I love hops. Chewing on them. Pickling them. Forcing beer back through them. Overpowering my palate with them. I love them.
I love drinking liquids. Coffee and tea. Beer wine and booze. Doesn’t matter. I love it. But the past few months I’m trying hard to find alternatives and have dove into everything from Kin Euphorics to CLEAN Cause. Solid. Great. But they didn’t scratch the itch for a complex, floral, fragrant drink without the sugary backlash or alcoholic hangover.
I found a dream come true a few weeks ago. I’m throwing these back 2-3 a day when I have them and they’re magical. Open “The Really Hoppy One” and I ASSURE you the nose will carry you to your favorite session IPA.
Fight me.
Thanks to the Hoplark HopTea squad. This is a new category and I’m heads over ABV in love. I’m buying a house so I can buy a fridge so I can then buy a second fridge and dedicate it to HopTea.
Nir Eyal’s book is next on my list. I just enjoy and appreciate how he thinks and what he thinks about. He’s been deeply personally involved in the promotion of his new book Indistractable.
If you’ve read anything I’ve written or heard me speak over the past 2 years you know how much I value attention more and more. His work delivers on that hypothesis value and observation in a powerful way.
He posted this quote today. #iamgrateful and #iamthankful for the great new work some of today’s thinker and writers are producing. He also seems to be a pretty good guy.
Last weekend we celebrated my Mama’s birthday. He turned 60. His heart and spirit has held firm in his early 20’s since I first met him.
On his special day he bought gifts for our kids. Books. A funny flying drone.
And then today he sent over these; gifts for the rest of us. Pictures of our son.
#iamgrateful and #iamthankful for these pics, this boy … and the amazing love my Mamas have always showered me with now extending to the next generation.
I was able to catch up on the Rock and Roll HoF nominees while at the airport yesterday. Janet Jackson’s plea last year to increase diversity seems to have been heard, a little. While working through a podcast covering the nominees and projections for who’s in, who’s in first ballot (Biggie), I found few surprises. But I was surprised when the conversation turned to Dave Matthews Band.
How could their be any doubt?
You may not like them. But that’s music. This is the Hall of Fame and they are one of the oat consistently successful and famous bands of my lifetime. Sales. Tours. Memorable songs.
And then they played this. And I haven’t stopped singing it for what’s now 27 hours. #iamgrateful and #iamthankful for the list below. But tonight, I’m singing American Baby until my eyelids droop to close.
Do you remember when this song was written? Why it was written?
Feels kinda relevant today in the US to me.
“Matthews wrote this song the day after George W. Bush won re-election for US president in 2004. Matthews did not support Bush, and was encouraging others with his views not to give up hope. He told Rolling Stone: “The inspiration to that song, in part, is that we shouldn’t lose sight of ourselves or of what makes this country great while we’re fighting over how to defend it.”
“I’m very much in love with this country,” Matthews, who was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, added. “I certainly consider myself liberal, which to me just means that I want to embrace the differences between people, as well as the similarities, because I think that’s what makes us spectacular. America has a lot of bitter past and a lot of suffering in a short period of time. It’s got a lot of young ghosts and still-open wounds, but there’s a magic in America that I love, and that’s one of the reasons I feel so strongly about speaking my mind. I’ll fight in my way for America.”
This is the best breakfast sandwich I’ve ever had. The biscuit is wonderful. Buttery. Salty. Savory. And peppery! While the egg is perfectly cooked and framed and balanced (I love how clean this sandwich is around the edges; it means every layer and ingredient was thoughtfully added and deliberately set.) It’s just wonderful.
#iamgrateful and #iamthankful this was waiting on the other side of that 345am wake up and 6am flight.
Wow. I love what Ambrosia For Heads has done for my days. It’s the only place to turn for hip hop scoop. And even within that magic #iamgrateful and #iamthankful for moments like this. That bring a forgotten voice back into a noisy scene and bring a clear smile to a gray-flecked face. Leggo Chubb Rock. Treat ‘Em Right still hangs as a mantra and a method for livin’. This joint is ’nuff said.
You May claim The Wire. That’s so cute. When people claim a show where a whole season is ignored in the calculation? Or The Sopranos? To me foundational. But as much as we love originals nobody loves the Model T or drives it today for a reason (head nod).
Breaking Bad ran the world. I caught it on opening night and all that jazz. It’s the perfect show. Game of Thrones let us a down. We know. BB never did. I mean…never.
But what I love is that I turned it on after I had agreed to date this one woman exclusively.
Her name?
@Priya
My wife. And here we are.
Same night.
But 10 years later. I’m watching where they take this story and it’s so different. The context. Art mirrors life. Life makes way for art. But 10 years later this story is alive. With all it’s own twists and turns. Just like ours, babe.
Oh eff it.
#iamgtateful and #iamthankful for the next 2 hours like whoa. With you passed out next to me in bed I’ll forge through this on my phone as far as it’ll let me. There’s poetry here.
Blow has been an understated indulgent flick for me on so many levels. But the scene after George teaches his first class and then tries to catch some zzzz’s. The conversation with Diego. The panning back and forth across the characters during the dialogue. Always stuck with me as a way to tel a story. What I missed … was the story being told. #iamgrateful and #iamthankful for catching it this time tho.
One of the things organized religions do well are setting aside specific days for important and healing moments. Where rituals turn from service to some higher power to interaction courtesy and respect to the highest power IMHO, the people we live and live for.
As we sit in the heart of Yom Kippur, I’m inspired by the day. There is so much to the ritual of Yom Kippur as I understand it (an outsider) that puts me in position to do my own apology: if I’ve done anything to hurt or offend you, I apologize. If I can make it better, let me know and I assuredly will. It’s not just Yom Kippur, as Sanskrit has also taught us and as my Jain family knows too well with Paryushan and DA’s Lakshan. Which goes back to the original point of many faiths, cultures and religions getting something like this right.
FWIW, the apology is as much about the words (many say that’s the easy part but that isn’t true or more people would do it more often; and also, the hardest step is the first, shifting energy from potential to kinetic so I argue that leading with the words often enables momentum against the sincerity of the apology and ultimately, the resolution.)
Yom Kippur is the holiest day for a reason. My favorite part is when people share their apologies in the group; and what happens next sounds magical: the group leans in and shifts the context from the individual apologizing to the group absorbing ownership. From “I did this” and “I apologize” to “we did this” and “we apologize”. Sins, errors, mistakes—are communal. It’s the highest form of one of my favorite guiding principles, civic responsibility and the social contract.
I can’t think of a more beautiful moment inspired by faith, than that. Anywhere. And #iamgrateful and #iamthankful for the nudge, reminder and space.
So if you are apologizing. And I love you (so many of you I do), then as someone who loves you I say the burden is mine too. Share the weight of your known and unknown regrets; because as my Jewish friends have taught me in the past 24 hours, apologies and forgiveness love company in a way more inspiring way than misery.
What’s best about these days of forgiveness? You need not follow this faith or any faith to participate. Which is why I’m participating. You can too.
If you owe an apology. Or if you acknowledge we make mistakes that we never see; embrace the moment. We’re with you. And for those formally embracing the day, may your fast be easy.PS: As a fan of slow jammy 80s covers, I thought sharing this would be WAY better than sharing a Bieber hit:
Just spent way too much on ceiling fans for the new house. I’m totally good with it. People underestimate the impact the ceiling fan has on a room and on energy efficiency and, in general, on what it does to the air and therefore fundamental life force of a space.
Energy. White noise. Air circulation. And visual anchor.
The humble ceiling fan should be a statement and a commitment. So though our home will be modest our fans may be a bit outsized in context. I think they’ll be worth it.
Suneet Bhatt 