I never thought I would make the transition so soon but I am becoming one of those grumpy old curmudgeons that seems to never be happy. I mean I am happy. I have a beautiful wife and an adorable son. I have a good (albeit stressful) job and I am not want for much. I guess I just hate that people take advantage of others instead of working just as hard as I do to get what I want.

The classic hair-pullingly frustrating example was today at the grocery store. It wasn’t the slow and inattentive cashiers, it wasn’t even the inconsiderate folks who wedge their family of 12 into one of the aisles completely grid locking it and my ability to purchase yogurt in tube form. Nope, my issue was much more sinister and selfish. As I am pushing Tom through the bakery section which is designed to keep all the tasty pastries and cakes at Tom’s eye level, Tom said he wanted a cookie. The bakery at Hannafords is really awesome about offering a cookie to children who are 12 and under. Its like a concession to the already stressed parents who have to wrangle their kids though a store that is designed for impulse. The 5 minutes of pleasure and distraction that a single sugar cookie can offer is priceless. So, I head to the small 12″ bin on the pastry counter to grab Tom one of these 5 minute timeout cookies. Except I have to wait. I figured hey no big deal, another parent is looking for the same calgon moment. Except this parent looks more like my parents (maybe in her mid to late 60′s). Ok, cool. Gramma is helping watch little Timmy or Rachel for the afternoon. Nope. Not a single other person around. Just an elderly lady stealing cookies. Cookies that Hannaford’s doesn’t need to offer and definitely doesn’t intend for its older patrons. I tried to ignore it, grab Tom his cookie, and assume that this women’s cookie intentions were noble. Like so many times in society today, I wasn’t wrong. I notice this same women 5 minutes later nibbling away in the salad dressing aisle. Argh!!!! I wanted to say something but was crippled by the thought that maybe my anger is unwarranted. Maybe she has a good reason to take cookies from children. Maybe she has some reason besides being a common cookie thief and overall, bad person. It’s sad because I am sure this wasn’t her first or last time doing such a thing. Eventually, I am sure Hannaford in an effort to control costs and minimize cookie consumption will eliminate them all together and then has anyone truly won besides our cookie thief.

Back to me and moving beyond the universally implications of this cookie stealing event, I am just frustrated that I didn’t say a word. Just internalized my frustration and kept the cart moving forward. Tom was completely unaware of the situation and content with the sugary goodness of his own cookie. I guess sometimes its better to just say nothing if you have nothing nice to say. I am sure Karma will work itself out. But I wonder and feel free to comment, would I have been just in saying something? Is my lack of action help her justify the behavior? Did I do the right thing?

What are your thoughts?

I need to do a better job posting updates here. I think I spend too much time on Facebook and not enough here. Lets see whats happened since April. I am now in charge of Utilities in Merrimack. The Bruins won the freaking Stanley Cup. The Red Sox are number #1 in the American League. I have brewed 4 more beers under the CCB label and helped Steve in his first project beer (a Belgian Wit). Look for more pictures, lots of brewery updates, pictures of random stuff, and Tom updates. I am off to Maine now for the Master Brewers Meeting at Baxter Brewing. Cheers

The Red Sox suck and I wonder if my offseason of naming home brewed beers various Red Sox themes has caused it. The “Dirty Water” of my maple oatmeal stout and the lagerific taste of the “Right Field Roof Box” lager may have created a short of disturbance in the force. Maybe I need to focus more on the teams that need it, “Another 40″ malt liquor to celebrate the 40 years its been since the Bruins hoisted Lord Stanleys Cup might just be what the doctor ordered.

Anyway, off to Fenway to hopefully reverse my curse on the team. Go Red Sox, Go Celtics, and why not, Go Bruins.

Sorry for being slow to update. For those wondering, I didn’t get the assistant brewmaster position in Newark. The interviews went really well and from the feedback I received they had me ranked as their second choice. I sort of knew that it would be a little of a stretch as I do not have a lot of the management experience that I would have needed. Technically, I am awesome and they would be happy to have me but this position would have lots of people reporting to me so having a few more months or experience would be beneficial.

In all of this, I was offered a job in our Innovation group in Saint Louis. It was a lateral position but Innovation and New Product development has always interested me. I was excited about being offered the position but after through consideration, I turned it down. I have a great opportunity in Merrimack and my “almost” success in the Newark interview just reinforces that I have a better career path on the track that I am on. It is always fun to know you are valued and wanted and the process of interview just reiterated that.

So I am staying in New Hampshire a little while longer. Spring is in the air, Champion City Brewing is started to heat up. Look for new beer news in the coming weeks.