When I order a beer, this is what I expect to get

The Poles do know how to drink, dontcha know....

Adventures in Poland

Things are different in Poland. For example, to turn on any lights in my hotel room, I had to put my room key into a slot near the door. To turn on the TV, I had to press a number key on the remote - the power button would turn it off, but not turn it on.

The currency is zlotky, and everything under 10 zlotky is a coin. I got 200 zlotky from an ATM, and that amounted to $77. Try doing the math on prices with that exchange rate...especially after a large Polish beer.

Speaking of beer, the beer spelled "Zywiec" is pronounced "jivitz" (rhymes with Nimitz). HUH?

They love pork. I can fix make 100+ dishes out of hamburger meat. They can make 1000+ dishes out of pork.

They love vodka, and I have no problem with that whatsoever. The cherry vodka was excellent, but I didn't care for the grass-flavored vodka. Chopin is a very nice unflavored vodka.

This made me laugh

http://www.museumofbadart.org/collection/recent08.php

Be sure to read the caption.

Will it ever end?

First we were bitch slapped by Hurricane Ike and had no power for eight days. No AC, no refrigerator, no fans, no TV, no lights, no way to keep the beer cold. It was not the most pleasant eight days of my life.

Now my air conditioner is dead, and it will take several thousands of dollars to get a new one.

Of course, it died just before I'm set to leave the country for a week. Bigfoot says he enjoys the heat, so he is going to tough it out until I return and get the new unit is installed next week.

At least my electricity bill should be low this month...

I wanna be a Toadie roadie

About a month ago, I saw the Toadies in concert in a small venue in Houston. Bigfoot doesn't like the same music as I do (he was on his way to a smooth jazz - AACCKK - concert the same night), my concert buddy was on a diving trip in Mexico, my brother and his family who were in town dissed me to be with his best friend's family (the NERVE), and my sister doesn't really know their music. So I went alone, after much internal debate.

Am I glad I did. They were great! They have only three albums, and they played pretty much everything from all three. They were loud. They were having fun. They don't worry about any of the clean and sober crap - they sipped from cans of beer between songs. How refreshing!

So I want to go on the road with them so that I can say I'm a Toadie Roadie.

Blue Ribbon Picante Sauce

Yep, my picante sauce has been deemed the best in Texas. Or at least the best one entered in the Creative Arts contest at the State Fair of Texas.

It was hot. And it was hot when we visited the State Fair on the last weekend in September. Hell - it will be hot two months from now.

But I will bask in the glory of winning the blue ribbon for the second time. The first time was in 1996. At this rate, I'm due for another blue ribbon in 2020.

By the way, we had a great time at the State Fair this year. My oldest friend, J, met us there to consume mass quantities of beer and laugh like schoolgirls.