Albert “Gooseberry” Einstein and J. Crew

 

"Search me"

I have been doing some blog analysis recently and  I found that often people  get to my blog by Google searching the words “Einstein” and “Gooseberry”.  Interesting that people ever search for the word gooseberry. That I can’t explain. Maybe I should start using those words more in casual blogversation.

 

My other observation concerns fashion blogs -  read mostly by women. “J.Crew” is a highly searched word. Probably thanks to America’s obsession with what  Michelle Obama wears (I’m getting a WWMOW bracelet for my wife). What is really interesting about fashion blogs is that readers comment on the blogs all the time. My friend blogs about fashion and her “blog” turns into a virtual internet chat room (I guess they’re all virtual) with all the comments that follow a post.  I’m lucky if I get my two closest relatives and that linktrap.com guy to share anything witty on my blog.

 Understand that I’m not pleading with people to comment on my blog. I don’t really have time for that.  I guess all I want to say is –  Thanks  Uncle  Albert Gooseberry Einstein. You look great in your  J. Crew sweater.

Wowed by Billy’s App

I am a big fan of Billy’s Best Bottles and the genius behind the brand – Billy Munnelly. I first became a fan of Billy while reading about a wine tasting in the Toronto Star.  The author of the article was listing the people at the tasting  and remarked that while the “experts” were waiting for the wine to be poured Billy Munnelly was in the corner trying to figure out how to get the hotel’s espresso machine started. I felt an instant connection with that man in the corner.

Now Billy, and his partner Kato, have come up with a BRILLIANT (yes, I meant to yell that) app for the iPhone – and happily, I own an iPhone (thank you Steve Jobs). I could play with this app all day.  I let my wife open the app to look at – she was won over instantly by the cork that spins when the app opens.  She’s easily amused by things like that. So am I.

I love the content. Billy is the champion of wines that are affordable and unpretentious. Each of Billy’s recommendations comes with a bottle shot (can be enlarged to full screen) and the product code, which is applicable Canada-wide.  “I’ve kept this app as simple as my books – thirty years of drinking experience scaled down to what is essential. No strange wine lingo, no challenging gourmet food pairings, and no silly scores for the wines. Wine geeks will probably hate it, but if your focus is the drinking experience, my app will get you there quickly with the wine best suited for your situation.” Billy

The App is as easy to use as the Billy’s Best Bottles book and more convenient because it’s also on my telephone.  Albert Einstein, you would have been so happy to live in these crazy times.

Recently I guest blogged at  Linktrap.com and praised Billy’s web site as one of my places of inspiration on the internet. Now it’s on my phone.

Screen Shot Rustic Reds

Screen Shot House Reds

 

Einstein would have loved an iPhone

I found myself staring at a great bottle of wine last week.  A 2004 single vineyard wine from Bodegas LAN -  I love LAN - then I remembered that I forgot to memorize the Rioja vintages chart. Was it 2004 that was a crappy vintage or 2003?  Who memorizes those things?

What I did remember was that  I own an iPhone – that means that with the proper app  I never have to remember anything – not even my phone number – AE would have loved that.

EINSTEIN, who was never able to recall his own phone number, was famous for not memorizing anything that could be quickly and easily looked up in a standard reference volume. “Never memorize what you can look up in books,” he said. In fact, EINSTEIN claimed never to memorize anything which could be looked up in less than two minutes.

Furthermore, EINSTEIN once declared that his second greatest idea after the theory of relativity was to add an egg while cooking soup in order to produce a soft-boiled egg without having an extra pot to wash. This was clearly a man who would have loved the idea of using his “telephone” to help him purchase a bottle of wine.

Neither Albert or I can memorize this and hey, 2004 was a good year!

2011 – Don’t worry about this one

Some of you will remember the fear mongering fire that I tried adding fuel to last year.  “Y2K – Time to Panic”.  Anyone with a basic understanding of computer programming (I just realized that those people probably aren’t reading a wine blog) will know that 2011 is just as binary as 2010.  So why not worry about the end of the world this year?  In a word – The Mayans.

The Mayans.  A civilization that predicted the end of the world in 2012 and ironically (and I use the word correctly) did not foresee the end of their own civilization. If that doesn’t scare you enough then consider Nostradamus – he also predicted the end of the world in 2012.  And you can’t spell Nostradamus without  “damn us”.

So how do we proceed knowing that 2011 will be by all accounts delightful?  Here’s my 3 step program to enjoying 2011.

1. Drink more Champagne – and if you can’t afford the real stuff a Cava, Cremant, or even American Sparkling wine will do.

Albert after drinking the same wine over and over

2. Drink different wines – as Albert Einstein said about wine “The definition of insanity is drinking the same wine over and over again and expecting a different result”.

3. Splurge on some highly recommended and expensive bottles this year.  If we’ve learned any fear mongering from the Mayans, 2011 may be your last chance.