Please consider this an open letter to any automated phone system. If, every single time people call you, you claim that call volume is higher than normal, then this high number of calls IS NORMAL – therefore, you should probably hire a few more people. I hear there are a few people out there looking for jobs. Thanks, I’ll now go back to holding.
July 21, 2010
Start your own Microbrewery? Ok!
My Summer II class this semester in UNCC’s MBA program is entreprenuership. Our overall project for the semester is to build a business plan from scratch and pitch it. And, since I’ve been homebrewing for awhile now, it felt only natural to get a group together in class to create a plan for a microbrewery in Charlotte.
We’re about halfway through the process right now, and I’ve found out a great deal of information. The hardest things to find, however, are:
1. Costs for the actual brewing equipment – companies that manufacture these big items don’t list their prices online and, for the most part, have not yet responded to my various e-mails.
2. The amount of ingredients for a batch of beer as large as 30 kegs – I’m willing to bet there isn’t a linear connection from a 5 gallon homebrew batch to a 15 barrel batch at the commercial level – but no one posts many recipies for that large a quantity.
So, anyone out there know about this stuff? Any craft breweries want to open a brewery in Charlotte? I’ll run it, if you can buy the equipment and get me the recipies – every brewery needs a soon-to-be MBA graduate running their operations.
July 15, 2010
What Did we learn?
Well, we learned that for blog purposes, I just can’t sit down and write out a four-part post on a Vegas trip. Just can’t do it. So lets reboot. What’s going on? With the World Cup over, I’m going to get crazy and see if I can’t start following professional soccer. With no MLS team in Charlotte, I’ve decided to throw my support to… (or, to paraphrase Lebron, decided to take my talents to…) Newcastle United Football Club! Toon Army! My support will consist of trying to learn the songs, the players on the team, playing fantasy premier league and maybe even watching a game on TV… we’ll see how this plays out.
And, of course, since Vegas killed my blog last time I tried to write about it, I will simply say that thanks to Orbitz, the wife and I (yes, yes, I got married since I last updated) will be headed back in September and are staying at Caesar’s Palace for four nights – I’ll post a BRIEF recap when we get back, until then, lets see if I can average more than one post every 7 months.
December 9, 2009
Webpage? I have one?
But seriously folks, sorry I haven’t continued the Vegas Adventure… need to find time to recap day three (starring my main Vegas dealer buddy – WAYNE). But time will start coming back to me for a little bit! Last class of the semester tonight, so perhaps I’ll get it done before the New Year.
Ok, not perhaps, I WILL get it done. Call it a pre-New Years resolution. At any rate, if you’re still looking at finding a nice Christmas Gift for someone (or just a gift in general) try these sites:
www.passwird.com – Great website for finding deals out there. Look like you spent a lot on something without breaking the bank.
www.thinkgeek.com – Lots of great querky gifts for the geeks on your list. Or just people who like bottle-opener rings (like me)
Check out Amazon.com, see if you can still signup for the free trial for Amazon Prime – get free 2-day shipping in case your gifts are REALLY last minute.
November 13, 2009
Trip To Las Vegas Day Two
I told you it was going to be a long post (you’ll hear more about the Vegas trip that you probably want to, but at least it’s broken down into easily digestible blog pieces).
Friday
To get us going, we needed some coffee. And although there is a Starbucks right in the PH, we decided to go for the full coffee-breakfast-lunch combo that was provided at one of the PH restaurants – Planet Dailies. We quickly realized that Planet Dallies was going to cost us an arm and a leg for our simple breakfast (although the food quantity was pretty large). In retrospect, for the amount breakfast cost, we would have been better off going for the breakfast buffet at PH – The Spice Market. However, we’d have time to hit that up later on.
No, no, this is the Hard Rock Pool. Planet Hollywood looks more like a parking lot.
From breakfast, it was off to check out the Planet Hollywood pool. We got out there and it wasn’t anything special. It wasn’t really anything at all. I’ve now been to four Vegas pools – The Imperial Palace (basically your standard hotel pool found in Anywhere, USA), the Flamingo (Cool area with two pools, nice cabana areas, fountains, Craps near the pool), the Hard Rock (Freaking awesome pool with multiple levels, waterfalls, a beach area, lazy river-esque layout, swim up bar/blackjack) and the Planet Hollywood. Which was a vast expanse of concrete with plenty of chairs. The two pools were raised slightly above this vast expanse, with chairs all around (but these spots were snatched up quickly). The pool with Cabanas felt cramped. And the way the pool was oriented with shadows from the PH and surrounding building meant that some areas took awhile for the sun to hit them and in some spots, the sun was gone way too fast. Still, it was nice and warm out and we enjoyed the chance to get our last little bit of sun before fall/winter.
We had also arranged to meet up with a guy I had met at Mitch’s bachelor Party, Kyle, who was in Las Vegas studying for a Masters in Hotel Management over at the Hard Rock later that evening. So, after the pool, we went back to the room to change and while Emily was still getting ready, I went down to the floor to make my first Sports Bets of the weekend (Missouri -7 over Nevada – which was a winner) and to pick some of the college games for the next day – a started out with a parlay of Penn State, N.C. State and Georgia Tech (I should have kept to my ACC knowledge as PSU got creamed by Iowa, killing my hopes for a good first parlay.
From there, we cabbed over to the Hard Rock. Not a bad cab trip, although construction is to blame for basically all that. The Hard Rock casino floor looks pretty small, and was fairly crowded – but the center bar area was even more crowded due to what would eventually shape the course of the rest of the evening – free tequila drinks until 9:00. I took advantage early, going for margaritas, while Emily was in more of a Big Lebowski mood and went with White Russians. Kyle showed up and we had several more drinks before we decided to walk over to Pink Taco (What’s with “Pink” in Vegas?) which was further inside the casino.
Mmmmmm, it's almost as good as Casa Bonita!
On our way across the floor, we made a decision that changed the course of our Las Vegas trip, Kyle stopped near the “Casino War” table and asked if we had ever played it, we hadn’t, so he quickly explained the rules and we sat down.
For those of you who have ever seen Vegas Vacation with Chevy Chase, this is a little more interesting than that Casino. Ok, so there is no skill involved in this game at all. But who cares. The odds were actually close enough to 50% (according to Kyle, who, since he lives there, must be a certified gambling expert. It’s a rule.). Here’s how the very complicated game of War worked.
You place your bet, lets call it $5. The dealer deals everyone playing at the table a card (this game is played on the same style table as blackjack games) and then deals himself a card.
If your card is higher, you win what you’ve bet (doubled your bet). If your card is lower, then you lose your $5 to the house. Simple, right? That’s the easiest part. Of course, Vegas needs to shift those odds in the favor of the house. This happens if you go to WAR (for those of you with lame, non-playing card childhoods, that’s when you both have the same card, i.e. dealer is showing 7 and you are showing 7).
Now, before you go to war, you have your $5 chip on the table and you stand to win $5. Now that you’re going to war, in order to play, you have to put down double your original bet. So you’re betting $10 to win $5. Then, the dealer deals you one more card and himself one more card. If your card is higher, you win that $5. If your card is lower, the dealer takes your $10. That’s the house advantage. There is still one way the player can help themselves in War, if you go to war and then on the second deal are again tied with the dealer (i.e. you had 7, the dealer had 7 – then on the War deal, you have 9 and the dealer gets 9) then you win double what the dealer would normally pay in war. So you would get $10 instead of $5 from the dealer.
I probably made it much harder in my explaination than it actually is. Just remember that higher cards are good, and if you do have to go to war, hope for another tie.
Well, anyhow, we sat down and we were instantly hooked. Especially Emily who was not a fan of Blackjack and especially since it was easy to find a $5 minimum table. When you have a low minimum table and a game with as close to 50% odds as you can get, you can sit there and play for ever, and with a fun dealer (or if you’re winning) it’s great. We probably just played 15 quick hands and all three of us left the table and headed to Pink Taco up $30-$50 dollars.
Pink Taco was pretty good, we continued the tequila theme with a pitcher of margaritas and some delicious Mexican. Well, at least I was pretty sure it was delicious, when you’re getting pretty toasty from the margaritas, you just know you want food (this explains many late night food orders, or why I ever ate Gumby’s Pizza. Please note I said the pizza, not the Pokey Sticks, which are one of the greatest treasures of mankind). So my recommendation is, if you’re on the way to inebriation, and are at the Hard Rock, check out Pinks. And keep drinking.
After Pink Taco, it was time to head out as Emily and I had planned on visiting a Vegas Club that evening. Weren’t really sure where, but we had to get back to our home base first. Before we left, we hit up the Casino War table for a couple last hands before headed back. Once again, I believe we all left up at least $10. We said thanks to Kyle and headed to the Cab line.
Where we found…. The most awesome cabbie in Vegas. We hopped in and told him where we were headed and, with the lead foot of a champion, tore off down the street, catching every light just as it was about to turn red (or just had turned red) riding long stretches in the turn lane only to cut off a ton of people by swerving back into the straight lane at the last minute. I swear it took only minutes to get back to the Planet Hollywood. Had I been sober, I might have been scared for my life. Since I wasn’t, I was thoroughly enjoying myself, egging our driver on and tipping him heavily when we screeched to a halt outside the PH. I wish I had this guys name, rank and serial number to nominate him for a medal, but instead, you’ll just have to “roll the dice” (Hahahahaha, AHAHAHA… haha… ok, no more puns).
A negative consequence of the Hard Rock trip, however, was the depressive effect that White Russians chased with margaritas has and Emily wanted to lay down for a bit before we checked out a club. In the meantime I was put in charge of finding a Casino War table. I left Emily in the room and went off to find it. A quick look around at the Planet Hollywood revealed no such table. A pit boss confirmed it. So off I went next door to Paris – where I found what would become our home away from home (or, at least, our casino away from Planet Hollywood). The Paris casino had two tables with Casino War going. I hurried back up to the room to let Emily know, but it was too late, the booze had done her in. Still wired/buzzed, I headed back over to Paris and sat down at a $5 table with a couple other people. Our dealer, Ruth, kept things entertaining enough although I made the cardinal mistake of gambling boozed up without someone there to tell you “Hey, you might want to take your winnings and walk away”. So instead, I started with about $50, was up over $100, and then, eventually, lost it all. Even so, I managed to stay up till the wee hours of the morning (and, of course, kept ordering Coronas) leaving me still a bit out of sorts as I finally headed back up to the hotel room.
Parlez-vous Casino War?
I woke up shortly later (early Saturday morning) on the cool floor of the bathroom. Ah, Vegas, where it isn’t a good time until someone winds up passing out randomly on the floor. I crawled back to bed ready for a College Football Saturday.
October 29, 2009
Trip To Las Vegas Day One
Ah Las Vegas, Emily and I got back at 6:00am ET on Monday September 28th, and we had a fantastic time! I’m going to do my best to give a blow by blow review of our time out on the Strip, reviewing restaurants, casinos, hotels, bars, pools, etc. It all depends on how well it comes back to me through the fog….
Thursday
Headed to the airport for our 6:15 flight – always nervous headed to Charlotte-Douglas Airport, but we managed to quickly find a spot in the Long Term 1 parking lot and a shuttle arrived right as we got our bags to the curb. Checked one bag ($15, thanks for the nickle & dime attack US Airways. And thank you for the $15 checking fee to bring the bag home) and we hopped on our non-stop flight to Sin City!
You know it’s going to be a good trip when your bag is one of the first to enter the baggage claim area, and the taxi line is pretty short. Emily and I were quickly en route to Planet Hollywood. Now, if your bag coming off the baggage claim line quickly is a good sign (Third bag off the plane? Awesome!), what kind of a sign is a wrong-way driver while heading to your hotel? I’m not sure which takes precident, but the cabbie laid on the horn and the driver quickly got the point and headed off onto the shoulder. Number of times Death has been dodged: 1.
At the check-in counter, I was able to slip the guy at the front desk a $20 and we were upgraded from a Hollywood Hip room to a Resort Room (wondering the best way to do this? When they ask for your ID and a Credit Card for incidentals, put a folded twenty in-between). I tried to press on for more, mentioning that we were celebrating our recent engagement – the PH had been running a promotion saying “The Drinks are on Us” where you get a free bottle of booze from the ABC store every day of your stay, but because I hadn’t registered specifically for that feature, I was shot down in my attempts to get the free drinks. Oh well, can’t win em all.
The check-in area at the Planet Hollywood is nicely laid out and very sleek looking. The people behind the counter, however, were wearing some sort combination of purple shirts and this crushed-fake-velvet looking black jackets which were looking pretty threadbare – it has the effect of looking pretty slick from across the room but once you’re face to face, you worry that the clerk might hit you up for your spare change in addition to your registration information.
Our view from our Planet Hollywood room.
After our dealings, we made our way to the room, which would up overlooking the Planet Hollywood Pool Area and had views of the Bellagio Fountains, part of Caesar’s Palace, and Paris. We had a very comfortable King sized bed, flat screen TV/Armoir, two lounge chairs with a coffee table between them in the bedroom. The bathroom (which, upon entering the room felt like a sauna, but a few hours of having the A/C on cooled it back down) was very spacious with a glass and tile shower next to a stand alone bathtub. His and her sinks were located on opposite sides of the bathroom.
The weirdest thing about the room was also one of PH’s signature design touches – each room at the Planet Hollywood containes movie memorabilia. I came into the room expecting this, but for some reason I never expected that we would be in the “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape” Suite – complete with Juliette Lewis’s outfit from the movie, images of a young Johnny Depp and a very young Leonardo DiCaprio in addition photots of them with the walrus-sized Mama character. I have never actually seen this movie and, somehow, I think that I was better off in the room not knowing what was going on in the scenes that were playing out on our walls.Only other complaint about the room was the lack of drawers. I like taking everything out of my suitcase on a longer stay and setting up home – but between Emily and I – two drawers really wasn’t enough space to get everything out. At least the closet was plenty big enough for our hanging stuff.
Yep, we had this picture large and framed in our "Gilbert Grape" room
Afterwards (since it was getting a little late for the two of us) we decided to tough it out by going to walk the Planet Hollywood floor and find something to eat. Neither of us were really impressed by the casino at Planet Hollywood, we played a couple slot machines and walked around looking at the different tables. We failed completely to find a slot machine game that Emily enjoyed playing at the Turningstone Casino in Utica, NY – “Pick Your Forture”. So we tried to find something that was almost as good (although I don’t think anything ever lived up to that billing). The Sportsbook in the PH was pretty nice with a good number of TVs, decent bar area, and friendly people working the book. I made a few mental notes on the upcoming weekend’s games.
The food at Pink's? Fast, Delicious and a good deal in Las Vegas.
We also stopped by Pink’s, which had recently opened in Planet Hollywood – apparently there are only two Pink’s in the US – I think the other one is somewhere in LA? And this one would up being very tasty and not too pricy. We both tried the hotdogs and had some fries and some beers. Definitly a great spot, especially with the outside seating where you could watch the weird world of Vegas walk by.
Finally, we started to feel the need to get some sleep, so it was off to bed to prepare for the next day.
October 27, 2009
Sorry for Lack of Updates!
Been crazy around here, I owe a big post on Vegas and I’m actually still writing it. But before the weekend, I’m going to publish as least the first chunk of the first two days we were there, promise. Longest posts I’ve written for this site so you’ll get a full review of our Vegas Experience.
Until then, quick beer pick for you, if you’re in Asheville, NC, head over to the Wedge Brewery in the River Arts District. They have a couple delicious beers available straight from the source in their tasting room.
September 22, 2009
I like to call it Lost Wages
Vegas trip is coming up, Emily and I will be flying out to sunny Las Vegas Thursday afterwork, touching down around 8:00 Vegas time. I’ll be taking plenty of notes on the trip to provide you with a comprehensive review of the Planet Hollywood Resort, the strip, the different casinos, any restaurants, clubs, shows etc. that we make! And, if you have any Sports Book wagers you’d like to make (IE this years Super Bowl Champs?) best get me your wager before Thursday….
September 8, 2009
Beer Review! St. Bernardus Pater 6
Another day, another beer review! This Belgian beer comes from the St. Bernardus brewery. The beer pours very well, with a good pillowed head, and a soft brown color. Take a whiff, and you’ll already smell a bit of the nuttiness that to come. It’s a dubbel style beer, with 6.7% alcohol. The first sip will give you a nice bitter bite that gives way to a smooth, creamy finish and a nutty taste. You’ll probably also get a taste and smell of oatmeal – which reminds me of the more mass-produced Samuel Adams Oatmeal Stout, but with a bit more depth and punch. Effortlessly drinkable, I could sit down and do several of these back to back. The taste lingers just long enough. Very nice! (8 of 10)
September 2, 2009
Mrs. World of Jay?
Well the posting have been short recently, but not without good reason! This past weekend, I finally was able to find the perfect time to ask my girlfriend, Emily (The better half of the beer reviews here), if she would marry me. She didn’t wait too long before answering “Yes!” which was a huge relief to me. The past few days have been a whirlwind of phone calls, notes of congratulations, getting out and celebrating with people and getting the ball rolling on a wedding.
For those who might be wondering, a date hasn’t been set yet, although we are looking at Memorial Day Weekend next year (depending on if everything could be available for that day) or sometime in the fall. With my class schedule, I have no idea if I’ll have class in June or July until about January of next year, which makes it hard to plan for those months.
I’ll definitely have plenty to blog about as we go along, so you might see a few points of view on the preparations from my side of things (versus the much more seen Bride’s point of view).
Emily and I are flying to Utica this weekend to visit her sister and her husband. Interestingly, our pilot will be Emily’s Dad who is licensed to fly personal aircraft and has a friend who owns a plane. The trip will be much, much shorter than our Thanksgiving drive of next year. We’ll see how I do in an airplane. If I don’t get an update in before we leave, I’ll probably drop a few notes on Twitter about the trip. Until then!
