Man was it fun watching Roger choke yesterday. Bill Simmons has a great article about Clemens on ESPN.com. My favorite line: "...Roger Clemens is the only modern-day superstar who doesn't belong to a single city. That's why he became a hired gun. That's why his Hall Of Fame plaque should feature him wearing a a cap with a dollar sign on it."

On Saturday, Ann, Kristin, Doug and I went to yet another beer festival. This one was called "The Art of Beer Festival". The twist for this festival was that it had seminars - it was mecca for beer geekdom. The highlight for me was hearing Sam Calagione (president of Dogfish Head) do a rap about hooking up with an Anheuser-Busch sales girl. Truly hilarious. Oh yeah - the beer was good too.

I love the Daily Show. Go to this page and click on Bush vs. Bush - it's one of the funniest things I have ever seen. (I've fixed this link - it should work now)

Ann and I just got back from the Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks show at the Paradise. It was our second time seeing them and they were as great as ever. The highlight was definitely "Stupid Jenny" as Malkmus called it - a really slow version of "Jenny & the S Dog" in which Malkmus crooned sans guitar, his drummer put a towel on his back like a cape and pulled a tom tom out of his set to the middle of the stage and the bassist played what remained of the drum set. He even altered the lyrics a bit, saying "the guitarist from the band Phish" after the "dog she named Trey" line. This only just scratches the surface of the antics during the song. I love a band that doesn't take themselves too seriously.

By now everyone nows the horrible news about the Old Man of the Mountain. Ann and I were really kind of sad when we heard. I know it was just a pile of rocks, but it was really one of my favorite things abut New Hampshire. It never got old looking at him.

When Ann and I were coming home from our vacation a couple week ago I drove us out of our way in a downpour so we could go through the notch and see him. The clouds opened at exactly the right moment for us to catch a glimpse... we didn't know that it would be our last. As Ann said to me after we heard the news: "I always thought we would bring our kids to see him."

It's paraphrased in nearly every article about the collapse, but I really like the full quote by Daniel Webster about the Old Man:

"Men hang out their signs indicative of their respective trades; shoe makers hang out a gigantic shoe; jewelers a monster watch, and the dentist hangs out a gold tooth; but up in the Mountains of New Hampshire, God Almighty has hung out a sign to show that there He makes men."

Should they rebuild him? I don't think so. Nature put him there, nature took him away. Ann's idea was to rebuild him on the ground, so people can see what he looked like, but to leave the mountain alone. I think that's a good compromise, considering that the Old man was probably one of New Hampshire's biggest tourist attractions.

One last thing - Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote a pretty good story inspired by the Old Man if you are interested.

Lolly and I agree - this is the best music video ever. You need Real Player if you want to watch it.

Ann and I were going to go see Adaptation tonight, but while we were in Davis Sq. eating at Anna's Taqueria (Ann's favorite restaurant) we decided to go to NERAX (the New England Real Ale Exhibition for those of you who may not know). It was a mob scene, so we only got to try a few beers, but it is a cash bar, so you don't feel to bad when you only have a few. Cask conditioned beers are so good...