New favorite song: 'Hologram' by Katie Herzig

I think everyone probably knows a feeling -- probably from younger years in life -- of wanting to be close enough to a certain someone to fantasize about the possibility of a romance, while not wanting to take it all the way, not wanting to commit. It seems more fun to live in the possibility than to risk the reality of the relationship. Katie Herzig captures that sense in her flirty, sexy song "Hologram." I found it on the Paste magazine CD Sampler (Issue 44). Here's a link to purchase it on MP3.

This church sign needs a caption; please provide one in the comments section

Seen just off an I-95 exit in Roanoke Rapids, N.C., June 23, 2008:

An old family photo

 

My grandfather, Colin F. Burch, Jr., is standing in the middle.

Standing on the right is my great-grandfather, Colin F. Burch, Sr.

Seated on the left is my grandmother, Audrey Weibel Burch.

The baby is my father, Colin III.

The funeral service for my grandfather will be Monday morning in Avenue, Maryland.

He'll be buried in the churchyard of All Saints Episcopal Church with dozens of his family members and ancestors, including his parents and his younger brother Walter Dent Burch.

Give Michelob a chance

I'm continuing to reevaluate my beer-snobbery.

I had basically written off the big domestics in favor of microbrews and imports, until twice recently I dined at Chuck's Steakhouse, 9695 Kings Highway on Restaurant Row in Myrtle Beach.

My wife and I always love the food at Chuck's, but the steakhouse has only one beer on tap, Michelob Lager, plus a tap for the beer substitute Michelob Ultra. (They also have a selection of bottled beers.)

But Chuck's knows how to make the most of that Michelob, offering a big, frosty, 28-ounce goblet for $5.50.

On both of my recent visits, the goblet was perfectly frosted.

I thought the Michelob had interesting hop characteristics, followed by a pleasant dryness.

It was not the blandness I had come to expect from big domestics. Michelob had something going on. It paired well with steak. I finished the goblet smiling.

Later, I went to the Michelob Web site, which claimed that their lager is made with European hops and "a 100-percent-malt blend." Meaning: no rice, no corn, just barley malt. What a difference.

Col. Colin F. Burch, Jr., 1918-2008

My grandfather died this morning. He was 89. I had just seen him this past weekend; he had been groggy and couldn't say a lot.

He was a flight instructor in WWII, and an engineer on the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System. He also served in the Korean War, and retired a full-bird Colonel.

I really loved him; I'll really miss him.

A visit to Capital Ale House in Richmond, Va.; a date with Legend Brown Ale

I stopped at Capital Ale House in downtown Richmond, Va., during a break from my rocket ride down Interstate 95 yesterday. The barkeep said the only locally brewed beer on tap was Legend Brown Ale, but of course several other local and regional brews -- along with dozens more -- were available behind six doors of coolers that were packed with bottles.

Legend Brewing Co.'s Brown Ale felt and tasted just about perfect. It was sweet with just enough hops to keep it honest. The medium-light body served both sip-ability and drink-ability.

Capital Ale House had a frost strip, or frost in a stainless steel indention, set into the long, wood bar. Nice touch.

My 12-ounce Legend Brown Ale was $3.50.

My house burger was $7.49.

Capital Ale House also offers take-home bottles for 25-percent off the list price, as long as each purchase meets a $10 minimum, which is due to concerns of local residents, according to the menu.

So I picked up two bottles to go.

My take-home Legend Golden Ale, in a one-pint, six-fluid ounce bottle, was $6.50.

And my take-home 12-ounce bottle of Full Nelson, from Blue Mountain Brewery in Afton, Virginia, was $4.

Stay tuned and I'll tell you what these good-looking beers taste like.

-Colin Foote Burch

Old Dominion Brew Pub, Ashburn, VA; sampling five beers at Old Dominion Brew Pub

Live, from Chantilly, Va., I'm filing a review of Old Dominion Brew Pub in Ashburn, Va., for blog watchers as well as readers of my Beerman column in the Weekly Surge of Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Tucked away in an office park, Old Dominion Brew Pub at 44633 Guilford Drive, Ashburn, Va., gave me a sampler flight of these beers ($6.25):

Beach House Pils: The yellow-golden sunshine of this brew is intense in the best way a pilsner can be. It hits with a ton of taste, especially citrus-like flavors, and a crisp finish.

Dominion Lager: I tasted a touch of roasted malt, subtle yet still more than I usually get in a lager.

Dominion Ale: A solid ale, amber in color, advertised as the product of two-row pale, caramel, and black malts, and Kent Golding hops.

Dominion Pale Ale: This is a regular pale ale, but I've tasted India Pale Ales this good and hoppy. Outstanding, more punch than a typical pale ale, with hints of grapefruit and a dry finish.

I also tried a full pint Dominion Oak Barrel Stout: Wow. This might be my favorite stout, ever. I wondered what was taking so long for the barkeep to bring my pint of the stout when I realized that the beer was slowly pouring into the pint glass while I waited. How slow? I watched another pull of a stout, as the pint glass stood on another, inverted pint glass and the stream slowly went down the side of the glass. I started counting when the glass was about a fifth full. I estimated about a full minute for the pour. Nice.

The head was a dark beige, almost with a faint tint of orange to the color.

As advertised, the flavors were of vanilla and bourbon. I didn't find a bit of bitterness in it. In fact, Dominion Oak Barrel Stout was sweet and yummy. The body was medium, not as heavy as it could have been.

One important note:

Today, I spent approximately three hours trying to find the Old Dominion Brew Pub in Ashburn. It's tucked away -- quite literally -- in an office park.

In fact, overcoming my maleness, I asked for directions not once, not twice, but three times, and I still couldn't find the damn thing. Then, duh, I called the brew pub's phone number, and found a recorded message with helpful, clear, straightforward directions.

-Colin Foote Burch

To put it all into a nutshell...

To put it all into a nutshell,
I can't put it into a nutshell.

-Colin Foote Burch

Choosing the right cooler for beach & boating

I saw a Styrofoam cooler at a local grocery store for $5.99. I figured you could pack 18 cans and ice into it - and then pick the beer off the ground when the bottom busts out.

If you're going to buy a cooler, make a little investment. Skip the Styrofoam.

A better idea would be to look for the Thermos collapsible can cooler, which expands from a cloth ring into an insulated cylinder full of brews. It holds 54 cans plus ice, keeps the beer cold for three days, and retails locally for around $20.

Better yet, try the 64-quart Coleman Extreme, a traditional rectangular structure, outfitted with wheels, and enough space inside to pack 85 cans. It can keep the brews cold for five days, and retails locally for around $60.

Just remember - if you're going to invest in a nice cooler, put some decent beer in it.

Relativism, theism as my daughters watch 'Star Wars' for the first time

Maggie, 8, watched most of Star Wars for the first time last night, but she was too tired to finish the movie, so she went to bed.

As I type this, she is watching the movie, again, from the beginning, with her sisters, Audrey, 6, and Sadie, almost 3 — although in fairness to this father, my wife and I believe the latter will fall asleep shortly.

I read the opening to Audrey — the scroll of words across the stars — so she could follow the basic story line. And I watched the beginning with them. I was explaining that the Storm Troopers were not androids or robots, but people in armor, and that they were bad guys.

Maggie, 8: “They’re not bad guys, they just believe different things.”

Audrey, 6: “The good guys believe in God.”

Wow! We’ll talk through this later.

-Colin Foote Burch
Check out:

Star Wars and Philosophy (Popular Culture and Philosophy)

Christian Wisdom of the Jedi Masters

Peter Reinhart wins another James Beard Award!

Peter Reinhart, my friend and an editorial adviser for LiturgicalCredo.com, won another James Beard Foundation Award last night in New York City.

His book, Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads: New Techniques, Extraordinary Flavor, won in the Baking and Dessert cookbook category.

Read excerpts of Peter's writings, and find links to his books, here.

Peter teaches at Johnson & Wales University in Charlotte, N.C.

See all of last night's James Beard Award winners, here.

Congratulations, Peter!

-Colin Foote Burch

Our third child turns 3 next month; so much learned, so much more to know

Sadie, our third-child surprise, the one we almost named Merlot due to her likely inspiration, will turn three years old next month.

Her birthday is on Bastille Day. There's significance in that. I'm sure of it. I just haven't figured it out yet.

Sadie has two older sisters, ages 6 and 8, neither of which were nearly named after a red wine.

My wife and I learned gobs from our first two. Every developmental stage has its normal traits, like the tantrums of the "terrible twos" and potty training.

On the other hand, each child is different. We identified attention-deficit disorder in our oldest daughter when she was 6 years old. We suspected a degree of anxiety in our middle child when she was 4 years old.

In both cases, we sought professional help. We looked into conventional medical approaches to these problems as well as emerging remedies like neurofeedback, which has been the subject of mainstream medical research in Germany. My wife and I believe that our love for our children must be guided by critical minds that insist on multiple sources of information for anything we consider. While it is impossible to know everything, our approach removes some of the variables in decision-making -- and it has been fruitful. With our intentional involvement at home and the help of a licensed doctor, the oldest daughter can maintain focused attention for much longer, and the middle daughter is less anxious in her daily life.

But there remains the simple fact -- even as we begin our third run through the preschool years -- that we have so much to learn. Researchers say that the human brain develops dramatically during the first five years of life -- so much so, that my wife and I feel the burden of properly navigating Sadie's third and fourth years. How do you do it perfectly? When no one has ever done it perfectly?

Well, there is some good news for us.

Well, first, we've done made it through the preschool years twice already. And if you have done so, you ought to pat yourself on the back.

Second, we know where to look for good information. We have culled the good authors, books and Web sites from the mediocre and the bad.

Third, we know how to love Sadie. We make direct eye contact with her. We hug her and kiss her all the time (probably not difficult for most parents, yet extremely important at this stage of development). We spend time with her, even when it is difficult to peel ourselves away from our computers.

Sadie has been on her own learning curve. We don't let her do whatever she wants -- especially when what she wants to do involves wet toilet paper --never mind her persistence and fits. Surviving these episodes requires a level of patience and endurance that my wife and I do not possess naturally, and I'm sure many American parents feel the same way.

Yet in the end, all the little struggles are worth it. We see the outcomes of our preschool-year efforts in the 8-year-old and the 6-year-old.

I cannot wait for the next year with the little girl we almost named Merlot. I want to help that little brain develop to its full potential.

-Colin Foote Burch

Chuck's Steakhouse and its 28-ounce Michelob

I was wrong about big domestic beers.

There, I said it.

They're not all bad.

In fact, Michelob Lager has more to offer than I expected.

Having been a bit of a brew snob lately, I have not tasted much in the way of big domestics, not for a while. I think the last time I drank a big can of Budweiser was more than a year ago, at the House of Blues, when the band Drive-By Truckers was on the stage, and I was afraid I would get my ass kicked if I bought Heineken.

So I had written off the big domestics in favor of microbrews and imports.

Until I dined at Chuck's Steakhouse on Restaurant Row here in Myrtle Beach -- twice, recently.

My wife and I like to eat there when we can; it's got an excellent, old-school steakhouse touch to it. I even like the fact that their salad bar isn't a mile long; it's something more typical of the era before salad bars mutated and took over the restaurant industry.

Anyway, Chuck's has only one draft beer, Michelob, plus a tap for the beer substitute Michelob Ultra.

The folks at Chuck's will sell you a big frosty goblet containing approximately 28 ounces of Michelob for $5.50.

I noted that the Michelob had interesting, hoppy characteristics, followed by a pleasant dryness.

This was not the blandness I had come to expect from big domestics. Michelob had something going on. It showed up. It had something to offer.

Perhaps all the time I have spent focusing on the imports and microbrews, and learning about their characteristics, helped me understand what there was to appreciate in that Michelob.

Because after I made my favorable assessment of Michelob, I looked up the company Web site, on which -- it is claimed -- that their lager is made with "European noble aroma hop varieties" and "a 100-percent-malt blend of the finest two-row and caramel malts."

Damn, it really makes a difference, especially when compared with Bud.

Hmm, I'm sounding a bit sappy here. But then again, I'm now determined to give Coors and Miller another go. Maybe there's something I've been missing -- whoa, did I say that?

Stay tuned.

-Colin Foote Burch

Our youngest child turns 3 years old next month; so much learned, so much still to learn

Sadie, our third-child surprise, the one we almost named Merlot due to her likely inspiration, will turn three years old next month.

Her birthday is on Bastille Day. There's significance in that. I'm sure of it. I just haven't figured it out yet.

Sadie has two older sisters, ages 6 and 8, neither of which were nearly named after a red wine.

My wife and I learned gobs from our first two. Every developmental stage has its normal traits, like the tantrums of the "terrible twos" and potty training.

On the other hand, each child is different. We identified attention-deficit disorder in our oldest daughter when she was 6 years old. We suspected a degree of anxiety in our middle child when she was 4 years old.

In both cases, we sought professional help. We looked into conventional medical approaches to these problems as well as emerging remedies like neurofeedback, which has been the subject of mainstream medical research in Germany. My wife and I believe that our love for our children must be guided by critical minds that insist on multiple sources of information for anything we consider. While it is impossible to know everything, our approach removes some of the variables in decision-making -- and it has been fruitful. With our intentional involvement at home and the help of a licensed doctor, the oldest daughter can maintain focused attention for much longer, and the middle daughter is less anxious in her daily life.

But there remains the simple fact -- even as we begin our third run through the preschool years -- that we have so much to learn. Researchers say that the human brain develops dramatically during the first five years of life -- so much so, that my wife and I feel the burden of properly navigating Sadie's third and fourth years. How do you do it perfectly? When no one has ever done it perfectly?

Well, there is some good news for us.

Well, first, we've done made it through the preschool years twice already. And if you have done so, you ought to pat yourself on the back.

Second, we know where to look for good information. We have culled the good authors, books and Web sites from the mediocre and the bad.

Third, we know how to love Sadie. We make direct eye contact with her. We hug her and kiss her all the time (probably not difficult for most parents, yet extremely important at this stage of development). We spend time with her, even when it is difficult to peel ourselves away from our computers.

Sadie has been on her own learning curve. We don't let her do whatever she wants -- especially when what she wants to do involves wet toilet paper --never mind her persistence and fits. Surviving these episodes requires a level of patience and endurance that my wife and I do not possess naturally, and I'm sure many American parents feel the same way.

Yet in the end, all the little struggles are worth it. We see the outcomes of our preschool-year efforts in the 8-year-old and the 6-year-old.

I cannot wait for the next year with the little girl we almost named Merlot. I want to help that little brain develop to its full potential.

-Colin Foote Burch

How to be a citizen journalist; or, tips from a working independent journalist

Let me tell you why we are entering the era of the citizen journalist, or the independent journalist, and give some pointers to beginners who want to join the trend.


First, why do I think we're entering the era of the independent journalist? I held two section-editor positions at The Sun News in Myrtle Beach, S.C., during the past nine years. I was the business editor, and later I was the features editor. I left in March 2006 to pursue graduate studies and freelancing.


Within the past month or so, the newspaper killed six positions company-wide (and that's not the worst story in the industry). This increasingly common scenario reinforced, in my mind, the necessity of establishing myself as an independent journalist -- not just a blogger, but a journalist operating independently.


My time at The Sun News was important for my professional development. I attended the Knight Ridder Assigning Editors Seminar. I participated in a Committee of Concerned Journalists newsroom workshop. The value of that kind of training is nearly priceless, especially when combined with work in a busy newsroom.


The problem? Not everyone who wants to be a citizen journalist has that kind of training, nor can they access it quickly or easily.


And not everyone who wants to get into independent journalism can immediately grasp all the simple, easy ways to take advantage of online publishing tools, social networking sites, and social bookmarking.


Even so, if you're a beginner, the following tips will point you in the direction of professional sensibilities and blogging savvy.


Credibility

An important first step: Join the Society of Professional Journalists (membership information available at SPJ.org), and adhere to its Code of Ethics, available at http://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp.

Your membership in the Society of Professional Journalists is something you can announce on your blog.

Of course, it won't make much difference if you do not stick to the Code of Ethics. Make a point of it.

Beyond that, have a credible source for everything you say, unless you're getting into a matter that is strictly speculation or opinion. Keep in mind that the Internet is full of phony experts and authorities. One thing the last few decades of journalism provided was a practiced sense of who was credible and who was a crank. In the Internet era, more vigilance is necessary.

Know-How

The Internet is an ever-evolving frontier, with the constant arrivals of new tools, and old tools still hidden in best-kept-secret status. How can a blogger possibly know every tool that is available, not to mention which tools to use and how to use them?

Fortunately, someone out there is trying to help you. The Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California has been on top of the online-journalism and independent-journalism trends.

Annenberg publishes the Online Journalism Review, available at OJR.org. The site is packed with information on being an independent journalist, and it's free. Don't miss it. Take some time and dive in.

Don't fear the HTML

Another bit of important information you need to know: HTML, the basic programming language of Web sites.

Fear not. Don't worry if this is foreign to you.

You'll only need to know a little bit of HTML if you are going to use free blogging platforms like WordPress and Blogger. In fact, in most cases, you'll have step-by-step, easy guides on how to add HTML to your site.

For example, if you become an Amazon Associate -- enabling you to sell Amazon products through your site -- then Amazon.com will generate some code for you to copy and paste into your Web site. The only trick? Knowing where to paste the HTML. But it's not that hard to find. If your blog is hosted by Blogger, you will simply:

1. Click the "Layout" tab

2. Click "Add a page element"

3. A page will pop up with several page elements that you can add to your blog; click "HTML/JavaScript."

4. A window will open with a space to paste-in the HTML code. Paste, save, and then save the layout page. Your HTML function will appear on the page.

Social Networking, Social Bookmarking

You'll want to use HTML to add a special button from AddThis.com to your site.

AddThis.com offers free code that creates a button linked to several social networking and social bookmarking sites like Facebook, MySpace, StumbledUpon, Del.icio.us, and several others.

Such a function makes it possible for others to promote your blog or specific posts by linking your work to their Facebook, MySpace, etc., pages.

The AddThis.com button allows others to become part of your promotional efforts.

You'll also want to join sites like Technorati, which allow you to promote your blogs in other ways. Hit the site, sign up and you'll get it.

What is an RSS feed, and why do you need one?

Imagine having something like an email inbox, but instead of getting emails, you get blog posts from as many different blogs as you choose.

You no longer have to use the Favorites menu on your Web browser to get to each of your favorite blogs. You can just open this special reader, see the latest posts, click, and read them, all from a single Web site or a single software program.

Check out Bloglines.com. It's a free reader. Joining Bloglines is as simple as signing up for a free Yahoo or Hotmail account.

The pipeline that brings the blog posts to Bloglines (or another reader) is called a RSS feed. It's one of those terms that sounds more intimidating than it is.

Once you have a Bloglines account (or another reader), all you have to do is click a couple of times to "subscribe" to a blog's RSS feed.

RSS stands for "real simple syndication" or "rich site summary."

You need a blog with a RSS feed so other people can add your blog to their readers. WordPress blogs come with an automatic RSS feed.

Blogger does not. However, if you go to FeedBurner.com, you can follow the instructions to create a RSS feed for your blog. Then you'll need to add some of that HTML we talked about earlier (provided by FeedBurner), so a RSS button will appear on your site, providing a quick click for those who want to add your blog to their readers.

This is just the beginning

Best wishes, and if you start your own independent-journalism site, let me know. Maybe we can link to each other.

Best locally brewed beers in the Myrtle Beach area

Hey folks -- my cover story in the Weekly Surge will be available at this link for about three more days. Check out my picks from Myrtle Beach / Pawleys Island microbreweries and brewpubs. If you are a beer drinker who lives in the greater Myrtle Beach area, or if you are planning a visit, this article is a must-read if you want to make the most of your beer-drinking dollar.