Podcast: Is expensive wine worth the extra dime?

In this podcast I explore the question if it's worth it to spend the extra money on an expensive bottle of wine.  Could the difference between cheap and expensive wine just be in our minds?  The research on the effects our surrounding has on us as we consume wine suggests room ambiance, sound and price does affect wine's perceived quality.  However, these factors also make it difficult to directly attribute the real quality of a wine by it's cost alone.



Feel free to comment on the content of the podcast and add any information on wine tasting that could further the conversation.

Church. Chicken. Cycles.

Yesterday my folks and I went to First Assembly church.

First is my favourite church and it's always great to be able to visit when I'm in town.  Some of the most amazing people I know I met there and it's always good to see them again.  Jessica DiSabatino was guest speaking and half way through her sermon a kid pulled the fire alarm, so everyone had to evacuate.  Then, like a cliché, we went for chicken.

After chicken, my dad wanted to show me the new parking garage at SAIT.  I went to SAIT over a decade ago and it looks like they've made some amazing changes since I roamed the campus.  What they did here was built a parking garage on a soccer field and then turned the roof of it back into a soccer field.  The outside is covered with giant engineered plates that have holes punched in them, bent at different angles to produce a picture of clouds.  You can see the soccer net bordering the top of the parkade.

Then it was bike shopping time because mom wanted a new bike for cruising.  It took a few hours and two stores, but eventually Bow Cycle had the perfect ride.

They also had unicycles.

After that, we went to my Uncle Derrick and Aunt Mardo's place for a visit and huge feast.  And I mean huge feast.  I also got to see the new house they're building in Bear's Paw which is far from finished, but will be amazing when it's done.

After publishing another Two Minute Tech Trip this morning, dad and I attacked the renos in the first bathroom and got the tub in, plumbing checked and walls ready for tile!

I sure do miss my true love.

Chutes and Ladders

I woke up early yesterday because I'm still on London time.  I usually spend my first waking moments checking out the news and tech stuff, but I got side tracked by philosophy and brain science videos on TED.  I usually get to bounce my philosophical and existential thoughts off my true love, which made me miss her.  Provoked by the brain science video, I was acutely conscious of metacongnition and wondered why I think the thoughts I think.  Something to keep my mind occupied as renovations continue.

We managed to plumb in the guts for the new tub and faucet in the first bathroom; a task that consumed as much time figuring out how to make everything fit as it did fitting them.  I'd like to think I'm versed in plumbing, but there's always a little relearning that has to happen when it's been a while.  I hope all the connections hold.

My uncle Mark and auntie Dawn were over on Friday night and we listened to some songs from Chimes of Freedom: The Songs of Bob Dylan.  If you're looking for a really good compilation of really good songs, check this out!  My favourite so far is Sinead O'Connor's cover of Property of Jesus.  After listening to her a few times, I thought to put on John Lennon's I Found Out and wanted to play my bass.  Sometimes I think they don't make music like they used to, but then I listen to something like Hot Water Music's Drag My Body and I know it's just something older people say.

Somehow I twisted a muscle in the front of my neck this morning.  My mom thought it needed a massager treatment.

It didn't work.

Heading West.

When I stepped off the plane in Calgary and walked the narrow path of the jet bridge, the first sight that met my eyes was the Starbucks sign.  I'll admit that I'm a bit of a coffee snob and in that moment I thought; if there is a heaven, this is what it might feel like to approach it.

On a normal day I'd stop for a jolt of dark roast, but my brain (still somewhat hazy from getting up way too early and suffering the lag from few sprits from the night before) was filled with the excitement and anticipation of seeing my dad and getting down to the business of scoping out what's new in the place where I grew up.

It's awesome how much Calgary and Airdrie have progressed in the time since my true love and I left to live in London.  Leaving the airport terminal, there seemed like there were enough cranes in the area to par Dubai and the familiar roads from the airport have subtle changes that suggest this place is always getting better.

Walking in the door of the house I grew up in will always be familiar.  The first thing I noticed was that Scooter wasn't there and for the rest of the day her memory would pop into my mind as I half expected her to come around a corner or let out a sharp bark by the back door.  The second thing I noticed was that my parents keep an extremely clean and tidy house; a trait that I'll admit I only half inherited.  I'm here to help my dad renovate two bathrooms and install a new back door.  It was really fun to unpack my luggage, abandon any notion of getting to work and set up my video equipment to produce my Two Minute Tech Trip's while I'm here.  The support and interest from my dad as I pursue my career in broadcasting really means the world to me.

We eventually got started on the renovations and I'm optimistic the labourious amount of work ahead of us will be shadowed by the memories we'll create as we share in the frustrations of solving problems and later revel in the satisfaction of finishing up.  And I know that might sound cliché, but that's okay with me.