2007 Plungerhead Zinfandel

This 2007 Lodi Zinfandel has become one our "Go To" red wines as of late. We have found it to be a great all around red wine that drinks like an $50 bottle.

This wine is a subsidy of Don Sabastiani. The color is very clear with a medium ruby color. The nose is clean and subtle with blackberry jam and caramel nuances.

On the palate it is sweet, with high acidity and low tannins. The beginning has white pepper that turns to into cherry jam with caramel and cinnamon undertones. I found that it is long to the mouth with a silky texture.

This would be a good wine to be served with Pork topped with Fruit Chutney, as well as lamb.

This wine varies from $14-$20. It can be found at Sterling Fine Wine for $13.99

Toronto Maple Leafs

I went to the leafs game last night. The first time I have seen a game in Canada and I was very disappointed. I must have went with high expectations. I guess I was expecting a lot of energy and a good game. Well the game was decent but I thought I was in a morgue!! Even when the leafs scored a goal, the only person that cheering was the little 5 year old sitting behind me. I'm a season ticket holder for the Columbus Blue Jackets and think that the arena lacks energy!

The Air Canada center is very nice. I don't think there really is a bad seat in the house. I went to the Loose Moose Bar and Grill before the game. It was pretty good. Go early because it gets backed.

Training

Training for Disney has been going well. I still need to raise more money for MS. Even $1 will help!!

Training

Started the first of 16 weeks training for the Walt Disney Half Marathon. Today was a mile warm up and the 3 miles at a 7:47 pace and then a mile cool down. It went well considering I usually don't run that fast. I want to do a 1:45 in the half marathon.

Running for the MS Society at the Walt Disney Half Marathon

I am running the Walt Disney Half Marathon for the MS Society Jan. 10th, 2008. My wife will be running the full marathon on the 11th. I would run it but I have been retired from marathon running for 2.5 years now.

This is the first time I have ever raise money for a cause. I'm doing it because my mother and a good friend of mine have MS. It feels really good to do something like this, I wish I would have done it sooner.

If you would like to donate, please click here!

I will be posting updates regularly on my training progress starting in about 2 weeks so stay tuned.

Elephants

This is a short video of a female elephant we saw on our last night. She was about 6 feet away from us.

Gorah Elephant Camp

We were able to go on vacation to South Africa in June. It was the most amazing vacation that I have ever been on. We stayed 4 days, 3 nights at Gorah. The place is beautiful. The services and food could not have been better. If you go and stay here, ask for a Game Driver named Kerrow. He is great and extremely knowledgeable. Here are a couple of Pictures

Van Halen In Columbus

I've been waiting to see Van Halen with David Lee Roth for a long time now and that day finally came.  Going into it I expected a fantastic show, but I came away a little disappointed.

The stage was pretty sweet, it was a big S shaped that came out into the crowd and was high on the back. 

The good:

They played great, and I mean great!  Eddie was amazing and Alex's drum solo was one of the highlights of the whole show.  Wolfe seemed to play well and his back up vocals were good but the kid lacks any energy, and get a haircut for god's sake!!!!

The bad:

As soon as Roth started singing my friend and I looked at each other and was like, what the F!  it just sounded bad from where we were sitting.  I dont know what the problem was but when it was just him talking or singing without any music behind him it sounded fine.

The other thing that drove me nutz was there wasn't any energy. I know that something is wrong with Eddie but my god.  they have this huge stage that they didn't even use.  Roth walked around once and wolfe went up to the top maybe twice.  Well Roth did his whole Karate routine but that was about it.

Here's the play list

You Really Got Me 
I’m the One 
Runnin’ With the Devil 
Romeo Delight 
Somebody Get Me a Doctor 
Beautiful Girls 
Dance the Night Away 
Atomic Punk 
Everybody Wants Some!! 
So This Is Love? 
Mean Street 
(Oh) Pretty Woman 
Alex Van Halen drum solo 
Unchained 
I’ll Wait 
And the Cradle Will Rock… 
Hot for Teacher 
Little Dreamer 
Jamie’s Cryin’ 
Ice Cream Man (David Lee Roth playing acoustic guitar, with band eventually joining in) 
Panama 
Eddie Van Halen guitar solo (Eruption, with Cathedral within it) 
Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love 

Encore 
1984 
Jump

Boston Marathon

My beautiful wife ran the Boston Marathon for her second time and ran a 3:26.  She amazes me!

GIV

I got the bid yester day to goto NJI, which is another division of NetJets. I will be going to G4 school on next month. 24 loooong days! At least it will be in SAV.

Hockey

Got our asses handed to us tonight! 7-2, sucks but it was fun to play.

Hockey

I have been playing in the adult Weds. C league at the chillers in Columbus with the NetJets team. We started out first session last night, we won of course!!! 7-3 I had an awesome assist for the first goal and mist a break away hitting the crossbar.

Otto

Last night I ventured into the city, NYC, for dinner. I went to one of my favorite restauraunts, Otto. Erin and I love the place. It is on the corner of 5th and 8th St., just a block from where we lived 2 summers ago. It is a Mario Batali restauraunt, whom I think is the best chef on Food TV! Anyway, the bar area is set up sort of like an Italian train station where you have a lot of long high tables where you can order drinks and appatizers while you wait but they dont have stools. Instead of taking your name they give you a train ticket adn have to look at the sign for your name. The sign is one that you would seen in a european train station.
For NYC it is a fairly inexpensive place to eat. We usaully have wine, salad, maybe a pizza and a mai dish. Last night I had a glass of Giondas "vieilles vignes' 2004, well maybe 2, and a MARGHERITA pizza. It was fantastic. Here is a link to the menu.



If you are ever in NYC you should make a trip to eat here. It's abouot a block and a half off of the ACor E trains at 4th st.

My wife, the STUD!

My beautiful and talented wife just completed her 8th Marathon on Sun., completing the Philadelphia Marathon in 3:19.51, which is a 7:39 min/mile pace.  She kicked some ass.  She finished 775 overall, 100th women finisher and  29th in her age division.  

This is probably the first marathon she was serious about.  The others were for fun but she wanted to do better than she had previously done.  

I am so proud of her!!!!

2003 Sebastiani

We just had a 2003 Sebastina Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon with dinner the other night that we bought from winery in Napa.

Tasting notes:

The color was a beautiful dark red with a clear deep and intense ruby color.

The nose is clear with medium intensity with hints of blackberry and caramel. 

The taste was medium in sweetness, low acidity, and medium tannins.  The body was pretty good with flavors of blueberry with great length. 

This was a great wine that Erin and I highly recommend with your next steak or chops.

You can find the 2004 here for $32.99

Shadowbox Cabaret

Last night Erin and I went to see a show at the  Shadowbox Cabaret at Easton last night with some friends.  I have to say it was fantastic!!  I really didn't know what to expect.  We saw "Haunted House Party".  The actors are great and the band is unbelievable.  Everyone that works there  participates in the show one way or another.. Our waitress was a back up singer and was also in a couple of scenes.  One of my favorite scenes was when a couple was having a Halloween party and a guy came with a potato that hung in front of his crotch.  He came as a "Dick-Tater"!  Anyway, go and see a show, you won't regret it.  I never knew it was there.  Beers are like $3 and wine and mixed drinks are $6.

Bere Vitticio 2004

I tried a glass of Bere Viticcio the other night. I don't have much to say about this wine except, please don't waste your time!!!! Its a blend of 70% Sangiovese, 15% Merlot and 15% Cabernet. To me it is just a cheap Italian wine that was bottled to be sold in the US. It reatails for $11.99 at Zachys.

Halloween

What is your Halloween costume going to be?
I wanted to go as Lt. Dangle of Reno 911 but I will be working until wed.