First trip to the homebrew store for Father & Son.

Today was the day. i WAS going to the homebrew store, come Hell or high water.
i have been trying to go for weeks, but with my back "going out". Sciatic nerve issue, still gotta go back to the doctor, well the Doc-in-a-Box, QuackShack, Urgent Family Medical, etc.
But at least they will refer me if they think it is beyond a painkiller(Tylenol3, HA!), a muscle relaxer (Flexeril) and some steroids on a card. (There was also the 3 shots of painkiller, muscle relaxer steroid in the ER (hip/hip/arm). But i digress.
Suffice it to say, i could convince myself no longer that the wild blueberry wine in the laundry room was "bulk aging". i WAS going. Caleb stepped out of the house to say something to me and i asked him if he would like to go. He eagerly jumped in the car. i did explain that they may not let him in (no alcohol there, but Hell you know Alabama laws).
We drove around Home Depot to get on 65N to get on 459. i Saw we needed gas and got off 65 at Oak Mountain exit (Hwy119) to get the petrol. We stopped at the "Gas Station slash KFC slash Truck Stop". i gave Caleb my iPod and told him to find a song for us to listen to when i got back. Brought back 2 sodas (Diet Coke for me, Caffeine-Free Diet Coke for Caleb). We returned to 65 listening to Caleb's choice, Cypress Hill's Insane in the Membrane. Merged to 459 and was soon truckin' along past the Hell taht is Saturday on 280. I laughed to myself. Listened to Hits from the Bong and for some reason got off on the exit for 20. ??? Whatever, i was having a kind of bonding father-son thing with Caleb so we go off in, you ready? Woodlawn. We went up through the neighborhoods as we made our way through The Bay Area (Eastlake). I cut over so Caleb could see the lake, one of the original Krispy Kremes, and such. He showed me where Uncle of the Mother f a friend of his lives. I laughed to myself again. We drove past the LHBS and made a U-ie at the car wash. When we pulled in there were 2 college guys from Tuscaloosa there copying down the directions to the NEW LOCATION! I called Brandi and asked her to look up 212 Oak Mountain Circle Pelham, AL 35214. To be honest, i heard rumor of Kim (Alabrew Owner) looking down this way for a new location. Brandi said that it was on the road between McDonald's and Captain D's on 119. I was like "Are you serious?" and she asked why i said it like that and i told her that Caleb and i stopped to put gas in the car at the "Gas Station slash KFC slash Truck Stop" right next to that McDonald's. i told the college guys (sorry dudes, i am so bad with name's , but call or email me and... we'll see.) that they could follow me, i knew exactly where it was and was headed that way anyhow. The agreed and followed me to the Parkway East entrance to 59. i know the college guys were probably contemplating just going on and cutting out at some points in that trek as that probably seemed like a long "shorcut", 459 to 65S to 119, but they hung in there (sometimes, waaay back there, but there). We got to the new location, and it hit me just how close this place is to our house. I told the 2 college guys about us buying gas at the gas station that we could see from the parking lot for Alabrew. i told them about us going the long way around a squirrel's ass to the old location and how the only reason we must have done that was to bring them there. I gave them the names of a few websites (http://www.homebrewtalk.com and http://www.winemakingtalk.com), and my email and such. i told Caleb to let me see if it was ok for him to come in and went inside. When i came to get Caleb to come in he seemed so, i don't even think Ecstatic covers it. i showed him the corks and corkers, the wine kits (comes with everything cept water), there we also picked up a bottle of Root Beer Extract, if the boy wants to brew i will not hold him back, LOL. Then i showed him the grain room, full of all kinds of grains, malts, barley and huge bags of corn sugar. Then we made our way to the back past the kitchen to the outside where Caleb and i shared a Diet Coke with... our brats, coleslaw, and cold pasta salad. i saw a 3 tiered brew system and told Caleb that "Brandi said i could get one of those if we got rid of one of you guys, so you better suck up to me" and a couple of people laughed as i tosseled his hair and told him i was just kidding. Using the laughter to break the ice, Caleb and i joined the nice sized group of people to sit and eat our food. We talked about what types of beers and what type of wines each of us preferred and i told theme i had made real ginger ale (non-alcoholic) for the kids and that we were going to make some root beer now. We finished and we went inside to buy the things we came there for: corks, yeast nutrient, yeast energizer, priming sugar (for bottling), and the root beer extract. We said good by to Kim and his wife SunAe (the owner's of Alabrew) and left the store, again realizing that this was dangerously close to our home.

Douglas.

Just phoned in and called out the djay on the radio. (A Joe Delikat Story.)

This is a story that started as a post on my Facebook page.


B.Money on 95.7 Jamz. i was 'scanning' and heard light impossible trivia or some such. i, being an intellectual omnivore, listened further.
His ? (trying to sound intellectual and vague): If not for added coloring, this product would be green.

I immediately knew the answer, and pulled out my cellular("oh, nooooo").
i continued calling as i entered my home. Remembering that they stream, i started pulling up their page (16M cable, YEAH RIGHT!). People were calling in and several people said 'hotdogs'.
My calls, either, "Call Failed" (a common cellular 'error'), rang busy (i don't remember if it was a 'fast busy' or not) or rang and rang until a recording informed me that "the cullular customer you are trying to reach...blah...Blah...BLAH.". Weird for a radio station call-in # (205.741.0957).
Finally, someone called in and said it, "Coca-Cola".
"That's Right, Coca-Cola! You WIN!"
"Whoo-hoo, she screamed. How many i get."
Hell, i don't even remember what the prize was.
"One plus one", the djay eaked out.
This infuriated me! I knew the answer he wanted and she called in with it!
I knew the answer he wanted, but... he answered.
"Coca-Cola isn't green", i informed him."
"I know man, cause they add color". he goofed.
i said... "Snopes.com. Coca-Cola has never been green. A Coca cola web site also confirms."
"Aight, man have a good one", and he disconnected me.
Interwebs.
i sent him the following email:


http://www.snopes.com/cokelore/green.asp

http://www.thecoca- colacompany.com/contactus/myths_rumors/packaging_green.html

Just thought you might want proof, cause ya sounded like ya didn't believe me.
The 1st site snopes.com are like the original myth busters, they track down rumors for everything from things like this to the pop rocks bursting kids stomachs, and those annoying email forwards that everybody sends ya.

Douglas.

This is what Brandi would call a "Joe Delikat Story".
I told her a story about Joe back in elementary school, and she sat there and stared at me and was like "And...?". I said "And what? That was it."

Speaking of which has anyone heard from Joe Lately? His web presence is almost non-existant.