I defer comment on the vodka hierarchy for Frosti, who may speak about the Nordic-Finnish hegemony on true vodka.

First! But Saturday does not count. But I did type HEGEMONY, before 10 AM. Off to the farmer's market for Brandywine tomato softballs.

Of course, you can drink 190 proof liquor. Has this man never heard of everclear?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everclear_(alcohol)

That was scary, bc, but certainly believable. Oh how I wish the Dems had an evil genius! Gee I'm glad I don't drink anymore, that everclear stuff sounds deadly. A beautiful clear day here. Perfect for getting chores done and errands run. If all goes well, I'll have an interesting evening and a tale to tell tomorrow.

This part of the wine cellar story made me laugh -
"Done properly, wine cellars can be an enjoyable part of the house. Done improperly, they can really be the Achilles' tendon of the house."

I mean, really...doesn't that just crack you up?

Absolut all the way CP. Though Swedish, it is at least the real deal since the late 1800s vs. Finlandia which was developed for export (since 1971) and is now owned by an American company. Finlandia is produced in a single distillery in Finland, which also produces a domestic vodka-Koskenkorva, but still. I'd like to note the Finns don't call it vodka, they just say viina (hard liquor)because they know it is just industrial strength ethanol.

On a side note, salmiakki flavored Koskenkorva is very popular in Finland. Salmiakki is a salty licorice candy, that can best be described as an acquired taste. I have acquired it, but I must admit it is to candy what lutefisk is to seafood.

sort of on topic - when i was a kid, my father decided to refinish all the wood trim in the house. we stripped the old finish with bacardi 151 because it worked and smelled a lot better than turpentine.

Yes, Mudge, you left me out. My B-day is Tuesday, September 4th. I'm of the age where I try not to think about it. (But, still, I am perfectly pleased when someone remembers.)

My knee is coming along very well. I spent just a short time with the walker before I graduated to the cane. Darling daughter No. 2 is leaving today, convinced that I can make it without her.

If anyone is on the fence about a joint replacement, I say Go For It!

Happy Birthday! Someone? Anyone?

The idea that a winecellar (as mentioned in the linked article) adds value to a home is silly. It just restricts potential buyers to wealthy winos. Now, a slot car track, that adds value. Who doesn't love slot cars? A bathroom in the basement is good, especially if it has facilties for varnishing wooden teeth.

I can't watch this clip of Molly Ivins because I'm poo face bottom DSL but I'll post it for her fans here.
See how unselfish I am?

http://halfempth.blogspot.com/2007/02/molly-ivins-video-from-march-2006.html

Multiple choice quiz for numerically challenged reporters: (Eighty-seven) (87) (4x20+7) (Eight decades and 7) (Four-score and seven) years ago, our (for)(fore)(four)(4)fathers brought (forth)(fourth)(4th) on this continent....

Stephen J. Levitt just blogged about vodka yesterday at the NYT Freakonomics blog. What is this, some kinda friendly wodka blog competition?

http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/08/31/is-vodka-different/#more-1805

Ohhhhh, Boko -- thanks sooooo much for that link to Molly Ivins. I watched it and reveled in it -- man, has this country lost a wonderful, wonderful force when she died.

Good piece of work, Boko. Thanks a million.

Maggie, it's great to hear you're doing well. Happy Birthday! (Mudge, it's my birthday once removed - my sister's is Aug 31. Mine is close to Valentimes [sic] Day.)

And on to copy editing errors. I have a friend whose husband is in the newspaper biz. They live on 5th Street - which she insists should be written with the digit 5, because that's how the city does it - whereas he spells it out - Fifth Street. Too funny.

I have nothing much to say about vodka, except that it was my hard liquor of choice, because it has no smell or taste. And now I learn it is mostly water.

Although I can understand the Platonic purity of the quest, I still find something odd about premium vodka. For to put that much effort into producing a beverage with no discernable flavor at all seems perversely ironic. Now, I have been led to believe that the rationale behind this concept is to produce a liquor that in no way distracts from the subtle flavor of that with which it is mixed. Indeed, long ago, a young woman of my acquaintance described the perfect vodka as being much like the perfect brassiere. It produces the intended effect without one actually being aware of its presence.

I can only assume I am not the target audience for premium vodka, since the most subtly flavored thing I have ever mixed vodka with is Donald Duck Pineapple Orange Juice. The target audience is a former classmate of mine who used to insist that any bottle lacking Cyrillic letters was an abomination. Personally, I don't think he enjoyed drinking the stuff nearly as much as pretending to commune with the spirits of the dead Cossacks.

My mother-in-law also likes good vodka. She has recently discovered flavored vodkas. Whenever we come up for a visit she is eager for me to try a new martini based upon these. (This is but one of many reasons why I am inordinately fond of my mother-in-law.) Her recent discovery is a shockingly expensive vodka flavored with hot peppers. Now, to me it seems rather strange to mix a liquor valued for its lack of flavor with one of the most highly flavored substances known to the civilized world. Might not the same effect be achieved by steeping inexpensive vodka with a few jalapenos? I have wisely kept such observations to myself, though.

For the martinis really are uncommonly good.

frostbitten, although the Ammonium Chloride flavor certainly is certainly an acquired taste, I love Salmiak licorice. I didn't realize it was also used to flavor vodka. I though the only other application was in soldering flux.

>Now, a slot car track, that adds value.

I second the vote on the slot-car track.

I don't really know all that much about vodka, except it seems foolish to pay a lot unless you *are* making fancy martinis. Otherwise (unless radically flavored) it's just getting lost in the mixer. I've found Svedka to be fairly good and about half the price of Absolut.

How could I forget the MO'D Squad! I'm so embarrassed. Happy birthday, Maggie.

I don't care what they say about vodka being bland-- just add a shot of Kahlua to two parts vodka, pour over a tumbler full of crushed ice, add a schpritz of club soda (or not), and sometimes a twist of lime (or not) and I'm a happy camper. Rinse, repeat, and I'm a REALLY happy camper. Rinse, repeat, and I'm crawling on the floor under the table singing (albeit very quietly) Barry Manilow's greatest hits. Possibly "Mandy," I dunno. I doesn't much matter.

The above fine cocktail is called a "Black Russian," and as bc and some other BPHers know, I am fond of them. Not to be confused with a White Russian, which about one bartender in three tends to do, much to my annoyance.

That being said, I am not a vodka snob. I don't insist on "Stoli." I don't insist on Belvedere, or Grey Goose. (Although I admit, they ARE all really smooth, and you can tell the difference on the first drink. On the second drink, not so much. On the third, when you are crawling under the table and closely examining people's shoes while singing "Copacabana" softly to yourself, ordinary old Gilbey's in the two-liter bottle for $9.98 serves just fine.)

I have half a dozen of the high-end vodka bottles that have that beautiful artwork on them, and keep them in the liquor cabinet for decoration. Howvver does the marketing on vodka bottles is head and shoulders above the rest of the crowd: there are some really neat vodka bottles out there.

As a lad, my brother instigated, and I assisted with, the manufacture of a sort of rum or perhaps "cachaca"
(can o' worms:)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Rum
from refined sugar, water, and ordinary bread yeast. When fermentation slowed to a crawl, we made a still from Pyrex glassware, even incorporating a water-cooled Pyrex coil to condense it. My father assisted. He didn't know that our "experiment" was soon ramped up from the mere ounce we obtained, and which he thought was pretty harmless even if we tasted it. As it was only an ounce, and was too strong and alien for teenage boys to develop a taste for. He believed. Years later, my brother told me the rest of the story.
Unbeknownst to my father or me, my brother continued his work and somehow (I must get the details) managed to make about 2 gallons of the stuff and stored it in mason jars. Unsatisfied with the strength, he distilled it twice, and it approached everclear or very strong vodka in potency. He and his friends mixed it with various fruit juices and got bombed.
That summer, he went for a job interview at an industrial chemical plant. The interviewer asked him of his interest in chemistry, and my brother explained his recent hobby. Intrigued, the interviewer peppered my brother with questions. "Well, I happen to have a few quarts in my trunk right now," he said, and they repaired to the parking lot where my brother magnanimously offered a couple of quarts to the interviewer as a gift. He got the job. And a cushy job it was indeed for a high-school boy. Nowadays we live in moonshine country, but I still turn my nose up at the stuff. Copper coils, metal pots, radiators for crying out loud: none of those hillbillies can be trusted to obtain the level of purity my brother and I obtained using all glass equipment and double distillation.

I independently invented the jalapeño vodka drink, in Texas, but could never think of a name for it implying both Texas and Russia.

Jumper, both of my grandfathers had side businesses as bootleggers during the Depression. One wasn't enough of a businessman to trustfund his grandchildren, and the other drank everything he produced, but that huge copper kettle looks so good as a wastebasket in my living room!

Jumper, Moskobite?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moscow,_Texas

Black Texan? Polkatini? A "59-350"?

How about just callin' it a "Slim Pickens?"

Jumper - don't you just hate it when you come up with a great idea just to discover somebody else has already done it? In 1981 I came up with the concept of making gelatin "knox blox" with vodka. I was exceedingly pleased with myself until I learned that the so-called "Jello shooter" dates back at least to the 1950s when Tom Leher is rumored to have made them while working at the NSA.

Which explains quite a lot now that I think about it.

Naw, I'm used to it. Makes for great stories that no one believes. Like when I invented the iPod. In 1987. When 256 kb of EPROM cost $250.

I used to date a Marine when I was in college. Gosh, he was cute. He once took me to a party in the hills of Maryland and the house drink was *purple Jesus*. I took a tiny sip and decided that I wanted to live, so I didn't drink it. He wasn't much of a drinker at any time, so he didn't either. We actually had a great time watching the effects of purple Jesus on most everyone else. I suspect that some of the antics of that night are still recounted up at Camp David.

Whoa - don't want the black helicopters after me. The party wasn't at Camp David, it was just that lots of the party-goers were stationed there.

The Russian word "zaploi" means roughly, "I was so drunk last night I couldn't remember a thing."

Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, whose well-intentioned attempt in the 1980s to reduce alcoholism was a political disaster, tells this story: "This guy," he says, "was standing in line for 10 hours to buy vodka, and finally decided to go to the Kremlin to kill Gorbachev. The next day, the guy was back in the vodka line: 'It didn't work,' he tells the others. 'The line to the Kremlin is even longer.'"

Jumper writes:
I independently invented the jalapeño vodka drink, in Texas, but could never think of a name for it implying both Texas and Russia.

A talking jalapeno overheard in Siberia: "Give me a hug, I'm a little chili."

Does anyone think Putin's abs are hotter than a flying jalapeno?

And this just in on the Russian newswire:

http://www.prschik.com/permanentnews/eng/866

Rexona Shuts Down Their 'Russian Women as Pigs' Campaign
The new campaign for Rexona deodorants called upon all Russian women to kill their 'inside pig', referring to their piggy habits - one of them being specifically the lack of deodorant or antiperspirant use. After a scandalous beginning which received numerous negative responses in Russian-language internet, the Rexona website was shut down, Adme News Agency reports.

Rexona openly declared that women in Russia have a terrible body odor and possess neither remorse nor awareness regarding this issue. The company's promotional website tried to open the eyes of Russian women to educate them on this topic and help them avoid such embarassing problems in the future.

Deodorants Are Used: 8 Times More Often by English Women, 6 Times More Often by German Ladies and 3 Times More Often by Polish Females Then ... by Women in Russia!

According to Rexona deodorant producers, Russian women smell eight times as strongly as English women and six times worse then German females. Even Polish women are three times more likely to have a pleasant body smell then our Russian neighbors. ...

I'm glad we don't have to endure awful and repulsive advertisments in the US.

At our raven's tailgate party,
I've tried some vodka that was infused with espresso, talk about a double shot.
They also have had purple vodka jello shooters before the game as well, although they seem to be enjoyed much more by the younger crowd.

But I just prefer a Mrs. T Bold and Spicy Bloody Mary to get a day off going. Any brand will do the trick.

Kids drink the darnedest things. They literally prefer Jagermeister to single malt scotch. In fact, I forgot the word "Jagermeister" when composing this post, and Googled the phrase "cough syrup liqueur" and it took me right to it. Sigh. These kids.

Jumper's Irish Coffee:
One cup of strong hot coffee, one shot Bushmill's Irish Whiskey, one shot Irish Cream. Be prepared to talk too much. Reciting good poetry is better.

One can see I am ready for some cool weather.

Hi, y'all, I've been away or reduced to quick scans for the past week or so. Work can be a drag.

Maybe 30 yrs ago at a university that should not be named, we would make two buckets of punch for the Christmas party. They both started as fruit plus fruit juice, and one was augmented with ethanol from the reagent cupboard. They were labeled, but because you couldn't tell them apart by taste, people who drank the strong one quickly might have too much before they began to notice the effects, and sometimes might not be able to notice them. Interesting and occasionally hilarious moments would ensue.

Folks... I'm already getting a hangover just listening to all this boozy schmoozing.

I never smelled a bad woman in Moscow-- the dry air, cigarette smoke, and vodka smells were too strong.

There is NO way you can sweat and keep enough on your person for it to stink in the dry indoors air in Moscow when it's January and -30 outside.

I spent 3 hours looking for a drink that was purchasable with american dollars and actually was water, not vodka just so I wouldn't dessicate like a mummy while waiting for my forever-delayed flight.

Vodka is one of the most obscene words in my dictionary, and I'm going off to get a real drink and nurse this hangover.

Orange juice with tabasco sauce and plenty of water should do it.

I have to share this letter to the editor of the Arkansas-Democrat-Gazette I found on the Kiss My Big Blue Butt site.

You may have noticed that March of this year was particularly hot. As a matter of fact, I understand that it was the hottest March since the beginning of the last century. All of the trees were fully leafed out and legions of bugs and snakes were crawling around during a time in Arkansas when, on a normal year, we might see a snowflake or two. This should come as no surprise to any reasonable person. As you know, Daylight Saving Time started almost a month early this year. You would think that members of Congress would have considered the warming effect that an extra hour of daylight would have on our climate. Or did they ? Perhaps this is another plot by a liberal Congress to make us believe that global warming is a real threat. Perhaps next time there should be serious studies performed before Congress passes laws with such far-reaching effects.
CONNIE M. MESKIMEN / Hot Springs

Carry on.

priceless letter, Boko. We get letters to the editor like that A LOT here in southeastern VA. Dang liberals, plotting away....

It snows in Arkansas?

Boko, that letter has been floating around the Internet for years and, sad to say, is a hoax (the writer knew better).

Yes, GWE, Mrs. T does make a good Bloody Mary mix, I agree.

Jumper, would you consent to replacing Bushmill's with Jamison's in that recipe?

Boko, please, tell me that was intended humourously by the writer. If not I fear our southern brethren.

By the way my nose now is in pain after an ill-fated attempt to not spray Pepsi across my work space.

Well, that letter may have been a hoax, but some of the letters that are printed down here sound just like it...sometimes they're downright scary.

Jumper, I have never understood the urge to drink Jagermeister. I prefer to keep it where it is bound to end up anyways, in the trash.

If I want to drink liquor that is odd flavoured I will take schnapps any day.... but I'd much rather have a Glenfiddich.

Just reading this boodle bender makes me need a cab ride.

You just gotta love college football

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/01/AR2007090100813.html?hpid=topnews

And in the big House no Less

Curmudgeon:
No.

Apparently tuna fish with olive oil and pepper helps with the hangover, as does extra quantities of water for the tuna to swim in.

I'm feeling marginally better, but I definitely don't want a hair of the dog that bit me anymore. I'm splitting a cab with Dolphin Michael.

Whatever happened to going offtopic?

Speaking of secret brews, this scientist won't even reveal which plant has the anti-wrinkle charm.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070830102601.htm

I bet it's spinach or cooked carrots.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2000/09/000904124728.htm

And organic food is good for you-- if you're a rat.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/03/050328182123.htm

LOL. Just thought I'd ask.

I've seen this piece on the WaPo website all day and didn't have any wish to read it, but now I'm glad I did. It's a lovely story.

Not to mention there's a curmudgeon and a Joel in it!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/29/AR2007082902031.html?hpid=moreheadlines

And apparently there may be ways to increase storage life of organic food and still keep it organic...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070610201204.htm

Until then, consider growing a victory garden.

The letters to the editor in Kim's locale are so often stupid and unintentionally funny that I turn to them first when visiting the Frostrents.

Yikes! I been hoaxed?
Somebody better tell the newspaper people
O well. It was fun while it lasted.

I don't know why, frosti- I can't find them funny. My husband notes the signs of rising blood pressure as I read them and never fails to ask me why I persist in reading them. I must have a streak of masochism or something.

Mudge, I'm not really as adamant as I posed to be. Fact is, I have had both the 10-yr old and the "original" Bushmill's in my Irish coffee and can't really tell the difference. That's just the brand I buy because it didn't let me down when I first made it. If it's good Irish whiskey, it's probably good Irish coffee.

There is a sort who put bourbon in their coffee. I believe they probably have accidents on quail hunts.

Greenwithenvy, I am proud to say that we were in Boone when the Mountaineers won, and went straight to campus. There we watched students storm the stadium (with soccer practice underway on the field), take down the goalpost near the field house, and run with it down Rivers Street (which separates the dorms from the classroom side). Mr. T and dottir #1 (ASU, Class of 2004) followed them all the way down the hill. Dottir's SO and I watched and then leisurely ambled back up the hill to the car to wait for them. Boone is a honking, screaming mess. As it should be.

Jumper: Odessa is also a city in Texas--just mentioning other options.

Or what's Russian for "Lone Star?"

Slyness, that sounds like a great time! What fun! I'm so glad you all went to witness the excitement.

Mountaineers!

Slyness that is so cool, Did ya get any pictures? I was looking at the games this weekend and having followed ASU the last couple of years I thought they could pull off an upset.

GT is beating up on ND pretty bad too.

Ahhhh, I am glad football is back!!!!

Kim-I can find them funny because I don't live there. Ma Frostbitten's reaction is similar to yours.

>what's Russian for "Lone Star?"<

I believe that might be "Starski Enhutch."

But I could be wrong.

Just with Mr. T's camera phone, GWE. When we left the house, we had no idea the game would turn out as it did - we were just listening to it on the radio as we traveled from one place to another.

I have a moonflower! Hurrah! Hurrah!

Congratulations, RD. Hope you get many more!

Sports on the radio is always fun, sometimes hard to get reception here in the mountains though.

Howdy. I had a roommate my freshman year in college who had emigrated from Russia as a teen. She learned English from TV. That woman could drink vodka like nobody's business. It was fun to watch her drink big, strapping guys under the table. I didn't ever attempt to keep up with her.

I drank Black Russians when I started college; although I did like them, the real reason I ordered them was because they seemed much more sophisticated than the rum 'n coke my peers preferred. Somewhere along the line I switched to bourbon and water. I haven't had a Black Russian in years; wonder if I'd like them still.

If I had a wine cellar, I could buy more than a few bottles at a time. Of course, since my bottles are mostly under $12, perhaps they don't deserve a cellar. Maybe I should have a wine dugout.

A word about Everkleer (tm) -- the alcohol of my youth. Worst drink I ever had was Everkleer and grape koolaid. I once had a friend who got to a party late, asked for a glass of water, and was given a glass of Everkleer. He never did participate in the party. Consciously.

Buyer beware -- IMHO this exemplifies the principal reason not to vote for Republicans, GWB or anyone

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/02/business/02consumer.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

To go back a ways, I recall participating in making PJ in college. The process started with cleaning a plastic wastebasket, washing it well, of course. Then large amounts of grape juice and Everclear were mixed in the wastebasket. The drink was consumed at room temperature, IIRC. My memory says the mixture was 50/50 but somehow I doubt that. I certainly partook but not to excess. At that time, undergraduate drinking was legal.

Huzzah for RD's moonflower!

lone star is odinokaya zvezda.

yeah, russians can put away some vodka. been there, done that.
eat salty and fatty food while drinking to slow absorption.

We got back a while ago from meeting S'nuke, his daughter and his SO for a harborside seafood dinner. Scotty is much like I thought he would be, funny, smart and interesting. The ladies were quite charming as well. What a nice time we had! I passed along the Boodle's birthday wishes (it's Monday) and brought him up to date on the Kit and Boodle as he has been off line for a few days. I'll say it again as I said it after meeting Slyness, I feel very lucky to be part of such a great group of people.

Notre Dame and Michigan losing in week 1? My, what a perfect way to start the college football season.

JA's Outlook column fyi:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/31/AR2007083101468.html

The Sneaks and the S'nukes! Love it!

TGB, beautiful, LOL, wish I'd thought of that!

Wow, Clay Buchholz, Red Sox rookie pitcher in his second major league start just pitched a no hitter!!! First Red Sox rookie ever to do this.

A jalpeno and vodka combination?
From Loomispouse: Hotka!

Looked at JA's outlook piece for tomorrow. Lots and lots of ideas floating around in three pages and two pagejumps--from pewter to pollution in Xian to problematic differences within the EU. Notice the John Winthrop reference in the first sentence?

Joel, Regarding the outlook article, I'm sorry, I don't agree with your Pollyanish view of the future. It may be true the US will continue forever to be the biggest, greatest, etc., but this country has no plans in place to make that happen, whereas others do.

There are pitchers who can throw a no-hitter and pitchers who can't. Of the group that can, compared to the tens of thousands of others, doing it early in their career isn't all that unusual from a statistical point of view -- Bo Belinsky in my lifetime comes to mind.

I would say I totally agree with JA if, fifty years from now, we have significantly reduced our dependence on foreign fossil fuels.

Wow, missed a good day of Boodling here.

Mudge, not only do I know you like Black Russians, I share your taste for them.

However, when I usually see you, I'm probably going to be driving somewhere so I typically don't indulge in them when I'm out (beer and wine are easier for me to manage).

Good day sportswise, I see gwe and others have mentioned App St. beating Mich at home, and the no-no. Maryland won easily over 'nova, despite the less experienced Terp players in the game giving the ball up twice, including a pick returned for a TD with less than a minute to play (Note to Fridge: Brother, you're up 31-7 with a minute to play. Why are you throwing the ball? Sheesh.)

Bad Sneaks, Scottynuke said he and his ladies was going to meet you tonight, I'm glad you had a nice time.

Finally, after reading Joel's Outlook piece, I feel like I need a drink. I think I recognize a few words towards the end...

Seriously, though, the Outlook piece is excellent food for thought. It does cover a lot of territory, but if you tried to write a 50-year history of the world, you'd necessarily have to cover a lot of ground to be thourough.

I'm going to read it again tomorrow before I comment on it. I did like it, but I knew I would because I'm an Idea Guy.

bc

Rd -- happy moonflowers to you and yours....may you have many more.

Jumper, I am with Mudge on the Jameson's; when you have a priest or poet or piper over you may break out the Redbreast, which is the very fine, very peaty, yet silken stuff.

two words: Rocket fuel...the original mind eraser

I need to check with my contact at ASU. I bet out-of-state applications double next year.

Joel's probably right about the US doing nicely over the next 50 years, but the Post should send him to Tokyo, a place that makes the US feel doddering in terms of infrastructure and a lot else, despite the infamous decade-long recession. Airfares should be pretty reasonable right now. ANA/UA offering nonstops from Dulles. Nice view of Anchorage along the way. If Joel doesn't go, could some boodler fill in? The problem for Japan is too few kids. Far too few.

Thinking of the future, the mushrooming of Ciudad de Panamá is astonishing. An alternative to Miami? http://www.municipio.gob.pa/
I'll report on the city in January.

Addendum:
Sarah Stillman's "ON THE HOMEFRONT
Drinking. Brawling. Hurting" is disturbing.

Dave, Joel was in Japan 2 years ago - check the archives from Aug 28-Sep 3. Here's the Tokyo Kit:
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/achenblog/2005/08/shrines_and_skyscrapers.html

Of course, that's when Katrina hit, so he touched on that too. There's also a Kit he wrote when flying over the Yukon.

Where is Achenfan, anyway?

I like no hitters. They're as much about defense as pitching - the whole team has to be clicking. Or at least that's how it seems to me on the ones I know about. We had a couple in fairly close succession from the Mariners - one where Vizquel made a bare-handed catch to make an out. I was at a game where Randy Johnson had a no hitter going till the late innings, then gave up 1 hit. Pretty cool.

Good Morning Boodle!!
I was trying to go all night/morning without coffee, but I caved in just a few minutes ago. I was reading the sunday morning grocery flyer and my eyes were getting heavy. It is supposed to be another Beautiful day, I hope everyone enjoys it.

Good morning, greenwithenvy, and all! Gwe, I congratulate you on being able to entertain the concept of morning without caffeine. I encourage you to keep trying. The main reason I never started the coffee habit is because the idea of not being able to wake up without it is scary to me. Well, that and I never liked the taste.

I couldn't be any more off-topic but want to post this Leonard Pitts article, great for Sunday Morning; warning to those who are averse to such things, the subject is the existence of G-d. Pitts is a good writer, and gives the subject a very nice treatment.

http://www.miamiherald.com/living/columnists/leonard_pitts/story/221804.html

Happy Birthday Mo!

Beautiful but oool morning here today, laughed at all the comments yesterday - active boodle for a Saturday.

Bad Sneaks glad you had a nice dinner with the Snuke clan.

Finished my summer long project of moving rocks yesterday - glad its done, but my muscles are aching.

Have a great day all.

Dave, with back-to-back football championships in their league, Appalachian had 14,000 applications for their freshman class this fall. There are approximately 12,000 students on campus.

Good morning, everyone.

Perhaps a thought for later, but I wonder how earlier grape harvests worldwide - and the resulting changes in wine production - could affect France's very subtle plan for returning to global domination.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/01/AR2007090101360.html

Personally, I've already started harvesting the grapes in the back yard. Ususally, they're not ready until after Labor day, but I'm not complaining. They're delicious.

bc

'Morning, Boodle. There's a lot to chew on on the WaPo home page this morning, with Joel's Outlook piece the top item in the Outlook section. But right below it is a darn good piece by somebody named Sarah Stillman that I'd regard as "must reading": http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/31/AR2007083101395.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

The British general who lead Britain's troops in Iraq blames everything on Rumsfeld and uses the term "intellectually bankrupt." Hard to disagree with that one.

Right below Joel and the Outlook Box is the "On Faith" box, which irritates me just by its existence, but be that as it may, the lead item is a flamethrower piece by Sam Harris which strips the paint off religion. I mean, debate is nice, but jeez.

My favorite headline, though, is "GOP Faces Dim Prospects in '08," to which I respond with: awwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.

I suppose the good news is, this is the last Sunday for five moinths without a pro football game. I realize that may be sad news for some of you, but c'est la guerre.

Weather's s'pposed to be good today; everybody have a good one.

Mornin' all...

Beautiful day here, as well. Cool, dry and sunny... just the way I like it.

Just finished Joel's Outlook piece. I particularly liked the quote he closed with: "But the antidote is everywhere. The antidote is being American."

I'm assuming that "being American" is meant in the traditional sense -- and couldn't agree more. Unfortunately, to do so would most likely land one on the "no fly" list or worse.

Heck... if the Founding Fathers were around today, I'd expect most of them would learn firsthand what it's like to be "extraordinarily renditioned".

Regarding vodka... I think I've mentioned here before that my "martooni" handle originated in the offline world back when I was a bartender. I worked in a neighborhood bar that attracted a pretty diverse crowd -- kind of an every-collar mishmash of laborers, professors, businessmen, drug dealers, you name it. Anyway, I was on a martini kick and started experimenting (I love experimenting) and came up with quite a few unique recipes. Every day I posted a new one on the special board and they came to be known as "Martoonis" (and they sold quite well). Eventually, the name became attached to me personally and I've since carried it online.

btw... I prefer gin martinis -- especially ones with a few drops of Blue Curacao and a "real" lemon twist (not just a wrung-out lemon slice).

Of course, my favorite poison is whiskey, preferably of the Irish variety. Jameson's rocks. Redbreast... eh... my palate must not be educated enough. Bushmill's isn't too bad (Blackbush was damn good), but Jameson's will always hold a special place in my liver.

...nervously awaiting the arrival of the thundering herd...house has been spruced up and semi-childproofed, dangerous medicine removed to high ground...dinner (my wife's legendary, superb chicken suise enchiladas) has been made in advance and only awaits baking in the outdoor grill...invasion fleet expected to hove into view at approx. 1300 hours, though I've doubled the lookouts and set up the storm rigging...

New kit (hours ago BTW)

I've built a wine cellar into 2 different low-end townhouses (reusing the shelves when I moved). It doesn't have to be a McMansion thing; if you have more than 100 bottles, and have a little space in the house, it's well worth it just from a point of organization - not to mention keeping those special bottles safe and in a good environment.

A 6' x 9' corner in a basement can be turned into a fully-functioning cellar less than a week, with just 2 people doing the carpentry, and no pre-fab kits.