Time to pack up the outdoor pets … including the kids

Yep, you guessed it by the pic … fall is quite quickly on it’s way. (BTW – isn’t it interesting how simple words like “quite quickly” when put together make you sound like you have some command of the English language??).
It’s time to get the leaf rake out, pull the fish and frogs out of the pond (if you do that), find your kid that fall / winter coat, and go back to supporting your local Starbucks (personally I support local companies like Crazy Mocha in Pittsburgh, but SWB realizes most are weak towards simple advertising tactics and don’t have the strength to support local biz …. but that’s another posting). It’s also time to attempt to locate and sift through years of Christmas decorations (because you probably dumped those decorations on top of your fall decorations and don’t remember which box(s) they are in).

Why to do many look towards the season change?

Simple.

We have something new to complain about …. hence:

^$%&^& heat

$^%#$^ leaves

@#%#$% snow

@#%$@ rain

… see – simple.

People think they look forward to the fall season (or spring, etc) because of things like the beauty of it, cuddles with a loved one, bringing back of childhood memories …. but no – it really is just so we can have something new to complain about, nothing more.

You know those wonderful kids that were playing outside all summer? … they will now be inside all day going “mommy Mommy MOMMYYYYYYY!!!” … or just yelling all the new obscenities they just learned at school, so we can probably at the following to our list of complaints:

%^$%^% kids

And the pets that can’t wait to get outside to do their “thing”,will now want to stay inside where it’s warm and of course, do their thing there – so we can add:

$%^%$^ dogs

#$$##$ cats

#$^%%$ fish

honey, the @%%#^ cat ate that #$%##%$ frog and two of the #$%#% fish, and my Scrooge figurine off of the train set.

So, really, why the picture of the cozy looking bench during fall in the city park?

The reality is … after you’ve made your first batch of Limoncello because you read my last article and all of the inhabitants of your household slowly move back in from the summer months ….. that’s probably where you will end up (with your bottle of Limoncello).

Well, good luck and enjoy the fall season …

… and remember to buy a house with a den that has a lockable door on it next time 🙂

-SWB

PS – That thing with the cat, the frog, and the fish …. yep …. that actually happens in my house.

My Limoncello project, G-20, and the Pittsburgh Pirates

Well, some good news today:

With a slight bit of issue, my Limoncello project worked out well. Unfortunately I used too much water for the simple syrup, so it freezes … but you learn for the next time.

What does this have to do with the G-20?

Absolutely nothing, except I wanted to see if the combination would get me a few international hits … or maybe a few of the visiting leaders that like Limoncello will find my blog and contract me to make it for them.

Anyway, back to some type of blog posting …

Why the cloud pic?

Two reasons:

1. If are dumb enough to quickly drink Limoncello, that’s pretty much where your head ends up for a few hours.
2. If people think the G-20 is going to yield any immediate results, that’s where their heads are too.

Am I against the G-20? No – but I am worried about how our city will be perceived by the important visitors coming to it. Will they see the city as a “war zone” due to all of the barricades, or will they start throwing treats to the residents on the other side of the fence, because the eight foot fencing makes the whole city look like the Pittsburgh Zoo?

My biggest peeve about the G-20?

The protesters, the boarded up buildings, the loss of business to the city during a time of recovery? …. Nope, none of those.

It is … the Pittsburgh Pirates … yup, the Pirates. Why?

Well, when your team basically sucks beyond belief … you don’t take up thousands of desperately needed parking spaces during a major international event for people that REALLY need them. They could have graciously just forfeited the game (because it wouldn’t have hurt their rating anyway – and they have already achieved the embarrassing milestone of the most losing seasons in professional sports history).

This could have easily helped the parking problem, and more importantly freed up necessary space for protesters, maybe easing tensions and avoiding possible issues. Oh, well … as with most decisions concerning the Pittsburgh Pirates – it was a bad one.

-SWB

PS – I noticed so many useless rants about the G-20 that I felt left out and obligated to make up one of my own. Enjoy.

The truth about The Steel City

For all those on the negative side of our city (the ones that whine about the big companies being gone, the steel industry being gone, etc.) you need to read the blog entry on Pittsburgh’s Future by Harold D. Miller at the following link.

The Steel City Transformed

The info in the post is also excellent for those that would like to highlight our city to the folks that are here for the G20.

-SWB

Kudos to Harold for the enlightening article!

The Disappearing Act

Just a quick note for readers and people we haver referring links to … we discovered our link list widget and some other widgets were no it was longer active on our website.  We didn’t take them off, that was courtesy of WordPress.  They are now restored.

Thanks

-SWB

The Kanye Effect

Q. How do you put a scar on the music industry (and probably young inner-city artists trying to make it)?

A. You let Kanye West within 5 miles of any music awards show.

If you missed his latest self – P.R. effort, Click Here for the Yahoo! article.

At this point, if Kanye says he doesn’t need some serious professional help, that’s about equivalent to a mom driver her child to daycare while sucking down a bottle of grain alcohol.

The dumbest person on earth could easily figure out that an outburst like the one Kaney did at the MTV awards against someone perceived as Taylor Swift is (the innocent, sweet country girl) is pretty much a music career killer. When you look at it, he even tainted Beyonce with dropping her name during his rant.

Beyonce, being the professional person she is, invited Taylor back on stage to complete her acceptance speech.

So, in the end …..

Clueless Award to Kanye and Kudos to Beyonce.

The stupidity of holding it in …. politics, and health care

Now, I’m sure many of us watched all of the action during last night’s Presidential speech. If you are clueless, or if you just happened to miss it Click Here for the Yahoo!/Politico rundown.

Now, health care is a huge issue – especially government getting involved, because we’ve seen it done elsewhere with bad results. The good thing is that we’ve seen all the screw ups and can avoid those, possibly creating something viable and substantial for the American people. The biggest obstacle … idiots.

Now, I don’t 100% agree with Obama’s plan, but you have to start with something and tweak. NOTHING works perfect the first time … ever. Are there issues to overcome with this issue, yes. The biggest one being pride … the second one – fear of venting (of course the Republicans may have taken a first step in overcoming that during Obama’s speech last night).

What needs done … a flat-out b**** session between the Democrats and Republicans. Let everyone have have their say (nice or not, respectful or not), get it off their chests and move on from dealing with issues the way grade school kids do. That way all of the politicians can have their pride flattened at the same time allowing them to actually work on something for the American people and not their egos.

Holding in what you feel just feeds pride, getting it off your chest clears your mind to do better things.

But then again, who am I kidding … right?

-SWB

… a politician without pride is like non-alcoholic moonshine.

Oktoberfest!!!!

Capture from Hofbrauhaus Pittsburgh’s site – click to go there.

Now … to the truly important stuff!

Yep – it’s nearing that time of the year for Oktoberfest, and according to HB’s latest ad and events listing – it’s going to be a two weekend thing. Check the link for the event details.

To help you out … here are a few tidbits of advice from someone that has grown up with brew and the cuisine:

• First, and most important – German beer is WAY more potent that American beer (no matter what the menu says) … even when brewed here. Think of a pint as equaling half a case. Chugging German brewed beer usually ends up in you meeting an ambulance that doesn’t have a tap installed in it.
• Second – Don’t lecture a true German on the finer points of Iron City beer (even though it is our hometown brew and loved by many) as they tend to consider it **** water – and may openly tell you that.
• Third – Pretzels and bier cheese, pretzels and bier cheese, pretzels and bier cheese ……
• Fourth – If you are taking the wife and kids and are planning on getting drunk enough to stare at the staff in the traditional dresses, making lewd comments in front of your family … wear a helmet and make sure your lawyer’s retainer is paid up.
• Fifth – Pretzels and bier cheese, pretzels and bier cheese, pretzels and bier cheese ……
• Sixth – You don’t hold the pint mug by the handle … you put your hand through the handle, grab the pint, and the back of your hand rests on the handle.
• Seventh – Even though HB was nice enough to produce a “light” beer for the American consumers, please refrain from talking about it – light beer is not real beer.
• Eighth – If this is the first time you are drinking German beer and usually drink light beers, your friends will get a kick out of the three shades of green you will probably turn after the first gulp. This is not a bad thing … it’s just the German beer getting the American beer toxins out of your blood stream and only lasts a few minutes.
• Nineth – Burping five times during each 16 ounces is an American tradition … try to avoid doing it in a German bier hall.
• Tenth – That number for a cab is your key to not killing someone or spending time in jail. Don’t drive if you were dumb enough to chug Dunkel.

Hofbrauhaus Pittsburgh is found in SWB Recommends!

-SWB

PS – No … all of that beer in her arms is not just for you!

The chemical soup named “I”

Quickie post here to highlight a City Paper article on modern day river and water pollution.

Click Here to read the article Something’s Fishy by Bill O’Driscoll.

The article details research work and findings from the University of Pittsburgh researcher Dan Volz on the current pollution and dangers found (endocrine disruptors) in the waters of out rivers.

This is a very informative and not all political article – so check it out.

-SWB

BTW … you’ll understand the post title once you read  the article.