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A 'lil HooHaa

Messing with the blogging world since 2005

beer

When it comes to Guinness, I can now die very happy

January 17, 2014

An empty pint of the black stuff has made me one very happy fellow.

See, usually when I get to the bottom of a pint of Guinness, I’d either like another or call it a night. But a photo I took of an empty pint — back in 2010 when I was at the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin — has made me extremely happy I saw the beauty in that empty pint.

This is the photo the magazine wanted to use. Who can blame them?

In September, I was contacted by a magazine in Korea. The magazine, “Magazine <B>” is one about brands. It’s actually really cool as entire editions are based on one brand.

This magazine was looking at the photo I took in Ireland and wanted to use it.

After going back and forth, I decided to allow them to use the image. But I sent it to them and never heard back. So, one day, I went to the website and saw the magazine online (it was in Korean) and my photo was nowhere to be found.

Insert a sad face.

So I e-mailed the person I had been dealing with and was told they never received my photo. However, they still wanted to use it as they put out an English version of the magazine a month or two later. So, I sent it in again.

This time they got it.

I forgot about it as it was a month or two ago I sent it in. I was offered a copy of the magazine as my compensation (I wasn’t looking to make any money, rather just see my Guinness photo in a magazine).

The other day, I got into town early enough to check my PO Box. There was a note in my mailbox saying there was something I had to sign for and it was from Korea.

I had no idea what it was.

When I opened it, however, it all hit me. Here’s what I saw:

photo 2 (2)

This is the magazine as I pulled it out of the package.

How very cool was that? I started sifting through the magazine, trying to find my image. I saw several that looked like it, but didn’t see my byline. As I got to the end, my eyes grew large.

I couldn’t believe it.

What I saw was something that made me feel like it was all worth it. And, as a massive Guinness fan, just to have an image in a Guinness magazine? Awesome.

But this?

photo 1 (2)

That’s right — a two-page spread! Yee ha!

The small writing on the left is my byline. On the right, it says “Waiting to be savored.”

Indeed.

This is definitely something for the coffee table. I’d like to get an extra copy or two, but we’ll see. For now, I’ll savor this … it’s way too cool.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

Filed Under: Beer, My world, Photography Tagged With: b magazine, beer, beer photo, brand magazine, guinness, guinness photo, magazine, photo

14 Comments

Untappd: a social network/app beer lovers can truly love

November 7, 2013

It’s pretty safe to say I’m a beer guy.

I brew my own to the best of my ability, I like to try new beers and I enjoy chatting about the beverage with people. I also like to drink them slowly and savor the taste and over the past few years have really developed my own person taste.

During that time, however, I’d sometimes forget beers I tried and enjoyed. Or, worse yet, beers I tried and disliked. There’s nothing worse than disliking a beer and then trying it some time later, just to realize you had been through that song-and-dance before.

Insert Untappd.

If you don’t already know, Untappd is an application for phones and on the web where you can keep track and rate beers you try. It’s also social media as you can have friends, see their beers, follow breweries and earn badges.

Pretty sweet, huh?

I’ve been a member since late 2011, but I kind of ignored it for a while. Then, as I saw others utilizing the app through posts on Twitter and such, I dug into it more. I then wondered what the heck I hadn’t been using it for. (Feel free to check out my profile and add me, if you want!)

It’s an extremely user-friendly app with a nice interface. There are plenty of brews to discover and find on there, all while checking into the beers you sample. You can even check into locations, such as bars, breweries etc., when logging in with your beer.

You can see many things, including ratings and comments from others to places where people are drinking it. Checking out brewery pages gives you information about the brewery and its beers.

Heck, if you are a homebrewer, you can have your own brewery on there so you can have your beers there, which allows friends and family to check in and rate the beers! I have my “home brewery” listed on there.

My profile on Untappd.

Untappd has been live since Oct. 22, 2010 and was created by two people — Greg Avola and Tim Mather. The two are on opposite coasts — Avola in New York City and Mather in Los Angeles, but that is likely what helped the two bring this app to the masses.

Avola said Mather came up with the idea of checking into beers and sharing with friends.

“Since we are on opposites of the coasts, we though it would be a great tool to facilitate the sharing and discovering of beer in a Foursquare-like setting,” Avola said. “The idea behind the  app was to help connect people with beer. Right now, beer is a very social activity, but had never been presented in that way on the web before. With the app, we encourage users to try and discover new beers, venues and people to enhance their beer experience.”

And with microbrews, craft beers and so many others involved in beer, beer conventions and all things beer related, this app appears to have come along at the right time.

Avola said there are about 850,000 users at this point, which, considering it’s the two of them working part-time without an advertising budget, is an extremely solid number. Untappd is on iOS platforms, Android, Windows Phone 8, Blackberry 10, Mobile Web and, of course, on a desktop. So it’s easy enough to use the app from almost anywhere.

Checking in.

So, let’s dig into the app a little.

First and foremost, Untappd is a place where people can not only keep track of their own beers, but it’s also a social app where people can view, comment and toast friend’s choices. Checking in will also allow you to earn badges, much like social apps Foursquare and GetGlue.

There are many badges to earn, from the amount of beers you have tried, to the types of beer, the times you’ve had them and many other things. There are special badges as well, such as checking in with certain beers at a beer festival, or checking into a beer on selected holidays. Some of these badges are only out for a limited time.

“Most of all the badges come from users,” Avola said. “We believe that if users are requesting them, we should make them! We review all badge submissions and find out what badges work the best with our platform and then go from there.”

Though Avola said Untappd doesn’t usually provide data about what badges are tops on the claimed list, he said many of the style-based badges are tops. As for the ones that are the rarest? Many times, he said, it’s badges that were made early in the process, such as “Frat Party” or “Risk Taker.”

Badges are a big part of the app and users can earn many different ones.

Outside of the special ones, most badges stick around, unless there are certain issues.

“We only retire badges if they are not doing well, or cause technological issues,” Avola said.

Take for example the “Above the Clouds” badge. It’s hard to add your location as a plane when you are 30,000 feet in the air.

The social aspect is taken extra steps, too, when there are Meetups. Though there aren’t numbers as to how many of these have been done, Untappd does have a Meetup page where users can organize their own events.

“I haven’t (been to one of these events), but we have had parties to celebrate our anniversary and they have been a big hit with connecting users with each other and discovering and talking about beer,” Avola said.

One thing to remember is the app is free to use. Therefore, there are ways for users to give back, should they choose to do so. One way is by being a supporter, which costs $5 per month, $25 for six months or $50 for the year. By doing so, you not only help the app but you get some extra perks, such as personalized stats, exportable data, a support banner on your profile, and a supporter only badge.

Supporters get perks, such as statistics.

Eventually, Avola said, the Untappd crew hopes to add some extra benefits for supporters.

“As we continue to build the services, we will offer more features for supporters,” he said. “Basically, we have had this program so users can help us grow. Since we are not funded, and working part-time, we need capital to keep the service up and running at a high volume. This program helps us do that.”

They also sell some merchandise, including t-shirts, which sold out within 36 hours for the latest batch. Avola said he is hoping to have more soon, as well as new logo shirts by the end of the month.  While the focus now is shirts, Avola said they’d like to eventually have items such as coasters and glassware in the store.

So Untappd is a great social network where people can keep track of beers, but there’s one other item — breweries.

Whether a major brewery or a craft brewery or a home brewery, you can be listed on the site. And if you are somebody with the power, you can “claim” the brewery and make it official. Giving this option allows breweries to connect with users, manage the brand and analyze statistics.

You can check in with photos, rate your beer, check in at a location and your friends can toast/comment on your check in.

“The key thing is the ability to directly communicate with their fans,” Avola said. “This usually exists on Twitter now, but by pulling it into one platform, it gives them the opportunities to do so much more.”

And having home breweries on there is important as well.

“Home breweries sometimes turn in to a real brewery, so why not give them the same features?” Avola said. “People love to categorize their brews, so we think Untappd is a good spot for that.”

So if you’re a beer drinker and like to keep track of things, Untappd might be the way to go. The userface is easy and fun and you can find some great things with the app.

There are social media apps for so many things, so why not beer?

The best part is Avola and Mather don’t seem to be resting on what they have. Avola said they plan on continuing to grow the app.

“Our goal to complete change the beer industry with technology,” Avola said. “We want Untappd to be a tool for breweries, venues and consumers to help breweries find their customers, users to find the beer they want to try, and venues to tell users where that beer is.”

Online:

  • Untappd website
  • Untappd Twitter
  • Untappd Facebook

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

Filed Under: blogging, cell phone, iPhone, My world Tagged With: android, android apps, beer, beer app, droid, ios applications, ios apps, phone, phone applications, phone apps, untappd, untappd app

5 Comments

Ten Things of Thankful: Life is pretty decent right now

October 20, 2013

Sometimes, in life, you have to stop, take a deep breath and realize there are things to truly be thankful for.

So, when offered the chance to get involved with this, I thought it was a good idea. I realize some bloggers will do this every week, but if I do posts like this, I look at it a couple of ways, besides having the chance to find some other good blogs to read:

  • I want it to be meaningful and from the heart.
  • It has to be things I’m truly thankful for.

Therefore, I thought I’d throw my hat in the ring. Maybe I’ll try and do this every couple of weeks and try and rotate it with my Soundless Sunday posts to have a little diversity. Or maybe I’ll do one of these every three weeks or so. Who knows. Basically, if I can find 10 certain things I’m thankful for at the time, I’ll do it up.

Anyhoo, without further ado, let’s check what kind of things I have to be thankful for at this moment in time, in no particular order.

1. Living 

This may seem like a cheesy way to start things off, but it’s true. Though my life isn’t going in the direction I’d truly like it to go right now, the reality is it could be much worth. So this encompasses many things — like realizing even though things aren’t great for me right now, I could be in much more dire need.

2. Family

Take a look at the news any day and you’ll find reports of dysfunctional families. Maybe it’s someone harming a parent or a child or siblings doing something bad. Though my family is far from perfect (and I’m sure we’d all admit it!), we get along, we stay pretty close and appreciate what we all can do. We support and we do what we can to help one another. And I’m not talking just immediate family, either. My extended family of cousins, aunts, uncles etc., are also quite close. That’s something I’ll always treasure and, as I get older, I appreciate it more and more.

3. Photography

I do like to spend time by myself and photography has always been a big part of times like that. There’s still nothing like going out with my camera, going for a walk and finding things to snap photos of, at least in my mind. I see things differently when I have my camera. I’m not sure what I would be like without having that in my life as it’s, at times, been a bit of a life-saver when it comes to me dwelling on things too much or going out and doing something.

Fall and photograph mix well together.

4. The fall

You know, there are parts of the country — and the world — where they don’t get to experience the four seasons. Living in the Northeast of the United States really gives me the chance to see all four — spring, summer, winter and fall. That also gives the chance to be able to go out and capture some great colors and such with the camera. As much as I’d love to move somewhere to experience life differently, this area affords the four seasons so well and I would truly miss it if I went elsewhere.

5. Good friends

There is no way I’d have been able to get through the past few years without good friends. While family is always a help, the reality is friends always play an important part in your life. For my closest friends, I consider them extensions of my family, anyway. So whether it’s going out for a beer, sitting down to shoot the shit for a few hours, going to a game or something else, I have a group of friends who have been absolutely amazing. They also know when or when not to ask about my job situation as it can become quite a drag to talk about. Friends are worth their weight and gold (though I’m not sure I could cash in? I kid, of course!)

6. Geocaching

Since becoming a major hobby in my life in 2008, this game has been so good to me. I’ve met some great people I call friends now, I’ve had some wild adventures and it’s allowed me to get outside, walk, hike and try and stay somewhat healthy. The reality is this game has been such a great thing. From the social aspect to being able to explore places I may have never seen without it, I’m highly thankful for it.

Geocaching has been good for my mind and body, so that’s something to be thankful for.

7. Health

I may not be the healthiest person in the world with some things, but for the most part, I’m doing pretty well. I can still get up, work, play, hike, bike, run, walk, play softball or whatever else. I may have to take a few meds, but I think most of the country has to! That being said, I know I have to work on some things (losing weight, just trying to be healthier overall) and I’m thankful I have the health to be able to work on it and try and improve things.

8. Blogging

Writing has always been something I’ve done. I’ve said it on this blog before, but I had my first newspaper story published when I was in seventh or eighth grade.  Though I’ve blogged since 2005, I really got into it and the whole aspect of it when I got laid off from the newspaper job in 2011. Now, it’s a secondary part of who I am and I love it. The community is amazing. The people I follow and read are ones I’m truly glad I found. And for those I’ve created more of a friendship with, it’s even better. I love the reality that there are people I consider pretty solid friends who I met through blogging.

9. Wrestling

OK, some may look at this and say … what the? But I have to put this here. Why? Because like other things, I’ve made some pretty good friends through it. And during a time when I needed it, it gave me a cheap form of entertainment and one where I had the chance to mix my love of photography. The independent world of pro wrestling has made it so I have something to look forward to seeing every month or three. And it truly is some fun entertainment.

10. Brewing beer

I end with this one. When I started doing it earlier this year, I didn’t know what to think. Now I know of more things I can do while brewing. Whether it’s ingredients, or hops or anything else — I have a better appreciation for beer. And I also like knowing I made something that doesn’t suck. Is it the best beer made? Nah. But I’ve made some pretty tasty ones and I look forward to making many more.

Ten Things of Thankful

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

Filed Under: Beer, blogging, Geocaching, My world, Photography Tagged With: beer, blog, blog hop, blogging, brewing beer, cache, caching, fall, family, friends, geocache, geocaching, health, home brew, homebrew, life, linkup, photography, pro wrestling, ten things of thankful, ttot, wrestling

22 Comments

Northeast Bloggers May Photo Challenge: Summer

June 28, 2013

I’m a day late on this one as I thought, originally, it was to be posted Friday.

Better late than never?

I sure hope so.

Anyway, this month’s photo challenge for the North East Bloggers challenge was summer. And what better way to cover that topic than with some baseball-related things?

Exactly.

This image was taken with my iPhone at a recent baseball game I attended. It was the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Rail Riders taking on the Norfolk Tides.

Baseball, a cold beer and my scorebook … yep, pretty much a perfect summer night.

What a summer night!

Look for the photo challenge I run to run Sunday, too.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

Filed Under: challenges, My world, Photography Tagged With: baseball, beer, challenge, north east bloggers, north east bloggers network, photo, photo challenge, photography, scorebook, summer

2 Comments

Foodie and Foto, all on Friday

June 7, 2013

OK, so there’s something I need to get off my chest.

Why the hell is it so hard to take photos of food? Seriously. As I dive into trying new things for the Foodie Friday feature, I figure it’s well worth taking photos. Especially if I’m blogging about it.

It’s not good that the photos from the iPhone and some apps come out better than the DSLR!

But take a stroll back to some of my past food posts. The photos really aren’t that spectacular.

So, I’m going to try and change that up a bit.

I recently won a blog giveaway where one of the prizes was a $50 gift card to Target. With that, I purchased a few “neutral” plates and bowls for food photos. I went with white (though I may go back and get a few other plates and such of different colors), as that seems to be the best way to start.

I’ve also started reading about food photography online.

See, I’m more of an outdoor photographer. And if you know me and have read my blog, you know a lot of that is more action and sports. I pride myself on being able to do that at a high level.

But lighting and all that? Ugh.

These tasted way better than I made them look with this photo!

Turns out food photography is often done with light. Who knew?

Let’s take for example, the peanut butter bar photo to the right. This photo doesn’t really do the end product justice. There are shadows, and it’s too bright and doesn’t show the color of the bar that well.

Needless to say, it frustrated me.

It was even worse when I look at the photos of the site where the recipe came from. The bars look divine!

And, honestly, I get better photos out of my iPhone and Hipstamatic of food than I do with my actual DSLR. That’s kind of annoying.

It doesn’t matter if it’s food or drink, the images are tough for me to take. One of the other reasons I want to get better at this is to be able to take better photos of my homebrews.

So it’s time for Foto Friday and Foodie Friday to meet.

In the coming weeks, I hope to have a few posts for the Foodie version of my Friday posts. And with that, hopefully better photos. I don’t know if I have everything I need, but I’m going to try and learn a few things so I can deliver a bit more with the images.

Anybody out there do food photos? If so, any tips? I’d like to make sure the photos come out well as it’s not like I’ll be plating $100 meals, so it would be nice to make them look as good as possible!

Hopefully I can figure it out though as I know there’s only a certain amount of time to take the photos. After that, you just have to dive in and start eating!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

Filed Under: Beer, food, Foto Friday, My world, Photography Tagged With: beer, food, food photography, foodie, foodie friday, foto friday, photo, photographing food, photography

3 Comments

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A great bark in the park day Sunday at the Bingham A great bark in the park day Sunday at the Binghamton Rumble Ponies. Harper got her first foul ball (as you can see she enjoyed!) and we also had the chance to grab a couple others and give them to some other dogs. All in all, four dogs walked away with balls! 

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One year ago today, I put a down payment on this g One year ago today, I put a down payment on this goof. Two weeks later, she came home … look at her now! 

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Life is good. My dog. Good beer. Photography. Baseball. Hockey. Blogging. Take care of yourself. You're the only one who can control that. #isles #ringthebell

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2008philz John Foley @2008philz ·
5h

Through 115 games...

2022 Phillies: 64-51
2008 Phillies: 62-53
1980 Phillies: 62-53

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I rarely sit on a window seat when flying, but both flights today had open spots, so two of us could comfortably be in a three-seat row. Sat next to the window to do some photos/video and got some nice shots. Flying still amazes me. @SouthwestAir #Southwest #Flying #Airplane

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Dog that learned to play connect four. But didn't learn sportsmanship

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When these boxes come, there usually some excitement. But this one ... is the ultimate unboxing! 

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Music: Happy to be Happy (Dapun)

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I hate being in front of the camera, but also realize sometimes it's not the worst thing in the world. So, I'm getting better with it. Week 4's theme was all about us and having us in front of the camera, so I tried to come up with a creative way to do it. 

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The theme for Week 3 of the 52-week video challenge was "Show your process of making something." Alas, I didn't get the time to do what I wanted to do, so I attacked something I filmed over the summer that I kept putting off. 

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