The B-Daddy Channel - Covers Edition

My nephew, Kevin, is a talented young musician. He will be playing guitar in a production of Tommy by The Who. We were discussing Pinball Wizard, and decided that deciding between The Who and Elton John for best rendition was the most difficult covers question we had ever heard. So I leave it to the readers to decide.

Time Warner Cable - High Speed to Nowhere

Time Warner Cable (TWC) is the worst service provider ever. I have had nothing but problems with them over the years, but lately it has just gotten worse. As soon as AT&T U-verse comes to my neighborhood I am going to switch service. A brief litany of their stupidity.

• When I switched phone service from AT&T to save dollars, they didn't install my service on time, leaving me without land line service for days.
• They lied about the price I would pay for my new telephone service. They quoted me a rate for my second line that wasn't actually available. I ended up cancelling the second line because it was so expensive.
• When TWC installed the new phone service they were unable to make every phone jack in the house work, even though they had all worked with AT&T.
• The installation is an ugly mess in my bedroom.
• During the recent power outage, they lost all phone service. They are totally dependent on SDG&E in San Diego, with no back up power. My neighbors were gracious enough to let us use their phones to check on Mrs. Daddy's folks.
• But even if they had power back up, my phone would still have died, because when TWC installed my phone modem, they didn't install a battery back up.
• When I asked that a battery back up be sent to me, they have twice said it would be shipped. After five days, when it didn't show up, I called back and they said the order was cancelled. They offered to charge me $30.00 to have a technician deliver it, when it should have been installed in the first place.
• Their chat room technician said that I should visit the TWC store, but the help desk said not to do that, regarding the battery.
• Every few months, I trek to the TWC to replace my digital cable box, as they start to act up.
• They are misleading in their commercials about free HD. If you want ESPN in HD for example, you have to rent their box for $8 per month per box.

Why they stay in business is only because the city grants them a monopoly as cable provider in their service area. I wouldn't invest in their stock, because if we know anything about technology, its that technical change disrupts monopolies.

Beer Review - Bear Republic Red Rocket Ale

Yesterday we had a little barbecue and Dean brought by one of my favorite beers, Bear Republic's Red Rocket Ale. Someday I'll get around to a top 10 beer list, like Max, but this ale would certainly be on it. (Off the top of my head, I would also include Deschutes Mirror Pond Pale Ale, Avery Salvation Golden Ale, Delirium Tremens, Alpine Ale, Shiner Bock and Highway 78 Scotch Ale.) Bear Republic also makes an excellent IPA, Racer 5.

As you can see from the picture, Red Rocket pours a dark amber-brown, with a head that is full but disappears quickly. But don't let that fool you, it's full of flavor. It has just a hint of sweetness to balance much more hoppiness than expected from an amber ale. Red Rocket is fairly complex, and always takes me a few sips to absorb all of the different flavors embedded. At 6.8% ABV, its not too boozy so its a nice companion to a bbq meal especially steak. Although not a San Diego beer, it is from California, Healdsburg to be specific. Craft beer is one of the few growing industries in our state, and also the least regulated, figure that.

Beer Review - Palmetto Amber Ale

I was on travel this week to Charleston, SC. We had an after work social at California Dreaming and I asked about the local beer. The barkeep only had one suggestion, the amber ale pictured at right. I was surprised, and he added he add one more, a Pale Ale from Palmetto Brewing, but the delivery hadn't come in. To be honest, I thought a restaurant with pretensions to be Californian out to have more than Miller, Bud Light, Blue Moon, and Widmer Hefeweizen on draft. In fact, other than the one local beer, even the bottled line up was rather ordinary, as Mrs. Daddy's Aussie cousins would say (translation, pretty poor.) The only thing the restaurant really had going for it was a great view of Charleston harbor.

Regardless, I always try to sample the local beer, and this was going to be my one shot. Palmetto Amber Ale pour a dark copper with not much head. The barley is roasted a little darker than a standard amber. took my frist sip and was a little surprised. Fred one of our local hosts had warned me the beer would be bitter; but while it was definitely more hoppy than your average amber, it was not near as hoppy as expected. The beer also had a nice rich malty taste to it, that went down well. Alcohol content seemed about average. This beer was tasty enough to order a second one to go with the overcooked wings and soggy nachos. (The croissants, however, were delicious.)

My final gripe was that they kept the ale ice cold and served it in ice cold pint glasses. I had to let the beer set a while so I could taste it.

Overall, considering that I sampled Palmetto Amber Ale from the bottle, I was very pleased with this local beer. I give it a solid B. Given the richness, they could have easily balanced with more hops.


FTC Disclaimer: I may or may not have received valuable consideration in the form of swag, jack and/or coin to endorse these products. I am not saying and have the right not to do so.

Technology Review: Samsung Epic Android Smartphone

Mrs. Daddy's phone has been eligible for an upgrade since 2006 (she had a Motorola i90c), so today we went shopping at the Sprint store today and picked up a handsome Samsung Epic. No points for guessing which phone is newer.

This is a great phone that costs only $150 with a two year contract. You can read other reviews of the technology whiz bang, I wanted to focus a little on the operational aspects of having this phone linked with Google.

This is our first try at linking a smart phone to calendar, email, facebook, etc. We went with Google's Android OS rather than the iPhone because it seemed to make the integration with Gmail and Google calendar easier. My wife had been using our Roadrunner account for her main email and Entourage as her software client, but I was having a difficult time figuring out how we were going to synch that with the new phone. It was easier just to start over with a new Google account. We also linked Apple's mail program and iCal to the Google account. This will make keeping the synchronization much easier. This is what is meant by the cloud.

Of course, Mrs. Daddy isn't all that interested in that mundane stuff, she is busy using the camera, downloading "Angry Birds" and testing out the GPS enabled navigation. Which begs the question, why did my GPS device cost as much as this Samsung phone, but does only one application? But it points out the larger issue, that these smart phones are a replacement for multiple devices, maybe even a computer. Except for screen size, most of what we really want to do on our computer we can do on the phone.

Exit question: When will someone build a monitor that connects to a smart phone to overcome its only disadvantage?

The only drawback this phone is that the battery drains quickly when your having fun.


FTC Disclaimer: I may or may not have received valuable consideration in the form of swag, jack and/or coin to endorse these products. I am not saying and have the right not to do so.

The B-Daddy Channel

This may be a repeat but I wanted to go with a covers edition, following Dean's lead.

The original:




The cover:



Let me know what you think.

The B-Daddy Channel

Happy Easter this weekend, here is some music to celebrate with.

The B-Daddy Channel

This week were going with obscure eurotrash lounge music from the 60s and 70s. Why? Because we can. Here is Jacques Dutronc performing his hit Le Responsable.




There is another great version here, with live dancing, but can't be embedded.

And some more French pop, just because:

Beer Review - Alesmith Anvil ESB

Today's beer review is one of my favorite beers, that I continue to savor with a variety of meaty dishes. As you can see from the picture, I am talking about Alesmith's Anvil ESB. For the uninitiated, ESB means extra special bitter, from the days in England when most beers tended to be sweeter stouts and porters. An ESB was a lighter beer with light carbonation, and certainly more bitter than a stout. By today's California standards for IBUs, an ESB is not especially bitter.

Alesmith's entry into this category is its flagship beer. It has a nice dark copper tone, with a bit of head and not too much carbonation. It has a very nice nutty taste that always tempts me to drink it too quickly. I like to drink this ale out of a pint dimple mug, the traditional English drinking glass for bitters. Even tough it is a bitter, my palette has become so used to west coast IPAs that I find this to be a little sweet, mainly due to its maltiness. (Kids, that's probably not a word.) However, I would also say that this entry has more hops than its English cousins. For me, that makes the almost perfect beer, sweet, malty but with just enough bite from the hops.

Available, at Keil's and your fine local liquor stores.

Cross posted from Tiger Lily's Island.

The B-Daddy Channel

Over at The Liberator Today I commented on The Big Chill and the transition of the Baby Boomers from college protesters to capitalist consumers of the finer material things our society has to offer. Today's video has some of those elements. Bowie who wrote and performed the song that created the Major Tom character, was and still is popular among the hipsters. But the Shiny Toy Guns have breathed new life into this classic, even as it used to hawk Cadillacs, which the boomers parents were enamored of, but the boomers not so much. I am including the original version by Peter Schilling because we love to compare the covers.

Beer Review - Highway 78 Scotch Ale

I was at the High Dive today with Dean, letting San Diego State give me a heart attack by allowing a second overtime against Temple, in March Madness action. Looking for a second ale to fortify me, and help me resist the temptation to order more food, I noticed Highway 78 Scotch Ale on the board, indicating it was on tap. (We previously discussed why we always go for the beer on tap.) The wait staff helpfully explained that this beer was the result of collaboration between local brewers Green Flash, Pizza Port and Stone. I have always been a big fan of Belhaven Scottish Ale, so I was curious to see what our local award winners had cooked up.

They didn't disappoint. The beer had a nice dark amber pour, with an average amount of head. (I am not a big fan of a lot of head.) As one would expect for a scotch ale, it had plenty of malty sweetness and I had to struggle to slow down and enjoy it. As one would expect from our local brewers, it also had more hoppiness than a traditional scotch ale. However, the hops were balanced well with the malt, making for a very nice beer. I was a little surprised that they chose to pour the beer into a tulip glass, maybe Max can explain, as I normally would enjoy this ale in a standard pint glass. Maybe it was the alcohol content, which pushes 9%, and the tulip glass delivered less volume. Regardless, this was a highly enjoyable beer, a longtime import favorite improved by our local brewers. Overall grade: A-.

Cross Posted to Tiger Lily's Island.

The B-Daddy Channel

Went with what I consider romantic music at TLT for the weekend's music here is some more.





A little more on the memories that go with the second video are discussed at Avocado Memories.

B-Daddy's P-cakes

This morning I started to make some weekend pancakes, and was bored and unenthusiastic about the effort. I'm a firm believer that in my role as Dad, I should have a breakfast specialty. It's important to be able to do a few things in the kitchen and builds relationships. Pancakes fit the bill. Today, I decided to pull together a number of ideas I have had or tried over the years, this is the result.

First, this recipe can start with whatever your base recipe might be. I realize that most of us don't make pancakes totally from scratch, so this recipe is intended to supplement whatever recipe is your base. I will use a store brand mix recipe for illustration.

Base recipe for 12 pancakes:

Dry mix - 2 cups
Milk - 1-1/2 cups but we are reducing this to 1-1/4 cups due to the extra liquid in our supplement below.
Eggs - 2
Oil - 2 Tbsp

B-Daddy's supplement:

Lemon Juice - 2 tbsp
Baking powder - 2 tsp
Granular Sugar - 3 Tbsp
Vanilla - 2 Tbsp
Beer - 1/2 cup (I recommend a bock or dark lager like Longboard Lager.)
Quaker Oats Instant Oatmeal (Maple & Brown Sugar) - 2 packs

Mixing the batter:

In mixing bowl, lightly beat eggs, and add the liquid ingredients (milk, oil, lemon juice, vanilla) but not the beer, also add the sugar. Stir to an even consistency. Add the beer.

Separately mix the dry pancake mix, oatmeal and baking powder.

Add the dry mix to the liquid and blend with a fork until at an even consistency, but small lumps can remain. (Do not over blend.)

Using 1/4 cup portions, pour the batter on a lightly buttered griddle. Flip when the bubbles have mostly formed (a little sooner than with your traditional recipe.)

I may experiment in the future with increasing the beer and decreasing the other main liquid, whether it be milk or water.

Some notes on the theories behind this recipe.
The carbonation from the beer helps lighten the pancakes, as does the combination of the lemon juice and baking powder. The sugar makes the pancakes sweeter, but also causes the edges to carmelize more quickly, hence the need to flip the cakes sooner than otherwise. The oatmeal makes for a heartier consistency. Cooking with butter? Well that should be obvious.

Cross posted to Tiger Lily's Island.

And yes, I drank the rest of the beer.

Selecting a Beer for Your Date

Has this ever happened to you? You're on a date. Your sweetheart, wife, or girlfriend, who normally orders wine, surprises you with, "I'd like to try a beer with my meal tonight, what do you recommend?" Your heart races, she has put forward the ultimate trust in your judgment, asking you to select her beer. But will you prove worthy? How will you balance your treasured "guy-knowledge" of the the ancient tradition, with the need to ease the fairer sex into this experience with all the gentleness you can muster? Never fear, B-Daddy is here to guide you through the process.

Your first and most important question is for your wait staff, "What do you have on draft?" Why? Because the draft beer has a number of important qualities that contribute to its superior quality. First, it is likely to be fresher than the beer sitting in the cooler of the restaurant, for who knows how long. Freshness matters with most beers, and certainly with the kind that you will be ordering for your date. Second, the draft beer is in a sealed metal keg. So what? Light is the enemy of beer flavor, as well. Beer exposed to light eventually obtains a putrid taste known as "skunk beer" which is the result of the hop oils spoiling. (Source: BeerAdvocate) If draught, or draft, beer is unavailable, then you want beers in the darkest bottles for similar reasons.

But, we are little closer to selecting a beer. If your date has little exposure to drinking beer, then what little she has sampled is probably an American lager such as Coors or Budweiser. If so, and you might want to discuss this, you might suggest a more full-bodied lager. You want to expand the reach of her palette without frightening her off. You might want to look for some quality lagers. A lager may be described just as a lager or some other style such as bock (somewhat darker), Märzen, or Pilsner. I have found that Mrs. Daddy also likes the Hefeweizen style of beer, which is neither a lager nor an ale; Widmer Hefeweizen on tap is great and often available. (For a discussion of the difference between lagers and ales see beer-faq.) I suggest the lemon or orange slice if you go with the hefeweizen, because your lady friend might not be ready for all the yeast taste. I know they might be a little pedestrian, but Shiner Bock, Stella Artois, and Sapporo have been successful selections for me. ( The Sapporo 22 oz can seems to do a good job of preserving freshness. Cans are actually better than bottles because they don't let in light.) What ever you do, stay away from this guy's top ten for your uninitiated date (but not for yourself, those are some great ales.)

If your relationship is of a long term nature, you also have another opportunity. The beer you order for yourself can be the introduction to more flavorful ales for your date. Always offer to let her have a sip of your beer so that she can develop a taste and you can see what she likes. This means you might limit your own selection in the long term interests of the relationship. I recommend pale ales to start; heavily hopped beers like IPAs take some getting used to. If you live in San Diego, Stone Pale Ale or Ballast Point Yellowtail Pale Ale make excellent introductions.

That's it, I strongly recommend you do some research yourself and be ready to impress your date.

Cross posted to Tiger Lily's Island.

What is Important - Today's Memorial Service

I went to a memorial service for a family friend today and was given a sharp reminder of what's truly important. Judy did not write a blog, never ran for office, and didn't run a business, yet hundreds of people turned out for her service. Why? She touched the lives of so many people through the love and generosity of her life. She was a friend to everyone who came into her life, especially her family. Always thinking of how she could help others, even when she was in the last stages of cancer, she was known for a beneficence of spirit that impacted the world around her. Now she is sorely missed, even though we have the assurance that she is with the Lord. And it gives me pause to examine what is important in my own life. And I am sad that I never told her how grateful I was for the friendship she gave to our family, especially my Mom. But I also know she would have said that no thanks were necessary.

The B-Daddy Channel

It's covers weekend, taking Dean's lead. I am going with 60s covers this weekend:

B-Daddy's Book of Management - Update

This is a re-post of my earlier post. I knew I had a tenth rule, but couldn't remember it, scroll down to #10 for the update.

I have had some success as a manager, which always amazes me. I am not a particularly brilliant leader, but I have had great people working for me, making me look good. I have a few simple ideas about management that I want to record for posterity. If I get around to it, I will flesh out some of these ideas and perhaps add to them in future posts.

Rules of B-Daddy's Book of Management.

1. Plan to do nothing, and you will certainly achieve your goals.

2. Management is hard, leadership is better and supervision is most difficult of all.
Corollary: Hire people who don't need supervision.

3. Hiring is the manager's most important decision.

4. Stay on message. Communicate consistently. Repeat your theme repetitively.

5. The commodity in shortest supply is management attention.
Corollary 1: The most important word in a manager's vocabulary is "no."
Corollary 2: Email is an evil leach of your time.

7. Understand your firm's economic engine and your unit's.

8. Be careful what you ask for, you just might get it.

9. Deliver the bad news yourself, let your people deliver the good news.

10. If you can't cover yourself in glory, cover yourself in paper.

Power of Faith - Christianity and Islam

Throughout Muslim lands, Christians face persecution, torture and death for "bitterly clinging" to their religion. Apostasy, converting to a faith other than Islam is punishable by death, yet men and woman still convert to Christianity in the Middle East in predominately Muslim countries. Meanwhile, Muslims face no like persecution in the West, and Islam has a tradition of forcible conversion of conquered peoples. (In fairness, Christian kings have also done so, but it is not a tenet of the faith and has not been practiced for centuries.) There is a strain of Islam today that still preaches the imposition of Islam by force.

So I ask, when one religion expands by force and seeks to prevent competition through threat of death and another religion relies upon persuasion to make its case and its believers are unwilling to renounce their faith, which religion is indeed more powerful?

The B-Daddy Channel

At TLT the weekend's music came from Iggy Pop, because I had tripped across him looking at my glam play-list. Over at BWD, Dean is doing a poll on cover vs. original, so I thought I would do the same. I am posting Iggy Pop's The Passenger again, along with Siouxsie and the Banshees 1980s cover. I will put up a poll at right.

Ale Review - Avery Brewing Salvation Ale

Sampled Avery Brewing's Salvation - Belgian Sytle Golden Ale. It was a little lighter in color than some other Belgians I have sampled. I admit to not being a big fan of this style in the first place, but really enjoyed this ale. The label is a bit tongue in cheek, calling itself the "Holy Trinity of Ales."

Waynok and I sampled from the 22 oz bomber, which had a nice clean pour, not much head. What struck me right away was the spicy flavor to this beer. Even though the label touts apricot and peach flavors, the cinnamon is what I first noticed, along with the higher than average ABV at 9%, it also has a little more hoppiness than the standard Belgian. The peaches came through more in the aftertaste. It also had a very full feeling while drinking it, insisting that it be sipped. This is a nice after dinner beer, very full and flavorful. My grade is an A-.

The B-Daddy Channel

Road Dawg urged me to revive this blog, so I have. Plus it gives me a chance to post more music. Doing 90s grunge at TLT, so wanted to continue a little in that vain.

Greenday may not be "officially" grunge, but I associate them temporally with that era.

The B-Daddy Book of Management

I have had some success as a manager, which always amazes me. I am not a particularly brilliant leader, but I have had great people working for me, making me look good. I have a few simple ideas about management that I want to record for posterity. If I get around to it, I will flesh out some of these ideas and perhaps add to them in future posts.

Rules of B-Daddy's Book of Management.

1. Plan to do nothing, and you will certainly achieve your goals.

2. Management is hard, leadership is better and supervision is most difficult of all.
Corollary: Hire people who don't need supervision.

3. Hiring is the manager's most important decision.

4. Stay on message. Communicate consistently. Repeat your theme repetitively.

5. The commodity in shortest supply is management attention.
Corollary 1: The most important word in a manager's vocabulary is "no."
Corollary 2: Email is an evil leach of your time.

7. Understand your firm's economic engine and your unit's.

8. Be careful what you ask for, you just might get it.

9. Deliver the bad news yourself, let your people deliver the good news.

Sonos is the Bomb

Today I am reviewing one of the most unsung yet amazing tech products ever invented. Of course, I am referring to the Sonos music system. Not much to look at,


but a great product. In fact, it is the only thing we have ever purchased that actually improved over time. Here is how it works. The Sonos is a device to play music from the computers in your house, or the internet. No need for stereos, cd players, iPods, or radios any more, just one box with speakers (or several boxes), and an iPod like controller. At first the Sonos could only play music we had ripped to the computer. Later, it added various subscription music services, like Rhapsody. Initially the Rhapsody required the computer to be turned on to work, but later Sonos changed the software to allow Rhapsody streaming directly to the Sonos. Later radio stations, either local or worldwide were added to the mix. You can still attach your iPod or other device.

Our system has four boxes, that can operate independently, or in any combination. All four together is party mode. They communicate wirelessly, requiring only the connection to power and one or two sets of speakers. This gives maximum flexibility in their placement throughout the house. If you have a backyard party, you can just move the box and speakers outdoors. Speaking of parties, you can build playlists consisting of hundreds of songs themed for the party and can mix between streaming and home computer sources for the music. (For the very nerdy, you can even play from independent networked attached storage or an iPod you connect to your network.) We have a Halloween themed list that starts with the Monster Mash and has the Bloodletting by Concrete Blonde, for example.

Other amenities include a search function for Rhapsody that often finds obscure or hard to find songs. (Rhapsody requires a $12.99 per month subscription.) You can also download controllers that operate on the computer (Mac or PC), so the family doesn't have to fight over the one controller. It also has a simple equalizer if you need to adjust the sound.

As I said, this is the most amazing tech acquisition Mrs. Daddy and I have ever made, we recommend it highly.


FTC Disclaimer: I may or may not have received valuable consideration in the form of swag, jack and/or coin to endorse these products. I am not saying and have the right not to do so.

Cross posted to Tiger Lily's Island.