Why I Oughta...

Took this photo last week on April 7th, where I turned over the Pixar calendar to Ratatouille and the Illini one to a photo of students lounging on the Quad. 7 days is pretty good.  Here's a reminder of what happened with these calendars so far this year: January took 8 days to put up the calendar . I don't think I was tracking January last year. So let's call it a wash. (+0 Days) February took 16 days to put up the calendar. In 2015, I turned it over on the 17th . (-1 Days better) March took 8 days this year. In 2015, I turned them on the 10th . Posted on the 11th. So...that makes it -2 days better. April took just 7 days.  I didn't post last April.  So..no new net days. -3 days net in terms of improvement , meaning I've shaved off *at least* 3 days from last year's turns. 

Last weekend, we had some friends over and had a little pizza party and beer tasting.  The husband of the pair, is a crazy beer guy.  I mean...like totally a beer guy.  As big of a craft beer expert as I've seen and that says something when you think about Nat's two brothers who are big craft beer guys. Well...it turns out that Natalie likes stouts.  Me?  Not so much.  But...I'm always up for a tasting in a little glass of just about anything.  Above are three of the (I think) five or six stouts that they brought and we drank.  Did I love them?  Nah.  But they were all unique.  And all interesting. On the left is Prairie Pirate Bomb.   Which has a 98 on Beer Advocate . In the middle is Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout.   Which has a 100 on Beer Advocate ! On the right is Perennial 17 Mint Chocolate Stout.   Which has an 89 on Beer Advocate . Despite the scores, I *think* I liked the Mint Chocolate Stout from Perennial the best.  It tasted like - and smelled just

Yesterday, I posted a few vintage Purdue and Notre Dame football covers from the 1960's , and today comes another photo from the very same estate sale.  This stuff is just pretty amazing to me.  It is all associated with the 1967 Rose Bowl game that Purdue played against USC.  There's two different kind of bumper stickers.  The "Pasadena-a-do-do" ones are pretty rad if you ask me.  Then there's the various/different Rose Bowl pins.  And...that thing on the right says "Purdue University Rose Bowl 1966-7". It is from Conlin-Dodds Travel Service in the Memorial Union Building in West Lafayette, Indiana.  Says it is the 'Official Student Tour'. I didn't get my hands on it (it was kind of in this display case), so no idea what was in there, but guessing it was a full set of docs that included things like bus tickets, game tickets, hotel arrangements, etc. I didn't buy this stuff, but I'm sure hoping *someone* did.  This deserves a

In the same pile as the Student Power Magazine that I posted yesterday, there were also a bunch of football programs all from Purdue University.  Above is one against Notre Dame that features Neil Armstrong - a Purdue Alum.  This estate was chock'ed full of Purdue sports stuff. Below, is another Purdue vs. Notre Dame program from September 30, 1967 that features the returning 1966 National Champion Fighting Irish with South Bend being highlighted in the 'middle' of the 'D' and West Lafayette in the 'middle' of the 'P'.  Cute.  As you can see scrawled by hand is what appears to be the score:  Purdue 28.  ND 21. Also were a few other interesting ones:  This one directly below is from the 1967 Rose Bowl Game featuring Purdue vs. USC. And this was the only one featuring the Illini.  That's Bob Griese, too!  Which is pretty neat.  This Illini vs. Purdue program is the earliest from October 29, 1966. With us being in total disarray hous

Amongst a bunch of other Big Ten-related memorabilia (more on those later), I came across this Student Power magazine form November of 1967.  You can see the cover photo is of a protest and this is a "FREE Magazine for Students in the Big Ten Universities Exclusively".  This was in a pile of football programs from Purdue University. If you open the front cover, you find this interesting box full of enrollment data.  Look at Northwestern.  They dropped 3K students from 1966 to 1967?  That seems crazy. Alas, I didn't come home with this artifact, but I'm hoping that someone else picked it up and it didn't end up in the dumpster.

What's not to love about this photo of a crew of five men and three women and their line of fish caught at Sea Island?  The car.  Awesome.   The clothes?  Awesome.  The fish on the line?  Awesome.  As you walk around the second floor of The Cloister at Sea Island, you'll come to find a bunch of these framed vintage photographs.  I'll post a few more over time.

If you ever come across Milk Thistle, don't - as I did - reach down and try to feel the leaves.  They sure look interesting, don't they?  Well...they're covered in little, super-sharp thorns.  Lesson learned. This was one of a bunch of plants/flowers that they had set up in a little medicinal garden during Epcot's Flower and Garden show. They also had pineapples!  Yeah...look at this little cute tree/plant that has a big pineapple coming out of the top of the thing: You can spot the Milk Thistle in the upper right corner of this photo for placement in the medicinal garden.

When you check into The Cloister at Sea Island and you have kids on your reservation, you are greeted with this warm message and bath toy in your room that my kids totally fought over.  We had to tell the guy who was helping with our bags to score us another one so that the girls wouldn't go to battle mode over who, exactly, *owns* Shelly. The note reads: My friends at The Cloister hope you'll take me with you when you leave, as a happy reminder of your time at Sea Island.  Just as a mother sea turtle returns to the same area each time she nests, we hope you will return again soon!    If you'd like to read more about my bigger brothers and sisters, called loggerheads, please see the other side of this card.   With warm Sea Island wishes, Shelly the Sea Turtle I mean...come on.  Couldn't be cuter, right?  And the idea of 'returning'?  Don't mind if we do!

This Jungle Navigation Co. Ltd Skipper Canteen coaster is now the 3rd Disney-related coaster in the collection here on the blog .  The other two are both here and are broadly parks-related.  I took another photo or two from the Skipper Canteen and will post those soon along with more details about the place and the menu. This coaster is just out of the box and has just a little bit of a glass 'ring' on it that you can see curling right through the 'i' in Skipper.   That faded font choice is purposeful and looks good on the coasters. I have a few more that I'll post from our recent excursions, but I think this one is the best of the bunch.

 I ordered this Rokerderlig cider off the menu last week and it arrived in this lovely can.   11.1 ounces instead of the usual 12?  That's weird, right?  But...Strawberry-lime hard cider sounds nice, right? And anything that is 'made from pure Swedish Spring Water'?!?  What's not to like.  As I usually do, I ordered my cider with a cup full of ice.  Crack this baby open and pour over the ice. Wait...wha?!?!? Pink! But you know what?  That didn't turn me off.  I loved the stuff.  And the whole dude drinking a pink drink?  Normally, I'd shy away from them.  But at the pool?  No problem at all.