This Fortnight-ish in Gheorghe

Playing against type this week, I ventured out on my own a couple of times to find drinking and dining options in the Twin Cities. Among the highlights, I discovered Surly Furious, a fantastic IPA turned out by Surly Brewing in Brooklyn Center, MN. A perfect balance of hoppy kick and smooth quaff, Furious jumps immediately into my top 5. It'll be a love affair from afar, sadly, as the nearest retail outlet carrying the good stuff is in Winona, MN, a hop, skip, and 793.5 mile jump from my house in Virginia.

Titans WR Kenny Britt got a DUI. In other news, my kids yelled at each other, the garbage truck came on Tuesday, and Shlara drooled over Adam Scott.

The Olympics begin in earnest on Friday (though the US/France Women's Soccer match kicks off on Wednesday - don't miss it). Stay tuned next week for G:TB's wall-to-wall preview coverage. Or a bunch of inane filler. You win either way.

My tour of Sentence of Dave-recommended books is well underway. I recently completed Stephen King's 11/22/1963, which I highly recommend. The story of a schoolteacher who travels through time in an effort to stop Lee Harvey Oswald from killing John Kennedy, it's equal parts thriller, wry comedy, and thoughtful digression. Forgive the time travel conceit - the book's far less about science fiction than it is about human dynamics.

After I finished 11/22/1963, I started both Mark Leyner's The Sugar-Frosted Nutsack, and Neil Stephenson's REAMDE. It's kinda difficult to review a book before completing it, but I can say that both of these are epic in very, very different ways. (Not Jim Rome-style epic, but vast and complex and dizzying.)

Finally, back to the well one final time for our Doofus and his Bride, with never before seen (unless you're on Facebook, and really, how many people can say that?) footage of the actual ceremony itself, starring the happy couple and a breakout new star in the role of Male Officiant.

This Fortnight in GTB

Another banner pair of weeks in Gheorgheland, so exciting, in fact, that we barely had time to keep up with it. 

We did find out that Pat Sajak has a lot in common with the G:TB staff. The genial Wheel of Fortune host wasn't above a tipple or two during the work day.

 “Vanna and I would go across and have two or three or six and then come and do the last shows and have trouble recognizing the alphabet. They’re really good tapes to get a hold of,” said Sajak, adding that his average number of drinks was “cuatro” or four.

“I had a great time. I have no idea if the shows were any good, but no one said anything, so I guess I did OK,” Sajak said.

Anyone have Pat's contact information? I think we've found another FOG:TB. 

In other news, Dave invited me to go to Belmar for Jersey Shore barbecue in an email (copied below). On a weeknight. He's either got a seriously skewed sense of geography, or mistook me for a man of the cloth in his acquaintance. I couldn't go, but the thought of barbecue and the Jersey Shore is an interesting one.

i know this is a long shot for most people, but my friend's band is playing at jersey shore bbq tomorrow night. it's in belmar and they play from 6:30 to 9. the bbq is amazing and it's byob. i am trying to leave before six. so far, i think connell is in and i might be picking up terry on the way-- terry confirm this-- but that still leaves some room in the car if anyone else can get out early (and you'll be back to HP by ten . . . unless we stop at the park pub on the way home).

I was pleased to find a new entry for my Christmas gift list. 

And finally, in a story that mixes our love for design with our fondness for drink, here's a story about the creation of an infographic. About cocktails. Mix away.

 Have a great fortnight.

G:TB Fortnight in Review

There are so many things happening in GheorgheWorld that it's hard to contain them all in one wrapup post. In fact, there were so many that we got tired of chronicling them all. We got as far as the following newsworthy nuggets before our fingers got tired and we went to get a beer. (Kidding, KQ. I got a delicious kale, fruit, and flaxseed smoothie.)

Local knucklehead (but not according to his Mom) JaVale McGee encapsulated the Wizards' already-lost season in perfect soundbite-sized form, pulling off a #JaVanityDunk (as coined by the Doofus Overlord Tweet Machine) in the third quarter of the local cagers' 11th loss in 12 games. What's worse, his postgame comments reinforced the notion that he's a taller, ganglier version of Nuke LaLoosh - a million dollar talent with a five cent head.



Despite my political feelings, I gave President Gheorghe W. Bush his due propers when he hurled a seed from the mound in kicking off the Washington Nationals' inaugural season. I trust that my GOP friends will be similarly appreciative of President Obama's soulful - if abbreviated - tribute to the Reverend Al Green. In any case, our President is cooler than your chief executive.



I've been spending way too much time at Neatorama, because they always deliver the goods. To wit:

Who's doing the Polar Plunge with Dave on the Jersey Shore on 2/18?

We've been derelict in adopting a Premiership side, but it'll be hard to beat Fulham in the G:TB Darby. Mostly because of American star, accomplished rapper, and all-around badass Clint Dempsey. The U.S. international became Fulham's all-time leading goalscorer earlier this season, and topped that by tallying the first-ever hat trick by an American in EPL play yesterday to lead the Cottagers to a 5-2 win over Newcastle. Enjoy Deuce's song stylings below. As celebrity rappers go, Dempsey's flow is solid.



The third-ranked Duke women's tennis team defeated 43rd-ranked William & Mary 7-0 in its season opener Friday night in the Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center. The East Carolina swimming & diving teams swept Saturday's meet against William & Mary inside Minges Natatorium. The Pirate women topped the Tribe 150-136 while the men claimed a 165.5-122.5 triumph. The Archbishop Stepinac senior defensive end Austin Taps committed to William & Mary in mid-December, but had his heart set somewhere else. Being accepted and offered by the University of Pennsylvania, Taps needed to raise his SAT score and then be one of a possible three players from the lower band of applicants, based on a sliding scale system of GPA and SAT scores, to be selected. When Taps was asked to go on an official visit two weekends ago he believed the rest would fall into place. He got a lengthy acceptance letter Thursday, decommited from William & Mary and will be headed to UPenn next season. Taps said when William & Mary, where his brother Tim goes, offered it gave him a week to accept or it would be taken away. “I couldn’t have been happier with the University of Pennsylvania,” Taps said. “It’s really been my dream school.”

But we keep rotting. I mean rooting. I guess.

Finally, a G:TB staffer landed this monster. He's on the left, a bit obscured by the fish. Oddly, it doesn't look like him, but we'll chalk that up to the exertion of the moment. It'll keep him in meals for months.

And you thought you'd never see this recurring feature again.