Great Cocktails and Why I Shop at Restaurant Supply Stores

A month or two ago (who keeps track?), Adam and I took an extended weekend vacation to New Orleans. While I could tell stories of drunken revelry on Bourbon Street, that wasn't the focus of the trip nor the focus of this post. Instead, this is a story of finding something new to enjoy.

For some time, I'd been hearing stories from Adam about a high-end cocktail bar named "The Violet Hour"--just down the street from his house in Chicago.


The Violet Hour
It would seem that Adam had grown a real taste for these high-priced but artisanally-crafted drinks. And his research had told him that a great mixologist could be found in New Orleans.

As for me, I never gave much thought to it. To me, mixed drinks were simply a method to find a barely palatable way to get enough alcohol into your system that you didn't care that you were drinking them. Sure, I like my scotch, but I don't think I'd ever had a drink with gin that I'd want a second time.

So, on our second night in New Orleans, at Adam's lead we headed to the Ritz-Carlton in search of this mixologist.


The Library Lounge at the Ritz-Carlton
The night didn't start out well. We were told that our guy didn't work there anymore--he had moved down the street. And since our task for the night was to find this guy (and you know how task-oriented I am), I was ready to leave. Adam insisted that we stay and have at least one drink. I'm glad he did.

We spent that evening learning from another great mixologist--Daniel Victory.


Daniel Pimping it for Bombay Sapphire
I was stunned. For the first time, I actually enjoyed a cocktail. And the care and precision that he put into making them stunned me. I was accustomed to seeing bartenders sling out a drink as fast as possible. Daniel put as much attention into making his drinks as a good chef does when preparing a fine meal.

And because we had started the night early, the bar was empty for most of our visit. Daniel spent almost all of that time teaching us about his art. By the end of the night (which included a handmade eculayptus infusion--which was excellent) I was starting to see what Adam had been raving about.

The next night I was ready for some more. After just a bit of searching, we tracked down who we meant to the first night--Chris McMillian.


Chris Making His Signature Mint Julep
Again, we had the bar to ourselves the entire night so Chris spent the next couple of hours giving us a nonstop history of all things alcohol. This guy was an encyclopedia. And, of course, I don't want to downplay his ability to make one seriously mean drink.

That night finished exactly like the video above--with some good poetry and a great Mint Julep. (and a recommendation on a great bar here in Houston)

I could keep going on--that weekend had some great drinking experiences. The Cure was a very cool bar, but for me it wasn't near the experience that these other two were. And having a Sazerac at the Roosevelt Hotel was great.

But the end result is that I was lead to something cool. Since then, I've been very slowly building a bar here at the house and teaching myself how to make a decent drink. I'm really enjoying it.

Just today I stopped by my favorite restaurant supply store to buy a little more hardware. (bottle pourers, a good bar spoon, squeeze bottles, etc) The great thing is that they sell all of the stuff that real bars use without all the gimmicky gadgets and packaging. That means that I walked out with a handful of gear for literally a third to a quarter of the price that a regular store would charge.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I'll make me another Ramos Gin Fizz.

Updates and a new blog

Nothing exciting, but below are a couple of updates.

Also, I wanted to tell everyone (both of the readers I have left) to watch for an announcement of a new blog on Sunday, 1-Nov. I'm doing something new.

Polyphasic Sleep: Update 6

I've been out of this habit lately and am working on getting back to the routine.

I took a few days and went riding ATV's and camping in Arkansas with the family. A week later, I spent a long weekend in Oklahoma catching up with some people. So I decided to temporarily suspend the polyphasic sleep. It just seemed unfair to ask everyone to stop riding ATV's in the mountains a couple times a day so I could take a nap.

So I've been trying to get back into it. And I've got to say that readjusting this time has been *much* easier. My only real stumbling block is that when the alarm goes off, I have a habit of hitting "snooze" several times. (I'm just too darn comfy in bed)

That started to annoy me, so I stayed up late last night and wrote an alarm clock application for my laptop. I set the alarm and pick an MP3 to have it wake me up to. When the alarm goes off, I have to answer 3 randomly-generated math questions. (i.e. "What is 37 + 24?") After I have answered all 3 correctly, the alarm shuts off.

It needs a little tweaking yet, but I can attest that it works. It's effective, if jarring.

Vacation is over

Oh man, the last few months have been nice. It's been an extended vacation where I've had very little responsibilities. I've caught-up on a bunch of reading and movies. I got to take some vacations. I generally got to do whatever with my time that I wanted.

That is--within financial constraints. Not working is nice insofar as I don't have to be anywhere or do anything. But without some kind of real income, I'm still very limited in what I can do with that time.

That's not to say that there's nothing left to do that's cheap / free. There's lots of that still left out there. But I've got specific things I still want to do, and those things cost money.

So, that means that I've finally hit the point where I'm bored. I want to move on and get to the point where I can start doing these other things.

I don't want a full-time job yet, so I'm looking into short-term and part-time opportunities. I've been working with a couple of recruiters and trying to find a good fit for a 3-6 month contract somewhere. I've had a couple of interviews, but nothing has happened yet. I'm sure it will if I persist.

Can someone please explain to me...

...what was so scary about 'Event Horizon'?

I don't remember seeing it before--it must have slipped by me. So, with the Halloween season near, I finally sat down and watched it. Maybe I fell asleep during an important part or something, but it just didn't do anything for me.

Now, please don't misunderstand--I love horror / suspense / sci-fi movies. I *wanted* to like it. But after seeing it listed on everyone's "scary movie" list, I was really disappointed.

Update: I re-watched 'Jaws' the other day and just realized how good that movie is. Mr. Spielberg is a genius.

Polyphasic Sleep: Update 5

Well, I've learned a bit more since the last update. Once you get started, the sleep schedule is not very flexible at all. If you miss a nap or move it by more than a couple of hours, it causes real problems.

I've been getting complacent and not taking my new schedule seriously. At some point, I got a little arrogant and thought that I could just sleep when I wanted and still keep those extra 4 hours.

I've been charting my sleeping over the past few days (yes, I'm a data dork) and I've been over-sleeping more and more. I've been skipping naps and scheduling them only when they are convenient. And when I'm awake, I'm more tired than have been.

I actually got to the point over the last couple of days where I've been wondering if it's worth it. But now I think it's just that I haven't been faithful to the schedule. I'm re-doubling my effort and getting back to a strict schedule.

I really love my extra time during the day, and I don't want to give it up. I just need to discipline myself. If I want these extra hours, I have to work for it--it doesn't come free.

(However, I think when I'm camping in the Ozarks this weekend, I'll probably revert to a monophasic sleep schedule for those few days. Otherwise, I'll be awake for most of the night and there isn't much to do when you're sitting in the woods in complete darkess for hours.)

Polyphasic Sleep: Update 4

Well, I almost can't believe it. I've lived for over a week on a bit more than 4 hours of sleep per day and I feel good.

I don't know if it's continuing adjustment or the nifty iPhone app I blogged about (that's the problem with multiple variables in an experiment), but waking up this morning was really easy. I never thought that waking up before 3AM would be easy.

My naps are getting easier as well. About half of the time, I wake up about 3-4 minutes before the alarm. I don't remember my dreams quite as well as when I started, but I still have them. The idea of having full dreams during a 20-25 minute nap still seems strange.

Unfortunately, I've mentally adjusted to the idea of being awake for the extra 4 hours of the day. It's not a novelty like it was when I first started. It's just become part of my routine. And I'm kinda sad about that. I enjoyed that feeling of "cheating".

Polyphasic Sleep: Update 3

Well, yesterday didn't work. For some reason, I completely missed my alarm that was set for around 1:30AM and didn't wake up until almost 4:30AM. It felt strange to sleep that late. And since I had already screwed-up the day, I took a leisurely afternoon nap. (why not?)

Today, I'm back on my schedule. But I tried a new iPhone application that functions as an alarm clock.

The interesting thing about this application is that it uses the iPhone's accelerometer to sense how heavy you are sleeping (by how much you move) and wakes you up during your lightest period of sleep during a 30-minute window of when you set the alarm.



It worked well this morning. I set the alarm for 3:30AM and it woke me around 3:25AM. I was still pretty groggy until my first cup of coffee, but I didn't feel the need to hit the snooze button or go back to bed. That's an improvement that's easily worth the $0.99.

Polyphasic Sleep: Update 2

I'm still continuing to adjust. At this point, I feel like I'm at about 90% of the energy level of when I get a full 8 hours of sleep. I think a few more days and I'll be at or near 100%.

It's been about a week now, and I'm functioning just fine on almost half my normal sleep. There's no way I could have lasted this long if there wasn't some kind of truth to this methodology.

If I understand the process correctly, my brain is doing a good job of adjusting to getting quickly into REM sleep during my naps. In just 25 minutes, I often have full dream sequences and often remember them when I wake up. (I've never had that before)

My naps are getting easier and more integrated into my regular schedule. My biggest concern is still how I'll integrate them into my life long-term. When it's Sunday afternoon and nothing is going on, it's easy to sneak in a nap. But taking 3 naps a day, every day is a different thing.

Still, the most pervasive influence on the quality of my sleep is the food I eat. If I eat heavy or unhealthy food, my naps really suck and I have a hard time waking up after 25 minutes. If I eat light and healthy, I usually wake up feeling refreshed.

And speaking of food, I've started eating a forth meal. I really don't like eating another meal because I doubt I'm burning enough calories to justify it, but I keep getting hungry. I'm trying to eat something really light for at least one meal so not to gain weight. (bowl of fresh fruit or some Gorp)

So, while I can't yet speak to any long-term consequences, I have to say that I'm fairly convinced that polyphasic sleep works. I can't help think that the only reason--and it's a good one--it hasn't been more adopted is because it's hard to integrate naps into a busy life. But if you can, this might be something interesting to try.

Polyphasic Sleep: Update 1

Ok, it's been 3 or 4 days. (I'm haven't been counting)

So far, the sleep deprivation hasn't been as bad as I thought it might be. The only real problem I've had is the tendency to not want to wake up from my mid-day naps. (I wake up and am so tired that I want to take another 25-minute nap)

This morning was the first time I've woken up after my 3 hours of core sleep and felt really awake. It's 3:30 AM and I had my morning cup of coffee about 20 minutes ago. Right now, I feel like I got a full night's sleep. I think I'm adjusting.

Now that I've talked about the cause, let me talk a bit about the effect.

It's really strange to have an additional 4 hours every day. After 30+ years of being awake for only 16 hours a day, it's a very strange sensation to increase that to 20 hours.

The first day, it felt like the day would never end. (I'm sure half of that was just because I was tired) Now it just feels like the day goes very slowly. Actually, it feels like the world is moving in slow-motion. (I assume this is because of how the brain is rationalizing changes to my schedule)

One of the other things I've noticed is how much the quality of the food I eat affects the quality of my mid-day naps. If I eat something heavy that's hard to digest, it's much more difficult to wake up from my nap and consequently, I feel groggy until the next nap. To help avoid this, last night I went to the store and bought a bunch of fruit and had that for dinner.

So, I'm pretty happy so far with this experiment. If I continue to adjust and more mornings are like this, I'll definitely continue this for a while.

My Mortal Enemy

As it sometimes happens when you're sitting around having a few drinks with friends, the conversation moves to a hypothetical one of "what superpower do you wish you had?"

My answer has always been quick and easy: the ability to fly. That's easy and a somewhat expected answer from me. But what I don't say is my followup. What I'd really like to be able to do (that is somewhat more realistic) is never have to sleep.

I've always hated sleep. It steals 1/3 of my life and that seems unfair. But sleep is just part of being a member of the animal kingdom, and I don't really expect to get out of it.

But I found a way that I might be able to "tweak" it a bit. I ran across a mention of polyphasic sleep the other day and I've been doing some reading.

The basic version is this: sleep in much smaller, but more frequent intervals. The assumption is that you can train your body to slip into REM sleep faster and time how long you sleep as to maximize the amount of time in REM sleep and minimize the time spent in other sleep phases.

I've read a few blogs where people have successfully made the switch. (including one guy who successfully lived for about 6 months on ~2.5 hours of sleep per night and loved it) Everyone who succeeded seemed very happy with the results. The assumption is that because you are forcing your body into quickly reaching REM sleep, you are getting the same amount of "restorative" sleep, so you feel just as rested as if you'd had a full 8 hours of sleep.

So, I'm trying a variation of the "Everyman" schedule--3 hours of sleep at night and 3-25 minute naps equally spaced throughout the day. That means a total of 4 hours of sleep per day. That's literally half of the usual 8 I try to get.

There are a couple of obvious potential problems with this. First, the adjustment period is supposed to be pretty rough. Until your body learns how to enter REM sleep quickly, you are a bit sleep deprived. (that should last about a week or so)

Secondly, that means that I have to interrupt my day to fit in some naps every day. Right now, that's not a problem. But if/when I get another regular job, I'll have to find a way to get in a 25 minute nap around lunchtime. I'm not sure how realistic that is.

But I'm very excited about the prospect of getting 4 more hours every single day. I started today, so that means that I went to bed at 11PM and woke up at 2AM. I had 2 naps today (6AM and 11:30AM). My last nap will be at around 6PM.

I gotta admit that I'm pretty darn tired. But that's to be expected. If I can get through the adjustment period, this could be a sweet setup. It's currently 4PM and my internal clock says that it should be about 9PM. (based on my wake time) Having 4 extra hours make a heck of a difference.

P.S. I took my "extra" time today to read the new Dan Brown book. Meh. I don't read a lot of fiction, so I need to focus on stuff better than this.

Enjoy the crazy

One Year Later

For those of you interested, Boston.com has a good entry for the 1 year anniversary of Hurricane Ike in Galveston. I know it's something I won't forget.

More Pictures

If anyone is interested, I’ve uploaded my pictures of my trip to Playa del Carmen / Tulum and Caye Caulker.

Cruise

I made it back after being gone for a little over a week. That was a great vacation and was just what I was hoping for.

Most importantly (to me), I got to do / see a lot of stuff I've never done before. I got to:

...take a cruise

This is the most obvious. I'd recommend a cruise to most people. It can be not-too-expensive and most things are taken care of for you. You just have to show up.


Empty deck about an hour before sunrise

A cruise is generally what you want to make of it. They have plenty to do on the ship if you want to be active, or you can just lounge.

As for off-ship activities, they have a ton of pre-selected activities for everyone. Of course, I ran from those as fast as possible to create my own adventures.

...be far enough out to sea that I can't see land

This is obvious as well, but I've never done it before.


Sunrise on day 3

...visit Mayan ruins

This was my first individual outing. Part of the excitement was that I only had a few hours to do this and get back. If I didn't make it in time, the boat would leave without me. (they don't hold a boat with ~2,500 people for one idiot that can't read his watch)


Beaches of Playa del Carmen

That was compounded by not even docking on the same landmass that I wanted to visit. To get where I wanted to go, I had to:
1) Take a taxi to another port
2) Take a water taxi from Cozumel to Playa del Carmen (~30 minutes)
3) Get to the Tulum ruins (~45 minutes south of Playa del Carmen)

Of course, I could have taken a bus for that last step. Instead, I used a common form of public transportation in Mexico--the local van.

This is how it works: a company drives several minivans from one location to another. If you want a ride, you just flag them down and get in. When you get to your destination, you tell the driver and get off.

It's the same general theory as a bus, but they run all the time and are very cheap. My ride from Playa del Carmen to the Tulum ruins was about 45 minutes and only cost about $3.


Main temple at Tulum

The ruins were amazing. Very well preserved, but you aren't allowed to climb through them.

One of the other reasons I wanted to visit these particular ruins was for the beach and swimming. That beach was beautiful and the water was perfect.


Beach at Tulum ruins

I made it back to the ship 15 minutes before departure. That's a little close, but that was my schedule.

...visit a tiny, secluded island

This was the adventure I was most looking forward to. Via Lonely Planet, I learned about a key off of the coast of Belize that sounded like somewhere I wanted to visit.


Caye Caulker

Caye Caulker is a 45-minute water taxi ride from Belize City. There are only about 1,000 residents on the island and it's small enough that there aren't any cars.

This is a tiny little island that generally only well-traveled backpackers visit. I don't think I've ever visited a more quiet and relaxing place.


View of west coast

I walked up and down the length of the island in about 20 minutes and then laid in a hammock at the Lazy Lizard for a couple of beers. I think I'll go back there.


My new favorite spot

I was able to do several other things new to me (snorkeling, airboat ride through the Florida Everglades, hold baby alligator and croc), but I probably need to wrap-up this overly long post.

I'll just say that this has strengthened my resolve to travel more and take more risks. It was the risky parts of this trip that I'll remember forever.

Sup?

As Candice has pointed out, I've been a bit neglectful of the blog. You'd think that since I don't have a job anymore, I'd be updating this on a daily basis. Apparently not.

Let's see if I can get a few updates in one long post...

The Plan
I want to spend less time working in a crappy, faceless cubicle and want to spend more time traveling. I don't want to live in the southwest anymore. And while I could completely change careers, I'd like to still be able to earn a respectable living.

So, as of now, the working plan looks like this:
1) Get 2 specific technical certifications that should make my services in demand.
2) Fix-up the house and find a management company to lease and manage it for me.
3) Find a consulting company that will give me a job (using the skills learned in #1) that has me traveling as much as possible.

I don't plan to really limit where I look for a job (except for TX, OK, KS, etc..), but I'll probably focus in the Chicago, D.C. and Seattle / Portland areas. Where I finally land will probably be determined on where I can get a job.

Fam
Last week, my brother's family came to stay with me for a few days. 5 women and me in my house and running around Houston. That was an experience.

My sister-in-law has the drive and energy that I wish I had. Anytime you travel with her, you see a lot of stuff, but you'll be wore-out by the end of the week. (a good thing as far as I'm concerned)

One of my sister-in-law's travel goals is to visit all of the Presidential Libraries. I'd already been to President Truman's outside of Kansas City. This time we went to President Bush's (Senior). It was pretty good, but I think one of the highlights for me was seeing (and touching) some sections of the Berlin Wall.



After a few days of running around the Houston area, we headed over to San Antonio. While there, we saw Sea World where I got to feed / pet some dolphins and watched Shamu do his show. It was more impressive than I expected.



And the entire family managed to get soaked more than a couple of times. I felt like a little kid.



We also stopped by the San Antonio River Walk (and ate at Dick's--the most vulgar restaurant I've been to), saw the Alamo and some old Spanish Missionary sites.

But the real reason for the trip was Lackland AFB for my nephew's BMT (Basic Military Training) graduation.



If I was younger, I'd give serious thought about joining the military. The exactness and discipline really appeals to me.

What Now
Well, I'll probably spend the weekend studying for those certification exams. I think an old friend is in town, so we'll probably grab some dinner. And it looks like dad is coming into town sometime soon to help me work on the house.

Nothing exciting, but enough to keep me kinda busy.


BTW: never make pancakes from the mix. You can make buttermilk pancakes from scratch without much extra effort and they will be as good if not better than anything you've ever had. Yum!

Update

Well, it's been a somewhat busy week or two.

First, I just want to say that if you ever have a chance to camp in south Texas in July, don't. Not unless you want to punish yourself.


This is the gator that I almost tripped over. Neither Adam nor I saw it until we were about 8 feet away. That will really wake you up.


But, all in all, it was great to spend a couple of days living a simple life. When I get to a cooler climate, I gotta do more of this.


We also got to look through the telescopes at the George Observatory. We got to see globular cluster M13 and the Ring Nebula. It was darn cool to see them in person.

Secondly, and on the same theme, if anyone asks you to help roof in Oklahoma in July, don't do that either.

Oh man, that was hot. I had to keep remembering to take lots of breaks and I've never drank that much water in my life. (but because I did those two things, I didn't have any problems)


The heat was unbearable. But it was great to spend time with family. I'd loved to have stayed for longer, but I needed to get back home.

Now I've got to kick it into gear and get the house prepared to go on the market. It's been too easy for me to get lulled into not getting much done during the day. I'm still in "work mode" where my time at home is relaxation time--not work time.

Up next...

Ok, so I'm sure most everyone knows by now that I got laid off. I can't say that it was a bad thing. In fact, I'm convinced that in the long run, this will have been the best thing that's happened to me in a while.

But that doesn't mean it's not scary as hell right now. I got a severance package and some savings to float on, so there doesn't seem to be any immediate danger.

So, the question is: what now? I've got a ton of options, and I think I've settled on a basic plan.

I've never felt particularly attached to Houston or Texas. Yeah, the people are generally nice and the cost of living is low, but it just doesn't seem to "fit" me.

So I'm heading out of the southwest. I've been thinking about a few places, but the two top contenders right now are Chicago and Portland. (but I welcome any other suggestions)

I've been to Chicago a couple of times and really enjoyed it. And it doesn't hurt that I've got Adam to guide me on the lay of the land.

I might meet Adam in Portland in a week or two and check that place out. It sounds like a good fit for me, but I'm worried that I won't be able to find a job there.

Oh yeah, as far as jobs go, I think the general plan is to go ahead and get another programming job so I can get a semi-regular paycheck coming in and some benefits.

I've got a whole other plan that starts at that point, but I'll post that later. The focus now is to figure out where I want to go and get stuff closed-up here in Houston. (I'll probably see about getting a management company to lease my house)

Lastly, I wanted to give a big "thanks" to Adam. He's been hanging about my house since I got laid off. (strange timing) He had to listen to me gripe and moan about all of this stuff for almost two solid weeks. He had to listen to me lament no longer having a paycheck. He had to endure countless rhetorical questions about what I can / should do. And the man was a trooper--he never complained once. (although I'm fairly sure that if I had a gun in the house, it would have been a very different story)

So, thanks Adam for helping me through the (hopefully) worst part of this process. And thanks to everyone else for their ideas and advice. It's more helpful than you imagine.

That was close...

Ok, so the CT scan came back clear. No more cancer. (at least yet)

They still have no idea why my liver function tests were that far off, but they don't seem too worried now that they've ruled-out cancer. I'll go back in a month and re-do the tests.

And, to make sure everyone gets a bit of a laugh, I'll also be going back in for another ultrasound. (yes, with the wand and gel) It's just another standard precautionary measure.

Man, that was easy

I just saved $30K on my house.

How did I do it? Fire the staff? Close-off the third floor? Rent-out the theater room for teenage birthday parties?

Nope. This one was even easier. My mortgage holder has a plan where they will pull half of my mortgage payment every two weeks.

So, right after I get my paycheck, they automatically get half of what I usually send them. I don't have to do a thing and don't even really have a chance of accidentally spending that money.

But the bonus is that since it's every 2 weeks instead of twice a month, that means that they pull 26 payments instead of 24. That means they apply an extra payment every year.

That means that over the remaining life of my loan, I'll pay it off years earlier and save almost $30,000 in interest. (and before you imagine that I've got some unholy interest rate, I'll go ahead and confess that it's a fixed 6% loan)



So, let's recap:
1) Mortgage payment is pulled a little from each paycheck automatically. I don't have to worry about forgetting to send it in.
2) Same payment as before
3) Save tons of money
4) Pay off house years early

Total time spent to save this money:
- 10 minutes: reading the plan specifics online
- 5 minutes: signing-up online

I'm having a hard time seeing any real problems with this plan.