Sorry, ladies — it did not occur to me to bring the camera when I left this morning, so there are no shirtless photos of the hot Jew for you. He does seem to be in great shape, though I think his knees were in danger of locking up after his morning training session with Tony, who also seems like a very nice guy. Also in attendance was Major John — in fatigues, no less. The ‘dillo was detained by the TSA in Denver. Tony served in the Marines, but there was no inter-service rivalry, esp. as Maj. John had good experiences with Marines in Afghanistan.ÂÂ
I had considered writing about how hammered we got on tequila and body shots off the wait staff at one of the gentlemens’ clubs near the airport.  In truth, we had sandwiches and soda at a Longhorn Steakhouse (though apparently Tony and Jeff imbibed a bit when Jeff got in from the airport). But the lunch wasn’t about the meal, really.
It was an entirely enjoyable and easy lunch, mostly remarkable for the fact that Jeff and Tony were the only two who had met in person before (and even that was the result of the Internet). We talked about all sorts of mundane stuff, but also about the Protein Wisdom community — and how unique it is compared to other blogs. Jeff is really appreciative of everyone’s support over the years, and too modest (at least over lunch) to note that he’s the straw that stirs the drink.
Comment by baldilocks on 6/27 @ 4:44 pm #
hot Jew
It’s fun to create a meme.
My best also to Major John.
Comment by mastour on 6/27 @ 4:47 pm #
I regret not being able to get with Jeff while in Denver a few months back. I still hope to meet and share a few scotchs with the man. I’ve lurked and very rarely posted on this site for a number of years and find it by far one of the most intelligent blogs on the net. This and Ace’s site keep me sane.
Thanks Jeff for all that you do and allowing others such as Karl to post on your blog. I only wish that the Pols read what you and others put down on the intertubes. I know wishful thinking, but I feel a revolution is coming and it won’t be pretty.
Comment by Karl on 6/27 @ 4:53 pm #
baldilocks,
My big regret from the lunch was forgetting to check whether Jeff saw the exchange between you and Lisa on that point. Whatever can be done to encourage the lad should be done.
Also,
He’s let the hair grow back a (very little) little, but plans on getting it it cut way back again. When I wrote “mundane, ” I wasn’t kidding.
And,
If the ladies saw Maj. John in person, he would be moved up the hot chart. Sorry gals, he’s married too.
Comment by John Cheshire on 6/27 @ 4:57 pm #
Modesty or honesty? Your election coverage of the primaries and the associated players has been entertaining, informative and most importantly, dead on accurate. If Jeff is the straw then you are the bartender that keeps refilling the glass IMHO.
Comment by JD on 6/27 @ 5:03 pm #
Karl – I am jealous, in a totally manly non-Gleenwaldian kind of way, NTTAWWT.
Comment by Karl on 6/27 @ 5:23 pm #
John Cheshire,
I’m just keeping the saloon doors open while the Master mixer hones his mojo.
JD,
It was nice to finally meet Jeff in person, even sans ‘dillo and scotch.
Comment by Big Bang Hunter (pumping you up) on 6/27 @ 5:23 pm #
- Well Karl. Enjoy your
scufflawnice luncheon time, and don’t worry about the rest of us, back here in the PW salt mines, laboring away at the most thankless task known to man, educating brain dead Progs.- Give my best to the Major, and tell him all my Oooorahs and Sempre fi’s are not any sort of inter-service rivalry thing, I was Navy anyway.
- May the wind be at all our backs, and safe passage.
Comment by Karl on 6/27 @ 5:24 pm #
Another tidbit:
Jeff & Tony discovered that — unbeknownst to each other — both own the box set of Billy Jack movies.
Comment by dicentra on 6/27 @ 5:26 pm #
Sorry, ladies  it did not occur to me to bring the camera when I left this morning, so there are no shirtless photos of the hot Jew for you.
*sigh*
Comment by Karl on 6/27 @ 5:29 pm #
I’m unsure as to how much I can say about Maj. John, though he’s already blogged that he is returning to Iraq in the near -future. I think I can say that on the face of it, his next assignment should be less risky than his last one, which is a good thing, obvs. I was glad to have the opportunity to buy him a sammich. He even went with chicken, instead of the beef.
Comment by ProggressiveHero on 6/27 @ 5:36 pm #
So you find the Major attractive Karl?
Comment by thor on 6/27 @ 5:40 pm #
My first question concerns flowers, were any flowers exchanged or just thank-you cards and lingering hugs? And who amongst you men was the first to offer to split their side of french fries? Finally, did you take note the amount Jeff tipped for his meal?
Seriously though, I hope Jeff didn’t have to ask you to let go of his hand post-handshake, Karl.
Comment by Karl on 6/27 @ 5:42 pm #
PH,
I know the ladies are interested in such, and thus reported. The talk around the table was quite hetero, though Tony offered to turn his head if Jeff and I wanted to kiss goodbye. We declined.
Comment by Karl on 6/27 @ 5:44 pm #
I’m sure thor’s ears were burning when we discussed him.
Comment by Karl on 6/27 @ 5:47 pm #
In the prior thread, dre asks, “Was there arugula?”
No, but O! & H! were Uniting for Change on the TV at the bar.
Comment by ProggressiveHero on 6/27 @ 5:50 pm #
Cool glad to hear you guys had a good get together Karl.
You did know meat is murder though didn’t you?
Comment by Karl on 6/27 @ 5:53 pm #
I spun that disc as a DJ.
Comment by thor on 6/27 @ 6:04 pm #
You gazed Obama on the TV? But I was under the impression your eyes were focused on sizing-up the physical aesthetics of the others bodies. Well, Obama must have been a welcome ice breaker for you like-minded stiffs.
And you recall a moment where you spoke of me, you say. I’m blushing. Positive energy directed my way; the nuance, yes I felt it.
Comment by RTO Trainer on 6/27 @ 6:09 pm #
The Major was in fatigues? What was this a flashback? I’ve been in for almost 15 years (August) and I’ve never worn fatigues.
I’ll bet they were ACUs.
/mil-snark off :)
Comment by Karl on 6/27 @ 6:11 pm #
I was mostly noticing how out of shape I am at the moment, really.
Comment by Karl on 6/27 @ 6:12 pm #
RTO,
I’m sure you’re right. The Maj. mentioned some of your fine work in-theater, btw.
Comment by ProggressiveHero on 6/27 @ 6:14 pm #
Radio Telephone Operator Trainer? How do you need to train someone to answer the telephone? I didn’t know TOC training was it’s own MOS.
Comment by Big Bang Hunter (pumping you up) on 6/27 @ 6:16 pm #
- thor, my guess is that it isn’t Positive energy that you felt as much as the room vibrating from raucous laughter.
Comment by Karl on 6/27 @ 6:21 pm #
PH,
Re: RTO Trainer
You really don’t want to go there.
Comment by Mike LaRoche on 6/27 @ 6:31 pm #
You did know meat is murder though didn’t you?
If meat is murder, are eggs rape?
Comment by maggie katzen on 6/27 @ 6:31 pm #
this is going in the “evidence for parody” file. ;D
Comment by DeadPolarBear on 6/27 @ 6:37 pm #
ProggressiveClown is feeling confident. He may even murder his own meat tonight!
Comment by Spies, Brigands, and Pirates on 6/27 @ 6:48 pm #
Or at least club it into submission.
Comment by John Cheshire on 6/27 @ 6:54 pm #
Karl,
There is keeping the salon doors open and then there is keeping the party going…you (and others) have done both. Although, I am looking forward to the return of the Master mixer on a more daily basis.
Comment by Patrick Chester on 6/27 @ 6:54 pm #
I think Proggie’s gone Rampant and has dived into the Permanent Stupidity phase.
Comment by Karl on 6/27 @ 6:59 pm #
John Cheshire,
Thanks again for the kind words. Jeff suggested that he would probably pick up the pace around election time.
Comment by DeadPolarBear on 6/27 @ 7:00 pm #
Or at least club it into submission.
With a chopstick!
Comment by RTO Trainer on 6/27 @ 7:01 pm #
I dunno Patrick. PH has betrayed somewhat more knowledge of the military than is believable in a real progressive.
Comment by Ouroboros on 6/27 @ 7:19 pm #
“…he’s the straw that stirs the drink”
or like, the bong that…that.. that does something with the weed..
..nevermind.. I just drew a blank..
Comment by happyfeet on 6/27 @ 7:20 pm #
Does Tony ever read the blog? Also does Major John sound like Austin Bay when he talks?
Comment by Karl on 6/27 @ 7:27 pm #
Ouroboros,
He’s like the bong who chills the weed.
hf,
Tony has checked out pw, but mostly uses the internet for sports info and to promote his stuff.
I don’t know what Austin Bay sounds like so I can’t compare Maj. John. I can say that he — like I — apparently tends to write more formally than he speaks. Probably the legal background does that.
Comment by Ouroboros on 6/27 @ 7:28 pm #
Hey, is it true that Jeff was the inspiration for the movie “You Dont Mess With The Zohan”?
Comment by Karl on 6/27 @ 7:31 pm #
Ouroboros,
Perhaps, though I think we agree that it would have been much funnier had Jeff written the screenplay.
Comment by Jeff Spicoli on 6/27 @ 7:33 pm #
Right on, Blogger Dude.. he totally, like chiiiilllss those cool buds..
Comment by Ouroboros on 6/27 @ 7:42 pm #
Zohan wasn’t bad for what it was.. simple Summer fare that had it’s moments but in general just stuck to a few lowest common denominator gutter jokes and sight gags and beat the same tune over and over..
Now if Jeff had written it it would be funnier because it would be wittier and edgier and multi-layered..more cerebral.. and would have had more boobies and scenes involving (probably illegal) armadillo acts… and we could mull it over and discuss it.. and debate it.. and disagree over it..
..but then it wouldn’t be Zohan..
Comment by Karl on 6/27 @ 7:47 pm #
Right now, I’m just imagining filming a crowd that showed up to see the usual latest Sandler movie and getting one penned by Jeff.
Comment by thor on 6/27 @ 7:47 pm #
My guess, Big Bang, is that the last time you felt anything vibrate there was a sex toy to blame.
I’m off to toss back some 12-ounce bottles of chilled whup-ass with the gentry. When I return I will likely, if I choose to log-on, blather arrogantly and incoherently on subjects obtuse. Prepare your man-pussy, sport, and KK’s as well.
Comment by Lisa on 6/27 @ 7:48 pm #
I agree with John, Karl. You inmates do a great job keeping the asylum lively and completely engaging while the perfesser is off hanging out in Ocean City in his mankini.
This is a really cool joint.
Comment by Major John on 6/27 @ 7:56 pm #
Thanks again to Karl for buying lunch! Jeff and Tony definitely would be quite useful in a hand to hand combat situation. I did get a huge kick out finding out that they both have the Total Billy Jack collection.
Good guys, all three.
Comment by Ouroboros on 6/27 @ 7:59 pm #
Someone spotted Perfesser Caric in a mankini? Eeeewwwww.
Comment by ProggressiveHero on 6/27 @ 8:05 pm #
MJ…JAG?
Comment by Major John on 6/27 @ 8:11 pm #
PH,
Nope. Prior enlisted Infantry, then Officer as OD and CA.
Comment by RTO Trainer on 6/27 @ 8:14 pm #
PH,
You’ll find, or would if you cared to find out, that the Guard and Reserves are the repositories of some very diverse, and sometimes counterintuitive, skill sets.
Comment by Topsecretk9 on 6/27 @ 8:22 pm #
Sorry, ladies  it did not occur to me to bring the camera when I left this morning, so there are no shirtless photos of the hot Jew for you.
Crap.
Comment by serr8d on 6/27 @ 8:34 pm #
Yes, it is. Thanks, Karl, for bringing this report to post. And for your excellence in overall posting. This place is focusing like a fine forgotten Leica lens.
Thor be damned; keep up your good work.
Comment by Patrick Chester on 6/27 @ 9:12 pm #
RTO Trainer wrote:
The acronyms are spreading. It’s possible Proggie stumbled upon it.
Who knows? Maybe he reads techno-thrillers as some guilty pleasure.
Comment by nishizonoshinji on 6/27 @ 9:42 pm #
im a busy grrl this weekend, horse trials, but i have been followin Ross’ an Reihan’s new book coming out, the Grand New Party.
Brooks column here.
Jeff is definitely in that cadre.
Comment by nishizonoshinji on 6/27 @ 9:48 pm #
Brooks
anyhows, Manzi an I were talking…..i think i shall make a coolness map of the young consevatives.
FYI, Goldstein and Allapundit are cool.
Gerson and Levin are not.
Megan McArdle is cool…..K-lo is uncool.
Sanchez is cool…Douthat and Reihan are ubercool.
Manzi is cool.
Ponnuru, not so much….Goldberg is like….the anti-cool.
Anyways, these guyz are the Hope of the republican party…..not Jindal.
Jindal is shaping up to be a crackpot..ot mebbe he is working ovetime to escape mccains VP slot.
who knows.
Comment by ProggressiveHero on 6/27 @ 10:10 pm #
Yes I stumbled upon them.
Comment by Spies, Brigands, and Pirates on 6/27 @ 10:15 pm #
Anyways, these guyz are the Hope of the republican party
Heh.
Comment by Spies, Brigands, and Pirates on 6/27 @ 10:23 pm #
Also, Heh.
How is it underneath that bus, nish? Smooth ride?
Comment by The Lost Dog on 6/27 @ 11:45 pm #
I have almost no heros anymore, but among the few that I have, Jeff is right nup there.
Jeff, if you ever make to the NYC area (ick!), please e-mail me and let me know when. You are right up there with Keith Richards (who has a house about a mile from me) on my wish list.
I am glad you don’t realize what a hero you are to countless people, because if you did, you would probasbly be just another idiot on the net.
Look at your hits. Not many are anywhere near your class.
Life comes through you, not from you, and I appreciate someone who instinctively knows that.
Thank you a thousand times for PW!
Comment by alppuccino on 6/28 @ 3:59 am #
im a busy grrl this weekend, horse trials
They’re arresting horses now?
Comment by eCurmudgeon on 6/28 @ 4:16 am #
Only because there aren’t any. Nor much of anything else near that airport, to be perfectly honest…
Comment by MayBee on 6/28 @ 6:57 am #
It’s not too late for each of you to post your own shirtless photos.
Comment by thor on 6/28 @ 7:43 am #
You Jesus-worship Keith Richards and Jeff? How rich thou gush. Do stick a tampon in it.
Comment by Aldo on 6/28 @ 8:04 am #
Thanks again to Karl for buying lunch! Jeff and Tony definitely would be quite useful in a hand to hand combat situation.
Zohan 2
Comment by Jeff G. on 6/28 @ 8:23 am #
It was great meeting Karl and the Major (which, come to think of it, sounds like it should have been the title to a late 70s Lee Majors vehicle) under sober circumstances.
Unfortunately, not every day in Chicago has seen my so (relatively) clear of mind — meaning that those of you interested in my nipples will almost certainly find them on YouTube at some point or another.
Meanwhile, thor just seems to keep getting angrier and angrier — for reasons I suspect have something to do with having a tempestuously itchy vagina, and not a spot of salve to soothe it.
Comment by happyfeet on 6/28 @ 8:31 am #
salve!
Comment by Ric Locke on 6/28 @ 8:47 am #
nO!. What thor needs is an eraser.
The tabula rasa upon which he has projected the hopeychanginess in his heart is being written upon in some detail… and the words thus inscribed are, shall we say, incongruent with his fantasies. My son described a somewhat similar experience upon meeting Pamela Anderson in the flesh, as it were. Let us resolve to be supportive (“Awww, too bad, fellah”) in public, and keep the giggles offstage, eh?
Regards,
Ric
Comment by B Moe on 6/28 @ 9:14 am #
Meanwhile, thor just seems to keep getting angrier and angrier  for reasons I suspect have something to do with having a tempestuously itchy vagina, and not a spot of salve to soothe it.
The way his vibrator keeps randomly switching settings has to be irritating.
Comment by nikkolai on 6/28 @ 9:31 am #
‘Tis one of the coolest spots around. Thanks for the laughs.
Comment by Darleen on 6/28 @ 10:05 am #
oh my, how I would have enjoyed just sitting at that lunch with y’all.
Please, if any of you get to SoCal drop me an email. There are some fab places to eat or I can do almost gourmet at home — then there’s no danger of being kicked out of a restaurant for hogging the table and being conservative in public.
Comment by MayBee on 6/28 @ 11:01 am #
oh my, how I would have enjoyed just sitting at that lunch with y’all.
Please, if any of you get to SoCal drop me an email. There are some fab places to eat or I can do almost gourmet at home  then there’s no danger of being kicked out of a restaurant for hogging the table and being conservative in public.
Yeah yeah yeah, someone come to SoCal (when I get back there of course). I want to go to Darleen’s house for some gourmet dinings!
Comment by thor on 6/28 @ 3:09 pm #
Angry? Hell yes I’m angry. The fuck kind’a world do I live in? You have a web site and you’re a fun read, a neat-o sort’a guy probably, but if you and I meet I doubt I write of the experience of feeling you near, the warmth of your hand during a handshake, etc…
Karl writes as if you two have just culminated a multi-year long romance-filled cyber-date while Lost Dog announces he sees you in the same light as a guitarist for the Rolling Stones. I never knew it was possible to have backstage blog groupies, frankly. Is it possible nowadays that you or some other blogger could get laid for free in titty bars and massages houses? It’s all the more fucked up seeing how I’m a guy who loves having stripper tittes pressed against my cheeks and forehead whereas you’d probably choose to watch a Billy Jack movie rather than even look at bouncing, young, over-sized stripper boobs. From the cheap seats witnessing this Jeff-as-Obama-worship oddity ain’t right! Blog-reading strippers giving you the free friction dances! How now brown cow
All I can say is you are not my hero. Life itself, I doubt, goes through you. You’re not Kieth Richards to me, Bela Fleck maybe, but guitar hero no. You are Jeff Goldstein, the blogger dude, not some Tiger Woodsian figure. No sir Goldstein, until you win the U.S. Open on one leg I won’t be standing in line to pay for your nachos and beer.
Comment by Cowboy on 6/28 @ 4:12 pm #
Speaking of getting together, JD, are the plans for “PW Flyover Country I” any nearer completion?
Comment by Cowboy on 6/28 @ 4:14 pm #
thor:
I had a friend in high school who constantly called into question the masculinity of any and all athletes.
A few years after graduation, he came out of the closet.
Just saying.
Comment by thor on 6/28 @ 5:07 pm #
My calling into question the masculinity of athletes? I originally went to college on a athletic scholarship. I’m a dumb jock from way back. If it wasn’t me who gave you nerdy pin heads the swirly after PE then it was someone like me.
Comment by Spies, Brigands, and Pirates on 6/28 @ 5:15 pm #
I originally went to college on a athletic scholarship.
Greco-Roman wrestling, I’m guessing.
Just because you seem like the kind of guy who’d be into that.
Comment by CArin -BONC on 6/28 @ 5:21 pm #
Unfortunately, not every day in Chicago has seen my so (relatively) clear of mind  meaning that those of you interested in my nipples will almost certainly find them on YouTube at some point or another
Dicentra … if you see ‘em, email me.
Comment by thor on 6/28 @ 5:26 pm #
Just because you seem like the kind of guy who’d be into that.
You strike me as a Turkish wrestling type.
Comment by Spies, Brigands, and Pirates on 6/28 @ 6:31 pm #
You strike me as a bloviating ninny. At least this time you’re bragging about something that can’t be checked (quite) as easily as your claim to be a Set Theory Ghod.
Of course, it’s brutally irrelevant to the topic under discussion, but one can’t have everything, I suppose.
BTW, I was named All-American nine times, live in a 500 room mansion, and sleep with supermodels every night.
Oh, yeah: that’s not true, and wouldn’t matter even if it were.
Comment by nishizonoshinji on 6/28 @ 7:49 pm #
sheesh….dont chu all wanna lecture me on the holocaust and sanger some more?
Jindal is a freaking charismatic catholic and he is lobbying for castration of criminals.
How is that not eugenics?
the republican party is on self-destruct.
do you know why?
religion is simply anti-pathetic to liberty.
how can the repubs be the libertarian party if the theocons are anti-liberty?
all this crap about the founders bein xian.
pure bullshit.
it is all about teh power.
and your going down.
Comment by Spies, Brigands, and Pirates on 6/28 @ 7:52 pm #
Nishi:
Heh.
Also: Heh.
Hear that loud double THUMP-THUMP sound? That’s you going under the bus, honey.
Comment by Aldo on 6/28 @ 8:03 pm #
Hey Nishi
I got our book. I’ll put up a discussion thread over at the Pub after I’ve had a chance to look it over.
Meanwhile, check this out:
Check this
Comment by Slartibartfast on 6/29 @ 7:49 am #
Bela Fleck is a banjo hero. He does shit on the banjo that it doesn’t occur to anyone else to do on the guitar. Keith Richards, on the other hand, is a competent, workmanlike musician who’s somehow passed over from overdose to chemical preservation.
Listen to Fleck sometime; really listen. I recommend a live show. Actually, scratch that, because there’s so much jaw-dropping goodness coming from the rest of the band that you might barely notice in passing that during Futureman’s drum solo, Fleck is playing some time-and-key-signature-adjusted swatch of a classical piece as backdrop, perfectly plucked and fretted, just because he can.
Trackback by M Audio The Oddity on 7/1 @ 2:10 pm #
M Audio The Oddity…
The Oddity from GForce is a meticulous emulation of the classic ARP Odyssey …
Trackback by Cooking classes in south dakota. on 7/31 @ 4:49 pm #
Cooking classes nyc….
Recreational cooking classes. Houston cooking classes. Cooking classes toronto….