David Bardallis

Downtown Ann Arbor Ice Sculptures Take Shape

2010-01-29T16:00:00.000-05:00

Red Pen Diaries: Caring Is Sharing

2009-09-29T01:06:00.000-04:00

Could you or could you not care less?

I came across a great graphic the other day that succinctly captures one of my pet peeves: saying "I could care less" when meaning "I could not care less."

What's the difference? This picture speaks 1000 words:

Do you mean to say you really, really, really do not care about something? Use the proper rhetorical flourish: Share with the world that you could not care less.

Writers and the State, Part 1

2009-09-28T21:32:00.005-04:00

A writer is like a Gypsy. He owes no allegiance to any government. If he is a good writer he will never like the government he lives under. His hand should be against it and its hand will always be against him. The minute anyone knows any bureaucracy well enough he will hate it. Because the minute it passes a certain size it must be unjust.

– Ernest Hemingway

A Couple Programming Notes

2009-08-18T11:48:00.005-04:00

Hola, loyal readers. I must apologize for neglecting my site for the last month or so. I've been busy with projects behind the scenes, as well as more visible things, such as covering the local beer and restaurant scenes for the recently launched AnnArbor.com. For anyone who hasn't already seen them: here is my intro post on beer and here's my intro post on restaurants. And this page has everything I've written to date.

On another note, for anyone following me on Twitter, I've had to create a new account, owing to Twitter inexplicably locking me out of my old one and having no customer service to speak of. For anyone re-following me (and I hope that will be everyone!), I apologize for the inconvenience.

Update: My original Twitter account is back. Sorry again for the inconvenience.

Ann Arbor Art Fairs: Day Two

2009-07-16T17:41:00.004-04:00

Day two wearing my reporter's hat and hoofing it around downtown getting the scoop about this and that. Along the way, I took plenty more pictures of the Art Fair madness. Today's crowd definitely seems larger than yesterday's, and it's probably not going far out on a limb to predict tomorrow's crowd will be larger than today's and Saturday's probably the biggest of all. Funny how that works.

Anyway, enjoy pictures of this big freaking bear and other people and places of Ann Arbor's ~~Mardi Gras in July~~ Art Fairs.

(Oh, and in response to those who have asked, consider any of these pics to be Creative Commons Attribution 3.0. What this means in non-geek speak is feel free to use them however you want, but I'd appreciate a shout-out if you do.)

Ann Arbor Art Fairs: Day One

2009-07-15T23:14:00.004-04:00

Today was the official start of what I call Ann Arbor's version of Mardi Gras: Art Fair Week!

(No, there's no naked breasts or public urination, but it's still a spectacle.)

I was busy writing most of the day, but I did take some pictures as I ran (or, anyway, walked) errands downtown. Things were pretty busy, but not too crazy, by Art Fair standards. I expect toward the end of the week things will pick up to their usual insane level.

Lucky for me I'm not trying to drive anywhere!

Ann Arbor: Ignited

2009-07-02T02:49:00.005-04:00

Lest visitors to this site think I write only about the local beer scene (which, I think I can say now and not be lying, I'll soon be doing for AnnArbor.com), here's a little shout-out for Tuesday night's Ignite Ann Arbor event, held at the Neutral Zone.

The concept is new to our town, but apparently it was imported into Seattle from Japan or somewhere in the Far East a few years ago and has been spreading steadily across the land ever since.

How it works: Speakers pick a topic – apparently it can be just about anything – and they get five minutes to expound upon it. During those five minutes, they can use 20 slides, each of which advances automatically after 15 seconds. It's a great way to keep speakers – in this case, all 14 of them – focused.

Topics for the first-ever Ignite Ann Arbor event ranged from all the nifty things you can do with a Wii controller to how to make your own near-space balloon that takes and transmits pictures of the earth from the upper atmosphere. Yes, the geekery was palpable, but the five-minute limit kept all of the nerds from getting totally wonky on their chosen subjects.

It's fair to say the event was a success: There were something like 200 people in attendance. The organizers are planning another event in the fall, and, they hope, roughly ever four months thereafter.

The First German Park of 2009

2009-07-01T23:52:00.002-04:00

This past Saturday was the summer's first German Park. Plenty of people in and around Ann Arbor know about this awesome event. Plenty don't. I lived here for a few years before I ever learned about it, and it was from word of mouth, not from the trusty Interwebs.

Now, unlike when I first heard of it, there's a web site telling you where and when it is... but not what it is.

So what is it?

Some say it's the best thing about summer in Ann Arbor. On the last weekend of June, July, and August, the German Park Recreation Club – composed of real Germans! – opens up its grounds to the public, charging $5 a person for the opportunity to drink from buckets of German beer; nibble on landjaeger (dried sausage); mow down on bratwurst, knackwurst, pretzels, spaetzle, and German potato salad; listen to an "oom-pah" band; and otherwise kick back and enjoy a festive picnic atmosphere with family and friends.

The first German Park was held in 1938, and its location well northeast of town was deliberately chosen to avoid anti-German sentiment that was rife during the war years. Those crafty Germans must have cut a deal with the cops or something, too, because I've never seen the expected lineup of police cars lurking just beyond the grounds to bust people leaving an all-day beer picnic. Thank the Lord.

I've been going for the last three or four years, and while I freely admit I may be hallucinating, it almost seemed to me there was a greater variety of German beers this year, from a plain lager to a hefeweizen to a marzen to a dunkel to... wait, was there a pilsner? How many buckets did I have, anyway? OK, I was probably hallucinating. Fans of German beer will recognize names like Spaten, Franziskaner, and Dinkel Acker. Or, if you suck, they also serve Coors Light.

Whatever the case, if you missed out, lucky you! There are still two more chances to go, July 25 and August 29. Come early for a table and bring a blanket and a deck of cards or other game to enhance your experience.

'Tis the Zaison

2009-06-25T23:46:00.001-04:00

You never know who you'll meet when you're out for a pint. Last evening I was hanging with friends at Ashley's, and I bumbled across Jason Spaulding, co-founder of New Holland Brewing and now out on his own starting another small brewing operation. The new operation is called "One Beer" and, fittingly enough, it produces a single beer, the "Zaison" saison ale. It's available (for now, anyway) only at Ashley's and Zingerman's Roadhouse. At 9% ABV, it's not one to suck down with abandon, but it's a slightly peppery take on the classic style, designed to pair with a wide variety of victuals. Jason's looking for a home for his new brewery, and of course I selfishly hope he'll decide to make it in or around Ann Arbor. (Side note: He also hand-carved the tap handle himself.)

Grand Opening of Workantile Exchange

2009-06-23T23:18:00.006-04:00

After months of planning, procuring, building, and tweaking, the Workantile Exchange officially opened today in downtown Ann Arbor.

What's a Workantile Exchange?

In short, it's a coworking facility. But their website goes into a little more detail:

Workantile Exchange is designed for independents who don't want to work alone. Our goal is to build a community of peers: people with wide-ranging skills, experience and resources...

We’re a private membership community of independent workers, based in a restored antique storefront in the heart of Ann Arbor. Both the space and the community it houses are designed to support and enhance members' worklives. We don’t offer permanent desk space or phone lines, and we aren’t an incubator or startup facility.

More of a Guild Hall, or a private coffeehouse.

If you're looking for a dynamic, creative place to work downtown, and you aren't chained to a cubicle, you may wish to give Workantile a look, or apply online to become a member.

See more pictures from the grand opening.

Update: The Ann Arbor News also has a story on Workantile.

RatFest '09 at Corner Brewery

2009-06-21T14:43:00.003-04:00

Yesterday was the first-ever "RatFest" at the Corner Brewery in Ypsilanti, featuring 24 different beers all brewed up by homebrewers on May 1. Eighteen of them were brewed within 24 hours on Corner's so-called "Rat Pad," a 10-gallon brewing system used by homebrewers, visiting brewing professionals, and others to create special small-batch beers that the Corner releases and serves to the public, typically every Wednesday. (A video of this insanity is on YouTube.)

Many of the Rat Pad beers featured were poured by the people who brewed them, although several brewers were not present because this weekend also happens to be the National Homebrewers Conference in Oakland, California. I and a few others selflessly volunteered to step in for them.

As a volunteer, I was assigned to pour beer #22, Crispy's Nearly Nirvana Pale Ale, a recipe that brewer Chris Frey of the Ann Arbor Brewers Guild has been honing for years. It's modeled closely on the ever-popular Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, a great go-to beer from California that has become ubiquitous over the years, often saving me from having to order a Heineken at various restaurants just to avoid the BudMillerCoors options.

As luck would have it, Nearly Nirvana was probably my favorite out of the other beers I sampled (although I didn't get to try them all). Other standouts included Bridget's Saison Du Mont, which was named "best beer" by an informal vote of those present; Rick's Imperial Breakfast Stout (at 9% ABV, that's some breakfast!); and Matt's BBQ Red Snapper, which, though I do not generally like "smoky" beer had just enough smokiness to make it interesting but not enough to make me gag.

The weirdest beer by far was Logan and Hollis's Ants on a Lager, which featured such adjuncts as raisins, celery, and peanut butter. Tony's Raspberry Coconut Porter combined two flavors I don't much care for, and though it didn't do much for me as a beer, when added to melted ice cream (a pitcher of which was also available), it tasted like a mutant version of Neapolitan &ndash dee-licious!

Breaking down 24 draft beers and storing the leftovers wasn't a large amount of fun, but I was at least buoyed by lots of good beer and too much meatballs and gravy. The usual batch of uninspiring, amateurish photos of all the action is up on Facebook.

The Day I Officially Became a Business

2009-06-19T23:59:00.001-04:00

Things have been moving and shaking here at headquarters this week. I set up a new computer desk at the home office. For my birthday, my parents bought me a comfortable "executive chair" to sit on when I work or type my blog missives. And today I filed a "doing-business-as" with Washtenaw County, making me officially (in the eyes of the local gummint, anyway) a businessman. In roughly six years of freelancing on the side, I never thought of myself in this way, though now that this is my main gig the grabby taxman certainly does.

Naturally, I celebrated my official businessdom with a mug or two of IPA at Arbor Brewing. OK, maybe it was four – there were some interesting people to talk to there today.

Late Spring Crawfish Boil

2009-06-15T20:28:00.003-04:00

Unfortunately, I missed out on Saturday's big crawfish boil at Dark Horse Brewing in Marshall. So on Sunday I decided to do my own out on the deck. Dark Horse had live crawfish sent up from Louisiana, while I used mudbugs from the frozen section of Meijer. I can't imagine my boil was as good as the fresh critters, but it was still quite delicious – corn, sausage, potatoes, and all. And while I also lacked the Belgian style goodness of Dark Horse Sapient Trip Ale, I made do with a sixpack of "Simpler Times" pilsner from Trader Joe's for $5. Hey, times are hard.

Add a pretty girl and a friend visiting from New Orleans and you have the makings of a nice afternoon.

Fruit Beer Tasting at Arbor Brewing

2009-06-12T14:25:00.001-04:00

Fruity beers are generally not my thing, but there were several decent brews at last night's tasting at Arbor Brewing. As usual, I volunteered to pour and ended up stationed at what turned out to be the strawberry table, featuring ABC's new-for-summer Strawberry Blonde and Melbourne Bros. (AKA Samuel Smith's) Strawberry Ale.

Owner Matt Greff (pictured right, with volunteer coordinator Joanna Hollyday and an apparent will-o-the-wisp on his shoulder) worked for three years on the recipe for the Strawberry Blonde. The result is a well balanced, medium-bodied brew with a strong strawberry nose but no sweet, cloying taste that is often a hallmark of fruit beers. The addition of so much malt to offset the fruitiness of the strawberry also means this is a deceptively boozy concoction at 7.75% ABV. Great choice for frat boys looking for a chick beer that will also get their dates hammered. The Strawberry Blonde is on draft at the Corner Brewery in Ypsi, but not yet available at ABC.

The Melbourne Strawberry Ale was a much different animal, with more of a "real" strawberry taste (Greff used "essence of strawberry" for the flavor of his brew) and a really tart character. It was all right in small doses, but too much of something like this means a tummyache for your correspondent. Maybe the most notable thing about this beer is that it's spontaneously fermented, meaning during the brewing process it's left out in the open to be fermented by wild yeastie beasties in the air.

(Melbourne also had an apricot beer at another table, also spontaneously fermented, which had much more of a gueuze-like character to it.)

Others that caught my attention: Dark Horse Tres Blueberry (described in the program as "a fruit beer for manly men, not little girls"); Grozet Gooseberry Wheat Ale and Ebulum Elderberry Black Ale (from Craigmill, the Scottish brewer famous for Heather Ale, mmmm); and Cerise from Founders, a cherry beer with an interesting, oh-so-slight cinnamon finish.

Next month: wheats, wits, and lambics!

Out and About: Greed Eats Love

2009-06-10T13:05:00.003-04:00

Big City, Small World Bakery on Miller Ave.:

Technical Difficulties

2009-06-10T11:54:00.004-04:00

As has no doubt already been observed, my site has become completely messed up and hard to read. The problem lies with the server where the main images are stored (Photobucket). They say they're working on it, though in the meantime I'm looking into porting the images onto another server. One way or another, the glitch should be fixed soon. Thanks for your patience, and in the meantime please enjoy this scholarly treatise on "The Biology of B-Movie Monsters."

Haggis: Entered

2009-06-05T14:20:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was the first Sonic Lunch in Liberty Plaza, a free concert series sponsored by Bank of Ann Arbor and 107.1 FM. Morning DJ Martin Bandyke introduced the featured band, Toronto's Enter the Haggis, who describe themselves merely as Celtic rock, though that doesn't quite seem to cover all of the different genres and influences that were manifested in the band's music.

The turnout was pretty impressive, and I will definitely catch more of these shows (every Thursday throughout the summer, excepting Art Fair week). The full schedule of shows is on Bank of Ann Arbor's Sonic Lunch website.

Red Pen Diaries: Department of Redundancy Department

2009-06-04T03:29:00.001-04:00

Using redundant words and phrases can cause unintentional hilarity as well as sap your writing of its strength.

In a previous Red Pen Diaries, I wrote about the redundant use of the word "dollars." Other common redundancies are often the result of acronyms, such as "PIN number" (personal identification number number) or "ATM machine" (automatic teller machine machine). Still others are obvious only upon closer examination, such as "7 AM in the morning" or "fellow co-workers."

Most people tend to overwrite at first. In the post below this one, I originally wrote "the widow of an old comb salesman who had died." That's either redundant (if she's his widow, we know the salesman is dead) or unclear (who died – the widow or the salesman?). Whatever the case, "who had died" was needless verbiage.

It always pays to go back with an eye toward pruning the dead weight of unnecessary, redundant words that muck up your message and tire the reader. Ideally, another, fresher set of eyes can help you cut the dead weight and strengthen the impact of your writing.

Lessons in Yard Sale Marketing

2009-06-02T18:55:00.005-04:00

The big yard sale this weekend went pretty well: I made about $105, mostly on crummy DVDs, CDs, and books. My two compatriots also took in a rather nice haul in the cause of getting rid of unwanted junk.

In the process, we observed some important lessons in marketing.

First, we had a nice division of labor working for us. I thought up ideas for the signage; Erin, the graphic designer, made the signage look great; and Kimberly, our "people person" engaged customers and, when necessary, hand sold many items for a good (by yard sale standards) price. Lesson: Identifying each other's strengths and deploying them appropriately is the essence of great teamwork.

I viewed my greatest challenge as selling old books with politically conservative themes to the commie pinko treehuggers of downtown Ann Arbor. I had a lot of books of all types for sale, but I believed these would not sell without some kind of special effort. So I separated them from all the others and put them in their own box with a simple sign, "Books for Republicans." Even without Erin's artistry, the sign worked wonders: There were just four books left unsold from a box that had been packed with paeans to Ronald Reagan, policy analyses from the Heritage Foundation, and other suchlike. I strongly believe had those books been just scattered throughout the rest of my literary offerings they would not have sold. Lesson: Suggestive copy is key.

A similar example arose when on Saturday I failed to sell three of my old Hawaiian shirts (and Kimberly her "Hawaii" t-shirt). On Sunday we decided to group those shirts with thematically similar items (swimming trunks, a beach towel, and some plastic tiki cups) and create a special sign: "Too broke for vacation? Check out our summer getaway table." The trunks, towel, and cups didn't sell, but at least all the shirts did. Lesson: Adding a touch of humor also can bring great results.

Kimberly had a container full of plastic combs she received from the widow of an old comb salesman, and she and Erin created a sign for it: "Free Gift with Purchase!" Almost without exception, people took their combs. Lesson: Incentives are a great idea; customers always love a freebie (or lagniappe, as they say in New Orleans).

And, finally, the best lesson of all: If someone offers you 35 cents for an awesome Fonzie t-shirt, laugh at him. You'll sell it for a dollar a few hours later.

What Are You Doing This Weekend?

2009-05-29T15:58:00.004-04:00

Details after the jump.

506 N. Ashley St., between Kingsley and Felch (near Kerrytown)
Saturday, May 30, 10-5
Sunday, May 31, 10-5

A downsized economy is forcing us to downsize our lives, with lots of items to appeal to all manner of savvy sale hounds:

Televisions and a DVD player
Furniture (coffee, side, entertainment tables)
Kitchen items and appliances (toaster, coffeemaker, pots, pans, dishes, glasses, more)
Men’s clothing (shirts, t-shirts, pants, socks, etc.)
Women’s clothing (size M and L tops, skirts, dresses, shoes, etc.)
Women’s purses (sorry, no man purses)
Sports equipment (golf balls, skis)
Household stuff (vintage lampshades, fluorescent light, etc.)
Art canvases
Planter pots
Books and magazines! CDs! DVDs!
Other random stuff too cool to mention!

The forecast calls for awesome this weekend at 506 N. Ashley, so stop by and check out some great stuff before or after you peruse the Farmers Market, wait in line at Zingerman’s for a $15 sandwich, sample a Taste of Ann Arbor, celebrate Washtenaw Dairy's 75th birthday, or whatever other way you choose to enjoy what promises to be an excellent weekend.

Mahalo!

Spring Cleaning

2009-05-27T14:22:00.004-04:00

This week I'm going through my old clothes, CDs, books, DVDs, and other miscellaneous stuff to identify what to sell at a joint garage – well, OK, yard – sale on Saturday and Sunday. Max has been helping me with this laborious task:

With all his "help," there shouldn't be any problem being ready by the weekend. (Max himself, however, is not for sale.)

Memorial Day Brewin' and Grillin'

2009-05-27T02:03:00.005-04:00

My brother the master homebrewer threw a Memorial Day weekend party in honor of his 300th batch of homebrewed beer. With my lovely sister-in-law (head chef), he worked tirelessly to offer guests 11 different homebrews and many awesome delicacies, including seafood gumbo, grilled salmon, smoked turkey legs (pictured right), and some big old slabs of lamb, among many other things. There were no survivors.

My small photo gallery of the event is on the Book of Faces.

My brother's account of the festivities is on his blog.

Out and About: Ye Gods!

2009-05-21T16:20:00.003-04:00

From an interesting front yard on Spring Street:

Red Pen Diaries: Reign O'er Me

2009-05-19T19:35:00.000-04:00

Do you know the difference between "reign" and "rein"? If not, you're in good company: The Associated Press doesn't, either..

Today, while logging into my Yahoo account, I was greeted with the following AP headline: "Senate OKs bill to reign in credit card practices."

I intended to take a screencap, but unfortunately I navigated away from the page to do something else, and minutes later someone at AP had corrected the mistake by changing it to "rein in."

What's the difference?

The relevant definition of rein is as a verb: "to control or direct with or as if with reins."

When you rein in a horse, you are directing it to slow down or otherwise exercising control or authority over its actions. Congress is attempting to control or direct the practices of credit card companies "as if with reins."

When you reign, you "possess or exercise sovereign power: rule." Louis XIV said, "L'etat, c'est moi." He reigned over France... for more than 72 years, still a record for European monarchs.

In other words, the king reigns and the carriage driver (or legislature, apparently) reins (in).

Being a libertarian, I can't resist saying that we must rein in the ambitions of anyone in government who would reign over our country. ("Here, sir, the people rule!")

Your political mileage may vary, but your grammatical usage should not!

Eating at the Ann Arbor Book Festival

2009-05-17T13:34:00.010-04:00

Saturday was the annual Ann Arbor Book Festival writers' conference and street fair. I didn't attend the writers' conference this year, but it sounds like it was as jam-packed with great guests, lecturers, and practical advice as was last year's.

This year's highlight for me actually had more to do with food than books: a cooking presentation moderated by Zingerman's co-founder Ari Weinzweig and featuring delicious (and generous) samples. (Pictured at right: Laura Stec.)

Unfortunately, beyond a few ingredients like kale, nuts, chives, baby asparagus, and corn, I can't say what exactly I ate. (I'm sure if I had purchased the cookbooks on sale there, I would know!)

What really stood out, over all that nice healthy stuff, however, was Ari's fat-soaked bread topped with pimento cheese and a strip of bacon. Some version of this is served at Zingerman's Roadhouse, and man is it good, again confirming one of my main Rules of Life: "There is nothing that can't be made better by adding bacon to it."

Following our freebie meal, my fellow adventurer and I headed to Ashley's for something to wash it down with. Sometimes when I go into Ashley's, it can be hard to decide what to order, so we decided on a "beer flight" of Brooklyn Savoir Faire, Arcadia imperial stout, Dogfish Head's Aprihop ale, and Arcadia Big Dick's Bourbon Barrel Olde Ale.

There's nothing really wrong with Arcadia's stout, but it wasn't what I was in the mood for. The Big Dick was most decidedly bourbon-flavored, which pleased my not-really-into-beer lady friend, and Aprihop and the Savoir Faire (a "French farmhouse" style ale) were a lighter, refreshing counterpoint to the stout and old ale.

To wrap up the perfect afternoon, at Ashley's I ran into two more friends who I haven't seen since they left town, one for the UP and the other for Howell, where she lives, and Battle Creek, where she happens to brew for Arcadia.

All in all, it was another great Ann Arbor-centric day.