just a little something on some drinks

I don't know if it is just me but every time I have any Hinterland Beer bought from the store, no matter what flavor it all has this strange weird taste. I am almost beginning to think that it is the bottles they use since it is the same odd bad tasted with every flavor. Maybe it is a particular ingredient they use too, I don't know and I can not put my finger on it. It is like part of me wants to like the beers I try from them, especially since they are a local brewery right here in Green Bay, WI but part of me really thinks there is just something wrong with them too. Maybe I should go to the restaurant and have some fresh from the tap beer to get an honest taste.




Well the other day I did pick up some Hinterland Amber Ale and some Saison Farmhouse Ale. These were just OK in my opinion, I don't think I could really drink more than one bottle of either in a sitting. They are just not good drinking beers, but maybe more something to have with a meal.




I also picked up a couple other pricey brews. I bought a bottle of Samuel Adams Dark Depths Baltic IPA. This was much better than the Hinterland brews though it still was not a good drinking beer but another great beer to have with a nice hearty meal. It has a 7.6% alcohol content which I always like to see beers with higher alcohol. The only bad thing is usually higher alcohol tends to mean higher price too.





The other new brew I bought to try out was Lake Front Brewery's Local Acre Lager Now this was by far the best of the bunch I bought. I nice golden lager with a decent 7% alcohol content. It was both a good meal beer and one that you could drink more of easily. Also the fact that it is another quality beer brewed in Wisconsin so you have to love that. I like to keep money here in the state and locally when I can, always good to support your local economy.





I picked up a 6 pack of Mike's Hard Limeade, this stuff is way too tasty. I love limeade, lime Popsicle, and so on and this stuff is bad news for me..haha. They are especially really good ice cold on a nice hot summer day.

Now for the weekend I just picked up some good old reliable stuff to drink. I bought a 6 pack of some good easy to drink and taste great Kirin Ichiban Japanese beer. It is just a nice golden beer that goes down smooth, can drink plenty of them if you are thirsty that is for sure.

Then I also purchased a bottle of the always cheap and dependable Old Thompson Whiskey. If you are in the mood for some mixer drinks with whiskey this is by far your best value, when it is mixed it is not even noticed. Heck to be honest it isn't even that bad of a whiskey to drink shots of either. Granted it is no high quality bourbon or anything, but it is not terrible like some whiskey's out there. All I need is some Coke and I can easily drink this cheap whiskey any day, but give me the chance I would much rather have a great bourbon instead.

1940's Old Thompson Ad. I thought of course , my friends always stop over in their helicopter's.

Well here is to a good rest of the weekend. I hope everybody is enjoying their's as well.

Busy, Busy, Busy

Have not had much time this week to make any posts on here. I had a lot of things I had to do this past week and just didn't find the time to post anything. So now that the busy part of the week is over I can sit down finally and write something new, although be it probably not very interesting.

Well finally made it to the doctor's this week and now I have to go to physical therapy, of which I started this week too. Doctor said there was too much swelling in my knees and my back was too tight. My physical therapist concluded that indeed I was way too tight especially in my pelvic and back area. For now I will be going twice a week to PT and also having to do twice a day at home exercises everyday. I also tried to get myself out and much more active this week. I put in quite a few miles on the bike and also put in a decent amount of miles walking too. I know I need to get both non weight bearing and weight bearing exercises.

The quest is to get myself feeling back to normal again. The accident I was in didn't produce any outward physical injuries, but boy has it ever made my knees, back, and pelvic area not feel very up to par and it has been nearly 2 months since it happened. I will just follow what the professionals say to do and hopefully we will start to see some positive results soon too.

I was also able to get a lot of the paperwork and things the insurance company needed out to the agent this week, I am sure she is happy about that. I sometimes end up being such a protagonist when it comes to these sorts of things. The main thing now is that they have the information they needed. I still need to get my bike down for an inspection to see what the cost of repairs is going to be. Either way, replacing the bike or fixing it, it will be nice when it is done. The bike now as it rides is not very reliable and not the smoothest ride either, but it does get me from point A to point B and when it is your only form of transportation you have to make due.

Thanks Sweetie, you are the best :*

The box it came in, I bet those oranges probably tasted great!:P

packed with some Japanese newpaper,
at least it was the sports section!!

I love when I get a package from my girlfriend, it is such an exciting thing. I know it is coming and everything but yet I still get so excited when it arrives here. She really is the absolute best, I love her so much. I also love getting new things to try from Japan too. She always thinks about things that I would like, or if I mentioned them before. This time she stocked me up on Japanese noodles for awhile, and it is a nice variety of different styles too. I will be certainly figuring out recipes to cook with them this week. In this wonderful package she sent I got udon, kishimen, hiyamugi, soumen and soba noodles. There is also a bottle of soba sauce concentrate, toasted laver, package of Japanese pancake mix, oligo syrup, two bottles of Kewpie mayonaise, two small Japanese tapestries, some tattoos for my son, and a very nice little thoughtful gift to give to my mom when she visits here in May. Last but not least I can't forget the wonderful, lovely and so meaningful letter she sent, and the nice instructions and labels for everything. This is exactly why I say she is the best, and sweetie I know you will read this too so yes you are the best. :*

All the goodies I got today, thanks baby! I lobe you <3

And the walls came tumbling down

Looking East over the old Dousamn St bridge. The old Port Plaza logo in the background and one of the anchor stores H.C Prange Co. to the right along with the old Ramada Inn (formerly the Beaumont and later would be a Day's Inn)

This is obviously not the most timeliest of postings on this subject, since the demolition is nearly complete. So now it is no better time than now to talk a little about the old Port Plaza shopping mall in downtown Green Bay, WI.

Like so many I too have fond memories of Port Plaza, from shopping with my parents when I was little to hanging out there as a young teenager. Some of the early memories are a blur and same as some of the dates for when certain things happened. I would have to say for me the best memories probably were from 13 to about 16 or about '87-'90. These were the days when I got my first job at Kroll's West making $3.35 and hour and I would take my bi-weekly paycheck to the bank then off to the mall and other places in the downtown area like Surfin' Bird Skate Shop , The Exclusive Company, and Imports Plus. The usual routine once we got to the mall was to stop at Osco Drug and buy a carton of Old Gold smokes, either meet someone or put in the call for a bag, stopping at either Taco Bell ($.49 menu items back then)

Old School Taco Bell Sign, anyone remember these?

 or McDonalds. I would always get the McChicken sandwich and put a BBQ sauce on it, back then they were virtually one giant Chicken McNugget not the gross version they are now. I also remember the windows clearly saying $.35 hamburgers and $.45 cheeseburgers.


Then how could a trip to the mall be complete without a stop at the Gold Mine arcade. I can remember when I was a real little kid and being with like my Mom, and when we would pass by it that it seemed so dark and mysterious. It was as if the place not somewhere little kids should go, like as if there was some shady pedophile lurking in there ready to kidnap a kid. Once I got older and started to go there quickly you realized it was nothing like the image I imagined as a real little kid.

I can remember getting my Ramone's style knock off Perfecto leather jacket from Wilson's Leather. Though it was not an expensive authentic one, it still was really good quality. I still wish I never sold it, though these days it is highly unlikely that I could wear it even in my dreams..haha

I also remember many times my Mom taking me out to eat at the Crockery or sitting with my Dad in Diamond Dave's while my Mom and Sister would be shopping. Orange Julius and Hot Sam were both favorites of mine. Back then it was great because both Port Plaza and Bay Park Square had them. though the Bay Park Square Orange Julius was better it was a sit down and had a full menu.

Looking at an old mall directory it said there was a Port Plaza Twin theater. That I do not remember at all, anyone who does remember should chime in on it. Was it short lived or what?



Now with the mall gone it is reminiscent in an eerie way of what the city had to do to pave the way for the mall to be built, basically create a big empty vacant area of land.

Downtown Green Bay 1950

Destroying the historic downtown

Looking North down Washington. These would be razed to add a 3rd anchor to the mall and a parking lot.

Concept Art for the mall and surrounding area 1974

The area that was razed facing Cedar what is now Main St, JC Penny would anchor this side of the mall.

Another picture showing the large amount of area that was razed then to make way for the redevelopment downtown then

Ironically it all comes full circle

It was fun when the mall was the place to be, but as with everything all good things eventually come to an end. For better or worse Green Bay tried to experiment with redeveloping the downtown back then just as they are doing it now. Every time we go out with the old and in with the new there will be those who oppose it and those who welcome it. There had to be obvious economic reasons back then and just as there is now to do what they are trying to do. If we don't take risks and bring in change we get stuck and then there is never any growth. I never got to really see downtown before the mall, I don't remember it. I have to imagine it was a dying area for awhile and not nearly as happening as people try to make it. If it was they would have never thought of redeveloping it. We tend to want to remember the past as a little better than it really was. Lets hope that the new phase of downtown redevelopment can bring a positive economic change back to the downtown area. Retro is in so I guess we should take advantage of it along with the modern too, just make it built to last a couple decades and give room for growth and improvement too.

Just so happened yesterday :P^^

So I was biking to the store yesterday to pick up some milk and I was going to bike downtown, but my bike is such a pain and it also was a bit chilly yesterday. I had planned to get some Japanese food for lunch but instead ended up going to Margarita's at 1241 Lombardi Access Rd Green Bay WI
This is another one of those places I just really like. One dish I can never get enough of is their  Spicy Chicken Chipotlé Molé, it also comes in pork as well. Besides the standard dish they also offer it in a burrito and chimichanga versions as well. I was able to make it in yesterday during lunch time and because my eyes are bigger than my stomach I ended up ordering too much food. I went with the Chicken Chipotlé Molé chimichanga and their 2 crispy taco (shredded beef) lunch special. 

Could have used some help eating all this!!

1961 Wild Turkey Ad

I also had a really good Wild Turkey and Coke along with some of their house chips and salsa. Everything I had to eat and drink yesterday at Margarita's was fantastic, just as it is every time I go there.It is no wonder the places that are consistently good in the quality of food they serve will always get me to keep coming back time and time again. Margarita's isn't some small mom and pop type Mexican place, it has the feel of a national chain in appearance but I do recommend it none the less. I know I feel lucky to live about one mile from it, so I can easily bike there and back (help burn off the calories I eat there...haha).

On another note, while I was at the grocery store yesterday I took a stop in the Liquor store as well. Copps Food Center liquor store had 12 pack bottles of Blue Moon products on sale for $11.99. I thought this was a pretty good deal for Copps so I picked myself up a summer sampler pack. This is a new version of the summer sampler, it has 4 different beers compared to the usual 3. The original three Pale Moon; Belgian White; Summer Honey Wheat are all there, but this time they also included some limited edition Agave Blonde Ale. Yesterday I was so stuffed and super tired that all I had was the three Pale Moon that came in the 12 pack. The kids go with their mother this weekend so I will be checking out the Agave Blonde Ale tonight, as well as drinking up the rest too. I mean we wouldn't want any of the other bottles to feel lonely now would we?

Funny how I left the house yesterday with one plan and in the end it ends up being completely different than what I had originally planned. Oh well, the day was still good despite the change in plans and the not so great chilly and eventually rainy weather.

Pretty cool !!^^ Scale of the Universe

User ArlJim78, over on the Pace Advantage horse racing forum, posted a link in the off topic section on the 15th of April. This is a interactive Universe to scale, from the smallest known in theory to the largest known. I thought it was pretty cool to get a perspective of just how small and how large things in our Universe really are. This is the second edition from this site, virtually the same thing just that this one is a little larger in terms of viewing size and of course some different objects they use.

Well here is the link, I hope you enjoy it The Scale of the Universe 2

Hubble Ultra Deep Field

Here is a video zooming in on the Hubble Ultra Deep Field picture.

Lambeau Construction

Lambeau Field prior to current construction

So I figured I should post the video I took yesterday showing some of the Lambeau Field construction. The current construction is seeing the installation of two new HD scoreboards, new gate, and additional seating to the south end-zone.

Sorry the video is a bit noisy with the wind from the car.!!

Lambeau really has grown up so much since the days of living at my parents old house across the street on Shadow Lane. Sadly though the neighborhoods around Lambeau, even though still fun party atmosphere, are not like they use to be. It has almost turned into a commercialization and harassment to get people to park at the houses surrounding Lambeau. Still either way it is one of the coolest neighborhoods you could ever live in. I am still glad I am within a mile of Lambeau, I don't think I have ever lived more than 2 miles away to be honest. 

Here are a few older Lambeau Pictures taken from my parents old backyard. They are in no particular order in regards to what year, enjoy!