wine

Whoo hoo!: Midtown Wine Bar is having an awesome wine sale.

Tim Shimmel (pictured below), owner of the wine shop, has laid out a ton of exciting and mostly well-discounted wines for your explore.

Me, I snagged a tempranillo/syrah ... something else ... mix from Spain. Was $21 a bottle, now $15. Also saw some Italian, Chilean, Australian and French wines on sale. Mmmm! Tasty! Make your holiday party yummy, and make Tim happy:

Took yesterday off from the blog for, you know, writing purposes. The print paper can be demanding. Crazy old media. (I'd insert an emoticon here, but isn't that just so obvious?)

1. Wine in the news. Saves lives in Greece (though the story is tragic) and especially in the Willamette Valley, heralds global warming.

2. L.A. catching up with Eugene. OK, maybe surpassing us. But Weyerhauser and NextStep do a great job even if they're not city-sponsored.

3. Pollution kills. Watch out for that rising economy thing, China.

4. More "Californication." Actually, I got nothing against Cali, but plans to screw the lower Columbia and Coos Bay don't make me happy.

5. Bush may be an idiot. But he's a loyal one!

6. Got art? Got debt? If you're a college, sell off that art! Or maybe not.

7. Stupid city ordinance. I kind of fell in love with the blog posts about xeriscaping here. (But if you're into dahlias, you'll also be happy.) Extra cool: It's by Ketzel Levine. She lives in Portland. I heard a rumor that she used to work at KLCC, but I can't find any documentation of that. Yes? No? Readers?

8. Fear and photos. A bad combination for civil liberties and common sense.

9. Idaho is a gorgeous state. But one of its senators ain't lookin' too good right now.

10. Were you awake for the lunar eclipse?

This is what it looked like in San Francisco.

Ugh! So tired. But oh, my, did Chuck and I enjoy our four days at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, even the less good plays and the, well, disastrous tuna affair at the lame restaurant (all shall be revealed in good time).

Anyway, while we were away, things happened.
1. Nuclear war is OK online. Hey, we ran a story on Second Life. But this? This is creepy.

2. Get back on that rowing machine, Einstein! Exercise makes you smarter. SUCK. Why can't it all be about coffee and wine?

3. For more female equality (and better sex), don't beat your swords into plowshares; just get rid of 'em. Actually, that's but one thing that this Salon story tells us.
Generally women take a broader view of everything, for good Darwinian reasons.

4. Jesus F. Christ, please put down your book and pay attention to flight attendants when they talk about those emergency slides. And here's why.

5. Some dailies still have books coverage. Check out my hometown newspaper! Frankly, I'm shocked. Why? Where's Robert Heinlein on that list, eh?! (He was from KC, after all.)

6. Holy fucking shit: Hamas in kindergarten. If the photo with this story doesn't creep you out, you are not creepable. (Yes, it's totally SFW.)

7. Australia totally screws over its Aboriginal population. Seriously. Over the past six years, at least $30 million of the money the Government promoted as being for Aborigines was used to oppose native title and compensation claims.

8. Bush's Sweeping Push for Democracy Falters. Or so says The Washington Post. But um ... WHAT "push for democracy"? (Or here. Or here. Or here. Or ... )

9. The weekend's weirdest and possibly most counterproductive headline comes from Sunday's O, which ran Illegal immigrants aren't filling jails as the above-the-fold front page story. Um. Thanks, I think.
Online, the story has a different headline.

10. Don't have sex! You'll burn ... down your house!

BONUS: "Help! I'm Hot For an Older Lady in my Church Group!"