Pub Crawl #21 The Flying Saucer in Raleigh, North Carolina

Friday, October 26, 2007

Located in downtown Raleigh and close to the NC State campus, you can find an exceptional pub called The Flying Saucer.

Their beer menu is a four (4) page brochure that is packed with great choices.

Tonight the palate pleasers were: Dogfish Head 90 minute IPA, Flying Dog Old Scratch Steam Beer, Carolina Pale Ale, Foothills Double IPA, Highland Kashmire IPA, Cottonwood Low Down Brown, and a lovely Duck Rabbit Milk Stout. I took advantage of their Saucer Flights where you are given 5 different beers from 6 different categories or you can design your own flight. Great Idea.

Lindsay, our 'Beer Goddess" and did a great job of keeping our glasses filled.

The Magic Hat ladies are shown above and in their October attire they gladly gave out tee-shirts, bottle openers, candy, and etc.

I was pleased to be in the company of Terry Finch (host 'dad') and Jim Smith and Jim Smith. No I don't stuttttter, it was Jim Sr., visiting the grand-kids having driven from the Atlanta area) and Jim Jr. from the Jim and Sue team.

The food was ok but the appetizer of the night was the oh-so filling Bratwurst Queso.

To learn more about this pub, go to: http://www.beerknurd.com/

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Yes, I know, I added one of the pictures, twice. It was easier to keep it in than delete it. Now to the story. (short story) Sometimes it does pay to know people. Thanks to a variety of people and circumstances, I was offered a ticket to see the Hurricanes hockey game last night. They played the Buffalo Sabres and it was great. The first score happend about 10 seconds into the game, with the 'Canes' scoring first. Buffalo tied it up quickly and the game went to 2-2 until the final period, when the 'Canes' opened it up, big time, and finished the game 6-2. Exciting stuff. Thanks to Jim, from the Jim & Sue Smith team, for offering me the ticket and driving me to the game. Thanks to Terry, from the Terry & Sue Finch team, for declining the ticket before it was offered to me. Thanks to Niclas, from the Niclas and Louise Wallin team, for offering the tickets to Jim. If you didn't recognize the name, Niclas Wallin, he plays defense for the Hurricanes. I had the pleasure of meeting him and his family, from Sweden, last year when I was in the Raleigh area. Coupled with a wonderful Carolina Pale Ale .....a great night.

Sunday, October 21, 2007
Louisiana Shrimp Boil : 1 very large pot, potatoes, onions, garlic, cobs of corn, sausage, lemons, Old Bay, beverages, add some neighbors and good friends and you have a recipe for a great Sunday afternoon.
Fantastic! Highly recommend you try this at home! The one photo shows my new family …..Terry, Sue, and Sarah (and me) The adoption papers have been filed and I might soon be a fixture in the ‘room above the garage’. It’s going to be hard to leave next Sunday. The food, the fun, the friends, the family… why leave? The pictures say it better than words…..enjoy. (I did!)

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Apex, North Carolina. It's been a while since I've added to my Pub Crawl so I thought today was the day I did.

#20 is at the Longhorn Steakhouse and the brew of the day is Samuel Adams. After making several trips to this watering hole, I discovered that the 25 ounce glass tasted better than the 16 ounce. 2-3 trips per week later has confirmed this observation.

The bartender of the month goes to Jessica, shown in the picture above whose charm includes a true heavy Southern accent. She is friendly, outgoing, and loves to sing. Thanks! Jessi for making me feel welcome to North Carolina.

As the name implies, Longhorn, the place is naturally decorated with a Texan theme....a big longhorn cow head hangs behind the bar.

The food, which I finally learned that they serve food, was good. I had the Ceasar salad and french onion soup. Some of the unusual items on the menu include a Texas Tonion, Rockky Top Chicken, and Fried Cheesecake.

October 15, 2007
Today I will choose to be happy!

Thursday, October 11, 2007
So what do Gen. Colin Powell, Rick Belluzzo (former Microsoft President), Zig Zigler, Krish Dhanam, Roy Willlliams (head coach for NC Tar Heels), Phil Town (author of Rule #1) and Steve Forbes have in common….with me. On Thursday I was privileged to attend a Get Motivated seminar along with 9 other IBM workers, including Terry Finch and Jim Smith, Apex-ian friends. 16,000 people attended this all day event. All the speakers were great with Gen. Powell and Krish Dhanam being exceptional. The event was held in the RBC Center in Raleigh, where the Hurricanes play.

Saturday, October 6, 2007
7000 people gathered on a beautiful North Carolina day at the Historic Durham Athletic Park in downtown Durham to drink beer. It was the 12th Annual World Beer Festival and over 120 brewers were represented. I contributed 6 hours of labor that day, beginning at 10 am. Now I know what most of you are thinking, “how many of those 120 craft brews did you sample, JR?” or to make the numbers simpler, “how many didn’t you sample?” I can honestly say that I sampled none! None! I was a volunteer at this event, and was prohibited from sampling. Really! There were two sessions, the afternoon and evening, and I was the dude handing out the glasses at the front gate for the first session. Close to 3500 glasses and programs were distributed by ‘my’ team in the first 30 minutes. I then moved down to the tents and was a relief pourer for other volunteers. Later I assisted Jim Smith with the slop buckets.
While you’re still shaking your heads in disbelief, the event organizers had a ‘special’ celebration for all the volunteers a week later which included beer and food. So a free tee-shirt, sample glass, bottle opener, free beer and food, and the chance to meet many people.

Monday, October 01, 2007
It’s been 5 days since I left Wisconsin, driving to Apex, North Carolina. (near Raleigh, NC) 1100 miles later, I arrived safely in Apex, NC. A few observations from the trip: the problem with Wisconsin is Chicago traffic. I expected some slow traffic around Chicago, but not 30 miles north of it. I also noticed that the highest gas prices and worst roads were the toll roads in Illinois and West Virginia. That makes no sense.
On Wed. evening, 4pm, I arrived at my hotel, Baymont Hotel & Suites in Lexington, KY. I had called them on the road and was put on hold for 4-5 minutes. The clerk apologized and thanked me for my patience. (I don’t hear that often) She even gave me 10% off the room rate. CNBC, Bloomberg, Mad Money, and Fast Money along with free internet access were the amenities I most appreciated.
I found a cool restaurant that night, called Ted’s Montana Grill. I had the Bison Meatloaf, squash casserole, garlic mashed, and a pint of Anchor Steam. YUM!
The next day I found myself driving through the mountains just south of Charleston, West Virginia. Awesome! Especially around Paint Creek Road.
I rolled into Apex on Thursday, about 3:15pm and met my host family, the Finch’s. Terry, Sue, and Sarah, their teenage daughter, are great. They have a wonderful 3 story home, which I call the Finch B&B, that is huge and beautifully decorated. My room is a huge 20 x 20 room on the second floor and has a big L-shaped leather coach, TV/DVD with Dish and a DVR. A few pics are posted. They have two great dogs, Bella and Buddy. Buddy is shown in one of the pics relaxing on my bed. The room is also used for their Wall Street Basics (WSB) business and they have quite an impressive setup of 4 monitors to watch the market and aid in stock research. More pics of the Finch’s B&B in Apex will be posted later this month.
Saturday night was my first Wall Street Basics (WSB) class. Gary Williams, the instructor, holds the classes in an old Kmart that has been turned into a conference center. I estimated 400-500 attendees. Class started at 7pm and Gary finally quit speaking about 1am. Awesome!
I left that night/morning absolutely confident that I will learn to be a successful trader within the next few years.
I car-pooled with my friend Jim Smith and his son Keifer, age 14. This was class 1 of 5, with the remaining 4 classes held on the next 4 Saturdays.
Sunday I decided to attend church at Tree of Life Lutheran in Cary, NC. The service was a contemporary style, which was really refreshing and uplifting. The lessons and sermon were about ….. money. How appropriate was that. “All the treasures of the world can’t buy a spot in heaven.” And “Godliness with contentment is great gain”. After the service the pastor, Mike Geiger, and his wife Christy, asked me what class I was taking. “How to make Money!” was my reply. We all had a laugh over that one. The two big takeaways from the service were: 1) Learn how to be a better steward of the His blessings, and 2) take care of you spiritual portfolio, first.
The afternoon was filled with brewing beer over at Jim & Sue’s house. A few pics are posted. A wonderful stout was on the agenda and 6 hours later, was produced.