Summer's Here and so is BEER!

6/2 - I went with my pal, Toney, to see the new historical WWII drama called Pressure tonight at the Malco Theaters in Smyrna.  Beforehand, we had dinner at the Buffalo Wild Wings nearby that was surprisingly good.   The film was fantastic!  Excellent acting, production design and what an amazing true story!  More like this, Hollywood, please!  

6/6 - I started a week-long pet-sitting job up in Gallatin today.  I have stayed here before and it's an easy gig.    I was shocked, however, to find out that my favorite nearby restaurant, Vui's Vietnamese, has permanently closed as of the end of May.  Wow! That really hurts!   Well, at least there's some other good choices including Awedaddy's Bar and Grill out on Old Hickory Lake.  I met Ashlee and some friends there for lunch today and enjoyed a draft pint of the tasty Briarscratch Creekbank Blonde which I've had before but not attributed to Half Batch Brewing over in Hendersonville who look to have taken over the brewing from Briarscratch Brewing here in Gallatin.  It went well with my excellent sweet chili salmon.  

6/7 - I swung over to nearby Castilian Springs today to take a tour of the Wynnewood State Historic Site. Built in 1830 (probably mostly by slave labor sadly enough) as an inn and spa, it's the largest existing log structure in Tennessee.   I had a private tour since no one but me showed up for the 11 AM slot on a Sunday.  It was very interesting and kind of amazing that we didn't lose the entire thing to a tornado back in 2008 that damaged it greatly including taking the entire roof off the structure.  

6/8 - I had a remote workday today and afterwards I was going to and check out the sold-out Japan National Team practice at Geodis Park as they prepare for The World Cup starting at the end of the week, but the weather was iffy and it was long drive so I gave away my four free tickets as demand to attend got crazier than I was even expecting.  (Heard from a friend who went that I didn't miss much actually.) So instead, I just stayed in and ordered dinner delivered from Campione's Taste of Chicago (a beef and sausage protein bowl and a cup of their homemade chili).  I was excited to learn that a second location in Mt. Juliet has just opened up!   

6/9 - I weathered some stormy weather tonight and dropped by Half Batch Brewing in Hendersonville since it's pretty close to my dog-sitting house in Gallatin.  I had their very good JoshIPA, and then by the time I had their solid side-poured Personal Czech Pils, the sun was out again. 
Back at the house, I chopped a PokerStars home game vs. 6 other players with rebuys (none for me) to a little more than double my buy-in and add on.  Not much of a success, but I will take it after a rather long period of bad beats and coolers.  

6/10 - I wandered a little farther from the dog-sitting house in Gallatin tonight and visited Yazoo Brewing over in Madison.  I started with their Southern Gratzer which earned me the UNTAPPD badge pictured above.  "Historical beers" are old recipes from a bygone era that modern craft brewers are reviving.   A gratzer (grodzikie) is a long-ago Polish style of brewing that's being reborn here in the U.S.  This is actually my second one of these recently and I do like that smoky finish.   I finished with their solid Pilot Series: Weizenbock.  

6/11 - I had another remote workday and then I went to opening night of the new Steven Spielberg UFO flick, Disclosure Day, in IMAX tonight at the Streets of Indian Lake Theaters in Hendersonville along with my friends, Casey and Colin.   We ate beforehand next door at Brixx Wood Fired Pizza which is always good.  With my pizza for dinner, I had a pint of the very good Stone Delicious Hazy IPA from Stone Brewing (CA).  The movie was pretty good.  Classic Spielberg! 

6/12 - I earned this badge with last night's beer, but it seemed like a good time to post it tonight to honor the USMNT's first World Cup game against Paraguay.  I was still dog sitting so I watched it in Gallatin on my last night there.  The boys dominated Paraguay from start to finish with a 4-1 final score! 

6/13 - I had an overnight dog/house sit in Watertown today.   I also started up Beer Box monthly deliveries again and this month's brews arrived today.  There's a couple of Irish reds, a kolsch, a double and a hazy IPA, a Belgian strong and a lager.  After some fridge time, I cracked open the outstanding NEPA called Par Tee from Pollyanna Brewing (IL).  

6/16 - Ashlee and I went to see our favorite band, Augustana, play for the umpteenth time tonight at Cannery Hall in Nashville and beforehand we had dinner at the Homegrown Taproom in Donelson where I had a couple of pints with my tasty smashburger dinner.  First up was the solid Floyds Deluxe lager from 3 Floyds Brewing (IN) and then thanks to 2-Fer-Tuesday I had the nice red ale from Printshop Brewing in Knoxville called Untitled for free. 

6/17- I had some online poker success tonight by taking down the gold coin (play money) Global Poker Turbo Series Event # 04-M Progressive Bounty Tournament.  I outlasted 66 other players with nine knockouts and with the win I got a special avatar to use on the site plus some Global Poker swag including a hat, a flag and a T-shirt coming to me sometime in the future.

It was actually an extra good night on the virtual felt because I also got my first serious tournament cash on ClubGG/Bluffers Poker where I turned $22 into $250+ with a 3rd place finish in a weekly MTT with 94 other players.  That's an ROI of just over 1,100%!  I cashed out $200 which was easy and quick through Venmo.  

6/18 - I had a remote workday today and as part of the current World Cup fever, I stopped by East Nashville Beer Works - Wilson County to catch some soccer action outside on their huge patio screen and have a couple new-to-me brews of theirs.  First up was the excellent NEIPA called Ignore This and then their nice New Zealand style IPA called Chilly Bin.  What a great place to catch a game!  

Later on in the evening, Ashlee and I headed to Nashville to catch comedy legend, Dave Attell, at Zanies and afterwards while waiting to pick up some friends at the airport, we stopped by The Homegrown Taproom again where I had a half pint of the solid Wheat Ale from New Heights Brewing here in Nashville, and then a half pint of the light and summery fruited sour from Xul Beer Company (Knoxville and now here in Nashville) called Tiny Umbrellas. 

6/19 - I had today (Juneteenth) off from work, and it was also the day for the USMNT World Cup game vs. Australia in the World Cup.    This was the perfect way to watch on a hot June day!  I lined up a few dead soldiers during the game and to celebrate the 2-0 win for The Red, White and Blue including a couple repeats and some new-to-me ones including: the very good Maggie's Irish Ale from Saugatuck Brewing (MI); the tasty kolsch called Lu from Solemn Oath Brewing (IL).  Those two were from my recent Beer Box order, and then my friend, Emily, brought me a couple more from a friend of hers recent visit to Montana and Jeremiah Johnson Brewing in Great Falls.  Their Scotch ale called Mountain Man was pretty good and then their Blonde Ale was even better.  

 Also, I had an easy dog-sitting day gig over in a nice house in 5 Oaks today. 

6/20 - I had some more pool time today and another brew from my recent Beer Box order.  With my check-in of the excellent Resin 2026 DIPA from Sixpoint Brewing (NY), I was proud to earn this badge on UNTAPPD and support a great cause.  

6/21 - I headed over to Shotgun Willies BBQ in Nashville today with some friends for beef rib Sunday there.  But at $38, plus $7 more for two sides, it may be just a little overrated, in my humble opinion.  Hell, I had a couple of $7 steaks from Publix yesterday on the grill that tasted better! 
I had some more pool time afterwards and enjoyed a nice pint can of Dicey Riley Irish Red ale from Begyle Brewing (Chicago).  

6/22 - I went to see the new flick, Death of Robin Hood, at the Providence Theaters in Mt. Juliet tonight with my pal, Casey.  It was pretty dark and a bit slow at time, but worth a watch with a great cast and great production design.  
Over the weekend and a couple days this week, I've had an easy cat-sitting gig in the nice Geers Place Subdivision here in Lebanon. 

6/24 - I had more success tonight on ClubGG/Bluffers Poker in the same NLHE tournament I cashed in last week. This time I improved to second place but with less players - 64 - than last week, so my payout and ROI (just over 1,100%) were relatively the same.  I will cash out another $200 tomorrow leaving me enough in the bankroll for a few more tournaments on here.  

6/25 - I had a remote workday and spent some of it dog-sitting again at the nice house in 5 Oaks.  I had lunch at Cedar City Brewing where I had my free monthly flight including their new excellent Vienna Lager.   Later today in the pool, I finished off my latest Beer Box with a can of the very good NEIPA from Rhinegeist Brewing (Cincinnati) called Juicy Truth.  

6/27 - We attended a World Cup game in Atlanta tonight at the Mercedes Benz Dome.  The teams were Uzbekistan vs. DR Congo and while we don't have a rooting interest in either team, it was about the only game that was on a Saturday and close enough and affordable enough for us to attend so as to be just a small part of this massive global event.   Tickets to this game have doubled what I paid for them originally as World Cup excitement is at a fever pitch here in the U.S.  

While neither team is a powerhouse out of the Group K, Congo has a decent chance to move on since they've had a stronger tournament so far with an upsetting 1-1 tie to start things off for them vs. European powerhouse, Portugal.  That was Congo's first goal ever in the World Cup (they haven't been in the World Cup for 52 years), and this is Uzbekistan's first ever appearance in the tournament.  Their first goal and point ever in the World Cup came in an opening 2-1 loss to Colombia.  So, we are definitely seeing some World Cup history here. 

We attended FIFA FanFest beforehand. 

Stayed overnight at a nice hotel within walking distance of the game.  The game was a classic with Congo coming from a 1-0 halftime deficit to roar ahead for a 3-1 win in the second half!  This was Congo's first ever win in The World Cup!  

We had a nice discounted rental car from Enterprise (thanks, CU!) to travel down and back in.  I got a slight upgrade to a Hyundai Tucson SUV which was comfy and fairly gas efficient.  We are pretty sure some or most of the Spanish National Soccer Team were there at the same time.  

just five others and one rebuy.  First outright win in a while on here since we usually chop.  

6/29 - Remote workday (and last day with the rental car) saw me head over to check out the new Foundry Fieldhouse and Taproom at the Opryland Hotel. 

Hey, it's better than no waterfall.  How could I walk through the "Cascade" Lobby at The Opryland Hotel and past a restaurant called "The Falls" without getting a pic?

6/30 - Supergirl  

7/3 - 7/4 - Dog-sitting in Watertown - my favorite pit bulls! Variety six-pack of pint cans from Mt. Juliet Beer Company during our Independence Day pool party.  

  

7/16 - I went to the SOLD-OUT opening night of the new Christopher Nolan film, The Odyssey, in IMAX at the Streets of Indian Lake Theaters in Hendersonville with some friends.   (movie poster pic on phone at 5/5) 

See The Odyssey again in IMAX 70MM at the Opry Mills Theaters in Nashville?

7/22 - With Ashlee out of town for work, I went solo tonight to see Lindsey Stirling at The Ascend Amphitheater for $30 flat.  (pic on phone at 6/2) 

7/24 - Toad the Wet Sprocket and Men at Work with my work buddy, Todd.  (show poster pic on phone at 6/2) 

Spiderman: Brand New Day (movie poster pic on phone at 6/2)