30 by 30: Yard House

If you've never heard of Yard House, first of all shame on you.  Second, I won't judge because some people just aren't beer drinkers.

But if you are a beer drinker, Yard House is like beer drinker heaven.  I'm saying this with no incentive at all from Yard House.  They wouldn't have to pay me for me to talk about their beer selection.

As a self-proclaimed beer snob, I love the selection and the fact that I could go every day for a different beer and not have the same beer until halfway through the year.  That isn't hyperbole.  They have over 100 beers on tap and introduce new beers on a monthly basis.  So when I put a goal of trying every on tap beer that Yard House offers, it was quite the undertaking.

The first problem: I know which beers I like and really want to drink every time I go in.  So I'm faced with the dilemma of trying completely new beers every time I go or adding a beer or two to the one I was already planning on drinking.  This is obviously a good problem to have.  Like a baseball manager with too many good hitters.  I just played it by ear every time I've gone in.

The second problem: How do I keep track of every beer I've tasted and know when new beers come into their rotation?  This one started with me just writing down beers as I've tried them.  When Erin and I swung in on our anniversary, we learned there is a Yard House app.  Said app allows you to track and rate every beer you've tried.  This was a revelation.

Needless to say I couldn't wait to transfer my list to the app

I'm nowhere near finished trying every beer, and I'm may never be finished with their rotating featured beers.  This goal was more about getting out of my comfort zone and trying something simply because I hadn't.  I think I know exactly what I like, but I wouldn't know for sure until I've tried it all.  Erin is certainly helping.  She's planned a beer-themed party for my birthday.  That could help close some of the gap.

STATUS: INCOMPLETE (FOR NOW)

Daddy Daughter Days

I love my days with the girls.  I actually start getting excited about them the night before.  I check what the temperature will be before bed time (HOT).  I make a plan for how we'll spend the day.  I think about what I'll make for breakfast the next morning (FRENCH TOAST!).  I just love Thursdays so much.

Anyways I'll let the pictures do most of the talking.

Grace pulled some books down from the shelf.  These are a little advanced for her right now.  But I'm sure she'll love the work of Madeleine L'Engle in few years.

Because of the aforementioned hot temperatures, we went to the park almost immediately.  What better time to enjoy the slides than before they've been roasting in the sun all day?  The girls walked right past the little kids jungle gym and went right to the big kids one.  "Jeez dad, we're a lot bigger than you think."

I climbed to the top of the highest slide to take this picture.  The entire time Ana yelled "UP!"  I felt bad to leave her down there.

Grace through the jungle gym floor.

Grace really is fearless.  She just goes right to the slide and lets go.  She loves it.

Ana on the other hand is not so fearless.  She did stand on the slide, but going down it is another story.

We hit up the swings before heading back to the house for a morning snack.  To answer the question you're asking in your head: Yes, her hair is always that wild.

We had a visitor yesterday too.  He's a Dodger fan that had to get rid of these Blue Moon Giants pint glasses that he got from his bar.  He figured that they really needed to get out of his house after the Matt Cain perfect game.  Two of those glasses will be on the way to Becoming Supermommy.

Grace has some meaningful conversations with the pink ducky during bathtime.

Finally I leave you with a video of Ana.  Enjoy.

"Monkey!  OOH-OOH!  EE-EE!"

That's all for this week.  I hope everyone has a great weekend.  Happy Fathers Day to all the dads and soon-to-be dads out there.

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner (with Beer)

So today is the big day of my 200th Post Giveaway.  I'm sure you've all been waiting by your computers with bated breath all day wondering when I'd post this little bit of loveliness.

Well we went to the zoo with the girls.  That was followed with Grace screaming for joy repeatedly while we were eating lunch at BJ's.  Then we decided to get down and dirty with some yard work this afternoon.  Finally we went to a friend's house for dinner and dipping our feet in the pool.

I honestly didn't even think of this until I walked past the laptop and remembered I had to give something away.

So to let you know how this little exercise worked.  I assigned a number to every entry.  1-43 for all my public followers/minions.  The first number assigned to my earliest followers all the way through my 43rd follower.  Then 44-55 were assigned to the people that left comments on my 200th post.  The 56th entry was given to Janelle because one of the commenters name-dropped her and her blog.

After that I went to random.org and clicked their handy-dandy random number generator and it spit out 24 as you can see below

True Random Number Generator
Min:
Max:
Result:24
Powered by RANDOM.ORG

The number 24 was assigned to the one and only Becoming Supermommy!

I know you can't enjoy a beer or adult beverage just yet what with you being pregnant and all, but you can take a trip to BevMo on me as soon as you're able.  I'll reach out to you to get your contact info for shipping your prize.

Thanks again to all that entered.  For all those new readers, I hope you've enjoyed what you've read.  For all the loyal readers that follow me even when I'm not giving crap away, thanks for tolerating me.  Have a great week everyone!

Twitter Machine Tuesday

So I was planning on this post being the cutoff for entry into my 200th Post Contest.  "What contest?" you ask.  Why it's the contest where I'm giving away pint glasses and a BevMo gift card to fill said glasses.  It's funny because I've had a ton of page views on my 200th post, but only a handful of people are actually entering to win.

I know what you're thinking, "I'm not going to win anyways, so what's the point of signing up?"

That, my friends, is a defeatist attitude.  Michael Jordan would tell you that you don't make 100% of the shots you don't take.  And if everyone thought there was no point in entering, there would never be any winners in this world.  Of course there also would probably be no contests to win because no one would enter them.  Someone has to win.  Just ask Janelle over at Renegade Mothering who won my 100th Post Giveaway and some delicious cupcakes as a result.  You could literally be the next Janelle (except probably not as cool, but still).  In fact some might say that winning BevMo swag is way cooler than Icing on the Cupcake swag.  I'm not here to rate the two, but I'll just say that the money you save by winning the BevMo card could be put toward purchasing cupcakes.  And there are few things more awesome than eating cupcakes after drinking free hooch.

This has been a very long-winded way to say that I'll extend my entry period through Thursday.  I'll still be announcing the winner in this very space on the 10th.  It could be you!  And with how few people have entered, the likelihood is very high that it will be you.

On to the Twitter Machine.  Be warned I will be discussing Mad Men and there will be spoilers.

-Ana & Grace know what flip-flops are. Ana even says flip-flops. Actually it comes out more like fip-faws.
-It just goes to show you the preferred footwear in our house.
-Am I going through a mid-life crisis if I covet the new FR-S in Hot Lava color? #toyota #scion
-And what does that say about how long my life will be if my mid-life comes before 30?
-As a Giants fan I feel it is my obligation to point out that in the last 7 days the Giants have gained 4.5 games on the Dodgers #sfgiants #watchyobackbums
-Rooting hard for Spurs-Celtics finals if only because Duncan secretly hating KG all these years makes it that much more compelling #nba
-Also it's always nice to notch off one more year of LeBron not winning a title after their 6-7 titles proclamation
-It was pretty obvious that we've been heading toward a Lane Pryce suicide this week #madmen
-I couldn't have been the only one laughing when the Jaguar wouldn't start and he couldn't kill himself with it as a result #madmen
-I really need to get on the ball for my 30 before 30 list. I mean I've only checked off one so far. #embarrassing
-Sometimes I just like to break into dance with the girls. We all seem to enjoy those moments.
-Have a new project at work. This sort of stuff invigorates the hell out of me. #bringit
-It actually has me excited about my current tasks and how to fold them into each other.
-Johnny Depp performed with The Black Keys at the MTV Movie Awards. May have gotten my wife interested in The Black Keys.
-Still wouldn't have been worth sitting through all the Twilight related nonsense to see it.
-I can't believe Mr. Trololo died. I'm gonna miss him so damn much.
-And we lose Richard Dawson on the same day. #whygod
-I don't know if you've seen the video of the 2-year-old hearing his mom's voice for the first time. It is heartwarming.
-I have a lot of crazy shit running through my head. If I put it all on here, I'd probably lose every reader.
-That my friends is called decorum
-Does Andy Samberg leaving SNL mean no more digital shorts a.k.a. the only reason to actually watch SNL?
-I guess he can just start uploading everything directly to The Lonely Island website or Funny or Die #butstill
-Still don't know how I got snookered into watch The Bachelorette with my wife #marriedpeopleproblems
-The Bro-liday in Bro-muda was almost too much to handle
-Ana says "Ummm" when you ask her questions. Slowly perfecting her stall tactics
-They also like to say "Ugg" and hug each other. I pretty much die every single time.

That's all on the Twitter Machine today.  See you next Tuesday.

200

Of course my 200th post would come on Twitter Machine Tuesday.  It is the only thing I write consistently, so the odds were ever in its favor.

I didn't get that many suggestions for prizes on my previous post.  Kim did suggest a case of Blue Moon, glasses and oranges which I thought was nice.  Of course I don't know how well that would go over if the winner of my giveaway was under 21.  I also don't know the legalities behind shipping alcohol over state lines.  I'm pretty sure that stuff is frowned upon.  So I don't want to screw over my loyal readers in other parts of the country or get myself arrested.

But it did get me thinking about a possible prize.  I'm leaning toward a gift certificate to BevMo.  That will get me around the whole sending alcohol to people problem.  Also they sell non-alcoholic stuff there, so someone under 21 can just purchase sodas and such.  At least that's what I'll tell myself.

But this has created another problem: How do you enter?  There are a couple of ways.

• First if you follow my blog publicly (i.e. you are one of my minions to the right of this post), you will be entered automatically.  Good job those of you who already follow me.  No effort needed. 
• Comment on this post for an entry
• Get one of your friends to follow my blog publicly and leave a comment on any post mentioning you or your blog, and you'll get another entry.
• If you write a blog, share a link to mine on your page for an entry.  Just comment with the link to your page on this or any post.  Maybe someone that reads my blog will start reading your blog too. Win-Win.
• I'm not one to create a Facebook page or create a Twitter Machine account for my blog, so there will be nothing to Like or Retweet

All the entries will be accepted from today through next week's Twitter Machine.  I'll use a random number generator to determine the winner.  I'll announce the winner on June 10th.  Enter away!

Coming later today: Twitter Machine Tuesday

Daddy Daughter Days

I came to the realization the other day that I never sleep in.  Even on my days off I'm still up early with the girls.  This is where my wife says "That's because you sleep through them waking up at night."  I don't disagree with that.  It's a blessing and a curse being a heavy sleeper.  A blessing for me and a curse for her.

So I was up early on Thursday with Grace.  She is still sick with a runny nose and cough.  She never has slept late, and she definitely doesn't when she is under the weather.  In spite of this she remains in good spirits.  Usually this translates to her playing in our room every morning with stuffed animals.  She especially loves carrying around the stuffed cow that I got for her mom.  His name is Ding.  Although she shows her love for him in a strange way.

You see the cow has a little button in it that makes a mooing noise.  Grace loves the moo, but she doesn't really know what causes it.  She was so excited about it last night that she slammed it on the tile near our fireplace thus killing the moo.  It's okay though because she makes the mooing noise in its place.

Erin often gives me a hard time for the outfits I put the girls in.  Either they look too much like boys.  Or the pants don't go with the shirt.  Or they wear a certain outfit too much.  Or they have cuter clothes than that.  It gets a little annoying because my motivation is to make sure they are dressed appropriately for the weather and situation.  I think in spite of stripes and polka dots clashing that I did a good job on this outfit.

Grace loves hats.  She loves to play with them.  She loves to try and put them on.  She loves to take them off of me.  In fact Ana joined in on the taking the hat off dad fun today.  But the moment Ana took it off my head, Grace was putting it on hers.  There just isn't anything cuter than a kid in clothes or hats that are too big for them.  Although you can judge for yourself.

The girls still are climbing onto the fireplace like it's the most fun thing in the world.  I just have to resign myself to not getting it.

Here Ana has found a nice quiet place to read.  They both speak in this random language when they're looking at books.  It's almost as if they're interpreting the story and saying what they see.

I had about 40 minutes of a break right around lunch time when the girls are napping.  I call it my Justified time because that's when I watch the Justified episode I taped on Tuesday.  As an aside you really should be watching that show.  For all the guys, it's witty, funny and is a well-done crime show.  For all the ladies, it's witty, funny and Timothy Olyphant.

What I was starting to say is that I don't really have much rest on Thursdays because nap time is clean the house time.  I cleaned the kitchen and did the dishes.  I picked up the assorted messes they had made throughout the morning.  I tried to straighten out the house where I could.  The naps were short-lived since the girls both sprung back into action after a little over an hour and a half.

Post nap was all about a trip to the store.  Gotta stay busy, right?  I picked up some essentials and stuff for dinner.  Erin's plan was to make Chow Fun which is freaking delicious, so I picked up all the ingredients.  I sent her a picture of a noodle and asked if it would work, but there was a delay in her response.  This caused me to meander to this section:

And not pictured is what I purchased: Stone Sublimely Self-Righteous Black IPA.  Damn that is a tasty beer, and I only bought it because Erin was too slow to respond.  Otherwise I would have been ready to check out with no beer.  Your own fault Erin.  But sipping on a Stone IPA to close out my day was a great way to unwind after being on my feet or rolling on the floor with them all day, so it worked out for the best.

As always it was another great day with my girls.

Twitter Machine Tuesday

I've done a pretty good job of getting myself back at an acceptable weight over these last few months.  I'm actually down almost 20 pounds over the last 4 months.  This is without any sort of workout routine.  I need to get back on track with that.  It gives me more energy throughout the day and actually helps me sleep better at night.

I'm just worried that with Christmas right around the corner that I'll put a bunch of it back on.  Tis the season for eating way too many sweets, indulging in pie, having big meals with friends and family and spending more time on the couch watching all the holiday specials.  I may have to re-introduce a workout routine if only to undo what all this holiday eating does.  Because I'm certainly not going to stop eating cookies and treats.

And that is determination!

Do you want to pick snowberries Buddy?

-Whatever happened to those Magic Eye posters? With the 3D boom you'd think they'd make a comeback.
-Someone at Mizzou's fansite linked to my post on Pie vs Cake. I'll now be rooting for Mizzou hard. #allittakes #gotigers #marchmadness
-It is good to see that the pie v cake debate extends across the country through all fan bases
-Giving any athlete a 10-year contract that runs into their 40s is insanity #albertpujols
-Alec Baldwin on SNL made me chuckle, but it made me want 30 Rock to come back even more
-I don't understand getting kicked off a plane for playing Words with Friends. Hanging with Friends makes more sense.
-I didn't really see the point of this year's Simpsons' Christmas episode. I'm also not fond of any of the future episodes
-If I want an animated show that takes place in the future, I'll watch Futurama #andidowatchit
-Grace got a toy baseball bat for her birthday. Now she beats me with it. And laughs her head off.
-Luck looks like a good show. I was playing Angry Birds and not paying attention while it was on, but it LOOKED good. #hbo #shortattentionspan
-Chris Paul to the Lakers was an intriguing deal. In fact the Hornets "won" it. Stern should have allowed it.
-The Lakers gave up a position of strength to obtain a position of weakness. What was wrong with that?
-I always love all the Best of the Year lists that come out in December. Still just opinions, but fun to read.
-My albums of the year: Rise Ye Sunken Ships, 12 Desperate Straight Lines, Helplessness Blues, 21, Days #weareaugustines #telekinesis #fleetfoxes #adele #realestate
-And in case Dani is wondering why I slighted Wilco. I just haven't listened to the album yet.
-I've become an expert at ironing with a baby using my legs to stand.
-Is anyone surprised by Tim Tebow winning games he should definitely lose at this point?
-You can make a case for Tebow as MVP. Aaron Rogers doesn't have a meme named after him. #tebowing #FACT
-Knocked out quite a few beers from Yard House last week. At least one thing on my 30 by 30 list is happening.
-Ana and Grace have discovered jumping on the bed. Put them both in the same crib and they were bouncing away.
-I'm not kidding about Missouri. I'm penciling them to win in all my brackets.
-Also if I had a vote for the Wooden Award (which I obviously don't) it would go to Marcus Denmon.
-Ana is getting a little bit bolder on her "walking". She is now putting her foot forward and pulling it back.
-It's like a baby hokey-pokey
-I'd put together a list of best movies of the year, but I haven't seen any.
-Erin asked for booze or FroYo on Friday. Got vodka and ice cream and rented The Help #winning #besthusbandever #okaymaybeliketop1000husbands
-Is it bad that I haven't done any Christmas shopping yet? #11shoppingdaysleft

Now I'm off to go eat more cookies.  Weight be damned!

Twitter Machine Tuesday

I've always loved Halloween.  I get a kick out of the costumes.  Candy is delicious (NEWSFLASH).  I love scary movies (especially zombie movies).  It has always been associated with my birthday and costume parties for my birthday.  Count Chocula cereal is only available during Halloween time.  It usually is the first real exposure to the holiday season (a.k.a. pie season).

This year it got even better.  We now have little ones that will wear cute costumes because we basically force it on them.  I think it's just about the cutest thing in the universe although I've never been to Rigel 7, so I can't be 100% sure.  But I'm comfortable saying that I'm 99.99% sure.  It just adds a new wrinkle to the whole Halloween experience.

On to the Twitter Machine.

-Did you know that in some languages "Family" and "Drama" are synonyms?
-The girls in ladybug costumes made my week. Now have to think of next year's costumes.
-My birthday was awesome-ish. Great overall weekend.
-Yard House is like Disneyland for beer drinkers. And I only had 4 pints. #happiestplaceonearth
-I thought I was running low on Count Chocula until my birthday party led to 2 more boxes.
-I have to thank my wonderful wife for planning and executing it all. Bacon and blue cheese burgers and apple crisp. #yum
-The worst part of our weekend was Ana getting her first bad fever since she was born.
-We learned a feverish baby is very hard to calm down. Thanks to everyone for their advice on the Facebook.
-Grace followed it up with a cold on Halloween. #snoteverywhere
-They go 362 days without getting sick and drop a double whammy on us right before their birthday.
-Speaking of birthdays, they turn 1 tomorrow. #timeflies
-Their party is going to be ridiculous. I think the last count was over 70 people.
-We got a preview of their gifts when they got Rockin' Elmo #batteriesincluded #notforlong
-Kris Humphries' name even fits the first letter K pattern that that stupid family adheres to. #poorguy
-Working late and not handing candy out sucks. I love that part of Halloween.
-Is there a more helpless feeling than trying to soothe a totally congested and upset kid?
-Oh that's right, how about TWO totally congested and upset kids? #twins
-It was one year ago today that Erin and I were in Labor & Delivery watching the Giants win the World Series #goodtimes #sorryforyelling #birthstory
-@erinsgirls turned the corner last night and started hating Halloween.
-It sucks that people drive from other neighborhoods to trick or treat in ours. #howmuchistoomuch
-So apparently Family Guy is tasteless for including domestic violence jokes. Because they've always been tasteful #greasedupdeafguy #promnightdumpsterbaby #joeswanson #getoverit
-I would really like to know what the appeal of the McRib is. Do people like it because it's terrible?
-It must be like hipsters drinking Pabst Blue Ribbon simply because no one else does.
-Erin is starting to feel sick just like the babies. I'm about to be the only healthy person in the house.
-I was so very disappointed in this year's Treehouse of Horror episode. Not funny at all. #TheSimpsons
-We didn't even have any leftover candy after all the Trick or Treaters came through. #BOO

Well it's on to November.  100 birthdays.  Thanksgiving.  Weather may finally change.  Bring it on.

Since My Last Birthday...

Tomorrow is my 29th birthday (Please hold your applause until the end).

For the last few days I've been in a reflective mood.  I'm not the type to mourn my twenties like some overdramatic people would.  Nor do I think that everything will change when I turn 30.  I'm not a huge birthday guy.  I don't feel a need to celebrate too wildly.  It's just a day changing on the calendar.  I have been thinking about how wonderful the last 365 days of my life has been.

When I write that I've been reflective, it's really about the larger picture that I'm now only a piece of. 

Since my last birthday, my entire life has changed.  My daughters were born.  They spent time in the NICU and came home for the first time.  They've learned so much since then.  They have filled our house with an incomprehensible amount of love.  Every single day is a new and wonderful experience with them in my life.

Since my last birthday, I decided to take a huge leap and leave the industry that I've worked in since my teen years.  I've thrown myself into a completely new line of work (and I'm still learning).  The comfort zone that I established is squarely in the rearview mirror at this point, but it is also exciting and exhilarating.  And I get to see my wife every day at work which is wonderful.

Since my last birthday, my sister moved back home after living in Ohio for almost a decade.  I forgot what it was like having her around because she's been gone so long.  She brought back a wonderful guy who fits right into our family.  As a result of her moving back, we've spent a lot of time with my family, and I've loved it.

Since my last birthday, both my sister and brother got married.  What's not to like about an ever-expanding family?  And it has continued to expand since my new sister-in-law got pregnant with the girls' first cousin.  It's so comforting to think about a cousin so close in age to them.

Since my last birthday, the Giants won the World Series.  Sorry I had to mention it one last time.

Since my last birthday, the birth of my daughters and my new role as dad has inspired me to start writing this blog.  Hopefully my daughters can look back and read some of things their dad wrote about them 29 years from now.

Birthdays are fun and great, but they aren't everything.  If your life was a book, your birthdays are just the chapters.  There isn't a book out there remembered for how many chapters it had.  The story within those chapters is the most important part of the book.  I've loved the story since my last birthday.  I hope the next chapter is just as great.

Cheers!!!