a99kitten's Musings

Today’s tasting at K&L was an “International Bubbles” tasting. My highly complex and detailed tasting notes consisted of: Good, Meh, Too Sweet. Oh – and a star next to a few of the goods for extra delish :)

1. La Caudrina La Selvatica “Asti” $19.99 (Italy) way too sweet ( I spilled mine out – yuck)
2. Latitude 50 N Sekt Trocken Weiss $14.99 (Germany) *good
3. San Venanzio Prosecco Valdobbiadene Brut $14.99* (Italy) *good (this was my favorite actually)
4. 2008 Raventós i Blanc “L’Hereu Reserva” Brut Cava Penedes $17.99 (Spain) good
5. 2008 Antech “Cuvee Eugenie” Cremant de Limoux $13.99* (France) *good
6. NV Quartz Reef “Methode Traditionelle” Sparkling Wine Brut Central Otago New Zealand (Elsewhere $29.99) $15.99 (New Zealand) meh – was OK. Husband liked a lot.
7. J Vineyards “Cuvée 20” Sparkling Wine $21.99 (CA/US) Have had before. A yummy favorite. No note was needed.
8. Ariston Aspasie Brut Rosé Champagne  $32.99* (France) meh – was OK. Again, husband liked.
9. Michel Loriot “Marie-Leopold” Sec Champagne $34.99* (France) Good but didn’t love. Sweet but nowhere near as sweet as the Asti10. Henry’s Drive “Scarlet Letter” Sparkling Shiraz 10. Padthaway South Australia $16.99 (Australia) Double-meh. Spilled out and got refill on Prosecco

And look – my favorites are all the lower priced ones! That never happens to me! The ones with astericks after the prices means they are K&L Direct Imports so I knew I had to buy those if I liked them :) So I bought 2 bottles each of the Prosecco, Latitude 50 N and 2008 Antech “Cuvee Eugenie”. I can get the J Vineyards at Safeway. Actually have 2 bottles in my fridge now.

I took the bottles out of the car to put them in the drink fridge and realized I need to make more room for bubbly bottles. Oops. I am way behind on my bubbly drinking! :)

Super fun tasting. The pourer was knowledgeable but also nice and pleasant to talk to. What I like about these events is that I get to taste things that I would likely never buy. I told her (the pourer), that there is little to no chance I would have ever bought the German bubbly without a personal recommendation. “German = good bubbly” just doesn’t come to mind. So that was cool. There was a constant flow  of people in the tasting room but not so crowded that it was ever uncomfortable. AND I found out the date of the Champagne Tent event in October and bought our tickets! Whew…can’t miss that! Thankfully that moved back to the Redwood City location this year. No need to drive into the cesspool of SF.

Took the buds to the beach this AM for their weekend off-leash fun time at Mavericks.  When I go to Mavericks, I never park in the Maverick’s parking lot because the cars park SO close together and people always have surfboards, fishing gear, kayaks, etc and I have seen enough people smack their stuff into the cars next to them that I stay far away from that lot. Even when I had my old Jeep.

So I always park in a different lot that most people never used. It’s a small side street with a small dirt lot. But then someone put in a poo bag station and trash cans so more people started parking there. Then the kayakers started parking there when the Kayak Club down the street gets too crowded. But I go early enough that is never, ever too full and everyone that parks there always leaves plenty of room in between each other. Safe from door dings and other stuff. Yeah…

Huskies and I were walking back to the car after a fun beach adventure and I hear this loud CRASH. I instantly had this thought “Someone just crashed into my car.” But then I thought that’s silly, why would I think that. And the buds met 2 more dogs to play with for a few minutes and then Angelus went into the water to cool off and then we started back to the parking lot. I see a kayaker setting up his kayak RIGHT behind my car. Sigh. You need to move pal, need to get the huskies in the back. He looks up as I am walking towards him/my car and asks “Oh, is this your car?” Yep I reply. He then says “I’m so sorry.” Umm…that can’t be good. He then says he left all of his insurance info on my window and then points to my passenger side rear panel. I go around and see the huge dent and cracked paint now in my wonderfully pretty car. “DUDE” I say. (Yes…I did say that.) He instantly starts apologizing profusely.

Grrr

I went to get the info he left on my window and make sure I have everything. I take a picture of his drivers license and plate number. And the giant gash. My first, instant internal reaction was of highly annoyed pissed-off-ness. If you aren’t strong enough to control your giant kayak, don’t park next to other cars. Come on. He was a little tiny asian guy. Pretty sure the kayak outweighed him significantly. Grrr.

But it was obviously an accident. And he obviously felt bad. Yelling at him wasn’t going to undent my car. So I took his info and said “It was an accident.” He said your car looks really nice and new. Yeah…it did. Double-grrr. But at the same time, I am grateful he was an honest person. He could have easily taken off after it happened since I wasn’t around. There was no one else in the parking lot. So there is that.

I called my insurance when I got home and have an appointment with the adjuster on Tuesday. They said Geico (his insurer) might not cover it since it wasn’t part of his car that did the damage. In which case, they have to go through his homeowners insurance. And if he doesn’t have that, they go after him. Yeesh. Hopefully it all gets sorted out and fixed quickly before I have a chance to get annoyed about it again.  Although, since he has Geico insurance, and I own Berkshire Hathaway stock, isn’t that like I am taking the money away from me a shareholder and giving it back to me as a claimant? Hmm….

I receive a lot of HR newsletters. Super fun reading (no, not really.) And most of them just annoy me due to the ridiculous one-sided nature of court cases, decisions and public opinion about the evil bosses and owners of the world out to screw over the little guy. Pfft. Anyway, I just read this story:

http://www.hrmorning.com/big-sticking-point-in-nfl-lockout-workers-comp-benefits/

So NFL players can file Workers Comp claims in the beyond-bankrupt State of California if they’ve played ONE game here and been injured. WTH? Our Workers Comp system is already bogged down by corruption and “oversight”. But now players, who in some cases already exhausted WC benefits in other states, can make a claim here. Just because they hurt their widdle knee when they were playing in a game, that they picked as their chosen career even knowing it can be dangerous, and already fought to receive numerous other guaranteed benefits from their teams/owners.

Look, someone gets seriously injured and gets cut from their team and salary or can’t play for a year (although pretty sure players still get paid by the team in injury cases) – I understand the desperation of wanting to make sure your family is cared for. But there are other things you need to do and put in place for your own protection. Like SAVINGS and not buying a Rolex for you and 10- closest pals. You chose a career where one bad play and it could end. So you need to be responsible for putting protections in place for yourself and family. Not game the system which is exactly and absolutely what this is.

No. No. No. But of course, our bloated no-longer Golden State of California says Yes. Yes. Yes. And apparently Michigan too (big surprise…)

That’s it. I’m totally on Team Owner now. I need a t-shirt.

ARGH!

P.S. And a big FU to the illegal immigrants who come here ILLEGALLY, then LIE on their applications and then claim WC too. Double-ARGH!

http://www.hrmorning.com/illegal-immigrants-can-get-workers-comp-benefits-too-court-rules/

Read a tweet by someone at CNBC that Steve Jobs was likely the only CEO that “Joe Six Pack” knew by name. The tweet even said “Warren Buffett? Isn’t that the guy with the margaritas?” Seriously? Is the general public so completely uninformed? I have a hard time believing that but maybe I shouldn’t. I’m not saying everyone needs to know the name of the CEO’s of every Fortune 500 company. But come on people. Read. Something besides US magazine.

I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. At election time, people have so many opinions about how they have been wronged and how they want things changed but I bet half those same people don’t know who their own representative is. Or the voting record of their favorite candidates. Or where they stand on most issues. They might just know their standing on 1 issue in particular. I am pretty sure this is how most people vote. And probably explains a lot about why our system is so completely broken.

But good thing a lot people know all about Snooki’s one night stands. And the minute by minute life choices of the Kardashian family.

I need my own island.

Reading about the chaos at this weekend’s preseason “Battle of the Bay” game between the 49ers and Raiders makes me angry. I think a start to a solution is to ban alcohol at the games. Except for maybe the private boxes where any stupidity can be contained. Does that sound wrong? Maybe to someone. And probably classist. But I am a 100% acknowledged classist so no big surprise. But my sense of classism is more geared towards ghetto, tacky, rude, etc. It’s not how much money you have. It’s how you act. How you treat others.

Most of these fights (and stabbings, shootings, etc) are caused by drunk jerks (probably a few that aren’t even drunk but I guess more are.) You take a person who is already a jerk and then let him drink non-stop from 8am when tail-gating begins and wonder why they become belligerent? Can most people have a beer and watch the game and have fun? Of course. But guess what – all you need is 1 (or 15) drunk jackasses to seriously hurt people.

Going to a sporting event should NOT be dangerous. You should be able to go to a game wearing whatever the heck team jersey you want and not have to worry about someone punching you. Or worse. That is ridiculous.

And you don’t need alcohol to have fun at the game. You can tailgate or watch from the stands and be sober and still have it be fun. If you can’t, then you have bigger problems to address. If you want to get stupid drunk while watching the game, then stay home and watch it on TV.

I always hate when you have to make rules to conform to the lowest common denominator because these are usually the people that I think don’t even deserve to breathe. But I’m fairly harsh that way. The world is over-populated anyway so let’s lose the a-holes first. And then the world is a better place anyway. Win-Win. Makes sense to me. But my rant is digressing to a different rant.

For public safety – yeah – I would support banning alcohol in the parking lots/tailgating, sold at the stadiums, etc. Will that ever happen? After hell has its own sea of glaciers. But maybe someone should try it as a test. How much could the stadium lose? Who knows. But how much does it cost to have in-stadium police stations (Philadelphia and Tampa Bay do that I know of – probably more.) And all of the extra police needed to control thuggish crowds.

Ghetto fans, gang-bangers and just plain drunk jerks are always going to be around. Certain teams do seem to attract more of a thug crowd (looking right at you Oakland) but all cities/teams have them. For all sports. Look at all of the stupidity that occurs when teams win OR lose championship games. “F Yeah – our team won/lost – now let’s loot and set fire to stuff!!” Now, all of those people probably aren’t drunk (just insanely stupid or plain criminal) but my guess is a good chunk are somewhat inebriated. So you can either have an entire police force at a silly game to attempt to keep peace or you can try taking away something that is contributing to the mayhem. Do I blame alcohol? *Absolutely not.* Fact: people are responsible for their own condition. Plenty of people can have a drink or 2 or even tons and still be perfectly sane (and probably just vomit or fall asleep.) I blame stupidity, jerkishness and a Lord of the Flies mentality.

Some people argue that these people aren’t real fans of the teams so why penalize the fans. Well, they are fans. Are they fans of the team for the “right” reasons? Probably not. Oakland has had a thug, gangster reputation for a long time. LA gangs LOVE their merchandise so then display their devotion to the team. They are liked because they were seen as the thug team. Great reason. Of course now they are just the crap team. But with the same “Black Hole” Orc fans.

I have been to probably 7-10 49ers games. And about 15 or so Giants games. The thing I always liked about them was that the SF crowd definitely seemed to be nicer. I went to the SF/Oakland World Series games and the difference in crowds and atmosphere between seeing them in Oakland and seeing them in SF (including the “earthquake game”) was vast. Now, I am definitely not saying SF doesn’t have thug fans. I know they do. But you couldn’t pay me to see another game or concert in Oakland. Not worth it. I don’t ever want feel so unsafe for simply being in attendance at a game or anything else.

Stories came out after the game that the 49ers will be cutting tail-gating hours. That might help a little but it’s still going to be 4 hours or so. So 4 hours of drinking and then game time drinking is more than enough for mayhem. And some of the players (49ers) came out and said how the violence worries them since their families are also in the stands. Frank Gore came out and said “it’s just game.” So if the people getting paid to play this game want you losers to knock it off, pretty sure by being thugs you are showing the rest of us just how big of ghetto losers you are. Sadly, it never seems to be you who gets beat up, shot, stabbed, etc.

The owner of the 49ers also said he has requested that the Battle of the Bay game be discontinued. This is a very good idea. It’s a dumb preseason game anyway. I hope the NFL agrees. If not, then they can pony up for the National Guard unit to come in and keep the peace at the next one.

Took Stormy to the vet today. It was for a blood test after his last visit where he tested slightly anemic. He’s slightly anemic because he isn’t eating well. And he’s probably not eating so well because his medication was upsetting his tummy. Sigh.

So after I ran a little “test” myself (stopped all medication for 2 full days) and seeing Storm much happier and eating and then once back on his medicine going back to not eating as much, I talked to his doctor today. Was actually just a tech appointment today for a blood test but hung out and waited for the doc who wanted to see us. After waiitng there for awhile and then being moved into a private room so “the doctor can speak to you”, you get very stressed. And let’s just say that sitting in the waiting room comparing cancer meds with other doggie and kitty moms kinda sucks and creates stress.

But really she just wanted my details on what was going on with Stormy. She also said let’s let his tummy heal. No medication except his Cushing’s meds, which he has been taking without incident for a couple years, and some OTC Pepcid AC.

I was supposed to give him one of chemo meds tonight. But the doc agreed and we are stopping them for now. Good news is that he gobbled most of his dinner tonight! And then came over to me when I was eating dinner and wanted some of mine! Which he hasn’t done in a long while. So I got some cheese and doled it out to the boys. Angelus of course always wants more people food so he was pretty happy :)

And for the first time in a about a month, I feel a bit less stressed about Storm, his eating and his meds and feel like my “no medicine for 48 hours” test might have been what we needed. Weird how stress actually can physically manifest itself. Actually feel a bit less “tight” or “wound up” tonight.

So paws crossed. But the Stormy puppy needs to be happy. And eating. :)

Received my “Shadows of Tatooine” Han & Chewie (by Raymond Swanland) from Acme Archives today. Love it!!! Just as gorgeous as it was at SDCC. I got #42 of 95. Not bad. Not the #2 I wanted at Comic Con though. Who does that putz think he is buying it before me?! :)

They did a fantastic framing job! And after taking my Hoth Chewie in for framing and leaving my kidney (I only need 1 right?!) to pay for it, I appreciate the framing job Acme did for the cost.

The picture doesn’t do it justice but I am leaving the plastic cover and corner protectors on until I hang it. I’ll take another pic then!

Now….just need to decide where to put it….entryway right?

Nice! Amazon has the entire 70s Wonder Woman DVD collection on mega sale today!!!$36!!!

Wonder Woman has just been filling my comic life since Comic Con! It’s like the universe knows what I like…or…Amazon has some cookies on my laptop and a great algorithm to offer me stuff to buy. Whatever! Totally getting it! :)

I truly hope they never get a non-animated WW series or movie green-lighted in Hollywood again. The stills from that one that NBC was going to do looked HORRENDOUS. Lynda Carter pulled it off. And anyone who watched and enjoyed it as a kid will never accept another. Face it Hollywood.

Also…their “Customers Who buy this also buy…” finally worked on me. I added the Buck Rogers DVD set too :) Come on – who didn’t love Hawk? And yes…always liked that Erin Gray could kick some arse and not need Buck AND have good hair :)

So…what do you think the odds are that I *won’t* pre-order this ASAP?

Cool Star Wars collectible …check
Han Solo and Chewbacca…check
Nifty Millennium Falcon case…check
Double purpose = actual 1oz silver coins….check

Sonofa…(altho  that’s actually Indy’s line…)

Silver Han and Chewie

I wish the shipping wasn’t so high. But put out by the New Zealand mint (ya know US Mint…really? Are you asleep at the coin press???) so have to bite the silver bullet on shipping if I want them…contemplating…

In fairness to to buying them, they would fit in 2 important buckets of mine: Star Wars collectibles AND silver coins :)

http://www.nzmint.com/starwars/millennium-falcon-coin-set?nocache=1

My old boss called me this AM. Actually he left me a VM, left VMs on my husband’s cell, sent me an email and sent me a Facebook message. Hmm. This can’t be good. I have been out with the dogs on the beach all morning so just saw/heard them all. I called him back and he starts off by saying he was OK, and his father (who is like 1000 now…OK, actually 90) but then he started sounding choked up. Uh-oh. Turns out his brother was on a bike ride in Sun Valley and had a heart attack and didn’t make it. Yikes.

The brothers were pretty darn close. Of course that’s why when they argued at work sometimes it turned into a book or stapler throwing kinda thing. Made for an interesting work environment :) They didn’t argue like that much though. Usually just slammed down phone receivers and slammed doors and then everything blew over in like 20 minutes and they were cracking jokes again. Family…But I’m glad I worked in that environment. It toughened me up. Pretty much nothing surprises me, shocks me or offends me. I hear people make workplace complaints now about the STUPIDEST things and it makes me wonder how they exist in the world. Wimps. They certainly wouldn’t have made it 1 week working for these guys.

He said it happened on Friday afternoon and on Friday night and Saturday he was in a bit of a daze so apologized for not calling me until today. Apologize? I said don’t be silly. He said “Well, you’ve been part of the family for a long time, so I didn’t want you hearing about it elsewhere first.” This is the same guy who helped me when my brother died last November. He really is the sweetest guy, without being a wimp, I have ever met. And has basically been a 2nd father to me since I was 18.

He started sounding a little choked again so I asked “was he yelling at someone when this happened?” (we have an odd sense of humor.) He laughed and said “No – that’s the worst part. What a dick. And now I can’t yell at him for dying.” I responded “Right? What a dick thing to do?” We both laughed and started telling me a couple recent stories about his brothers. His other brother is taking this much worse as he was in Sun Valley with him when it happened and they were extremely close (like talk on the phone 10-20 times a day close.) I asked him how his father was taking it. He said it pretty rough. Kids aren’t supposed to die before their parents. I said “well man he is like 200 years old now – I think he is throwing down the gauntlet to mr. death.” He laughed and agreed. Their other brother is staying with him. Knowing how he was with his kids, I’m mostly worried about him and how it will effect his health – both mental and physical.

Then we started talking about stocks. He just did a deal with a very big money guy in NYC. It’s someone he’s done business with in the past years ago and they recently got back in touch. They have been mostly shorting a bunch of stocks so doing pretty well. I told him to let me know when he’s doing big blocks of trades so I could ride along :) Kidding! But he did give me a short and a long idea that I will investigate.

We chatted about his fund & the market for awhile and then Tahoe. I told him he had to bring his wife and son and come up Tahoe and visit soon. He said he would like that. And then I told him to stay busy – it really helped me. He said he was heading back into the office in a bit and would definitely stay busy. He commented that he and I really have had a crappy year with family and death so far. I told him yeah – the universe needs to knock it off. And I told it so. He laughed and said he was glad we chatted and said again “Man, I am so pissed I can’t tell him what a dick he is.” I laughed and agreed. He said he just found out yesterday that his brother had high blood pressure. He couldn’t believe it never came up. I said he probably didn’t want to worry anyone and figured all the healthy eating and exercise would counteract it. And also he was a dick for not telling you. He laughed. We do have a bit of a strange sense of humor. Why I think we get along so well.

I’m sad for him. And I hope that I was able to help him today, even if just a little, like he helped me when my brother died. But I know he will be OK. He commented that people were dropping like flies. He said let’s stay in real touch (calls vs quick emails) more often and not just when people die and not wait until that day I’ll get that phone call about him and he laughed. I laughed back and said “No. That is not allowed to happen.” But it really isn’t….