Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Measuring Unemployment like the age of a child

I was talking to someone the other day who is unemployed. When asked for how long, they replied three years, 2 months. It struck me as strange as this seemed like the way a parent would give the age of a child. When reviewing comments from other unemployed people, it was a similar method: 6 months, 14 months, etc.

Unlike reporting the age of a child, though, people aren't happy when reporting how long that they have been unemployed. I believe that for a lot of people, unemployment may be as stressful as raising a new baby. I don't believe that anyone unemployed is as happy as someone raising a child. There are a few people who like getting paid for not doing anything, but these people wouldn't be telling you that they are unemployed either though.

We really need to get this country back to work and we don't have to worry about these types of issues anymore.

Monday, August 29, 2011

Oregon Pinot Noir

Wow! So we finally got to the Willamette Valley. I wasn't really looking forward to it as I haven't liked many Pinot Noirs. I guess my problem was too many California Pinot Noirs, because I became a fan of PN while in Oregon. There was a lot of variety, some too much like California, but overall it was a great experience.

I'd have to say our favorite from top to bottom was Argyle. They have really good still and sparkling wines. We enjoyed tasting the wines and talking with the people there.

Another good winery was Bergstrom. A number of wineries recommended that we go there, so we made it there on our last day. Their wines were also very good from top to bottom. The previous night we had dinner at the Painted Lady where we had a Bergstrom wine as part of the wine pairing dinner.

I suppose the biggest disappointment, besides only have a few days there, was Domaine Drouhin. The grounds and views are stunning. We enjoyed sipping their wines on their patio. The people were really nice. The disappointment was that we found their wines to be average. Not the worst we tasted for sure, but clearly not the best. Many people recommended them, so we may have had great expectations.

Tasting fees in the area ranged from a few at $5 to $15 (most at $10). Although most credited the fees if you purchased a bottle (one $15 winery refunded with a $100 purchase). Visiting the tasting rooms was better than going to wine bars. We visited a couple of wine bars thinking that we'd be able to experience multiple wineries without the travel. We didn't find the wines or experience to be remarkable.