Christmas 2010

I left for Jacksonville on Wednesday the 23rd at 7:40AM flight out of Philly.  We boarded on time and left the gate right on time.  We had no delays heading for the running and were the first flight to take off.  We arrived around 9:45 which was 15 minutes early.  Since the flight arrived early, Mom was not waiting for me.  I ran into her as she was walking towards the meet-and-greet area.

We picked up Dad and had lunch at a new brewpub on Beach.  they just opened and had not installed the brewing equipment yet.  The food was good and they had an excellent draft craft beer selection.

Flagler College

On Christmas Eve we drove down to St. Augustine for the morning.  We took the scenic route down A-1-A.

Mom and Dad

St George St.

We ventured down St. George Street popping in and out of shops and boutiques.   We ended up having lunch at the Columbia Restaurant, a famous restaurant in old town.  Very good Cuban and South American food.

St Augustine Lighthouse

After lunch we drove over to Anastasia Island so I could see the Lighthouse.  The problem was that we arrived when the place was closing for the day.  A schedule snafu.  Oh well there's next year.

Me with big knife

Christmas, here I am with my new chef's knife.















The Jaguars were playing a home game on Sunday the 26th and as usually Scott had tickets and wanted me to go to the game.  This was a must win game against the Redskins.  They were favored and the Jaguars have never lost when I was in the stadium, Never!  Well, it was one of those nasty winter days in Jax so I decided to watch the game at home with Mom and Dad.  So, the Jags lost and Scott blamed me.  Ha!  Any who, I went over to his house to watch the late game, Vikings at the Eagles.  Unfortunately the game was postpone until Tuesday because of the blizzard in Philly (which I missed, ha ha).  So I just hung out and visited.  Gina's sister was in town with her husband who is a pro soccer player.  They had the flu so I did not get a change to chat with him much.  Scott and I did our usually thing, listen to music and watch videos (add drink beer).

Monday nothing much other than we went to a movie and saw the latest Harry Potter movie.  Mom and Dad were good sports since they have only seen one other Potter movie.  I enjoyed it and can not wait for the last movie.

I left on Tuesday the 28th around 11AM and got back to Philly around 1PM.  I watched the rescheduled Eagles game which was a disappointment.  

December Weekends

Had my first date with Tracy after returning from Libya on Saturdaynight the 4th. We met at the Market East train station downtown.  Then we took the "EL" down to 2nd street where we walked to Restaurante' Primavera for wine and cheese flights.  We sat at the same spot we sat at the first time we went there.  Had a great time getting caught up on stuff.  After dinner we walked towards town, it was a bit chili but we did not notice.  We went into the old Wanamaker's (now Macy's) to see the Christmas display but it must had been too late.  So we walked over to the Comcast Center to see their Christmas display but it was not on, strike two.  Then I suggested we go the Max Brenner's for some hot chocolate.  The place was packed but we got a small table and enjoyed the snack.

Got together with Tracy on Saturday the 11th she came by in the morning.  We went to the new German restaurant in Fox Chase.  Not bad the food was pretty good. We order different wurst plates so we could sample their inventory.  We both had Riesling wine.

Friday night the 17th I headed over to the Slapinsky's.  Had a great time socializing and carrying on.   Joe had just receive a new Samsung Galaxy Tablet in the mail just before I arrived.  Cool device, I may just get one.  He had a neighbor come by who is in the music industry.  A bass player who has played and recorded with many big groups.  We had a gaming geek fest with "Angry Birds" a very obsessive game.  We had fours devices going at once.

Saturday the 18th  I went to my beer distributor and found a case of the Weyerbacher Riserva. I’ve been looking quite awhile for this brew. The price was very steep but should be worth it. Will not know for some time because this brew needs to age for at least a year before consuming, I my opinion.
After my shopping excursion I drove up to the Iron Abbey for lunch and to watch the Fliers game. They had an excellent selection of Christmas beers. I ordered a flight because there was no way I would be able to consume four full Christmas beers in one sitting. (See my beer blog site for a detailed report).

On Sunday the 19th I chatted with Tracy most of the morning she was doing her Xmas shopping today with plans to get together in the evening. I did some shopping myself before the Eagles game. Speaking of the Eagles game, one of the best come backs of all times. They were playing the Giants in their stadium, I think.  Down 31 – 10 with 7 minutes left in the game they scored 4 unanswered touchdowns, with the winning touchdown off of a punt return with only 14 seconds left in the game.

Wrapped up the weekend at Tracy’s place.

Happens during the month.....November 2010

On Saturday the 13th, I joined the Philly Craft Beer Express.  An organized bar hopping event.  See my Best Brew Blog for details.

I decided to replace the window "fluff" in my house.  One of those home projects you just never have time for.  I went out to Loews and bought replaced window treatments.  I started installing the window treatments this month.  What a difference.

Tracy and I had been trying to schedule a date for some time after Thanksgiving.  We have not seen one another since May during one of my trips back from Libya.  We stayed in contact with each other via email.  She wanted to get together on Friday the 26th but I was traveling back from Miami that day.  Saturday was a no go so we decided on Sunday the 28th.

Happy Hops Giving Festival - IPA beer fest at the new Union Jack's with John and Mary on Saturday the 27th.  I met up with them around 2PM.  The place was packed.  They had a great selection of IPA's from around the country.  We had a late lunch and flights of the IPA's.  After our meal we went into the bar area where Mike was just tapping a frikin of DFH 75 Minute IPA, which came with a free DFH glass.  Cool!  I've been wanting to try the 75 Minute but it's hard to get because they don't bottle this brew.  Back at John and Mary's house we hung out and listen to old Xmas music, hung out and had a good time.

My date with Tracy on the 28th  was postpone until next weekend.  Had a conflict with the insurance adjuster.  We rescheduled for next weekend Saturday December 4th.

Thanksgiving - Miami 2010

My first Thanksgiving with the family since 2007.  Thanksgiving 2008 was in Libya at our Guest House, yours turly was cooking for 50 or so employees.  Thanksgiving 2009 was with Tracy in Vienna, a local brew pub (the 1516) was offering a traditional Thanksgiving.  It was very good.

I took Monday off from work thou I was leaving Tuesday.  The flight from PHL left before 8AM on the 23rd. (I had to get to the airport by 6AM).  I arrive in MIA at around 11AM.  The rental car center is located off of the airport so I had to take a shuttle.  When I arrived at the Avis desk my name was not on the marque.  I went up to the counter and they could not find my reservation.  It was not in the system, and I had to pay a much higher rate than normal.  That sucked!  Later this day I search for my reservation and could not find it, I must have forgotten to do it.

I arrived at the Urbano hotel just before lunch time.  A nice hotel just before the toll gates going into the causeway to Key Biscayne.  Aunt Karen found this hotel for me.  Great location but in hindsight I should have stayed at the Crown Plaza.  I was the first to arrive, Mom and Dad were still on the road, Uncle Bill is flying into Ft. Lauderdale and Aunt Karen is golfing.  I went to the lobby bar and ordered some wine and a appetizer. I called Mom they were getting close, they had a hard time finding my hotel so they just drove to Aunt Karen's.  I arrived shortly after.  We had dinner at the Yacht Club.

Wednesday, I located a DD about 3 miles from the hotel. I'll be coming down here every morning, that's a fact. In the afternoon we started prepping food for tomorrows feast. I made a wine based sauce for the steaks tonight.

Thursday, I receive a Happy Birthday email from Tracy this morning. We met up at Aunt Karen's around 10ish. She had been working in the kitchen on the meal. We ---more to come---

Tracy texted saying that it was snowing in Philly, that's way too early for snow. I checked my Facebook and received Happy Birthday wish from my FB friends. In the afternoon I went to print out my boarding pass when I noticed I had a seat upgrade to first class, very cool! 
We had Thanksgiving dinner in the backyard, which was very nice. 

Friday the 26th, last day in Miami.  For lunch we went back to the Yacht Club then walked around the property taking pictures. We then drove down to the end of the causeway so we could take pictures of the group with Miami in the background.  Bill and Maria are heading to Key West for the remainder of the weekend.  Mom and Dad are driving back up this afternoon and my plane leaves around 4PM. I dropped off the rental car and hopped on the shuttle back to the airport. I flew back to Philly.  The flight took off around 4PM and landed about 7PM.

Windstorm - November 2010

Around 3AM on the 16th I was woken up by loud wind gust.  I looked out the window and rain and tree leaves were blowing by.  Went back to bed and another very loud gust came, it felt like the house was moving and I heard crashing sounds.  I got up to check things out.  I heard sirens in the distance the street looked like a tornado had come through.  Two house just down the street had a tree fall throw their roofs and shingles were missing from most of the homes.  I noticed there was a 50' piece of aluminum roof cap in the tree in front of my house.  The cap had ripped in to two pieces.  At the time I did not know which roof it came from.

When I came home from work I still could not tell which roof the cap blow off of.  I went ahead and contacted the insurance company a few days later just in case.  The adjuster could not make it out until one of the days when I will be in Miami so I scheduled for the 28th, Sunday.

Weekend in Harrisburg - November 2010

I decided to get out of town for the weekend.  On Friday the 5th I hopped on the 3:45 PM Amtrak train to Harrisburg.  I arrived at 5:30 and walked down to the Crowne Plaza.  This my first time using my Platinum status with my point system.  After I checked in I walked through downtown looking for the cool hangout spots.  I ended up at a place a few blocks from the hotel.  The had the Troegs Mad Elf on draft, which was awesome.  Had dinner and hung out a bit before calling it a night.

Saturday, I got up early and went searching for a Dunkin Donuts for my morning fix.  I found one not too far from the hotel.  I had my small camera with me so I went down to the river to check out that scene.  I arrive just as the sun was rising.  I took some good shots from the pedestrian bridge.  It was pretty chilly so I headed back to the hotel to warm up a bit before lunch and headed to Troegs. 

For lunch I walked down the street and found a great beer bar.  I had lunch and a few micro brews.  I then walked down to the Troegs brewery for the tour.  They have a large tap room to sample their line while you wait for the tour to begin.  The tour was about 45 minutes long, afterward I pick upped a few items in the giftshop then headed back to the hotel.  I chillied out for a few hours.

For dinner I walked over to the Appalachian Brewing Company.  They have a nice brewpub.  I hit it at a good time.  They had 20 brews on tap including a barleywine.    Had dinner a sampled most of their brews.  I ended up sitting next to a guy who worked for the Fliers.  Small world.  Headed to the hotel and hung out at the hotel bar for a bit before calling it a night.

Sunday morning I took the Amtrak back to Philly.
http://picasaweb.google.com/Chris.Duplisea/Harrisburg#

Highschool Reunion

----will be posted later----

August 2010 - Back in the US of A - First week

My first week back in Philly I decided to take the week off the get situated and rest from my trip back home.  Sunday the 1st, I was awake around 2AM so I got up and finished unpacking and sorting some stuff.  Went back to bed around 4AM.  Got up again at six, headed to DD, a quarter of the way down it started a very light sprinkle so I headed back.  I made coffee, it was not that good so I only had one cup.  I installed the RAM upgrade into the Apple.  I sent Tracy a message to let her know I was back in town.  I went grocery shopping, it came to $180.  Wow!  I went straight back and put everything away.  I made a decision not to long ago to start aging (cellaring) beer, and start a collection of fine brews.  I went to the craft beer shop (six-pack shop).  There was just one guy working and one or two other customers came in during my shopping time.  There’s a bar just as you walk in.  I had a pint, don’t remember what it was.  I ended up spending over $300.  On the way back I swung by Best Buy to get a wine cooler.  They only had one small one, so I got it.  Got home and packed the basement refrig with the beer.  I got the wine cooler up and running.  Originally, I was going to put beer and wine in it.  Nevertheless, the cooler only holds eight bottles so I will use it only for wine and champagne.  I lowered the temperature on the refrig to half.  I made sandwiches for lunch and did a few Beer Blogs with the new beer in the afternoon and after dinner.  For dinner, I had a T-bone steak.  Watch TV and went to bed early.

Saturday morning I walked up to DD for coffee.  About 9AM I started mowing the lawn.  Wow the grass is very high and thick.  I had to change the cutting line a few times.  The grass was growing through most of the cracks in the sidewalk.  When I made it up to the front, I broke the line mount hardware.  I had an extra one but had run out of cutting line.  I cleaned up and got ready to go downtown.  I caught the 10:20 train.  First thing I did was purchase train tickets and tokens for Mom and Dad's visit.  After that, I got my hair cut in the train station.  I walked up to the bank but I did not have my account info so I headed down to Spankie's bar in University City, a place called "Local 44".  I took the Blue line to 46th street and walked to the bar.  I had lunch and a few beers.  I sent Jill an email to see what their schedule was like this week.  Got back home and watch TV then did laundry and some other stuff.  Had a sandwich for dinner, and worked on the beer blog.

On Tuesday I got up early again.  Made a breakfast, egg muffin and bacon.  Continued to updated the beer blog.  I canceled the Comcast account.  About 9AM I went to the Comcast office to drop off the equipment.  There was no one in line so I was able to go in and out.  Since I was ahead of schedule, on the way back I swung by Loews to get the Weed Whacker stuff.  Got back to the house and waited until 10:30 before heading back out.  I got down to Bell’s Beverage, it was in front of the I-95 off ramp.  Very cool.  I must have browsed around for an hour.  I found a Harvest Ale and it was $110 a case.  However, I past it up for now.  I ended up getting a variety case from St. Bernardus ($97).  Case in hand it was time to head south (DFH Brewery).  I set the GPS and off I went.  It was a lot longer drive than I thought.  As usual, the GPS took me the long way, but since I had plenty of time to kill, I did not mind.  When I got a mile away, I saw a Shopping Strip.  I pulled in and got the packing tape I forgot about this morning.  Proceeded to DFH.  What a nice building and plenty of parking.  I waited in the car until 1:30.  I should have gone in because the waiting area was a gift shop.  I checked in a browsed around.  There must have been 30 people on our tour.  It was a typical tour with stories about Sam and how they started.  At the end, we had four samples and I purchased 750ml bottles of their beer for the cellar and two glasses.  And I also picked up “Beer Wars”.  I headed back, I started getting hungry and knew I would get to Philly during rush hour.  So I decided to stop somewhere for a meal.  However, I did not find anything.  I did not follow the GPS directions because it would have took me off the highway again.  I stayed on US1 to I-95.  The only traffic was at the Ben Franklin Bridge, which is normal.  I got home about 5:30PM.  I unpacked the car then made dinner.  I cooked the turkey sausage, and I made it with the St. Bernardus Abt 12.  I had it was a Merry Monk, which was the wrong brew of choice.  Later in the evening, I decided to try the Russian River - Supplication Ale because I had two bottles.  I was thinking it was going to be a treat because it’s hard to get and the cost is $17 for a 12oz bottle.  Well I was wrong, it is a sour beer that I am not a fan of.  Nevertheless, it will go into the Beer Blog.  I watched “Beer Wars”, which was awesome, then went to bed.

Wednesday, Got up at 5:30, early again.  I walked up to DD for exercise and morning brew.  I checked my email and saw a message from Tracy.  She just had questions about what I have been up to this week.  I up dated my journal, which I have not been doing this week.  First I dropped off the DirecTV box at USPS then pick upped a few items at the store.  I decided to skip downtown and head to the Hulmeville Inn.  So I headed to Franklin Mills to go to Bed Bath and Beyond.  But first I needed to fill the gas tank.  $40!  After BB&B I headed to the Inn.  The place was cool, I had two Barleywines including the DFH Old School.  I took it easy the rest of the day.  I cleaned up a little.  I made plans to have dinner with John, Mary and my folks on Friday.  Tried to get reservations for Friday but no go, so we will go to the Royersville Sly Fox.  I checked my AECOM email, Andy wants to have dinner Monday night, that’s cool.  I also checked the Verizon Spam folder and all of my BB messages were there and the reply from Slapper which he sent last Saturday.  That was a bummer, because I could have swung by yesterday when I was in Delaware.  I sent a reply to Tracy's email just before bed.

Thursday, I got up and continued to clean up around the house.  Made a cup of coffee but it was too weak.  Joe replied to my email, he said to come over with a few of my new brews on Saturday.  I headed over to Sears for bedding stuff and a new AC unit.  They did not have a small AC unit so I went to Loews to pick up the new AC unit.  I installed it, its smaller than the others and fits in the window better.  I headed to the airport around 11:30.  Picked up Mom and Dad and headed home.  We got situated and rested a bit before dinner.  Tracy replied to last night’s message.  That was a quick turn-around.  We headed to Iron Hill about 2:30PM.  The early dinner was good and I was able to get three more big bottles for the cellar.  We stopped by the grocery store before heading home.  We watched some TV then I put “Beer Wars” in.  After that we watched the Phillies game.

On Friday we went to the diner near the house for breakfast.  For lunch, we just had cheese and crackers.  Mom and I went to the local ice cream shop for desert, but it was closed.  I went to the liquor store for wine and Drambuie.  We left for Valley Forge about 4PM.  We did the loop around the park and took pictures.  We still had time to kill so I took off to the KoP mail and walked for a bit.  Then at 7PM we took off for the Sly Fox.  John and Mary arrived and we had a good time eating, drinking and socializing.  Got home around 10PM.

Saturday I walked to DD for coffee.  We drove to the Fox Chase train station and took the train downtown.  We got on the Hopon-hopoff bus and did the loop.  They loved it.  I did not know that Philly had a Hopon-hopoff tour.  At the end of the loop, they kick everyone off.  We got on the next one and took it to the PA State Pen stop.  We walked over to London Grill and had lunch.  I had not eating here in over ten years, that is the last time they visited and was living in this neighborhood.  We had cheese steaks and I had two good drafts, a Larger and a La Trapp on draft.  We walked over to Jack’s Firehouse to kill time then caught the bus back to the Franklin Museum.  We went in to the Natural History Museum.  I have never been in this one.  Afterward, we walked down to Scoop Deville for ice cream then to the train station and headed home.  The plan was to take them out to the Broad Axe Tavern for dinner but Joe called and said they were BBQ and to come over.  Therefore, we took off and stopped at the Acme to get steaks.  We stayed until about 9:30.  Got home and went to bed.

Sunday - Last day for Mom and Dad's visit.  Got up about 6AM and made coffee.  We left for the airport about 7AM.  I drop off Mom and Dad at Terminal F.  I drove back home and swung by DD for a coffee.  I cleaned up a bit.  Then I drove to Barns and Noble for the latest coin pricing book.  I got the 2011 edition and a book on cooking with beer.  I originally planed on dropping off the car at 2PM but when I got back from the bookstore it was 12:30 and I checked to see If that would work with the trains.  So I hauled ass back to the airport and made it on time.  Got home about 1:30.  Started to update the coins spreadsheet.  Mom called when I was on my way to the airport, they made it to Springfield okay.  I had the leftover slice of pizza and a piece of quiche.  I also opened a bottle of wine and watched the Phillies and rested.  Tomorrow is the first day back to work in the Philly office.