Lemonade

I've got two lemons into lemonade stories that will possibly intersect tonight:

Here's a rare "atta boy" blog post as opposed to a griping one, especially regarding customer service.  Wifey and I made the (possibly questionable) choice to accept an invitation to Peju's super secret, super exclusive (or so they tell the invitees), super pricey (as wine clubs go) Library Wine Club.  They're supposed to send freaking awesome, ready to drink library wines.

We recently received our first shipment:

1. '06 Zin
2. '04 Estate Bottled Merlot (they have one of the better Merlots in Napa)
3. '06 Estate HB Cab Sauv (91% Cab, 8% Merlot, 1% Petite Verdot) - Wine Club Price: $175/bottle.

They shipped the wine late last week and it arrived Monday morning.  That likely means it sat in a UPS warehouse over the weekend.  It was over 100ºF in Phoenix this weekend.

After removing the foil of the HB Cab, you could see, feel and smell wine.

One call, that was all.  They promised a new shipment of all three wines as soon as the weather allowed.  No need to send this wine back - keep it and hope for the best.  They said that a heat wave came through unexpectedly after the shipping plans/arrangements had already been made.

Story #2:
Tweeted about this on Friday.  Driving home from El Paso.  It's about 4pm on a Friday afternoon.  Windows are down, music is blaring, life is good.  Phone rings - it's dad/boss telling me that a client of ours has asked us to give a 2hr presentation the next morning (Saturday!) at 7am.  Apparently the original presenter had to back out last minute.  I don't have a 2 hr presentation, nor do I have two 1hr presentations that can seamlessly be put together.  My night looks like this:

6:30PM Get Home
7:00PM Two of our friends & their kids come over to hang out
7:30PM Toast for a Cure with friends (the other wifey lost her mom to breast cancer, my dad lost his sister) & eat dinner.
8:00PMish-9:30PMish Stare at computer screen with a bottle of '05 Armida Cab Reserve constantly refilling my glass (sooo good!) while friends and my wifey sit in living room and socialize.
9:30PMish Friends go home.  My fam falls asleep.  I keep staring at computer and tweeting from time to time.
10:30PMish Realize that I have to be up in 6 1/2 hrs (not bad) and presenting in 8 1/2 hrs. Go to bed.

So I get up and get to parent's house to go w/ dad/boss to this presentation.  Fifty+ contractors are there.  I still don't have a presentation.  We're told I'll have the floor for 90-120 mins, but I wouldn't have to be on until about 8a.m.  I have about 45 mins to throw something together from 4 different 1hr presentations I have.  I do.  It goes well.  (if you're interested, the presentation turned out being "Energy Efficiency through the Building Envelope." Thrilling, I know). We have people thanking us left and right.  It was a HUGE political win for us.  This company is big and we just helped cement our ongoing partnership with them.

So how do these two stories intersect tonight?

Tonight, we'll be drinking $175 bottle of wine knowing that we have another coming once the weather cools.  It may be bad, but hey, it may not.  And if it's not... :D! I can't wait to try it.  We'll be splitting it with my parents, who are our favorite wine drinking buddies.  They get wine at least as much as we do, if not more.  And after we sample a glass or two of this wonderful juice, my parents will be taking us out for sushi as a thank you for me putting together that presentation last minute and really helping out the companies.

It's going to be a good night

-FBW