Voltron

Cool. Does it taste much different from the original Existent?

I was too freaked to stop and get a camera or my phone, so no after shot with a melting turntable.

Now for some great news/not so great news: On the great side: our friend Claire in Paris -- to whose health a number of people drank when I heard she had cancer -- learned that surgery seems to have removed all trace of cancer and she does not need chemo at this time. She is doing pretty well and is very relieved not to have to go through that (obviously). Thanks for the well wishes and good vibes because they worked. Discovered a not so great situation this morning upon waking up. My 2-tier wall mounted turntable rack (with CD player on the bottom shelf) had pulled off the wall and was collapsing into/onto the gear below it. A before picture will help this make sense: Directly below the rack was an LCD TV being used as a computer monitor, which in turn was sitting on top of a Shunyata Hydra 8 power conditioner. The TT rack fell top first because the top shelf of the rack ended up on top of the TV while the lower shelf was pressed against the back of the TV, thereby holding the CDP in check. I think the bottom row of screws were still partly in the wall as the rack leaned forward. In addition, the Dual TT's power cord was plugged into the Hydra so it essentially tethered the TT to the top of the rack. The wooden board that sat directly under the TT had slid out forward and was on the floor in front of the TV, which shows that the TT really was hanging by a thread. Sadly, the small back panel holding the power cord, RCAs and ground wire was yanked out of the Dual and the connections inside may have been damaged, but I didn't have time to check. The RCAs from the TT were plugged into my Eddie Current Transcription Amplifier phono stage (second shelf down on the right) and that was half way pulled off its shelf but luckily not all the way off. It was also fortunate that the s/pdif from the CDP to the Moth DAC was long enough that there was no issue. Of course, it all started to fall apart worse as I tried to pick everything up but I was able to keep it together long enough with my daughter's help. I was able to unplug everything, hold the rack up while she moved the TV and then get the rack onto the floor with TT and CDP still in place (even some of the CDs that had been on the second shelf). The sad part is how short the mounting screws look and how little -- or no -- wood is apparent on them even though JP and I were sure they were mounted on the studs. This won't go back up until I am certain it is secure. If the TV wasn't there and the power cord didn't hold, the metal rack, CDP and TT likely would have smashed into the beautiful Cicadas and that would have been tragic. The truly amazing part is that this thing fell apart last night while we were asleep or it happened yesterday during the day and Claire didn't notice it when she went to bed. The lights were out by the time I got there. The idea that such a crazy pile-up could last from yesterday afternoon until this morning without collapsing is even more incredible to me than not waking up if it crashed down during the night.

Jealous.

Nice! The bar is teh awesum looking too. Kleine means little, so maybe Zalze mean cock? Willingly?

http://www.boston.com/ae/food/articles/2007/10/10/a_match_made_in_october/

Bad idea Shelly. Augsburger the Snake Slayer will lop off your head before you even get a glass of Seasmoke!

BrewDoug is in effect! Best of luck with your endeavors.

Flip the proportions of genever and vermouth and you have a drink. That sounds sickly sweet.

Please see PM.

Agree. The GC is a bit less sharply bitter than Campari and the PyM kicks up the bitter a bit while still being sweet. Bene.

Shelly and Mikey have some nice looking snacks going on! I smoked some halibut and salmon tonight. The halibut had a sneaky hot rub and the salmon had a sweet/hot Cayman-style rub! Did you hear that Wayne? Both were very tasty along with some grilled veggies and sourdough bread, heated on the grill.

Cider donuts made my mouth water instantly. Sounds delicious Salty. Dinny, you are a clever man. Keep the house cleaner out of your liquor cabinet this time! Very nice Tom. That was awesome of you.

Sorry, Wayne, my goofy post was 100% about your lack of CPAP and breathing issues, not defensive Stax protectionism. . Glad to hear it is doing better too!

Also having a Gran Classico Negroni with Blackwoods but I went with Cocchi Torino to avoid over bitterness. This is great but Punt y Mes will be next.

Great haul Shelly--is that Pink Floyd wine or something? Dark Side of the Vine? I just had a wonderful Bols punch, Shelly, so check the drinkin' thread. Beautiful blade, Jacob.

Old Sydney-Town Punch 1.5oz Bols Genever .5oz St. Elizabeth’s Allspice Dram 1.25oz Meyer Lemon when in season (when Meyers are not, use .75oz Eureka Lemon juice and .5oz Valencia Orange juice) .5oz Small Hand Foods Pineapple Gum Syrup (1 dash Regan’s Orange Bitters when using Meyer Lemons) Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass, fill with ice and shake well for 10 seconds. Strain into a punch glass and serve up with a slight grate of nutmeg. To make hot, Strain above into a hot pot and then serve the same way. Or in lieu of ice, add 1.5oz of hot water and shake, strain and serve. This is an awesome drink! No Meyer lemons so I went with a mix of orange and lemon. The allspice dram really gives it a great flavor and a punch bowl full of this stuff would be killer. I am about to make another, even though that is a hassle I had not anticipated. Oh, and Jim, the rye gin 18th C. was tasty and unique but probably not as good as the rye version. I was a little distracted by other things at the time, so further inquiry may be needed.

Eighteenth Cocktail with rye gin, as predicted. Nice looking drinks as always team! Jim's looks extra special on his shiny new bar.

One of these with Rendezvous Rye for me and a Satan's Whiskers Enroulee for Claire. Now thinking about subbing St George Rye Gin for rye whiskey in another Eighteenth.

That's because most of Eurotrip -- including Paris scenes -- was shot in Prague as you will learn on the segway movie tour!

A bloody Mary and a Lagunitas IPA at the A's game Gueze on tap is guede stuff!

Standing on the field behind home plate before the A's vs. Tigers game. There should be ballplayers everywhere and BP going on but the Tigers clinched last night and the A's are lazy so we got screwed. Oh well, still very cool.

Breathe, baby, breathe! [ /Tea Party cheer]

I hope you empty your big bar fridge for your big day, big guy! Cheers!

A couple more bottles.