My brother had a party the other night. Whiskey Sunday played which was great. About a half-hour after they were done playing, Dover and Jacqueline announced that they were going to get married in Reno. However, by the next morning they had postponed the wedding until Halloween because they "have stuff to do today". I took everybody to eat at the Dublin Buffet. I was hoping for something like the Hometown Buffet that we love in Sacramento, but the place didn't even serve Breakfast. It didn't look very promising anyway. We drove over to Carrows instead, but Keri and I were the only ones to order much more than a fruit dish. We might as well have stayed home and cut up a watermelon.

(Update: Jacqueline, pictured above with my daughter Lydia, has called off the wedding. Apparently Dover, the singer pictured at top, refused her request to go outside when he smokes. Chalk it up to irreconcilible differences.)

Speaking of going out to eat. Why do people bother going to The Panda Express? Chinese Restaurants are the best for solo dining. I go to four different Chinese Restaurants when I sub in Dublin and all of them take your order and serve your food within three minutes of sitting down. I'm not even done with my soup when the food comes. They give you water without asking and then the bill is always there when you are ready to leave. This is all for $4.50 to $5.50, a big plate of food with soup and an egg roll thrown in. Plus one little cup of the free tea they set on the table is equal in caffeine to an entire cup of coffee. I learned that after chugging down about four little cups once. You don't get tea or soup at the Panda Express, you have to wait in line because it's always crowded, fight for a table to sit down at, and it costs more. Oh yeah, I forgot about the slice of orange and fortune cookie that comes with the bill at regular Chinese restaurant. Remember that the next time you are about to go to the Panda Express. Just about every shopping plaza has a nearby Chinese food restaurant that will serve you better.

I just read a book Keri gave me for my birthday, "The Brewmaster's Table" by Garrett Oliver. It was inspirational. In concept it's a book about joining good beer with good food. However, I enjoyed reading mostly just about the beer. The best part is where he explains the history and brewing tradition of each type of beer. Lambic, British Ale, Belgian Ale, Czech - German Lager, Porter, Stout, Wheat Beer, and the new American Craft brewing. Along the way he explains basic things such as the difference between Ale and Lager. (Lager uses a different kind of yeast that allows brewing in colder temperatures.) Also, India Pale Ale is called that because beginning in the 1790's it was brewed with more hops and alcohol to survive the trip to India. Craft brewing was not revived in the United States until recently. Many of America's founding fathers were brewers. Many German immigrants also started breweries. Before prohibition America was actually filled with great breweries (40 in Brooklyn alone). When prohibition ended there was an entire generation of drinkers who grew up on soda fountains and didn't recognize good beer. Add that to the fact that only large wealthy, brewers were able to start up and brew beer that was cheap enough for people to afford during the depression. That explains why American beer wound up being so bland compared to beer from the rest of the world. By 1970 there were only 40 breweries in the entire United States and they were all very similar. Finally, our perception of fine French culture vs. Anglo Saxon culture lead to the belief that wine is more sophisticated and better with food than beer. The author explains why neither of these beliefs is actually true. It wasn't until the '90s that small brewers began to pop up in the United States. This lead to the use of Cascade Hops which give American beers like Sierra Nevada their distinctive bold taste. Of course, we know that, but it's still interesting to hear how some of our better American breweries got their start. Europe as well, such as the story behind Bass (It really is the water). If it were up to me I would have liked the book to stick toward that side of the story. The exhaustive explanation of which beer is good with what kind of food tended to get a little repetitive. Still, a recommended book for anyone who loves beer.

I actually took first place in my head to head baseball league. I usually take second; such as I did this year with Bill winning Dave Ninja's Sacramento league. The great thing about winning the head to head league though was that it was a legitimate long running league. I was the new guy this year. 11 out of 12 teams fought hard all year and didn't give up. Todd says I actually get a big trophy for winning.

Thanks to the Marlins for beating the Yankees this year. Anyone who plays fantasy baseball knew all season that the Marlins had a great team. The entire team was draft worthy. In fact, getting Redman early and a late trade for Josh Becket helped me win this year. Fuck the Yankees, they've always used their vast wealth to screw the rest of the league. Now they use free agency, but even their early teams relied on money for success (before the draft was instated specifically to stop the Yankees from over-signing prospects). Pride and tradition have nothing to do with it. I'm tired of hearing that. Starting with their purchase of Babe Ruth, the Yankees only secret to success has been having a lot more money than their competition. The only reason they had competition was because other teams were quicker to start signing black players. The Yankees thought that their white collar fan base wouldn't approve so the more blue collar New York teams, the Dodgers and Giants picked up players like Willie Mays, who the Yankees passed on. The Yankees have always been the most cold and corporate of all the baseball teams. In the proud tradition of Yankee owners, George Steinbrenner is an ass to the tenth degree. This is a guy who got suspended from baseball because he hired a private investigator to dig up dirt on his own players. He thinks that by banning facial hair, demanding victory, and quipping to the media, that he's playing some important roll on the team. This year Don Zimmer is leaving the Yankees because he wants "to be treated like a human being." Anyway, enough about the Yankees. It was nice to see them lose again to a team with less than one third their payroll. I'm seeing less and less annoying Yankee caps each year.

By the way, as I typed this I was watching my new favorite TV show. It is called "Unscrewed", on Tech TV. Instead of interviewing celebrities like other talk shows they find interesting or funny web sites and interview those people. Martin Sargent, the host, keeps the show thumping. He does great interviews, not just a pretty boy host. He's a drinker too. The off set stuff is often the best. I'm surprised they have time for it. They do four shows a week, but the quality of shows is consistently good. It's a new show done in SF. Craig and I are going to a taping of it on Thursday night.