NFL NFL NFL NFL NFL NFL NFL

I knew I shouldn't have taken the Steelers last night.  I freakin knew it!  I talked myself into because I love the Steelers and I hate to ever pick against them even though I know damn well it's a sucker bet to give up 14 points.  That's always the risk when picking for or against your favorite team, too much heart not enough head.

CINCY -1 over Houston - I'm impressed by Houston's ability to crank out the W's in spite of an ever mounting list of injuries but I've got to believe that run of luck ends now.  In Cincinnati, of all places.  Seriously, Cincinnati.  I'm as surprised as the rest of you.

Minny +12 over DETROIT - Minny is truly not bad enough to deserve this kind of a spread especially in a divisional game.  Plus it still looks to me like the Lions have slipped significantly.

New Orleans -3 over TENNESSEE - The Saints are hot again and the truth about the Titans is despite their record all season they have beaten the teams they should beat and lost to the teams that they should lose to.  And none of those loses have been particularly close.  Classic weak schedule = possible playoff spot team.  It happens to some squad every year.

MIAMI -2 over Philly -  A team that looks like they've given up (on the road) vs. a team trying to prove to everyone that they aren't as bad as their record (at home).  I'll take the Red Hot Dolphins.

NY JETS -10.5 over Kansas City - Had Dexter McCulster not been standing at the right place at the right time last week the Chiefs/Bears game would have ended in a 3-3 tie.  I don't see anyway the Chiefs can score enough points to keep this close.

WASHINGTON +9 over New England - The Pats gave up 24 points to the Colts.  The F'ing Colts!  The Skins are slowly improving (although anything would be an improvement from where they were during those John Beck games), they can run the ball and play D.  Should be enough to keep it close.

Atlanta -2.5 over CAROLINA - Falcons have to have this game in order to stay in the playoff hunt after last weeks loss.  The Panthers are out of it and we have reached the point in the season where guys on losing teams start making plans for the off season and stop showing up as much for games.

Tampa Bay -1 over JACKSONVILLE - Horrible v. Terrible.  Atrocious v. Disgraceful.  Inept v. Unskilled.  I am taking the Bucs simply because they still have the head coach and owner they started the season with.  Consistency like that should count for something.

Indy +18 over BALTIMORE - I'm only taking these points because I think Indy can score at least seven points and I don't think the Ravens can score more than twenty-one.  Also, the Ravens are one of those teams that have their worst games against the worst teams. 

DENVER -3 over Chicago - TEEEEEEEEEBBBBBBBOOOOOOWWWWWWW!!!!!!

San Fran -4 over ARIZONA - Kind of feel like the Cards emotional OT win against the Cowboys last week was their Super Bowl.  Niners are too well coached to allow a let down after wrapping up the division last week. 

GREEN BAY -11 over Oakland - Packers cruise into the number one playoff spot in a whopping of the Raiders.  I'm thinking something to the tune of 38-14.  Fuck the Packers.  Fuck em.

SAN DIEGO -7 over Buffalo - I'm looking forward to the Chargers winning out the rest of their season, missing the playoffs because they dumped to Denver at home in OT and somehow Norv Turner winds up keeping his job because he's an AJ Smith lackey.  I love it when I can see the future.

New York Giants +4 over DALLAS - The Giants should have beaten the Packers last week.  I'm betting they know it, are pissed about it and are looking to take it out on somebody.  Giants are strong on the road and correct me if I'm wrong but aren't we entering that certain part of the season when Tony Romo starts to fall apart? 

SEATTLE -8 over St. Louis - Pete Carroll has actually found a group of professional football players that respond to him!  This team could be in the hunt next year.  I'm amazed and impressed.

10-6 last week. 

In Vino Magis Veritas

I believe when I left off on my review of the Central Coast Wine Tasting Experience we had completed Day One.  I failed to mention that near the tail end of Day One with damn near 35 shared one ounce tastings in our collective bellies The Lovely Girlfriend was a little more than nicely toasted.  I'd say she was lit up like a Christmas tree but as we weren't yet in the Christmas season, rather just days away from Thanksgiving so let's go with she was glazed like a turkey.  This created in her a hybrid wino/sophisticated drinker of sorts.  Gulping down pours so fast it barely glanced off her taste buds, rambling on about the jammyness of the blend and occasionally asking other vinophiles in attendance "What are you looking at?" and "Wanna take this outside, old lady?"  Thankfully no one was foolish enough to take her up on the offer.  She's surprisingly strong for a tiny girl.

After Thanksgiving, as we were driving south on the 101, we decided we had such a good time on the way up we'd do it again on the way down.  We cashed in some more of The Lovey Girlfriends hotel points, this time getting a very nice room in Morro Bay, and started searching for wineries.  Thankfully, this is not a difficult search in Paso Robles.

Our first winery of the day was Rabbit Ridge.  It wasn't our original destination winery, that was further down the road.  I've bought bottles of Rabbit Ridge in Trader Joe's before and always had good luck with it so I figured since we were driving by why not check in.  Absolutely worth the stop.  They specialize in Zins and had about thirteen bottles open for tasting with very little concern if you stuck to the six or seven on the menu.  The tasting room is actually in the barrel room which for some reason I always find very cool.  The owner (or perhaps co-owner), a very nice woman, was doing the pouring and had some pretty long arms.  Great wines at very reasonable prices.  I'd highly recommend this place.  After buying a case of their 3Clusters Syrah at a Black Friday sale price of 100.00 (normally 400) we vowed that would be our only purchase of the day.

Mondo Cellars has to have one of the most amazing views of any winery in the area.  At the very top of a hill, outdoor tastings (no fee!) in a bar/restaurant setting, a really fantastic setup.  Great wines, a little pricier than Rabbit Ridge but within reason.  We left with a bottle of The Trunk promising ourselves that we had absolutely, positively, bought our final bottle of the trip.  It was only because they did free tastings, we declared.  Buying a bottle in return for the gratis vino is the respectful thing to do.

Down the road a bit we hit Chronic Cellars.  This was our original destination, recommended to us by a number of people while on Wine Tasting Day One.  I can see why it's so popular.  Chronic does a tasting room the way a fraternity house might organize a tasting room.  There is a pool table, some borderline trashy ladies (I don't remember if they worked there or were passing through but there were a lot of them), loud music and lots of Ed Hardy-esque art of the walls.  Sadly, most of their wine was only decent.  The bottles the wine came in, however, were very cool.  Lots of work went into these labels.  More work than went into the wine, I'd be willing to bet.  We bought a bottle of what we felt was their best - just for our friend Dead Red, it was her birthday and the label reminded us of her (a skeletal remains version of her, in a hat).  If it wasn't for her birthday we would have never bought another bottle.  That's it.  Just tasting fees from this point on.

Across the street from Chronic is Vines on the Marycrest.  Simply put - great fucking wine!  This is an absolute mom and pop shop and it was quite possibly the best wine we tasted (right up there with Dark Star) on our trip.  The tasting room is not only also the barrel room but it's also in the crushing room and the bottling room.  It's one whole wine making operation in a barn, laid bare for all to see.  If you are into that (and we are) it's a blast to see.  While we were tasting, the winemaker was washing out bins and working the crank on the press.  I can't stress this enough - every wine we had was fan-freakin-tastic.  They specialize in Zins and blends and holy crap were they tasty.  We limited ourselves to a single bottle of 'Round Midnight.  Just to support the owners.  They're a nice couple and they were from Culver City.  Otherwise we would have stuck to our vow of no more purchases.  Again, helping support local business over some giant wine conglomerate, it was the right thing to do.

On the top of a twisty dirt road stands Le Cuvier.  If you are hungry and in need of a quick tasty snack while tasting -go here.  They offer free food pairings with each of their tastings.  It's a good thing that they do because honestly their wine wasn't that great.  Actually, let me amend that, their wine was a lot to handle.  Super powerful, alcohol heavy wine.  And expensive.  We did not buy a bottle here.  Finally.

We were going to head for Morro Bay at this point but instead I got talked into driving clear across town so we could visit Silver Horse Winery.  The winery we were supposed to be visiting when we went to Wild Horse instead and got served average wine by that asshole.  (See why it pays to be nice to people, dude?  I've now negatively mentioned your winery twice in this blog and I've got a readership of dozens.  Literally, dozens.)  As it turned out, Silver Horse was worth the trip.  It's two wineries in one.  Tassajara is also in the same building.  Both had some great wine.  Since it was the day after Thanksgiving they had assumed it was going to be slow so they only had one person working the two tasting rooms.  It wasn't slow.  It was packed.  The woman working (don't recall her name) was crazy busy but also extremely nice.  Knew loads about the two wines and poured tastings like it was dollar drink night at the college bar.  Your glass was never empty.  We bought a bottle of Tassajara but only because she was so nice, gave us so many additional pours and had been sweet to the Dog when the Lovely Girlfriend had stopped in a couple of months ago.  Otherwise we would have absolutely stuck to our no buying more wine rule.

On the way out back from Silver Horse/Tassajara, as the 5pm, last call on tastings bell was tolling we came upon EOS.  We didn't want to go in but their was still time for one more tasting, what choice did we have?!  EOS is just OK.  I don't remember tasting anything exceptional.  They were nice enough to let us have a tasting well past their last call so they've got that going for em.  We bought a bottle.

We headed for Morro Bay with a trunk full of wine and a vow that even though we were going to do more tastings tomorrow in the Solvang/Buellton area we would procure no more bottles.  And we meant it!

PITTSBURGH -14 over Cleveland - I hate giving up this many points with a wildy inconsistent offense like the Steelers have but Cleveland is horrible.  Awful.  Bottom of the barrrel. 

Last week - 10-6

On this episode of Rides...

POS Cars.  We've all owned them.  I've had more than my fair share.  Over the course of my life as a licensed driver I have yet to own a vehicle less than ten years older than the current model year.  That doesn't necessarily make them Pieces of Shit.  Far from it in some cases.  If you own a Subaru, Toyota or Honda it can be thirty years old and still as reliable as anything rolling off the line from England, Italy or France.  My current vehicle is a 1992 Toyota Pickup.  I've owned it since 2005.  During that time I've put over 85,000 miles on it and had to repair or replace four things - the main rear seal, the radiator, the battery and the ignition cylinder.  160,000 total miles and it fires up like clockwork.  It cost me $1800.  Also, with body damage on the rear passenger side and a badly bent bumper it delivers exactly the right message to the other cars on the road - Uninsured Driver.  Rarely does anyone jockey for position with me in rush hour traffic.  That truck is like Meryl Streep.  Not much to look at but brings its A game every time.

My Lovely Girlfriend, on the other hand, has a legit POS car.  Amazingly it's only 7 years old.  Truth be told it was a total and complete Piece of Shit the day it rolled out of the factory.  The Saturn Ion 3.  A car that must have been exclusively conceived for and marketed to women that go car shopping without the aid of a man.  Want to check your fluids?  Good luck with that!  You can't even check the tranny without the aid of a lift and some wrenches.  Why?  Because as the owners manual conveniently points out, you don't need to ever check the transmission fluid.  Oh, thank you good people of Saturn for deciding what I do and don't need to check on my own fuckin car!

So what was the first thing to go on this trash can with wheels?  That's right, the transmission.  After only 120,000 miles.  That's a warm up on a Toyota.  Guess what she's driving while I'm back in Maine and Sophie's Choice is sitting in a driveway in Los Angeles?  She already is talking about fixing it up so she can be the cool sexy chick that drives around in a hot truck.  I'm fine with it.  I'll be driving my Dad's Tacoma across country when I'm done radiation.  It's a 2001.  It's no POS.  It's a great truck and I'm proud to drive it knowing that I got if from my Dad.  On top of that it maintains my record of not owning a vehicle less than ten years old. 

A Return to Punching Things

I've never been very good with the whole calorie counting/calorie burning thing.  I've both read about and been told exactly how many calories I'm supposed to be consuming/burning in a given day to lose/maintain weight and yet I never retained that information any longer than it takes for me to sit down at my next grease filled delicious meal.  I know I've hit on my weight a number of times on this blog but trust me this is not another "I'm getting fatter" post.  Quite the opposite.  Last night, for the first time since June, I made my triumphant return to Punching Things! 

There are few things in life as satisfying as delivering a perfect punch.  I'm sure some sissy's are reading this and arguing - the birth of my child or when I first met my husband/wife or a beautiful sunset - to that I say stuff it.  I'm sure all those moments were lovely but you know what would have made them even lovelier?  If a dude holding Focus Mitts shouted out a four punch combo, you spun around from the umbilical cord cutting, set yourself, and absolutely nailed it.  Take that new baby!  I just ate your lunch! 

As a matter of fact, on the list of fun but completely useless shit I plan to blow my money on once I've got a lot of it, a dude that follows me around with focus mitts for big occasions is high on it.  Sign a three picture deal - double jab-right-hook!  Film opening - lead right- hook- uppercuts-uppercuts!  Win an Oscar - jab-hook off the jab-right cross-front kick-knees!

As I was saying, I don't know exactly how to figure total calories burned last night with my first workout in six months but I'd guess it was around 16,800.  I've got no way of explaining to you how I arrived at that number other than it just sounds right.  If my Mother and Sister had their way I would have spent my first official workout briskly walking.  I keep telling them That Is Not a Workout!  If I was a senior citizen, working on my third hip replacement, perhaps then a brisk walk would be acceptable.  Perhaps.  Walking has always struck me as the workout of choice for the unfit.  Just like spending time in a sauna.  Sure it's relaxing and it feels good to get a sweat on but the only people using a sauna as a form of weight loss are the fat.  You know what you never see?  Fit people leaving a sauna talking about how much weight they lost in the last twenty minutes.  That's a conversation strictly reserved for us fatties.   

I'm very happy with my return to punching things.  Everything looks a lot sunnier when you know that in a few hours you'll be back at the gym laying down the leather.  I already feel like I'm healthier than I was on Sunday, when I was still in my not-punching-things mode.  I'm sore all over and it's the best feeling I've had in a long long time.  Where's my dude with the focus mitts calling out combos when I need him?

NFL WEEK 13 PICKS!!

As someone with at least a modest connection to Philadelphia I was sad to see two things happen yesterday.  McNabb clearing the waiver wire and the Eagles giving up on Andy Reid.  I know that there is at least an outside chance that Reid survives the off-season and returns as coach based on how much the Eagles would still have to pay him but I've got to believe last nights game officially signaled the end of the Reid era.  The McNabb era ended about four games into last season with the Redskins but I have a feeling that Donovan is just now getting the memo.  Sad day for Philly fans.  Especially my Mother who has been astoundingly loyal to McNabb despite his rapidly diminishing skills.  There is something to be said for fan loyalty that extends beyond team affiliation or ability.  My Mom is loyal but I already knew that.  I hope that the rest of the NFL remembers both McNabb's and Reid's careers in Philly as fondly as I know my Mother will.

Onto this weeks picks.

Tennessee +3 over BUFFALO - I'm starting to believe that Tennessee is not half bad and Buffalo is now all bad.  This makes me sad because I've always hated the Titans and always secretly supported the Bills.  I'm not a fan of the Bills but I feel so bad for the good people of Buffalo that I always hope they succeed.  Assuming it's not in a game against Pittsburgh.  Hang in there Buffalo-ians, it could always be worse you could live in Cleveland, Cincy, St. Louis, Kansas City or worst of all - Baltimore. 

CHICAGO -7 over Kansas City - Two teams without their starting QB but at least Chicago still has a great running game, special teams and defense.  KC has basically none of it at this point.

MIAMI -2.5 over Oakland - On a neutral field and without the 10am start time for a west coast team I'd take Oakland but since neither of those things are happening I'll take Miami in a tight one.

Denver +1 over MINNESOTA - Tim Tebow is easily the most confounding person not just in football but in all of sports.  He's a sub .200 hitter but he's also the guy you most want up to bat with men on, down by a run in the bottom of the ninth.  He's a 30% shooter who does nothing but drain threes in the final two minutes.  A boxer that takes it in the face all night only to throw that brutal uppercut to end the fight while down on all the judges scorecards entering the 12th round.  What I'm getting at is he just plain wins and until I see somebody figure out how to stop him on a regular basis I'll take any points I can get on him.

NEW ENGLAND -20 over Indy - So the answer to Indy's losing streak is to start Orlovky at QB - the same guy who lead Detroit to an 0-16 record?  Makes sense to me.  Congrats to Jim Caldwell for being the first head coach ever to lose both a Super Bowl and an entire season of NFL games.

Cincy +7.5 over PITTSBURGH - I hate to make this pick but I've got to believe this game is going to be even closer than the last.  I can't talk any more about this, I'm already starting to worry.

Carolina +3.5 over TAMPA - Bucs are getting worse by the week.  Panthers are getting better.  I had to look at this spread twice just to make sure I wasn't reading it wrong and the Panthers were laying the points.

WASHINGTON +3.5 over NY Jets - Looks to me like Rex Ryan is having trouble keeping his team and the Redskins are (surprisingly) halfway competent at home.  Also, is Sanchez playing his way out of the starting job?  Seems like the Jets fans have already given up on him.  Will they be drafting a QB this April in an attempt to motivate him?

Atlanta -2.5 over HOUSTON - Vegas must LUUUUV Tj Yates otherwise how could this spread be under 3 points?  How the hell could it be under 7?  All Houston can do is run the ball with any real strength and Atlanta is in the top five in the league against the run.  I'm going to assume this is one of those games where Vegas knows something no one else does and this pick will blow up in my face come 1pm Pacific Time on Sunday.

Baltimore -6 over CLEVELAND - The Ravens have an incredible knack of playing to the level of their competition but I'm not sure anyone can play to that low of a level. 

NY GIANTS +7.5 over Green Bay - I'm about 99% certain this pick won't work out but Fuck The Green Bay Packers.

DALLAS -4 over Arizona - Some of you savvy fans may be saying to yourself - this isn't a Cowboys home game.  To that I say - just watch the game and listen to the crowd.  Arizona is Dallas's home away from home.

SAN FRAN -13 over St. Louis - I never like to give up so many points on a team that I'm still not convinced is that good but man, oh, man are the Rams terrible.  Even with a nearly certain number two seed, a bye week and a home playoff game I still believe the Niners don't make it past a single playoff game.  I don't yet know who they will lose to in the second round but I know they will lose.

NEW ORLEANS -8 over Detroit - Feel like it's a bit of too much too soon for the Lions at this point.  Maybe they bought into their own hype or maybe they are starting to fall apart a bit under Schwartz's crazy intensity.  Either way, Saints are rolling right now and Detroit is experiencing some growing pains. 

San Diego -3 over JACKSONVILLE - The Countdown to the LA Jaguars begins!  The Chargers are bad but not Jags Bad.  Not even Norv Turner, on the other side of the country, can screw this up.  I'd say there is the chance of the Jags rebounding on Del Rio's firing to trounce some unsuspecting team but with the recent sale of the team thrown in I'm gonna rely on the fact that most of the squad has been too busy pricing homes in Malibu all week to pay attention to this weeks playbook.  Also, what a shit game for us on Monday Night!  What the hell?  I thought they came up with some rule a few years back to prevent a game like this from eye-raping the general football watching public.  Poor form, NFL.  Poor form.

Last week - 7-8-1

Conference Championship Picks

Georgia +14 over LSU
HOUSTON -13 over Southern Methodist
VaTech -6.5 over CLEMSON
Michigan St +11 over WISCONSIN

Last week 2-2

Not Fit For Man Nor Beast

Over the last couple of months The Lovely Girlfriend had been taking care of her parents dog (we'll call her Dog, cause that's what she is) while they were away on vacation.  I am a big fan of just about every kind of dog with the exception of the annoying yip dogs that pseudo-celebrity bimbos tend to keep in their purses.  Otherwise, I love dogs.  I grew up with dogs.  I also grew up with cats but I can't say that I am a fan.  If you have a cat in your house that also means you probably have a box of shit in your house.  Who wants to live with that?  Anyway, dogs are aces in my book.  So I was more than happy to have a dog at our place when I returned to Los Angeles. 

Since we were staying the night in a hotel in Paso Robles and bringing the dog with us we needed to book a pet friendly motel.  Despite growing up with pets I don't think my parents ever brought them with us on a trip.  As such I was never exposed to the horror that is a pet friendly motel.  Otherwise, I would have known that pet friendly is code for "we do not employee maids."  The Dog didn't seem to mind although, truth be told, she was cleaner than the room.  The Lovely Girlfriend and I made the best we could out of it.  Reminding ourselves that we'd only paid seven dollars for the room after cashing in a hotel credit on hotels.com.  Seven dollars still seemed a little steep for these accommodations but hell at least we checked in late and would be checking out early.  The less time spent there the less likely we were to catch some sort of flesh eating bacteria. 

On the plus side, this pet friendly hotel was equipped with a thirty by thirty patch of grass as lush as I've ever seen.  Of course, when no one picks up after their dogs the lawn is bound to get pretty well fertilized.  This could have been the rough at the Masters.  I didn't dare venture out onto it as it was dark and I was wearing flip flops.  I just let the Dog roam free and blocked the exit in case she, like me, was disgusted by the conditions we were subjected to and tried to make a run for it.  I wouldn't have blamed her but thankfully, she didn't.  I guess she realized we were all in this together. 

So, if you are planning a stay in Paso Robles and are travelling with a pet you may want to consider simply camping out under an overpass.  It's probably got better amenities than the Travelodge at 2701 Spring St. Paso Robles, CA 93446.

In Vino Veritas

If you've never gone wine tasting then you have never taken the opportunity to unleash the pretentious asshole that lurks inside each one of us.  It's truly amazing how quickly the transformation takes place.  I'm kind of surprised no one has done a sociological experiment with some Bubba from a truck stop plopped into a tasting room and timed how quickly he goes from "that's some tasty grape juice" to "this Mourvedre is an assault on the senses."  I always try to keep this in the back of my mind whenever the Lovely Girlfriend and I go tasting.  I'd rather be the meathead mispronouncing the names instead of the preppy in a Brooks Brothers sweater slipping into a faux French, Spanish or Italian accent.  There is no need to go all Ricardo Montalban on the room when asking to re-visit the Tempranillo.

As a general rule the Lovely Girlfriend and I like to visit wineries that aren't perpetually indulging in the verbal masturbation of how smart they are.  You can almost always nail these places the moment you walk in.  The tasting rooms come across as galaxtically self-important.  As if you'd need to be sponsored by a member in good standing then a vote by committee before they'd take your tasting fee.  We tend to do the walk-in/walk-out on those spots.  Whenever possible I like to try and drop some noxious gas before exiting so they know a proud member of the unwashed masses has been there. 

With all this in mind, I will now roll out my multi-part Wine Tasting/Thanksgiving Road Trip review.  We took the Sunday before Thanksgiving week to drive up to Paso Robles and hit some wineries then the Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving to bounce around the Central Coast and hit some more.  Here's my completely unsophisticated gulp by gulp review.

November 20th
10am - We wake up a little hung-over from the Cancer Party the night before and hit the road to Paso.  After a few moments of spirited debate we choose to drive the 101 all the way up rather than the barren wasteland that makes up the 5.  When I say debate what I really mean is I was driving and in spite of my Lovely Girlfriends protestations I simply took the 101 exit from the 405 and trusted that she wasn't going to grab the wheel.  I've learned a number of life-lessons from my Dearly Departed Dad, always take the scenic route is one of his best. 

1:30 - We need to make a pit-stop and what better place to go but a rest stop that doubles as a tasting room.  We hit Costa de Oro in Santa Maria mostly because it was there and we felt like it was time to start tasting.  Conveniently located right off the highway and near a gas station for all your tasting/traveling needs.  Tasty Pinot, friendly pour-er plus a fair amount of snacks to purchase for the road.  It was like an AM/PM with a wine bar.  I'm sure that's not what they were going for but it works.  We picked up two bottles for Thanksgiving Week.

2:15 - We officially make it to our first real winery of the trip, Wild Horse Vineyards.  The Lovely Girlfriend is thrilled because she was there just a month or so ago and loved the place.  Only when we pulled in she realized it was not the same place she was thinking of.  We went in anyway because, hell, they've got wine in there and we had a complimentary tasting coupon.  What the coupon didn't say is "Smug Attitude also complimentary."  The guy behind the counter was Pure Asshole.  We had our tasting and quickly left vowing to tell everyone we ran into today to avoid this place.

2:45 - We come across Anderson Road and pull into Eagle Castle.  Imagine wine tasting in DisneyLand.  Huge parking lot, fake castle, large crowds.  We quickly moved on rather than fight the crowd around the bar and discovered that Anderson Road is chock full'o boutique vineyards.  My favorites in order, Dark Star, Midnight, Brian Benson, Caliza and Booker.  At Dark Star each one of their red wines were blow your mind delicious, just amazing.  A little pricey but if you want to splurge on a single bottle you will not go wrong here.  The people working at Midnight were super friendly, their prices were reasonable and they're extremely generous with their pours.  They also had a reasonable wine club and half-off on some cases.  Great place all around.  Brian Benson was solid but not nearly as good as his Dad's place, Dark Star.  Seemed like they were trying awfully hard to be hip and it came across as such.  Apparently the kid that owns the winery is into hot rods so they have a lot of rat rod-esque art on the walls.  That's cool if you didn't have a winery given to you and it just comes across as Paris Hilton in a Mac Trucks hat if you did.  Caliza was on the spendy side but they too handed out some generous pours as well as plenty of local inside tips where to eat/drink.  Finally, Booker was far too over the top fashionable for me to enjoy the place.  It reminded me of a Tapas joint that hands out the smallest possible plates for the largest possible prices all in the name of ambiance.  Also, they only had three wines on their tasting menu for ten bucks?!  That's unacceptable.  Additionally, at every single one of these spots we told anyone that would listen that Wild Horse was a waste of time.  Hey, Pissy Dude pouring wine at Wild Horse - be nice to people, you never know who's got a blog or is willing to let everyone know what a prick you are.

That pretty much filled our day so I will pick this back up with part two tomorrow.  In the meantime - here's tonight's NFL pick.

SEATTLE +3 over Philly - I've got to believe that at this point the Eagles have completely given up on the season and Andy Reid.  On top of that I'm a little amazed to report that it looks like the Seahawks are responding to Pete Carroll.  One team on the way down, another on the way up (I'm stunned to say) so I'll take the points for the home dog.