Norm A. Version

Recommended category tags for Going Rogue.

Apologies for the intermittent blogging of late; wife and I were attending a conference for pointy-headed types in Chicago. We had a wonderful time, and highly recommend the Affinia for its sleek, modern rooms, perfect location, amazing restaurant (C-House) and rooftop lounge (C-View), and reasonable rates (esp. via Hotwire or Priceline).

So now we're back in cowtown and it's Thanksgiving week, so blogging will likely continue its intermittent ways for a while.

But I did notice this (AV Club's "Best Music of the Decade") and thought I'd pass it along. A pretty good list, though what strikes me more than the music choices is the fact that... it's actually the end of the decade. What??!!

Can't argue with Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Kid A, and White Blood Cells in the top 5, but... Kanye West at #2?

I would've put The National's Boxer, Shearwater's Rook, The Flaming Lips' Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots all the top 10, but they were apparently not good enough for the geniuses at the AV Club.

The Mag-Mile area of Chicago and hotels in general have not, in my experience, typically been associated with great food. So it was to my surprise and delight when I discovered the C-House and Pierrot Gourmet, attached to the Affinia and Peninsula hotels, respectively, and each less than a block from Michigan Ave. The C-House specializes in seafood, both raw and cooked, and their bartender mixes a mean North Shore gin martini. Pierrot is a French style cafe, très cute, with dark, robust coffee and sublime egg dishes.

Both, regrettably, are not particularly inexpensive.

A recent poll conducted by Public Policy Polling has been getting some media play, mostly in response to the results from a single question. Apparently, 52% of Republicans believe that Barack Obama did not legitimately win the 2008 election, "because ACORN stole it for him." Here's the relevant PPP blog post.

Of course, if you click through to the longer PDF that includes the question wording you find the following:

Do you think that Barack Obama legitimately won the Presidential election last year, or do you think that ACORN stole it for him?  If you think he won the election legitimately, press 1. If you think ACORN stole it for him, press 2.  If you’re not sure, press 3.

I do this a couple times a week on the Airdyne in my basement, and it's awesome. It's called the "Tabata" workout. I found the idea in the NYT a few months ago, but I'm too lazy to find the link.

• 5 minutes moderate warmup, or enough to get to ~2/3 of your max heartrate
• 8x {  20 seconds @ 100% effort
•        10 seconds "active rest" (i.e., keep pedaling)  }
• 1 minute warmdown

Isn't it funny how the same people who are completely dismissive of
"world opinion" with regard to things like the Nobel Peace Prize,
invading Iraq, etc., suddenly become close students of cross-cultural
etiquette when the president bows to the Japanese emperor?

Swimming the Big Shoulders 5K two months ago, in a time of an hour and a minute (on about two months of consistent training), was among my proudest moments. A Masters teammate of mine has occasionally taunted me that one isn't a "real" open-water swimmer until one does a 10K; so next summer I will attempt to become just that. The USMS 10K National Championship will be held in my neighboring state of Indiana, so I really have no excuse.

As it happens, there's a current and unusually helpful thread on the USMS discussion forum about training for a 10K swim. I thought I'd post it here.

Dear Lord, should I ever own a car with a hood ornament, please strike me down immediately.

UPDATE: To clarify, I've nothing against Mercedes-Benz specifically. Just hood ornaments.

There is nothing quite so delicious as single-malt scotch. But, it's too damn expensive in Ohio. Sorry, I'm just not going to pay $52 for 12-year Macallan... forget about the 18-year.

Thankfully, the simplest, finest, and most classic of cocktails - the Martini - has as its primary ingredient a more affordable (but still interesting) spirit: gin! Without the need for years of aging in oak barrels - e.g., scotch, bourbon, or añejo tequila - even top-shelf gins rarely approach $30.

Here are a few of my favorites:

Widely available:

• Plymouth - possibly the gold standard of gins
• Tanqueray Ten - my favorite of the big-label brands
• Hendrick's - the cucumber/rose petal infusion is a gimmick, and their marketing campaign is annoying... but it works

Local / Boutique:

• Aviation (Oregon) - found this one in Portland; thanks, Mike the bartender!
• Junipero (San Francisco) - from the makers of Anchor Steam beer
• North Shore (Chicago) - if I had to pick a favorite...

Cheap but delicious:

• New Amsterdam - almost more citrus than juniper... a steal at $14
• Broker's - classic London style, around $15

               

Click here to download:

Gin_Yummy_tagsfooddrink.zip (69 KB)