Almost 2 years ago, over the course of a particular 4 hour period, I achieved Nirvana. Many since have heard me retell this experience and I know there’s a particular someone who doesn’t really appreciate it when I call it the greatest day of my life. That event was the Hops beer tasting and I have been waiting for it to come back ever since. However, September 2008 came and went and I never heard anything about the return of Hops. Then about 3 months ago on a beer run to Lee’s, I saw a flyer for the 3rd Annual Lee’s Beer Experience. It was to be on May 30th, 2009 at the Hilton and although I was scared that it could never live up to it’s Hops brethren, we were gonna give it a shot.

Well I’m here to say, the 3rd Annual Lee’s Beer Experience did not disappoint. It was exactly like Hops, perhaps because I think Lee’s had their hand in Hops to begin with, but on a larger scale. The thing was huge which is actually my main complaint about the event. There were just so many people there, you couldn’t move. It was difficult to get to the tables to taste the beers and it was almost impossible to get any food when they brought it out to one of the 4 food stations. People literally ran to the stations and if you weren’t waiting at the station, you had no chance to get anything to eat. I swear fights almost broke out for sandwiches.

Anyway, you can most certainly expect me at the 4th annual experience. Despite the amount of people there and the scarcity of food, the amount of beer was the reason you go to a beer festival. The beer was top notch and this year there was a major plus over the Hops festival. They realized the only thing better than getting served an abundance of cold beer is getting served a cold beer by smoking hot chicks in really tight shirts and short skirts. It was like a damn Mensa meeting in that place with the amount of brains these women had. They were all REAL smart. Regardless, this beer experience was good but not quite great. If they could somehow figure out how to fix the issues I discussed above, it may be able to reach greatness status. Despite everything though I still can’t wait for next year’s Experience.

I’m currently watching: Cold Case

This new LeBron/Kobe MVPuppets Nike commercial is hilarious. All of these MVPuppets commercials have been great but I feel like posting this one so enjoy.

http://www.nike.com/nikeos/global/modules/video/v1/swf/video_player_v2_0.swf?regionConfig=http://www.nike.com/nikeos/global/modules/video/v1/xml/reg/reg_config_en_US.xml&siteConfig=http://www.nike.com/g1/global/xml/videoSiteConfig.xml&locale=en_US&guid=cb10f5ed-8c9e-8044-9c05-fe3414067d11_id1255&isEmbed=true

I’m currently watching: NBA Shootaround

An article came out today regarding Baseball Mired in a Mysterious Ratings Slump. Perhaps TV attendance is down because you’re showing nothing but crappy games all the time. Stop showing teams just because they’re winning at the moment. And no one cares about this worthless NL Central division that we always hear so much about. They’re boring. Even that Cardinals team that won a few years back sucked to watch. Stop showing NL Central games all the time. Apparently no one cares. That just might go for both Central divisions for that matter. No one cares about the heart of America. Those people don’t even care.

And we don’t need to see every single Mets and Red Sox game. They’re on all the time. Show teams with star power but don’t go overboard. I’m not a Yankees fan but they have a whole team of names that draw people… Arods, CCs, Jeters. I would watch them on TV even if they weren’t playing the Red Sox. They’re almost never on as much as they probably should be. No one wants to see the studs on the Brewers no matter how good they are. People want to see the champs. However only show the Phillies at night because they don’t seem to like to show up on nationally televised day games.

Personally I want to see the Lincecums of the league; not the feel good story pitchers, battling poverty and drug addiction, who at the moment are pitching over their heads. I’m guessing viewers probably stopped even looking to see what was on because they just naturally assumed it’s some Roy Oswalt/who ever’s the ace of the Pirates these days. I started writing this before I turned on the TV but guess who’s on? Cardinals at Brewers. Man, I just love that Wainwright/Suppan match-up. Click.

And maybe, just maybe, get rid of bums Joe Buck and Tim McCarver. Don’t put them in more stuff. Get rid of them altogether. How on Earth did they become baseball announcers? Because they like baseball? Well I like baseball. That doesn’t mean you should make me an announcer. I’m a mean person… Nevermind, I bet I’d have more fans than those 2 bums have. I would just hope not to have something like a I Hate Joe Buck Facebook group about me.

I’m currently watching: Family Guy

http://youtube.com/v/dEaL8HqufFI&fmt=18&eurl=http://www.terententen.com

I know it’s already all over the internet but I caught the commercial for the new Punch Out for Wii on TV tonight and it’s greatness. Sure I sucked real bad at Mike Tyson’s Punch Out growing up and I’ll probably be miserable at this game but man oh man it’s a hell of a teaser. Makes me actually want to buy the game.

I’m currently watching: How I Met Your Mother

So I’ve been thinking a lot about traveling lately. A lot. Maybe it’s cause it’s almost summertime or maybe it’s because I’m 27 and I already want to retire and just go places. Tonight I booked my trip to San Francisco in July for the Phillies series. Traveling is expensive. Next up will be the trip to San Diego in October for the Eagles game. Those 2 trips are happening. Can’t wait. I’m also tinkering with a few other trips that have been festering in the back of my mind. I definitely want to go to both of these places before I inevitably move away from the west coast.

1… Seattle. Unfortunately it’s gonna be hard to get an inter-league series with the Phillies and the Eagles were just in Seattle last year but I really want to go to Safeco and I’d be thrilled to just to see Griffey play a ballgame in the city that I grew up loving him in.

2… Hawaii. I’ve wanted to go back since the moment I left. I always heard Hawaii did that to you and it sure did. Only thing I don’t know is if I want to go back to Kauai or if I want to go to Maui this time. I’m leaning towards Maui at the moment. Sure another week in Hawaii would be costly but you only live once, right? Am I too young to be saying that?

I don’t think anything else on the west coast really intrigues me. Any ideas? And don’t say Walla Walla, Keokuk or Kookamunga.

I’m currently watching: Hell’s Kitchen