Old Neighborhood Irish Red Ale - Glass of Beer

The other day I went to the Co-Op with Becky and while we were there I went over and looked at their beer selection which is always very good. I picked out a six pack of Old Neighborhood Irish Red Ale from one of our local brewers Resurgence Brewery at a very reasonable price. This evening I had my first taste of it and it was delicious. Loved this beer and gave it a 4.25 on Untapped. 

Did my glass of beer pic with a book too. I'm reading this 3 Shades of Blue: Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bill Evans and The Lost Empire of Cool by James Kaplan, 2024. A book Becky got me for Xmas.

Mira Restaurant Reservations

For the past couple of months Becky and I have been interested in checking out the new restaurant on Elmwood Avenue located in the former Pano's Restaurant. The new restaurant is called Mira and is owned by several local experienced restaurant people and is serving Mediterranean cuisine from Spain, Greece and Italy. 

We had been waiting for it to open and several times we were on that block and could see the renovations going on. Then one day in early November we were walking over to Coles from where we parked on Bird Ave and saw that Mira was open. People were sitting at tables and at the bar. It was early in the evening and there looked to be plenty of room. We went in and asked for a table. The person at the staff entrance desk asked if we had reservations and it turned out that the entire restaurant was booked because it was the Grand Opening Night. So we went out and across the street to Coles.

The next day or so I went online to make a reservation but it was booked up for the next two months. I tried several times in November and December to book a table but it was always filled many weeks ahead. Almost two months. A few times we have been to Coles or in the neighborhood and saw that the restaurant parking lot was full and there were crowds on both floors.

I figured the best way to get a reservation was to book a table for 4 on a Thursday some time in the future and then ask someone to join us as the time got closer. Today I went online and made a reservation. The closes time I could get for an evening was in mid-March. I made a 5:30 pm reservation for Thursday on March 19th. I also tried to make a second reservation for April but the system apparently only lets you make reservations within a two month period so April and beyond was not available yet. At sometime over the next few weeks I'll make another reservation for a table for 4 in April.

At some time in early March we'll ask another couple to join us for dinner at Mira.

Last Day of January 2026

It's cold and dreary. Cloudy and snowy. It's the last day of January 2026 and I think it would be a good day to stay home and keep warm. Sometimes the sun would come out and there would be a little blue sky and then a few minutes later the clouds would come along with the snow. Back and forth all day. Lake effect cells passing by.

Parkside Meadow w/ Dave & Donna

Yesterday Becky was on the phone with Dave and during their conversation he suggested that we should all go down to the Parkside Meadow for a fish fry tomorrow. I contacted to ask what time and he initially said 4:30. I made a joke about it and we agreed on 5. Becky and I would have gone down there at 5:30 or 6. Then I called the PM and made a reservation for 4 at 5pm. 

This evening we walked down there at about 4:45 and it took about ten minutes to walk because of the snow. We took our time and it actually wasn't bad. All of the sidewalks from our house to the PM were shoveled and the street corners were OK to walk across. We got there and the bar area was full but we were the first people in the dining room. We were given a table in the middle of the room. It was OK but there were better tables. We asked for a booth but the waitress said they were all reserved. Then we asked about a table along the wall but they too were reserved. Friday night is always very busy for them and people ask for reservations at specific tables. Well, will know better next time.

While we were waiting for Dave and Donna to arrive Len, the owner and our neighbor, came by and chatted with us for awhile. D & D sat down and we continued talking with Len. Meanwhile some folks started coming in. By the time our ordered drinks arrived, me and Dave got beers, Donna got a glass of wine and Becky got an NA, people were coming in and those booths filled up. By 5:30 the dining room had almost filled up. By 6 the place was jammed, the bar area full and the back dining room was half filled too. 

Dave and I got the fish fry with their homemade chips. The cole slaw was good too. Becky got a beef on weck with chips and Donna got a tuna melt. The food was fine and we had a great time. The service was good and although it was crowded we could still sit at our table and have conversations. 

There were a lot of people I knew in the restaurant. Mostly from serving on the PCA board. I said Hi to about a dozen people in the restaurant.

We finished up around 6:45 and headed for the exit but it took a little while because we stopped at a friend's table and chatted a little. Dave and Donna had driven down to the restaurant but they had to park about a block and a half down the street so we walked along with them. After our goodbyes we continued down Russell and over Crescent to our house. It was all pretty quick and although it was cold we were dressed for it and there was no wind. Overall a very good night and we'll go again sometime soon.

Bitter Cold Again

Woke up to another morning of sunny weather with temperatures below zero. It's been very cold almost everyday for the past few weeks. It's usually been single digit temperatures and occasionally going up into the teens. It's been awhile since it was in the 20s. Above freezing... can't remember. There hasn't been a January Thaw this year.

We've had a lot of lake effect snow but the lake must have frozen over so why all that extra snow. We have about 7 or 8 inches on the ground now but it mostly came in small steady increments with nothing melting.

This bad January weather has been happening all over the East, Midwest and the South. We were talking with Katie and the kids on video chat and they were excited about all the snow they had in Philly. 

Yesterday I cleaned off the car three times. I've been trying to keep up with the snow shoveling. A few times this month I used the snowblower but mostly I've been shoveling. Yesterday later in the day the plows came by and buried our driveway with heavy street snow. So I had to go out there again and dig through it. Me and all the neighbors too. 

So later today we are going out for a fish fry with Dave and Donna down at the Parkside Meadow. We plan to walk there so we will be very bundled up. The temperatures will be about 9 or 10 degrees in the early evening.

2054: A Novel

2054: A Novel by Elliot Ackerman & James Stavridis, 2024. I read this in about a week in January. It was a quick read but rather unsatisfying. I think I read this one fast because I kept thinking something exciting would be happening just around the corner, just another chapter. Well, it did describe AI run amok and the results of lots of conspiracy theories. It was a novel of speculative fiction that takes place 30 years in the future. 

I read their first novel together... 2034: A Novel of the Next World War which they published in 2021 and I wrote about at the time. I liked that political thriller a lot but something was missing this time. It took the story about 20 year further into the future and shows us where our society is heading. And the coming Singularity and possible Civil War. 

Bruce Springsteen's Streets of Minneapolis

Bruce Springsteen has always been very vocal in his opposition to the trump regime in many ways. This week he released a new protest song he wrote specifically addressing the issues of police brutality and trumpian ICE fascism in Minneapolis and around the country.

Here are the lyrics...

"Streets Of Minneapolis"

Through the winter's ice and cold
Down Nicolet Avenue
A city aflame fought fire and ice
'Neath an occupier's boots
King Trump's private army from the DHS
Guns belted to their coats
Came to Minneapolis to enforce the law
Or so their story goes
Against smoke and rubber bullets
By the dawn's early light
Citizens stood for justice
Their voices ringing through the night
And there were bloody footprints
Where mercy should have stood
And two dead left to die on snow-filled streets
Alex Pretti and Renee Good

Oh our Minneapolis, I hear your voice
Singing through the bloody mist
We'll take our stand for this land
And the stranger in our midst
Here in our home they killed and roamed
In the winter of '26
We'll remember the names of those who died
On the streets of Minneapolis

Trump's federal thugs beat up on
His face and his chest
Then we heard the gunshots
And Alex Pretti lay in the snow, dead
Their claim was self defense, sir
Just don't believe your eyes
It's our blood and bones
And these whistles and phones
Against Miller and Noem's dirty lies

Oh our Minneapolis, I hear your voice
Crying through the bloody mist
We'll remember the names of those who died
On the streets of Minneapolis

Now they say they're here to uphold the law
But they trample on our rights
If your skin is black or brown my friend
You can be questioned or deported on sight

In chants of ICE out now
Our city's heart and soul persists
Through broken glass and bloody tears
On the streets of Minneapolis

Oh our Minneapolis, I hear your voice
Singing through the bloody mist
Here in our home they killed and roamed
In the winter of '26
We'll take our stand for this land
And the stranger in our midst
We'll remember the names of those who died
On the streets of Minneapolis
We'll remember the names of those who died
On the streets of Minneapolis

JT's with Dick & Iris

We had a wonderful dinner tonight with Dick and Iris at JT's. I had the Rigatoni Bolognese which I've had there several times and love. I also had my usual Tuscan Blend wine and then followed it up with a nice Peroni draft beer.

Everyone else had seafood. Becky had the Shrimp Scampi. Dick had a Dover Sole which was stuffed with clam and crab with a lobster sauce. Iris had the Grilled Whole Trout. Wow. And we started off with a large plate of Sauteed Mussels. All of us except Becky who doesn't eat mussels. It was delicious and a little hot too. 

The restaurant was busy for a snowy Wednesday night but it was also kind of quiet. It was nice sitting there at our table and enjoying our conversations. We ended up sitting at our table together for a little over two hours. The service was wonderful as always and the staff were exceptionally friendly.

It was also kind of a crazy snowy night on Elmwood Avenue and from our table we could see the snow coming down and at times it looked like a white out. Becky and I parked the car in our usual spot on Bidwell and as we walked the block and a half to JT's we had snow blowing in our faces. We couldn't believe how much snow was coming down. It was snowing when we left the house but not very much and it wasn't until we got over to Elmwood that suddenly we were in white out conditions. It snowed a little throughout the day but it wasn't forecasted for snow this evening. This was all some crazy lake effect snow. We had to shake ourselves off after we walked into the restaurant. Our reservation was for 6:30 but we got there about 15 minutes early. We sat at our table to wait for Dick and Iris. We were concerned for them. They arrived at 6:30 and Dick let Iris off at the door then we parked the car right out in front. We helped Iris in with her walker and got her seated at our table.

During our Christmas Eve dinner Dick and I talked about getting together soon to go out to dinner at a restaurant. We had been talking about this all year whenever we were together for some family event when the kids were in town. Going out to dinner would be a chance for just the four of us to get together. So because of Iris's mobility issues they should pick a restaurant.

Dick had contacted us recently and suggested dinner. We agreed right away and said we were flexible. They decided on JT's restaurant which is one of our favorite places for dinner and picked the day and time... Wednesday Jan. 28 at 6:30 pm. Everything went very well despite the snow.

Right before we left we talked about doing this again at another restaurant but in the Spring. Dick and Iris are traveling to California to spend time with Jeremy, Rachel and the kids and plan to spend about 4 weeks there. Now that's a nice break in the weather.

Woke - IFLA

Our friend in Australia has something to say about being "woke". Here he goes...

"WOKE": A BUZZWORD FOR DICKHEADS WHO RAN OUT OF ARGUMENTS

Right, let's talk about the word "woke", the favorite fucking weapon of every brain-dead culture warrior who can't form an actual argument to save their miserable life.

You know how you can tell someone's a complete fucking moron? They use "woke" as an insult. It's become the intellectual equivalent of just shitting your pants and declaring victory. Can't argue the actual point? Just yell "that's woke!" and waddle away like you've accomplished something.

Let me give you the history of this word, because these dickheads don't even know what they're saying half the time.

"Woke" started in Black American communities decades ago. It meant being aware, staying woke to racism, to injustice, to the systems designed to keep people down. It was about consciousness, about not being asleep to what's really happening in the world. Pretty reasonable shit, yeah?

But then white people discovered it, and like everything else we touch, we fucked it up completely.

Now "woke" means… what exactly? Depends which frothing dickhead you ask.

Teaching actual history in schools? WOKE!
Acknowledging climate change exists? WOKE!
Thinking maybe women should have rights over their own bodies? WOKE!
Suggesting we don't need seventeen guns per person? WOKE!
Not being a cunt to gay people? WOKE!
Putting a Black person in a movie? WOKE!
Teaching kids that slavery happened and was bad? WOKE!

It's become a fucking catch-all for anything that makes me slightly uncomfortable or challenges my worldview in the tiniest possible way.

You've got politicians ranting about "woke ideology" like it's some organized conspiracy. Mate, there's no secret woke headquarters. There's no Woke Pope issuing woke decrees. It's just people asking to be treated like fucking human beings and not wanting their kids taught lies about history.

Ron DeSantis in Florida, perfect example. This dickhead's fighting a war against "woke" by banning books, censoring teachers, rewriting history curriculums to make slavery sound like a fucking vocational training program. "Actually, slaves learned valuable skills!" Get absolutely fucked. That's not anti-woke, that's pro-stupid.

And the books they're banning? Not pornography. Not dangerous material. Books about Ruby Bridges, the six-year-old who integrated schools. Books about the Holocaust. Books with gay characters who have the audacity to just exist.

Apparently teaching kids that gay people are real is "woke indoctrination". But teaching them that God created the Earth 6,000 years ago and dinosaurs are a liberal hoax? That's just "parents' rights". Fuck off.

Here's what really pisses me off, these cunts use "woke" to avoid engaging with actual arguments.

"Maybe we should address systemic racism in policing."
"That's woke!"
"Okay, but what about these statistics showing"
"WOKE WOKE WOKE!"

It's intellectual fucking bankruptcy. They can't argue the merits, so they just slap a label on it and declare themselves the winner. It's what people do when they've got no actual counter-argument but their feelings are hurt.

And corporations, don't even get me started on corporations using "woke" as a marketing strategy, then conservatives losing their shit about it.

Bud Light put a trans person in an ad and you'd think they'd declared war on masculinity itself. Grown men filming themselves shooting beer cans, destroying cases of Bud Light they'd already paid for. Really showed them, didn't you? Anheuser-Busch is crying all the way to the bank while you're drinking Coors and pretending you won something.

M&Ms made their cartoon candy mascots less sexy. WOKE! Mate, if you were sexually attracted to the green M&M, the problem isn't woke culture, it's that you need therapy.

Disney has characters who aren't white and straight. WOKE! Yeah, because the real world only has white straight people, right? Representation equals woke propaganda apparently. Meanwhile, every movie for decades had all-white casts and nobody called that propaganda. Funny how that works.

The Australian version is just as cooked. We've got dickheads ranting about "woke ABC" because the national broadcaster has the audacity to report facts they don't like. Climate change is real? WOKE! Indigenous people deserve recognition? WOKE! Fact-checking politicians' lies? WOKE!

Pauline Hanson loves this shit. She's made a career out of it. Everything's woke. Immigration policy based on actual economics instead of racism? WOKE! Teaching Indigenous history? WOKE! Not being a xenophobic nightmare? WOKE!

Here's the thing these cunts don't understand, calling something "woke" isn't an argument. It's just you admitting you can't engage with the actual issue.

"Woke" has become a thought-terminating cliché. It stops you from having to think. It's a shield against reality. It's what you say when you want to oppose something but you're too fucking lazy or stupid to articulate why.

And the beautiful irony? The people screaming about "woke" are the most sensitive fucking snowflakes on the planet.

They'll cry about "cancel culture" while trying to cancel anything that disagrees with them. They'll scream about "freedom of speech" while banning books and censoring teachers. They'll whine about being "silenced" on their massive media platforms watched by millions.

You're not being silenced, you're just being criticized. And you can't handle it.
Some trans kid wants to use the bathroom in peace? These dickheads lose their fucking minds, form committees, pass laws, make it a national emergency. But try to regulate guns after another school shooting? "Don't politicize this tragedy!" 

Apparently dead kids are less important than making sure trans kids suffer.

Climate change? "Woke alarmism!" Never mind the scientists, never mind the data, never mind that the fucking planet is on fire. Exxon knew about climate change in the 1970s and buried it, but sure, teenage activists are the problem.

Want to know what "woke" actually means now? It means "I don't like this but I'm too intellectually lazy to explain why, so I'll just use this magic word that makes my fellow dickheads nod in agreement."

It's a tribal signal. It's a way to identify your team without having to think. It's the equivalent of a secret handshake for morons.

And the grift, oh, the grift is beautiful. You've got an entire ecosystem of right-wing grifters making millions by screaming about woke this and woke that. They don't believe half the shit they're saying, they're just selling outrage to idiots who'll buy anything that confirms their biases.

Jordan Peterson made a fortune crying about pronouns. Matt Walsh pretends not to know what a woman is. Ben Shapiro speed-talks his way through bad arguments and declares victory. They're not intellectuals, they're performers. And "woke" is their favorite prop.

Here's what "woke" used to mean, being aware of injustice.
Here's what it means now, anything that challenges my prejudices or makes me feel slightly uncomfortable.

You want to know if something's actually "woke" in the way these dickheads mean it? Ask yourself, does it make the world slightly more fair? Does it challenge power structures? Does it ask people to think critically?

If yes, they'll call it woke and lose their fucking minds.
Teaching accurate history instead of propaganda? They'll call it woke.
Acknowledging that racism didn't end in 1965? Woke.
Suggesting that maybe billionaires should pay taxes? Woke.
Thinking healthcare is a human right? Woke.
Not wanting the planet to be uninhabitable? Woke.

Basically, "woke" now means "thing that requires me to give a shit about someone who isn't me". And that's apparently too much to ask.

The funniest part? These are the same cunts who'll tell you to "stop being so sensitive" and "facts don't care about your feelings", right before they have a complete meltdown because a mermaid is Black or a beer can has a trans person on it.

THEIR feelings matter. YOUR feelings are you being woke.
So next time someone calls something "woke" as an argument, you know exactly what they're telling you, I've got no actual argument, I'm intellectually lazy, and I'd rather use a buzzword than engage my brain.

And you can safely ignore every fucking word that comes out of their mouth after that.

Because "woke" isn't an argument. It's a surrender. It's what you say when you've already lost but you're too proud to admit it.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to do something extremely woke, like reading a book, or believing in science, or treating people with basic fucking dignity.
The horror.

A Summer Dinner in January

Becky made some nice hamburgers today for dinner. We were joking around that it was a summer dinner... in January and it was snowing. She made some very tasty sweet potato fries along with a salad.