I Just Geek.. er I mean Freak OUT!!
Hmm.... I've just looked at the date of my last post... I have been seriously lax in identifying any egoistic/narcissistic material to write about. Mostly, I've been thinking of ways to keep myself from not thinking too much about myself and not thinking too much in general. Whoops! Did it again...
On the band front: we are taking a much-needed break until December, so Steve-O can prepare for the arrival of his new baby. No status to report on my custom-built MTD, I recently picked the fretboard with Mike Tobias (not just the wood - which is going to be Rose of the Mountain, by the way - the actual fretboard from a pic that Mike e-mailed to me). I'm just assuming no news is good news.
Besides minor health scares, I've been keeping myself busy with the WSET Advanced Certificate course at PhillyWine. All-in-all it's been excellent so far, apart from the nasty drive to/from the city on weeknights during rush hour. We've tasted some great stuff so far, especially some boss Riesling from the Mosel and fantastic Amarone della Valpolicella. The big exam is in early Dec., including an interesting 15 min. tasting portion, which we've been practicing (so far, I'm 4 for 4 in passing the practice tastings... though bear in mind that a 'D' is still considered passing!). There are quite a few restaurant/winery folks in our class, and one of them has been bringing in grapes (Sangiovese, Merlot, Vidal) for us to try, which has been really interesting. That same fine fellow will be sommelier at a soon-to-be-opened wine bar in Frazer, PA (more on that after the opening next month).
I've also been seriously 'geeking out' with my new Pocket PC, the trusty HP iPaq hx2495. Nerdy yes but it beats lugging a laptop around, and with cool software called ListPro, I can make wine tasting notes on the fly, take wine DBs with me to the wine store, connect to WiFi hotspots and surf the Internet, etc., etc. Not bad for something that has a footprint of about 4.5" x 3". The handwriting recognition is pretty good right out of the box. I've also found tons of great WAP sites and free software for the thing that will make it a great tool when I travel (E-mail, and even more indispensable: metronome and instrument tuner software!). Anyway, it's definitely worth a look if you're tech-savvy and looking for a laptop PC alternative.
Happy Hallow's Eve!
On the band front: we are taking a much-needed break until December, so Steve-O can prepare for the arrival of his new baby. No status to report on my custom-built MTD, I recently picked the fretboard with Mike Tobias (not just the wood - which is going to be Rose of the Mountain, by the way - the actual fretboard from a pic that Mike e-mailed to me). I'm just assuming no news is good news.
Besides minor health scares, I've been keeping myself busy with the WSET Advanced Certificate course at PhillyWine. All-in-all it's been excellent so far, apart from the nasty drive to/from the city on weeknights during rush hour. We've tasted some great stuff so far, especially some boss Riesling from the Mosel and fantastic Amarone della Valpolicella. The big exam is in early Dec., including an interesting 15 min. tasting portion, which we've been practicing (so far, I'm 4 for 4 in passing the practice tastings... though bear in mind that a 'D' is still considered passing!). There are quite a few restaurant/winery folks in our class, and one of them has been bringing in grapes (Sangiovese, Merlot, Vidal) for us to try, which has been really interesting. That same fine fellow will be sommelier at a soon-to-be-opened wine bar in Frazer, PA (more on that after the opening next month).
I've also been seriously 'geeking out' with my new Pocket PC, the trusty HP iPaq hx2495. Nerdy yes but it beats lugging a laptop around, and with cool software called ListPro, I can make wine tasting notes on the fly, take wine DBs with me to the wine store, connect to WiFi hotspots and surf the Internet, etc., etc. Not bad for something that has a footprint of about 4.5" x 3". The handwriting recognition is pretty good right out of the box. I've also found tons of great WAP sites and free software for the thing that will make it a great tool when I travel (E-mail, and even more indispensable: metronome and instrument tuner software!). Anyway, it's definitely worth a look if you're tech-savvy and looking for a laptop PC alternative.
Happy Hallow's Eve!
posted by Joe Roberts, CSW at 19:53
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