®Evil

Hands down, this is one of my favorite cigars.

Not because it uses irish Whiskey, which it does.

Not because of the irish label, which it has.

I can sum it up in one word: Flavor.

It is an excellent mild to medium smoke, which has held a position in my personal humidor for over three years.

Each year I buy about two boxes of these, one for myself, and one for OfficerT (a close friend and sometimes reader/writer both here and at Techography). We have usually ran through at least one entire box by the middle of the year.

I always save one that is at least a year old for St Patrick’s Day, but we also bring’em out come football and rugby season.

As a infused cigar, they aren’t typically popular with the puritan cigar crowd. While I love my non-infused cigars, there is something about these that just makes you want to kick back on your porch with a glass of Green Spot on the rocks and vegetate.

• The flavor is consistent from start to finish, and leaves a light slightly whiskey flavored taste upon ones lips.
• The cigar is mild, to not quite medium in flavor.
• The cigar is slightly spongy, but not weak in structure.
• It lights easy, and stays lit well
• It leaves a mild after taste that gives one a nutty flavor, like hazelnut almost
• Connecticut wrapper from Ecuador.
• Dominican Republic Filler

I typically get these in the Toro size, 6 by 50.  The Churchill is nice, but I’m not a big fan of 47 ring gauge personally. your tastes may vary

If your looking for a good conversational smoke with some friends over, I think this is a masterpiece cigar. Not too strong, not too light, but made for enjoying time with friends or family.

I took this article from mythicalireland.com because I found it interesting:

Donn was a mythical figure in Irish literature and folklore. His name, according to Daithi O hOgain, represents the adjective ‘donn’, meaning ‘brown’. It is possible his name also meant ‘dark’, and O hOgain tells us his character is associated with the shadowy realm of the dead. One reference describes him as ‘Donn, king of the dead at the red tower of the dead’. His three sons are reported to have said ‘we ride the horses of Donn – although we are alive, we are dead!’

The name Donn is tentatively associated with the bull through the story of another Donn, one of the sons of Mil, who was drowned at Inbhear Sceine (Kenmare Bay, Co. Kerry), and this story echoes an earlier tradition which said the deity Donn lived on an island in the Bay called Teach Duinn, now called Bull Rock. This island was said to have been the ‘place where the dead assemble’ and was also regarded as the westernmost part of Ireland.

Donn, meaning darkness, could also be the opposite of Find (or Finn) meaning brightness. In the Tain Bo Cualnge, the two bulls were called Finnbheannach, ‘the white horned one’ and Donn Cuailnge, the dark bull. Donn sometimes rode his horse through the sky, suggesting some kind of astronomical link, and he was regarded as a personification of the weather. When there was thunder and lightning it meant that he was travelling wildly through the sky, and if it was cloudy over Knockfierna that meant he would soon make it rain.

One folk tale tells how a man being brought into a fine palace in Knockfierna (a hill in Co. Limerick) finds Donn as an old man, clothed in white, instructing a large number of students in ‘the mysteries of the creation since the stars began to shine’.

Just a reminder of the Contest we are holding here

Probably at the end of the week I’ll start setting up the post with all the contestant entries.

I’ll also set up the Poll Voting will begin on St. Patrick’s Day, March 17th!

Look forward to seeing some great submissions!

Do not listen to those who weep and complain, for their disease is contagious.

Og Mandino

So, heres the thing: I love being a Dad, and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.  One of my favorite things about being a father, is taking my son diferent places, and watching stranger’s faces light up when they look inside our little man’s carriage.  I have gotten very tuned in to the needs of our baby, and have also gotten very good at loading his diaper bag for the daily travels we take.  It took me a while to figure out how many diapers to bring, and how many changing mats, and which outfits are the easiest to change while on the go. 

On The Move Again!

Luckily we recieved a very nice car seat/stroller combo as a gift, so we can just unsnap this car seat, and snap it into the stroller–very easily.  Still with all this ease of travel, it often seems as if we are moving every time we leave the house.  I find it funny when I catch a glimpse of myself walking out the door, and I look at my wife — we look like we are packed for a long vacation, and I just have to laugh a little to myself.  All of this, I could not have pictured for myself, and a prettier picture there never was.

There is a great deal of difference between an eager man who wants to read a book and the tired man who wants a book to read.

G. K. Chesterton

Danny Boy is one of over 100 songs composed to the same tune.

The author was an English lawyer, Frederic Edward Weatherly (1848-1929), who was also a songwriter and radio entertainer. In 1910 he wrote the words and music for an unsuccessful song he called Danny Boy. In 1912 his sister-in-law in America sent him a tune called the Londonderry Air,  which he had never heard before. He immediately noticed that the melody was perfectly fitted to his Danny Boy lyrics, and published a revised version of the song in 1913. As far as I know, Weatherly never set foot in Ireland.
Read the rest of this entry »

There’s a whiff of the lynch mob or the lemming migration about any overlarge concentration of like-thinking individuals, no matter how virtuous their cause.

P. J. O’Rourke

Well, here we go again:  Another year starting up with spring practice, and like many of the previous years, theres a lot to look forward to.  This year starts off a little different, however, with the new players starting, there are also new coaches starting.  Defensive coordinator/linebackers coach Todd Grantham, secondary coach Scott Lakatos, and linebackers coach Warren Belin all started on the Bulldog practice field yesterday, and this comment from our friend, Mark Richt, made me feel right at home:

“The new coaches were locked in and very decisive with what they were doing,” said Richt. “I was impressed with how good they are as teachers and I think the players are eager to learn from them.”

"A Southern Baptism"

Of course, that remains to be seen.  The thing that I can’t help wondering is:  Will we strive to be a great team this year, of strive to be in the “top 5 most penalized schools” this year.  Either way, I think we can all agree, as long as there are rivals, there will be an increased number of penalties. 

More to come, Go Dawgs!

Since continuing with school every 5 weeks I go in to a sort of Lockdown mode.

Mostly because I have too much crap to do and not enough time to do it.

It doesn’t help this weekend because I have managed to obtain some kind of freaking stomach virus.

*sigh*

My Gramps always said the best roads were never easy.

Anywho.

I’ll be online pretty much all day today but I won’t be doing much posting here this weekend. School comes first. I’ll try to get our weekly Irish post up between Sunday and Monday if I can break free. See if you can roust v00d3w from his slumber

Meanwhile, if you can’t be good: Be good at it.