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This is really the greatest time of year… warm-ish days, chilly nights.
I think the thing I miss most during late-Fall and Winter is the shortage of wine festivals (and beer festivals too)… at least the outdoor type. I know there are indoor events and tastings, but most of those don’t excite me that much… although I’m more than happy to go LOL.
I managed to make it to the VA Wine Festival again this year, and that’s always a great time… there is something about an early fall day in the sunshine, sampling wine with friends and just relaxing, that being indoors doesn’t bring. Unfortunately, circumstance and timing made me miss several of my favorites… Linganore’s monthly festivals from May to October are always mellow, fun times, even if the wine sampling is limited to their own varieties. It’s the perfect place to hang out with friends a picnic lunch and a few bottles of wine. I also missed Wine In The Woods @ Merriweather… It’s in Symphony Woods which might possibly be the perfect outdoor wine festival venue. Again, a great environment, incredible food and of course the best Maryland Wines too.
We’re lucky that there’s a local winery right here in town too… Frederick Cellars on East Street is great. I did a broadcast there last Friday and had a chance to spend time with Charlie and Emily and their staff… great people and really good wine too!
This lamenting of the end of the outdoor wine festival season brings me to my greater point… Should you be looking for the perfect gift for me… (hint hint hint) might I suggest:
- Kluge Estate Winery (Charlottesville, VA) : Cru (Aged in Jack Daniels Barrels… SO GOOD!)
- Linganore Winecellars: Maryland Sangria (Great anytime, but especially in summer, with fresh citrus!) and to take the winter chill off… a mug of warmed Spiced Apple is perfect.
- Frederick Cellars: Reisling, Trail’s End, City Lights (also a great wine gift shop and yummy bistro menu too!)
So there you go… I started out to kinda gripe about the change of the seasons and we ended up with a small shopping list and a not so subtle hint for some good Christmas gifts for me. 
Dear Constant Irritant:
I’d really enjoy it if you would stop being a whiny, sniveling irritant. You see, if you avoid this, then you have more time to accomplish your goals. When you are being whiny and snivelingly irritating, you’re being counterproductive when it comes to accomplishing your goals without needing others to back you up. I’m sure you can understand why I find that to be “constantly irritating,” my Constant Irritant.
For you see, I have my own goals to accomplish, and whenever I have to stop because you’re causing me irritation by worrying about things about which you shouldn’t have any concern, not only can’t I accomplish my goals, I lose time… of which I think you can agree, there is far too little as it is.
So, in closing, please stop being irritating. Life would be much simpler for us all, and you’d be a happier person if you just focused on your purpose and not on creating drama needlessly. (Of course I’d be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge that you might not even be aware that you’re creating needless drama, but I’m pretty sure you know exactly what you’re doing.)
I appreciate your attention.
–Marc
Life, Radio… have a question…
What should I call it?
I typically use names of brands of soda, specifically grape sodas (shocking, I know!)… in it’s life as a sad, pathetic VISTA powered machine, it was called FAYGO… (Goes with my Mac MINI named “Nehi” and my Macbook named “Fanta” and the Powerbook named “Shasta”…)
Suggestions? You can comment below, or via Twitter, if you want.
Geek, Random… I don’t want to hear anyone complain when my radio station starts playing non-stop Christmas music around Thanksgiving…. I don’t want to get the annual series of abusive emails from listeners…. because:
KROGER Supermarkets have already started playing Christmas music! Target has Halloween decorations up AND Christmas cards, decorations and more surrounding the Halloween area…. Oh.. and rumors have it that some Hallmark Stores have been playing Christmas music since July.
So, in November, when you think about emailing or calling your favorite radio station to abuse the DJ for doing his job and playing non-stop Christmas music, remember that WE don’t do this in September… or July… and remember that the person at the other end of the phone or email is a person.
Life, Radio
Ok so… I was reading SFWeekly.com… my jaw hit the floor…. I mean really… HOW f!king STUPID CAN YOU BE!? For the love of all that is good and holy… You’re suing Kellogg’s because you thought it contained FRUIT? Holy f!king CRAP… it’s not even spelled “fruit” you f!king TWIT!
According to disgruntled consumer Roy Werbel, however, Sam’s olfactory quest misleads consumers into mistaking junk food for naturally grown produce. Werbel recently filed a lawsuit in San Francisco federal court alleging that he bought and ate boxes of Froot Loops based on his mistaken belief the cereal contained fruit.
I can’t do it justice… click on over to read the full story… ‘Froot’ Is Not Fruit, San Francisco Lawsuit Alleges – San Francisco News – The Snitch.
Stupid People NewsI just spent a week doing live broadcasts from the Great Frederick Fair. I had lots of fun people-watching throughout the week, enjoying fair food, trying to get my on-site producer to go get yardsticks for me, suffering the smell of chickens and wondering at the variety of things which could be deep-fried…. and here are some things I observed:
1) There are far too many people who are dentally challenged. I think the worst was an entire family of people who had some sort of tooth issue. Seriously… we’re talking mother, father, grandparents and 5 kids! Some were missing many teeth… some just had unusually configured teeth. Either way it was kinda scary.
2) There were far too many mullets for the year 2009. Just sayin’. Including an entire family of mullets…(and not the same as the family mentioned above, although the mullets were well-represented there too.)
3) We had a great spot for our booths this year, along one of the main walking paths through the fairgrounds and we were surrounded by some really great local vendors. The big drawback was being located across from the Rabbit and Poultry building. On the couple of humid days we experienced, the smell was UNBEARABLE. 
4) I think the food and the smell of the food was by far my favorite thing at the fair and the wonder and variety of fair food never ceases to amaze me. I had so much good stuff, from hot dogs and cheeseburgers, to BBQ Pit Roast Beef, for lunch and dinner. Plus french fries, onion rings, and the like… and that only touches the tip of the deep-fried iceberg…
5) …which may be the ONLY thing you can’t get deep-fried at the Great Frederick Fair… have you ever noticed the sheer number of deep-fried food items? Funnel cakes, elephant ears, of course… those are the standards… but then there are Oreos, Twinkies, pickles… all of which I’ve known about… but the new one for me was the DEEP-FRIED CORN ON THE COB! None of it is good for you, so it’s a good thing that calories don’t count for the Fair is like Christmas… it’s a holiday.
In case you didn’t make it out, here’s a little audio and picture of what you missed on Friday, which is traditionally “Kid’s Day” at the Great Frederick Fair:
All things considered, it is such a definitive part of life in Frederick County and while it was a week of hard work, that at times was painfully tedious, I look forward to next year!
Our systems at work aren’t working properly so I can’t get any work done! So… here we go… the 10 absolutely WORST songs ever created… according to ME… because everyone is entitled to my opinion!
10) Cher – Believe — please… stop! And could she have even done the song without the auto-tune? And didn’t she record this before her 92nd “Farewell Tour?”
9) David Soul – Don’t Give Up On Us — sweet merciful crap this is awful! Words can’t express!
Culture Club – Do You Really Want To Hurt Me? — yes. yes I do. The song opens with “Popularity Breeds Contempt” and that much is certain.
7) Bryan Adams – Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman? — Bryan… baby… JUST ROCK! For the love of all that is good and holy…
6) WHAM! – Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go — Didn’t he get arrested for “going solo” in a restroom? Just sayin’!
5) ANYTHING by Creed — Like… “My Own Prison” or the intolerable tripe… “With Arms Wide Open” … truly the clincher for suck… the heartbeats at the beginning??? REALLY please… just…. SHUT… UP!
4) Billy Ray Cyrus – Achy Breaky Heart — OH MY GOD! This song still makes me cringe. At the height of its popularity the radio station I worked for was playing it every 70 minutes. Which means I got to hear it 3 times every day! I wanted to kill myself!
3) Europe – The Final Countdown — big hair, cheezy synthetic rock. Dear God… play some actual instruments dudes! Utter CRAP!
2) Spice Girls – Wannabe — Like “Achy Breaky Heart” above, at one point I was playing this song 4 times during a 5 hour shift. I didn’t need to kill myself because my soul died. And the “footsteps” at the beginning of the song? REALLY… what happened? Were you late to the session? UGH!
1) Ricky Martin – She Bangs — please make her stop doing that. And while you’re at it, Ricky… you stop too. Just stop.
So there you have it. Yes, I know you probably disagree… so post your own list.
UPDATE: Had to re-do all the links because blip.fm wouldn’t load. Converted to imeem.com.
UPDATE II: Had to re-do all the links AGAIN because imeem makes you register to listen. Stupid imeem. Trying song.ly now.
, a fancy photo sharing thing.
…in the last couple of weeks. I’ve made a concerted effort to keep my living space clean, make my bed and generally maintain a neat living environment…. and I bought a nice bed/comforter set!
What have I become??
It seemed pretty reasonable when I was buying the stuff the other day. But then to see it on the actually made bed… Too strange!
Well, at least my mother will be pleased, she’s been trying to get me to make my bed for almost 39 years!
(As a bonus, this picture includes Gizmo preparing to clean his personal area, whilst Frank observes, and presumably points out spots which need extra attention.)
Animals, Fabulous, Life… seriously…. From Billie Jean to The Power Rangers Theme Song… WAY cool!
Apparently there is another video of 66! songs in 16 minutes.
VOTD- What about this smash from 1989… you had it on a mix tape… didn’t you? ♫ http://blip.fm/~21eq6 #
- But none was as embarassing as THIS… ♫ http://blip.fm/~21emz #
- The year I graduated wasn’t lacking in unfortunate music. Probably didn’t want your buddies to catch this on y… ♫ http://blip.fm/~21elu #
- Ah yes… the definitive party song of 1989 (Do you agree?) ♫ http://blip.fm/~21eg5 #
- Remember slow dancing to this one in 1989? ♫ http://blip.fm/~21e9k #
- no list is complete without this one…. ♫ http://blip.fm/~21e6z #
- Remember this one from 1989. She had a ton of great songs… but this one was the one hit! ♫ http://blip.fm/~21e4y #
- So… here’s a bunch of the hits from 1989! ♫ http://blip.fm/~21e2r #
- While Facebooking a bunch of people I graduated with, it suddenly dawned on me that 20 years ago I was a senior… ♫ http://blip.fm/~21e0r #
