Beer of the Week

When I lived in Arlington some of us from my office would go to the Flying Saucer every Wednesday night for pint night. Drink a beer. Keep the glass. We had a lot of fun, and I got a few wild stories to tell out of it.

At some point I decided to get on the Saucer’s Ring of Honor. Basically it’s a con to get you to drink lots of beer at their establishment. I was just starting to drink beer, and it sounded like a good way to find out what kind of beer I liked. I joined the UFO Club and drank three beers a week until I was in the 170 range. 200 was the magic number to get a plate on the wall with your name on it. Then I moved to Austin which had no Saucer at the time. So, I gave up on the whole thing. No big loss. My stint in the UFO club accomplished what I was looking for. I had tried a lot of beer and found a lot that I liked. I moved on with my life in a clean hygienic manner.

They have a Flying Saucer here in Austin now, and it is maybe ten minutes from my house. I’ve been toying with the idea of getting that plate after all these years. So, last Friday Mack and I went to the Saucer and I joined the UFO club again. I thought about trying to convince them to count my first 170 beers, but my taste has changed so much over the years I thought it would be fun to drink them all again. So, I’m at one beer now.

My first beer was Red Stripe. It’s a pretty ubiquitous lager style beer, but one of my favorites. It’s brewed by Desnoes & Geddes Limited in Kingston, Jamaica. It’s a light beer, but not as light as a pilsner. I’d say Red Stripe doesn’t fit neatly into any of the styles of beer actually. It’s pretty unique, and I can’t really compare it to any other beer. I rate it a great beer, and it is definitely in my top 34 beers. I’m doing a top 34 because ten just isn’t enough and I didn’t think I could really rate all 200. Honestly, most of them just blend together into a sea of foamy brownness. The 34 came from my age. Now, go have a Red Stripe!

Do Less?

Is if just me or is everyone crazy busy these days? Kay and I are busy all the time, and we don’t even do that much! My friends are busy. Everyone at work is busy. Even my Doctor is crazy busy. I was telling her during a visit how Kay looked so skinny in some pictures now, and I emailed her one of the pictures in question the next day. She emailed me back a couple weeks later to thank me, and said she was sorry to take so long to get back to me but things had been chaos. It sounded so much like something I would say. I thought here is a doctor with a successful practice, no children and still she is inundated in business like all of us.

How can we possibly keep up with the pace of modern America? We can be and do everything right? We can have an active social life while holding down a career and raising a family. Don’t forget to volunteer to help your community. Stay in shape. Answer all your emails. Keep up your myspace page. Blog. Do more. Be more. Go. Go. Go. More. More. More. I don’t want to go all minimalist or nihilist or anything, but Thoreau’s “Simplify. Simplify. Simplify,” makes a lot of sense when faced with modern America.

Why does it have to be that way though? What if we chose to do less? What would that look like? What would I give up? Cycling? Writing blogs? Can’t quit my job. Have to take care of Mack. There’s got to be a way to simplify life. I’d love to hear some opinions on this one. Am I off base? Is modern life not really a hectic crazy hundred mile an hour experience? Is it just my misguided perception? Also, what are some ways to tame it if it is a crazy ride?

The Two Faces of Mackenzie Grace

Just thought this was a interesting contrast of pictures. According to the date taken time stamp these two pics were taken within a minute of each other...

The Spider House

To me the Spider House is the ultimate coffee shop. Its one big negative is the best part is the outside, and in Austin there are only two weeks in the spring and fall where it is actually nice to go there. That is unless you are a night owl. So while I love the place I don’t actually go there that much. However, all other coffee shops will always be judged against it. Instead of dryly going on about its virtues I think I will tell the story of how we found the Spider House.

It was just weeks after I moved to Austin in March of 2001. I was living with Monte in a house in north Austin off 183 and Anderson Mill. The reasons I moved to Austin were many, but certainly at the top was Austin’s funky eclectic atmosphere. I was always just drawn to it. So, when Marc wanted to go to a place called The Spider House I was a little taken aback by the name but went anyway.

We didn’t find it easily. The entrance is actually kind of hidden unless you know what you’re looking for. I remember driving around in Monte’s car with Marc pointing from the back seat to turn this way and that.

We climbed up the steep stairs into the dimly lit interior and ordered our lattes. Mine most likely with a shot of vanilla. I’ve since given them up as they are very high in (weight watchers) points. If I tried one now the combination of sugar and espresso would probably keep me up for a day and a half. The inside of the Spider House has never been that appealing to me so we headed out the door we came in and around the house along a covered deck. We walked down three steps into an open piazza of eclectic weirdness. Old rusted metal tables and chairs rested uneasily on uneven pavers. Knowing the Spider House the tables were probably littered with a cornucopia of odd people. Bald headed women with multiple piercings, and men with mohawks that added feet to their height. Christmas lights hanging from the gigantic twisting live oak in no discernable pattern lit the night sky. I was in heaven.

I don’t remember what we talked about or how long we stayed, but because Marc found that place my move to Austin started off in exactly the direction I wanted it to. I have been back countless times with all kinds of people and made many great memories. I think I’ll do a part two of the Spider House and tell ya’ll about some of the times I went there with Kay.

Book Report: The Wonderful Spirit Filled Life by Charles Stanley

When my mother-in-law left this book with us I was intrigued by the title. I picked it up and just kept reading. Finished it in three weeks, which is really fast for me these days. I can’t say it is the best book I ever read or its stunning prose brought forth a veritable cornucopia of revelations about my inner being and the very nature of God. It was a good read though, and I’d recommend it to anyone trying to deepen their walk with Jesus. I was actually quite happy to find a source outside my church that taught the same concepts about Christianity that I’ve been learning over the last three years.

At first look the cover, title and image of the author on the back made me gag. It looks like everything I thought I hated before I believed. A holier than thou preacher telling me how he thought I should live my life. Actually the book is a gentle push toward a vision of a better life that is available to all of us through Jesus. The trinity is not a concept that I can explain but it is reality. God is three in one: God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit the Counselor. The book deals with how the Holy Spirit indwells Christians from the very first moment we believe. It is up to us to learn how to listen to the Spirit, and surrender to God’s will for our lives.

There was lots of good stuff in the book but the thing that really stood out to me was the fact that the Bible refers to the Holy Spirit in the masculine. He shall come. He will guide you. That kind of thing. I must admit that before I read this book I thought of the Holy Spirit as more of a force like Star Wars or following my eastern roots the Tao. The fact that the Holy Spirit has a personality, emotions and loves changes the whole dynamic for me. Now I see Him as a tangible link to God that is always with me.

Being Bill

Some of you out there are probably thinking the title of this blog should be Being Jesus not being bill. You’re probably right. Not that I sit around reverently meditating upon the divine nature of God every minute of every day, but it’s definitely one of my favorite subjects. I’d rather talk about God, Jesus, Buddhism or any other spiritual practice than pretty much anything. Funny thing is I was the same way when I was an atheist too.

Anyway, I’ve decided to branch out a little bit. You can still expect lots of Christophizing, but there’s going to be a weekly (at least) picture of Mackenzie on here. I’m also going to share some of my other favorite things with ya’ll.

You’ll notice to the right there is a list of coffee shops. It says top ten, but it’s really not in a particular order. Just the first ten I could think of in the order I thought of them. I’m going to start doing reviews of coffee shops here in Austin and really compile my top ten. I can’t really say why I love coffee shops I just do. Maybe I’ll discover why as I write reviews of them.

There is also a music playlist on the blog now. Discovering new music has got to be one of my favorite things to do. I love music. I love rock music, weird music, pop music, world music. I love it all, except jazz. I want to like jazz, but I just don’t. Whenever I hear a new song I really like I add it to my imeem playlist called “Now”. At the moment I’m getting most of my new songs from “Morning Becomes Eclectic” hosted by Nic Harcourt on KCRW out of LA. I imagine you could figure out some kind of connection between all the songs, but I don’t see it other than I like them.

Thanks for reading.