - good shirt. I like this one; I got it for my dad (he's a fair-skinned redhead), and sadly it took him a few minutes to get the joke!

:cry:

This song is kinda weird, but the funny dancing and costumes make the video worth a watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQ6zr6kCPj8

You might try using it to make a caipirinha -- very limey, but it's meant to be made with cane rum and the lime cuts the sweetness.

teehee

Can't vouch for it personally, but my friend's husband loves FECKiN.

:o LOL

I got home later than expected last night from work, and my dog had crapped on the floor and tracked it all through the kitchen and (carpeted) dining room. So before I could even sit down, I had to spot clean the rug, mop the floor, and give my dog a bath to get the rest of the crap off his feet. It's a good thing I love that little bugger. Why can't he just poop and walk away?

Absolutely! Especially in the off-season, when there isn't nearly enough hockey news to keep everyone entertained. Definitely agree on the drink for every environment, too... I usually go back to vodka (Stoli O) and cranberry when out with friends, and I make mojitos at home when it's hot since they are so refreshing. The whisk(e)ys I generally only do if I have time to relax and sip, and I'll probably have more occasion / inclination once it's colder outside. It's fun learning about all the different types and experimenting with new varieties.

Maybe I have it wrong, but I always thought dry vermouth was for vodka/gin martinis and sweet vermouth was for Manhattans? Never heard of someone using dry vermouth for a Manhattan.

Okay, just so I don't embarrass myself in the event I ever need to say this one out loud: how on earth do you pronounce that? In my head I'm hearing the Three Stooges but I'm pretty sure that's not it.

Too many posts to reply to everyone, but love all the suggestions and advice! I've been keeping a "cheat sheet" of the brands to look for so I'm prepared when I go out. :thumbsup: The bf drinks Oban, so I may have to retry his one of these days. Lately he's been talking about taking a trip to Ireland, and after this thread the first thing I thought of was whiskey tasting, haha. Not sure how serious he is about it just yet, but that would be pretty sweet. And Eleven, I'm going to hold you to that. :)

Darn Masters thesis kept me from pursuing this further until more recently, but I did buy the book that Braedon and Weave recommended and it's a good read. Thus far I've tried more scotch than bourbon; the MacAllan 12 is good, and I picked up a bottle of this when it was on sale around Father's Day. Still working on acquiring the taste, but I don't hate it. I tried Knob Creek bourbon the other day and holy cow, that one burns! I've yet to try a Manhattan because the idea of vermouth is a little off-putting, but I'm still curious and plan to give it a whirl. Thinking about getting some of those nifty ice cube makers from the article nobody linked, or maybe these. Edit: Almost forgot, but I did try Buffalo Trace bourbon and that is a winner... it was kind of a girlie drink (apple smash), but very good.

Sucks, doesn't it? Meanwhile the guys at the top of the organizations are getting rich. Our CEO works part-time and lives out of state, yet was paid over $1M this last year essentially to show up for photo opps. That included a bonus and incentive income of almost $200K. :sick:

I feel your pain, but I'm still jealous of you guys... we don't get any regularly scheduled performance reviews where I work, and two of the last three years we've been asked to forgo our cost-of-living (hah) increases of 2-3%. So, my last raise was Sept. 2008. We just applied for a promotion because I've since accumulated 3 more years of experience in my position, taken on the responsibility of training another full-time employee, and finished my Masters degree (in my field). And for all of this, my boss can request a 4-8% increase, tops. I love my job, but at this rate I'll never get out of debt. :cry:

I'm sorry to hear about your luck, Knightrider... I saw this article not long ago and perhaps it might help you? http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/06/09/miscarriage.not.fluke.ep/index.html And for my (extremely minor) complaint: that funny cat video XC posted the other day has been removed from YouTube due to some sort of copyright issue, so now I can't share it with anyone else! :thumbdown:

Freaking human resources. We turned in the paperwork to apply for my promotion the first week of May, and after several rounds of inventing new forms and delaying for no good reason, finally received word yesterday that the promotion was approved. That sounds great, except the amount is going to be just enough to cover the payments on the student loans I took out to do my Master's, and still leaves me grossly underpaid for my level of experience. On top of that, since they took almost two months to finish my review and we get paid monthly (today), I won't see the increase until the end of July, AFTER the first loan payment is due. :censored:

Yeah, I know... I purposefully didn't "friend" the secretary for that reason, but unfortunately the other girl did. I have something like 43 "friends" on Facebook and I think at least half of them are people I would consider friendly acquaintances whom I would rather not know my business, so I don't put much in the way of personal stuff on there. Ah well. Lesson learned, I suppose.

Yesterday I was reminded why I dislike Facebook. A week or so back, a girl at work posted something about her boss having just shown up at 12:45pm. They do not get along, but no one really likes or respects this guy because he's the type of smarmy jerk who is more concerned with making himself look good than he is with actually doing any work. So her comment (naturally) spawned a few responses from others who know this guy, and I had posted something to the effect that it must be nice to get paid 6-8x more than I do and work half the hours and called the guy a douche. Yesterday we find out that the boss's former secretary (who still works in the building and is "friends" with the girl) printed out a copy of the comment and showed it to him. The secretary is one of these middle aged ladies that always wants to be chummy with everyone and hang out, but then she turns around and does this kind of thing, which is particularly annoying because she doesn't even work there anymore! Needless to say, the boss is pretty pissed-off. Fortunately, he has nothing over me (not my boss), and since he's a non-confrontational prick, he'll never say anything to me. Unfortunately, he's making his employees a little miserable in an attempt to get to me, which I feel badly about. Damn you, Facebook.