To Do Stuff

I'm grinding through bits and pieces of my To Do list.

1. Work - ugh, the pile stinketh
2. NHS records for Green Card medical - request made, cheque written, letter done about to post
3. NatWest IBan and Swift codes found (actually spoke to somebody helpful at NatWest's 24 hour banking service - not only did he get the numbers but he also wished me well for the rest of my day, not something I expect from a call centre in Birmingham.)

Next up:
 - Shower (too much information?)
 - Walk to bank to do wire transfer to pay next month's mortgage (not fun at $2.10 honest)
 - Post cheque to doctor
 - Take DVDs back (see other post)
 - Have a nice coffee and read the paper

Premonition

While I like Sandra Bullock as much as the next man, at least in Demolition Man - I don't think she's quite reached the same heights since.  I would like to say that Premonition is a stinking turd of a movie.  It's a pile of stinking turds, a whole mound of crap.

I only watched the end to see which of the derivative cookie cutter options they were going to use.  I didn't guess right because they through in a curve ball at the end which was even more vomit inducing that the rest of the movie.  

Damn, that was awful.

Drink!

I went to a testing event run by the Whisky Association the other night at the Ranier Club.  They do two a year in Seattle, one in November, the other in March.  It was wonderful.

It was not unlike a beer festival in that you paid a cover charge and were given a glass and inside were tables with representatives of all the major distillers and a fair number of minor ones.  Obviously at $100 it's quite a high cover, however, the flip side of this was a really good buffet meal and that the tastings were completely free and bottomless.  

The range of scotch was pretty spectacular too - everything from run of the mill standard Malts to a tasters table run by the Association which had 10 scotches of various vintages all of which were quite rare.

I think the 18 year olds were all pretty excellent but a couple of the 25 and a 27 really were amazing.  I made notes in my tasting book for when I'm passing through the Whisky Shop in T4 next time.

I joined the association too.  It was discounted at $150 a year, but came with a free bottle of Single Malt and free entry to their tasting clubs around the world.  I'll certainly be going to the next one, it was amazing value for money and hats off to the Glenlivet guys who really believed in the concept of multiple comparative testings and large pours.