A Few Tidbits: Money, Cookies, Football and Beer (x2)

1. 

   It was picture day for the kids today at school. Can you say, “Cha-ching?” Somehow I manage to forget this every year, but the long and short of life with several children of elementary  school – and quite possibly any K-12 – age is you’re basically just going to be penniless from the day school starts in August until October 31st.  Between that time, as a parent, you’re going pay for fees, school supplies, school fund raisers, official school pictures, activity fees, scouting fees, scouting fund raisers, activity fund raisers, and, hell, I don’t know, probably some books and who knows what else.  I feel like maybe it’d be easier if Moose and Rocko just made a stop by the house once month and hit me up for “protection” to keep the place from getting toilet papered.  At least then I’d know exactlywhy it cost me so much.

2. Regarding the aforementioned scouting fund raisers, I have a piece of advice for the Girl Scouts of America.  Dear GSA, nothing, and I’m mean absolutely nothing in this world has so quickly turned my coworkers from their normally pleasant, congenial selves into raging balls of white-hot disappointment, frothing at the mouth like a rabid Doberman and looking at me as if I just cancelled Christmas as the day I put your fall fund-raising order form by the coffee station at work.  Because, after decades of conditioning people to slobber all over themselves at the mere sight of that greenish, clover-y logo for those cookies you’re apparently baking the cracking into, a temporary but nonetheless violent psychosis was the only realistic response the instant they picked up an order form and realized I was attempting to foist magazines upon them instead of guilt-inducing yet somehow life-affirming baked goods.
3. In case I didn’t mention it, I’ve been occasionally contributing a beer-related tidbit every week or so to the blog of Cincinnati.com and SI.com’s sports columnist Paul Daugherty, The Morning Line.  Basically, the theme is that since I like sports and I like beer, I suggest a beer or two that would be appropriate for whichever NFL team the Bengals are playing the upcoming Sunday.  It’s kind of silly, but I’m having fun with it.  He including my latest offering to his blog today, which discussion beers you might drink to accompany a game against the Cleveland Browns.
4. Of course, not every week is as easy as this week.  Cleveland has plenty of solid beer-drinking options, both up north in town and distributed to us down here.  Unfortunately, some NFL cities are apparently quite bereft when it comes to getting a decent craft brew.  Last week, the Dolphins came to town, and try as I might, I really couldn’t find anything terribly interesting in the way of better beer in Miami.  This, of course, got me to thinking about visiting towns that are a craft beer Sahara, which, obviously, led me to this week’s Hoperatives post.

And I think that’s quite enough rambling about nonsense for one day.

Pud’n