Don't Stop Til You Get Enough

Song: Don't Stop Til You Get Enough, Michael Jackson

I don't think any of us can believe Little Michael died yesterday. Despite his personal choices, the guy did make some rocking music. As evidence, I took a screen shot of my iTunes library sorted to his music (this excluded Janet, which is another lengthy collection!). Almost 200 MB! Thanks for the music, Michael.



Onward, I had quite an action packed weekend. I spent the day Friday studying, which was not so action packed, but necessary. Then Saturday I went scouting in San Francisco for some people's upcoming visits, and it got me out walking (uphill) in new scenery and away from the gym! I got off of BART at 16th Street, in the middle of the Mission District. Below is a photo of a beautiful mission there. Missions are quite frequent in California, and I find them so beautiful. In the future, I'd like to visit them more often.


The next stop was the Castro to see 1)where it was and 2) Harvey Milk's place at 575 Castro Street. (Castro Camera) It is obviously no longer Castro Camera, but Harvey is remembered herein. I stopped in, snapped a picture, paid my respects, gave my thanks, and continued around the neighborhood. There was a show at the Castro Theatre that afternoon and the place was a buzz. I encountered a few friendly people that pointed me in the right direction to my next destination. Nice place.



And where Harvey Milk lived:




My next destination was "The Haight"...AKA the home base during "The Summer of Love" in 1967. Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, and the Grateful Dead resided in the area during what history writes as quite the summer! Anyway, I don't know if they intentionally scent the air to smell like sweet, sweet marijuana, but it appeared that they did. A nice place now, mostly owing to that smell, but mostly tourist-y now. I'm pretty sure that's not what Janis, Jefferson Airplane, and the Grateful Dead had in mind...but, it is consumerism at its best.


Not bad for my little point and shoot, huh?



Building on the corner of Haight and Ashbury



The next stop was one for my cousin, Miranda. I was within a mile or so of the Painted Ladies, so I decided to go and "complete" Miranda's honeymoon photos, because we had been too late and it was too dark for her to get any good photos of them when they were out here. The Painted Ladies are a group of elaborately painted Victorian Houses in Alamo Square in SF. I thought they were the same houses as feature on 'Full House", and they are similar, but these are NOT where Danny Tanner lived. Here are some pics, be sure to notice the city's CBD in the background...they are up quite a hill!!









My next step was to get back to BART, as I was a few miles from it. So, I walked down into the CBD...through the Civic Center Area and City Hall. City Hall is very lavish!
From the outside, anyway. Didn't hang around too long here, I was chasing daylight.





On Sunday, I went to the Giants Game (interleague play, vs the Texas Rangers) with Debbie's significant other's, Ron, family. I had never been to Giants stadium, so I jumped at the opportunity. It is a beautiful stadium, it overlooks the Bay! Sometimes, if a homerun is hit hard enough, it will splash! It was a good game, the Giants won. I also got myself quite a nice sunburn, despite my frequent sunblock use.






Notice the Bay Bridge in the Background!


In other news, I had a great week and am about to start on my growing pile of homework.

I know a lot of you probably have questions Re: gastric bypass, I know I did! The most common question I've been getting is some variant of: Do what are you allowed to eat? I intially did this so my nutritionist could spy on me when I had questions, but I'm cool with it, so I will make it public. I track me food daily, mostly to keep an eye on my grams of protein (I'm supposed to be getting 80-100). So, here you go guys, have at it: http://www.livestrong.com/thedailyplate/diary/who/cnorth84/

Maybe this will help disperse some of the thoughts that I eat nothing but yogurt and babyfood. :-P

More adventures coming soon!

Cheers

Long Time Coming

Song: Long Time Coming, Lil Wayne

Hello All. I know it's 2009, half way through!, but for some reason I've been bitten by the blogging bug again. Unexplained...totally! I've been exercising, working, laying in bed...and blog entry ideas have been popping into my head. I kind of still hold the view that blogging is a bit narcissist, but, for those whom I know that are not on facebook, they have no means of knowing what I am up to. So, pictures, stories, the occasional rambling...we'll see how this goes.

You know I hate catch up entries, so this is going to be a quick brief so every one is on the same page in the life of me. Okay, so, I came to California one November day in 2007 with very clear objectives:

1) To get experience in the wine industry (in progress)
2) To go to school for a professional certificate program in both enology and viticulture (check, I will be finished at Washington State University by Christmas 2010)
3) To have gastric bypass (completed, May 7, 2009)

So, I had been pretty tight lipped about the whole gastric bypass thing, mostly because I didn't want to jinx it. I will leave it at it was a years worth of doctor visits and further shame and embarrassment that is now coming to a close. Why did I do it? Simple. My health. Quality of life. It is that simple. My lifestyle has completely changed since May 7th and I couldn't be happier, truly. I have a bit of a complicated relationship with food, as I am suddenly completely disinterested in consuming it, but, I am feeling great. Food has never been my friend, never will be. Unfortunately, that doesn't mean I don't love good food...especially when shared with good friends!! So, you may occasionally get the ramblings of someone with a re-routed digestive system, but hopefully my weight isn't the most interesting thing about me. ;-)

School. School is tough! It is mostly online work, but I have to appear in Washington State 6 times (3 times for each program) before the close of the program. I am learning a heap, but it is expensive in both time and money. But worth it, I hope.

Otherwise, still working at Wente. I've been there 1.5 years!!! I love them though, they are my California family. My heart still feels the love when I think about all of the love I received after surgery. You Wente folks are awesome! :-D

Okay, so, the dreaded catch up entry is over. On to bigger and better things.

Cheers

Pablo!

Wente has brought in a Chilean intern to work for the year. His name is Pablo, and he is very entertaining. I found out that he takes videos with his digital camera to show things going on in the states to his family, and then he posts them all on youTube. (good idea, no?) They're in Spanish (obviously), but I want to share this one with you all. He's in the winery standing over a fermenting bin of red wine. He is so funny!

Please also note the loud Mexican music that is blaring in the background of the video...and still blares everyday.




Cheers

Going to California

Arhhhhhnold ;-)


You know what?? There are a lot of songs about California. Heaps of songs about the state. There are a few about New York, even fewer about Washington or Pennsylvania. And by some of my favorite artists. Tupac, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Led Zeppelin.

It only makes sense that I would have to live there to see if all of the songs are true, right? Feel the "California Love"?

Okay, so it wasn't exactly for that reason, but I am taking my current living situation as a good excuse to listen to an obscene amount of Tupac and Led Zeppelin. (For those who are unaware of my musical tastes, I do have a preference for some pretty ridiculous rap music.)

Here's the annotated story. Vintage in WA finished in early November. I had been looking for a job anywhere, but had made up my mind that I would stay on the west coast if that meant that I got to working in the wine industry. That being said, most of my opportunities were bound to exist in California. I got a cal about a week after vintage finished for an interview in Napa. Being that I had a place to stay in Napa, with My Aunt Deb and Uncle Ed, I told the woman I could be there Monday. In true rockstar fashion, I threw all of my shit in my car, had my cable cut, called Chris (my room mate in Wenatchee), and drove to California.

I arrived in Napa and had not only a place to stay, but a kick ass place to stay! I got an opportunity to know a few people that I wouldn't have normally know and had a fantastic time. Plenty of gin and tonics (and wine!) were consumed and I, quite frankly, wish I could stay in the Napa area. Napa is the perfect sized place for me. ~75k people, nice weather, green, lots of dogs, plenty of stuff to do, and san fran within reach. And lots of wine! And wine people! Hell, the street names are wine related. Hello! Amazing! And, of course, if I was able to stay in Napa, I would have been much closer to the people who took care of me, that I have come to love dearly, and that I enjoy very much!

As fate and my luck would have it, I got a job in the wine industry, but not in the Napa Valley. I took a lab tech job in a small city called Livermore, which is down bay from Napa by about 1.25 hours (in no traffic, of course). After about 1.5 months of feeling broke, helpless, and hopeless, I interviewed at Wente Family Estates and bam, job offer, which I took. In a whurlwind, Deb and I went to Livermore and got me an apartment. A few days later, thanks mostly to the help of Deb and Ed, the majority of my stuff was moved in Livermore.

So, I haven't started work yet, but I start tomorrow. 4 days a week, 10 hour shifts. The salary is not quite what I had hoped, so I'll have to get a job or two to supplement my income, but that's nothing new for me.

Definitely going to be a new experience. A New Yorker in Cali, living alone, working at an 800k case/ year winery (!?). I'm looking forward to it.

If you're wondering about Australia, that dream will have to be deferred for a while. Mostly due to financial problems! No surprise there. I will, at the very least, go back to Australia for a vintage. After I get my ducks in a row and my shit straightened out.

So, that's the short version. Now I am caught up and can blog at will. I will try to do so regularly.

Cheers

I know I suck.

I know I know, It's October first and I've left you hanging by a thread since the beginning of August. I really HATE writing review entries, and I knew my life was destined to be one big review blog entry when I left Australia on 3 August.

So, let's start there. I left Australia in a blur. Thanks to some good friends, I was able to enjoy my last night in Wagga and was felt a great deal of sorrow to see the place go. When I stepped on the train to go to Sydney, it all went wrong. The guy that I was assigned to sit next to me was a total douchebag, so I got no sleep from midnight until 730 am. I got to the airport and United that they had lost (or "deleted") my reservations, then they claimed I owed them money when I definitely did not. This made me swear out against United and hate all things around me. And probably cause more of a scene than I should have. (Lots of luggage makes me testy.) But, I didn't learn my lesson because I ended up getting an upgrade because they knew that they had fucked up. It was only an upgrade to their economy plus section, but you're not going to catch me being ungrateful.

I arrive home like 36 hours later, still on August the third. I came into DC and spent a few enjoyable days with Jen in Frederick, before braving another plane to get to Rochester. After having a good sleep, I realized that I looked, sounded, and felt like an alien in my own country. And, that feeling as stuck with me some of the way until now, but frankly, I'm just too exhausted to honor any feelings except tired these days.

I spent a therapeutic two or so weeks at home, seeing the family and friends that I had spent months longing to see...and for good reason! They're fantastic! My life blood!

All the while, I missed Australia. It's like a constant dull ache. Forgettable sometimes, but not usually. I've kept in contact with a few of my mates there pretty steadily, and I miss them dearly. I miss the whole bloody thing, and I didn't think I would!

Anyway, the next part of my journey was to drive across the country with my Mom. It was an amazing experience. Mom and I knew it was going to be ridiculous when we drove through a tornado on day one coming through Toledo. (Fuckin' Ohio, it figures!) The journey flew east of the Mississipi, but as soon as we crossed over, life slowed down a bit. We saw towns with a posted population of 10 (Emblem, WY) and stayed in towns where we ate our first buffalo roast and stood out as definite city slickers. (Are you freaking kidding me?) Yellowstone, the Badlands, Mount Rushmore, the Black Hills, Bighorn National Forest...that's a limited list of what we saw! I fear that the journey will never get proper ode in my blog because it has all ready past, but I will do my best to recount its tales as I can.

Our journey ended in Wenatchee, WA, my current place of residence. (Actually Seattle, where Mom flew out of.) So far the internship has been going well. I am beat. I am sore. I have never been so tired in my life. But, I'm making wine god damnit, and I couldn't dream of doing anything else.

The picture is the view from my place. Yes, that is the Columbia River. It also over looks a drive in. Cheers to free movies on the weekends, although I don't really remember what a weekend is, per se. :-P Pretty sweet, right?

Cheers

Personality

Sorry guys, I've got to talk shop for this one. Bear with me.

Okay, so, I don't know everything about wine, but I know a damn good bit more than most people on the street. Most "wine people" and I disagree on a few things, but, hear me out.

In order to impress me, a wine doesn't necessarily need to embody every single one of its token varietal characteristics. I want my subtle and silky Pinot Noirs as much as I want my bold and spicy Shirazes, but there is something to be said of wine with personality. There's something to be said of PEOPLE who actually have personality, likewise. If a wine doesn't have any glaring defects or faults, sometimes a bit of personality is a good thing. So, it may not be exactly what a wine judge wants to see, whether it be "too light" or "not true to variety"...if it can support it's own voice, it has a possibility for success with the open minded and flexible.

This is exactly why I LOVE the wine from the Finger Lakes. Never mind that I was born in the Finger Lakes, although I'm sure that that has something to do with it. :-P Finger Lakes wines are cool climate, and, for the most part, are unlike any wines I've seen here (obviously). They may not be, for example, true to form big, ridiculous tannic Cabernet Sauvignons, but they generally have flavor and form, and they have PERSONALITY, a certain uniqueness. They are regional and they tell the tale of the winery and those people who worked to prepare its outward characteristics. Many can call this personality "terrior", which is, essentially, a signature of where the wine comes from. But, it's actually a lot more. It's a story. And, due to the size of the region, most, if not all, Finger Lakes wines have a STORY. An interesting story, too! We're certainly not making a whole lot of wine relatively speaking, so livelihoods, blood, sweat, and tears go into making our wines. That special attention, combined with the cool climate characteristics and the varietal, give our wines our signature, their personality.

If straight, predictable varietal characters do it for you, then fair enough. But, if it doesn't; don't get hung up on what a Riesling or a cab is supposed to taste and smell like. It's a nice guide, but, firstly it varies from area to area, so try to look at the wine as a part of a whole, the end to a story. How does it show to you? And most importantly: do YOU like the story it has to tell you? Robert Parker (who is a bloody bullshitter, if you ask me) is doubtfully going to be drinking wine with you anytime soon, so be sure that you select a wine with a story that you want to be part of!

DISGUSTING?!

Australians. Crack. Me. Up. They're known for being one of the most laid back countries, in fact, this reputation precedes them globally. They, in theory, shouldn't ever worry about anything. There motto is "No worries, mate."

But, the truth is, it's true, they don't freak out about the big stuff. You know, life decisions and the like...things that a person SHOULD freak out about, they have a very laxadazical (sp?) attitude about. But, about STUPID things, they freak out. Today, in my pinot seminar, the woman sitting next to me was being a real irritable kid all day. When one of the last speakers was speaking, the poor old guy didn't have his presentation loaded onto the screen. So, they had to go get one of the Conference Centre tech guys to load it. In the meantime, he started talking about what he had researched. This lady next to me started like chucking all of her stuff into her bag and start talking REALLY loudly about how "disgusting" this was. Disgusting!? DISGUSTING!? That's not exactly the word that I would use for it.

So, we Americans freak out about everything, but, probably not about the poor man loading his PPT presentation. Who's better off? I can tell you who's funnier, that's for sure!

Cheers