Tha Crossroads

I just completed a two-week stint in car hell.  I already knew I was going to have to shell out a lot of money for my car, with both routine and non-routine maintenance.  I needed to send my car in to the dealer for the 120K checkup, my left taillight had been out for a few weeks, the oil change was coming due as was my state inspection/registration, and my tires were starting to wear thin after at least 50,000 miles.  Well early in the two-week period I noticed my left headlight was out and then on my way to the gym two Saturdays ago I realized my right front tire was completely shredded, thus forcing my hand to go ahead and get new tires.  I've never bought tires before so I had no idea how much they cost.  Trust me, they ain't cheap.  Then naturally when my car is at the dealership they find a bunch of (expensive) things wrong with it.  Things that I can't exactly just let sit in their condition like rotors, brakes, and transmission fluid.  Time to pony up some more money. 

Not considering leaving my car overnight at the dealer, I leave them my keys including my house keys.  I usually think about this since I'm usually going home and of course need to get in.  However, on Friday I was going straight to work.  When they tell me I need a part that is on order and need to leave my car, I don't even think twice and just go on home only to realize I don't have my keys AND the dealership is closed for the night.  To top it off the apartment emergency maintenance won't come let me in.  How is being locked out of your apartment not considered an emergency that the crew responds to?  I feel that if you can't sleep inside, that's a problem, nevermind that it was 30 degrees outside. 


On the sports front, we'll move right past that Wednesday performance in Tallahassee.  For some reason UNC fans think that losing on the road to an unranked team means you suck.  That didn't even dignify a response.  Way to get spanked by GT, Heels.  Hell of an effort.  I was able to get into the Duke vs UVA game Saturday afternoon.  As many Duke fans, I was expecting an utter blowout, not just because we were coming off of a loss but also because we usually just beat the tar out of UVA at home.  Before the game I told my parents that the crowd and excitement for a UVA game in Cameron on a Saturday afternoon isn't frequently very amped up.  I think it's partly the opponent not being a fierce rival nor an ACC contender and partly that they don't often compete against us in the house the Rose Bowl built.

My brother Jim was in town.  He got to sit behind the bench as a friend of a player.  Even though he was hella close to the team and sat in padded seats, I'm guessing he would have preferred to be standing across the court jumping and screaming.  My seat (view seen below), although much less illustrious, was fondly known by my seat neighbors as the "Coat Seat."  Apparently this was the first time, thirteen home games into the season, that someone actually sat in my seat.  It admittedly seems odd that there is one random season ticket floating around.  

This was my parents' first ACC game in Cameron, my first of the year.  The first half was a continuation of the FSU game:  shooting 3s, missing 3s, turning the ball over, making an inefficient offense look somewhat efficient.  FSU on the road is one thing but UVA at home?  That's just not good.  They were beating us by more than FSU ever was.  UVA had fallen apart in the second half against UNC earlier in the week, but we were just getting outplayed by a vastly inferior team.  We do NOT have 6-minute droughts at home; it just doesn't happen.  The students also could have stood to be more into it as they can help fuel the team when they are struggling.  Ultimately, though, UVA's play kept the crowd at bay.  They were consistently getting the ball to the basket and hitting their open jumpers.  That was the first half.

Before the ball was even thrown in on the first possession of the second half, the students were starting to come alive.  At that point it was around 3pm and all those students, still tired from having to get out of bed before noon to get to the game, had awaken.  The second half was pretty exciting.  Apparently UVA forgot about Dre as he continuously hit 3s.  However, Cameron completely came unhinged when Nolan threw down that dunk.  Meeting him at the Dillo after the game, Jim said his ears were still ringing from the crowd on that dunk.  "That was Cameron!"  We proceeded to pull away down the stretch and ended up with a comfortable win. 
 
I also ended up going to the Duke vs State game where I sat behind an utterly hilarious State (female) fan.  Apparently she believes everything is a technical foul, but only against the visiting team.  Whatever.  What really bugged me about her though is when she lumped us into the same group as those in sissy blue.  Too far, crazy lady.  Get back in your cell, don't make me get the hose.

Anyway, we played incredibly well against State in what might be the turning point in the season for the offense and perhaps the defense, starting with the second half against UVA and continuing through the State and Wake games.  Ryan Kelly had an incredible week.  I'm proud of him.  He's Jim's favorite player and had been struggling with his shot the previous few games.  If he can stay hot and Dre can re-find his shot, we'll be in good shape.  Nolan hasn't been shooting well either lately but I'm not worried about that.  He'll get it back by the end of the season.  Better to struggle now than in two months. 

Big games coming up the next two weeks with BC, Maryland, State, and UNC.

LET'S GO DUKE!

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By the way, how does Malcolm Delaney have any room to talk about Maryland having bad fans.  I agree they are pretty horrible people but VT basketball fans have proven they can match the sheer nastiness once only seen in College Park. 

P.S.  Apparently I missed a bar fight between two girls after I left this past Saturday night.  Some neighborhood I live in.

Dominion Baltic Porter

Here we go.  My first beer review.

With the temperature being a balmy 44 degrees, I decided to try the Dominion Baltic Porter in my refrigerator as I watched Packers vs Bears.  As I searched for a glass in which to pour it, I could not find my Dominion glass, so I looked for my Olde Richmond Brewery glass.  I chose the Olde Richmond glass as it is a Virginia brewery as Dominion is, or so I thought.  It turns out that Old Dominion is brewed in Dover, Deleware.  What a disappointment.  This whole time I thought Dominion was a Virginia brewery.  Why wouldn't I?  Old Dominion is the nickname of the state of Virginia.  We have a university with the same name, a freight liner, and many other things sharing the name.  Apparently it started in Loudoun County in VA so the name made sense then.  However, I still feel cheated by the name now that it is no longer a Virginia brewery. 

Anyway, the Olde Richmond glass I had was for a brown ale, and I like to use a glass that says porter on it if I'm drinking a Porter, so that and the lack of a current Virginia connection, struck the Olde Richmond Brown glass from the list.  Yeah, I know it's weird, but if you know me, you should not be shocked. I settled on Redhook's Blackhook Nitro Porter glass (a porter glass).  Nitro Porter is a beer I had on my second visit to Capital Ale House with Jonathan.  Our first visit was for Murphy's Steal the Glass Night while on spring break 2004, barely a month after we turned 21.  The second visit was a little more memorable, not only because I got a cool Nitro Porter glass and first tried a very good Nitro Porter beer, but because Jonathan got a Redhook growler which we still reminisce about today.  I can't remember if it came full of Sunrye Wheat or just said it on the bottle, but it was pretty cool nonetheless.  I think it was my first Porter but surely not my last.  Note:  With the exception of later that year and maybe a year later, I have never again seen Nitro Porter on the shelf.

Baltic Porter is only the second Old Dominion beer I've tried.  I like the Oak Barrel Stout they provide, which is a combination of good taste and a reasonable price.  I'm a sucker anyway for anything that has been aged in oak or bourbon barrels so it's not a surprise I jumped all over it.  However, this entry is not about the Oak Barrel Stout but about the Baltic Porter.

I actually was not expecting great things.  My first sip had some chocolate notes usual for porters and some stouts.  I slightly cheated by first reading the bottle where it says "hints of chocolate," but I swear I really did taste it.  I have a good sense of taste.  It's my third best sense only outdone by my sense of hearing and smell.  But seriously my mom made chicken salad once using mayonnaise of a different brand than we normally use and I called her out on it even though she wouldn't admit there was anything different. 

Back to the beer.  It's actually not bad.  I'd probably order it again if there were no Breckenridge Vanilla Porter or Stone Smoked Porter.  It doesn't have the aftertaste that lingers like some porters and even more stouts, but that's a good thing.  Some tastes you like to linger, a chocolaty beer taste you don't.  It didn't really warm me up like it said it would but that might be due to its paltry 6.8% ABV.  I've gotten to the point where most of the darker beer I drink are Imperials so I'm used to them having quite a kick.  A 10.5% Bluegrass Brewing Company Jefferson Reserve Bourbon Barrel Stout, on the other hand, will warm you up, and it'll get you drunk.

Verdict:
I'd recommend it as a single-beer buy.  I don't think I'd want a sixer of it.    

Da Introduction

Ok, so here's my first stab at blogging.  In the past, I was never against the concept of blogging but never thought I had anything worth talking about.  Well after many an encouragement from close friends, they convinced me to write about the stuff I so passionately speak about on a daily basis. 

Let's start at the beginning.  I'm an Electrical Engineer from Duke ('05), now living in the Triangle after spending my whole non-college life in Richmond, VA.  Growing up my family was always big into sports, mostly college sports.  When I say my family, I don't mean just my dad and I.  My mom is one of the most passionate sports fans, and we'd even go to football games with three generations of the family.  My uncle went to UVA and many of my mom's cousins went to UNC, so we had lots of ACC ties, in addition to living in an ACC state.  I got accepted to Duke in December '00 and immediately started following the Duke basketball team in their run to the 2001 title.  The first game I remember as a Dukie was against Stanford, watching the Cardinal (awful mascot, by the way) hit a game-winner.  Not being a huge Duke fan before then, it didn't really bring me down as much as future Duke losses would; we'll likely get to those stories in future postings.  *Side note:  Many of my friends growing up were big Duke fans.  I was never much for consummate winners, which aside from Duke, is still my stance in most sports.*  In basketball, we followed mostly the CAA, with my parents both being UR Spiders, and some ACC basketball as it related to UVA.  However, I'd say our real family passion was college football.  We'd either go to a UR football game or watch college football all day (noon-10pm) each Saturday.  Many weeks we'd do both.

Many of my posts will center around Duke basketball, especially during the season.  I will also cover other sports, but with the football season fleeting, the other sports might decline.  I end up watching a lot of college basketball in general and don't mind talking on it.  I'll use the blog as my running commentary on the world of sports, sprinkling in some of my other interests:  beer, music, and travel.  Hopefully you readers will find this interesting.  If not please let me know so I can stop wasting your time.  It's not really wasting my time because I can type and watch TV at the some time.  Yes!  I'm the consummate multi-tasker.  This blog is not going to be funny in most instances, either because I'm not good at creating funny or because nothing funny happens to me.  If you want funny, you should check out Grace Thoreau's blog (http://fumblingwithgrace.blogspot.com/).  She's not only a funny person but a good story teller and writer.  I'm an engineer so I will have to get by on that.  I hope you enjoy your time spent on here and I encourage feedback, including proposed blog topics. 

Your humble blogger,
Natedevil