The Sharks

It's Ova Ya Heard?

Canada's National Sport - Hockey! As our PEY winds down for 2005, The Sharks Game really got me in a Canadian Feeling. I am really looking forward to coming home tomorrow morning and seeing all my friends and family.. Although Toronto just got 15 cm of snow it will be a very different climate. Ok, So I will be home from Dec 17th to January 2nd. Give me a call at home:

905 453 6054

Back to the hockey game, So the company I work for has Box Seats at HP Pavillion (Shark Tank) in San Jose. The picture below is taken from the Box. It is really nice. Leather couches a few TVs and a small bar. The Sharks were playing the Carolina Hurricanes. The sharks won 4-3.


Give me a call over the break, Happy Holidays and catch you all in the New Year.

The Breweries

One of my colleagues back at UofT EngSci that I never really got to know was Marcus. Not knowing many of the other interns out here, we decided to share the Rental Car/Oakwood hookup giving me the chance to know him a lot better. Over the last seven months I have subsequently turned into a Beer Geek Apprentice. As we toured around Southern California siteseeing we visited all the different breweries that we could along the way. I am really learning to appreciate/understand the taste of beer.

The BrewPub Trip
One of the trips we went on was exclusively dedicated to visiting as many breweries as we possibly could in one day. We went north from San Francisco and reached Santa Rosa before we were to drunk and dehydrated to continue.

We assembled as many interns as we could and we had a great time. Here is us at Russian River in Santa Rose. This BrewPub was one of my favourite in Cali. We also visited Marin in Larkspur, Moylan in Novato and 3rd Street Ale Works in Santro Rosa. On the way back from Santa Rosa we drove down Highway 1 to San Fran.

Sacramento
Marcus also brought us on a pilgramage to Sacramento for the Fair Oaks Beer Festival. You pay 15$ and you can have as much beer as you want from many different local Cali breweries. The most notable breweries that were there were Lagunitas, Bison Brewing, Sierra Nevada, Hoppy Brewing, Kona Brewing, Mendcima Brewing, and a funny one called Great Sex. We also visited Arnold Schwarzenegger Office. Arnold is the Governer of California and Sacramento is the capital of Cailifornia.


San Diego
We visited many other Breweries on our way to San Diego and around the Bay Area. We woke up early and went Ale Smith and Ballas Point. I think Ale Smith is one of my favourite Breweries. Here is Marcus in his element: The Ale Smith Bar at the back of the Brewery.

We bought tasters of Speedway Stout, Yule Smith, and their IPA. I also bought a bottle of their Numbskull which we will save for a special occasion.

Local
There is also an amazing amount of BrewPubs in the Bay Area. The BrewPub we have visited the most is BJ's in Cupertino neer Apple Headquarters, Tatonka is my favourite beer there. Also Fault Line and Sanoma Chicken. In San Fran, Thirsty Bear, 21st amendment but I don't think we have been to the best ones yet which are Toranado and Magnolia.

After my extensive training, I have found that I like IPA's the most, that is Indian Pale Ales. India Pale Ales were orginally brewed in England for export to India at the end of the 18th century. IPA's tend to be deep gold to medium copper in color and hop character is more assertive than malt. It usually is kinda fruity or floral aromas and tend to be extreemly bitter. Usually they are also higher in alcohol than pale ales. A very interesting website about IPA's go here.

KanyeWest

Tonight Justin and I went to the HP Pavillion (The Shark Tank) in San Jose to see Kanye West perform live. It was really well done. The show started with Keisha Cole and then Fantasia. Then Kanye hit the stage.


"If you have the opportunity to play this game of life you need to appreciate every moment. A lot of people don't appreciate the moment until it's passed."

"Nothing in life is promised except death"

We had a great time, HP Pavillion is big, the show was amazing.
More about the show HERE minus Jamie Fox. No one famous lives in San Jose.

Fabulous Las Vegas

Michelle and I flew from San Francisco to Fabulous Las Vegas for my Birthday. We had a great time. The Big event we attended was Cirque de Soleil's "O". This show is amazing. We saw it in Bellagio and we had the Bellagio Buffet too! Soo Good. Ofcourse, the Hotels in Las Vegas are a big attraction too. We went through all of them. Here is sphynx at the Luxor. This is a pretty cool hotel. We stayed here the first time we went to vegas.

Below is a shot of the strip near New York New York. It shows the Brooklyn bridge. I really like this hotel because it captures the New York Feel.

Ofcourse we walked over the bridge. We also went to Siegfried and Roy's Secret Garden at The Mirage. There were some cool animals like these Lions.

And ofcourse, the 2nd smartest animal on the planet, the dolphins.

So Long, and thanks for all the fish.
We had a great time.