Birmingham

I had another great business trip to Birmingham last week filled with lots of great people, food, and beer. Strangely, on my connecting flight home, I ended up seated next to a former boss of mine. The other odd part of my trip was something I heard on the radio while sitting in traffic one morning: "When you go to the Cracker Barrel, don't order the wheat toast, or folks'll think you're from Ohio." Is that really an Ohio stereotype?

Superior Grill
My buddy and I discussed sports and work at the bar all night before being absorbed into the group of regulars. Southern people are so nice and chatty. Given how little I go out in Ohio, I guess I do not really know enough to say people are any different here. I had a burrito, my friend had a quesadilla, we split a queso dip, and we both had a few happy-hour margaritas. I'm usually all about beer, but the margaritas were amazing. I would definitely return to Superior Grill for dinner and/or drinks.

Superior Grill Margarita - Source

Superior Grill Bar - Source

Maki Fresh
I've been wanting to meet up with the guy from the third-party recruiting agency who found me on LinkedIn and recruited me for my position, but it's just never worked out until now. We had lunch at a great little sushi place where I ended up having chicken instead of fish because I couldn't pass up trying something called The Vulcan, which was amazing. I was kind of afraid when they brought out chopsticks, but I did alright (but did not finish my lunch - so bad with chopsticks). Unlike most of my Birmingham pals, this guy has a young family, so it was nice to hear about what it's like to raise a family in Birmingham.

Maki Fresh - Source

On Tap
One of my buddies knows how much I like wings and beer, so we went here to have some good wings and beer. We started with the fried ravioli appetizer and hardly touched our wings because we were so full. He and his daughter enjoyed our leftovers a few days later, and I heard that the wings were pretty good. I had some Abita beer and two Alabama beers. I love traveling and drinking different beers. This was a really neat little place, and I'd definitely go there again (and maybe skip the appetizer so I can actually eat my wings!).

On Tap Wings - Source

On Tap - Source

Taziki's
I has lunch here my first time in Birmingham, and it was great. All I remember about that is I had lamb. This trip, Taziki's catered our seminar. We had tea, salad, rice, potato, chicken, taziki sauce, pita chips, and hummus. I was all about the rice, chicken, and taziki sauce. It looks like Taziki's is opening more and more locations, so I hope they make it to Ohio in the near future. Our seminar was for both accountants and actuaries. I thought accounting continuing education drew a lively crowd... Jeez. One of the speakers made a few really funny jokes ("death <boring stuff>, but it may have an adverse effect on the policyholder"), and our crowd of 60 remained silent.

Taziki's - Source

Twenty-Six
One of my friends invited me out to a Nashville songwriters music night, and we stopped for dinner and a really great, hip seafood place downtown before heading to WorkPlay. I had a Westbrook White Thai, one of my favorite Southern beers, and shrimp with cheesy grits. It was amazing. It's the kind of meal that gives you a nice, warm feeling in your belly when you think back to it. I need to have shrimp and cheesy grits again soon.

Twenty-Six - Source

Westbrook White Thai - Source

WorkPlay
There were three lovely ladies from Nashville sitting on stage with their guitars, taking turns singing and playing songs they'd written. It was really neat. I had a Strawberry Abita and a Good People Coffee Oatmeal Stout, and I bought my favorite Nashville songwriter's CD. World, watch out for Stephanie Lambring.

WorkPlay - Source

WorkPlay - Source

Stephanie Lambring - Source

Do I seem really enthusiastic about everything in Birmingham? I would totally move there.

Financial Self Improvement

When I was five, I would read with a flashlight under my blankets for hours every night. When I was 12, I read all sorts of personal finance and investment books and invested my babysitting money in the stock market. When I was 18, I checked out over a dozen books on credit cards before applying for my first credit card. I've always loved reading, learning, and personal finance.


Nice Girls Don't Get the Corner Office - Source

Earlier this week I decided to re-read Lois Frankel's Nice Girls Don't Get the Corner Office: Unconscious Mistakes Women Make That Sabotage Their Careers. I of course had to check out three of her other books as well: See Jane Lead: 99 Ways for Women to Take Charge at Work; Nice Girls Just Don't Get It: 99 Ways to Earn the Respect You Deserve, the Success You've Earned, and the Life You Want; and Nice Girls Don't Get Rich: 75 Avoidable Mistakes Women Make with Money.


Nice Girls Don't Get Rich - Source

I read Nice Girls Don't Get Rich (the other books are in transit to my library branch) and put a hold on two books Frankel mentioned: Women Don't Ask: Negotiation and the Gender Divide and Secrets of Six-Figure Women: Surprising Strategies to Up Your Earnings and Change Your Life. I also checked out some of the magazines (or rather their websites) Frankel recommended: Money, Market Watch (formerly Smart Money), and Kiplinger. I love the articles on investing and retirement planning and current events, and I plan to check these three sites at least weekly.

I've been reading about personal finance for 15 years, and I'm a CPA with a master's in accounting, and I still got a lot out of Nice Girls don't get rich. My biggest takeaways are to keep up on things via financial magazines or sites, to seek out seminars on investing, and not to sell myself short salary-wise. It is so easy to not negotiate or to settle for the market rate or to ask for just under the market rate to have a better shot at landing a job. If you know you're better than average, you should ask for a better than average salary.

I can't wait for my other books to arrive!

Milwaukee, Day Six and Miscellaneous

Mars Cheese Castle
Somehow we made it five days in Wisconsin without enjoying some of the fantastic cheese, so we stopped at Mars Cheese Castle in Kenosha on our way home. Oscar got to try a bunch of free samples and pick out a bag of cheese curd. We ended up with white cheddar, and it was delicious. We loved the cheese so much that we just decided to call it lunch. If the tavern had looked kid friendly, we probably would have ordered lunch and beer there. Mars Cheese Castle has a pretty nice beer selection, and it was really hard to not buy tons of things. I picked out a six-pack of Milwaukee Brewing Company Outboard and a four-pack of Horny Goat Chocolate Peanut Butter Porter. The Outboard is a cream ale, and I really love it. I haven't tried the Horny Goat yet, but I have high expectations for it. Update: OH, MY. The Horny Goat is amazing.

Mars Cheese Castle - Source

Milwaukee Brewing Company Outboard - Source

Horny Goat Chocolate Peanut Butter Porter - Source

RiverWalk
The art-filled two miles of walkways on either side of the Milwaukee River downtown is fantastic. We walked on the RiverWalk and across the many beautiful bridges dozens of times while we were there. I love downtown Milwaukee. Oscar keeps asking if I can find a job there and if when we buy a house next year it can be in Milwaukee.

Milwaukee RiverWalk - Source

Milwaukee RiverWalk - Source

Milwaukee RiverWalk - Source

Brewers Games
The Brewers stadium is a lot smaller than ours, so our typical cheap nosebleed seats offered a much better view. Also, the stadium has a fantastic retractable roof that was closed while we were there. We got to experience fireworks indoors because they still set off fireworks each time the Brewers hit a homerun. I kept taking off and checking my glasses because all of the smoke from the fireworks made me think my glasses were dirty. The Brewers were great. Oscar has decided that they are now his favorite team because they have more strikeouts than our hometown team. He has requested that we wear our Brewers the next time the Brewers come to our city. I'm kind of shocked, but I can definitely get behind a team called the Brewers. The stadium has a great play area that Oscar loved. Our ballpark treat was candied pecans. I think we're going to have to buy some to snack on at home.

Milwaukee Brewers - Source

Miller Park - Source

Milwaukee, Day Five

The Safe House
Somebody recommended this place to us, and Oscar looked forward to visiting the spy-themed restaurant our whole trip. The entrance in an alley, and the door just says International Exports, Ltd. We went in, and there was nobody there. I'd read online that someone would be there to ask us for the password or to make us to something silly to get in, so we figured they were closed and were going to leave when I figured out how to make it from the first room into the restaurant. Oscar loved the secret passageway. One of the local breweries makes special Code Beer for the Safe House, so I ordered a beer with my lunch. The Code Beer mug is a souvenir, and refills in the mug on any visit are just $2.75. I really liked Code Beer and will definitely bring my mug back if we return to Milwaukee. We were given a spy mission that gave us hints about cool things to explore and observe around the restaurant. Even leaving the restaurant was a fun adventure. You don't leave the way you come in. Oscar and I both had a blast and would definitely go back.

The Safe House entrance - Source

Safe House Code Beer - Source

Classy Girl Cupcakes
Since we'd only had dessert once so far on our trip, I thought it might be fun to grab some cupcakes. Our original plan was to visit The Chocolate Factory and order a turtle sundae, but we decided to go with cupcakes when we realized the only Chocolate Factory within walking distance was permanently closed. Classy Girl Cupcakes are $2 apiece. Oscar and I both love frosting and tend to eat just the frosting or the frosting and the top half of the cupcake. The cupcakes themselves weren't great, but the icing was amazing. This place is right across the street from a park with a playground, so we played for a while after we picked out our cupcakes, and Oscar made some friends.

Classy Girl Cupcakes - Source

Classy Girl Cupcakes - Source

Brick 3 Pizza
We were in the mood for pizza, and this was close to our hotel. Their selection includes fun things like macaroni and cheese pizza. Oscar had a slice of cheese, and I had a slice of macaroni and cheese with bacon and pepperoni. They've got two shelves of local beer in a little refrigerator for $3.75. I tried a Hinterland White Cap. This was a good, relatively cheap meal, and we'd definitely eat there again. A big group of moms and kids came in while we were there, and quite a few loners came in for takeout.


Brick 3 Pizza - Source

Hinterland White Cap - Source

Milwaukee, Day Four

The Dogg Haus
We were out trying to track down one of the food trucks and stumbled across this place. They have five locations around the city. The employees were really friendly. I had a Cajun dog and fries, and Oscar had a corn dog and chips. My Cajun dog had two different kinds of hot peppers and was delicious. We both said we'd eat there again if we go back to Milwaukee.

The Dogg Haus on Water Street - Source

Buck Bradley's
This was another place that made it's way onto our radar because it offers free shuttles to and from Brewers home games. Oscar was again the only kid in the place, but I didn't feel like a bad parent for bring my kid to a bar/restaurant because they had a kids menu. Oscar had some really great looking chicken tenders, and I had a brat and a Moo Joos Oatmeal Milk Stout. The brat was from Usinger's, a really great local brat place across the street from the restaurant. It was by far the best thing I ate on the trip. The bun was buttery and toasted, and it made the brat taste that much better. I sadly was not wild about the beer.

Buck Bradley's - Source

The restaurant side of Buck Bradley's - Source

Moo Joos Oatmeal Milk Stout - Source

On the shuttle ride back from the game I wanted a beer and asked the driver if he happened to take credit. He did not, and he insisted that I grab a beer anyway. I grabbed a Pabst Blue Ribbon because it was that or Miller Lite. PBR originated in Milwaukee but is now based in LA. Again, it is so funny to have a big name beer and call it local.