As mentioned, Producer Zipp sat in for me on the podcast while I was out o’ town recently. You can hear it here. In the episode, he tells a story about a crafty raccoon that kept attacking his flock of ducks and chickens. He mentioned that once the beast was finally dispatched, he hung its tail from the coop as a reminder to the raccoon community at large that they’d best tread lightly. Yesterday he sent me a photo of it, and I thought I’d share. That should do the trick! Raccoons, by the way, look cute and cuddly, but don’t let ’em fool you. They’ll mess you up.
I returned to work yesterday for the first time since September 29. I had 2755 emails. I was there for more than eleven hours, with no lunch, and got it down to something in the high 600s. I also had other issues that I’m not going to write about. But I came to the following conclusion: I’m either never going on vacation again, or never returning from the next one. Those are the only prudent courses of action, as far as I can tell. Today is going to be another ball-masher. Looking forward to it!
In the new episode of the podcast I did a rundown of the food we had while on vacation. ‘Cause food is one of the top three great things about vacation. You can hear it right here. And I mentioned that we also partook (I’m surprised that’s actually a word) of the local craft beers (another of the top three). Either by drinking them there, or buying stuff and muling it back home. Oh, we brought a lot of stuff back with us. And here’s a rundown for you fellow craft beer snobs out there. I kept impeccable notes!
Hoppyum IPA
Overly Friendly IPA
Sweetwater IPA
Pernicious IPA
Sweetwater Brewing variety pack
New South IPA
Hopsequences IPA
Huger Street IPA
Highland Brewing variety pack
Fuller’s London Pride (a British favorite I rarely see)
Bound By Time IPA
Grand Strand IPA
IPA variety pack (from four different breweries)
In the unlikely event that you’d like to know the components of those variety packs, let me know. I can provide the information. It’s all in my handy-dandy travel notebook. And, as you can see, we’re all about the hops. We only had one pint of a couple of those (like New South IPA), bought a six-pack of a couple and drank them while we were there (Overly Friendly, a great name for a beer brewed in the South), and others we bought a full case and brought it back (Wicked Weed’s kick-ass Pernicious IPA). Did we get carried away? Perhaps. But most of this stuff is not available to us in the Upper Pierogi Belt. Now we’re stocked.
Speaking of travel, I’m going to West Virginia on Saturday, to visit my parents. They’re leaving for Florida on November 1, so the window of opportunity is quickly closing. I’m driving on Saturday and Tuesday, and will be there Sunday and Monday. It’s another long-ass ride (7 hours, 50 minutes according to Google). So, there you go. By the end of the week I’ll be completely caught up at work and everything will go down the ol’ poop-catcher again. Oh well. I need to see my folks before they disembark for the winter. I’m going by myself this time, and hopefully the Van Halen Channel will still be up and running on SiriusXM. If so, I’ll be logging many hours on that thing. I might also listen to Mark Everett’s (E of the Eels) memoir, Things The Grandchildren Should Know. I read it when it first came out, but am feeling the urge to revisit it. Maybe via audio book this time? In any case, please contribute to Phantom Ass Syndrome research whenever possible. Together we can defeat it.
Are any of you in Canada? If so, I want to remind you that I’m still up and running with Amazon Canada. The USA kicked me out, for reasons unknown, but Canada (kinder, gentler folks) is still working. That’s all I’m saying. I’m not urging you to do anything out of the ordinary, just keeping you informed. It’s all about the information. Information is king.
And speaking of Amazon, I bought season 15 of Top Gear a couple of days ago, so I can watch a couple of episodes with my dad. I know he’ll love it. For years I’ve been encouraging him to seek out the show, and he just says, “Yeah, yeah…” But I’m going to sit down with him and watch an episode or two while I’m there. I picked season 15 because it contains the episode about the Reliant Robin, which is flat-out hilarious. He’s gonna love it! I think.
And I’m going to stop right here. I need to fill the void (eat lunch) and go back to work.
Have a great day, my friends. Comments will be open for three days.
See ya soon!
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I was furloughed for two months this summer. I was expecting a lot of “are you in today?” emails. But there was none. Mostly it was the university sending emails about discounts on sports wear.
I am always so envious of the wide selection of delicious beers available where you live – let alone in Myrtle Beach! That’s an amazing list! I haven’t listen to the Podcast yet, but I hope you let us know what your favorite was. I’ll have a listen this afternoon.
And – being from Canada – I have bookmarked the “We’re still live in Canada” post where you originally shared your Amazon link. I always click-through when I’m making my meager purchases.
Thank you, sir!
Jeff, on behalf of all surf reporters, I need to ask:
Isn’t reading and approving all those comments arduous?
I’m on vacation this week and naturally, since this is the year that sucks, I may have to shorten in. Sweet sainted mother of captain kangaroo can anything be normal???
Madz, It would’ve been arduous six or eight years ago, when there was a hundred comments on every post. Nowadays? It’s manageable. I hope your vacation goes well!
Hey Jeff, Yes – up North and was starting to order some things through Amazon (not much $$$) when I remembered I could do it through you. I had a bit of trouble with the site trying to order more then one thing at a time and in order to spend more then $35 to get free shipping on my first order.
I am starting to look at ordering toner for work through there which will be much bigger purchases – need to do my research. Staples is so expensive!
Thank you!
Welcome back, Jeff! Nice beer list; I’m getting thirsty just thinking about it.
Thanks. That Pernicious IPA is especially tasty! Probably my favorite of the bunch so far.
Jeff, I didn’t realise you liked Top Gear too!! I feel like you are my long lost brother from another mother! We both like beer and are the same age and same sense of humour. If we can ever get out of lockdown here in Melbourne Oz I plan on travelling to the US and would love to catch up. Currently I can’t travel more than 5km from my home and only to exercise, food shop or seek medical attention…yeah this shits getting old real quick.