Merry Generic Winter Day-Off With No Religious Content

[Alex_de_Large]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
White or red?

A Ridge 2003 Pagani Ranch zinfandel is in that neighborhood and would be a solid choice for someone who goes red.

Awesome bottle, especially for the price. Then again, there's always that dick in a box thing.

[bold_n_brazen]

Originally posted by ltl/fb
Thanks for the tip on the car insurance thingy.

A troop-transport pinata?* Or an aircraft carrier pinata?** Or perhaps an Eragon pinata?***

* see PB

**Very, very inside joke.

***Joke that is so inside, I may be the only one who sort of gets it.

You're welcome.

See? It really is the spirit of the holidays. I know you don't much like me and yet, I come to your aid.

I'd like one of those rainbow triangle pinatas, please.*

*Also an inside joke.

[taxwonk]

Originally posted by LessinSF
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brunello_di_Montalcino

ETA: I will provide my Argentinian and Chilean opinions in a couple of months.

Brunello di Montalcino is an excellent wine, one of my favorites being Castello Banfi. However, a good brunello will run at least $50 a bottle, and the cheaper ones aren't really anything close to the real thing.

Rosso di Montalcino is similar, being made with the same Sangiovese grapes, and it can be had for about $12 a bottle.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
Go to the wine store where you're going to get (1) and (2) and ask them for a bottle of $25 (or less) wine with an impressive label that isn't very good, to give to an asshole.

I only partially agree with this.

The problem with a recommendation of wine X for the hostess gift is that stores stock different wines. It isn't like beer, especially at that range.

I would ask the wine store guy for his favorite bottle in the $25-30 range. Buy it for the hostess gift.

Then drive to a lower middle class neighborhood and go to a party store. Find a bottle of wine at $20. Find a dusty one. It will have gone bad after sitting there for 4 or 5 years. Get that for BIL.

[dtb]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
I only partially agree with this.

The problem with a recommendation of wine X for the hostess gift is that stores stock different wines. It isn't like beer, especially at that range.

I would ask the wine store guy for his favorite bottle in the $25-30 range. Buy it for the hostess gift.

Then drive to a lower middle class neighborhood and go to a party store. Find a bottle of wine at $20. Find a dusty one. It will have gone bad after sitting there for 4 or 5 years. Get that for BIL.

You know, you all (okay, maybe me too) could probably start some passive-aggressive-gift-giving consultancy and make a mint.

[Secret_Agent_Man]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
I was going to post what mine came out as, but then I thought it would seem like I was bragging.

Interesting. Yes and No.

<p align="center"><img src="http://www.flarn.com/~warlock/tarot/dragon/1.jpg"></p>
<h2 align="center"><font face="Verdana"><b>You are The Magician</b></font></h2>
<p align="center"><font face="Verdana">Skill, wisdom, adaptation. Craft, cunning, depending on dignity.</font></p>
<p align="center"><font face="Verdana">Eleoquent and charismatic&nbsp;both verbally and in writing,
you are clever, witty, inventive and persuasive.</font></p>
<p align="center"><font face="Verdana">The Magician is the male power of creation, creation by willpower and desire. In that ancient sense, it is the ability to make things so just by speaking them aloud. Reflecting this is the fact that the Magician is represented by Mercury. He represents the gift of tongues, a smooth talker, a salesman. Also clever with the slight of hand and a medicine man - either a real doctor or someone trying to sell you snake oil.</font></p>
<p align="center"><font size="2" face="Verdana"><b>What Tarot Card are You?</b><br><a href="http://www.flarn.com/~warlock/tarot">Take the Test to Find Out.</a></font></p>

eta: Apparently, I am not enough of a Magician to make the tags work. Sigh.

S_A_M

[ThurgreedMarshall]

Originally posted by bold_n_brazen
Keep in mind, it is Mexico... so 188 miles could take anywhere from 4 hours to 8. Patience, grasshopper.

Do not speed or you will be shook down. If you do and get caught, $50 is the standard let-me-go-on-my-way Federale fee.

TM

[ThurgreedMarshall]

Originally posted by Anne Elk
Lastly, I need to get something for the asshole secret BIL. He's obnoxious, pretentious, and impressed by designer labels. I don't want to spend more than $25. I'd like to stiff him, but that would cause more family drama and isn't worth it. Ideas so far: bottle of wine that has a good rep but isn't all that tasty, one of those slick looking business card holders, gift certificate to a book store.

Can ya help an Elk out?

Umbrella.

TM

[ThurgreedMarshall]

Originally posted by bold_n_brazen
*Also an inside joke.

Let's retire this before the new year, shall we?

TM

[Pretty Little Flower]

Am I the only one who thinks that the most tragic element of the whole Miss USA/Miss Teen USA scandal is the rift between Donald Trump and Rosie O'Donnell? With the type of words those two are exchanging, it hardly even feels like the holiday season . . . .

[Sparklehorse]

Originally posted by Pretty Little Flower
Am I the only one who thinks that the most tragic element of the whole Miss USA/Miss Teen USA scandal is the rift between Donald Trump and Rosie O'Donnell? With the type of words those two are exchanging, it hardly even feels like the holiday season . . . .

From the clip on Defamer, it seems like this rift has a deeper history than the recent drunken bisexual pagent queen scandal. I don't know much about Donald Trump (or Rosie O'Donnell for that matter) but I think he may be coming unhinged.

[ThurgreedMarshall]

The absolute best wine no one knows about. And worth every penny.

http://www.wallywine.com/p-19324-200...iliateid=10062



TM

[Anne Elk]

Originally posted by notcasesensitive
Could you get him some ggucci or armanie sunglasses from a street vendor? I would have way too much fun with a cheap passive aggressive gift for a relative that I don't like.

However I had even more fun with the gift exchange gift for my pseudo sil (only not the "in law" part technically), who is my best buddy in Mr. Man's family. Got her all sorts of silly stuff that she would like. But we get hours of entertainment out of matching mood rings, so it was too too easy.

Beantown doesn't have the street vendors the way NYC does and I've never seen him wear sunglasses.

Too bad he's such a priss and doesn't wear baseball caps, I could get him a cheesy Red Sox or Dallas Cowboys hat as a combo birthday/christmas/welcome-to-the-USA gift and set him up to be hated and reviled by all the NYC sports fans.

Thanks for the wine recommendations. I'll ask if they have anything in the bin end box that's getting close to vinegar.

[ThurgreedMarshall]

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/21/us...=1&oref=slogin

WASHINGTON, Dec. 20 — In a letter sent to hundreds of voters this month, Representative Virgil H. Goode Jr., Republican of Virginia, warned that the recent election of the first Muslim to Congress posed a serious threat to the nation’s traditional values.

Mr. Goode was referring to Keith Ellison, the Minnesota Democrat and criminal defense lawyer who converted to Islam as a college student and was elected to the House in November. Mr. Ellison’s plan to use the Koran during his private swearing-in ceremony in January had outraged some Virginia voters, prompting Mr. Goode to issue a written response to them, a spokesman for Mr. Goode said.

In his letter, which was dated Dec. 5, Mr. Goode said that Americans needed to “wake up” or else there would “likely be many more Muslims elected to office and demanding the use of the Koran."
_______

The fracas over Mr. Ellison’s decision to use the Koran during his personal swearing-in ceremony began last month when Dennis Prager, a conservative columnist and radio host, condemned the decision as one that would undermine American civilization.

“Ellison’s doing so will embolden Islamic extremists and make new ones, as Islamists, rightly or wrongly, see the first sign of the realization of their greatest goal — the Islamicization of America,” said Mr. Prager, who said the Bible was the only relevant religious text in the United States.

Fucking disgusting. And no, I'm not going over to politics. That's all I have to say on this one.

TM

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by ThurgreedMarshall
The absolute best wine no one knows about. And worth every penny.

http://www.wallywine.com/p-19324-200...iliateid=10062



TM

are the vines grown out behind the projects?