Big sigh of relief

Whew!

We signed the contract last night. Our house is now officially under contract! We had to settle for less than we think our house is worth, and we've still got to get through the inspection, but we can finally relax and focus on getting ready to move. The best part is that we close on the sale about two weeks after we purchase the new house, which means we'll have enough time to move without actually paying two house notes.

It's nice not worrying that someone might want to see your house at any minute. For lazy slobs like us, that was just way too much pressure. Where's that champaigne?

Did I just hear this right???

I'm listening to Boortz. When you work at home, you get desperate for anything resembling conversation.

A woman just called in from Northern Fulton County where yet another part of unincorporated Fulton County is trying to form a city like Sandy Springs successfully did. Fulton County has been busy creating new ways to play dirty pool with the split from Sandy Springs, but that's another story. Anyway, this woman is complaining because no one from Fulton County has even bothered to show up at Ocee Elementary School to turn on the voting machines. I guess the geniuses in FulCo figure that if the machines aren't on then the city of John's Creek won't be created.

I don't really have room to laugh, though. I'm a libertarian who lives in DeKalb county. It's not like I'm represented in DC.

The All American Beer and Cheese Experience

It's taken me way too long to post about last weekend's party. I've been a little preoccupied this week. Like our last tasting, we enjoyed 7 fine beers paired with cheese. Fortunately, our friends hosted all 22 of us, so we didn't have to clean up afterwards. We've been cleaning too much for the past seven months, so it was a nice break.

I still haven't tallied the surveys, but here's a list of the beers and the cheeses we paired them with. You can find a detailed description of each on our handy little handout.

1. Thomas Hooker Munich Style Golden Lager with Edam
2. Hennepin with Cheddar (white and yellow, not Tillamook as shown on the handout)
3. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale with Parmesan
4. Dead Guy Ale with Romano
5. Sweet Georgia Brown with Colby
6. Samuel Adams Double Bock with Gruyere
7. Gonzo Imperial Porter with Chocolate and Ricotta

Beer lovers will probably recognize the American theme to this list. And there's no shame in the fact that we served a French/Belgian and three German styled beers. The US is the great melting pot, after all. What is a bit surprising, though, is that we managed to find very acceptable American versions of each of the cheeses. To my undistinquished palate, I didn't notice a significant difference between the American cheeses and their European counterparts with the exception of Gruyere which, oddly enough, is stinkier when produced in the US.

Thanks again to everyone who came (even those of you who really didn't like anything you tried - you were good sports). Parties like this give us a legitimate reason to spend nights and weekends drinking as many different beers as we can get our hands on!