|
|
|
|
rld
|
|
My apologies
for my lack of journalistic contributions to my partners’ website.
It’s been an interesting two months for more than one reason. The year began
with a bottle of Zin, Robert Mondavi 2001 Napa Valley Zinfandel to be precise.
I purchased the wine through the Mondavi Ensemble Club (http://procart.evocative.com/rmensemble/).
If you’re a member of the Rare Reds Club and order a case, the shipping
is free (as long as you have an abode in a state where it’s legal to ship
wine). Sometimes-a-Wino Sharon, my
wife, decided that the Mondavi was so yummy, it had to be our house wine.
So far in 2004, we have consumed three cases of the Mondavi and a fourth
case is on the way. This wine is
bold, but definitely ready to drink. Lest
you think that we are lightweights when comparisons are made to WB and WJ, I
think it’s fair to assume that we’ve consumed at least another two or three
cases of other wines. In fact, in
our household, I think it’s the year of the Zin.
There was a stretch in January where we had consumed 9 different bottles
of Zin during a 17 day period. Davis
Bynum, Ravenswood, Cline, and Ridge were among the different vintners whose
wares were consumed (note that I didn’t say sampled).
Of course, if you’re consuming between a bottle and a bottle and a half
of Zinfandel per night, you’re not exactly in a position to write a coherent
review. (Editor's
notes: 1) WinoBob consumes a bottle and a half before breakfast
and 2) as evidenced by WinoBob's updates, coherence is not a
requirement.) Lastly, I might add that if you’re
working on the Atkins Diet, red wine is only .9 carb grams per glass.
If you consume 0 carbs during the day, that means you can have 36 glasses
of red wine per night (yes, Wino Bob, that’s 36 glasses of red wine per night,
but you cannot have any pasta, white bread, or Cheetos). My godson
decided to apply early decision to an Ivy League school and was accepted in
December. That was the good news
(for him). For me, that meant I had
to go to all of the Duke basketball home games with other folks since I was
planning on taking him had he decided to attend my alma mater (oh, well, WJ.
The boy needs that independent streak!).
Southwest Airlines (www.iflyswa.com)
is my unheralded stock of the year.
While all the other airlines continue to think that businesses will pay
exorbitant fees and idiots will book tickets with them due to the illusion of
upgrading to first class and accumulating millions of miles, Southwest just
makes it easy to fly for a lot less money.
I booked all of my tickets in advance and flew to the games from BWI for
$98 round trip (plus various fees assessed under the current Federal system).
If I had to spend the night, I spent it at one of the five B&B’s
available at the following web site (http://www.innsofdurham.com/)
or at the Washington Duke Inn (a great place to have dinner and wine before the
game…jeez, I could only afford cheap wine when I was a student…so much for
capitalism and the ability to make $$$$$).
I gave away my tickets to the Duke/Georgia Tech game which was a good
thing since that was the only home game that the Blue Devils lost all year.
Now it’s tournament time and I need to find a companion to attend the
playoffs. If you want to stay up with the Blue Devils’ hoops team,
you need to list the DBR as your favorite link (http://www.dukebasketballreport.com/).
Too bad that I don’t have the godson who was going to attend my alma
mater. Guess I have to find a buddy
to attend the games with me. Just received
my Masters tickets in the mail. The
current plan is that the wife and I will head down to Augusta and attend with
Wino Mike and his wife, Wino L (name concealed to keep her identity safe within
the ------, Virginia School System. Wino
Mike doesn’t have season Panther tickets like WB, but he has parents who live
in North Augusta and they like to drink red wine as much as SAW Sharon, WB, WJ,
WM and WL. Got to love the idea of
combining wine drinking with sports (particularly when you only watch and
don’t have to play). Of all the
things that make attending the Masters particularly unique is the fact that
whatever you bring to the park in a cup, they pour into a green cup so that if
you miss the trash can, the TV will not show any trash since it’s all colored
green like the grass. The Masters
may have the best golf tournament website.
Check it out at http://www.masters.org/en_US/index.html.
(WJ, make sure we post the link on the front page again this year; for
our fans who have bookmarked our site. They can quickly link to the score
updates while they’re daydreaming at work).
I’m glad that the club president decided to bag the idea of forcing the
geezers out of the tournament (Go Arnold, number 50 in 2004! By the way, Arnold
is an honorary Wino due to his amazing golf career, drinking ability, and the
fact that his son-in-law went to Duke with me).
As far as current players go, I’ll root for TIGER but wish that Greg
Norman was eligible since he has the lifestyle of the winos that I look up to
(i.e., he owns a 360 foot yacht with a helicopter, he owns a vineyard, he makes
about $15 million a year, what more could a wino want!!!!!).
By the way, WJ, are you bringing your clubs to B-More when you visit next
month. April is a
particularly busy month. In
addition to the Masters (first week), WJ’s visit to the estate (second week),
my Duke roommate (Wino Ted) is visiting (week three), and I’m going to the New
Orleans Jazz Fest (week four). If
you’ve never been to New Orleans, you have to go.
I recommend Jazzfest as the number one time to go (http://www.nojazzfest.com/).
Check out the link for the schedule of events at this year’s fest.
I’ve been attending for ** years (ok, it’s 25, but who’s counting).
Mardi Gras would be the next best time, but the weather’s sometimes
sketchy and if you drink as much as Wino Bob, you could find yourself on the
other side of a police nightstick. For
info on next year’s Mardi Gras, go to http://www.mardigrasneworleans.com/.
Oh, by the way, WJ, don’t let my godson go to Mardi Gras until he’s
at least 22. Lastly, I
promise to update my golf links this year.
I’ve committed to cut back on the out-of-town assignments (cloak and
dagger type) and need to hone my game through the best way possible which is to
play at least 50 rounds of golf. I’m
headed to Ireland in the Fall and need to have the A game in order to keep up
the stamina for the pubs after each day’s complement of 36 holes. Winos, Golfers,
Partiers…..stay tuned for more diatribes and a few more frequent ramblings
than I’ve submitted lately. Wino Wally (Editor's note: Wally has just taken a commanding lead in the "My Life Is Better Than WinoJohn's" contest...) |