HBD DM

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

Yer old. Again.

[Drunk Monk]

Guinness makes Whiskey

The team at Diageo, the company behind Guinness, has been taking a break from downing pints at the pub to focus on making Roe & Co, a blended whiskey that will debut next week, just in time for St. Paddy's Day. Master blender Caroline Martin spent two years sampling, blending and aging Irish whiskeys in bourbon casks to find the right balance, which, according to the company, has a creamy nose with "notes of soft spice and mellow spun sugar along with warm hints of woody vanilla."

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While limited bottles will be available in select European markets starting next week, large-scale production won't start until early 2019, VinePair notes. When it does, the whiskey will be made at a new distillery on the site of an old Guinness plant in Dublin, which was a longtime neighbor of Ireland's one-time largest whiskey producer, George Roe, the namesake of the new brand.
No word yet on when the bottles might make it to the U.S., but for those visiting Europe, we're sure a bottle would fit nicely into your suitcase.

Woah - it's 2019. Where's that Guinness Whiskey?

Well, it was the worst birthday ever.  EVER.  

The day was spent seeing to my mom's medical needs:
http://www.brotherhoodofdoom.com/doomFor...p?tid=4836

Still a bit sore from moving furniture this week:
http://www.brotherhoodofdoom.com/doomFor...p?tid=4847

It wasn't until after sundown until I could grab a moment and celebrate by myself.  My mom fell asleep.  She's in so much pain and so heavily medicated that she only acknowledged my birthday twice - once when we were filling out a form, and once when I shared some sugar-free cookies that Stacy gave me yesterday for today.  I don't blame her for that - my mom is the only person alive that was there when I was born.

Tara called. We had a great chat for about an hour. She's studying the Last Emperor period of China, a topic I know a lot about because it was so pivotal for Kung Fu.  She's watching Shaolin Soccer tonight, turning one of her besties on to it (the one who is a fan of my TV show), in my honor.  

Then I watched ST: TNG: S5E3 'Ensign Ro' I hung out with her (Michelle Forbes) for about a week in '99. She was a pupil of Shi Yanming, who hosted me for a week in Manhattan, to produce two cover stories (one for our mag and one for IKF - this was back when I was freelance).  It was a great gig.  I also hung out with Rosy Perez, and later met RZA through him.  But I remembered Michelle from the ST, and she was totally cool (and hot when she didn't have that Bajoran prosthetic).  We had several dinners, drinks, and even went to the NY MoMa together, which was super fun. When we parted, she said she was sure we'd meet again, but we never did.  I saw her in Mockingjay and it took me two viewings until I realized who she was. 
http://www.brotherhoodofdoom.com/doomFor...5#pid22575
Reflecting on seeing this episode again on my birthday made me feel fortunate that my craft has got me into such surreal situations. I remember admiring Dali's Persistence of Memory with Ensign Ro in awe.  Live long and prosper.

[Greg]

I've had the first verse or simply a verse to this song stuck in my head since I heard it over the PA at Monta Vista. Today I used the miracle of Google and found out plenty more verses. (My verse was 'noxious gases fill the air/people dying everywhere'. )

Have a great day before the covid-19 strikes you!

Happy Birthday! Happy Birthday!
Now you've aged another year
Now you know that Death is near
But, Happy Birthday! Happy Birthday!


Happy Birthday! Happy Birthday!
Children dying far and near
They say that cancer's caused by beer
But, Happy Birthday! Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday! Happy Birthday!
Death, destruction, and despair
People dying everywhere
But, Happy Birthday! Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday! Happy Birthday!
Typhoid, plague and polio
Coffins lined up in a row
But, Happy Birthday! Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday! Happy Birthday!
Now that you're the age you are
Your demise cannot be far
But, Happy Birthday! Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday! Happy Birthday!
Black Death has just struck your town
You yourself feel quite run-down
But, Happy Birthday! Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday! Happy Birthday!
Birthdays come but once a year
Marking time as Death draws near
Happy Birthday! Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday! Happy Birthday!
Long ago your hair turned grey
Now it's falling out, they say
But, Happy Birthday! Happy Birthday!

[cranefly]

Greg FTW.

At risk of sounding derivative, Happy birthday no matter what.

[King Bob]

I second that! Or is that third? Anyway happy birthday!

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

Happy Overrated Cosmic Accident!

[Drunk Monk]

Thanks brothers.

It was a lovely day. I took the day off as did Stacy.  We got breakfast at 11th hour.  Good coffee & avocado toast, plus salmon because it was my birthday.

Stacy and I went up to the Asian Art to see Awaken - a Tibetan Buddhist exhibit that was inspiring, although half of it was from the permanent collection, which I know very well already, and stumbled upon Chang Dai-Chien's painting exhibit, which was stunning.  We got free tix because when you sign up for the Santa Cruz library, you get a lot of free museum passes, but it was stressful because all the parking lots were closed so there was about a half hour of sf parking quest.

Then we walked up Market to Chinatown, which is a ghost town now. Covid-19 has chased all the tourists away.  Shops are shuttered.  I've never seen it so empty.  We got lunch at House of Nanking which was about a third full, when typically there's a line at lunch time.  I fear for the fate of Chinatown.

After that, we made it for the Walt Disney Family Museum - first time either of us visited and it was wonderful.  What a saga Walt's life was.  Again inspiring.  Some really cool original art and Stacy bought me Disney & Dali, the 2015 exhibit book that I'm now kicking myself for missing.  We were there at closing and the cafe gave me a leftover gluten-free carrot & pineapple muffin, which was tasty.

We drove back, stopping at Ocean Beach for the sunset.  Had dinner at Pacific Thai on the mall and bumped into one of Tara's old classmates from Penn elementary.  We knew she was at UCSC but this was the first time we crossed paths.  She was with her cute bf and has grown into a lovely woman.  

My family gave me a surface pro.  I'm charging it now, sipping some Teeling's, and thinking about catching up on all the hbd wishes I got over the day.  

Much better than last year.  

Have a great day before the covid-19 strikes you!

Too late. It's already struck hard.  My company is on the front lines.  

We get almost all our merch from PRC (some from Vietnam now too).  It's been catastrophic.  All of PRC shuts down for Chinese New Year, so we order ahead to buffer against their downtime like every company that imports from PRC.  But our container was detained due to the high alert.  This delayed our subscription fulfillment, and this issue had a premium, so that really hurt.  Fortunately, our subscribers have been very understanding, but I've been fielding complaints, well queries really, all week.  And now the factories aren't starting up.  The real impact is hitting now.  This is on top of the trade war inflation.  It's bad.  Very very bad.  Not bankruptcy bad, but some serious loin girding bad.

[Drunk Monk]

And now it's leap day.  I slept for a few hours, processing that Teelings, then popped awake.  I went through and liked the 300+ fb hbd wishes (some were even from people I know), caught up on mssgs, texts, etc.  And now my brain is, as the song goes, squirmin like a toad.  

In more COVID-19 news (maybe this needs its own thread) I just got messaged by one of the Berkeley Chinese Martial Arts Tournament organizers.  The event was scheduled in two weeks and they just decided to cancel.  CMAT is one of the longest-standing Chinese tournaments in the nation.  I competed in it back in the day.  Maybe the cfs did too?

[thatguy]

Belated b-day wishes, DM!

—tg

[Drunk Monk]

Thx

Y’all see what Lady Gaga gave me? It’s like she wrote it just to me. And I didn’t get her anything...

[Greg]

Trona Pinnacles. Site of the crashed space ship in Marky Mark's Planet of the Apes.

[Drunk Monk]

Trona Pinnacles. Site of the crashed space ship in Marky Mark's Planet of the Apes.

had to look that up.  cool.  ever been?

[Greg]

Yep. Went out to reassemble the ship for some reshoots. The reshoots were cancelled after 1 day and we were sent home.

[Drunk Monk]

[Greg]

A gif? Nice try.