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.
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