Next big adventure chez Tiar…the chickens are in the coop.

EcoReno is awesome. I love doing it and I love making a difference. I have also become very receptive to free publicity. You want a news story on green cleaners? You got it!  Anything to get the word out.

I got a call from KOLO a few weeks ago wanting to do a story on green cleaning products.  A very nice reporter called and asked if she could shoot footage and then come back to shoot live for their morning show. Yep, the morning show that airs from 5am to 7am. What time should I be here Monday? 4:15am. Again, free publicity.

We shot the some footage on Friday morning – a reasonable time of 10am. We confirmed for Monday morning at 4:15. (Let me remind you that even though there is a Starbucks across the lot, they don’t even open that early!) She said the only thing that would keep them is breaking news. I think she said something about WWIII.

I had been having problems with the cell phone, but never gave it a second thought. I drug my butt out of bed at 3:45 after a restless night. I kept thinking that I would over sleep. I got dressed, made myself presentable, and took off into the dark morning. There weren’t many people out, a few early morning people heading to work and passed a few guys probably heading home from a bar. Oh, and I got a full moon. Who does that? Okay, besides Kelly Ricciardi?  Seriously, a big, white ugly butt thrown in my face. Ewwwwww!  Got into the store, locking myself in quickly, and disabled the alarm.

BEEP.  BEEP. Ah, a message on the phone. BREAKING NEWS!!  Not WWIII, but a body found near Caughlin Ranch. No live shoot for me. There had a been a message left on my cell phone and she hoped that I had gotten it before I left the house. NOPE, because my cell phone is acting up and I didn’t do anything to try and fix it. It was a simple fix too – turn off and back on. I headed back home to bed. When I got into the bedroom, Marc asked if I had even left, that is how little time had passed.

The story did air. They used the previously shot footage and I am also happy to say that it aired again during the evening news. I heard it while cooking dinner. So, worth it, but I can tell you that I will be sure that cell phone is working before I head out for a 4:15am shoot!

Other updates: Dad was just here and we had a great visit including the Sacramento Zoo.  The kids are great – both getting so big! Sid’s sitter, Michelle, is telling us that he is very interested in the potty. Trained before his second birthday? You never know.

• Best brewery we tasted – Dogfish Head
• Best beer we totally missed out on – Utopias
• Quite memorable beer – The Abyss
• Local breweries represented – Buckbean, Brew Bros, Great Basin, and Silver Peak.  Reno, represent!
• Best schwag – stamped leather Mirror Pond coasters from Deschutes  (honorable mentions: Session Lager temporary tattoos, stickers galore, and at least four free beer magazines)
• Best non-festival things we did – Killer shopping for beer with Lance and Rosie, lunch at Bull and Bush, and late night snack and beer at Cheeky Monk Belgian Beer Cafe, breakfast at Tom’s Diner (straight out of Pulp Fiction, seriously), coffee at Illegal Grounds in a neighborhood full of cool old houses

Some pics, courtesy of Brian since I didn’t bring my camera…

Great American Beer Festival

Lance, Brian, and Marc at the GABF

Cool buildings in our neighborhood

$15,000 55-year-old Macallan single-malt

Yes, that scotch is really priced at $14,999.  That liquor store has 64 cooler doors full of beer.

PS: added a smattering of new pictures to the miscellany album, from a few various outings, none enough to get their own album.  Oh yeah, and I missed our first snowfall while I was gone.

• New Lola pictures in her album
• New Sid pictures in his album
• Three new Sid videos on his page
• One new Lola video on her page
• A whole album of pictures from our little outing to the Black Rock Desert.

Whew!  That ought to keep you for a little while.  Enjoy!

1. After not being there for years, I will find it even more irritating when people automatically assume that if you are from Nevada, you are from Las Vegas.
2. It is VERY dirty. There was trash everywhere!!
3. Everything costs more than it should. There are not that many ‘good’ deals. Whatever happened to 99 cent breakfasts? Oh that’s right, we are in a recession.
4. A lot of sarcasm from service people – ie that bell boy that made sure to let me know that he would not the one there when I picked up my bag. After being so snide, I quickly put away the tip that I was gong to hand him. After all, my bag only contained a few clothes and dirty underwear. So what if he ‘misplaced’ it? Should have been nice, taken your tip and then been done with it. Customer service was not a strong point where I was staying. But I also wasn’t staying at the Bellagio or Trump Towers. The Stratosphere was cheap and worked.
5. Stratosphere was not close enough to the Convention Center to walk in the shoes I was wearing. I am now nursing a HUGE blister on the bottom of my foot.
6. The Monorail sounded like a great quick way to get there the first morning. Upon arrival to the stop, I found that it was $5 for one way!!! I was only going two stops. I was duped and had no choice.
7. Since I sat at the blackjack table for 4 hours and gave you all the money I had, you could at least buy me breakfast. The older gentlemen that I played with kept commenting on how they used to just give you free things and now you have to beg. I begged and got a $15 comp for breakfast. It was a LOT less than I had lost and I only could choose from half of the menu. (Again, everything costs too much.) I guess it is true that beggars can’t be choosers.
8. The person staying in the room next to me must either have passed out or not been there. No one needs to listen to the TV that loud.
9. The water out of the sink smelled like sulfur. It makes me sick even thinking about it. I contemplated the idea of going down to the casino and brushing my teeth in one of the bathrooms.
10. I had a great view of the air conditioners on the roof. Yep. Nice view.
11. The sandwich was really worth the $8 that I paid for it. I was starving.
12. I missed my family while I was gone. I am so used to being with someone – I can get lonely really fast.

I think that Reno should market themselves a bit better. We aren’t as big as Las Vegas, but we have a lot of the same commodities. It is so much cleaner here, smells a lot better, and a tad bit greener. It is good to be home.

In reviewing Michigan photos, I realized how long it’s been since I updated any albums around here. So while the bulk what I loaded is an album of Michigan trip photos, there are also a very few new ones in Sid’s album, Lola’s album, and the Miscellany album (of Morgan’s birthday cake and camping, I think is all). I’ve got a couple Sid videos to post as well, just out of time for now.  Not much else to say expect how much I dislike returning from vacation: to piles of laundry and mail, to an empty fridge, to work, to the usual routine grind.

With that, I’ll leave you with something fun; the artifact in the photo below was in the front yard of a house two doors down from Grandpa in Adrian. It stands about 4 feet tall. He told us what it was, so I know now. Do you? Guesses in the comments. Perhaps a prize for the right answer and/or most creative. I hope this isn’t easy. I sure had no idea. Click for full size.

I know yesterday we spent visiting Grandpa’s sister Marilou in Milford.   Quite a nice little place, from what little I saw, and she’s got a great old house nestled in the woods near a park.  We even saw a snake. 

Aside from that, it seems like we’ve more or less driven around a bit, gone to stores, taken walks, and bounced a ball in the street.  Paige and I took a nice long walk up to and through Siena Heights University which is more or less just up the street, then by one of the water towers here in Adrian.  We had some speculation about why all these little towns have a water tower, most of them with the town’s name painted on the side.  This seems to explain pretty well.

Anyway, I think that about does it for now.  Lots of pics to add to these little tales, of the snake and the water tower and other assorted fun.  No cable or card slot to upload them here, so they’ll just have to wait until we get home.

Beerlog: Hmmmm…another one (hoppy amber?) from Magic Hat, and one bottle of Hops Infusion from Weyerbacher I picked up in Toledo on a whim.

Today we hit the local farmer’s market, the quite respectable Adrian PL, a pretty acceptable burrito for lunch, and, after a couple errands and ice cream for dessert, the afternoon naptime.

Beerlog: Tons bought in Toledo, only thing new tasted was pale ale from the previously mentioned Bell’s.

After naptime (and grill assembly time), we ventured back out for steaks and assorted other goods for dinner.  On the way, we stopped and looked around the house that Grandpa’s dad built when he was a kid.  Empty for a year now, it’s in kinda sad shape, but it was neat to visit anyway.  Grilled ribeyes and corn on the cob are as good a way to end the day that The Abner started.

Toledo Zoo tomorrow.

Today’s beerlog: Leinekugel’s Red Lager

Beerlog: Magic Hat‘s Not Quite Pale Ale and Bell’s Two Hearted Ale.  Both very nice beers.