RWW: An Lesson in Patience

Now that school is back in session, Red Wine Wednesdays are technically over. That is of course, until this week.  This week, spontaneous mid-week wine time crept its way into my Wednesday evening. Just like that the word "over" is replaced by the word "irregular," and the sentence becomes, "Now that school is back in session, Red Wine Wednesdays are technically irregular. The circumstances leading up to the popping of a mid week cork are common, and experienced by many of the moms (and sometimes dads) out there 'living the dream" like me on a daily basis.  We are always on the go. Constantly moving; making lunches, loading up the van, taking the kids to school, going to work, picking up the kids, squeezing tushies into tights, breaking up fights, helping with homework, cooking dinner, fixing booboos, cleaning up messes, reading bedtime stories, and the list goes on and on. Just to be clear, I'm not looking for any sympathy here. I embrace all of these things (and many more) as part of the crazy ride called 'parenthood.' My point is just that once in a while, for me, it's nice to have a glass of grown up grape juice to unwind. This week I got what I asked for and then some.

Red Wine Wednesday #7: DeLille Cellars D2

I received this wine as a gift from a friend a while ago.  The wine, just like the friend, is from the state of Washington. D2 is the classiest wine to grace the entries of this blog and the most complex wine I have ever tasted. The complexity of this wine begins upon first sip, as the flavors are bold and abundant. Citrus, berry, and cinnamon are the most prominent for me, but I'm certain there are others in there too. As I began to swallow the strangest thing happened...I couldn't. The wine refused to leave my mouth.  I literally had to wait and take a breath before I could finish the swallow. Second sip...same deal. I paused for a moment, took a deep cleansing breath and thought deeply about the metaphor that just landed in my mouth.  Life is glass of classy wine.  Despite the speed with which we'd like to proceed in living life or drinking wine, in order to really enjoy the complexity in each experience, we must be patient. In the words of the great Roger Clyne, "Here's to life!"

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Who Are You?

Who are you? Such a simple question at first. Who are you (read: what is your name?)? I am [insert name here]. See...simple. When we step away from the finite answer of a name, however, and allow this question some room to expand, things get interesting quite quickly.  Suddenly we have an existential question with depth to last for days.  Who are you? I am curious about how often people ask themselves this question and even more curious about how they answer it. One way to answer this question is to rely on the roles we play in life. I find it fascinating that the first role each of us plays in life, the role of a child, relies entirely upon the decisions of two strangers.  Our parents either planned to create us, or chose not to abort us and so now we exist. For each of us, being born is easiest part of determining who we are. We literally had no choice.

From birth on, however, things aren't so easy.  As we head through life we are exposed to more and more of 'the world' and we are faced with a great many choices. We live, we learn, we discover, we grow and somewhere along the way we gradually determine who we are. Our nature, our tendencies and our preferences all rise to the surface and we become identifiable. Identification is fascinating to me because it relies so heavily on definition.  I've long been a member of the "it is what it is, regardless of what you call it" camp, but then again, if you have no name by which to identify something, how do you know what it is? In my mind, the concept of definitions is dichotomous. On one hand, definitions are a relief because they provide order and reason (i.e. A law defines acceptable behavior within a society, a diagnosis defines a medical condition,etc.).  On the other hand, when definitions are applied to people, I find they become cumbersome. As I think about the process of determining identity a few questions come to mind:

How many times must a person perform an action in order to be considered a member of a certain community? If I go snowboarding once does that automatically mean I'm snowboarder? What if I go twice? A dozen times?

How does proficiency impact membership in a community? Do you have to be good at something to truly belong?

What role does reason play in action based definition? Is there a difference between stealing food to feed your starving family and stealing a CD just because you want it?  

What is the impact of enjoyment on identification within a community? If I no longer enjoy playing the drums, but I continue to play them, am I not still a drummer?

Is there a statute of limitations on action based definition? How far into the future should your actions follow and define you?


I don't have concrete answers to any of these questions, but I do feel that the definition of one's "self" is infinite. Over the course of the lifetime we are many things to many people, and our impact is always greater than we realize. We fill our days, months and years with many different experiences and if we're lucky we learn something from most of them. We love, we hate, we laugh, we cry, we help, we hurt, and we age. We all live one day at a time as we head towards whatever we believe will meet us at the end of this life. I for one, chose to live a thoughtful life filled with personal reflection. I live this way in the hopes that my end will come with a peaceful sense of clarity as I look back and answer, with great depth and detail, one final question....."Who were you?"

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Take This Club and Shove It

On Monday it was announced that, for the first time ever, two women were invited to join the exclusive all male golf club known as Augusta National.

Located in the state of Georgia, Augusta National is a private golf club that was opened for rich white dudes in 1933. In 1990 they decided to break up the 'vanilla sausage fest' by allowing black male members into the club. Despite pressure from woman's advocacy groups in the early 2000s, Augusta National maintained it's all male status until....two days ago.  "Hooraay! Hooray!" said someone who is not me. Pardon my lack of enthusiasm, but I find this long overdue membership extension neither exciting nor inspiring. Congratulations Augusta National, 2 out of your 300 members have vaginas. That's a whopping .67 % of your total membership. How progressive!

The thing that irritates me the most about Augusta National is not its historical policy of exclusion, but rather its dichotomous position in the public/private debate.  To me a private club, like Augusta, should be allowed to include or exclude whomever it wants as long as no laws are broken.  I value the idea of privacy as a right. The problem for me is that Augusta National is a so called "private" club that hosts a very public (and very popular) golf tournament called The Masters. The Masters tournament is sponsored by publicly traded companies which make money by selling products to the entire population in a public marketplace. By hosting The Masters, Augusta National made a choice to step into the public arena, and as such, should have forfeited its right to exclusion on the basis of privacy a long time ago.


So, congratulations to Condi Rice and Darla Moore on your token acceptance to the all boys club. I wish you the best as you play golf and hang with the fellas.  Let me know when they get the tampon machine installed in the ladies room. Oh wait.....there is no ladies room!

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It's Too Early for A-holes!

This morning I went to Walmart (save your judgement) bright and early to do the family grocery shopping and pick up a few last minute back to school supplies. I'm not really a coupon shopper, primarily because I always forget the coupons I do cut out at home, but today is different. Today I have a coupon for 1.00 off 2 boxes of Pop Tarts Mini Crisps. I must take a time out here to tell you that even if you don't like Pop Tarts, you really should try the Mini Crisps.  They come in 100 calorie packs and they're a great little mid day snack.  Plus, the kids love them. Anyway, as I approach the checkout counter and greet the lady working it, she asks me if I have any 'price matching.' I tell her, "No, but I do have this 1.00 off coupon (hand her the coupon) that I'm excited to use." We proceed to exchange a short dialogue about forgetting coupons. I can tell that she's tired, probably at the end of her shift. As I continue loading my stuff on the checkout conveyer, a man with no merchandise in his hands comes up in line behind me. I assume he is there to buy cigarettes, and my assumption is correct.  If the checker wasn't already midway through ringing my order up, I would have let him go in front of me. I know how much it sucks to be in line for one or two items when the person in front of you has a cart full. Letting him cut me is not an option, so instead I offer some peace via a friendly greeting. I say, "Oh man, you picked the wrong line. I'm Sorry." He says nothing in return and gives neither a smile nor a nod.

The lady in blue finishes ringing me up and I pay for my order.  As soon as I do she says, "Oh shoot! I forgot to use your coupon.  Hang on, let me get you a dollar.  Unless you want to just use it for next time?" I tell her it is my preference to use it now and she proceeds to call for a manager. I forgive her mistake and I stand there waiting patiently as she calls for backup. Being the considerate human that I am, I ask her if she can ring the cigarette man up while we wait.  She says she can't, unless he has cash, which he doesn't.   Now comes the fun part. As we wait for the front end manager to come rescue us, the following dialogue transpires:

GUY: All this is over a dollar? I'll pay the dollar.

ME:  I'll take your dollar.  You got cash?

GUY: No.

ME: You don't have to be a jerk about it.

GUY: I'm not being a jerk.

ME:  Yeah. [nods] You are.

GUY: [long pause] (angrily) Well, you don't have to tell me how I'm being.

ME: (calmly) That's fine.

GUY: (angrily) Yeah it is fine!

ME: (calmly) You're right. It is.

The point of this story could be simple...don't be an a-hole.  This is certainly an appropriate point.  Treat people kindly and leave room for patience in response to small mistakes. After thinking about it some more though, this situation becomes amusing to me.  I ask myself, "Why would this man travel all the way to a 184,000 square foot retail store to buy a single pack of cigarettes when he probably passed about 3 gas stations on the way here?" The answer is, "Because the cigarettes, like most things are cheaper here." So now he stands there resenting me for wanting to do the exact something thing he wants to do - save a little money. Oh sweet irony...

Enjoy your cigarettes pal, have fun turning your lungs as black as your soul!

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RWW: Twofer and a Bonus Edition

This is a Red Wine Wednesday catch up blog. Where I once fell days behind in posting these RWW entries, it seems the days have slipped into weeks.  No worries my friends, a few short paragraphs from now we'll be all caught up. Let's do this...

Red Wine Wednesday #4: Cupcake Vineyards Red Velvet

This week we tried a wine recommended to me by a co-worker.  Fortunately for her sake I don't judge my co-workers by their choice in wine. The single word that best describes this wine for me is 'incomplete.' It wasn't terrible, but it really did nothing for me. My favorite thing about this wine was the label.  I really enjoy the choice of font and the use of primary colors. When we tried this wine 3 long weeks ago I wrote a list of reactionary words during my first glass. I have since misplaced said list, but I can assure you none of the words would be appropriate to be include in a glowing review.

Red Wine Wednesday #5: Guenoc Lillie's Merlot
 
 This week we tried a wine that my friend's mom purchased at BevMo's 5 cent (buy 1 bottle, get the 2nd for 5 cents) wine sale.  It's funny because I almost bought this wine myself two days earlier when I spent an abnormally long time trying to decide which new wines to buy during the BevMo sale. The sale is tricky, you see. If you end up liking the wine you choose, the 5 cent sale is awesome because you essentially get 2 great bottles of wine for the price of one. On the other hand, if you end up not liking the wine you choose, then you're stuck with an extra bottle of some shitty wine you never want to drink again.  I guess at that point you just tell yourself, "Suck it up cheapskate, you're only out a nickel!" At any rate, I did not choose this wine and after tasting it with my friend this week, I am very glad I didn't.  It was terrible.  Price wise it was the most expensive wine we've tried so far, but taste wise it was the worst we've tried. I wish I could come up with fancy pants words to articulate precisely what I wish to convey, but alas the only word that comes to me with ease is "gross."  I would only recommend this wine to someone who was in training for a competition in which the contestants had to keep a straight face despite the presence of an offensive external stimulus. If you can drink a glass of this stuff without contorting your face in any manner you would certainly be a champ!


Red Wine Wednesday Tuesday Bonus: Stanza Pinot Noir

As I mentioned earlier, I went to BevMo this week for the 5 cent wine sale.  After reading the labels of numerous bottles, I was eventually able to decide on 3 new wines. The first one was Stanza Pinot Noir.  Simply put, this wine was fantastic.  Smokey and smooth with great character and depth. Classy and sophisticated. The fact that this wine was consumed over dinner on a Tuesday night renders it ineligible for the Red Wine Wednesday rankings, however if it was eligible for the rankings it would certainly be my number one. The only drawback I must note is that the aroma of this wine was not exactly delicate on the nose. I will not elaborate so as not to deter you from trying this otherwise enjoyable wine.

Well there you have it...all caught up!
Here are the RWW Rankings at this point in time:

1. Night Harvest Cabernet Sauvignon
2. Snapping Turtle Merlot
3. Cellar No. 8 Cabernet Sauvignon
4. Cupcake Red Velvet
5. Guenoc Lillie's Merlot

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RWW: The Relativity of Value

This week's Red Wine Wednesday provided a lesson in the relativity of value.  All things have value and all value is relative. I am open to the possibility that there are certain things in life that have an absolute value that is neither variable nor relative, but I'm not sure what those things would be.  Certainly not anything related to emotion. The concept of relative value is a personal favorite of mine, probably because it relies so heavily on one of my other favorite human concepts; perspective.  The way I see it, relativity of value is a five phase cycle being played out on an infinite loop. Phase 1: Know Nothing. Phase 2: Experience Something.  Phase 3: Process the Experience and Determine Value. Phase 4: Discover Something Else. Phase 5: Process New Experience and Adjust Value. Regardless of our level of awareness, this process is happening in all of us all of the time.  It is the heart of life. 

Red Wine Wednesday #3: Night Harvest Cabernet Sauvignon

This weeks activity was a play date and craft session at my friend's house.  For the kids the craft was decorating visors with stickers and glitter glue. For the grown ups, my friend found a neato project of making coasters out of wine corks.  Pretty much the only things you need are some wine corks, a hot glue gun and some ribbon.  It was really easy and fun! Here is my finished product:

 I'm sorry to say that this week the streak of near flawless behavior from my girls came to an end.  We  had a few meltdowns over sharing glitter glue, then some really dramatic animal phobia reactions, all wrapped up together in a general package of sassy-ness. Better luck next week.

As for the wine...

My friend chose a seven dollar bottle of Night Harvest Cabernet Sauvignon and it was lovely. After our first few sips we had a very quick lesson in the relativity of value.  While we didn't originally find the week 1 and week 2 wines to be bad wines, after tasting this wine we agreed that the week 1 and week 2 wines wouldn't be worth purchasing again.  Our favorite wine so far, it will definitely be purchased again by both of us.  Fruitier and smoother than the previous weeks' selections, we both enjoyed it very much. Never thought I'd say it but hooray for Cabernet!

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RWW: Cellar No. 8 Cabernet Sauvignon

This blog 4 days late.  Mediocre things come to those who wait, so here we go...

For this week's Red Wine Wednesday it was my turn to chose the wine. Seeing as my friend unselfishly selected my favorite type of wine last week (Merlot), I decided to reciprocate and chose her favorite type this week. As you already know from the title of this entry, her favorite type is Cabernet Sauvignon. If my memory serves me correctly, the first (non Boones Farm) wine I tried was a Cabernet Sauvignon.  I was living in an apartment with two girl friends at the time and we made some kind of fancy dinner and bought a couple of bottles wine to drink along with it. I figured out quickly and definitively that I wasn't a "white" girl. As for the red, I enjoyed it not so much for the taste but for what it stood for and how it made me feel. I was a naive, inexperienced kid fumbling my way through my early 20s a semester way from graduating, but put a glass of red wine in my hand and...BAM!  I'm a well educated, sophisticated, cultured lady.  A philosopher. A theologian. A grown up. I must confess, that even as a 30 something, drinking wine still makes me feel classy.

Choosing wine can be a very complex process because there are many factors to consider when doing so. If you prefer to disregard the particulars, however, choosing a wine becomes very simple. Which label catches my eye and draws me in? When you have a moderate regard for the particulars (like me) but take your kids with you to the store (also like me) then choosing a wine becomes next to impossible.  You will stand there in the aisle scanning the rows of bottles going back and forth between several wines all the while listening to the background noise of your children alternating between bickering with each other and asking you for toys. You do your best to ignore them, but then you feel bad because you're paying more attention to booze than your babies.  Then you remember that if you didn't have them, you probably wouldn't require the wine you're trying to select and so you don't feel so bad anymore. Scanning, reading, scanning, reading....and.....Cellar No. 8 it is! Cellar No. 8 caught my eye because 8 happens to be my favorite number.  It has been since I was a kid and no other number can hold a candle to it it my mind. It's even, and round, and symmetrical.  Plus if you turn eight sideways, it becomes infinity and infinity is awesome.

 Red Wine Wednesday #2: Cellar No. 8 Cabernet Sauvignon

For the activity this week, we chose an indoor play date at our house, complete with a jumbo poster board painting session. The ambition to take the kids somewhere new each week quickly melts away when the temperature reaches 100+. For the second week in a row, the kids played together fantastically.  They cleaned their plates at lunch, played freeze dance, "kill the bad guy season 2," and various other imaginative games.

As for the wine...

Cellar No. 8 Cabernet Sauvignon can be purchased at Target for 8.99 a bottle. The challenge for me in tasting this wine was trying to ignore that fact that Cab Sauvs aren't my favorite.  I don't despise them by any means, but I just don't like 'em the most. It's like eating regular Cheerios when you prefer Honey Nut. You'll still eat and enjoy the classic Cherrios, but you won't have that little extra honey nuttiness to round out the corners of the experience. I popped the cork (albeit much slower than my friend because I don't have the magic rabbit wine tool) and poured.  Clinky, clinky, "Cheers!" First sip and...alright.  Smooth and spicy with decent balance. Good wine at a great price.

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