The cooler days of Fall are approaching (thank God) and it can mean one of several things for you personally, be it impending yardwork, giving birth to a child, whatever floats your boat. But certainly, one thing it should definitely mean for you personally is your participation in the 2nd Annual Baltimore Beer Week, put together by the fine folk at Beer In Baltimore and many other area vendors, sponsors, coordinators and other hard working types. A celebration of all things beer running from October 7th-17th, with a whopping 24 beer events happening around the Baltimore area, you’d be hard pressed not to trip over a firkin or two during that period of time.

The kickoff party is going down on October 7th at the Museum of Industry (1415 Key Highway, Riverside), and tickets are available now, with only 250 available at $30. Cake artisan and international superstar Duff Goldman will be hosting the party, so get yours today!

BUT WAIT – too cheap to purchase a ticket? Head down to Alexander’s Tavern (710 South Broadway, Fells Point) tomorrow from 5-7pm for the Pre-Beer Week happy hour and enter for a chance to win some!

BEEEEEEEER

You can follow Baltimore Beer Week around at these interweb locations:

Baltimore Beer Week

@BaltBeerWeek

Want to win some stuff? Fill out this form to complete our “Baltimore Mad Lib” and submit it. Winners with the best resulting Mad Lib will be chosen on Sunday, September 5th and awarded some super cool stuff. (yes I am well aware that forms are archaic but it was easy ok)

ENTER NOW!

Everybody loves Mad Libs. It’s a scientific fact. And at some point recently the thought occurred to me: “Hey there should be some Mad Libs about Baltimore, that’d be pretty funny.” And then I thought “Hey I should run a contest where I make a Mad Lib about Baltimore and people fill it out and the best submission wins, that’d be pretty funny.” And so here we are folks:  we’ll be launching a “Baltimore Mad Libs” contest, with totally awesome prizes for the best “fill in the words” for a Mad Lib about Baltimore we’ve provided. If it does well, we’ll make more in the future. (If you’ve been living in a cave for the past 30+ years and just recently attained internet service and don’t know how a Mad Lib works, go here)

The “fill in the blanks” Mad Lib will go live tonight and submissions will be accepted until Midnight Sunday. The best ones will be featured in a future post all their own and will win a prize package consisting of some seriously awesome stuff.

So get your creative juices flowing people, let the zany hilarity ensue!

Lots of you tech oriented people out there are already well aware of how to accomplish this, but for those of you who aren’t, imagine this situation: You’re driving along and suddenly you develop a craving for say, nachos. “BUT WHERE’S THE BEST AND OR CLOSEST PLACE TO FIND NACHOS?!?!” you screech in your open windowed car, thoroughly embarrassing yourself. Fortunately, given the exploits and insanely helpful maps created by us in the past, your troubles are over. Here’s how to add such a custom Google Map to your phone.

(for example’s sake we’ll be using the Android OS and its associated Maps application)

On your computer

• First, navigate to your favorite Google Map. For instance, this one. If you don’t like this one, search for something you do like or whatever.
• Next, at the top of the left sidebar click on “Save to My Maps.” The map is now associated with your Google account. Now we’re ready to add it to your phone!

On your phone

• Jump into your Google Maps for Mobile application, bring up the menu and select “Layers.” A few selections will appear, hit the “More Layers” button on the bottom right.
• Then select “My Maps” and all of your saved (or personally created) maps will appear in a list.
• Select which one you want to add to your current view in Google Maps, and BAM, nachos in your face. Touching any of the icons will bring up its associated blurb.

And there you have it! Pretty useful stuff. While you’re at it, check out some of the other maps we’ve made and give them a whirl. Many many more to come…

If you’re like me and you can’t get enough cheap junk from Goodwill and other various thrifty stores, then you have no possible choice but to head down to the Southside Goodwill (900 E. Fort Ave., Riverside) for their INSANE moonlight sale tonight from 6-10pm. Everything in the store is 50%, meaning you could literally pay $0.50 for a velvet painting of Road Runner. Hop to it!