Lots more here.

The photo above has nothing to do with anything below. I simply took it in Greenwood, Mississippi over the weekend and thought it might make you happy or sad or scared for your life.

The second edition of last year’s new annual feature is here, and I somehow managed to try less beers in 2011 than I did in 2010.

How it works: I keep track of the different beers I drink through a iPhone app called Untappd. It’s free, and it does a good job.

Most notabale are the obvious lack on Pacific Northwest beers (miss u Seattle) but an abundance of Southern beers and European beers due to both our move to Birmingham and our 9-day Euro jaunt.

*Denotes a favorite.
+Denotes the most interesting beers of the year.

Abita Amber
Abita Purple Haze
Amstel
Amstel Light
Anderson Valley Hop Ottin’ IPA
Avery 18th Rye Saison
Avondale Brewing Battlefield IPA
Avondale Brewing Belgian Pumpkin
Avondale Brewing Spring Street Saison Ale
Bacchus
Back Forty Truck Stop Honey Brown Ale
Bass
Bayou Teche LA 31 Bière Pâle
Bear Republic Racer 5 India Pale Ale (IPA)
Bell’s Batch 10,000
Bell’s Deb Red Ale
Bell’s Winter White Ale
Big Al Harvest Ale
Big Al IPA
Big Al Pale Ale
Bitburger Premium Pils
Blue Moon Belgian White
Blue Moon Harvest Moon Pumpkin Ale
Boulevard Nutcracker Ale
Boulevard Unfiltered Wheat
Boulevard Wheat
Brooklyn Lager
Brugge Tripel
Brugs Tarwebier
Bud Light
Budweiser
Budweiser Select
Carta Blanca
Centennial IPA
Choc Last Laugh
Choc Spring IPA
Cigar City Jai Alai IPA
Coors Light
Copper Bell Light Beer
Corona Light
Czechvar
Deschutes Mirror Pond Pale Ale
Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA
Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA
Duvel
Good People Belgian IPA (cask)
Good People Brett IPA
Good People Hitchhiker IPA
Good People IPA
Good People Mumbai Rye*
Good People Pale Ale
Good People Snake Handler Double IPA*
Good People Tornado IPA
Great Divide 17th Wood Aged IPA
Great Divide Chocolate Yeti (cask)+
Green Man IPA
Grimbergen Blonde
Grolsch
Heavy Seas Red Sky at Night
Heineken
Heineken Light
Highland Gaelic Ale
Highland Kashmir IPA
Highland St. Terese’s Pale Ale
Hoegaarden
Holy Mackerel Special Golden Ale
Hopsicle IPA (cask)
Innis & Gunn Highland Cask
Jever Pilsner
Jupiler*
Karbach Hopadillo IPA
Karbach Yule Shoot Your Eye Out*
Killian’s Irish Red
Kronenbourg 1664*
La Chouffe
Lazy Magnolia Jefferson Stout
Lazy Magnolia Southern Gold
Leavenworth Whistling Pig Hefeweizen
Left Hand Sawtooth Ale
London Pride
Lone Star Beer
Lone Star Light
Magic Hat #9
Magic Hat Wacko Summer Ale
Michigan Brewing Company High Seas IPA
Miller High Life*
Miller Lite
Moylan’s Hopsickle Triple IPA
Moylan’s IPA (cask)
NOLA Blonde
O’Fallon Pumpkin Beer
Ommegang Three Philosophers
Oskar Blues Dale’s Pale Ale
Pabst Blue Ribbon
Palm
Palmetto Amber
Perino
Pisgah Pale Ale
Red Brick Blonde
Red Stripe
Redhook Longhammer IPA
Rogue Ales Dead Guy Ale
Rogue Belgian Golden Ale
Rogue Brutal Bitter*
Rogue Dad’s Little Helper Black IPA
Rogue Juniper Pale Ale
Rogue Mom Hefeweizen
Rogue Yellow Snow IPA
Saint Arnold Brewing Amber Ale
Saint Arnold Brewing Christmas Ale
Sam Adams 48* Latitiude IPA
Samuel Adams Boston Ale
Samuel Adams Boston Lager
Samuel Adams Octoberfest
Samuel Adams Summer Ale
Saporo Light
Shiner Bock
Shiner Hefeweizen
Shiner Oktoberfest
Shmalz Brewing Coney Island Lager
Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale (2011)
Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA
Smithwicks Irish Red Ale
Spaten Lager
Sprecher Double IPA
Straight To Ale Monkeynaut IPA
Straight To Ale Stop Work 689 Kolsch
SweetWater 420 Extra Pale Ale
SweetWater IPA
SweetWater Motor Boat Ale
Tallgrass IPA
Terrapin Hopsecutioner IPA
Terrapin Rye Squared DIPA
Thomas Creek Banana Split Chocolate Stout+
Thomas Creek Brewery Oktoberfest
Thomas Creek Class 5
Trappist Witte (Wieckse?)
Vedett Extra Blond
Warsteiner Premium Verum
Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier
Widmer Hefeweizen
Wieckse Witte
Yazoo Brewing Fresh Hop IPA
Yellowhammer Miracle Worker Tripel
Yellowhammer Saison de Le Chasse
Yuengling Lager

Back for another year end wrap=up of travel. Years past are…

These are places that are a destination, not a “driving through” or “changing planes” visit.

Total states: 9
Total countries: 4

*Denotes a first time visit.

Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Asheville, North Carolina*
Atlanta, Georgia
Auburn, Alabama
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Bruges, Belgium
Brussels, Belgium
Hattiesburg, Mississippi
Houston, Texas
Jackson, Mississippi
Jacksonville, Florida*
Las Vegas, Nevada
Menlo Park, California
Monterey, California
Nassau, The Bahamas
New Orleans, Louisiana
Oakland, California*
Orange Beach, Alabama
Palo Alto, California
Paris, France
Pebble Beach, California
Perdido Key, Florida
Sacramento, California
San Francisco, California
San Jose, California*
Santa Clara, California*
Stanford, California*
Tuscaloosa, Alabama

When Chelsea and moved back to the South last year we arrived in Jasper, Alabama on December 17. From December 17, 2010 to December 17, 2011 I consumed Chick-fil-A 110 times. I know this because I’ve used Foursquare to track my activities for the last 2+ years.

I love Foursquare because at the heart of my discombobulated life and ADHD-ish attention span, I am a number geek and map geek. I like to track my activities, and Foursqaure does a good job of that, despite the occasional this.

Foursquare doesn’t yet provide what I would term “substantial analytics” tools to help me break down my activity into something more meaningful like the number of locations visited, the most frequented locations, or breakfast vs. lunch vs. dinner vs. snack binging… but 110 is n indicator nonetheless.

Why the obsession? I wouldn’t call it so much an obsession and I would call it the lack of food and service quality across the board at other fast food chains and restaurants, and how Chick-fil-A has them beat by light years. I love the products Chick-fil-A makes, and how each one (aside from the coffee) is pretty much near perfect. I love the way they treat their employees, and how that translates into how their employees treat me. I love how fast and easy it is to buy something from Chick-fil-A. But at the end of the day Chick-fil-A is simply a great place to eat and always a pleasant, enjoyable experience.

Before I moved to Seattle in August 2006 I faced the stark reality that the business I love the mostest was nowhere near Seattle. By “nowhere near” I mean 763 miles. When one opened about 2 hours north in the Western Washington University student union, I ensured that a weekend trip revolve around food… but the Chick-fil-A was closed the first time… but open the second… and the third, etc. I spent many days trolling them on Twitter to open a Seattle location, and sometimes they responded.

They’ve yet to expand in to Seattle, but I hope they do because every time we drove north to Western Washington University we would always bump into other Seattleites equipped with coolers and dry ice, prepared to haul back weeks of sandwiches to quell their cravings. I’m not joking. That type of behavior makes my 110 visits pale in comparison.

According to some fancy statistics, I live in a pretty smart ‘hood, y’all. I’m sooo the 1%.

Mountain Brook is the smartest mid-sized city in Alabama by a wide margin, according to a new report from on Numbers.

The report, which looked at educational attainment data for communities across the U.S., said Mountain Brook ranks No. 14 nationally with a brainpower index score of 34.

That’s nearly 10 points better than Vestavia Hills, which ranked second in Alabama, but only 130th nationally with a score of 23.9. Homewood ranked third in Alabama and No. 172 nationally with a score of 21.9.

Roads? Where we’re going we don’t need… roads.

Back To The Future is one of, if not my favorite movie of all time. I love the first, LOVE the second, like the third (trains? we needed trains to make this more compelling?).

We were invited to an 80s themed Halloween party, and the choice was obvious: be everyone’s favorite childhood time traveler. However, I should note that we were worried that things might get heavy if no one recognized us.

You can’t tell, but I’m wearing a maroon undershirt and my white collared shirt is checkered in blue… just like Marty’s. (I worked hard and want credit, y’all… which is sad.)

Inspired by these…

Halloween from years past is below.

2010: Ralphie & The Leg Lamp, A Christmas Story

2009: Eric & Tami Taylor, Friday Night Lights

2008: Joan Holloway and Don Draper Pete Campbell, Mad Men

2007: Jim and Pam, The Office

Incredible little thingy created by the BBC and blogged by Gizmodo this morning.

There were 161,376,427 people born between the date I was born and date between my wife was born.

College football is on TV.

And yes, I understand that most of the wives and girlfriends out there enjoy football as well, though not many enjoy it to the sun-up-to-sun-down-OMG-there-are-WAC-games-on-at-2AM-and-I-must-watch extent that most of the male species do.

Note that it’s not “You break it, you buy it.” That phrase has been repeated so many times, and with such implied anger toward the customer, that it falls on deaf ears.

Take a note from the Christmas Round The Corner store in Fairhope, Alabama and 1) change a cliché message, and 2) stop wagging your finger at a customer during their first interaction with your company.

I’ll be traveling more than normal in 2011, therefore I’m doing my darndest to travel better.

“Better” is defined as:
- lighter suitcase
- smaller suitcase
- faster through security
- faster at packing
- faster at repacking
- activity learning and practicing airport security tips/tricks

Sound cheesy? I agree… until one has to get from DFW’s Terminal A to Terminal E in 16 minutes.

To assist in my efforts I’ve been reading up on what others have to say about the ins and outs of business and personal travel.

One of my particular favorites was this blog post, and the following snippets.

I am very minimal when I travel.
I never check luggage. I refuse to check luggage. I look down at people who check luggage. When I get on the plane I have a backpack with my laptop and a carry-on—that’s it.

If you’re going to check luggage…
you basically should just get back in your car, go home and not fly anywhere.

[...]

When you fly: don’t wear sweatpants.
Wearing sweatpants on a plane is like wearing a fanny-pack walking around Paris. It’s pretty much the same thing.

[...]

I was on a plane once that lost all cabin pressure.
We had to make an emergency landing in Buffalo. My nose started bleeding because there was no air-pressure…and then we realized that the only thing worse than crashing and dying was landing in Buffalo.

[...]

One time I sat on a plane next to Britney Spears’ mom.
That was hilarious. We talked about Britney for two and a half hours.

We finally closed/moved into the house.

We’re in Birmingham and it feels great.

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The following interaction from The Incredibles crossed my mind while reading this article yesterday. Read into it or deduct whatever you will.

Helen: “Everyone’s special, Dash.”
Dash: “Which is another way of saying no one is.”

My first post on the Daxko Nation blog went live yesterday: What If You Could Wear Anything You Wanted to Work? (Ok, maybe not anything.)

The Daxko blog is choc full of free content on job interviewing, technology, and of course, culture. I’m hoping to average 2-3 times per month and will link on my Twitter feed when a post goes up.

Growing up, the thought of drinking never seemed appealing to me. I didn’t have alcohol until I was 22, and even then I rarely had more than three drinks of any kind over the course of a year.

When I moved to Seattle I worked for a company where the average age on an employee was 28. We weren’t paid as competitively as we should have been, though to make up for it, mild mannered happy hours on the company’s dime were a regular event. It was through these happy hours that I finally forced myself to move past the Bud Light.

People always say that “beer is an acquired taste”. It’s so, so true. Beer is a taste that, in all honesty, is at first unbearable. Then one day something clicks. You not only like it, you love it. You begin to notice even the most subtle differences between to seemingly identical beers. The fact that Seattle is one of America’s beer hubs only fueled the newfound love.

In May I decided to keep track of the beers I tried. Below is the list containing those beers. By my estimation, 174 overall between May and December.

I’m sure there are multiple errors on this list (both in grammar and in noting the correct brewer and/or beer name). Feel free to recommend corrections by commenting on the post.

*Denotes personal favorites.
+Denotes disgusting beer.

21st Amendment Brewery Hell Or High Watermelon Wheat Beer+
Abita Brewing Co. Turbodog
Alameda Klickitat Pale Ale
Alaskan Winter Ale
Anchor Steam Ale
Anchor Steam Summer Ale
Arrogant Bastard Ale
Avery duganA IPA (Cask – Centenial Hops)
Avery duganA IPA (Cask – Chinook Hops)
Ayinger Hefeweizen
Ayinger Oktober Fest-Marzen
Bass Pale Ale
Bayern Pilsner
Bear Republic Brewery Racer 5 IPA*
Bell’s Brewery Pale Ale
Big Sky Brewing Company Scotch Ale
Big Sky Brewing Company Trout Slayer Pale Ale
Bitburger Pils*
Black Star Brewing Going To The Sun IPA
Black Star Double Hopped Golden Lager
Blackfoot Organic Pale Ale
Boddingtons Pub Ale
Boulevard Single-Wide IPA
Boundary Bay IPA*
Boundary Bay Scotch
Bridgeport Brewing Ebenezer Ale
Bridgeport Brewing Hop Harvest
Bridgeport Brewing IPA
Bud Light
Budweiser
Carlsberg Pilsner
Coors Banquet
Coors Light
Deschutes Big Rig Bitter
Deschutes Black Butte Porter
Deschutes Hop In The Dark Cascadian Dark Ale
Deschutes Inversion IPA*
Deschutes Jubilation Winter Ale
Deschutes Twilight Ale
Diamond Knot Ho Ho
Diamond Knot IPA*
Dick’s IPA*
Dixie Beer
Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA
Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA*
Dogfish Head Indian Brown Ale
Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron
Dogfish Head Raison D’être
Elysian Brewing Company Bifrost Winter Ale
Elysian Brewing Company Jasminel IPA
Elysian Brewing Company Men’s Room Red Ale*
Elysian Brewing Company The Immortal IPA*
Emerald City Dottie Lager
Erdinger Double Wisse
Firestone Double Barrel Ale
Franziskaner Weissbier
Full Sail Brewing Session Lager
Full Sail IPA
Full Sail Pale Ale
Full Sail Wreck The Halls IPA
Georgetown Brewing Company Lucille IPA
Georgetown Brewing Company Manny’s Pale Ale*
Georgetown Brewing Company Roger’s Pilsner
Good People Brewing Company Snake Handler Double IPA
Goose Island Beer Company 312 Urban Wheat Ale
Great Northern Brewing Co. Big Fog ESB
Great Northern Brewing Co. Buckin’ Horse Pilsner
Great Northern Brewing Co. Fred’s Black Lager
Great Northern Brewing Co. Wheatfish Wheat Lager
Great Northern Brewing Co. Wild Huckleberry Wheat
Great Northern Huckleberry Wheat
Green Lakes Organic Amber Ale*
Grolsch Lager
Guinness
Hacker-Pschorr Alt Munich Dunkel
Hacker-Pschorr Weisse
Hale’s O’Brien’s Harvest Ale
Hale’s Supergoose Double IPA*
High 5 Hefeweizen
Hofbrau Hefeweizen
Howell Brewing Back Row Baptist IPA*
Kettle House Cold Smoke Scotch Ale
Kokanee
Kona Brewing Company Longboard Larger
Kona Brewing Company Pale Ale
Lagunitas Brewing Company IPA*
Lazy Boy Brewing IPA*
Lazy Boy Brewing Mistletoe Bliss
Lazy Magnolia Brewing Company Reb Ale
Leavenworth Oktoberfest
Leinenkugels Hefeweizen
Mac & Jack’s Brewery African Amber*
Mac & Jack’s Brewery Serengeti Wheat*
Mac & Jack’s Brewery Two Tun IPA
Maisel’s Weisse
Maisels Weisse Dunkel*
Maritime Pacific Brewing Company Imperial IPA*
Maritime Pacific Brewing Company Old Seattle Lager*
Maritime Pacific Brewing Company Pilsner
Maritime Pacific Brewing Company Red Amber
Miller Light
Modelo Especial
Montana Breweries Highlander Premium
Nectar Ales Red Nectar
New Belgium Brewing Fat Tire
New Belgium Brewing IPA
Ninkasi Brewing Company Believer Double Red Ale
Ninkasi Brewing Company Oatis Oatmeal Stout
Ninkasi Brewing Company Radiant Ale
Ninkasi Brewing Company Sleigh’r Dark Doüble Alt Ale
Ninkasi Brewing Company Spring Reign Ale
Ninkasi Brewing Company Total Crystal Ale
Ninkasi Brewing Company Total Domination IPA*
Ninkasi Brewing Company Tricerahops IPA*
Odin Brewing Company Kolsch
Odin Brewing Company Pilsner
Odin Brewing Company Smoky Bacon Ale+
Okanagan Spring Pale Ale
Pabst Blue Ribbon
Pacifico
Pack-String Porter
Paulaner Oktoberfest*
Pike Brewing Company Double IPA
Pilsner Urquell
Pinkus Organic Hefe-Weizen
Pyramid Breweries Hefeweizen
Rainier*
Red Stripe Lager
Redhook ESB
Reissdorf Kölsch
Rogue Brewery Portland State IPA*
Rogue Brewery White Frog Ale
Rogue Brewery Captain Sig’s Deadliest Ale
Rogue Brewery Dead Guy Ale
Rogue Brewery Double Mocha Porter
Rogue Brewery Hazelnut Brown Nectar
Rogue Brewery Honey Orange Wheat
Rogue Brewery XS Imperial Red
Rogue Brewery Dry Hop Red Ale
Rogue Brewery Mom Heffe*
Sam Adams Lager
Sam Adams Light
Sam Adams Summer Ale
Schneider Weisse
Schooner Exact Brewing Company 3 Grid IPA
Scuttlebutt Brewing Company Black Pilsner
Scuttlebutt Brewing Company Tripel 7 Belgian*
Shmaltz Brewing Company Coney Island Lager*
Sierra Nevada Brewers Reserve
Sierra Nevada Brown Ale
Sierra Nevada Harvest
Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
Sierra Nevada Summertime Ale
Spaten Lager*
Spaten Oktoberfest*
Spaten Optimator*
Spaten Pils*
Stella Artois
Stone Brewing Company Arrogant Bastard Ale
Sweetwater Brewing Company IPA
Tamarack Brewing Company Yard Sale Ale
Tecate
Tommyknocker Pick Axe Pale Ale*
Trumer Pils
Two Beers Brewing Co. Fresh Hop IPA
Two Beers Brewing Co. Persnickety Pale Ale
Urban Brewery Honey Lager
Urban Brewery Hopworks IPA
Veltins Pilsner*
Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier
Wernesgrüner Pils
Widmer Brothers Drifter Pale Ale
Yaletown Brewing Co. Brick and Beam IPA
Yaletown Brewing Co. UFG Pilsner

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We’re back from a cruise, and I’m sick! Woo-hoo, Monday!