S1P06 - Jai Alai IPA

This is the first review of a beer for this blog. These reviews will usually follow this same format. Some information about the brewery to include all or some of the following: the location, founders and/or key personnel, length of time in business, other beers they brew, etc. I will then give the review of the specific beer including the speeds and feeds. As a reference, ABV is Alcohol by Volume, IBU is International Bitterness Units, and maybe a color rating although it is rarely published and there are a couple of color scales in use. Most beers have an ABV of around 4% to 6% but can go much higher. Some craft beers can go over 10%. The IBU scale is 1-100, the higher the number the more bitter.

There is no scientific method or reason that determines which beer I choose. I may just want a change of pace from my regular beer. It may be the graphics on the can or bottle. It may be a catchy name. It may be a new beer from a brewery I know that makes good stuff. It may be a special occasion or holiday.  

There also will not be any fake beer sommelier talk about hints of lavender or caramel or citrus or old leather. I can tell mild, bitter, sweet, and sour. Oh, and skunked. 

My choice this time is Jai Alai IPA from the Cigar City Brewery in Tampa. 

Cigar City Brewing

• They were founded in 2007 by Joey Redner and sold their first beers 2009. The brewery and tasting room are located at 3924 W. Spruce St, Tampa, FL 33607 - north of 275 west of Dale Mabry. Northwest Tampa not far from the airport
• The Tasting room is open Sunday-Thursday 11:00 to 11:00, Friday & Saturday 11:00 to 1:00 am. They also have a small location in the airport.
• They currently brew about 60,000 barrels a year and have brewed over 6,000 different beers since 2009.
• They list the current distribution as FL, GA, AL, PA & NY but obviously, it is also available in Texas. Florida, Georgia, and Alabama make sense. I would guess NY and Pennsylvania are because of the snowbirds. 
• Since 2010, Cigar City has released Hunahpu's Imperial Stout every March with a large beer festival to celebrate the release. Each year over 5,000 beer fans attend and brewers from all over the world have poured their beer at the festival. Attending the Hunahpu's Day Festival is the only way to acquire bottles of Hunahpu's Imperial Stout. The next festival will be March 9, 2019, at Raymond James Stadium.
• Hunahpu's Imperial Stout, 12% ABV. is named in honor of a hero in Mayan mythology, the stout is brewed with ancho and pasilla chile peppers, vanilla, cacao, and cinnamon.
• Other beers from Cigar City- 
  • Lager - Tampa Style Lager 
  • Florida Cracker - Belgian style white ale with coriander & orange peel
  • Invasion - Tropical pale ale
  • Madura - Brown ale
  • Cucumber Saison - Tropical ale & cucumber
  • Wedge Cut - American Wheat Ale w/lemon peel
  • Guayabera - Citra pale ale
  • Tocobaga - Red India pale ale
• They also have several seasonal or special beers that you can find on their website.

Jai Alai IPA

On to the beer. Why did I pick this particular brew? Actually, there are a few reasons. During the holidays I usually buy a few different beers in case someone stops by and doesn't like my usual PBR. Also as a holiday treat for me. While in Kroger, I was checking out the craft beers they stock. As it turns out, I have tried almost all the beers there that I care to drink. They have a lot of ciders, fruity, light, other beers that I have no interest in. There in the cooler, a bright green sixpack stood out. Turns out it was Jai Alai. That brought even more reasons into play. It's brewed in Tampa. I went to college at USF in Tampa and drank a few beers there. It's named Jai Alai. When in college, we used to go to the Tampa fronton to watch and bet on Jai Alai. It only cost about 50¢ to get in. They had pretty cheap beer and food plus if we got lucky we won a few bucks. We almost always won at least enough to pay for a few beers and a hot dog. Unfortunately, there is no fronton or Jai Alai in Tampa anymore. We had reviewed Cigar City's Lager on our podcast and it got a solid 3 rating. My podcast partner also lived in Tampa for a couple of years. So, you see completely logical reasoning.

Jai Alai is a full India pale ale. It has plenty of hops, six different varieties, which is the signature of this particular style of ale/beer. It is 7.5% ABV which is on the strong side, especially if you are used to Bud or Coors Light. IBU is 75, that is pretty bitter, a normal American lager IBU is in the low 20's. Its SRM is 17. SRM is a color rating, a 17 is a light brown. This ale is also slightly cloudy. It comes in cans which is the normal packaging for most craft beers these days. At Kroger, a six-pack cost $11. That's about a buck or two higher than most craft beers and about twice the cost of the big brewers' economy brands.

This is a bold very hoppy brew. It's a pretty straight IPA, not tricked up with any wild ingredients. The 7.5% alcohol is higher than most beers. If you like IPAs you should like this. If you drink Michelob Ultra, forget it. For me, it's a good IPA choice. I like IPAs on occasion but not as a steady diet. This ale would pair well with bold food like barbeque, Mexican, or since it's from Tampa, Cuban dishes.

I give Jai Alai IPA a solid three bottle caps. The rating scale is 1-5. Enjoy.

Just to nerd it up a little more, here is the SRM color chart:

wjh

S1P05 - Politics & Current Events

This is the first general political post of this new blog. It consists of the political and current affairs events since approximately December 1, 2018. It is my intention to post something every 10 days to two weeks. The comments and views are short and sweet. This will probably be the format of the political posts on this blog. Those items that are important to me have probably been expounded upon in my other blogs. The links to those are in the righthand column or the body of these posts. 

• Trump has visited his resorts 154 times and played 121 rounds of golf in 99 weeks. So much for being too busy to play golf. At the same point in his administration, Obama had played 55 rounds. 
• FactChecker creates a new category of false statements for often repeated lies. It is called "Bottomless Pinocchio". Trump has already been awarded 14 of this new category.
• Paul Manafort blows his plea deal by lying to the Special Counsel team. A stupid move on his part. Barring a Trump pardon, Manafort will probably spend the rest of his life in prison and may lose any financial protection deal for his family.
• Michael Cohen pleads guilty to lying to Congress and says the Trump Organization's Russian real estate negotiations lasted well into 2016. Trump says Cohen is lying but even if he isn't there was nothing illegal. A typical Trump scenario. Deny, maybe it happened, it did happen but not illegal, what about Hillary, everybody does it... Pretty much all Trump BS and lies.
• Trump claims major trade progress with China. It's only a 90-day truce on new tariffs. The same premature claim of victory as with North Korea and the NAFTA replacement. 
• 12/04 - The Trump Administration threatens funding for HIV research because it uses fetal tissue. The attack on science continues. MASA - Make America Stupid Again.
• 12/04 - Mueller recommends no jail time for Michael Flynn because he has cooperated with the special counsel. 
• 12/05 - The lame duck Wisconsin GOP legislature passes a law to limit the powers of the newly elected Democratic governor, Tony Evers, and Democratic attorney general, They also reduced early voting dates. A slap in the face if the Wisconsin voters. If Republicans can't win playing by the rules, they just change the rules. 
• 12/05 - Global carbon emissions reach a record high in 2018. Bad news for our planet. We're going in the wrong direction and the Trump administration is exacerbating the situation. They don't admit climate change is really a threat and they continue to roll back emission regulations. 
• Trump plans to rollback environmental protections on millions of acres in Alaska so oil exploration can begin. Once again siding with big business and big energy over the environment. 
• Huawei chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, is arrested in Canada at the request of the US. It has to do with Huawei circumventing US sanctions against Iran. The arrest exacerbated the stock markets declines amid fears of US-China trade wars.
• 12/06 - The country and the world mourned the death of George H.W. Bush for a week. He was remembered as a kindler and gentler politician. A WWII combat veteran. A man who served his country for over 50 years. A decent, moral, family man. A great contrast to the man currently in the Oval Office. Thank you #41 for your service. 
• 12/06 - Kathy Kraninger was approved by the Senate 50 to 49 to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. She has no previous consumer finance experience and is expected to continue the GOP and Trump's efforts to curtail the bureau's powers. Again, big business over consumers.
• Voting irregularities in North Carolina's 9th Congressional District have been known for a long time. Funny, the GOP is always harping about voting fraud. Turns out they are the ones actually doing it. Ironic.  
• 12/07 - The US added 155K jobs in November, below expectations. The unemployment rate remained at 3.7%. 
• Trump will nominate Willliam Barr as Attorney General. Barr served as AG under George H.W. Bush. He is a supporter of strong executive powers, a critic of the Russian investigation and Mueller's team, and favors investigation of Hillary Clinton. All right up Trump's alley.
• Trump will nominate State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert as the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. She is a former Fox News co-host of Fox and Friends. She has very limited government and no diplomatic experience. Another "only the best people" appointment by Trump.
• 12/07 - Trump tweets that former Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, was "dumb as a rock" and lazy. A typical tantrum tweet by our tweeter-in-chief. 
• Trump shows how talented he is by causing the Dow to drop about 1,500 points in a few days. It only took his "Tariff Man" tweet and the arrest of a Huawei corporate official. 
• Trump will nominate General Mark Milley, US Army Chief of Staff as the next Chairman of the Joint Chiefs.
• 12/08 - Trump announces Chief of Staff John Kelly will leave by the end of the year. Another adult bails or is pushed out.
• The Supreme Court declines to review rulings by lower courts concerning lawsuits against states that cut off funding for Planned Parenthood and the blocking of those actions.
• British prime minister, Theresa May, postpones the Parliament vote on Brexit. This is a complete self-inflicted clusterfuck for the UK. Stock markets are down significantly on this news. 
• Russian gun rights activist Maria Butina will plead guilty to charges she was working as an agent for the Kremlin. She attempted to influence the NRA and conservative leaders. 
• 12/13 - Butini pleads guilty to conspiring to act as an agent of the Kremlin.
• The Fact Checker creates a new category, the Bottomless Pinocchio, to describe the level and number of Trumps lies. 
• Trump Administration will roll back many clean water protections. Many in place for 25 years. Who needs clean water? 
• 44 former Senators, from both parties, write an open letter to current Senators imploring them to defend democracy, the rule of law, the Constitution, our governing institutions and our national security. 
• Trump, Pelosi, and Schumer have a contentious and public meeting on the budget, border security, and the Wall. Trump vows to shut down the government if he doesn't get Wall funding. Looks like the next couple of years will go swimmingly. 
• Chinese intelligence said to be behind the Marriott hack. This won't help the trade negotiations or the stock markets.
• Michael Cohen, Trump's former lawyer and fixer, is sentenced to three years in prison and almost $2 million in penalties.
• 12/12 - Congress finally agrees on new sexual harassment policies but they have yet to be voted on by either chamber. #MeToo, too little, too late.
• 12/12 - UK Prime Minister Theresa May survives a no-confidence vote by a 200-117 margin. Her Brexit plan is still in danger of failure. 
• 12/12 - Federal prosecutors disclose a plea deal with The National Enquirer's parent company and CEO, David Pecker. The entities have provided information about Trump's hush money payments. The noose tightens, the evidence mounts. 
• 12/12 - Lobbyist Sam Patten pleads guilty of failure to register as a foreign agent and to steering foreign funds to the Trump inauguration fund. The foreigner was a pro-Russian Ukrainian oligarch.
• 12/12 - The former number three person at the Vatican, Cardinal George Pell, is convicted of sexual abuse charges. Way past time to fix this problem in the Catholic Church. Time for drastic action. 
• 12/13 - The US Senate votes to end US participation in the Yemen war. They also unanimously passed a measure blaming the Saudi crown prince for the ghastly murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Both votes a rebuke of Trump's MBS and Saudi support.
• North Carolina GOP House candidate, Mark Harris, allegedly directed the hiring of ballot harvesting operative Leslie McCrae Dowless. The election results have yet to be certified while a voter fraud investigation is underway. 
• Federal prosecutors are investigating whether foreigners illegally donated to Trump's inaugural committee and a pro-Trump PAC. 
• New Washington Post Factchecker poll shows fewer than three in ten Americans believe Trump, fewer than four in ten Republicans. A morally corrupt pathological liar. 
• 12/14 - Outgoing GOP Wisconsin governor, Scott Walker, signs the bill stripping powers from the incoming governor and attorney general, both Democrats. A complete disregard for the will of the voters. 

wjh

S1P04 - Beer Reviews

As the first beer post for this new blog, I thought I'd publish the summary of the Two Old Guys Drinking Beer podcast reviews. While this spreadsheet doesn't give the reasoning behind the ratings, it is a quick overview. As you can see, We sampled a wide variety of beers from several breweries. Many were from the DFW area but we also ventured to different areas of Texas, other states, and even some international brews. Our rating scale was one to five bottle caps. One was almost undrinkable and five was ecstasy. We never found a five, but there were a few fours along the way. Most were three bottle caps. These were purely our own subjective ratings. Both of the two old guys lean toward dark and stout varieties. We also don't drink light or lite beers. A three rating is certainly a perfectly acceptable beer. Also, most of these beers fall into the craft or microbrewery category. Some were available in grocery stores, Whole Foods has a larger selection than Kroger, others only in larger liquor stores. At least in the DFW area, most of the smaller breweries have changed over from bottles to cans. The prices were always around $9 or $10 for a six-pack. The nitro cans and some international varieties came in a four-pint package for about the same price. I hope you use this as a starter list, especially in North Texas, if you want to bust out from the usual Bud Light or Coors Light rut. 

Beer	Brewery	Location	Rating
Ugly Pug Black Lager	Rahr & Sons Brewing Company	Fort Worth, TX	4 Bottle Caps
Cotton Mill Pale Ale	Tupps Brewery	McKinney, TX	3 Bottle Caps
Dallas Blonde	Deep Ellum Brewery	Dallas, TX	2 Bottle Caps
Pukachev's Cobra	Hanger 24 Craft Brewery	Redlands, CA	0 Bottle Caps
Zomer Pils	Texas Ale Project	Dallas, TX	2 Bottle Caps
Neato Bandito	Deep Ellum Brewery	Dallas, TX	3 Bottle Caps
Shannon's Fire Brewed Irish Red	Shannon's Brewing Company	Keller, TX	4 Caps - Dennis	3 Caps - Bill
Mamma's Little Yella Pils	Oskar Blues Brewery	Austin, TX	3 Caps - Bill	2 Caps - Dennis
Texas Red American Amber	Rahr & Sons Brewing Company	Fort Worth, TX	3 Bottle Caps
Santo Black Kolsch	Saint Arnold Brewing Company	Houston, TX	3 Bottle Caps
Bullet Proof	Audacity Brewhouse	Denton, TX	2 Bottle Caps
Bockslider Toadies Texas Bock	Martin House Brewing Company	Fort Worth, TX	3 Bottle Caps
Weekend Warrior Pale Ale	Karbach Brewing Company	Houston, TX	2 Bottle Caps
Chief Justice Stout	Legal Draft Beer Company	Arlington, TX	4 Bottle Caps
Shiner Homespun Cream Ale	Spoetzl Brewery	Shiner, TX	3 Bottle Caps
Modelo Negra	Grupo Modelo - Anheuser-Bush InBev	Mexico City	3 Bottle Caps
Iron Thistle Scottish Ale	Rahr & Sons Brewing Company	Fort Worth, TX	3 Bottle Caps
Old Speckled Hen Ale	Morland Brewery	England	3 Bottle Caps
Boddingtons Pub Ale	AB InBev	England	3 Bottle Caps
Wexford Irish Style Cream Ale	Greene King Brewery	Suffolk, England	3 Caps - Bill	2 Caps - Dennis
Belhaven Scottish Ale	Belhaven Brewery	Dunbar, Scotland	3 Bottle Caps
Victoria	Grupo Modelo or Cerveceria Modelo	Napa or Piedras Negras, MX	3 Bottle Caps
Pabst American Pale Ale (APA)	Pabst Brewing Company	La Crosse, WI	3 Bottle Caps
The Salty Lady	Martin House Brewing Company	Fort Worth, TX	1 Bottle Cap
Lager - Tampa Style Lager	Cigar City Brewing Company	Tampa, FL	3 Bottle Caps
Ebony & Ebony	Turning Point Beers	Bedford, TX	4 Bottle Caps
Fire Ant Funeral	Texas Ale Project	Dallas, TX	2 Bottle Caps
Black Letter Law - Black Pilsner	Legal Draft Beer Company	Arlington, TX	4 Bottle Caps

Please post a comment on your thoughts about these beers. Also, please pass on your own favorites. 

Happy and safe drinking. Cheers!

wjh 

S1P03 - A Total GOP Victory

Here are the maybe, almost, possibly, sort of, perhaps final results of the 2018 midterm elections. There is still a possibility that the North Carolina Congressional district nine election might need a do-over. It now appears that the Republican winner, Mark Harris, had a campaign operative that committed voter fraud by harvesting mail-in ballots. Regardless of how that situation turns out, it will not affect the makeup of the new House. The Democrats will still have a significant majority.

I did a longer post about the midterms a few days ago. This is an update with the latest results and also notes a few additional items. The short summary:

Senate: 53 Republicans, 47 Democrats and independents (R+1)
House: 235 Democrats, 199 Republicans (D +41)
Governors: 27 Republicans, 23 Democrats (D +7)
Attorneys general: 26 Democrats, 24 Republicans (D +4)
State legislative chambers: 61 Republican, 38 Democratic (D +8)
State "trifectas": 23 Republican, 14 Democratic (D +7)

Pending the 2020 elections, Republicans are now in full control of the next round of redistricting in 17 states, down from 25 states where they controlled the process in 2011. 

House Democrats in districts Trump won in 2016: 30, up from 13 before the election. Meanwhile, House Republicans in districts Clinton won in 2016: three, down from 25 before the election.

Let me remind everyone that President Trump called this a total GOP victory. I beg to differ with his slightly optimistic assessment. Trump is one of many spin doctors who will be trying to claim a political victory, either actual or moral victory. The journalists, party operators, and pundits will be dissecting the 2018 elections for quite a while and then the historians will take over. The rest of us have a few short months to celebrate the holidays. Don't relax too much though. There are only about 23 months left until the 2020 elections.

wjh 

S1P02 - MLB 2018 Season Recap

I know the baseball season has been over for a while, It's now college football bowl season and NFL Superbowl speculation time. Nevertheless, I am a baseball fan 12 months a year. Since we didn't do a season-ending podcast, here are the random thoughts I had jotted down.

MLB 2018 Season Recap

General

• Adrian Beltre retires after 21 years in majors. He will be missed.
• 3,166 Hits, 15th all-time, the most by a foreign-born player
• 1,707 RBI (24th all-time), 477 HR (30th all-time), .286/.339/.480 slash numbers
• Four all-star games, four silver slugger awards, five gold gloves
• 2004 MLB home run leader (48)
• 2013 MLB hits leader (199)
• 2017 MLB Personality of the Year - an award he should have won almost every year
• Future Hall of Famer

• There were more strikeouts than hits in the 2018 regular season. The first time in MLB history. K’s - 41,207. Hits - 41,019. BA - .248. HR - 5,585
• Three teams had 100 or more wins. Boston, Houston, NYY.
• Three teams lost more than 100 games. Baltimore, KC, CWS. Orioles finished 61 games out of 1st place
• The team with the best record, Boston, won the World Series

Managers

• Rangers Manager Jeff Bannister fired with 10 games left in the season
• Rangers hire Chris Woodward, LA Dodgers 3B coach
• Angels manager Mike Scioscia chooses not to return in 2019
• Angels hire Brad Ausmus as new manager
• Twins manager Paul Molitor fired. Will probably remain with team in some capacity
• Twins name Rocco Baldelli (37) as new manager. The youngest manager in the Majors
• Orioles manager Buck Showalter fired. No replacement yet.
•  Reds fire manager Bryan Price after 18 games, Jim Riggleman named interim manager
• Reds hire David Bell (46) as new manager. Son of Buddy Bell

Awards

• Rookie of the year - NL Ronald Acuna, Jr., Braves; AL Shohei Ohtani, Angels
• Manager of the year - NL Brian Snitker, Braves; AL Bob Melvin, A’s
• Cy Young - NL Jacob deGrom, Mets; AL Blake Snell, Rays
• MVP - NL Christian Yelich, Brewers; AL Mookie Betts, Red Sox
• Batting Average - NL Christian Yelich (.326); AL Mookie Betts (.346)
• Home Run Leaders - NL Nolan Arenado, Rockies (38); AL Khris Davis, A’s (48)
• RBI Leaders - NL Javier Baez, Cubs (111); AL J.D. Martinez, Red 
• Sox (130)

MLB spring training and college baseball both start in February. I'll be posting more baseball stuff when that happens. Maybe a big trade or free agent signing will prompt a post before then. 

I'll be writing a full post about Adrian Beltre and around March, I'll once again do my Fearless Forecast for the 2019 season. 

wjh

S1P01 - The Midterms

This is the first effort of my new blog not counting the introduction post, Season 1, Post 1 (S1P01). It's a brief recap of the 2018 midterm elections. Although the results are still not totally final, they are almost complete and the remaining few races won't materially change the overall results. In general, except for the US Senate, the Democrats had a very good election day. They retook the House by a big majority, gained a significant number of governorships, and made real gains in state legislatures. Locally, Texas Republicans still won most of the statewide offices but by much narrower margins than the last few years. The Texas legislature is more balanced. While Texas is still a RED state, it is becoming much more PURPLE. The next two years should be very interesting. 

In the words of Donald Trump, "a total victory" for the GOP. 

The following are notes I took over the past month since the November 6th election day: 

2018 Midterm Elections

Voting results from the NYT

National Elections

Nationwide, about 49.7% of eligible voters cast a ballot. About 116 million.

• Georgia Governor - Brian Kemp (R) 50.3%, Stacey Abrams (D) 48.8%
• Florida Governor - Rick DeSantis (R) 49.6%, Andrew Gillum (D) 49.2%
• Florida US Senate - Rick Scott (R) 50.1%, Bill Nelson (D) 49.9%
• Kansas Governor - Laura Kelly (D) 47.8%, Kris Kobach (R) 43.3%
• Wisconsin Governor - Tony Evers (D) 49.6%, Scott Walker (R) 48.4%
• Arizona US Senate - Kyrsten Sinema (D)  49.7%, Martha McSally (R) 48%
• Final Senate makeup - GOP 53, Dems 47
• Total Votes - Dem 51.6 million, GOP 34.4 million
• GOP gains 2 seats
• Almost Final House makeup - Dem 234, GOP 198
• Total Votes - Dem 56.1 million, GOP 49.7 million
• Dems gain 39 seats
• Final Governor makeup - GOP 27, Dem 23
• Total Votes - Dem 45.0 million, GOP 42.7 million
• Dems gain 7 seats

Texas State & Local

• US Senate - Ted Cruz (R) 50.9%, Beto O’Rourke (D) 48.3%
• Governor - Greg Abbott (R) 55.8%, Lupe Valdez (D) 42.5%
• Lt. Governor - Mike Patrick (R) 51.3%, Mike Collier (D) 46.5%
• AG - Ken Paxton (R) 50.6%, Justin Nelson (D) 47%
• US House 24 - Kenny Marchant (R) 51%, Jan McDowell (D) 48%
• Marchant lost in Dallas Co. & Denton Co. precincts. Won in Tarrant Co.
• US House 32 - Colin Allred (D) 52%, Pete Sessions (R) 46% (Flip)
• Texas Senate 09 - Kelly Hancock (R) 54%, Gwenn Burud (D) 46%
• Texas Senate 10 - Beverly Powell (D) 52%, Konni Burton (R) 48% (Flip)
• Texas House 92 - Jonathan Stickland (R) 50%, Steve Riddell (D) 47%
• Tarrant JPS Hospital bond - passed
• Texas Senate makeup - total 31 seats. Was 21 GOP, 10 Dem
• New makeup - GOP 19, Dems 12
• 2018 Election - 15 seats up for election. GOP 10 (67%), Dem 5 
• Dems flipped 2 seats
• Texas House makeup - GOP 83 (55%), Dem 67 (45%)
• Dems gained 12 seats. Was GOP 95, Dem 55

Election notes and observations:

• There will be over 100 (117) women in the US House. First Muslim woman, first Native American women
• There will be 104 new members in Congress
• What’s next for Beto? A 2020 senate run, presidential run, VP candidate…
• Tarrant County turning purple or blue? 2012 - Cruz +16%, 2016 - Trump +6%, 2018 - Beto +1%
• Florida passed amendment reinstating felons voting rights
• Michigan, Colorado, Missouri, and maybe Utah voted for independent commissions to draw future voting districts
• Florida voting still a mess. Very close races and vote tally problems
• Some interesting midterm numbers and charts from FiveThirtyEight

Enough about 2018. It's now time to start the 2020 campaigns. 

wjh

S1P00 - Introduction

For the past couple of years, my partner in crime and I produced a podcast titled Two Old Guys Drinking Beer. The podcast consisted of the two of us discussing issues, topics, and events that interested us. We truly are two old guys, both well into the second half of our lives. Two guys who drank beer together. Two kindred souls who have known each other for over 30 years. Two guys who shared some great and some terrible times together. Two old men who have opinions on almost everything and are willing to share them. 

A typical podcast consisted of a political/current events, a baseball, and of course, a beer segment. The political portion typically covered the antics of President Trump, his administration, and the GOP. We didn't agree with or approve of much. The baseball segment skewed toward our local and beloved Texas Rangers. We are both longtime fans. During the beer pieces, we would try a new beer and rate it. These were usually craft beers, many local to DFW, but we did sample beers from all over the globe. 

During the runup to the 2018 elections, we did also several podcasts with local candidates for the Texas legislature. 

It was a fun project. Both of us put considerable effort and preparation into the podcasts. I think we improved a bit over our run. I want to thank my partner for initiating this adventure. He also set up the infrastructure for the podcast, websites, software, hardware, and provided our "recording studio". Thanks to his son for providing our theme song. As a bonus, his black lab mix, Molly, served as our almost constant companion and executive producer. She was also in charge of some of our sound effects.

Like all things, our podcasting experiment has come to an end. The reasons are not important. We remain friends and maybe there will be other mutual projects in the future. 

Both of us still have our opinions and will be sharing them through various outlets. One of mine will be this blog. It will often take a similar form as the podcast. My take on a summation of current events will be a big part. When baseball spring training cranks up in February, I will be weighing in on that. I may also sample and critique a new beer or two on occasion. 

Besides this blog, you can find me at the following locations that are updated more frequently than here:

• Twitter - @BillyJim47
• General interest blog - BillyJim47's Blog
• Political blog - Trump Track 
• tumblr - BillyJim47  
• tumblr - Trump Track

I hope you will enjoy this newest effort of mine. It will loosely follow the format of our podcast. Mostly a recap of the political landscape with an occasional beer review and a baseball segment. I'm leaning toward keeping the political posts separate from baseball and beer. That is just a thought. I expect the format and content to evolve over time. I welcome your comments and feedback. At least to start with, reader's comments will not be moderated or need approval prior to publication. As long as everyone plays politely, that will continue. I don't expect you to agree with me, although that's OK too. I do expect you to be respectful and civil. 

This is the first of what I hope is a long continuation of a project that started about two years ago but in a new form. 

wjh