Huge thanks to John, Josh, and Evan. The Belgian beer tasting was great! A rep from Legend Brewing Company in Richmond doled out at least 6 different samples from a Belgian brewery, Bavik. I stayed after for a pint of Bell’s, one of my favorites. (See the draft beer menu for what’s rotating now.)
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Last week, I checked out Guitar Hero night at Fellini’s #9. Here’s how it stacked up to my expectations…
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I stopped in at Crush last night hoping to find a reasonably priced bottle of something unusual, and I left a half hour and a half glass of wine later, with a bottle of a particularly “well-structured” malbec for $12.99. (I’m not opening it until later.)
I drink wine often enough to know what I’m tasting, but I’d definitely flunk a blind tasting. (Oh by the way, we did a blind tasting of 10, 15, and 18 year Glenmorangie scotch before I did the cinnamon trick during the Christmas vacation… flunked…) I walked around while a much more knowledgeable customer checked out and realized I recognized not a single bottle on the shelves. It was exciting and terrifying, because I wanted to get something I couldn’t find at Harris Teeter but I still felt like I had no business being there. After asking Gregg about the malbecs, I asked if I could taste whatever he had around. I would do that! »Read More
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These could be isolated incidents, so I’m reluctant to post. But I figured that there might be other Cvillains out there who keep having this happen to them, too. So I want to know.
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I did a “boomerang” from Austin to Charlottesville a year ago, and I had to go back for the Austin City Limits Music Festival. Believe the hype.
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If Upstart and Butterfly can do it, so can I! I’m new. Hey. What’s up.
I’m giving a high-five (because that’s how I roll) to Skydive Orange! I made my first jump last weekend, and I loved it. L-oved it.
I gave the gift of gravity to my dad for his birthday. We’ve talked about skydiving for more than five years, and while I could have taken that as a cue to drop the whole thing, instead, I opted to get dropped from an airplane at 4,000 feet with the guy. He did give me life, and together, we could just as easily end it. How’s that for father-daughter bonding? (It’s actually safer to jump than to drive home, but whatev, still scary as $#%&.)
At his request, we did static line instead of tandem. In tandem, you’re being spooned by an instructor the whole way down. Static line is a little more expensive, and it requires similar (but not as extensive) training to freefall. Basically, your parachute is attached to the plane via a static nylon line. You jump, you arch, you pray, it pulls. Poof. It sounds easy, until you spent six hours learning what to do if it doesn’t pull.
As for the actual “jump,” I completely sissied, and the airplane had to do a 360 to get me back to my jump point for my flight path or whatever. (I wasn’t paying attention.) (Just kidding!) My dad had already gone, just a little parachuted speck below me, and I was shaking. My instructor, barefoot, was completely cool and reassuring about it, as were the 15 experienced jumpers behind him waiting to get up to 15,000 feet for a real dive. And then… I jumped.
(It was awesome!!!!!)*
In spite of 100+ heat and a long day of training (and a hangover), Skydive Orange was an enjoyable first experience because of the community of regular skydivers who spend their Saturdays going up and down. The Army’s Golden Knights team was there, too, and they were hilarious. I felt confident in the equipment I was using and the training I was being given. Also, I’d already paid and told all my friends I was going to do it, so I pretty much had to. I’d recommend it to anyone. It’s not like I’ve been anywhere else, but I would do it again. (Ask for Lambert!)
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* Five exclamation point awesome. Thank you, C, for lending me footnotes.
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