New Amsterdam Gin

New Amsterdam Gin
750ml - $16.99
Cottage Liquor on Park

Okay, I'm sitting here watching PBS dive head long into the Swine Flue (H1N1 or something) virus here, so I decided it might be time to take a look into the liquor cabinet.

One of the perennial inhabitants of my cabinet is the New Amsterdam Gin. Some of you math majors out there might have noticed that its not the cheapest out there, but the thing is, its a personal favorite. The gin has charm. First, and maybe foremost, its available at the corner store. The corner store has a charm all its own, the idea of one, and this one in particular. The guys at the Cottage run a tight ship, and they're quick to make the regulars (at a liquor store) feel welcome. So, I reward loyalty with spending too much on a bottle gin.

The gin itself... well... from beginning to end its a rewarding experience. The name is a historical reference to New York when it was briefly inhabited by the Dutch. The bottle is nice enough to inform anyone who takes the time to read the label past its proof. So, its a history lesson. L and I have to love that. The bottle is classy. Its angular, sleek, avant garde, but slightly art deco. That air of art deco architecture is enhanced by the interior picture of the Empire State building that stares back at you through your ever decreasing level of liquid. Empire, style, grace, and gin, all come to mind here.

The flavor is nothing special. Its not particularly strong, nor does it overpower with juniper smell. Its not spicy. Its simply a safe, unoffensive, and smooth gin. (the label calls it diamond smooth, but i'm not sure where they're grabbing that rubric) But then, I've always found gin that's overly complicated to be pretentious. Its not that such gin is without its place, but that place often isn't on the bottom shelf.

I can't adequately explain the elegance of this lower shelf offering from Modesto California... and that makes me think I shouldn't have chosen a career where explaining complicated information through the English language was a major component. Oh well.

A G&T sounds mighty mighty good to me. * Here's to you loyal reader *

*Edit* - By far a 4.5 thumbs up, and a relatively smooth 2 pain killer for a 4.5:2 ratio. Might be the best thing we've featured here on the shelf yet.

- S

DropBox

As a historian on the go (well, a freeway flier working at at least two different jobs at a time) I have several different workstations and places where I get things done. For instance there is the macbook that serves as my desk work station, and my new Aspire One (the CoalBook) that comes with me now wherever I go to work. So, at the coffee shop I have the coalbook, but at home, I like to use the mac. Its got a little bigger screen, and I can plug in the 10-key to enter grades. What's not to love.

The issue is keeping things like gradebooks together. I was working manually, just updating to a rotating backup, but there was a better solution out there. Dropbox. Just a little research would have turned it up, but it took a crisis to find it. So the coalbook crapped out the other day and wouldn't load the Xmanager. That's a serious problem as it had my work notes and student comments trapped on it. I needed to get in there and manually ftp the files out without using X. A major notch on my nerd belt, but not the way I wanted to do business. I searched for a solution after reinstalling ubuntu 9.04 netbook edition on the coalbook.

Dropbox is for mac, linux, and windows if that's your bag. It does a nice job of providing a unified working folder for each system. So, if i edit a file on the go, its also on my desktop when I get home. There's a 2GB limit for the free edition, but with the automation, what's not to love? I'll keep you updated.

-S

Ford

Well, the Ford Motor Company has saved me once again... for the time being at least. Descent cars, and a historic name. Who would have thought they'd save themselves from the ranks of penny stocks. Me, that's who. Ha! (This is normally the point where the wheels fall off ford cars, and they get recalled, thus ruining my profits... oh well, its only money)

-S

Comments on Human Rights

So, were I to ask you about a human rights issue in the 20th century, I bet you would answer with one of five topics...

1. Hitler/Nazis
2. Rwanda
3. China
4. Russia/Stalin/Communism
5. Mexico

Or maybe if you attended a particular University of California campus...

I start to understand now what "they" mean when they say that variety is the spice of life. Its the spice of teaching too.

- S

Tools of the Trade, Pt. 1

So, I thought it might be useful to detail the limited investment in tools that it takes to become a historian. As it turns out, there isn't a whole lot to it. See, I had thought about being a notary, but you need your own stamp, book, and what not. Way too much capital up front.

Computers have long been a splurge item for me as I love the possibility of technology. Therefore, its pretty great that I can, from time to time, justify the expense of new computer items in the pursuit of my professional goals. One instance of that has been my recent purchase of an Aspire One netbook.

This little gem has proven invaluable to me, and altogether, it has set me back a little less than $300. Being smaller and cheaper than a "regulation sized" notebook computer has been great. I slip in in the book bag along with today's research material and off to the library I go. More often though, its being used to take notes in the lecture I TA for or project material when I'm wearing my professor hat (guess which one that is and there may be a prize). This little one is of the linux variety, and is now running Ubuntu 9.04 release candidate. The upgrade today went without a hitch, and now that suspend works out of the box, this tool just gets better.

I swear, my professional writing is more interesting and coherent. I could go on about presidential abuses of authority, but I'd rather just point you toward Gene Healy's The Cult of the Presidency. Check it out at your local library... hey, I think that's the second tool!

- S

The book

Well, we've got a working manuscript now printed out from the Kinkos. Its pretty awesome to see. Its going to be nice working on one draft, a hard copy that I can note on and that will have consistent pagination. The hard part is over, now comes the slow part. Its going to be a month long process at least of going through and making sure that we're clear on all the more controversial points, and also that we're good on all the new literature that has come out since we started the project. I've been trying to keep up on it, but with work and school, its fallen a bit behind and I've relied upon the known classics. That's not great scholarship.

I'm really hoping that finishing this project leads to great things. I got into one graduate school this year, and while there are a lot of advantages, I'm going to have to defer. Since there was no money, I'm not sure how I come up with out of state tuition. Its a state school, but still. So, this year I'll be putting some money back from what I intend to be great successes to potentially pay for this education.

I also need to get my focus squared away. This past six months has been one long freak out. Stress I think, or possibly something worse. While the state is paying for my insurance, I should really find out. That should help make some of the financial calls easier.

- S

Summerfield - Cardonnay

Summerfield
Califonria Chardonnay
Vintage 2008
$2.99 - Henry's San Diego

Well, a return to the $2.99 Henry's wines from Summerfield. This time we tried the white. The red was alright and got the job done. The white, well, it left quite a bit to be desired. L and I have had a wine about this bad once. On a trip to D.C., we stopped in Union Station to grab a bottle on the way back to our hotel room. The bottle we chose was an inexpensive venture into white wine territory because we wanted something we could drink right away. It was as awful as this California Chardonnay.

I think we decided it was fruity, but sour. It had a metallic flavor that reminded us of the Franzia boxed wine one can pick up for about $7.00 at the local grocer and isn't served in mixed company (review to come!). It was artificial, as if you were buying a $3.00 bottle of white wine. I guess in this instance you got what you paid for. Given that white wines generally have less complex flavors, I suppose one shouldn't fault the vinter too badly for this travesty, but I'm going to anyway.

( |3 - - - -) One thumb up, and ( 0 0 0 - - ) three pain killers for the head. A 1:3 ratio means that we can't reccomend this wine. Stick with a safer red, or move it up to the higher shelf! This one has no place here on the bottom shelf.

Habeas Corpus

Glen Greenwald is right on as always making his point about President Obama's position on habeas corpus. Having during the campaign attacked the concept of grabbing people off the street and throwing them in a dungeon, the administration has now filed claims that they do in fact have every right to do exactly that. They are asserting that the executive of this nation can, without review, imprision people indeffinately. How American is that? Its getting to the point of being like apple pie it seems.

From my own perspective, I see the point. Its inherently practicle and convienent for the executive to lock people up it deems dangerous. As the head of the intellegence aparatus, its even possible that they know something that they're not telling me. The problem is that its illegal; its against the rules. Its as convienent for President Obama today as it was for Louis XVI in France in the 1780s. Americans have the good sense not to put our Bastile in the center of Washington though. As Walter was so fond of saying, this is not 'Nam, there are rules. Those rules may be a pain, and they may make life more difficult, but they also ensure that this is a free country. If you're gathering information in such a way that you can never tell anyone about it, how am I supposed to check up on you? How am I supposed to know that you're not lying?

Innocence is the presumption in this country. Its the base line. If you want to accuse me of something, the burden is on you. That's the whole point of a free society. It doesn't work if that's only the standard sometimes. It has to be every time. You can't be kind of free. Its not a right if it only applies to you some of the time; that makes it a gift from on high. It can be taken away just as easily as it is granted when circumstances require the revocation of that "right."

I don't trust people saying "trust me." Neither should you. I especially don't trust zealots who defend the actions when its by their guy, and attack it when its the other guy. They're not arguing over the principle of freedom, they only sound like they are. Likewise are the new defenders Greenwald goes out of his way to mention. They're dangerous partisans, willing to trade principles for victory.

So far, the Obama administration has been everything I expected it to be.

- S

P.S. Out my window right now is the street in front of my house and driveway. There is almost, and I mean almost enough space to park a car without blocking my driveway. I've seen literally 20 cars try it now. The more inconsiderate require me to go out and explain to them that they're going to get towed. I mean, seriously, the driveway is right there... people only think of themselves.

P.P.S. I gave up and let a guy park there so I could just let it be. I can probably get the car out with this guy there anyway... but they weren't going to ask... wow.

Summerfield

Part of being an academic, I think, is an appreciation for the drink. Part of being a broke historian is finding that drink on the bottom shelf. So, since I've been drinking the finer choices of the bottom shelf lately, I thought I'd share the little gems I find with you. Here goes...

Summerfield
Cabernet Sauvignon
Vintage 2008
$2.99 - Henry's San Diego

You have to love a bottle of wine that asks you right off the bat "How do we make such impressive wines at affordable prices?" Well, my guess would be cutting corners, but they have a much longer answer about quality, ripeness, and other wine terms I didn't understand. That's okay, I come from the John Cleese school of wine drinking. So the only question for me is, did I like it? Yeah Summerfield, I did like your wine. It was understated as far as these things go. It was also a bit dry, but that could have been my perception as the night wore on as well. I'm not a huge fan of bold wines, and this was certainly not a bold wine.

Did it get the job done? You bet it did. Conversation flowed as the wine flowed, and that's about all you can really ask in my opinion.

Overall rating... ( |3 |3 |3 - - ) three thumbs up out of five on taste, and with anything else on the bottom shelf there is one last important question to ask: How as the head the next day? Well, this wine, being a red with sulfates (an important point I think?) got a ( 0 0 - - - ) 2 ibuprofin out of five. So, really that's a 3:2 ratio. Not bad, not bad at all... pick one up for your next bottom shelf event!

- S

Speaking of the Revolutionaries

So, I actually met the girl who drives the Ron Paul truck in my previous post today. Serendipitous. I've only seen the vehicle around the community since early last year. I guess that it took until now to meet goes to show you that a community of villages still won't bring urban dwellers into close contact. Anywho... So I was bringing groceries in the house today and she stopped me to ask if I was the one who flew the "DONT TREAD ON ME" flag. Of course I am. Well anyway we had a nice conversation about some of the local groups around town and how the groupies (or group members if you want to be respectful) tend to detract from the message sometimes. That's why I don't often go anyway. Political activists probably care less than I do, but zealots concern me.

Speaking of Zealots; its Good Friday. Happy Easter to all, and may you (and by you I mean me since I'm the only one who reads this) find all that you're trying to find.

- S

Ron Paul Revolution

There's this guy in my neighborhood who drives a Suburban I think. During the run up to the election he'd painted a Ron Paul Revolution stencil on the back of the truck. He didn't do that half hearted either. This was the real deal with stencils and color changes. Just like the logo. Now its faded, washed away by many a rain. I wonder if that's a metaphor or symbolism?

-S

My pen

I fixed my fountain pen. Actually, first I found it, and then I fixed it. Water. Its amazing stuff. So, score. Also, L and I got a marriage license today. Its sitting right here next to me, and its good for ninety days. This is going to be great!

- S

A year later

So, success? No. Not as such. L has finished her degree and her teaching credential. So two for the win column. We also applied to graduate school again. That was a failure. Apparently we're not smart enough. That's okay though. I didn't want that sour old degree anyway. I'll just keep teaching at the schools I've been working at. That's actually been going pretty well. I made more money last year than ever before, so score. Unfortunately, it was only about $30k. Bummer. I've been looking for a creative outlet again, but I realize that I'm not creative. So, maybe I'll do this again, or maybe I'll just post this message to see if it pops up on Clever Girl's radar.

-S