Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Cesar's SabbatiBlog

http://cesarsabbatiblog.blogspot.com/
I'm on my awesome 8 week paid vacation that Intel calls a "sabbatical". I don't have to do anything during the 8 weeks. By that I mean that it's not really a sabbatical where I have to write a paper or take a class or earn a certification. I just get to sit on my ass, or go play golf until I am broke, or whatever. So, right now, I am sitting in the Phoenix airport awaiting my flight to El Paso, my home town. Fun.
I haven't seen my family since Nov. of '05 when I went down for my grandmother's funeral, so it'll be good to see my mom, dad, sister, brother, brother-in-law and niece and nephew. The rest of the crazies in my family: not so much.
Anyway, I've started a sabbatical blog where I will chronicle my deeds during this exciting time.

Wednesday, August 08, 2007

Prohibition is over!

I am a subscriber to Salon.com and I enjoy most of what is posted and written there. The sports guy is funny, TV reviews are good, and when the movie reviewers don't have a bug up their collective butt they have some very salient points. I get some good deals (free) on magazines (Rolling Stone, Wired, to name a few) and every once in a while I hit gold. Pure gold.

This time around it is exposure to this - The Cocktail Chronicles. The Cocktail Chronicles is updated somewhat regularly by Paul Clarke, a Seattle-based cocktail enthusiast whose brief experience working behind a bar entailed nothing more challenging than pouring pitchers of Coors Lite for college students with fake IDs. The Cocktail Chronicles is an ongoing exploration of fine spirits, creative cocktails and classic mixology. The blog was created in May 2005 in an effort to document the drinks he experiments with at any particular time, along with thoughts on cocktail ingredients, brands and types of spirits and the overall culture of drinking.

And, through him, we find that Absinthe is no longer illegal in the good ol' US of A. Well, one brand isn't, anyway. It's called Lucid and is distilled in France. Lucid is being introduced in select cities beginning in late-May 2007 and can be purchased through better retail shops and finer establishments in each city.. Check it out - www.drinklucid.com.

It turns out that the little thing that freaked our puritanical butts off about absinthe is this clever little chemical called thujone - a ketone and monoterpene - which comes from wormwood, a key ingredient in absinthe. You can read more about absinthe, thujone, and wormwood.

Monday, August 06, 2007

Why not?

This makes perfect sense to me. You have to know who your audience is. Check out both commercials.