2009 wine plan

Going to edit this as I go along and remember what I want to make and determine what I can make depending on what I can get/afford. This year we're supposed to have a glut of zinfandel so I will probably buy lots of that.

1. A big, California-style Zin, will probably be the bulk of the wine I make this year- ~500 lbs
   
2. If I can get more of the Sleeping Cat Cabernet Sauvingnon I will make a single varietal Cab (TBD, might be blended with the Merlot from last year if it turns out good) - ~250 lbs
   
3. Another nouveau style Zin, since it was loved last year - from main batch
   
4. A wild fermentation Zin - from main batch
   
5. A port-style Zin, made by stopping fermentation early with Everclear - from main batch, need 15L barrel
   
6. Also want to look into doing a batch or two of Bordeaux blending wines like Petit Verdot or Malbec (maybe Chilean/Argentinian in the spring of 2010) to possibly blend with the Cab or maybe even a single-varietal Cab Franc - ~100lbs each
   

Tags: wine

Oh lawdy, I guess one of our doctor's patients ended up with swine flu. The whole front office has to take Tamiflu, heh. Luckily it wasn't one of my patients, so it's all good in the hood.

Had an amazing time last night. Went out to 3rd Street Aleworks with my friends Nikolai and Brian, my sister, Shan and a couple people who I haven't seen since high school, and never really hung out with much. They turned out to be super cool and, after a bunch of pitchers at 3rd st, we brought the party home and rocked out on Guitar Hero and Nikolai performed for us as well on some middle eastern instruments he brought with him.

I'm draggin' ass today, but it was well worth it. New friends! Things are going to feel boring as shit when our guests leave.

Also: NEED some pho, stat. Was sucking on the whiskey bottle last night along with the beer. Uggh, tummy needs some soupy lovin'.

edit: Oh yeah, this post brought to you by ellnra22. Thanks for the "poke"! :)

Back to work, always a bummer after vacation. We spent nearly a week out at the river and it was nice and relaxing. We didn't bring any food or cooking equipment and ate all our meals on the beach or up in town, heh. Man, I love Guerneville. We came back Wednesday and spent the rest of the week chillin' at home. Played games, watched movies. We stayed at Russian River Brewing Co WAY too long on Saturday then headed to the Belvedere where...I was refused entry for capping on the bouncer, lol. Well, the guy was a douche. Headed to The Zoo, where I received a much better welcome. Those are my people, man. Sunday we went and saw Transformers. It was ok. Then came home and watched some more movies.

I can't wait to see G.I. Joe and Harry Potter!

Man, I gotta move my computer out of the garage. I just pulled another all nighter playing Plants vs Zombies. I can't believe it's 9 am! I'm not even tired!

Five things I did at work yesterday thing...

1. I'll start with the routine: Saw seven patients, including starting IVs, administering isotopes and pharmacologic stress agents and/or treadmills, imaging, processing, quality control etc.

2. Researched insurance reimbursement and drug usage stats on a new pharm stress agent vs the one we currently use.

3. Did four hours of CMEs (in about a half an hour between seeing patients) to make up for missed hours from last year (damn NOLA, heh).

4. Did some research on a new processing algorithm that can potentially reduce our patients' radiation burden by half.

5. Compiled and submitted my Toronto expense report (sorry, ran out of stuff).


Happy Friday!

edit: also, for yesterday's memeage: A HS friend of mine recently posted this on Facebook (I was thrilled).

( 1990, sweetheart's dance with my friend Amber )

Toronto was fun. Nothing super-exciting happened, so I won't do a recap, instead I will do a list.

0 - Times I heard "Eh?" (WTF?)
1 - SDMBers/LJers met
3 - Poutines eaten
5 - Days spent in Toronto
6 - Bars visited* (not counting repeat visits to same bars or hotel bars)
15 - CMEs completed

Anyway, it was a good trip. I got more CEs done that I usually do since I planned a little better (get hard partying out of the way on the first two nights, when sessions start later) while still managing to get a decent pub count in. The sessions were mostly quite good, though there were some sleepers. The weather held up nicely all but the last day when it got a little chilly and sprinkled a bit. I would say the only problem I had was that everyone was out of Marlboro Lights everywhere I went, so I had to smoke DuMauriers, which reek!

Now, it's two days of work and then off to the river! I think I can handle that.


*Westin bar, Irish Embassy, Fionn MacCool's, Bier Markt, The Fat Belgian, The Village Idiot, C'est What, Fairmont Royal York bar.

Fun fun! Last night I met globetrotter1 for a Guinness or six at "my home base" pub, The Irish Embassy. Good times, good times, thanks for showing me a great time, Anne!

I am back in my hotel room. Went to meetings all day then came back for a bit and left again to get...more poutine! Now I am stuffed from that (and a Delirium Tremens and Affligem from The Fat Belgian). I'm considering going to a party the society puts on for us techs but I am too stuffed to move comfortably. Maybe if this huge ball of potatoes, cheese and gravy moves along soon I'll make it.

Edit: I haven't gone to this tech party since the first conference I went to about ten years ago because it was LAME! Well, I made it to this years (I gulped down a HUGE Stella before leaving the hotel to prep myself, thank god) and it was just like I remembered the last one: Serious sausage-fest with a bunch of nerds wearing khakis and polo shirts or, worse yet, horrible dinner jackets with patches on the pockets (wtf, is that your yacht club jacket?) I even saw a guy with an all-white jacket. Oh lord. Anyway, I drank a couple nasty domestic (Canadian) beers and got the fuck out. Not to worry though, I just ordered fish and chips from room service, pray they have some better movies on demand than The Curious Tale of Benjamin Fucking Button. Best bet, anyway, since I have to start meetings at 8 am (ye gods) tomorrow and I also fly back (yay) tomorrow. Pimpin' ain't easy.

BORING!