I'm not saying he should have shot the man, but I understand.

Gary Taubes, Michael Yon,  Greg Glassman, Ricky Jay, Phillip Seymore Hoffman.  All favorites.

I read the Kite Runner on the flight to California and it was great, thanks Muffs.  Maybe not perfect. Maybe.  Closest thing I have ever read is Richard Russo's Latest, but his "Nobody's Fool" is the once I should recommend more often. It may not rise as high as Empire Falls, but its a sturdier read, pulitzers be damned.

Anyhow, I have Thousand Splendid Suns for the flight back, and head it's even better than Kite Runner.   So Cool.

Ok, so I said I would find a link praising Holeman's Burger, and I haven't really looked. But today I was reading this new York Times article and thinking to myself, "Its not long before articles like this mention Greg"  and then in the next paragraph they did.  Cool.

I should say though, that Restaurant Eugene, across the parking lot, is every bit as good, and provided a more intimate setting (provided you can actually get a seat at their tiny bar).  I should keep my mouth shut, but the fact of the matter is Holeman isn't nearly moody enough for my tastes.   Oh, it's one of my favorite places on earth, no doubt, but it could be darker, and dirtier, and more somber... less people would be nice, and there could be a jukebox, for instance.  Other than that it's perfect. 4 out of 5 Celebrity Chefs agree, aparantly.

Breakfastwise, Corrie and still think Highland Bakery is King.   We had a heck of a mean at Rita's Blue Bird and we both like Caroll Street Cafe quite a bit,   but High Bakery reigns supreme on the strength of their BELT (mayo on the side. Trust me), BreakFast Sandwich,  and Bisquits.  Their array of pancakes and pastrees are competitive too.  I like Thumbs up Diner quite a bit too.   Holemans's  Brunch is too lunchy, but their coffee is rock solid, and their Bloody Mary looks awesome.  Is there any place I am leaving out?

Mom just made a post Christmas Mass Screwdriver and a BBQ pork sandwhich. Cool. 

Yesterday I played with the nieces for a few hours: Mario Cart, Hide and Seak, Jump on Sean,   the usual.

I had more to say, perhaps about Mad Men, or the lousy Broncos, but I have forgotten. 

Lets just go with Merry Christmass Everyone.

My next project is in limbo, so instead I  am Working this week from the mountains on what must be the last  ISDN line up in the Blue Ridge mountains   .

We found a fine meat purveyor down the road, inside Mercier Apples, which provides meat from Neyman Ranch  and Buck Head.  We bought chorizo from the first,
and steaks from the latter.   The steaks are the same served by Chops and Bones, I think. Yum.

Speaking of meat.   Tom Colicchio agrees that Holeman's burger is awesome.  I'll find a better link asap.


Other than that, not much new to add, so I'll  default into politics.

Had, or if, Obama gets tied to this Blogo-scandal in Chicago, it will not could against the good faith I have towards his presidency. We already knew he was a community
organizer from Chicago,  to dock him for a little retailing would paramount to docking him for racketeering, egregious double-counting.   I have not been paying attention to that scandal not his pre-presidency in general, but I get the impression that so far, my faith has not been trampled on.  Perhaps it's even been rewarded.

I am afraid to check out Ed's site, for fear he has started posting about how Obama is better than Bush.    I know it's coming. Someone go look for me.

I am done with Cincinnati.

Quibble about whether Cincinnati qualifies, everyone always does, but  I like Midwestern cities. I always have.

The people have a trusting mentality I associate with other favorite cities: Minneapolis and  Milwaukee springing to mind.

People's treatment of you is perfectly in sync with yours of them. There are no lags or barriers.

Though my commitment to exploration was a lot less than at other places and times in my lift, in certain spots I was starting to feel every bit
as welcome as I do at my favorite places in San Francisco and Atlanta.  The Parking lot attendant, staff at Paula's and Kitties,  gym rats at Urban Fitness,
 the scrabble club and staff at the BeanHaus.    Even the work day had a certain day-to-day comfort to it, once they upgraded me from
fold out table to actual cubicle.

I look forward to returning Cincinnati. It sometimes sucks to be such a great consultant, that I get my work done so fast, and so completely that there are no errors that I need to go back and fix**.  

Yeah, tt's tough being me.  Further evidence of that:  I was eating the best biscuits and gravy ever, over at Paula's the other day,
and I had to endure another "we need a college football playoff" discussion from the guys at the bar next to me.   
 This conversation is rising to "Not enough scoring in soccer" and "My Fantasy Team needs...." levels of irritating.

Alas, I have an asshole, so I have an opinion, so I have a blog, so I too will throw in my two cents:  If you are going to promote a playoff as
a panacea, you must address the following two points:
1. Will there still be huge arguments about which team should make the Playoff.  You will have changed very little. on that front.

2. The Basketball tournament, which you supposedly "take off work to watch" is great,,  but when is the last time you gave
two shits about an actual mid-season game? What was that? NEVER? Why do that to a spectacular, and rich in tradition, Football Season that
 serves games throughout the season that mean more than most playoff games?

Sorry.  I should stick to food.

For instance, There is a new restaurant a quarter-mile from my condo.  The Social.   Beautiful Bar+Restp+winebar combo. Starts with a nice decor
 which morphs off a classic southern storefront into a modern wine bar.  The food similarly starts off as your everyday gastro-mediteranean***
but a strong influence from Italy's Southwestern neighbors bends each dish in unique ways.  Eggplant Caviar, Saffron,  clever use of olives and fava in their delicious Calamri App.  (The slowdown is tired of calamari appetizers, but cannot pass-up fava beans for nothing. Social's was terrific)   


**If that doesn't draw out Chip and Muffs, two yahoos from the  client site whose sole purpose it seemed was to harangue and pester
 me over the last two weeks, nothing will.


*** A term I just made up.  "Mediterranean" alone invokes images of grape leaves and such, but I can think of another word. So the prefix. 

ESPN was showing a classic fight between a guy named Vinnie Paziena and the Champ, something  Haugen. Vinny won, and went on to have a lustrous career (I know because I just looked it up).    He beat Duran twice...

He was older than he was now.   Brilliant.

My Cincinnati Scrabble Season has ended, my record a solid 11 and 3.   All three losses to the man named Vance.  The first of those losses was competitive and hinged on me foolishly choosing "Nockers" over "Corkers". The second loss was a Pacquiao Vs. Oscar style drubbing (more on that later).  And the final loss was really just an uncompleted game, in which he had one extra turn than me: So it really shouldn't count.  Having said all of that, he stomped me in every unofficial game we played.   Vance is good at scrabble.

So yeah, Pacquiao destroyed Oscar. Wow.  I have only seen clips, but they are ugly. This fight will be spoken of  forever.  I was hoping for the upset, but I didn't see it happening. A fading Morales gave the Pacman plenty of trouble, and a worn out Barrerra lost respectfully. Both of those guys were a lot smaller than Oscar. Surely Oscar's size would tell.  

Nope.      

If the PacMan survives Hatton next year, he will inevitably draw Mayweather out of faketirement (Somebody come up with a new word for Retirement. Athletes have drove the original into the ground).  PacMan/ Mayweather at a catch weight (somewhere below the weight Manny Fought at last weekend, but not a full division down) would be the biggest fight of our lifetime. 

  I watched some Mayweather footage last week and realized that his ability is  blissful.  A  realization prejudice blinded me to while he and his mouth were active. I imagine that fighting Floyd is like that bad dream where you are fighting somebody and all your punches are super-slow, as if you were underwater.   It's not that he dodges all the punches, he doesn't, he often just stands in such a way that the punches are exhausted when they make contact or smothered before they start. He is always six inches too close, and one inch too far away.  Oscar, who mas a much bigger man with a more powerful punch, once grabbed Mayweather with one hand and  pounded him with the other, a-la Drago in Rocky 4,  and  accomplished two things: Oscar got tired, and Mayweather got mad that the crowd thought those punches landed.  

But enough about Floyd.   Assuming he doesn't come out of retirement immediately, PacMan has to fight Hatton. And that fight will be awesome.   All of Indonesia vs. all of England. Brown vs Flourecent.  A stadium in England sold out......     Hatton at his best weight, where he is undefeated, and coming off his best performance since defeating the world beater Kostya Tszyu many years ago. 

Wow.

In other news:   Rich is pregnant. Congrats!
My Dead lift is north of 205k.  Brining my Dead/ShouldPress/ Backsquat total to over 1000lbs.
Christmas is in California this year. New Years in the Blue Ridge.  Work Kick-off in Austin in January.    Project in Atlanta..















 

Corrie and I watched some of the Roast of Bob Sagat, on comedy central. It was all pretty unforgettable until Norm MacDonald spoke.





Pure Pan fried Genius.

Speaking of food  (pan fried, get it?)

 Room, the Restaurant downtown at the bottom of the Twelve Building, served up the best traditional thanksgiving dinner I have ever had. The Turkey, Roastbeef, Ham, stuffing, and cranberries were all as good as ANY I have ever had, ever.   This isn't a fault of my Family- my mom , for instance can out cook anyone I know (making like pals with Kevin Rathbun doesn't qualify as "knowing")- it's the fault of turkey and stuffing.

Service was enthusiastic and well trained, though not all that effective.  

The restaurant bills itself as a steakhouse. All this time I thought it had an eastern fusion theme. oh well.