Beer Dorkery

First things first: the Belmost Stakes was a disappointing race. We had South Bend friends over and we were eating Chinese at the time and I think they were confused when I forgot what time is was and bolted for the TV, afraid that I missed it. Actually, the most exciting thing that I've seen come out of the race was the recently released zoomed in photo of one of Big Brown's shoes dangling off his hoof near the beginning of the race. Anyway...

While childcaring to my wit's end, I've managed to do some enjoyable things. Recently I finished updating my list of all the beer bottles I own, handily done on the pool table in the basement with my laptop. The official count is now 237 bottles, which comes after some paring down that was done before and after we moved. That number only includes empty bottles, and there are some full ones waiting to join the collection after their liquid has been enjoyed. Also, that doesn't count all the Kentucky Breakfast Stout bottles, as I've kept all of those - I have 5 empty and 7 full KBSers. Topping the list, I have 28 bottles from Bell's, 23 from Sam Adams, 17 from Founders, and 13 each from Leinenkugel and New Holland. I especially enjoy collecting seasonal bottles - I have lots of Octoberfest beers, for example - and I put those out on the ledge above the basement stairs at appropriate times (dork city, yes, I know). Currently I have my summer beers out, along with 9 from Victory. The Founders bottles and most of my bombers (big 22oz bottles) are on permanent display. In that vein, if you drink any summer, winter, pumpkin, Christmas, or Octoberfest beers, I'll happily take the empty bottle off your hands. Back to childcaring...

Yay for the Red Wings

Once the Red Wings made the Stanley Cup Finals, I decided to watch all the games. I had to go to Mom & Dad's for the first two, since they were on the goofy cable channel Versus. The first two games were blowouts by the Wings, Pittsburgh took the third game, and Detroit won the fourth (barely), so the Stanley Cup (the coolest trophy in all of sports) was on hand for game 5 in Detroit. Jake, who refused to go to sleep, watched some of it with me, pleasantly cuddled in my lap, and was clearly the inspiration for the beginning of the Wings' comeback from down 2-0. After Jake was asleep they took a 3-2 lead, and the excitement was building as they held Pittsburgh off. Eventually the Penguins pulled their goalie, and a couple nice bounces could have given Detroit an easier empty-net goal, but instead the Penguins scored with 34 seconds left to tie it. It was incredibly frustrating to watch. The game finally ended in TRIPLE overtime, after they had played almost 50 extra minutes (a non-overtime game is 60), with the Penguins winning, despite many near-goals by Detroit. Overtime hockey is very tense, because the first team to score wins, and if Detroit had scored it would have been a Stanley-Cup-winning-goal. I was drained, and instead of going to bed at 11, it was nearly 1am, so I was whipped the next day. At least they start the games reasonably on time, just after 8pm, unlike the NBA - they aren't starting their finals games for another hour. Fortunately, the Wings won game 6, but in Pittsburgh, so they did get to skate around with the 35-pound trophy. It would have been more fun to watch if they had won in Detroit, but a game 7 would have been even more nerve-wracking.

And I'm sort of excited for the Belmont Stakes this Saturday - thanks, Kentucky relatives!