First '03 Crianza

Marques de Caceras, an old favorite. Very nice, medium-bodied, somewhat jammy (in a good way), classic tempranillio profile. Not as big or three-dimensional as the '01, but what is? A good friend returns, and cheap at $10. **.

Beer Lives!

Stoudt's Double IPA. Bottle-Conditioned, Ameri-Hopped, but with tremendous back bone, halfway to Salvator, that balances the top end completely. Most exciting new beer I've had since I was in Belgium.

Polybius

Main point is that after 250 years the Roman Republic's constitutional balance of powers enabled the popular sustained effort and focus on long-term self interest through the first two Punic Wars. This was the birth of empire on an unprecendented scale.

Interesting to consider that the third Punic war, the preemptive destruction of Carthage, presaged the era of domestic military political violence that resulted in tyranny a mere century hence.

Numanthia-Termes

First the Numanthia '03. Buckled down and got a bottle this year after letting it go by for two. Very rewarding: full, rich, satisfying. Fruit beautifully balanced with some blackberry & leather. Full-bodied (not massive-bodied) just gets better sip after sip. ****. $38.

Termes '04 is simpler than in previous years. More balanced than the '02, which I really liked, it doesn't really jump out at you, but I'd like to give it another try. Maybe in a few years as we have one laid down. $18. **.

Leth

Gruner Veltliner (so hot!) best served chilled. Delicious at delicious Moxie in Seattle. Dry but approachable, gentle but not delicate; a little gravelly. Like a compressed kabinett riesling. Apparently $12 in NJ. Will have to hunt it down. **. M probably says ***.

The Future

37 minute video of powerpoint of seamlessly integrating .HTML, AJAX and ActionScript in a single client run-time!
Oh Boy!

A home-made GUIEventBroadcaster, with not one, but two event collections!
Oh boy!

From Hell?

Can't tell if its over or not. Working 80-90 hours a week for 5 weeks, now sitting on hands. Time to blog anyway.