It’s a (Portland) Christmas miracle!

December 28, 2007

For the last few months, I’ve occasionally heard a song on KNRK that I really liked, and I don’t know the number of the studio to call and get the name while I’m driving, and I always seem to forget by the time I get back home where I could have looked it up on KNRK’s website.  “I’ve got to remember to look up what song they were playing at x time,” I kept thinking to myself, or saying out loud when Hanne was with me.  This went on for months, so clearly I never remembered to look up what song they were playing at any x time.  With my luck of hearing individual songs I liked that were pseudo-electronica sounding, I figured it would turn out to be some pompous European douchebag, but I figured at the least I could snag one song and not feel ashamed for liking the stuff.

Hanne finally remembered to look it up for me: the song was “Kingdom” by Dave Gahan.  Oh.  Lead singer of Depeche Mode.  Sweet, I can dig that.  So I bought the album off iTunes, and I’m listening to it now.  He’s a great singer, knows how to make an album sound good (which is largely producing), but he’s a mediocre songwriter.  He wrote three songs I liked off the last Depeche Mode album, but Martin Gore is definitely the brains of the outfit.  I’m not regretting my purchase, it’s just…disappointing.  As the frontman for a band I really like, I thought more of what I like about Depeche Mode would make it into the music, and while it certainly sounds like Depeche Mode, it doesn’t have that…zing.  I guess part of that zing was Martin Gore’s songwriting.  At the very least, I solved a mystery that’s been nagging me off and on for the last few months.  Well OK, Hanne did.

I’ll probably listen to it again once it finishes.  It usually takes me a few listens to appreciate music.  Especially Nine Inch Nails.  It always sounds like noise the first time through, and then as I listen to it again and again, I pick up lots of nuances, really listen to the lyrics, and the whole thing falls into place.  Perhaps the same thing with happen with Dave Gahan’s music.

The above-referenced (Portland) Christmas MIracle occurred at exactly 12:15 PM on Christmas Day.  Hanne and I were driving to my Dad’s for the day’s festivities, and it began to lightly sleet.  Then it began to lightly snow.  Then flurries were coming down so heavily I started to wonder if I’d make it up the big hills by my Dad’s house.  I did, but as we parked in front of his house we bagan wondering if anyone else would be able to make it up the big hills by my Dad’s house.  We’d gotten there a couple of hours early to make cookies and drink a bit of beer, so my Mom and Heather weren’t expected until 3 or so.

Following a few “Should we come?” calls, we decided the snow was tapering off, and true to that, it began to rain shortly thereafter.  By the time my Mom and Heather arrived, the snow was all but washed away.  It may have come and gone just in a few hours, but for the first time I can remember, I had a White Christmas in Portland.  A White Christmas that could have postponed Christmas and made us stay the night at my Dad’s if it had continued, but a White Christmas nonetheless.  It was glorious.  I felt like a little kid sitting there watching the snow fall, and the only thing that would have made it better would have been a big decorated tree.  Sigh.

All in all, this was a nice Christmas.  Hanne stayed in town, so I got to spend the whole time with her and it was a lot of fun.  We went to my sister’s for Christmas Eve and then to my Dad’s for Christmas, and since we ate so early on Christmas Day, we went back to my apartment and finished up a bottle of champagne that got opened during the day.

My Christmas Ale–which I titled “Hallebrewjah!” (copyright 2007, all rights reserved, so no stealing!)–has gone over very well, and I’ve heard nothing but compliments about it so far.  I even have a couple of bottles left!  I might find homes for them soon enough, though.  I gave bottles to just about everyone I can think of who’s come to my beer parties or enjoyed my homebrew or wanted to taste my homebrew, but after all, I did make 5 gallons worth of beer.  Giving away 22 bottles of 22 oz. beers is harder than it sounds, mostly because you have to carry them around for at least part of a day before you can give them away.

Speaking of which…I’m running out of beer.  It’s sad.  I’ve depleted my stock so much, I can fit all my 22 oz. bottles onto my beer rack and my supply of 12 oz. bottles is dwindling, too.  I’m looking forward to starting my brewing again in a couple of months when the weather warms up a little bit so I can try a few new things.  Might even brew multiple weekends in a row, too.  Hell, I certainly have the bottles for it–even though I gave away two cases worth of bottles for gifts, my Dad owes me two cases of bottles, so there’s another batch right there!  I think I have perhaps three batches of bottles I can use right now.

This is going to be a very nice weekend.  After work today I’m exchanging some beers with a former coworker, and then Hanne and I are going to a wine tasting at a wine shop a few blocks from my apartment.  We’ve been wanting to go to his weekly wine tastings for a bit now, but this will be nice because not only is he pouring wine we both like (Oregon pinots), but he’s giving a nice pinot glass to anyone who buys the flight.  I’m still using a four-pack of wine glasses purchased from Wal-Mart in Beloit, and since I’ve been drinking much more wine lately (well, comparatively) I think I’d like to move up to nicer glasses.

Tomorrow Hanne and I are going to the Columbia River Gorge for a night, just to get out of Portland.  I’m really looking froward to getting out of town for a night, even if it’s just an hour away and we’ll be doing something similar to what we do on many other nights (drinking beer at brewpubs).  Still, a very nice distraction.  I can hopefully pick up a pint glass from the Double Mountain Brewery that’s just down the street from our hotel and add it to my ever-growing collection.

Sunday night we’re celebrating my Dad’s birthday and I’m cooking for him.  Pizza, perhaps?  Always goes over well.

Monday night I’m cooking dinner for Hanne.  I haven’t decided yet, but I have a pretty good idea what I’ll be making if I can find a nice recipe.  I’ll have to start my prep work on Sunday, though.  Bleah.  Ohhhh, I just thought of something else I could make, too.  I’m actually wondering if I’ll even be able to make it to midnight, too.  Last night I was so tired, I was dozing off at 8:30, and I finally gave in and went to bed a little after 9.  I slept really well, at least.

And then I have Tuesday off, and I really have no idea what I’m going to do that day.  And really, that’s how I like it.  I’m looking ahead at my calendar, and I have a lot of planned activities, but part of me is relishing the idea of returning to a blank slate of my time.

Hmmm…I think I’m going to be listening to a lot of Depeche Mode and its parts today.  You know, there’s a good chance I’ll be depressed as hell by the end of the day.  As long as I don’t listen to “The Downward Spiral” by Nine Inch Nails too, I think I’ll probably be OK, though.

Cheers.

Posted in Beer, Beloit, Family, Food, General, Hanne