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.