Author: psoeth

I have a loving wife and two wonderful kids living in a suburb near Denver, Colorado. I love soccer and doing things with my family.
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Smoking in Restaurants Is Crazy, Maybe Virginia Should Ban It To

In Colorado we have implemented a law that makes all restaurants and bars smoke-free. But it is crazy when you travel and you don’t know the regulations, especially if you are a non-smoker.
One of the tough things about visiting the Washington, DC, area is that Virgina allows smoking in its restaurants and bars. Well, what do you expect from a state that has made a lot of money from growing tobacco.

But it is more than that. Smoking hurts the workers who must work in restaurants and bars, especially if they are not smokers. There has been scientific studies completed in Colorado that shows non-smokers who work in casinos, yes there are casinos in Colorado and they still allow people to smoke in them, test like they smoke two packs a day.

This is ridiculous. People who work in restaurants and bars should not be subjected to this. In fact, research shows that revenues will increase once smoking in bans.

There are currently 14 states that do not allow smoking, maybe Virginia should be the next.

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Bailey’s Pub & Grill

Well I wanted to catch the Colorado Avalanche game and there is not too many opportunities in the Crystal City area to find a place to watch a game on satellite. Well Bailey’s Pub & Grill filled the need.
The manager was quite receptive and let me find a seat and then he placed the game on a television nearby so I could watch. Great!

Well I needed some dinner and the Tavern Burger (minus the sauteed onions) filled the need and the fries were good and crispy. The Boddingtons was well worth it (both pints). The cheesecake topped off the evening. A giant piece with strawberries. Nothing better.

The service was great. The only drawback is that it is kinda noisy with all the music playing, but it is good music. Just be prepared to speak loudly with your dining partners.

And the Avalanche won the game.

Read the reviews in the Washington Post. Link…

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SINÉ IRISH PUB

I am in Washington, DC, for business and I always enjoy the wonderful food that is available in restaurants here in the metro area.
One of the places that I enjoy to go is Siné Irish Pub located in the Pentagon Row area behind the Pentagon City Mall in Arlington.

Well I had to try the Reuben Sandwich. I always find those pretty good, but this one, while good, had some deficiencies. The taste was there and the kraut had some flavor but there was not a lot of sauce and the bread was dry. It came with fries and they were quite good. It all tasted great with a Guinness. (Everything tastes well with a Guinness.)

Why the sandwich was just average, the dessert was quite good. The Bread Pudding was quite good, especially served with caramel and ice cream.

The service was so-so, but I wouldn’t let this bother you. I have been to this place before and have had good meals and service. Other items that I have had that were good include the Fish & Chips and Shepard’s Pie, all with Guinness (What else to wash it all down.).

One thing that concerned me is the advertisement that they had up for St. Patrick’s Day coming up. It said come on in on St. Patrick’s Day and enjoy a nice cold Budweiser or Bud Light. What bunk. What is an Irish Pub promoting a bland, bad tasting American style beer on St. Patrick’s Day.

You can see a review in the Washington Post. Link…

Let’s hope they improve the Reuben Sandwich and the service gets back to where it was when it opened for an improved experience. But if you are ever neat the Pentagon City area, Siné Irish Pub is worth the try.

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Casino Smoking Ban Bill Advances

A bill to expand the smoking ban in the state of Colorado has advanced through the state house and now moves on to the state senate. House Bill 1269 would ban smoking in casinos in Colorado.
When the smoking ban was passed last year, casinos were one of the few exemptions where smokers could still smoke and it has created controversy ever since. It cleared the state house with relative ease with a vote of 36-29.

Last year when the bill was passed, I was amazed that this exemption was in there but you have to remember the strong lobby that the casinos have. The smoking ban has been good for employees in the state and for all of those non-smokers who visit those establishments. Casino ownes are trying to scare the legislators saying that the tax revenue will go down 20% – 35% if this ban goes into effect. But I doubt that this will happen.

Contrary to what those business owners and casino owners are saying the smoking ban will reduce business, more people are going out and revenues are up. The city of Boulder has seen an increase in revenues since the smoking ban went into effect. Revenues were up 3.14% from January 1997 to October 1997. You can read more about the economic impacts of smoking bans at BREATH, the California Smoke-free Bars, Workplaces and Communities Program. With this and the other improvements in other states, the reveunes will not go down.

The non-smoking workers in casinos have taken health tests and most of them test like they smoke two packs a day. That is crazy. The state must do more to protect them and the patrons who are non-smokers.

I hope the Senate comes through and passes this to.  If not, I expect to see a petition on our next state election to enact this ban.  If the legislators can’t do it, then the people will.

You can read more in the Rocky Mountain News.  Link… 

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Sparkletack Returns!

Yeah! Sparkletack has returned to the podcast world.
For those of you who have never listened to Sparkletack, it is a podcast that discusses and shares stories of the city of San Francisco.

It is a great podcast that has taken a long break. I always enjoyed listening to this podcast of one of the worlds greatest cities. Even though I live in Denver, I always enjoy San Francisco. I grew up about an hour away and since my parents were from the Bay Area, we always spent a lot of time in the City.

If you like listening to great stories and enjoy San Francisco, you should listen to this podcast. I highly recommend it.

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Upgrade Your WordPress

Someone gained server level access on to one of the servers that powers WordPress and put some code in a couple of files that could cause them to run some remote PHP execution.  You can read more about this on the download site for version 2.1.2.
They WordPress team has reset the files.  But if you downloaded verstion 2.1.1 in the last couple days, you need to update immediately.

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Army Ignores Walter Reed and Injured Soldiers

I can’t believe that the US Army let Walter Reed go the way that it did. These are soldiers who served their country and were injured in the line of duty. We need to be doing everything that we can to support them and give them the best care that we can.
But the leadership in the Army listened to complaints and knew something was going on but didn’t do anything. The Washington Post broke this story and had a good one on Thursday, “Hospital Officials Knew of Neglect“, that explains how the leadership in the Army knew what was going on and they had been hearing complaints for years.

I think the best, most compelling statement in the story is:

… (Lt. Gen. Kevin C.) Kiley, his successive commanders at Walter Reed and various top noncommissioned officers in charge of soldiers’ lives have heard a stream of complaints about outpatient treatment over the past several years. The complaints have surfaced at town hall meetings for staff and soldiers, at commanders’ “sensing sessions” in which soldiers or officers are encouraged to speak freely, and in several inspector general’s reports detailing building conditions, safety issues and other matters.

This is unacceptable.  Kiley was the Commanding Officer at Walter Reed for a while and he is now the top medical officer in the Army.  His house is across the street from Building 18 where most of the problems are.  And he denies that there are that many problems.  But the proof is there.

This scandal has already cost two people their jobs, Army Secretary Francis J. Harvey and Walter Reed Commander Maj. Gen. George W. Weightman, who had only been there for about 6 months.  The problem is that before he was fired, Army Secretary Harvey replaced him with Kiley who has been aware of the problems and has done nothing.  This is what lead to him losing his job.  This was someone’s sick joke.  I can’t believe that Harvey did this.

I just hope that the Army can get it together and do something for our troops who are fighting for our country in a foreign land and getting injured.  They deserve the best, nothing less.

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OS X Leopard Looking Good

Well I am beginning to look for a new computer and have pretty much settled on going with an Apple.  I have PC’s for work and want something new for home.  The Apple software is much more friendly for doing home videos, slideshows, videos, and other home applications.
One of the things that I am interested in is the new Leopard operating system.  It will be coming out late this spring or summer (hopefully) and it adds a lot of good things.

The good thing for people and me is the Time Machine.  This allows you to back up your hard drive and then go back and retrieve it at anytime.  All you have to do is connect an external hard drive and it takes care of everything else.

The other cool thing that improves on the current operating system is in iChat.  The new function allows you to share displays.  So now when my parents are having problems with their Apple Macbook Pro, we can login into iChat and fix the issue.  That may be a good thing or a curse.  Who knows.

Overall, Leopard looks like a good upgrade to Tiger and will sway me to purchase a Macbook.

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Avs Make It Interesting

I went to the Colorado Avalanche game this evening and they made it interesting.
Carrying a 3 – 0 lead into the 18th minute in the 3rd Period, after surviving a Blue Jacket 5 – 3 powerplay, they gave up two quick goals to Rick Nash and the Columbus Blue Jackets made it interesting down to the end. They held on to win 3-2.

It was an exciting game with some hard hits, a good fight, and Paul Stastny got a goal to extend his scoring streak to 13 games. In doing that, Stastny became the third rookie ever to have at least a 13 game scoring streak. The other two, his dad and uncle.

The only other disappointment was that Joe Sakic couldn’t continue his scoring streak, ending it at 12.

I think the best hit tonight when Ian Laperriere took out Nash along the boards. He just picked him up and put Nash on his back.

This is a good and needed win as the Avs head out on a 11 day road trip.

Go Avs!