During lunch in Cincinnatti today I looked over the sparse beer selection and chose to try Abita Amber since I'd never had it before.

I chose poorly.

Water with beer-flavoring added. The tap water taste overpowered the beer taste. Very unsatisfactory.

I just love Kelly Clarkson. Despite my mocking of her largest fan base in the subject of this entry, I think she's just an unbelievable talent.

I'm 38 years old, and whenever I listen to her sing I find my eyes welling up with tears. That's just not right. One singer, no matter how talented, should not be able to do this to me.

But she does. My appreciation of her grew with each episode of American Idol, and reached its peak when she sang "I Surrender" with a voice that even as strained as it was still just blew me away. Then she followed it up with a performance of "Without You" that, as far as I'm concerned, was the best that song had ever been sung.

My love for Kelly has not lessened one bit since then. Even the horribly vapid movie she did with Sideshow Bob was a blessing because it got Kelly on my TV.

My Hottie of the Day for November 9, and actually my Hottie of the Millenium, is the unfreakenbelievably beautiful Patricia Velasquez. She's probably best known for her portrayals of Anck-Su-Namun in The Mummy and The Mummy Returns.

Last night's Friday Beer Report was preempted by a five hour nap, so I didn't go out last night at all.

Tonight, after the play, I went to Rich O's and sampled three beers.

First, the ever-changing Cone Smoker. I say ever-changing, although it's actually been pretty stable for the past few weeks. Not tonight.

Tonight it was a watered down Brady Bunch version of itself. Very little smoke, very little anything in fact. It kind of seemed like they'd mixed Cone Smoker with their Community Dark and ended up with a beer that would appeal to no one except old women and twelve year old boys.

For those keeping score at home:

Version #1: Good, well balanced, with a good smoky taste.
Version #2: Very strong smoke flavor, a little too strong at first but by the end of the glass the smoke seems just right. Very good batch. My favorite of all.
Version #3: No smoke at all. Hoppy taste predominates. If I wanted high gravity and hoppy taste I'd just order an Arrogant Bastard.
Version #4: See version #1.
Version #5: Smoky, but otherwise more bland than any other version so far.

And now, version #6: Combines the smokeless taste of version #3 with the blandness of version #5.

Next on the menu tonight was Kostritzer Black Beer. I was expecting a stout, and it did look like one, but the taste was more like a lager. There was, however, a bit of chocolate and roasted malt taste that seemed pretty well balanced. Overall a bit bland.

Speaking of bland, the next beer I tried was Rogue's American Amber. This beer reminded me a lot of Community Dark except it was a little less sweet. And what, you may ask, is Community Dark without the sweetness? Iced tea, that's what.

I finished off the night with a draft root beer, and that was the best drink I had tonight.

Over the past few days I've been playing with Terragen a lot, and have managed to crank out three more images that I think are worthy of posting.

The one of the right is probably the best one I've ever done.

Fixed the 'blog search function to accept multiple words and do an OR search against them.

Also changed the search results to highlight matching words like this.

Perhaps best known for her potrayals of Cindy Campbell in the Scary Movie series, Anna Faris is my November 2nd Hottie of the Day.

Uploaded small icons of the cats' faces for inclusion in their 'blog posts.

An icon for my own posts is being contemplated.

For the record, the Nugget face on the main cats' page, with the animated mouseover, is probably the most adorable thing I've ever done.

Prediction: Within five years of this posting, the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants will stop being held.

Reasoning: Pageant organizers will see my niece and realize that any beauty competition that doesn't include her is a complete sham and waste of time.

After a long hiatus I've made another Terragen image. It's certainly nothing special except that I think the sky looks pretty cool.