Beer, Cigars, and Billiards.

First off, David, over where the water in the commode swirls the other way 'round, wants us too answer this question... "Have you ever broken a New Years resolution?"

Sheeeeeiiiitttt! you mean, have I ever NOT broken one? I don't even do those any more. Just try to be a stand-up guy and mind my own business. Things are easier that way.

Now, back to the subject at hand.

Our recent trip to Wisconsin started with a stopover in Memphis. We found ourselves sittin' in the airport at the Sun Studios Cafe and sippin' a few cool brews between flights. It was a nice place. Great feel to it. We weren't there long enough to sample the food, but I put away a few tall Sam Adams Lagers. Tall ones off the tap. Standards, you know.

Denise pulled her usual gaff. Foreigners! She always orders a "Lager Shandy" when we go somewhere and then has to explain to the waitress what the hell it is. As you may recall, half draft beer and half 7-UP. They always give her a funny look, and then I always give her shit and we have a good laugh over it.

This time the bar tender actually came over after the drinks had been served and wanted to know who the hell it was that ordered such an atrocious sounding concoction. We all laughed and relaxed, both finished off two tall drinks, and left when the time came to get to our gate.

Turns out the only beer she likes to drink straight, without some sort of soda in it is the Yuengling that I brought home from Pennsylvania last year. Thing is, I've only got 7 of those left out of that case and I can't get any more for a good while, so I keep the fridge filled with Shiner, Corona and assorted other things, so she leaves my special stash alone. It's worked so far, but she's been askin' for it lately. I may be in trouble.

Anyway, if you're ever in the Memphis airport with time to spare, check this place out.

When I got to Wisconsin and got to the Hazlett home I found a new taste waiting for me. On the left there is a bottle of Leinenkugel's. They had a case of the stuff at the house, of the Sunset Wheat, and I learned to enjoy the flavor. Tried the Honey Weiss and a few other versions as well. One, the Cherry Weiss, was about the worst tasting crap I've ever encountered. Beware that stuff. Danger Will Robinson. It was new and sounded interesting. You know, when in Rome... Otherwise I enjoyed the rest of it.

The other beer there is a Hacker-Pschorr Hefeweizen. Good stuff. Both of these were available at the pool hall we frequented, and I got to sample each to my hearts desire. There was also a LOT of Stella Artois goin' down during that week. It's Martin's drink of choice. And at one point Denise went out to a grocery store and got me a six-pack of Amber Bock, which I enjoy very much off the tap, but I'm only middling fond of in a bottle.

Damn, sounds like we did a lot of drinkin' don't it? Well...



We also shot some pool and smoked a few cigars. I brought a stash of stogies with me and even shared a few with young Jason here, who turned out to be another budding aficionado. We found that we got along quite well, especially with a beer in one hand an a stogie in the other. I smoked while Martin gave the young lad some schoolin' in the gentle art of "pocket billiards".

Back to cigars. That's a CAO Gold Perfecto in that shot above. Quite a nice little smoke. I had some Macs and a few other things with me, but I didn't really have a chance to smoke unless we went to the local pool hall. There were no other smokers in the house till later, so I had to go out in the garage or the yard with the dogs quite often. I'm not hooked or anything. No monkeys on this back. It's just fun. Don't look at me like that.



The hall we went to was a nice little place close to the house called Boomer's Billiards, on Durand Avenue in Sturtevant. Check it out if you're ever in the area. They had the BIG tables, bigger than the ones I'm used to playing on. Martin is a shark, used to playing Snooker in a league back in Yorkshire. He showed me how to play Nine Ball, and I enjoyed the hell out of it. We hit it off last year when he and his wife's parents came to visit Denise in Killeen. We played a lot of pool then and developed a rapport. That only continued in Wisconsin. After playing all week on that big table, going back to the smaller ones felt weird as hell.



Every once and a while the girls would come along and watch us play. They'd be out Christmas or grocery shopping, or just want to get out of the house. We'd all drink cold brew, eat free popcorn and give each other hell for the occasional missed shots. It was a lot of fun.



The last time we went, Martin got into a game with a guy who had impressed all of us on the other evenings when we'd seen him play. Martin was lookin' forward to a challenging game, and he got it. It was close, but the guy won two games to one. I wanted to get a shot of his t-shirt, but none came out. It said "Stupidity is not illegal, you may go". That kills me.

Well, the last holiday post is coming up. It's about the family and Christmas. I think you'll like it. Cheers.