Mar 5, 2014

I worked at Vineland Memorial for meetings again, but this time I was actually quite busy. Made up for my easy day yesterday. Later Chuck and I went to The Oar House for their beer tasting/rating event. They had 20-30 beers for us to sample and rate for taste and quality so they can decide what they want to order next.

They brought out snacks and pizza for us as well so that was great. We got started with a few beers we hadn't had. There were a good handful that we had tried before, including several Sly Fox beers that we didn't care for. However their Helles Lager was amazing. I need more of that. We had a great cider from Possman, and the Evolution Sprung was great. Harpoon's Long Thaw White IPA was great, and the Lot #6 Double IPA was amazing all around.

Glasstown Brewing donated a few growlers of their beer for us to try as extras. All good, of course, but the Bourbon Ale was so much better than the one I had at their brewery. This batch is perfect. Toward the end we had the darker beers, including the great Lucky 7 Porter and the Anderson Valley Barney Flats Oatmeal Stout. We finished with two pepper beers from Twisted Pine. Billie's Chilis, which I've had before and loved was first. It's a habanero beer and amazingly flavorful with the big spice. The Ghost Face Killah is one I have been wanting to try for a long time. It's made with the ghost pepper (the hottest pepper in the world?) and it smelled amazing.

 I should mention that the lady next to Chuck passed both of the beer samples to us after smelling them. The rest of the people at the table graciously passed us their beers they didn't want so we got extra samples. Britney, our waitress and hostess for the evening, poured us the rest of what was left from the Glasstown growlers also so we got our money's worth. It was a really good time so I'm glad we went. We headed to Applebee's for Quizzo next. Matt and Jamie met us there and we were so close... but still lost. Third place, 20 points out of second.

Apr 21, 2012

After having a tasty omelet and a smoothie for breakfast, Ashley and I went to Valley Forge National Park for a trail run. We took opposite directions on a path that was quite hard to follow since it wasn't marked and it branched off frequently. Either way we had a good run and met back up near the covered bridge and ran together for a bit.

I came home after we made our way through traffic back to the city and got ready to go to the Oar House for Turtle Stone's launch party. I covered it for NJCB, but I was there to support Ben as well. Beers were on special and all three of the ones they brought were really good.

It was a really good turnout for them and it seemed like a lot of people really enjoyed their beer. I made a few contacts that I hope will pan out somehow. I'm looking forward to trying more of their beer.

At the last minute Ryan offered me his ticket to the Ultimate Mud Run in Millville so I took it and got my stuff ready quickly. It was an interesting environment and it seemed like the staff had no idea what they were doing. There were long lines and no directions at all. It was hard to find the starting line and once I did we stood there waiting and there was no ceremony to the start at all, we just all started running eventually.

The course was basically all flat so I was hoping the obstacles would make up for it. There were some good ones, like the cargo net. That was fun. There were a lot of tire climbs and stacks of hay bails.

About halfway through it started raining. This obstacle was fun and really difficult. I got almost across before I slipped off one of the hand holds and fell in the water. Shortly after this it started pouring. That's when I really started to enjoy it. Running in pouring rain and climbing over walls and through nets was really fun.

I wasn't all that muddy when I finished, partially due to the rain and partly because there wasn't much mud. I felt like I did pretty well over the 8 mile course. It was an overall disappointing course after doing things like the Spartan Race though.

Kate picked me up and we went back to the Oar House with Chuck. We had another beer or two as the bartenders got weird and started dancing on the bar instead of getting Chuck another beer. It was definitely different.

It was quite a fun-filled day and despite the disappointing nature of the race, it was nice being two miles from my house so I could come home and shower and put on clean clothes right after.

Mar 16, 2012

I worked a long day at the Senior High in a science class, came home to have something eat quickly, and then went to the gym with Ryan. After I got home and showered I got ready to go out to High Street for Third Friday. We went to Wildflower for food and then checked out some of the galleries.

We saw some decent art, but not too much held my interest for long. We went over to the Oar House for a couple of beers to finish out the night.

It was a nice relaxed night of strolling. There is not much to see so that's why I rarely go out for Third Friday. I might start going more often though to meet other artists.

Feb 12, 2012

I went to the gym with Ryan in the morning then went to a few stores to get some supplies so I could build my mini studio setup to shoot Brenda's pieces. It was working out pretty well, even though it was quite a rigged setup.

After spending too much time shooting inside I decided to go check out the sunset at the lake and was very glad I did when I came across the amazing ice sculptures along the shore! They were fantastic and beautiful, especially with the sunset as a backdrop. My hands were freezing, but I'm really glad I went out.

I went to the Oar House with Kate and Chuck a little later for a few drinks. It was pretty empty since it was Sunday night so that was nice.

When I came home I continued shooting the ceramics pretty late into the night and then worked on some of them. The only downside to my setup was they required a fair amount of post-production. I'll have to work on that in the future.

Jan 1, 2012

Kate's aunt had the family over for a late Christmas thing and lunch. There were plenty of hilarious stories being told about the younger crowd and good sandwiches to boot.

Ryan and I planned to start the year off right with a long distance run at Parvins. We headed over and looked at possible routes then took off. I took part of the normal trail followed by a large, paved loop in the back area that I've only been on briefly before.

After two laps on the paved route and two times around the lake I finally looked at my GPS to find that I was almost at ten miles, which was my goal. I happily ran the last bit and was surprised at how easy it felt to do it. We went to Moe's after our run, as we were both starving at that point.

Later we didn't know what to do so we met Laura at the Oar House and had a couple of beers, including one free one because we had a nice waitress, and talked for an hour or two.

It was a fairly quiet evening, but I was very happy with the results of my first run of 2012. I'm looking forward to a productive year!

Nov 18, 2011

I subbed at a science class at Memorial in the morning and watched a Discovery Channel video from Shark Week about the sharks off of Africa that breach from the water. It was interesting all three times. I met Ryan at the gym after work and then had to go to Bridgeton quickly before the rehearsal.

We all met at the church for Jeff and Sam's rehearsal for the wedding. There was a lot to it, but Father Anthony walked us through the whole thing. It was fun and casual so it wasn't as bad as I expected.

We went to the Oar House for the rehearsal dinner where I got some kind of fish and we had a bunch of Yuengling. It took a while to get service, but at least everything was free for us.

We got a group shot and I'm blurry. Chuck and I were the last ones to leave. Everyone took off and we stayed to finish our beers while the wait staff rearranged the dining room around us. We thought it was funny but Nathan found it obnoxious and left.

We went to Kate's to hang out for a while after we finally left. We sat around near the wood stove where it was warm and talked.

Oct 25, 2011

I had a job at the Senior High for a math teacher, where I got to read some more of my book. The classes were mostly good. I really love the book.

I spent some time editing photos and posting things again after work and then went to Union Lake to try out a new running trail. I really liked the paths even though some parts were sandy. It's nice to run somewhere new. I ran five miles without even noticing.

I met Chuck and Kate at the Oar House and we hung out for a little while. Chuck didn't have much of a voice so it was hard to talk. Luckily it was a lot quieter than last night so we could hear him.

I got a job so I came home to get some sleep like everyone else.

Oct 24, 2011

I had a very productive morning editing photos, posting them, then updating Beer Me That Blog! with a comprehensive post on DuClaw Brewing Co. and then networking with some of the people who work there to a surprising amount of praise. After I had done what I needed to I went to Parvin for a run. I only took one lap around this time.

I went to the gym with Ryan a bit later and we had a quick mile run around the hospital. I ran it in 7:12. I have nothing to judge that against, but I think I need to improve that a bit. I met Kate at the Oar House and we were soon joined by Stephen. We had some food and attempted to empty the Shiner Ruby Redbird keg. I casually watched the World Series game while Stephen was devoted to it.

We had a good time out, but we all had to get back somewhat early and didn't want to stay out drinking all night.

Oct 21, 2011

With nothing to do really we went to Carousel Park to play a round of disc golf. It took me a while to get into it, but I had fun on the later holes. It's a long course though and I wasn't feeling the walk through the big open fields while it was windy.

The scenery was beautiful as colorful leaves dropped into the stream. I spent some time taking photos here and then carried on until I decided to call the game after hole 12. I did alright on most of them. When we got back we stopped at Wildflower and grabbed some food.

I was planning to get to bed early but I never can. I met Chuck, Sarah, Kate, and her friend Crystal at the Oar House for a couple of drinks for Crystal's birthday. We had a good time but they decided to move to another bar so I headed back home.

I did manage to get to bed somewhat early, but I knew I'd only be getting a few hours of sleep.

Oct 11, 2011

I worked the day at Memorial for a choir class. We watched Happy Feet in each class. I had never actually watched the movie so I was into it the first time. Since class time only allowed us to watch the first hour or so of the movie I finished it during second block when I was off. It's a good movie. It didn't bother me watching it twice more.

I got a call about an hour before I was done work from Alternative School asking me to work so I accepted. I went in and covered a class for a teacher who was giving exams. The classes were mostly fine except for one group that made me furious and sad at the same time because of how ignorant and intolerant they were being. I was elated when they left.

I met Chuck and Kate at the Oar after work for some good drinks. There's such a big menu it's hard to try all the beers on tap. I finally got one of the bottled beers I've been looking at. I was happy with it; something different.

I also really liked the Shiner Ruby Redbird. I want to go back to get more of that. Kate had a pumpkin spice martini that was good and spicy as well as really strong. For me, anyway. I don't drink martinis.

We hung out there for a couple of hours, laughing about stupid things as I took notes on the beers for the blog. I updated on some of the beers I had tonight as well as a few other entries.

Check it out.

Oct 9, 2011

Ryan and I went to the gym in the early afternoon and then went over to Silver Run so I could show Ryan the trail and then go for a run there. It's a good two mile route with all the hills and turns.

When my planned photo shoot fell through I asked Chuck if he wanted to meet for a drink at the Oar House. One drink turned into a few as I realized I had nothing else to do for the day.

Kate and Jordan stopped by to hang out as well. We tried quite a few good new beers and eventually made our way out to the beer garden to enjoy the weather. My sister and Ken dropped by as well to get some food. We had been there for quite a long while by the time we decided to leave. It was a good way to spend an afternoon. Nice to have a bar here where we can do that now.

I went up to Rowan for a while later to see a few people. It was fun, but I was ready to go to sleep when I got back home.