• My Gaming Donation to Johns Hopkins Children’s Center

    This is not a beer post, and for that I apologize in advance, but I had nowhere else to share this story.

    The mess from my basement that I began to sort through.

    The mess from my basement that I began to sort through.

    My basement needed a good cleaning and I needed to free up some shelf space, so I decided it was time to purge some old stuff.  I had a ton of old game consoles and video games, but I didn’t really want to go through the hassle of selling them online.  My brother had a great idea, donate them to a children’s hospital.  I made a few phone calls to the same day doctor and found that Johns Hopkins Children’s Center in Baltimore, MD would be happy to take my donation.  I took a Saturday afternoon and brought everything up from the basement and started going through what I had. Mnay video games and online casino games like the Keno has taken a drastic turn in the recent times. The introduction of aimbot fortnite and other hacks has made playing and winning easier. If you wish to learn Keno, click on this link https://www.slotsformoney.com/casinos/keno/

    The games after I had tested all the consoles and separated them by gaming system.

    The games after I had tested all the consoles and separated them by gaming system.

    It took about 2 hours total to get everything out, test the systems, and box them up by console.  I did not test all the games, but I have good faith that most will work without issue.  After seeing what I had I really began to waver on going through with my decision, but in the end I decided it was best for the children, and these games were doing nothing but collecting dust in my basement.  I made the call to Elizabeth at the hospital and setup a time to make the drop-off.

    Arriving at the hospital.

    Arriving at the hospital.

    The whole ride into the city I kept wondering if I was doing the right thing.  There is a hoarder mentally that goes along with collecting anything, and I was having trouble letting go, but I just kept thinking that this will hopefully make a lot of children happy.

    The entrance to Johns Hopkins Children's Center.

    The entrance to Johns Hopkins Children’s Center.

    When I arrived I called Elizabeth, and she came down with a cart to get the games.  She was really surprised at the amount of stuff I had to donate.  She kept stating how happy this was going to make the children, and that reassured me I was making the right decision.

    Saying goodbye to my old friends.  Hopefully a child in need will find them as much fun as I did.

    Saying goodbye to my old friends. Hopefully a child in need will find them as much fun as I did.

    We filled up the cart and she took everything inside.  I’ll make sure to check back in a few months and see how the donation worked out, and which games/consoles are doing the best.  Here is the list of what I donated, for the gamers out there wondering what I gave up.  The Nintendo stuff is not listed as I still need to go through it and decide what I want (if anything) and what I don’t want.  I can always make that donation another day.

    Hardware

    Playstation 4
    Playstation 1&2 Contolers 10
    Playstation Multitap 1
    Playstation Memory Cards 7
    Playstation 2 1
    Playstation 2 Multitap 1
    Playstation 2 Network Adapter 1
    Sega Genesis 4
    Sega Genesis Controlers 7
    Odyssey 2 1
    Segan Saturn 1
    Segan Saturn Controllers 4
    Sega Master System 1
    Sega Master System Controller 1

    Games

    SEGA GENESIS
    Jurassic Park
    La Russa Baseball 95
    John Madden Football ’93
    Sonic & Knuckles
    Ecco the Dolphin
    Streets of Rage
    Taz Mania
    Sports Talk Football ’93
    Pac-Mania
    Robocop vs. Terminator
    Mortal Kombat II
    College ’95 Football
    X-men 2 Clone Wars
    Street Fighter II
    Mortal Kombat
    Batman
    Madden ’95
    John Madden Football ’93
    Ecco the Tides of Time
    Micro Machines
    Prime Time
    Ghouls n Ghosts
    The Lion King
    Jurassic Park Rampage Edition
    Sonic the Hedgehog
    Super Off-road
    Toy Story
    The Lost World: Jurassic Park
    Virtua Racing
    Disney’s Aladdin
    Bill Walsh College Football
    Sports Talk Football ’93
    NFL ’95
    Game Genie
    Sonic the Hedgehog 2
    Taz in Escape from Mars
    Lethal Enforcers
    Dr. Robotnick’s Mean Bean Machine
    SEGA MASTER
    Aztec Adventure
    Altered Beast
    Lord of the Sword
    SEGA SATURN
    NHL ’97
    World Series Baseball II
    Madden ’98
    College Slam
    FIFA Soccer ’96
    Croc Legend of the Gobbos
    Virtual Open Tennis
    Ten Pin Alley
    Hyper 3-D Pinball
    PLAYSTATION
    Gran Turismo
    The Dukes of Hazzard
    Nascar ’99
    Cool Boarders 2001
    Ape Escape
    Crash Team Racing
    Tony Hawk’s Proskater 4
    A Bug’s Life
    25 to Life
    Metal Gear Solid
    Resident Evil 2
    Resident Evil 3 Nemesis
    Tomb Raider II
    Medievil
    Final Fantasy VII
    Twisted Metal 4
    PLAY STATION 2
    Starsky and Hutch
    Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy
    Rachet & Clank up your Arsenal
    Rachet & Clank Going Commando
    Rachet & Clank
    Prince of Persia the sands of time
    Maximo Army of Zin
    Maximo Ghosts to Glory
    Tony Hawk’s Underground
    Jak II
    Katamari Damacy
    Crash Nitro-Kart
    Gran Turismo 3
    ATV Offroad Fury 2
    SS X3
    Jak and Daxter
    Kingdom Hearts
    Tony Hawk’s Underground 2
    Madden 2005
    Splashdown Rides Gone Wild
    ODDESSY 2
    Conquest of the World Odyssey 2
    Volleyball!
    K.C. Munchkin!
    UFO!
    Baseball!
    Bowling! Basketball!
    Showdown in 2100 A.D.
    Alien Invaders—Plus!
    Sub Chase!
    Computer Golf!
    Crypto-logic!

    For those of you who read this far, thanks.  Here is the celebration beer I had later that night (It is Indy Beers, after all).

    A beer in celebration of bringing happiness to children.

    A beer in celebration of bringing happiness to children.

  • Samuel Adams and Boston Beer Get a Downgrade

    It seems not even craft beer is immune to a bad economy.  Yesterday the Boston Beer Company’s shares were downgraded from sell to neutral.

    Boston Beer has shown solid growth with new products such as Twisted Tea and seasonal drinks. But UBS analyst Kaumil Gajrawala downgraded his rating on the company’s shares to “sell” from “neutral” on Monday, saying the company’s growth may slow as its innovations age.

    Amidst the news the stock price fell 4.5%.

    The problem, it seems, is that 70% of Boston Beers recent revenue growth has come from Twisted Tea and seasonal products.  It’s hard to maintain that type of growth, and Gajrawala believes they are hitting the top of the market in performance.

    I think what we’re really seeing here is similar to what happens to any company when they get too big and fail to innovate in the market.  This is strikingly similar to the path that the big beer companies have taken.  I’m still a fan of Boston Beer Company’s beers for now, but hopefully they don’t take the path of getting bigger and buying smaller craft breweries to meet share holders expectations in the market.

     

    Source: http://money.msn.com/

  • Brew at the Zoo in Baltimore MD

    I love how the animals and beer glasses have been incorporated together into the logo.

    Kelli and I headed out to the Brew at the Zoo over Memorial Day weekend in Baltimore.  The entire event was a lot of fun and I would recommend to anyone who loves craft beer and is in the Baltimore area.  I didn’t get to try all the beers, but I had my fair share.  I’ll be trying to make this event next year, too, as it is too much fun to pass up.