Yeh for Detroit...or Sweden?

Hurrah for the Detroit Red Wings...Ummm...I mean Swedes for winning the Olympic Gold Medal in Hockey on Sunday! Lidstrom, Zetterberg, Holmstrom, Samuelsson, and Kronwall played a fabulous tournament. Always a fun bunch to watch. Find more about the Swedes of the Red Wings in this Detroit Free Press article from December. *Insert photo of Joe dressed as the Swedish Chef for Halloween here (I don't have a physical photo because I worked on Halloween)*.

Dog Sitting

Oscar the Mighty Tennis Ball Chewer


Oscar showing Luna a fun time

As you can see, a fun time is always had when visiting the Walts household. Luna had a very fun, exciting pajama party with Oscar this weekend. Sheesh...get a life, Rachel.

Midnight House Call

Around 12:30pm last night, Joe and I were startled awake by a ringing doorbell, pounding on the door and Oscar barking wildly. Of course a rush of possibilities are running through our head...a neighbor needs help, an accident happened outside, a psycho killer is trying to get into the house....
We get to the front door and there is a face at the glass with a flashlight pointing in at us. Joe opens the door and see that it is a police officer! She had come looking for me! Over two weeks ago, my manager had to take me off of the shift for last night, so I could attend a meeting during the day on Monday. However, she forgot to actually physically cross my name off of the schedule. Therefore, my unit thought I hadn't showed up for work. Added to the confusion and chaos, during the day I must have turned the ringer off of our house phone, not realized or remembered, and not turned the ringer back on. They had left three messages on my home phone and two on my cell phone. And then instead of calling the manager, they decided to call the police to have them go looking for me. I'm not sure if I should be flattered that they might have worried that something was wrong with me or if I should be annoyed that they sent the police to my house to bang my door down.

It's lucky that Joe and I didn't decide to go out to the bar late last night and had actually gone to bed at 10pm. If we weren't at home, I'm not sure if they would have tried to break into the house or what... Once the officer knew that I was there and ok, she said she was relieved that everything was fine, apologized for waking us, saw that I was calling work to check in, and then immediately left.

Needless to say, the adrenaline was definitely pumping and I didn't fall back asleep until after 3am. I got an apology call this am from my assistant manager. She said that it was her mistake, but she can't believe that the night shift called the police...

Popular Opinion Poll

Question of the day: knowing nothing else about the place, would a brewpub named The Bung Hole attract your patronage?

The term, which was redefined by Beavis & Butthead, actually originates from brewing. Specifically, from the traditional English method of brewing and its current resurgance due to the influence of groups such as CAMRA (CAMpaign for Real Ale; those goofy Brits). Before pressurized CO2 was industrially forced into beer to produce carbonation, brewers would allow the yeast to naturally carbonate their beers in kegs called casks. Today, beer that is carbonated by such a method is called cask-conditioned. The process of producing it is this:

-Fermented beer, with yeast still in it, is poured into the cask via a hole in its side. The name of the hole is THE BUNG HOLE.
-Typically, actively-fermenting beer is added to the keg to provide a source of sugar for the yeast.
-The cask is sealed by hammering a wooden stopper, called the bung, into the bung hole.
-The yeast ferment the sugar, creating pressurized CO2 gas that gets forced into solution because the cask is sealed and the gas has nowhere else to go. Voila, carbonation!

I'm thinking about using it as the name of my future brewery. Rachel is skeptical but I love it, so we're testing the waters.

Another name I've been tossing around is Curly Head Brewing Co. Rachel's last name means "curly head" in German, and the idea popped into my head around the time that she decided to take my last name. The only issue with Curly Head is that, while I think it's a cool tribute to Rachel's family, it wouldn't mean anything to anyone else initially. If we decide to name the pub something else, the parent company could always be Curly Head.

So how about it?

Today in History...

On this day in history, two great minds were born...


HAPPY 26th BIRTHDAY, JOE!!!!!

And HAPPY 26th BIRTHDAY to Jackie back in Michigan too!!!!!

Here's to hoping you both have a wonderful day! (Now imagine a whole chorus of friends and family singing the "Happy Birthday" song to you extremely off key)
For more on this day in history, click here...

I searched and searched and searched. Congrats, this day in 1980 history is reserved for you two...You're both the only great things that seem to have happened to this world on February 7th, 1980. Although, I may have you beat because I think on this day I may have learned how to both briefly sit up unsupported without falling and play with my feet.