Misdirected Cardinals Hate?

I could say that I hate the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team, but I do not. Sure, I may feel some disdain for them as they are in another World Series while my beloved Texas Rangers find themselves at home for a second straight postseason. If one wants to delve deeper, one could say that I am jealous. And who would not be with such a wonderful championship portfolio. 

Because of how 2011 World Series ended, it is easy for Rangers fans to hate the Cardinals, but it was not the Cardinals who gave up that series-changing triple to David Freese. Nor was that triple hit over a St. Louis right fielder not playing a no-doubles defense to keep these kind of hits from making such a huge impact.  

Before anyone blames a team for taking advantage of opportunities handed to them, first look at how those said opportunities came about and see what the outcome would have been had they not surfaced: change Neftalí's pitch selection (three straight fastballs); change the right fielder for a defensive replacement (Chávez for Cruz); and change the defensive alignment (play a no-doubles defense in the outfield). 

Yes, I have the benefit of hindsight, but one should not take the easy way out and hate another team just because it is easier. Hate the reason why it happened. Better yet, do not hate at all. Life is too short to waste on hate. Love your team and leave it at that.

Lincoln, Washington, DC & The Government Shutdown

Disclaimer: The following is an observation, and if you lean towards the conservative end of the political spectrum, you will not like this post at all. I try not to venture into these political debates for obvious reasons, but the current circumstances warranted my thoughts here.

I finally got a chance to see the fantastic historical drama, Lincoln. What a movie. To see Daniel Day-Lewis as Lincoln is to see Lincoln himself. And to see the trials and travails President Lincoln endured is priceless. Plus, to see some of the inner workings of the work done to pass the 13th Amendment, the abolition of slavery, is equally priceless. I could not help but see parallels in that movie with the current state of affairs related to the government-induced shutdown. Sure, there are some parallels between these two events, but on a very topical and very basic level. One obviously cannot come close to comparing the abolition of slavery to what caused the current government shutdown. 

A vote to modify the U.S. Constitution to end slavery by way of an amendment was a tremendous undertaking. Both sides sparred and bickered to convey their point across the aisle in the hopes of making a convincing argument. Now, compare that to the pettiness behind the shutdown and why it continues to fester. And what bothers me more than anything is where the GOP lays the blame and how they go about laying this blame, and why I chose to wade into this prickly political discussion. 

According many a conservative, the blame lays right at the feet of President Obama and the Affordable Care Act, or as it is pejoratively known, ObamaCare. Tea party faction conservatives say that the President should repeal the ACA in order to bring them back to the negotiating table. They want the President to repeal a law that this same Congress voted into law. They want the Democrats to repeal a law that was signed into law. A law held up by the United States Supreme Court as constitutional. The Republicans now hold up the day-to-day business of the government just because they did not get their way in the almost forty times they voted to try to repeal the ACA-- an act whose origins and ideas are GOP and capitalist-based. Apparently, all of these folks forgot that Republican Mitt Romney installed a extremely similar act while as the governor of Massachusetts several years ago.

But the hypocrisy does not stop there. Perhaps a day or so after the government shutdown, a GOP congressman was seen harassing US Park Rangers at a closed DC war memorial. This congressman's rant hinged on why DC war memorials were closed to the public. Uh, really? No, seriously. Really? Let's just say that any Republican congressman can look at his or herself in the mirror if they want the best answer to those type of questions. Thankfully when this happened, a furloughed government worker happened to be nearby, caught wind of these misdirected accusations and called out the congressman. Republican lawmakers and celebrities are now found trolling in and around DC memorials in order to prove that President Obama's reluctance to negotiate is the main reason for the government shutdown. I guess if you say it enough times, it becomes the truth. Changing the narrative seems to be a last ditch effort for GOP in this pricey political scrum.

This dissonance is certainly deafening.

I am sorry if you do not agree with me here, but I just cannot wrap my head around the GOP notion that President Obama is behind the government shutdown when it is not up to him to come up with a Congressional spending bill. Oh...did you catch that? I said, Congressional spending bill and not a Presidential spending bill. The blame lays not on President Obama and a repeal of the ACA, but with those whose job it is to come up with a spending bill. It is up to those folks whose sole purpose to be in Washington, DC is to find a way to keep this country moving forward and not to keep it from working and standing still at the expense of the taxpayers.

CrossRoads Winery- Up the Tollway and off a Beaten Path

It is funny how things turn out sometimes. If I had intended to write about my winery visits, I would have written detailed summaries of Becker Vineyards, Pedernales Cellars, and Sister Creek Vineyards- my first ever winery visits, instead of relegating those visits to brief flashbacks in other postings. But to write about my winery experiences did not come to mind until part of the way into the Mitas Hill visit, and even then I only intended to post a few pictures and write a brief synopsis about the visit. Nothing more. However, it did not come out so brief, and up to this point, is the most visited blog post I have ever written. My intention for any winery writing is to give our wine making neighbors shout-outs in the hopes that anyone who reads this will give their great tasting wines a try, such is case now with CrossRoads Winery from their Frisco, almost Little Elm location. 

Here is the funniest thing, we have been this way before. The last time we drove on Main Street in Frisco west of the Dallas North Tollway had to have been ten years ago when our then infant daughter was kept at a home daycare in west Frisco. There were few recognizable landmarks to guide our westward trek towards King Road, as many things have changed up this way: more subdivisions with many more homes, tons of stores when there were none before, traffic lights, you name it. As soon as we crossed FM 423, the road narrowed, Main Street turned into King Road, and the scenery reminded us what this part of Frisco looked like ten years ago. Soon we happened onto an array of warehouses where Cross Road Winery is housed.

This picture doesn't do the ambiance justice.

We walked in and were greeted by a sign that is to be the name of their soon to debut tempranillo, but what caught our eye was the tasting room just beyond. With lights draped across the room, two huge tanks on one wall and wine barrels along two other walls, this place looks a place to do some serious wine tasting and drinking. 

Fruit, meats, and cheese, if you please.

We found our table and the server at the tasting bar brought us our menus. She was very attentive even though she had several others to attend to besides us. We chose to order a tapas plate for a reasonable price to go along with our wine tasting.

Loved these little cards to tell you what you tasted.

For the life of me, I cannot remember the name of our server, but she asked what kind of wine my wife and I prefer. For my wife, sweeter whites, to go along with my dry reds. The initial round started with My Cheeky Bastard (sweet blush) for my wife and I got the CSM (Cab-Syrah-Merlot blend). Next we choose three more. The three I chose were: the 2010 Sangiovese, 2008 Reserve Cabernet and the 2009 Cabernet. My wife's picks: Detour (Chenin Blanc/muscat blend), VB White (dry Riesling) and the SpeedBump (Pinot Gris). 

Our lovely server also brought my wife a VB Red (sweet chilled red) and then each of us, their newest creation, a tempranillo. Though I liked every single red she brought me, I loved the tempranillo just ahead of their Syrah. The tempranillo is not yet for sale as they are waiting for label approval from the TABC, which I hope is soon so I can pick up a bottle the next time we swing by.

For me the best bouquet of the bunch was essentially a tie between the My Cheeky Bastard and the VB White, with the VB White being very reminiscent of Sister Creek's Muscat Canelli at least in smell.

I can't wait to taste what's inside!

I so want to kick myself because I wanted to try their White Port Pearl. Ugh...maybe next time. And the next time should be soon as my parents are slated to make a trip to north Texas in the coming weeks and this is a place that I am definitely bringing them to. Though it is too bad they will not be here for the Dallas Town and Country Wine Trail Fall Wine Trail event on October 19th and 20th, where three wine tastings, food and wine glasses with the wine trail logo will be given at several wineries for a low price.

They like to dress up their bottles with medals.

Right before we left, we met another couple who arrived for their wine tasting towards the end of ours. Like us, this was their first visit to CrossRoads but it was their one-hundred and first visit to a Texas winery. 101!!! Wow, that's what I'm talking about! We just started our winery visits and the count sits at five, but I hope we get to double digits before the year is out. 

It goes without saying that we will return to CrossRoads Winery. It is only a quick jaunt up the DNT for us and for anyone else looking for a nice place to unwind with your significant other, or to spend a girl's night out with great wine and live music on Fridays, or to just come for your Sunday-funday trip for some Texas wine. ¡Salud!

No tantrums from me unless I can't get some tempranillo.