Firsts

Babe Ruth In The Papers

Click here to open the story in the Washington Post in a new window. You may have to register a username and password but it is not a big deal.

This is the photo that is currently on the front page of the Washington Post’s Sunday Metro section:

Before I go any further, let me make sure that I take time to thank the staff at the Gaylord National Hotel inWashington, DC for their tremendous professionalism and attention to every detail. These people are the standard for their industry. I have, in all honesty, never seen such elan in my life. It was a real treat. With the hotel slated to open in a few days, you could ride on the energy of these folks as they readied their jewel of a hotel.

I would also like to thank Michael Hudson of Gaylord Hotels. He is a throwback to a more civil time in America and in business. He is a true gentleman and a visionary in his field. You don’t run into too many people like him and it was my good fortune to have done so. Thanks Michael, for everything.

This is a shot someone took for me with my camera during the installation.

The Babe Ruth statue is now permanently on display at the Gaylord National Hotel & Resort in Washington, DC at the new National Harbor area.

I went down there on Tuesday and stayed until Thursday and The Babe was installed and well received. The Washington Post came by and did a story on the hotel opening and included a fair amount of interest on the statue. I was not sure how much would run on the statue but I was pleased to have folks in Washington DC call and tell me the good news.

The full story of the statue and everything surrounding it is on the Birrerart.com website:

Click here to open the Birrerart.com website up in a new window

Other things that were noteworthy while I was down there was the fact that the Nationals has declared the sportsbar in the Gaylord as the official sportsbar of the team. Because of this, they had sent over the last home plate used at RFK stadium so it could be permanently installed at the entrance to the sportsbar. Here are a few shots of that and the Washington Post getting their story at the time:

That’s Michael Hudson, Director of Brands at Gaylord Hotels, with homeplate from RFK Stadium.

And here is the laying ceremony while the PR folks take photos.

***
The Gaylord National Hotel is so immense that it is difficult to photograph it all in one frame. The atrium that overlooks the Potomac River and Old Alexandria, Virginia, on the opposite bank, is 18 stories high. There is a village of little shops and fountains and trees and restaurants all inside the enclosure. It is so big that you mostly aren’t aware that you are inside.

Here is a view of the upper part of the atrium. These gaslights are 20 feet high. The scale is just hard to fathom.

On the 24th floor, there is a state of the art nightclub and one of the unique features is, believe it or not, the men’s room. Here are the fixtures and the view is outrageous. The Washington Monument can be seen while you are, well…ahem, you know. It’s just one of a myriad of details that make this hotel one of the most amazing in the world.

3 Dollars a Slice?

I went to lunch today at the “other” pizzeria near work.  I decided to change things up.  They are now charging 3 dollars a slice!  I was in shock.  I didn’t want to say, “no, you keep it”, but I thought about it.  And of course, I’m never going back there again–on principal.  My usual joint has slightly larger slices at 2 for 4 bucks.  They are a half mile apart, the two places.

Do they realize that they will lose more biz than the price increase will garner?  It’s like with taxes (although not for some parties), if you raise them past a certain point, total revenues go down.  My question to the readers is this: What is the most you paid for a slice of pizza?  This place is in Valhalla, NY in Westchester county.

And while I’m on the subject, let’s talk about toppings.  I never get them. They are a ripoff.  You open up a can of mushrooms and jack up the price 1.50 or 2.00?  And if you chop some onions on there, I pay AGAIN!?  And now my lousy pizza is closer to 20 bucks.  Is it ME?

Shake That Box Or It’ll Burn

Mrs. Pinetar and I made popcorn tonight. We were discussing various aspects of it. She said that when she taught school, the kids had never even seen the hot-air popping machine–all they had knowledge of was the microwave popcorn. So, to the kids, the hot-air kind was a big deal.

Then I told her that the hot-air kind was a spaceship to me. She said, “…you mean just making it on the stove?”.

“No”, I said, “The first time I saw popcorn made, it was in our fireplace on one of these box-on-a-stick deals.

One note on microwave popcorn. It is illegal in nursing homes in most states. It is by far, the number one cause of fires in nursing homes. Keep that in mind next time you fire it up.  And one weird thing happens to me when I eat popcorn.  Immediately after I’m done with it, I CRAVE a peanut butter and jelly sandwich!  What’s UP with that?  And it has to be Skippy Creamy PB–NO CHUNKS.  And Strawberry Jam.  And a real white bread like JJ Nissan or Wonder.  I don’t want to hear your PBJ recipe because it s***s.  This is the only way.

One time when I was a small kid, I put my hand on the outside of the old, counter top model popcorn poppers.  It was the kind with the heating element on the bottom and the popper above.  Anyway, the thing was as hot as a nuclear reactor and I burned my finger tips badly.  Big blisters on all four fingers.  The pain was unreal.  My poor mom somehow, had to comfort me and I’m sure she did a good job.  Moms are great for that. 

That also reminds me of the time I drank a whole bottle of Neatsfoot Oil in the garage.

Of course my mother wigged out and panic set in and they called poison control and poison control said that it wasn’t anything to worry about but to keep me near the bathroom, which I assume they did.  Did the fact that I downed a bottle of baseball glove oil affect me?  I don’t know.  I do like baseball.  Baseball, you might say, is a part of me.  So are baseball products.

The Pinetar Three (Thanks for the Shirts, McBean)

In these times of Photoshop, where a skilled operator could easily put Dr. Zaius’ head on my body and make is seamless, you never know if you are looking at a real photo or a doctored one. I assure the readers that this photo is real. We really have the Pinetar shirts, his/hers/baby. They are compliments of a very silly man down in Atlanta, Georgia who likes to go by the name McBean. I don’t know what I like better, the gags or the 2nd row, behind-the-plate seats to the Red Sox (or Dodgers this year?). He’s a true old friend. In high school, we worked many jobs together; cleaning toilets, painting etc. Scarily, he can recite the lines to “Battle of the Planet of the Apes” almost verbatim and while doing it, he’ll crack himself up at the same time, perhaps out of embarrassment? One of the last times I was down at his house in Atlanta, we made deep fried twinkies. I have proof:

And yes, that’s a Norman (Chubby) Chainey t-shirt I’m wearing. Another of his creations. If you are goint to eat like Chainey, you need to honor him. Chubby would have like the twinkies.

***

Bonds game on: Already I have heard Charles Barkley on the radio being interviewed re Bonds and already he has played the race card FOR Barry Bonds. Has anyone heard of Martha Stewart? (Would it matter if they had?).

My initial thoughts on this were that if the feds take 4 years aim at you, you have nowhere to hide (cue the Barretta theme song), but now I think that Bonds and his attorneys will remain defiant and sling mud at MLB and the US DOJ, playing the race card and any other card they can play. The facts, as I understand them are this: Bonds took roids. He admitted to taking the roids. He DIDN’T admit to KNOWING they were roids. To prove perjury, they have to get inside his head and prove that a reasonable person would have KNOWN that they were taking roids all along and that to say he didn’t know would be a lie. As we have seen in the OJ case, even facts that cry out for common sense can be obfuscated to dopey jurors with racial agendas, pretty easily by lawyers. If they got the right people on the jury, they might be able to convince them that a priest doesn’t know what he’s doing when he’s consecrating the host in The Mass. In other words, it ain’t all about common sense. Put your political G-Suit on and get ready for all-Barry, all the time, particularly if it is a slow news day.

I would venture that within about 6 months, you’ll “know” more than you ever dreamed about Barry Lamar Bonds. Question is, “who will play Kato?”.

***

Babe Ruth statue goes on despite a wicked cold and sore throat I’ve picked up after having a flu shot at work. I’m never getting the flu shot again. I don’t think they do a damn thing and in this case, I think they pushed me over the edge into this thing I have now. Now I have to spend hours with my stuffy face in a mask that’s uncomfortable at best on a good day.

The statue is coming along and I’m excited about it. I just had a nice talk with the buyer and we are on track to get this thing installed when the Gaylord opens in January.

Buckwheat

I have been making crepes at home recently and they come out good and are easy to make-relatively.  I would like to use Buckwheat flour like they do in France (and Montreal/Quebec).  Trouble is, you can’t get it anywhere!  Does anyone have a Buckwheat flour source?  Let’s have it.

Liverpool begins quest for the 6th European Cup

Click to read some noise about how Toulouse is “going to make Liverpool suffer” or some such silly footballing rhetoric…

I think Rafa’s men will do just fine, Mr-smarty-Toulouse guy. Why don’t you win one of these things before you pop off about the runners up from the previous May and oh by the way…they have 5 of those shiny cups. Do I have to past in the words to Scouser Tommy??? Huh? Ok, I will:

 

I’ll tell you a story of a poor boy
Who was sent far away from his home
To fight for his king and his country
And also the old folks back home
So they put him in the Highland division
Sent him off to a far foreign land
Where the flies swarm around in their thousands
And there’s nothing to see but the sand
Well the battle started next morning
Under the Arabian sun
I remember the poor Scouser Tommy
Who was shot by an old Nazi gun
As he lay on the battle field dying (dying dying)
With the blood rushing out of his head (of his head)
As he lay on the battle field dying (dying dying)
These were the last words he said…

 

Oh… I am a Liverpudlian
I come from the Spion Kop
I like to sing, I like to shout
I go there quite a lot (every week)
We are the team who plays in red
A team that we all know
A team that we call Liverpool
And to glory we will go
We’ve won the League
We’ve won the Cup
We’ve been to Europe too
We played the Toffees for a laugh
And we left them feeling blue

 

Five Nil !

 

One two
One two three
One two three four
Five nil !

 

Rush scored one
Rush scored two
Rush scored three
And Rush scored four!

 

Na na na na na na na na na!

 

This is what it’s all about…

A lamb chop, Cowboy Charcoal and the Navy Jack. Kind of gets you right there, doesn’t it?

Actually, it can get better. Here is the finished product of dad’s evaporator this Spring. He made a few quarts of real maple syrup by tapping his Maple trees right in his yard and boiling it down himself. It is very tasty with the pancakes and the Hasselnuss coffee there in my souvenir mug from the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, California. You should start every day with home made syrup and Nixon. –fog

What Fuels Your Ring of Fire?

No really, what fuels your ring of fire?  Cause it better be this stuff…

Juicers

When I wanted a juicer, Mrs. Pinetar said that we’d never use it.  She’s right, we don’t use it.  –fog