Driving Mrs Liz ...

Nothing going on today.

Gotcha ... ;-)

We had an appointment today with our liquor license expediter. See, we are planning to open a restaurant and biergarten, emphasis on BEER! Like in most places around here, except for the North Pole, Antarctica, and a small planet in the vicinity of Betelgeuse, you need a liquor license to serve alcohol. New York State is none of the previously mentioned exceptions, ergo, liquor license required.

We use an expediter to apply for our liquor license, that is a person in the know. It is worth the money, or else the headaches from dealing with bureaucracy would most likely make me start drinking (do I need a license for that?).

Anyhow, two years ago Robin Hood took over New York State, and suddenly the rules changed. Robin Hood is long gone, having been caught with a shady lady, but the rule changes are still intact, and that caused the bureaucracy to become even more bureaucratic, and slow.

We applied for our liquor license in February 2008, almost a year ago, and we may actually get approved pretty soon, i.e. in maybe a month or two. Granted, it doesn't matter right now that we don't have a liquor license, but imagine someone opening a wine bar, and not being able to serve the very beverage that defines the business.

There were some issues and questions raised by the liquor authority, which we were able to wash away with a nice bottle of Pinot Noir ... kidding.

As we were out and about anyway, we drove around looking for wood to cover the beams in the beer hall with something nicer. We went to lumber yards and saw mills and got good advice and ideas, but we didn't buy anything, yet, still contemplating.

So in that sense nothing was going on today.

Dirk