The fish have taken over

It's been another long while but time to check in. Fly Fishing. Yes, the 10 'n 2 - Brad Pitt dreaming - story telling - fish tales... angling has taken over and I'm hooked. Most recently, the Steelhead.

One of our beloved Presidents once said All Men Are Equal Before Fish. Getting 'skunked' is just a part of the deal and it took a couple drifts to land the silver bullets but we got 'em this season. Drinks abound at La Grange in celebration and Weaverville never looked so good... Her and the toothless waitresses.

We're coming into Spring soon and with that comes a lot of blue ribbon water teaming with feisty redband Oncorhynchus mykiss a.k.a rainbow trout. Stay tuned for the next episode - Bollibokka Private Waters.

My Dear Friend

Its been well overdue that I return to my pages and press and push on buttons and plow through tears pulling like a pest at my chest. This weekend is special to me. It's special for a lot of us. This weekend was to be an honoring to a friendship that blossomed, then thrived to become true love.

But

Instead it's a memorial to a soul that brightened the sunlight and brought smiles to the nightlife.

I want to run, I want to scream, I want to punch it in the face.

What ever 'it' is, I'm not sure but it doesn't matter.

I do laugh a lot. I laugh at rubbing our beards against each other's, nearly kissing, but it was cool, he didn't flinch... I think that's the part he liked about it.

I remember slamming heinekins in bathrooms, cheating on English tests, getting picked up in the monte carlo when 'ol danger had my car surrounded and the party keg in back. I remember warm embraces that turned me into canole filling. I remember what a cylanoid is now. I remember how to prep a car for paint. I remember what fat guys in Georgetown jerseys with white t-shirts and XXXL basketball shorts look like and how they make me chuckle. I remember.

I'm a better man now. No one besides my dad has singularly had that affect on me. Am I more serious? Yea. lately. Am I more driven? Yea. forever. Am I a bit lost now? No. James has my back. I just have to remember that last part and it's all good... but it's tough.

I'm 30, I know about faith, fairness, free-will, destiny - all of these 50/50 words. No middle ground... it's either this or that. Well, f that. I wish I could break the mold. Get a new clock, run on barrow'd time. Run against the wind. Hug my friend one more time... just for a minute.

I wish I was celebrating this weekend, but instead I'm writing, and not all that sure I want to share it, but something in me made me grab the keyboard and rip away at the letters, so I'm going to publish it. After all, it's a memory made, one more way to remember my friend and Sept. 17th, 2011.

I know it sounds bad, but the story goes on. I'm glad James got to meet my Melissa. I'm glad that Melissa and I now have Jenni. I'm forever grateful for the good times we had. We sure as hell did our fair share of celebrating, and showed a bunch of others how to do it right along the way.

We crammed 10 pounds of wonderful in a 5 pound bag and it's going to last a lifetime...

... a lifetime, haha, crazy. I love you James.

Feliz Ano Novo!

For those of you that may not know, who read this passage and continue to find out things you did not know, Feliz Ano Novo means Happy New Year in Brazilian Portuguese. One of the 3 languages in 12 countries and 5 currencies that I have been working with for the last 8 months with my wonderful renewals team at EMC.

My oh my, has 2009 been a turning point for me. I found blogging, and by the looks of my previous scripting, it looks like I had some mighty good times and learned how to cook along the way. I figured out that I'm pretty decent in the stock markets and the way that legal gambling regime operates. I made some big moves and made some money that allowed me to make adult decisions with my life and managed to put $60k into a co-workers pockets - granted he laid down the cash, but I pointed him to the giving trees on the NYSE and NASDAQ. I took my best gal to the wonderfully majestic lake of my youth in McCloud, CA, and watched the trout run to the mouth of the river by the old Castle. I reconnected with great friends from my past like James Cole and CJ Collings from Orange County via San Sebastian, SPN and my cousin Shawn Brassfield. I welcomed in some youngsters from Boston and shared My Bay Area before unleashing them into the California wilderness. I saw a few boxing matches at the Heart O the Mountain and shared more than a few glasses of pinot with my tall cousin, Brandon - it was nice to reconnect with him and realize he's even more off his horse than I am. My father and I, with the help of Shea Nyquist invented a FunGun for the Car Wash and we made the morning news. If you haven't seen the video, check it out. I sat down one night with my grandmother and learned about the Nieto and Vaca family orchard. I saw my niece and nephew grow up a little taller and scream with excitement when their Uncle John came into the room. I built a ginger bread house at Mom's for the 14 year in a row. I saw the Springville Rodeo with Melissa and all my cousins and had a great family reunion in the old town where Brassfield's have been creating history and family for near 100 years. My brother is now the Fire Captain of that town which pretty much makes him 'the man'.

Most of all I found the love of my life, Melissa Lynn Morrissey and asked her to marry me. She is the rock I depend on. We realized our convictions while dancing in our living room last year, and this year we took the next step to etching our union in stone with a ceremony. If music be the food of love, play on.

Here's to 2010 and a few things I have marked in the calendar: marriage, promotion, better eating, better health, my Wii, racquetball, fishing, bachelor party in McCould, attend a bunch of wedding including my own, more golf, a new invention (you'll love it), seeing Luke at my wedding for the first time in 9 months, holding Emil and Chanel's child, sharing love and laughter with my family and friends, try to do a little better than last place in our Bocce league, and embrace all the heartache that comes with it.

Happy New Year.

Time for some poetry....

I've lost

Something close

it's great with all considered

All perpetual and bewildered

To my mind I'm fine with.

Belonging is on my mind.

Continuing a course planned.

How can the two meet.

It's where I belong.

It's what's brought me here

Where life spirals left and right

But never down.

I refuse.

All I need is a little bit 

A little more information.

And then I'll be gone like 

yesterday's daisies.

Only to come back

Just a little bit further 

Down the block.

Just a little bit.

Hi my name is John and I found inspiration

I have a friend and his name is Conor. He has a blog called HighFivesThumbsUp that is off the beaten path...for sure. But shit howdy if he's not my inspiration for stick with writing again. Last night was a bugger for me, not gna lie. The post prior to this can vouch for that.

Quick interlude - I just scrolled through my entire blog and it jazzed me up. I forgot how much fun I've had over the last year or so. This fucking economy and the media that fills our head with illusions of the world ending is crap. FOX news can kiss my lilly white, and other things, butt.

Okay, so back to my rad friend Conor. I'm very surprised that this story has not been told yet. Maybe because I didn't want my Dad to know that Luke and Conor hijacked his boat and sunk it. But we'll get to that part.

So we're out at Don Pedro having a yey' 'ol time. I invited LD and CK on a trip that was predominately work people. I was a bit nervouse to have the two clans meet, but have Mattooch in the car for the ride up, made the introductions much easier.

So yeah, camping camping and some more camping happened sometime in July last year. We had a great night camp firing and bending cocktails in our belly one by one until our 6-packs were no longer visible. (That's not true...our 6-packs are always visible.) Everyone had gone to bed except for Luke and Conor. Weird... Conor, I believe you've already told this story, so I'm going to flip this over to your blog and get you some pub.

my-weekend-was-hella-better-than-yours.html

Anyways, as much as I like sappy shit and my imagination. This is probably not the best place for it. While I love my girl like the earth needs the sun. I'll try to keep the love life in word documents.

Summer is upon us and it's time to go camping. I'll be calling on CK and LD for the weird table dice game soon enough, the rest of ya'll happy-go-luckies should just be read to saddle up and ride. Ride like the one eye jack of diamonds with the devil close behind...

Love

Last night I deeply hurt the person that means the most to me. Without restrain, or prior thiought - only reacting on my imagination did I create an embarrassment that now threatens the very dream that I am fortunate to be living. 

If you know me, you know I have a temper. I have a keen ability to create wonderful, descriptive, real stories. This same ability has me standing on a cliff with fate holding me by the collar, and my toes reaching for the firm ground.  

Love is not perfect. It is not easy. It is a constant lesson between two or more parties that must be protected and nurtured. I forgot that. In my most malevolent  moment of weakness, I forgot to protect and nurture what is dearest to me. 

I did not grow up without love. I was loved even after all the stupidity, the foolery, the misplacement. I was loved by amazing parents, grandparents and relatives both familial and not. But I did not learn some of the most valuable lessons of love. One I missed was patience. That one is enough to guide me through a self realization short filled with sorrow, ache, distress that I share with you, hopeful I can prevent this from happening to you.

How finally balanced love is, how off tune it can be. 

I sit alone because of my actions - actions that will hold a life sentence, whatever it may be.

I cannot change the damage I have done. I can not wave a wand and make things better. I am in limbo, until a time I cower and sulk, or prove to her that my love knows no bounds and that my hallow actions were but a great mess of stupidity, selfishness posing as someone who was caring.

I am sick with fear of the unknown.

I love you fannycakes.

Ah, Costco Is Not Saving Me $$$

So Costco is great. It carries the rule of 5 - this unavoidable law of multiplication states that if you are there to buy one item, you will inevitably buy 5. And this works for all numbers and costing arms and legs leaving you stuck on the couch and imobile until the next paycheck arrives in your bank account.

But this is not to say great buys come from Costco. If you didn't know, Melissa moved in and along with the lil' lady came a few big changes, but I'll keep it to a couple small changes courtesy of Costco.

Let's start with 'the wall mount'. This is not a bedroom tactic, but a device to mount the flat screen to the wall. And what a difference a mount makes. I can lay my head back comfortably in bed and still watch tv instead of having to sit up and watch. The downside is, I'm so comfortable in my nest, that I really don't even get to watch the tv, I just pass out to it. So really, it's just a mounted sleeping pill.

The second device is the Cuisenart wand. This magic wand will blend, mix, chop, dice, puree, stir, thicken, mince, smooth anything you put it to. I've always wanted one and so I made it one of my 5 purchases on this run to Costco. I used it the other night to throw this meal together... and I'll leave you with the makings.


App: Sourdough chips toasted with Parmesan cheese is the 'spoon' for dipping into a tropical salso of Alaskan King Crab, Mango, Pineapple, Red Onions, Cilantro, Lemon, Lime, Red Bell Peppers and varietal hot peppers... very fresh, very good.

App#2: This is kind of a signature salad, a side step from the tomato laced salads of the 90's. It's spring greens mix, red onion, homemade croutons, buffulo blue cheese crumble, thin sliced fuji apples and minced macadamian nuts all covered with a Raspberry Vinagerette.

Main: The main was simple. A filet of Chilean Seabass pan-seared very hot with a little salt and cracked peppter. Then moved to a white wine butter sauce with a spattering of sweet basil and other herbs to bring out some flavors stuck in the white fish.

I hadn't made a good one at home in a while so I felt like pulling a few new tricks, the Cuisenart magic wand deal definitely made old tricks appear new.

This meal is easy. 30 minutes from flame to fork.

Stick around, got big things happening at the Car Wash and you'll want to know about 'em. Feel free to add me on twitter and add the Car Wash to keep up with discounts specifically for our Twitter followers.

twitter.com/CapitolPremier

twitter.com/JohnBrassfield

Just along for the ride. It's one hell-of-a-ride!

Ewwwww-Weeeee! It stinks in here! There's dust on everything and the door was stuck shut, but I found a hid-a-key. The bummer about it is, since I was last here, the laptop up 'n sizzled out with a final puff of smoke from the fan, and the camera fell victim to my clumsy hands. So you're going to have to roll with the typing for a little bit and we'll see if any potential visual memories find their way out of a file.

Sorry to just fall out like that with a paragraph long metaphor for a room, but it's kind of nice to be writing again.

It's April and the big hot sun is beatin' on a the worshipers in Los Gatos - the patio and cocktail seekers.

I've been helpin' out a bit more at the Car Wash and today I set up 'a room' on twitter for Capitol Premier (check it out here). You should think about joining twitter. This site is the wave of the future

side note* I used to drive around in a car, pirating internet connections and using one of 20 false e-dresses to create 'viral buzz' around our NBX product. Ahh the good days... the came theh bots.*

Anyway, and a # of 'followers' will listen to you. Damn the internet is amazing. The way we consume information is going to dramatically morph at an amazing rate and we're all just along for the ride.

Hours later and a long ways away from work. I grabbed the skate for the first time in '09 and took off down N. Santa Cruz to meet up with the homies at Willow's Patio. Sounded like everyone made some potentials over the weekend and unwiding on a beautiful Sunday afternoon with beautiful people brings everything back to zero. It was one hell-of-a-ride for an April day.

(Haha, good one)

"Three 4's"

Best Nachos Ever and Best Onezzy

I'm not sure how to feel about this all... it drips...a lot.

Chinatown, SF, USA

California Academy of Science

Keep Up the Good Work

It's the new year, a new day. A time to stomp out bad habits and pick up new ones. A rebirth into the womb we call mother earth floating around in ambiguous chaos. Shit howdy, it should feel like ecstasy yet it creeps with uncertainty.

My old favorite phrase, 'economic downturn' is striking close and I can feel the heat. Today, the man, or the company let a few more on the floor go and it just drags all of us on the farm down in the gutter. I seem to be keeping my head above water but the stress, questions, and tip-toeing around is making my head spin.

Other than that Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play?

Switching gears. Outside of the J-word, the finality of the 8 and emergence of the 9 has been blissful, alluring, as contagious as a first kiss with the one you love. I've spent most of the holidays with my family that I don't get nearly enough time with. The cousins are all grown up with marriage and teenagers running the show so it's nice to see all of them and get the young cuz's pickled on Crown and 7 poppers for Christmas dinner.

Aunt Jo Ann cooked up a full spread with a roast, potatoes, carrots, salad, bread, apps and a plethora of Brassfield vino... combine that with a table full of Brassfield's and let the jokes begin. It was great to see all of them, but I really enjoyed catching up with my cousin Darin. He and I get each other and I can see what I'm going to look like in 10 years.

Auntie's house is sort of like a museum, most of the shit in there you can't touch and the hallways are so narrow from all the angels, flowers and decor everywhere, but it's her style and we're all used to it.

It's a quick ride in the elevator down to the den where a full bar awaits those looking for a little libation. With a full handle of Crown, sixer of 7up and some young, unknowing cousins, the night got kickin' and the stories started rollin'. It was good to hear what Darin was doin' in AZ... about Chad's racing, Jared's cooking and Julie's coffee. Danny enlightened us on his never-ending bender in Europe, but most of all I enjoyed the company that I was in. Our family used to roll heavy wherever we went and it's tough to get them all back in one spot. So it was the best holiday gift to get bombed with the cuz's and have Mel drive home.

Somewhere in here, we made it to a Shark's game for Berwald's birthday. 60 of us made it. And party bus was the form of transport to the match. We rolled in hot on the buses and hit the game hard. I don't know that our section was very impressed with the way we were acting, but I sure had fun. Evidence in the blog decor. We kicked the living daylights out of the other team - I believe they were Canadian. And then back to the bus for some more good timing and back to the bar to forget the evening.

New Year's was another smashing family outing. Not that I didn't want to see my holmies, but everyone went headed out, so Mel and I had the run of the town. We went to CB's and low and behold, more Brassfields. Shann and Bonnie were looking good and Devon and Billie were a joy. We cut a rug on the dance floor. Aunt JoAnn was doing her thing, showing her bling, and sitting on a $60,000 black mink that had been turned into her seat cushion. Shots were flowing and I think we toasted to the 'Quig' a few times, but at the stroke of midnight I was with my girl which was my only job that night and I came through for her. Ahhhh, thank god its the little things.

Mom and Dad went down to visit Jason and Tansy and the kids, but I couldn't squeeze it in with 'the man' squeezing us at the office. I think George Jones sang it... "Take this job and shove it..." Well I don't completely feel that way but with friends and colleagues droppin' like flies and no good-byes, it's kind of tough to have any faith in the corporate pursuit of the American Dream. But I'll hustle and I'll bring it everyday - that's my reward.

It's the 7th day of the two thousand and ninth year of our lord and the holiday parties and the good timin' seems like a year ago. But take what you can and hold nothing back. It's time to grind and get creative with it. Act like a champion.

FALLING IN CHRISTMAS

The holidays are continuing and I am getting a little worn out by all the hoopla and shenanigans that are happenings around town. I've just been trying to enjoy the season as long as possible. The weather has finally cooled down and it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

I picked up a case of Heart O' the Mountain for some gifts to pass out at work and kiss a little manager ass while I'm at it. Everyone loved the wine again. They must have remembered the bottles from last year. Anyways, who wouldn't love the tastiest pinot noir this side of the sun.

So I sat down to start the weekend on Thursday night and started ordering a perfect one. Thursday was Mel's birthday and it was her day to have whatever. I took her to the Plumed Horse in Saratoga for a wonderful culinary getaway for two. I don't think either of us did anything but taste the wonderful dishes that poured onto our table all night. We started in the bar with a bottle of what is apparently a cult classic from South Africa - HAMILTON RUSSELL "Estate", Walker Bay 2005, I believe it was a 2005. Mel loves Chardonnay. Probably more than anyone I know. So it was to her pleasure that the restaurant only had 6 bottles of this stuff available. We took a third of there stock by the time the evening was over.

The wine cellar at Plumed Horse is two stories with 24,000+ bottles waiting for consumption

Everything was taken care of and there was never a waiter available - there were three ready at any moment to do anything for us. The lead steward new the birthday girl and advanced with a spectacular set up of dishes, tastings and service. Our carte du jour went something like this:

1st Tasting: Deep-fried Mozzarella Cheese balls

2nd Tasting: Thin puff pastry stuffed with cheese and chanterelles; chicken liver over brown bread crisp; deviled quail eggs with a oil/balsamic.

1st Dish: Half-dozen Kumamoto Oysters with a yuzu mignonette, and a smokey cocktail sauce.

3rd Tasting: A salmon tatar with a real light green sauce I am not very clear on the ingredients of but it was good. Trust me.

2nd Dish: The night's special - a creamy mushroom risotto and white truffle.

The White Truffle is the most sought after truffle and favorite of Chef Armellino. This gem of fungi is only found in select areas of Italy around Alba. This elusive truffle requires sniff dogs to locate them under the earth crust, or to be uprooted by bores. This unique offering from planet is roughly $1,000 per gram.

We had already had an assault of the senses. Everything seemed to have a story behind it. Back to that lead waiter - Mel recognized the guy from being a customer in the shop. His family actually owns and operates the Sarticious Distellery. How 'bout that, eh? Not just the food carried a background but so did the help. Style points to the proprietors.

Main Dishes: Wild Columbia River Sturgeon with mushroom strudel, beet & salsify salad and Monterey Red Abolone with pickled pumpkin, Blue Foot chicken confit, sherry wine jus (the chef bedazzled this entre with pumpkin done three ways- pickled, raw in a fruity/acidic sauce and then as a sauce for dipping. It was a great extra).

The wine tasted like I was throwing flakes of gold down my gullet. The mixtures of abalone/pumpkin, rizotto/truffle, wine/mel's eyes were almost too intoxicating. The atmosphere was spot on to the feelings and high favor we were treated to. And the dessert was a cap to the gastonomic display. I had asked to see a port menu and the gentleman kindly said,

"I'm sorry sir, we do not have a port menu, but I can bring out our port and sherry cart if you'd like."

Okay smart ass just bring me the apretif set up and tone it down a knotch. Kidding, I was astonished.

"Of course there is."

Next came a series of help that left us with fresh napkins, a cleared table, and a palate cleaning mango sorbet that was as enjoyable as it was refreshing - which is a good thing.

After learning of a few of the flavors on the cart, we settled on two:

1) A 20 year tawney port that is bottled in Italy and sent around the world in barrels so that the rocking of the waves can shake the booz and release its inner quality.

2) A East India Sherry that goes through the same treatment as above, but this vessel travels from Gibraltar to East India around the Cape where it is then bottled.

They were an amazing compliment to the Warm Valhrona Chocolate Fondant with creamy carmel and chocolate center.

We stayed until the dining hall was clear and then a bit longer to finish our wine. A quick tour of the wine cellar that hosted over 24,000 bottles left us feeling well taken care of and a little like royalty. The light rain outside was never so enjoyable.

Top Floor of the cellar

Friday was a close second. We reserved a few tables at CB's and had a few friends take over the bar for a big birthday bash. Mel looked beautiful and got a few whistles and wows on the walk from the house. Her girls - Chelli, Lori, Kat and Tracy were top knotchin it and I made sure she always had a glass of Cinnabar in her hand. It was a good night for pics and memorable for Mel.

The after party was great. Bonfire outback, dance party inside and crazyness all around us. Mel and Steph fell throught the Christmas Tree to cap of the early hours of the morning and we turned on the vision of sugar plums for the night.













I believe this is the last post until after Christmas. So to all a good Christmas and thanks to our families and friends we care so much about. Show them. Now it's back to reality. My car won't start, I have work tomorrow and I don't want to go outside and play.