Bourbon’s Not My Cup of Tea
Earlier this summer a blog post over at Mental_Floss piqued my interest in bourbon. I like the warm after taste from special winter beers that are spend time in old bourbon and whiskey casks so it stands to reason I might enjoy the bourbon that originally occupied the casks. I’d never admit it, but most of what I know about distinguished booze was passed to me through my old college roommate, Ian. He recommended a few noteworthy brands that were economically priced. I settled on Knob Creek. Today I resign my attempts to become a distinguished bourbon connoisseur. I tried to sample it on the rocks but I can’t taste anything under the heat of the alcohol. I’ve tried to add dashes of water to mellow it out, but by the time the heat tolerable the flavor is washed out. Most bourbon based cocktails called for a mix of sweet and sour elements. I can handle those cocktails, but anything short of an Old Fashioned and (as Ian put it) I might as well add a frilly umbrella and pineapple wedge. I’d even take a trendy Mojito over a classic Mint Julep.
Wicked Cool
Someone pointed out that my wife looks “wicked young”. I was more impressed by her vocabulary than her complement. Youth does not imply hip, and we sorely lack the latter. I think that that knowing someone that uses the word “wicked” instead of “very” makes us cooler through association. Maybe not wicked cool but like on a scale from Bob Saget to Bob Dylan we’d be like a Bob Seger. I’d work the word into my own vocabulary, but I’m afraid it might slip out during a business meeting. “This is one sexy software suite that is wicked tight.” Word.
The Tytler Cycle
I was reading something a friend wrote about the rise and fall of empires. Most of it revolved around a quote attributed to Alexandar Fraser Tytler. I thought we would all do well to meditate on it a bit:
07.12.08A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship.
Community, Part 2
Elise and I have no need to watch The Wire. We prefer to gather around our bedroom window around noon and watch the drug dealers peddle their wares across the street. Our original goal was to help the police interrupt their unscrupulous transactions, but law enforcement proved too slow and our patience proved too short. I put on my best Eastwood persona and made it clear we were wise to their wicked ways. My brazen show flushed the quarry. The roaches have regrouped beyond the view of our bedroom, but probably not beyond walking distance of our house. Most of their customers are too young to drive.
The drug deals weren’t the first sign of trouble around our home. Check out this lovely piece of guerrilla art someone left just 25 feet from my home–on the same corner as our pushers run their black market pharmacy no less!
Our first instinct was to move north to a more sterile suburb. Urban planners call this “white flight”. The idea frustrated me. By no means do I live in “the hood” but I like the social, cultural and economic diversity of our neighborhood. Lord love soccer moms, but I’d like my kids to be exposed to something more. I’ve since learned that reasonably priced homes and less diverse neighborhoods suffer from the same crimes.
That is when it occurring to me that a neighborhood watch works best as a preventive measure. We had best start our own while the problem is small. This week we are canvasing the neighborhood to rally the troops. So far the idea has been well received, which is a relief because we need 124 of the 165 houses to participate if we are to secure premium services from the police. It will take a few months before our posse ramps up to it’s full momentum, so until then we are encouraging people to:
- walk, jog or bike through the streets
- foster community privately: get to know your neighbors
- foster community publically: support neighborhood events like holiday parties, chili cook offs
- arrange your home so you’ll spend time around windows that face the street
Iranian Missile Tests
