I was playing with DarkTree and Bryce this evening and made my first image for 2004.

I've been told that I write too much about beer - that it seems like all I do is drink. Apparently this is a problem, though I don't know why. Hic.

Let's see, non-beer stuff. Hmmmm. Oh yeah, today I went to Home Depot to buy some new flourescent lights for my pool table. I wanted 8' 60-watt lights to match the two that weren't burned out. This idiot at Home Depot started an actual argument with me about what length lights I wanted. He said that pool table lights are 48" and not 8' and he knows this because he's some kind of pool god apparently. I guess he just works at Home Depot between big-time gambling sessions. The fucker was actually snickering when I walked away with my box of 8' lights.

On a completely unrelated note, what's up with all this damn rain we're having here? It's January godamned 4th and all it's done for the past week is rain. If it was thirty degrees colder, like it's supposed to be on January goddamned 4th, we'd have a foot of snow covering the other few feet of snow we'd have already had if it had been colder last week. If I wanted rain in December and January I would have stayed in Seattle.

Apparently in my pre-Christmas cleaning I managed to lose my November bank statement. So tonight I'm sitting here with December's, all ready to balance my checking account, but I can't because November's statement is gone. I suppose I can get a copy from my bank tomorrow. This just pushes me even further into the "Bah, Humbug" camp of Christmas observers.

Started out simple tonight by having one of NABC's Community Dark pints. In the recent past this beer has been treated unfairly because I've been drinking it after much stronger beers - it always pales in comparison.

Well tonight it got in the first shots at my taste buds and I remembered why I liked it in the first place. It's full of malty sweetness (or sweet maltiness) and not much else. It has a low enough alcohol content to make it a very good session beer.

Next I had an Anchor Brewing 2003 Christmas Ale. I spent the entire pint trying to decide (a) if I liked it or not, and (b) what the hell I was drinking. Apparently Anchor changes the recipe for their Christmas Ale each year, and they keep that recipe pretty secret. If I had to guess I'd say the best way to describe this year's version would be "smoky nutmeg" but I could be way off base about the nutmeg part. There was definitely some smoky something in there. At the end I decided I did like it, but more than one in a given session would probably be too much.

Lastly I had a Cone Smoker, partly to verify that it was indeed smoke I'd been tasting in the Anchor Ale. It was, though it was more like the smoke in Schlenkerla Urbock Smokebeer than the smoke in Cone Smoker. Grapier.

About halfway through the Cone Smoker MisunderstoodGirl and TrumpetDude started talking about jazz. Every damn third word for over an hour was jazz. Blah blah jazz? Blah blah jazz. Blah blah jazz! If I ever hear the word jazz again in my life I may kill myself. Or maybe I'll just kill whoever says the word jazz instead.

Today, after over a week's worth of phone calls, I finally got in touch with two people at Sony that are not stupid.

I managed to convince them that my DVD burner is broken, and that it's not my fault. Now I actually get to have the thing fixed.

I was really starting to wonder if I'd be able to send the drive in for repairs before the warranty ran out in April.

As the Kentuckiana Death Flu is still trying to drag me down I wasn't even sure if I'd make it out last night, but after a long nap I started feeling better and went to Rich O's.

I'd been hoping to get another pint of Great Lakes Christmas Ale but alas, they had run out. I had a Cone Smoker and I'm still happy to report (knock on wood) that style #2 is still on tap.

My second "beer" was something called "Bad Elf" that I'm not going to even bother looking up because it's not worth the effort. Tasted like fermented Mazola Corn Oil, and not in a good way. Blech.

In a rare show of non-competiveness, Rich O's was also offering BBC Alt on tap so I had a couple of those followed by another Cone Smoker. The Alt, nestled as it was between Cone Smokers, was not as good as it's been in the past. It's also still the only beer I know of that tastes better in bottled form than draft form. That still didn't stop me from having two of them.

In attendance at Rich O's were several people from the New Year's party. I think I got most of their names right - though I continued to use nicknames in my head. MisunderstoodGirl showed up later and I was mysteriously glad to see her. She gave me an excuse to stop mingling with all the other regulars that were looking down at my BBC Alt.

For the first time in a long time I actually went out for New Year's Eve.

I got hopelessly lost on the way there, and hopelessly lost when I left, but the time in-between was quite enjoyable.

Also enjoyable was finding MysteryLady at home and ringing in the new year again.

First off, I'm a dumbass.

For those readers that may doubt that statement and require more proof I submit the following:

I've known for a month that I'd be going to a New Year's party. I've known for a month that I wanted to take a couple of growlers of beer from Rich O's to the party. I've known for a month that Rich O's would be closed all day on December 31st.

So what did I do with all this knowledge? I forgot to get beer from Rich O's on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday.

Like I said, I'm a dumbass.

Anyway, what I ended up taking to the party was a six-pack each of BBC Alt and Great Lakes Porter. They're both good beers, and the porter especially was well-received, but compared to the Cone Smoker and Great Lakes Christmas Ale that I'd been planning to take, they were a little dull.

The porter was, however, the best porter I can remember having. The Great Lakes Brewery is now one of my favorites.

Last night was a special occasion for a few reasons.

First, I was very pleased to see that my favorite style of Cone Smoker is still hanging in there at Rich O's. This is the longest that this beer has stayed drinkable yet.

Another high note last night was the appearance of my friend Eric, who I hardly ever get to see anymore. But that's as much my fault as his.

After my first Cone Smoker I tried a Bell's Winter White and did not like it even a little bit. Oh well, live and learn.

While I was choking down the Bell's Eric was enjoying a Great Lakes Christmas Ale. I had one as well, and I really liked it. No, really. Even though about 90% of the beers I try at Rich O's are, IMHO, crap, every now and then something good comes along. I will definitely have more of this when it's available.

I closed out the evening with another Cone Smoker, something I knew would finally wash the taste of the Bell's out of my mouth.

Let's see, also in attendance were DooRagGirl and DooRagGirl's husband. DooRagGirl I almost didn't recognize as she was without her trademark bandana.

Last night Rich O's was very crowded, probably because they were closed on Christmas.

Anyway, I broke my new rule right off the bat by having a Cone Smoker. It's still style #2, but it may be turning a little. I'll probably know tomorrow night.

Next I tried a Rogue Santa's Private Reserve, one of the Christmas beers currently being featured at Rich O's. I've never been a huge fan of any of the Rogue beers, with the exception of their rauchbier, and one again, Rogue proved to me to be a little too much frosting and too little cake. I tasted malt, malt, and more malt. It wasn't particularly bad, it just wasn't particularly good either.

Next, on MisunderstoodGirl's recommendation, I had a Mahr's Christmas Bock (Reviewer's Site).

I've never been a big fan of bock beers. I'm still not.

I spent quite a bit of time trying to come up with a way to describe this beer. MisunderstoodGirl was no help at all. I detected coffee, chocolate, malt, and hops, all in miniscule amounts. There were no citrus components to the taste and for that I was grateful.

All in all, it was an enjoyable evening. MisunderstoodGirl, TrainGirl, and Bubbles proved to be pretty good company, though I usually prefer more one-to-one interaction than the group interactions we had.

A new Terragen image, not sure how to describe it.

Also, I've rerendered an older image. I like the new version a little better than the original which I seem to have lost.