Don't Buy these Headlights

I put these headlights in my car about three months ago because I wanted to see better at night. One of them went out last week. The other one went out yesterday. I realize that they aren't made to last as long as traditional halogen headlight bulbs, but three months? Ridiculous. After the AutoZone I bought them at told me there was nothing they could do about it, not only did I buy new lights at Pep Boys, I made sure to buy Philips brand lights just so I wouldn't buy another Sylvania product. They really are substantially brighter than regular bulbs but for the extra money I expected to get at least a year or so out of them. Never again.

Beer Time: Schneider Weisse Tap 7 Unser Original Hefeweizen

As you can tell I've been on a German beer kick recently and I've been enjoying myself quite a bit. I had seen beers made by Schneider Weisse before but had never had any so thought the Hefeweizen would be a good way to get a feel for their offerings. And damn is it good.
I'm detecting a fairly strong fruit flavor, I wanna say citrus, like oranges. Along with chocolate and a malty finish. This beer is excellent and the only concern I have right now is why did I only buy one?
The store I picked this up at had a variety of other beers made by Schneider Weisse and I'll be sure to pick up some more on my next beer run. I'd drink this one again anytime.

Beer Time: Warsteiner Dunkel

This is one of my favorite beers since I first drank it at a bar years ago. I haven't had a lot of different dunkels (dark, German style beer) but I've always liked dark beers and that got me to try this one. The flavor is kind of sweet at first immediately followed up by a somewhat bitter, coffee-caramel-almost cola-like taste. Personally I think it's great and I'd drink this sexy dark brew anytime. I was pleasantly surprised to see it for sale in bottles at my favorite beer store, where previously I'd only seen the regular Warsteiner beer for sale so it is out there, even in somewhat harder to navigate beer markets like Birmingham, which is, in its own right coming into its own recently.
Suffice to say that this a great dark beer and I drink it regularly. Damn, it's good.

Fancy Beer Time: De Dochter van de Korenaar Charbon Smoked Vanilla Stout

Put on your monocle and top hat everyone! Time for some fancy beer!

First of all, the name of this beer is a hell of a mouth full. It's brewed by De Dochter van de Korenaar in Belgium. Second of all I tend to think many beers with a higher ABV (above 6%) just flat out don't taste good and since I drink beer both for the taste AND to get drunk that is sometimes a problem.
Charbon smoked vanilla stout is a definite exception to that rule. My girlfriend picked this beer out since she loves all things vanilla and she was not disappointed. Despite being a stout almost so thick you could chew it, this beer is surprisingly easy to drink and while it does taste kind of strong it's not unpleasant by any means despite having a somewhat high ABV of 7%. The color is like any other stout with a very thick head that stays on the beer the whole time you drink it. It has a pleasant... well, smoky vanilla flavor. I tried to think of another way to describe it but that really sums it up. You definitely get what is advertised, so if you like vanilla beers this is a good choice. My girlfriend loved this beer so much I was lucky just to get a taste!

Beer Time: Spaten Munich style Lager

Ah, beer time. One of my favorite times ever. I'm feeling in a German mood so I picked up a few different kinds of German beer, some of which I've had maybe once or twice years ago but I can't remember for sure. Memory problems aside, here we go!

Spaten is a Munich based brewery which makes many different kinds of beers including Franziskaner, which I'm also a big fan of, so I decided to try their flagship lager. Cool bottle, especially since I like green beer bottles, very German sounding name and a slightly higher ABV than is common for this type of beer. In fact, upon inspecting the bottle I found this:

 

It's technically considered a malt liquor!!

Oh man, could this be any more awesome? 5.2% is a little higher than the average 4% or so for this type of beer. When I tasted it I immediately thought it tasted like a "fancy malt liquor." Those were my exact thoughts. It tastes somewhat strong, but it's not overpowering like Hurricane or anything like that. It's very smooth, but at the same time you know it at least somewhat means business. It also has a very malty flavor, which makes sense as I read somewhere that this was supposed to be Germany's answer to Czech beer. Overall I think Spaten is very good and I would definitely try it again, and I'm sure I'll be trying more varieties of it also such as the Oktoberfest.

A few notes from a former Walmart employee

I'm no longer employed with Walmart (yes, it was my decision) and just wanted to post a few funny pictures that I took there that I had forgotten about. Since they were taken while I was working they are all camera phone pics, so deal with the quality. Oh speaking of, I ordered my new digital camera today! Should be here in about a week.
Hows 'bout we start with some inspiration from Walmart's founder and extremely rich champion of low wages and poor worker treatment, Sam Walton:

First of all, I doubt this is an actual quote. I mean, I know the guy was from Arkansas but I think he'd have the good sense to check his grammar before making this poster. Can you spot the typo? It cracked me up the first time I saw it.
Second, we move on to the fast paced world of milk crates.

That's right. Prohibited by law. So Walmart was in effect saying "fuck the po-lice" by using this in their store. I'm half kidding, here. The real reason they have this warning on them is that evidently these crates cost a lot to make. I've even seen some with "THOU SHALT NOT STEAL" printed on them, which I wish very much I had a picture of. Next  is just some funny shit i saw on a box.

That is quite possibly the best company name in existence. Ever. This was on a case of canned coconut milk.
That's about it. I'm very happy to not be employed there anymore, though I will miss some of the people I worked with. And feel bad for them.

Goodass Food #1

So I'm back. While I don't have much time to explain as I have to be at work in about 30 minutes, I did want to make a quick post about a place that's near and dear to my heart, because they have some of the best damn Chinese food I've ever eaten. Deep, right?
I'm talking about a little hole in the wall place in Bluff Park, AL called New China. I've been going there since I was a kid (also, I think, since the place opened) and have gone back at least a couple times a month ever since. If you go there at lunch time the place will be packed out with everyone wanting to snatch up one of the delicious and cheap as hell lunch specials. My favorite thing on the menu is still the sesame chicken, but I've eaten most of the items on the menu at one time or another and have liked everything I've ever gotten from there. They also have the best fried dumplings I've ever had, period. Damn, I'm getting hungry just thinking about it. But seriously, to drive my point home, check out my lunch from earlier today:

Sesame chicken, fried rice, egg roll, and hot and sour soup with some crispy noodles. Know how much this cost me? SIX BUCKS with tax. That's cheaper than McDonald's and a whole hell of a lot better. The place and food are not fancy by any means, but every time I go there I get awesome Chinese food fast and cheap which for me is a winning combination. If you are in the Birmingham area you definitely need to check this place out. It is G-E-W-D gewd. They don't have a website but here's a link to their Urbanspoon page, which as of right now has 386 votes with 97% thumbs up. Try it and you'll see why.

I'll explain more about my current situation when I have time.