contract/time is up, Paul!

Dear Paul,
Hope you've been having an excellent month and a half without any competition. I'm sorry to report that your time is (sort of) up!
Sincerely,
Colleen

I can't believe how fast my summer at camp has gone. Six weeks! I'm at home now-- didn't really have any big plans for the end of my contract. I thought I might enjoy a Guinness... not even a new beer for the count! However, the circumstances of my life have, as per usual, lead to other endeavors.

As I've mentioned here and there, I'm going to Malawi, and soon! I will be there in less than two weeks. (And yes, I plan on trying African beers during my lengthy time on planes/in airports). Subsequently, I'm going to be taking some intense antibiotics as malaria prophylaxis starting a few days before my 20 August departure. However, I got a head start on the strong antibiotics by discovering a bullseye rash on my thigh a few weeks ago, so I am not to be consuming much alcohol, among other things. The doctor's antibiotic of choice for the Lyme is doxycycline, which carries the following advisory,

"Take this medication 2-3 hours before or after taking any products containing aluminum, calcium, iron, magnesium, zinc or bismuth subsalicyclate. Some examples include antacids, certain forms of didanosine (chewable/dispersable buffered tablets or pediatric oral solution), quinapril, vitamins/minerals, dairy products (such as milk or yogurt) and calcium-enriched juice. These products bind with doxycycline, preventing your body from fully absorbing the drug."

Guinness is probably one of the main reasons I haven't had any issues with iron deficiency in the past few years. But thank you, antibiotics, for disallowing me from consuming much of anything good, much less a nice Guinness.

So. I wasn't planning on trying a new beer, but stopped by one of the better beer sources near home as I headed there tonight, and found Samuel Smith's Winter Welcome Ale. I bought it for the following reasons:
1. I actually had my eye on Flying Fish's Exit 6 (how very New Jersey of me) but it was a larger bottle.
2. This was the next beer I noticed available in a single bottle that I hadn't tried before.
3. My mom keeps the house at winter-like temperatures, so I figured it was an appropriate homecoming beer.

So here I sit, very very slowly enjoying this beer. Seriously, I opened it about an hour ago and am halfway through. I'm enjoying it more as it nears room temperature, possibly because I'm sitting here in a hoodie and pajama pants and freezing (because I have water for blood now that my iron intake is severely reduced), but it's a good beer for winter. Very smooth, warm flavor, sort of like a nicely spiced pie or something. No, it's not fruity. I'm out of practice explaining what I think of beers. Let me try again: um... yeah. Really out of practice. Smooth. Accessible. Might compliment a warm pie. But doesn't taste like pie. That would be weird.

I'd recommend this. In winter. Or in my parents' house.

I know Paul is holding out on a pile of updates, but till then--
Paul: 259
Colleen: 271

PS: Oh snap! I viewed the blog in another window to see what our numbers were at, and it seems that Paul is updating at the same time as me! So if I post this first... then I'm ahead for like, five more minutes.