Billy Hill Here, on Ab-Normal Town

So, Billy Hill lives in a place called Normal Town, which is just an "area" within Athens Georgia.  Actually Billy Hill kinda lives on the edge of Normal Town and the edge of Cobbham (a historic district in Athens).  Normal Town is not really an "official" area but rather, just a self-proclaimed area that takes its name from the recently closed down Naval Supply School.  Now, Billy Hill believes you should be and let be and being critical of something really does not accomplish anything.  And so, rather than rag on the "Normal Town" crowd, Billy Hill is just going to talk about his observations.

You see, there is a nice little quaint bar in Normal Town, actually several of them but this one bar has a good bourbon selection.  And so, Billy Hill likes to pop in there from time to time.  Of course, Billy Hill wears shoes, smells like he took a shower in the last two weeks, has clothes that match and are not substantially wrinkled and has a job that is not funded by tax payer money and so, he never really quite fits in at a Normal Town bar.  In fact, he sort of stands out like a living soul at a Walking Dead party.  So, he just quietly sits at the bar and enjoys his bourbon in solitude, which suits him just fine, otherwise he would have to be listening to some government indoctrinated zombie talk about the wonders of Hillary or Bernie.  That right there will ruin a good bourbon.

So anyway, as Billy Hill sat in this one particular bar last night waiting on a friend, two very obviously Normal Town Walkers (See the Walking Dead for that reference) of the some-what female persuasion come strolling into the bar.  Each of them has a dog with them.  Not a lap dog mind you, but very large dogs.  Billy Hill found this somewhat alarming and he immediately changed his mind about ordering a pizza to eat there on site.  But this was not the most alarming thing.  The most alarming part was when one of them, smiled in a way that she thought was cute, and held up a plastic baggie obviously filled with dog crap, and asked the bar tender if she could put it in a trash can.  Then she handed this bag of dog crap, across the bar to the bar tender who then put it in a garbage can behind the bar.

That is when Billy Hill decided that he has had his fill of Normal Town and instead of turning left off his front porch, he will forever more turn right and head down town.  You see, Normal Town proudly declares that they are NOT NORMAL.  Well folks, I am here to tell you that THAT is not "not normal".  That my friends is ABNORMAL.  You actually (a) took your dogs to a bar where people eat food (b) you actually let you dog crap in the vicinity of said bar (c) you then picked up the dog crap and thought it was smart to walk right by outside garbage cans and dumpsters and bring said dog crap INTO the bar and then (d) declared out loud for all to see in hear that you had done so and then asked someone else to handle the stupidity of the mess that you created.

Billy Hill would not be surprised to see this scene in Normal Town some day (sans the lovely landscape).  Really, what is the matter with people?

Billy Hill here, I like it neat (and in a dog crap free zone)

Bourbon Review: Joey D's Oak Room

Billy Hill Here, blogging remotely but had this on his mind and had to dump it before it fell out.  And it is not r-e-a-l-l-y a bourbon review but rather, a review about bourbon and bourbon people and well . . . just read it and see. 

Billy Hill had to trek into the big ATL this week for some meetings and a little bit of crow eating.  You see, Billy Hill got pissed at a client last week and in the midst of Billy Hill and the client yelling at each other over the telephone, Billy Hill just fired him on the spot and told him to go find another attorney . . . . and then immediately as the words rolled out of his mouth he remembered his mentor's advice "it is always easier to make a bad client good than it is to get a new client".  So, Billy Hill asked the client to meet him at his Office in Atlanta (they had never met just talked on the telephone) and so they did.  Turns out the guy, though quite annoying on the telephone was really quite a sporting dude and Billy Hill had a blast meeting him and getting things back on track.  

So, after all the meetings for the day, Billy Hill Here headed out to meet a great friend, owner of the award winning Goodnitelite http://www.goodnitelite.com/, at Joey D's Oak Room in Atlanta.  It had been quite awhile since Billy Hill had crossed their threshold but, they are worthy of a visit if you are in town.  Aside from the fact that their food is spectacular, the first thing that really smacks you in the face is their liquor wall with a fine selection of bourbon, and i mean fine.  

After being cheered as I entered the bar, evidently my total tardiness was shared by my buddy with the bar staff and as I rolled in, a mere 45 minutes late (yikes) I was greeted by hoops and hollers and out stretched arms, sometimes it pays to be late.  

Well I ponied up to the bar after a bear hug and spotted some W.L. Weller way up high on the bar wall and asked for a pour.  

I was admittedly mesmerized as the young 6'2" blue eyed blond bar tender lady rolled the library ladder around and scurried up to the top shelf.  So mesmerized in fact that I did not even notice the older gentleman behind the bar pulling out a bottle and sliding a pour in front of me.  He smiled as he walked off and said "try that". 

I did and I must say, it was a step out of Billy Hill's neighborhood but, it was a pleasant jaunt.  There is not much that Billy Hill enjoys more than seeing the smile on someone's face as they wait for you to try their go to, or experience one of their latest finds, and so I gladly lifted the glass, breathed in the aroma, turned it up, and filled my mouth with a delightful liquid gold.  And man, did Billy Hill like it!

It was not a bourbon, but rather a rye whiskey.  And although rye whiskeys are really hot on the market these days, Billy Hill, being a straight up bourbon man just hasn't bothered to deviate from his bourbon path until this fine gentleman at Joey D's reached out.  Well, you will now find this has a reserved spot on Billy Hill Here's personal bar. It was Michter's, Single barrel straight rye.  And like Billy has said before, Billy Hill does not get into the fruity, nutty, spicy nuance descriptions of a whiskey.  If it makes him slap his leg and say "Dang, where can I get a bottle of that for my shelf" then it is good.  Otherwise it is Maker's Mark, only fit for mixing and, Billy Hill don't mix. 

But for those that do get into those fruity nuances, and for the Democrats, here is an excerpt from Geoff Kleinman's website:

"Why is rye so hot? Most American whiskey on the market is bourbon, which is made from at least 51% corn. While corn delivers some really nice flavors, it can sometimes lack complexity. Rye is often added into the mix to help give whiskey depth, spice, and character. Popular bourbons like Woodford Reserve, Four Roses and Wild Turkey use a fairly significant amount of rye in their mix.

To be labeled an American rye whiskey, you must include at least 51% of rye in the mix. Many of the rye whiskeys on the market are exactly that, as rye is an expensive and difficult to use grain, however some go even deeper into the rye pool to make the rye the centerpiece of the whiskey. The most profound example of this is Woodford Reserve Master’s Collection Rare Rye, which is made from 100% rye." Geoff Kleinman http://www.drinkspirits.com/whiskey/best-rye-whiskey/

Bourbon Review: Bulleit

Not a huge post on this jewel but a great find related to it.  Sam's Club has stepped up its store a bit by now stocking this guy at $29.33 for 750ml.  It is a good top-shelf bourbon that I am sure you will enjoy, and at this price, heck you may even use it as a mixer - if you are un-American in the sort of way :)

Billy Hill here, I like it neat

When Government is Worked

Billy Hill has a hearing impaired daughter.  His off spring are presently enrolled in the public school system having been pulled out of a home school environment a couple years back.  Fortunately, they are in one of the greatest school districts in the state because Billy Hill has typically been quite skeptical and critical of the public school system.  In face, Billy Hill sent his oldest offspring through private school.

But rather than getting into Billy Hill's anti government educating my kids position, Billy Hill wants to share a little story.

You see, recently his daughter's Speech and Language Pathologist that works there at the public school schedule a conference to review her situation.  As is typical of all these parent teacher conferences, Billy Hill was expecting to spend about 30 minutes sitting in a chair that was way to small for a man of his stature, and listening to some government employee spend about 70 percent of the time with small talk, and then telling me my daughter was doing fine and not to worry.  Well, Billy Hill was presently surprised....

Billy Hill was instructed that his children could not come into the classroom and so he sat them in the hallway with their iPads and said "please don't kill each other".  He entered the room and sat down in tiny little chair at the tiny little table and waited.  One by one six different people entered into the room and took a little chair to themselves.  Billy Hill was think, what????

Once the parties were in position they began to introduce themselves.  The person calling the meeting was the Speech and Language Pathologist.  But also present was an Audiologist that drove, the Vice Principle of the school, a Special Education Teacher, a School Psychologist and even my child’s teacher.  We spent about 2 hours talking about my little girl, the time they have spent with her and laying out a plan for helping her to have as much of an advantage as she can given her situation.  They had conducted a litany of tests on my sweet little angel to establish where she was in her auditory skills, vocabulary, comprehension, enunciation and even how she was emotionally handling her situation.  They had worked with her to develop skills in dealing with her impairment, including giving her tools on how to communicate with others about her impairment.  They had been working feverishly as a team to ensure she was properly analyzed and then completed a mountain of paper work outlining their procedures and applying for funds to provide further assistance in ensuring that she received the proper equipment, instruction and environment for maximizing her education.

Billy Hill had never asked for this to be done, the "government" school took it upon themselves to recognize that my little girl with her Spiderman hearing aids was struggling and to initiate the process to get her taken care of.  It reminded Billy Hill of a story . . . .

A coal mine in a small Pennsylvanian town had collapsed injuring many and killing several of the miners but two miners had been trapped inside.  The town had come together to try to dig the miners out but after several hours of intense work and unstable conditions, the people were forced out of the mine to avoid further casualties.  The mining company then decided to attempt to drill another shaft down to a point they felt was behind the debris and hopefully open a route to bring the trapped miners out safely.  But time was of the essence knowing that they only had a limited amount of oxygen and that the exposure, lack of food and unknown injuries made this an urgent matter.  They commenced drilling as soon as possible.  Local news picked up on the story and soon the story was released nationally.  It became very apparent that the mining company had insufficient equipment and that by the time they could drill the hole, it would be too late to rescue the miners.  A company in California got wind of the story and within a matter of hours, the company disassembled their state of the art mining system, loaded it on a train and shipped it to this small town in Pennsylvania and flew a team of equipment operators in to the town.  The team set up the equipment and commenced drilling the rescue shaft.  After many hours of round the clock work, they broke into the main shaft and quickly lowered a rescue team to search for the miners.  They were both alive and as one of the miners was raised through the shaft and back into the crisp fresh air, he looked around and saw all the equipment, the hundreds of local people with tents set up to feed the workers and pray for the miners, the large number of workers, the TV crews with cameras and lights, the medical crew on standby to treat the miners, the man said “all of this, for me?”

So, Billy Hill sort of had this kind of feeling on this particular day to see all the care, concern and effort that was being expended on his sweet little girl, all of that for my sweet girl!  

So, is the government school system all that and a soda pop.  No, it still sucks but Billy Hill's county just sucks a little less.  But, these teachers and professionals, with a love for kids, working within the confines of the government system, went beyond the call of duty, worked the system and  brought about good for one random little girl.  

All the negativity that is promulgated about the government school system and the poor educational system in our country, Billy Hill still believes it is true.  But now, Billy Hill is more motivated than ever to bring about change.  Because this team of individuals made it clear that it is not the teachers and professionals that have created this demise, it is the government's involvement.  If we can get our teachers to get paid more than the skulled tattoo bearing pizza delivery guy, stop forcing them to do ridiculous mandatory pass or fail testings, and let smart business people run the system, no telling what these teachers with hearts could accomplish.  

Recently Billy Hill was on the set for the filming of an upcoming movie.  He was blown away by the amount of money that is spent making just miner elements of the movie.  All of this money being poured into generating 90-120 minutes of entertainment.  And yet, many of these same people that are cheerfully consuming such massive amounts of wealth are standing up and pointing fingers of condemnation at wealthy business people and demanding that they pay more taxes to take care of underprivileged people.  Yet these entertainment people that generate no benefit to society are flying first class or in their private jets to attend extravagant parties and returning to the multi-million dollar mansions.  They applaud Bruised Springsteen for taking a ludicrous position on commode etiquette and drive a young person out of business for standing on her beliefs.  

It makes one ponder . . . . 

Billy Hill here, I like it neat

Billy Hill Badassery Award 4 - Groot

"I am Groot"  A great line from the Guardians of the Galaxy but what does it mean?  Whatever the director wanted it to mean maybe.  Or is there a deeper message that was being communicated here?

Anyway, as Billy Hill was driving his keyed up Ford F-150 truck down the highway today listening to Redbone's Come and Get Your Love, it dawned on him that Groot is certainly one bad-ass dude worthy of the Billy Hill Badassery Award number 4.  

Yes, just looking at him you can tell he is one bad-ass mofo and certainly, he was one dog with more than just a bark.  So, Billy Hill is certainly not going out on a limb to grant this honor to Marvel's marvelous creation.  In fact, his total character firmly roots him as a worthy recipient.

You see, a bad-ass does not have to be a jerk, in fact, a bad-ass can be quite kind.  In fact, one could argue that badassery without kindness is just jerkiness.  There certainly is a line between a bad-ass and just a plain old ordinary ass don't you think?

And yes, so Groot was a hero in the battle scenes, fearless and lethal.  But not a beast.  And most of all, he taught us a good lesson: "we are Groot".  So Billy Hill pondered, what does I am Groot really mean?

Then Billy Hill found this great excerpt and stole it for the blog.  Groot is a giving and helpful character and probably the nicest guy on the team; he is such because he doesn't have any feeling of desire, greed, or "the world owes me ____." Each character in GOTG has an agenda in the team: Rocket and Quill want money, Gamora and Drax want revenge, Starlord wants recognition, but Groot doesn't express any desire. He isn't seeking anything for anything he wants, he's already complete and satisfied, a sentiment he makes very clear: "I am Groot."

Since he is complete, wants nothing, (except he did want his cut of the take) he instead devotes his time to give others what they need. He stuck with Rocket - perhaps the biggest sore thumb in the universe with no companions ("Ain't no thing like me, 'cept me!") - to try and give him what he needed, companionship. When he got wrapped up with Gamora, Drax, and Starlord, he saw other people consumed by their desires for murder, vengeance, money, lust, and glory, and decided to give them what they needed as well - friends.

When Rocket's making their escape plan from the prison, Groot's already executing it because he wants the team to bond. Rather than ignoring the street urchins in Knowhere, he offers one a flower - a simple gift, and being far from mortal pleasures, a greater present to the girl than money. And if you replace his 3 words with their assumed deeper meaning from paragraph one (i.e. I am complete, happy, and enlightened through kinship and severance from mortal desire), it makes more sense when he chooses to say them - and why the other characters, especially the debatably most sinful, Starlord the master thief, can't understand them. Rocket criticizes the 12% plan, Quill gets angry at his future prisonmates, Rocket lampoons Drax for his crazy murderous tendencies, each time Groot is trying to tell them the importance of accepting each other and turning from sin.

It's no mistake that when Groot lights up the dark interior of Ronan's ship (enlightening it, if you will), someone asks how Groot learned to do that, and Quill already knows the answer (simple pattern recognition, or finally getting to know the words' meaning?). And immediately after Drax comes to understand the full breadth of their friendship. Soon after that, Groot embraces his family to save them from imminent death. Now, in his final moments, the Guardians understand their friendship. They understand, even for a brief moment, that revenge, wealth, lust, all pale in comparison to the joys of being accepted and loved by friends and family. Here in this scene, where the other characters "wee the light", Groot speaks new words to show how proud he is of them. "We are Groot." In his death, the Guardians fully understand how important it is to work together by sharing the Power Gem's burden and defeating Ronan. And Groot is reborn.

And so Groot, Billy Hill proudly bestows upon you the Billy Hill Badassery Award, and Billy Hill thinks to himself, "am I Groot?"  Man at times it does not seem so, but at other times, usually when surrounded by true friends that love and accept you, that KNOW you and STILL LOVE you, yes, there are certainly some Groot moments.  

Billy Hill here, I like it neat

Potty Talk

Okay, I cannot sit on my porcelain throne and ignore this any longer.  Do you really want to dump this on the American public?  What is all this commodtion about anyway?  I think that maybe we should just flush this issue.

I am done with bad puns.

Here is the deal, two reasons why this is a stupid non-issue and it is time to lay down the politically correct crap (sorry I did it again) and just say enough is enough.


(1) It is economically and logistically unfeasible.
Do you realize the economic impact that is going to be incurred with implementing what would actually have to be implemented to resolve this issue?  Much much worse than making a business handicap compliant and having to install the extra high thrones with the lift up bars and wide stalls, which I still use freely (forgive me) but I just like the extra room - all stalls should be so equipped.  But in this situation, we would have to have a room for the women, because they deserve it, and one for the men because, who in the heck else would go into our nasty bathrooms.  But now, we have so many other classes to deal with.  First of all, lesbians would need their own room, and gays would also need their own room.  Then we have the transgenders that can be in any of a variety of states of transformation and so, do we need to identify the states and create a room for each state of transformation.  Because, otherwise, where in the heck to we draw the line?  Then we have the cross dressers and maybe we would need a room for ladies dressed as men and then another for men dressed as women.  And there are probably more that I have not named yet.  But that is another issue.

Now if we have facilities for each of these varied circumstances, we also need to make sure that no one is offended.  How do we do that?  Maybe a single door to enter an exclusive waiting room lobby and only one person can enter at a time.  Once the doors are locked and nobody and see you, then you can enter into the door that is appropriate for what ever classification you fall into.

So what about the financial impact on businesses.  McDonalds will be left with maybe two or three tables and the play grounds would have to be eliminated (no pun intended here) in order to make room for the multiple bathrooms.  And what about the poor kid that has to clean not one, not two but X numbers of bathrooms now.

Look, I am not here to offend your sexual orientation, I am here to offend the stupidity of the people that are wanting simply to assert non-rights just for drawing attention to themselves regardless of the cost, pain and problems that it has on others.  That is just being selfish and Billy Hill does not tolerate bullying, and THAT is exactly what you are doing.  Under the facade of protecting your rights, you are just bullying people that are different than you are.  Shame on you.

(2) If you insist on it, then just know you may have to deal with Billy Hill being in that bathroom with you.  
What do I mean by that?  It is simple, if I am sending my little girl into a restroom that some entity born as a boy and then morphed into whatever he has now become may walk into, you can be damn certain I am going in there with her.  Same with my young man.  I don't care if you are gay, lesbian, bi, transgender, trans-sexual, cross-dressing or whatever.  That is your deal and I am fine with you just the way you are as long as you are kind to others and don't exist on my tax dollars.  But what I don't know, is who you are and what motivates you and quite frankly, I can't tell by looking at you if you are cross-dresser, a transgender or a pervert that may exploit my kid.  I already check the status of the restroom and monitor the parties entering when my kids are in there.  But if some hairy legged person with a 5 o'clock shadow goes walking into the restroom with my little girl in their,  you can be damn sure I am following you and I am packing heat with me.  And I will stand their and listen to you tinkle or whatever until my little girl leaves.  So, if you find that LESS intrusive of your rights to be what you are, then go ahead and push your agenda.  Otherwise, just go into a stall and do your business based on the gender you were born as, clean up after yourself, and go on about your day.

Conclusion:
Yes, you have been prejudiced against, and on behalf of all Christians I extend you an apology because it is not love to treat you unkindly.  And yes, you have been treated unkindly BUT, be honest, it takes people a little bit of time to adjust to behavior that is different than the norm.  That is not being mean, it is just people learning how to adjust and love.  And remember, Christian, Mormons and other groups are trying to work out their issues as well.  A little patience may be a good thing.

But don't forget that this is a two-way street.  And so, as for you Bruce Springsteen, deciding not cancel your NC concerts because of the bathroom issues, what an idiot you turned out to be.  On behalf of all the people that don't give a crap about the issue and do not get to see your concert because of your ignorance, I thumb my nose at you.  Besides, your songs all sound the same to me anyway, which is a nice way of saying I think you suck twice.  And you and all your protestors will applaud your myopic self-absorbed stand and heap accolades upon you for making such a stand, while at the same time you will all ridicule and drive a young lady out of business simply because she refuses to bake a cake that offends her beliefs?  What about all the people you have treated poorly by making YOUR decision to stand on YOUR values without concern to all the people that are discriminated against.  Shame on you, shame on you all.  Its only wrong to be hurtful and mean to people that are not heterosexual gender appropriate dressed?  I applaud you Rep. Mark Walker because you called it right, Bruce is a bully.

Bah!

Billy Hill here, I like it neat but I won't even drink a Pappy VanWinkle in Springsteen's presence.

Billy Hill Here, at the Beach

Yep, Billy Hill grabbed the spring-offs and headed to the beach, Panama City FL?  It was great, wonderful weather, ran into a friend he had not seen for 15 years and loved the view from his porch ocean side.  But, Billy Hill made a few observations:

(1) Ladies, Billy Hill thinks you are all beautiful but, remember, bathing suits come in all shapes and sizes and there is one that will flatter you, you are encouraged to find it.

(2) No ma'am your kid is NOT cute, wearing a diaper in the pool, and yes I see you smiling at me looking for that 'ah your kid is cute' look.  It is not coming, just like I would not say it was cute that your kid is urinating and defecating on my children, because it is and it ain't cute.  B A B Y pool!

(3) Apparently there is a rather large difference between peeing in the ocean and peeing into the ocean, just cause Billy Hill chose not to swim on this particular day, he felt this discovery was quite discriminatory.

(4) Hey muscle bound dude on the juice, don't be showing attitude about getting splashed by kids in the lazy river.  First of all you are floating around in poop and pee, so what is wrong with getting wet.  Secondly, your in the lazy river with 50 kids.  And why worry about water in your face, I'd be more concerned about what is splashing into your beer.

(5) Rich old over tanned people and homeless people, hard to tell the difference on the beach.

(6) While the beach is great, it is always good to be back home on his own front porch and fav bullet glass.

So, Bibber, this post is for you, always classy and always a joy to be around and, 15 years was like it was just a weekend picking up where we left of the Friday before.  Here's to unlikely but awesome  coincidences.