Friday, August 15, 2008

High times at the High Desert.

I think people like for you to notice T-shirts they wear that have messages. It's a way of conveying a part of themselves to the public without having to say it to everyone they encounter. That's what happened yesterday, as related below.

(Dada note: You may want to keep your curiosity to yourself, however, if the T-shirt someone is wearing says something like, "Are you threatening me?" or "WARNING: This shirt may contain an asshole.")

Exiting the High Desert Brewing Co. (HDBC) in Las Cruces yesterday afternoon, I saw a young man sitting on it's front patio sipping an ale. He caught me reading his T-shirt. So, out of curiosity, I asked, "Who's Mitch Hedberg?"

"He's a very funny comedian," he said. "You can look him up on YouTube." I said I would. This morning I did.

I wanna hang a map of the world in my house. And I want to put pins into all the locations I've traveled to, but first I'm gonna have to travel to the top two corners of the map so it won't fall down, Mitch Hedberg said.

That was nice because it finally got me to checking our map to see just where this Georgia that the Russians have been invading is. Eventually, I managed to find the one that's not located directly above Florida.

However, I noticed something very disturbing. Georgia's located on the Black Sea and I recall hearing about a naval battle there last week. It was between a small contingent of Georgian naval ships and a Russian navy task force.

Now, the Black Sea's like this huge lake and if I were the leader of a small nation, I would never put a navy into a big lake that shares a shoreline with an enormous, powerhouse country like Russia. I mean, in a naval showdown, where could your ships go to get away when they're in a damn lake for Pete's sake?

Sure, they could run home but I think that's the last place I'd want them to lead the Russian navy. I think I'd order my fleet to retreat to the other side of the Black Sea. To Bulgaria or maybe Romania.

While I obviously didn't understand much about Georgia, Rachel Maddow gives an excellent explanation of the background of this potential flashpoint for World War III which could happen before the IOC rescinds China's gold medal in women's team gymnastics for using 7 year old girls to defeat the American women.

Anyway, at the HDBC, we rendezvoused with Steve, the publisher of the Grass Roots Press and his most pleasant companion, Kathy. It was Kathy who turned me on to Rachel Maddow's Georgia lesson that made me the expert on Georgia I now am. (Thanks, Kathy! And it actually took less than 10 minutes!)

We learned the HDBC's seasonal on-tap beer was a double hopped India Pale Ale. (And it was delicious!) Sadly, Mrs. Dada, my designated driver, didn't partake but that was ok, she doesn't drink beer anyway.

In honor of Steve's birthday, and with the hope that would get a person a free beer or two, I generously offered to buy all the beer this day. (Yes, HDBC does give one a free pint of their choice on their birthday, so my generosity turned out to be cheaper than I thought. Just hoping Steve doesn't read this!)

I would have brought home a "growler" (1/2 gallon) of that great pale ale, but once you tap into something like that, I think you have to drink it all in 2 or 3 hours! (Or, 'Oh damn, wait!' is that 2 or 3 days?)

When looking at the couple of pictures that I took of yesterday's "birthday party," which I promised I wouldn't post here (to protect the guilty?), I couldn't help but notice how very dangerously Mrs. Dada and I were living, i.e., we had seated ourselves up front in the High Desert, just inside a window facing the street. Sharing ales with two such local radicals as Steve and Kathy, we were easy targets for drive-by assassins. But angels celebrated with us this day!

We had a nice mid-afternoon lunch/dinner during which we learned from Steve of reports of a sudden increase in military aircraft activity over the skies of Albuquerque. (You have to realize, when the military build-up now going on in El Paso, Albuquerque and New Mexico air force bases like Holloman AFB, Cannon AFB, plus White Sands Missile Range is finished in a couple of years, we will have more than enough military here in our own backyard to kick the Russians out of Georgia -- either Georgia -- or both Georgias simultaneously!)

But we got to speculating the reason for this sudden surge in military aircraft in the skies over Albuquerque. It was then Steve hinted it might have something to do with the Democratic National Convention being held later this month in Denver's Pepsi Center. Coincidentally, on one of those days, Wednesday, August 27th, Ralph Nader's presidential ticket will hold a super rally in the University of Denver Magness Arena at the very same time.

If it might be the air force's intention to bomb one of them, and I don't pretend to know which one, I hope they don't mistake the wrong arena for their intended target as they are known to sometimes do in Iraq. It only angers survivors of the deceased and I suspect, rather than tossing survivors of the victims a few hundred dollars apiece as we do in Iraq, reparations for Americans killed in Denver would be far costlier. And that's not to mention how history altering such a tactical mistake could be.

But today in retrospect, however, I think maybe our wild speculations about the air force and Denver might be testament of just how great that double hopped HDBC India Pale Ale was yesterday!

4 comments:

enigma4ever said...

I think I need some India Ale....wow...great post...and you covered it all- ale- maps- comedy- air force worries- thank you for that....I also found footage of the "detention" facilities that will be at the DNC.......
big Hey to MrsDada and your editor....

( I was gonna award you a Kickass Blogger Award- but Border beat me to it...darnit..)

enigma4ever said...

( btw I do have a Buck Fush tshirt that I wear to work in the yard and when I walk to the store- it has gotten rave reviews ;-)

Billie Greenwood said...

Ooh, where do I get a tshirt like that, Enigma? And, BTW, you can still give Dada the Kick Ass, he won't display it anyway, just like he won't display mine. Or anyone's. He doesn't have to. He's Dada.

Oh, yeah: Dada, are your and eProf's birthdays on the same day? Because that is the day I think we should meet up for beers in Las Cruces. I'll be delighted to buy the first round!

enigma4ever said...

I made it...Border...Maybe I need to start making them as Christmas Presents ?hmmmm ?