A beautiful day in Astoria, originally uploaded by astoriahermit.

This is the view from what I think is called Hallet's cove on the East River looking south west-ish. Sorry no geo on the phone.

Still, it's not too warm and nearly no humidity. Need to find myself a roof party. Anyone?

Thinking about making an offer, originally uploaded by astoriahermit.

Do you think riding on the short bus has the same stigma if you own the bus?

Well, here I am on a computer running Windows Vista using Live Writer to pound out a post.  I attempted to use Ecto with the new version of dasBlog I had deployed to no avail.  So, at this point my options are debug through why my instance of dasBlog is not playing nice with ecto or ditch the bitch (get it?) and move on.

Sadly, since my job doesn't really involve .NET any more I had hoped dasBlog would be a rewarding connection to my old flame.  But alas, it seems it will remain a reminder of how good it could have been.

So at this point I either bite the bullet and install Parallels on my Mac so I can run Live Writer - NOT.  Or I use my virtual windows box that lives inside my Linux desktop - meh, a bit better.  Or I ditch dasBlog and move on.  This is going to require some think.

Thanks to the kind folks over at worth1000.com for their 'great' photo of a dog.  I think it fits.

I have just finished upgrading this blog to the latest version of dasBlog. I have been trying to use ecto from my MacBook Pro and it kept barfing. I had looked at the source of the last version of dasBlog and decided it was too much of a hassle and that I would just use LiveWriter to do my post composition. But now, I no longer use a windows box at work and my primary carry-around computer is a Mac. So, if tomorrow, when I go to post with ecto against this blog it barfs... stand by for me to declare dasBlog a dog and move on. My buddy over at

Directly from the "What are you doing with your life" department. Head over to BeerMenus.com and sign up for their mailing list (bottom of page). Below is what they just sent me. Does that not look like some of the most useful information available to mankind?

Upcoming Beer Events in New York City

July

16, Wed: 4:00PM: The Slyfox/Arcadia Event at Blind Tiger Ale House (Free)

17, Thu: 0:00PM: Arcadia Ales Night at Light House Tavern (Free)

23, Wed: 4:00PM: Christmas in July at Blind Tiger Ale House (Free)

25, Fri: 7:00PM: Beers and BBQ with Garrett Oliver at The Institute of Culinary Education (Free)

28, Mon: 6:30PM: The Art of Beer and Cheese Pairing Sail at Chelsea Piers nr 18th St. ($75.00)

29, Tue: 6:30PM: Chocolate & Beer: Nunu Chocolates at Bierkraft (Free)

29, Tue: 6:00PM: BEERTOPIA! at The Village Pourhouse (Free)

August

05, Tue: 6:30PM: Beat the Heat: The Beers of Summer at Astor Center ($45.00)

11, Mon: 6:00PM: American Cask Ale Beer Tasting at Bistro Ten 18 ($40.00)

12, Tue: 6:30PM: Cookies & Beer: Altissima at Bierkraft (Free)

12, Tue: 7:30PM: NYC Homebrewers Guild Meeting at Burp Castle (Free)

13, Wed: 7:30PM: Malted Barley Appreciation Society Meeting at Mug's Ale House (Free)

19, Tue: 7:30PM: NYC Homebrewers Guild Meeting at Burp Castle (Free)

23, Sat: 7:00PM: Beer 101 with Samuel Merritt at The Institute of Culinary Education ($65.00)

26, Tue: 6:30PM: Beer & Cheese: Sixpoint Brewery at Bierkraft (Free)

September

09, Tue: 6:30PM: Beer & Cheese: Kelso of Brooklyn at Bierkraft (Free)

12, Fri: 5:00PM: New York Brewfest ! at South Street Seaport ($45.00)

12, Fri: 6:30PM: Beer & Cheese: Better Together at Astor Center ($75.00)

19, Fri: 12:00PM: 2nd Manhattan Cask Ale Festival at Chelsea Brewing Co. (Free)

19, Fri: 7:30PM: NYC Homebrewers Guild Meeting at Burp Castle (Free)

20, Sat: 12:00PM: 2nd Manhattan Cask Ale Festival at Chelsea Brewing Co. (Free)

21, Sun: 12:00PM: 2nd Manhattan Cask Ale Festival at Chelsea Brewing Co. (Free)

October

07, Tue: 6:30PM: Beer & Chocolate: Tumbador Chocolate at Bierkraft (Free)

31, Fri: 7:00PM: Brewtopia: The Great World Beer Festival VII at Show Piers (Free)

So I'm sitting here waiting for a Windows update to install... don''t ask me why and I happened on a link that led to the "top 10 places to buy t-shirts on the web" (thanks foo). Really senseless story short: I am trying to figure out if I could pull off either of these t-shirts.

So, let's have your vote. Leave it in the comments will you. Granted those of you the know me have a better guage, but I'm actually as interested in those of you that don't. This is also a great way to embarrass yourself online: call for user input and then receive none. So don't leave me hanging brah.

Traffic in Times Square can be rough, originally uploaded by astoriahermit.

Just saw Get Smart on 42nd street. Meh, it was fun a 3.5 out of 5 sounds about right. Probably should have seen Iron Man.

I posted on of her video's a while ago. Here's the link if you missed it. She's pretty original, and frankly searching for "Ukelele" on YouTube.com is pretty darn entertaining.

Brew Pubs in Atlanta, originally uploaded by astoriahermit.

Thank you Sky magazine on board for pointing me toward a brew pub in Atlanta. Stay tuned for the full report.

While we're on the subject the Samuel Adams pub-straunt at the Delta Terminal 3, JFK is a portrait of farsical. First of all there was a 30 min wait for food... At an airport restaurant, you have to be kidding. Mercifully, we just got a beer. Here is the real travesty, $7.58 for a pint of Sam Adams. I think Mr. Adams owes me a few dollars because the disparity in cost to value is epic. I think I may have to add Sam Adams to my 'don't bother' list as a part of my new No-Inferior-Beer policy.

Delta Airlines: Empty flight to Atlanta, originally uploaded by astoriahermit.

So we missed the 1:55 flight and had to take the 3:30. Apparently the reason the ticket cost so much was that nobody wants to go to Atlanta.

Foo pointed this one out. After watching it It's pretty darn good. Just a lot to absorb.

I went ahead and embedded it here, but it's definitely worth taking a look at forgetfoo.com to keep up with what he's throwing down.