A Short Review of Beer: Pacifico

Hello readers!

Sorry things have been dead around here for the past few months. There's been alot going on in my life. I'll get the details written out at some point when I have the time and energy.

Since today was my birthday (yes, it really is), one of the goodies I got was a mix-n-match six pack of beers. I picked out a few that I'd seen and wanted to try out, including this classic Mexican beer, Pacifico. My husband had told me about this beer as he'd drank it in Mexico when he was working there in the early '90s as part of a group that built night clubs (discotecas, as they're called in Spanish) along the eastern shores of the Sea of Cortez (AKA Gulf of California) in Sonora and Sinaloa. It was not his favorite beer, but it was better than drinking the water when something was needed to wash down the bags of boiled shrimp purchased from roadside vendors.

Got a new phone for my birthday. This is one of the ways I tested out the new camera on it

Like many Mexican beers, Pacifico goes back to the beginning of the 20th Century. Based out of the city of Mazatlan, the brewery, like many others from around this time period, was started by German immigrants who brought beer making skills and techniques with them from Europe. Their brewery, Cerveceria del Pacifico, got its name from Mazatlan's location as a Pacific port city and bears the city's lighthouse rock as part of its logo. The style of the beer is classified as a pilsner-style lager, according to the company's website.

What makes Pacifico stand out among the many Mexican beers that made their way into American bars and liquor stores was that it was introduced to the US by a group of surfers from southern California who took a surfing trip to Mexico in the 1970s and upon discovering the local brew in Mazatlan, they brought several cases with them back to California. Needless to say, it was a different time and Pacifico beer was well received in this country.

As for the beer itself, Pacifico has a light taste and a clear gold color. It's not watery, however. There is some body to it. The alcohol content is also pretty low, around 4.5%. It's a good hot-weather beer and something you can enjoy with boiled shrimp, tacos, barbecue, etc because of its mild taste.

Even though my husband didn't care much for it, I rather enjoyed Pacifico. While Grupo Modelo is not my favorite brewing company in Mexico (they make the infamous Coronas and Negro Modelo beers), they did alright when they consolidated and got Cerveceria del Pacifico. I will definitely be buying this again.

As always, please enjoy responsibly.

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Birthday Baby

Greetings, dear readers!

Today was my daughter's first birthday! Though my husband had originally been scheduled to work on this day, a providential scheduling snafu led to him having the day off today. We could celebrate our daughter's birthday as a family!

One year ago. From this...

To this!

We started off the day by going to the clinic so that my husband could get his methadone. The staff was delighted to see us and some of our patient friends there wished the baby a happy first birthday. After a bit, we went to church so as to give thanks to God for our baby and express gratitude that she's made it to the one year mark, as well as hopes that there will be many more birthdays to come.

Playing with the bead and wire toy at the clinic

Owing to tight finances, we couldn't really DO any activities for her birthday (given how blazing hot today was, I thought about a day trip up in the mountains, but the car still needs some work done before that can happen). And with it being so blazing hot, none of us really felt like doing anything anyway. But, I was determined to get her a cake. I couldn't get the Rolling Stones t-shirt for her that I wanted, but a cake was non-negotiable. So after church, we went and got her a cake at the grocery store.

When I saw this cake, I knew it was the right one. It was white cake with buttercream filling

After a light lunch and relaxing for the afternoon, we had a delicious dinner of tacos (homemade seasoning makes a world of difference!) and finally, our delicious cake! Hubby and I sang "Happy Birthday" to the baby and he cut the cake, each of us getting a piece.

Hubby cuts the cake

Given that just about every baby I've ever seen with a slice of cake usually proceeds to mash it into pulp before body painting themselves with the cake, I thought for sure our baby would do that. It is a classic image, after all. Even though our baby is not known for neat eating habits (no matter how much I try to minimize the mess!), she wasn't as messy with her cake as I thought she would be. Cleanup did not require a power wash or second bath.

Being dainty

Trying to feed herself with the spoon!

Not quite covered in cake, but close enough. When she starts playing with food and reaching towards either me or hubby from her chair, it's her way of saying she's done eating and wants to play

Now that our daughter has reached the magical age of one, my husband and I will start trying to make her a sibling in earnest. After she was born, my husband and I agreed to wait until the baby was at least a year old before trying for another because I wanted sufficient time to recover from that pregnancy before undergoing another one. Also, by holding off another pregnancy, I feel like it gives the baby sufficient time to bond with me and know that I am her mother. While I would like a large family (my husband likes to say he wants 10 kids, but we agreed that three would be a good minimum), I don't want to have more children than I can care for at one time. I don't want to offload childcare duties (at least more than what is appropriate) onto my older children because that will not only confuse the hell of my youngest children, it will make my oldest children resentful towards me because I made them surrogate parents to their younger siblings before they were mature enough to handle the responsibilities of raising children.

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Bad Birthday

Today is my birthday. While today should have otherwise been a day of celebration, it was anything but that.

Recently, I received an email seeking a prospective quality control analyst for a work from home position. The job description explained that I would be receiving packages at my home, opening them up and submitting reports via an online portal to the company, and then using a prepaid shipping label to send the package out to another location. I was admittedly suspicious, however I googled the name of the company (Saratoga QCA) with the express purpose of finding out if it was fraudulent. When the initial google search turned up nothing out of the ordinary, I accepted the job, filled out the paperwork, and submitted info to begin receiving packages for analysis. I received, and sent out one, on Friday, thinking nothing of it.

But in what may have been a technical difficulty of divine intervention, I could not access the online portal where I would check for messages and packages being sent out this morning when I turned on the computer. I kept getting a DNS error, and this happened across multiple devices. I checked the network settings on my computer and on the router, even going so far as to reboot the router. Still the same result. I attempted to email the individual with whom I had been corresponding about this position to ask what needed to be done since the portal was inaccessible, but a red flag popped up when I saw that email bounce. A phone call to the number provided on the application revealed a disconnected number. But what made my stomach drop was when I googled Saratoga QCA again to find their website for other contact information, and the website was gone. In its place was a scam alert forum advising people that Saratoga QCA was a reshipping scam website, trafficking in stolen or otherwise fraudulently obtained goods. Checking the IP addresses of the portal URL and the alert sites confirmed their being fraudulent.

Instead of accompanying my husband to the mall where he had gone to fill out a job application and getting a free birthday makeover at Sephora, I spent all morning contacting local law enforcement agencies, as well as filling out an online crime complaint with the FBI. I had my husband check our joint account for any suspicious activity because I gave that account information to the company for direct deposit payment. He confirmed no suspicious activity in the account. I did have him alert the bank to put fraud alerts on the account just in case. Unfortunately, because I did not lose any money to this outfit, there was not much that the police department could do. They just advised me to keep an eye on my accounts and credit reports and contact them if anything suspicious happens. They also advised me to reject any shipments of packages and cease contact with anyone claiming to be from Saratoga QCA immediately. I have kept all correspondence, invoices, and shipping labels from this outfit as evidence in case I have to produce it for the authorities.

To find out you've been the victim of a scam always sucks. But when you find out you've been a victim ON YOUR BIRTHDAY, it's even worse! I suppose I shouldn't beat myself up too much. I did research this outfit beforehand, and found nothing indicating fraud. They certainly were quite sophisticated in their presentation.

My husband, bless his heart, tried to make my day a bit brighter. He bought me a birthday cake.

My German Chocolate birthday cake. My hubby had the bakery inscribe on it "Happy Birthday Honey Bunny". It's an inside joke

One year older, ever more wise. Be careful out there.

happy birthday dad!!

since today is my dad's birthday, so i thought id dedicate a special post just for him.

the only child of illiterate russian peasants, my dad was the first in his family to go to college. graduated from the university of IL with a degree in microbiology, and later went on to dental school. he finished with a degree in general dentistry.

always a religious man, my dad tried to instill his love of god in his children-my brother and i. it didnt work as well as he'd hoped, but at least he instilled in us a sense of decency that i find lacks horribly among my peers.

dad, this one's for you.

happy birthday.

your loving daughter,

tamtam (yes, even on my dad's birthday, i refuse to give up my real name)