Appalachian Accent
As you can see from my previous golf trip posts, I just got back from being around about 40 guys with West Virginian accents. Theses are guys my parents grew up with and around, so their accents are only so different from my parents’. My dad, and to a lesser extent, my mom, still have accents, but years of living near DC has toned them down considerably. I always enjoy seeing how much the accents come back when we go up to see relatives. My wife and I were born in the same hospital, and raised about 20 miles apart. However, she was raised by former New Yorkers, while I was raised by West Virginians. It was pretty wild to come back from the trip and notice how different her accent really is from mine, and how neither of us really have a neutral DC accent. While the DC area has a lot of out of towners that come and go, the native accent, at least to me, is pretty neutral. If you find someone who grew up in Northern Virginia or Southern Maryland, you won’t hear much of an accent at all. We also had a native Oklahoman and his son (also raised in Northern Virginia). The Oklahoma accent doesn’t sound wildly different given a cursory listen, but the argot is quite different (darlin’).
I have a suspicion that my mother-in-law did the Brooklyn part of this video:
It took me forever, but I finally found a few videos of the accent particular to the part of WV my parents are from. Its funny that its from a fire department as my parents once told me I couldn’t go see my grandparents until I learned to say, “fire truck” the correct way (F’AR truck).
I can’t be sure if either of those guys are native to Wayne County WV, but they sound about right. This one sounds about right as well:
I remember reading in, The Right Stuff, that the West Virginia drawl became popular with pilots because of Chuck Yeager. Yeager grew up about an hour from where my parents were raised.
I also found part of a documentary called Mountain Talk. It features North Carolinians, but reminded me of how my relatives always say, “mashed”, where I might say, “smashed”, or, “crushed.” For example, by accident one might mash his finger with a hammer, or get a finger mashed by the door. They also say, “pop”, where I say, “soda.”
I was inspired to write this post not only by my recent trip, but also the video below, that I found via the linked blog:
http://oldvirginiablog.blogspot.com/2014/04/a-brief-explanation-of-southern-accenty.html
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Weekend Catch up, Teddy, Tennyson, “fun” run, painting, El Clasico
I started a new book about TR. I’m not very far in, but enjoying it thus far. I thought about trying to explain why this book is so manly/badass, but which antidote to pick? I suppose when Teddy was shot, diagnosed himself as fine for the time-being, and gave a speech, saying, “Ladies and gentlemen, I don’t know whether you fully understand that I have just been shot; but it takes more than that to kill a Bull Moose.” Teddy was known to blow through a book a day, so I’ll let y’all know what new books I’m on in two days…
I’m also concurrently reading some Tennyson. If you’re not familiar, he brought us such quotes as:
“Theirs not to reason why, theirs but to do and die.”
“Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.”
“Who are wise in love, love most, say least.”
“I am a part of all that I have met.”
This weekend I also won friend of the year by helping my buddy CW move out for the 2nd weekend in a row, and then painting his old house with him.
We did get compensated with tacos and beer. The former were from cafe rio, and not half bad.
I also did a 5k. I say, “did”, and not, “ran”, because ran would be inaccurate.
The run benefited Bright Beginnings, a charity my wife works with though the Junior League of Washington.
As you can see above, the buds are on the cherry blossom trees. It won’t be long. Also, check out the bathroom break mid-race that runkeeper recorded. Pretty funny. My and my mom’s walking time was 9 minutes worse than last year. Clearly, we were not too worried about our time. My dad, however, tied for third in his age group.
After all was said and done, I rested my body while watching El Clasico.
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Early weekend catch up, Colonialism, Curry Mantra II
We had a power outage on Wednesday night, so I found a hardcover and a candle and did some light reading. On Thursday when a friend was coming over, I wanted to have some cocktails, but all I had on hand was the makings of a martini. According to the book, Hemingway favored a style of Gordon’s Gin no longer produced. I substituted Boodles, named after a Gentlemen’s Club, and rumored to be a favorite of Winston Churchill.
After drinks we went to Panjshir. We split a bottle of wine, and decided we had to watch The Man Who Would Be King.
In the colonial mood, we also watched Khartoum, and had some Indian food.
For the Indian, we took a short walk to Curry Mantra II for lunch the next day. CMII has a lunch buffet that is very good, but their dinners also impress. The first pic is all lunch buffet food. The rest are from a dinner the wife and I had there. I intended to write up the Falls Church Curry Mantra before, but never got around to it. Short of Rasika, which is really in a class all its own, I think you’d be hard pressed to find better Indian in the DMV.
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HOC again, thought-provoking
Another house of cards post. No real spoilers, and anybody interested in Virginia/Civil War history should have their attention held. I won’t go into the details of the show, but basically, Frank is in Spotsy, for a museum opening, and reinactment. He says, “I personally take no pride in the Confederacy. Avoid wars you can’t win and never raise your flag for an asinine cause like slavery.” One wonders if Frank thinks slavery was an asinine cause because of its moral implications, or simply how futile its defense was. One probably doesn’t wonder long, if Frank cared about the morality of the issue, he probably would have chose a word other than asinine.
This episode of HOC got me thinking about American culture and the romanticism of the Civil War. The episode foils those who fought, and in many cases died, for what they believed in (however misguided you may happen to believe them to be), with Frank’s more contemporary yet Machavellian FU style of politics. In the latter, one does whatever one must at whatever cost (including their beliefs) to gain more power.
Its easy to see how WWII is romanticized. We fought Evil Nazis, and ended a holocaust. Thats just about as close to black and white, good vs evil as it gets. Romanticizing a fight to maintain slavery is more challenging. If you frame it as being about State’s Rights, that helps. But what this HOC episode really got me thinking about is this: Despite what you’re righting for, if you sacrifice yourself for a cause, your state, land, way of life, family, the man next to you, etc., it is at least to some degree romantic. Its probably the same reason suicide bombers are revered by some people, in some parts of the world, despite how evil and horrific what they do really is. I think its difficult to argue that there is not something innately romantic about self sacrifice. The Machivellian pursuit of power is much less romantic, and its going to be harder and harder to cheer for Frank as the story continues.
Later in the episode, another character who lost a relative who fought for Mao Zedong, says to Frank, “Your ancestor fought for the losing side, there is no sacred ground for the conquered.” In the context of the episode, and despite coming from a man from China, it really speaks to the American (but I guess more generally capitalist) idea best stated by Ricky Bobby. If you ain’t first, you’re last.
I consider myself a proud Virginian, American, and Capitalist, but HOC is a very good thought-provoking show that will get you in a reflective philosophical mood. Check it out.
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Pirate or Privateer
The wife and I have been watching black sails on stars. Its supposed to be a more realistic look at pirate life (not disneyfied). It reminds me of the series spartacus, only set in a different place and period. I’m enjoying the series, but I’m especially enjoying an excuse to break out some rum while I watch. However, I have a dilemma: Am I more pirate or privateer? I am in government contracting, but I also like to think I have a rebellious spirit. To settle the issue, lets taste some rum.
I read an article in Garden and Gun, that had this quote, “Another secret weapon is demerara rum, from Guyana. It has this smoky, charred-wood, almost gunpowdery taste. It’s what I thought rum tasted like when I was a kid watching pirate movies. A little dash of that in a drink really makes it.” After reading that, I went online and ordered a bottle. We’ll use this as our pirate rum. For the pirate rum, really any old style (not white) rum would do, but I think I picked a good one. Perhaps a bit older and more premium than would be historically accurate, but indulge me. For the privateer rum, accept no substitutes:
Pussers owns the recipe/blending information necessary to recreate the rum originally rationed to the British Royal Navy. The backstory to Pussers is complex, but to me, the differentiating aspect is this, “The Amazon “Greenwood” staves of these two old stills (two of five still used by pussers today) are impregnated with decades of esters and congeners – the organic compounds found naturally in wine and spirits that impart flavor to them. No other stills in the world can reproduce these flavors because all modern stills are made from metal which absorb nothing, and thus have nothing to impart in the way of flavor to a spirit during the distillation process. In contrast, wood soaks up the flavor of whatever it contains. In the case of the wooden stills, continuous usage over hundreds of years has made the wood of these stills extraordinarily flavorful.”
Pussers says that their wooden pot stills (not column stills) are only 60% efficient (as opposed to column stills’ 99%). This means more gets though the distillation process, and a lot of that more is flavor. All this adds up to a historically accurate rum, that is very very unique. For all those history buffs out there, I do realize that privateers would not have been issued Navy rum, but go with me on this one. On to the flavor.
Pussers gives me an immediate olfactory trigger. One waft, and I’m in the BVI, or at the Pussers in Annapolis (where I purchased this particular bottle), having a drink on the water. This is a rum I believe I could pick out of a lineup. On tasting it, you get a lot of molasses. This is definitely a dark rum. There is some caramel and pepper that even I can notice. For a more nuanced review, look here or here. Also check out some cocktail ideas. This is one of my favorites. I really appreciate the history and uniqueness, but I also can’t objectively separate good memories from its smell and taste.
The El Dorado has a tighter nose, but you know its rum. After my first sip, my impression is that this is a much more complex and sophisticated rum. I also really really like it. It doesn’t really taste like molassas the way the Pussers does. I’d say its more of a honey flavor. Or maybe the flavor of a molasses cookie. The Pussers tastes like black molasses out of the jar. Its unmistakable. Beyond that, I have trouble pulling out individual flavors. It has less alcohol burn that the Pussers. For what the experts think, look here, here, and here. More info here.
The bottom line? Pussers has been called the single malt of rum. I don’t really agree with that analogy, and I think its doing Pussers a disservice. As a marketing ploy, I can see the benefit. People like scotch, maybe they’ll try Pussers. But Pussers is unique. I like to think of it in a category all by itself. The El Dorado is similar to scotch or bourbon in that its pretty easy drinking, complex, and at least for rum, dry. If you served this to a bourbon or scotch drinker, I think they’d probably enjoy it. I’m not sure if I’d say that about Pussers. I think Pussers is more of an acquired taste. So who wins? I’m going El Dorado. I can’t believe how much I like it. Its pretty amazing. While watching black sails, I’ll still pour a glass of Pussers and think of times gone by, and this summer, you find me at Pussers having a softshell crab sandwich. Next time I’m in the islands, I’ll probably look for Pussers too, as its commonly available. However, I look forward to blowing some friends’ minds with the El Dorado. I can’t recommend either highly enough, but yo ho, yo ho, its El Dorado for me.
5E6CM9VUFZEN
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Experiential Learning
I posted the other day about starting Bacardi and the Long Fight for Cuba on my kindle. I made good on my promise of a Cuban themed evening:
I picked out my last Monte #2. This stick has been in my humidor for a good while, so it needed to be smoked. I figured this was as good a time as any. And because you can’t have a Monte without rum (though I’m sure I’ve broken that rule a time or two)…:
I paired it with some HC7. I lit up the pyramid took a sip of rum, and got into the book.
All three were amazing. On the first puff, you get that unmistakable flavor. Then a sip of the rum gives you a fairly light body, but rich dark molasses, smoke, and spices. The book kept me turning the pages.
When the cigar got down to about the size of a Fuente WOA, it really hit the sweet spot. The book got into the 1920s, and I went to find some coke. I mixed myself a cuba libre (relax, why not) and finished the chapter and cigar. A great cigar, great rum, and great book made for an amazing evening.
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Fire in the hole
I just finished Fire in the hole on my new kindle paperwhite (with the blacklit screen, awesome). If you don’t know, Elmore Leonard wrote the books that inspired the TV show Justified (also highly recommended). Fire in the hole is a collection of some of his short stories. I like this book because it gives you a taste of each of Leonard’s genres and styles. I liked the title story, but I think I liked the western short stories the best. I already purchased his complete collection of westerns on my kindle, but next up on my queue is a book about the Bacardi family and the history of Cuba, which I want to get read before an upcoming trip…
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PTSD
I occasionally wake up from nightmares, in which I believe I’ve forgotten that an assignment is due. Its been almost two years since I got my last degree, but the fear persists. As I come out of the hypnagogic state, at least I get to realize that I don’t have to worry about school anymore. I remembered that I my student subscription the The Economist still works today, and took a look. I found an interesting article about cigarette companies:
some highlights:
“In Europe 7% of smokers had tried “vaping” by 2012 but only 1% kept it up.” I really thought ecigs would catch on, and based on commercials and seeing them in stores, I thought they had.
“This month health officials in China, home to more smokers than any other country, called for a ban on smoking in public places.” (As far as I know, its still only a potential ban) The night before the smoking ban went into affect in VA, my wife, a buddy of mine, and I went to a cigar friendly restaurant in McLean and had some PG cigars. Maybe one day I’ll try to convince my grandkids that the Virginia smoking ban was as big a deal as the last drink before prohibition.
Admittedly, this is already a pretty scattered post, but I’ll go ahead and switch gears again. I remember getting to read Harvard Business Journal articles for school. There were plenty of reading assignments I didn’t enjoy, but the HBJ articles were usually pretty good. I found one of my favorites (though its a bit dated now), so I figured I’d share:
http://group4jbsswiftco.wikispaces.com/file/view/910405-PDF-ENG.pdf
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Lee – Jackson Day
My recent post on Andrew Jackson got me thinking about another Jackson. I sent out an email invite for the recent long weekend. In the email, I called the weekend, “MLK Jr. Day weekend” since that Monday was a Federal holiday. In reply, a buddy of mine (from Richmond) suggested that I had meant, “…the Lee – Jackson Day weekend…” At the time, I assumed it was a joke, perhaps a friendly jab at my expense that I was not as southern as my buddy. After doing a little research on the old interwebs, I found out that Lee – Jackson Day is still celebrated in Virginia. I knew that Lee – Jackson Day had become Lee – Jackson – King Day. What I did not know, was that in the year 2000, Lee – Jackson – King Day became two separate state holidays in Virginia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee%E2%80%93Jackson_Day
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee%E2%80%93Jackson%E2%80%93King_Day
So the bottom line is that Lee – Jackson Day is a currently celebrated holiday in Virginia, and the weekend was both the Lee – Jackson Day weekend, and the MLK Jr. Day weekend simultaneously. Wikipedia states, “In 2000, Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore proposed splitting Lee–Jackson–King Day into two separate holidays after debate arose over whether the nature of the holiday which simultaneously celebrated the lives of Confederate generals and a civil rights icon was incongruous.”
The compromise that was reached is confusing to me. It seems that Virginia politicians have decided that Lee, Jackson, and King deserve to be celebrated, but that it is not appropriate to celebrate them together. I’m not sure segregating the two holidays, but having them occur the same weekend, is the best course of action. I don’t think anybody (maybe some crazies) is going to question the merit of celebrating MLK Jr’s day. The merit of celebrating Lee and Jackson seems much more debatable to me. My first thought is that if one believes that the Civil War (or War Between the States as I was taught in the VA public education system) was based on slavery (not everyone believes this to be the case, in school we were taught it was States’ Rights), and that Lee and Jackson were fighting for slavery, then one could conclude that Lee and Jackson probably don’t deserve to be celebrated. But then one starts thinking about all the American slaveowners that are celebrated. For instance, George Washington. He did not fight specifically for slavery, but he was certainly complicit in slavery. So is participation in the fighting of the Civil War the difference? Why can’t Jackson and Lee be celebrated for their positive contributions to America, while we recognize, but don’t focus on the fact that they were pro-slavery for at least some time, or at the very least, complicit (similarly to the way we view Washington, among others).
This got me thinking, and doing some research. In my googling, I found an official proclamation from Governor McAuliffe:
https://governor.virginia.gov/commonwealth/proclamations/lee-jackson-day/
I found that proclamation by way of another Virginia-centric blog. I haven’t read his blog in its entirety. I’ve really only read a few posts relevant to Lee Jackson Day. I’ve included the links to those posts below to give credit where credit is due. I have not watched the videos or followed the links on either page. Be sure to check out the host’s (his term) theme song (link on the left side of the page, awesome, makes me want a theme song).
http://oldvirginiablog.blogspot.com/2014/01/modern-governors-could-profit-from.html
http://oldvirginiablog.blogspot.com/2014/01/lee-jackson-day-who-is-it-good-for.html
So it seems Virginia recognizes Lee and Jackson for their service to Virginia during and after the war. I’m sure that rubs some people the wrong way. I’m not sure how I’d feel about it if I were black. Perhaps next year, in observance, I’ll visit a battlefield, or start a relevant book. I believe I have biographies of both Lee and Jackson I haven’t started. For MLK Jr. Day, perhaps the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture will be open by then.
(I’ve tried to make this post thought-provoking without being subjective or having an agenda. I hope I’ve succeeded.)
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Ol’ Hickory
I saw this in the washington post today (probably not worth your time, I pasted the pertinent stuff below):
While I do enjoy cheese, roquefort, brie, manchego, aged cheddar, etc., what struck me about the article was Andrew Jackson’s party planning. I fancy myself an entertainer, but the article describes the party as follows:
“According to the Wall Street Journal, one witness described the scene thusly, “The President was literally pursued by a motley concourse of people, riding, running helter-skelter, striving who should first gain admittance into the executive mansion, where it was understood that refreshments were to be distributed.” When they got to the executive mansion, glasses were broken, furniture was tossed about, and the punch was spilled.”
Sounds like a good time. I don’t have any cheese on hand, but I do have a bunch of beer left over from last weekend. Maybe I should buy a wheel and have some people over. Jackson is a president I’d like to know more about. Right now, my recollection is limited to his caning a would be assassin half to death, and his good taste in architecture.
However, a brief look at wikipedia reminded me that Jacksonian democracy involves greater democracy for the common man, expanded executive branch power, and increased public participation in government. Perhaps I’ll add a Jackson biography to my kindle queue.
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