El Bloggo Torcido - Twisted Oak Winery

Frozen Dead Guy Days

Hello All, Pimp Daddy here coming to you from the road in beautiful Colorado. I know I usually put everything on video but I'm having technical difficulty. (Can't seem to find my video cam..) Anyway, I had to tell everyone about this very cool place in Colorado up the hill from Boulder called Nederland. There is a great Liquor Store there called Dam Liquor, which now supports our Twisted Juice by carrying most of our line up. The great thing about Nederland, besides being a very cool small town in the Rockies, is their annual festival called, Frozen Dead Guy Days. As I was pulling into town, with my rep Ryan from Wine Source of Colorado, some guys were on the side of the road putting up banners for Frozen Dead Guy Days. Right away I knew this whole town was very Twisted, in a good way. I won't go into all the details about the festival but you can check out the link: www.nederlandchamber.org/FrozenDeadGuyDays/ at your leisure.

I know it's very late notice but I will be doing a Tasting in downtown Denver tonight at Trios Enoteca beginning at 7:00 pm and going to whenever. The cost is $25.00 and includes light apps. (that would be appetizers not appointments!) Got to run and sell more of Fermento's fabulous juice before the gig. Cheers,

Pimp Daddy

TYRCTWW: Let The Voting Begin!

May I have the... whoops, getting ahead of myself!

Before I can have the envelope I need all of you to do one thing: vote!

The winner can't be the winner unless all of you out there vote for your favorite. Voting is not only fun, we're throwing in an added bonus: everyone who votes and includes their email address with their ballot will be entered in a drawing to win a $20 coupon good towards your next purchase from twistedoak.com! So, what are you waiting for? Take a look at all of the finalists below and...

Go to the Take Your Rubber Chicken To Work Week Voting Page!

Voting ends at the end of the day, March 4, 2008.

And here are the finalists! (Click on each image to see the larger version - it helps!)

#1: Rubber Chicken Xeroxes Butt by Les Duman: "This was a bad idea! Production was seriously compromised at Peridot!!"

#2: Rubber Chicken Goes Down the Bung Hole by Farley Walker: "When I found him there, it seemed he’d gotten Edgar, one of the cellar guys, to help him climb on top of the barrel, where he then tried to dive right in. Looks like his head was a little too big."

#3: Rubber Chicken Addresses the IRS by Megan: "Bob found himself at a podium and tried to give a speech, but unfortunately government minions don't seem to understand 'chicken.'"

#4: Rubber Chicken Gets Caught Watching Porn at Work by Darrel Harris: "I caught Zorba (The Geek) using the internet in an inappropriate manner during lunch.  I'm not sure but I think he got fired for this."

#5: Rubber Chicken Sex Education by Lynn Hirth: "My students really got into the whole 'take your chicken to work week,' although I'm not really sure what they told their parents..."

#6: Rubber Chicken Gets Comfortably Numb at the Dentist by Erica Lusch: "I loved taking my Rubber Chicken To Work!  My patients loved my chicken too!"

#7: Rubber Chicken Will Work for *%#&@! Wine by John Potter: "Me and my chicken at my freelance job."

Go to the Take Your Rubber Chicken To Work Week Voting Page!

TYRCTWW: Honorable Mention Part 2

Some more excellent entries that didn't quite make the cut...

Above: Douglas Enns' Rubber Chicken had a hard time getting started in the morning...

Below: Helen Linder took her Rubber Chicken to her salon for a nice shampoo...

Above: Good dental hygiene seemed to be a popular theme, including this entry from Donna Korner...

Below: I'll let Michael Maroney explain in his own words: "It was no problem for me to get a rubber chicken picture.  I have had one in the cold room in my biochemistry lab at the U of Massachusetts for 20 years.  Here she is.  Ain't she a beauty?"

And above, WAY above: Uncle Jon Hannan, Retired Air Force Test Pilot and glider ride pilot from Minden, NV, let his Rubber Chicken into the, uh, cockpit...

TYRCTWW: Honorable Mention Part 1

Here are some of the excellent submissions that unfortunately didn't make the final list...

Above: From our old friends (and former employees) Carla and Jason we can see that the employment situation in Texas is getting dire. (And not that kind of trick! Jason is also a magician!)

Below: Our new friend Heather Hacking (who writes a column for the Chico Enterprise Record as well as her own Sow There! blog) sent along the following and tried to convince us that this was work... what do you think?

Above: Dawn LaPlante decided she had to take her Rubber Chicken all the way to work in London! (You can tell it's England because it says "Car Park".)

Below: Jeanie Wigley was the only entrant who made sure her Rubber Chicken was dressed appropriately for the office...

And above: My good friend Matt may have missed the part about "Work" (unless he became a lifeguard and didn't tell me) but no matter what, a Rubber Chicken Rocket is cool!

TYRCTWW: Please Stand By!

The deadline for entries has passed, and the Twisted Crew spent part of yesterday sifting through well over 100 submitted photos to decide which ones will be our finalists. There were so many excellent submissions it was a difficult process to get it down to only 7 finalists!

Remember YOU the El Bloggo Torcido reader will be voting on the winning photo!

It will take me a couple days to be sure that the voting is set up properly. In the meantime I'll be making a few posts to share with you some of the entries we did receive that at least deserve honorable mention. Stand by for those posts!

But first I'd like to give some "link love" to the three entrants who submitted their photos and the story behind them through posts on their own blogs. (I'm not saying that there isn't a finalist in this bunch, but I'm not saying there is, either - Bwa ha ha!)

My Rubber Chicken Followed Me to Work on Behind the Vines

Is That a Rubber Chicken? on Wannabe Wino

Take Your Rubber Chicken To Work?? Never Again!! on One Wine per Week

Stay tuned!

The Rubber Chicken and the Narrative in American Literature

A few of the entries we have received have included a narrative, with photos of the Rubber Chicken that go with the story. Farley posted such an entry on her Behind the Vines blog (enjoy!)

Lest there be any confusion, this type of entry is just fine! If you have been hesitating to send in your own Great American Rubber Chicken Novel, please don't hesitate! Start pounding the QWERTY and get it to me by the end of the day, Wednesday, February 20!

Another example was emailed to me by Emily Enns, which is reproduced for you below in its entirety. I think you'll like it!

My dear friends at Twisted Oak...

 

I have a great story to go along with my "Bring Your Rubber Chicken to Work" picture.  So even if I don't win the grand prize, I know everyone will get a good laugh out of my story (even if it is kinda [ok, really] long).  To give a little background on myself... My name is Emily and I'm a 24 year old graduate student getting my masters degree in Genetic Counseling (I'm smart!) at Cal State Northridge (CSUN) in southern California.  I grew up in San Jose and my parents have owned a house near Camp Connell for about 12 years.  I have been familiar with Twisted Oak for many years... and have enjoyed your wine since I attended my first Passport weekend when I turned 21 (I'm actually one of those "good girls" who didn't "drink" until I turned 21... seriously!.. well kinda... I was 20 years and 360 days old when I went to my first Passport weekend and drank.. we'll leave that story for another long e-mail or Passport Weekend 2008).  I love your wines and everyone and their dog has loved the "Are You Twisted?" pins, shirts and underwear I have.  Enough of that... let's get down to the story...

 

It all started about two weeks ago when my spring semester started up at CSUN.  For one of my classes I have to do a semester long internship at a local hospital.  This semester I am working at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Beverly Hills talking to patients about genetic testing options for different cancer syndromes (I won't make your head explode by going into more detail about that).  My first day on the job I was a good student and brought my trusty notebook and my purse.  My purse just happened to have the "Give a Friend a *%#&@!" pin on it.  One of the doctors saw it and I was mortified when she pointed it out because I knew that wasn't exactly appropriate in a professional work setting... but she loved it and thought it was funny so I didn't get in trouble with her.  When I got home I quickly took the pin off my purse so I wouldn't get into trouble at work for having inappropriate accessories. 

 

A few days later I was sitting at my desk at home... procrastinating... like I often do... and I saw the pin on my desk.  To procrastinate more and keep myself busy for a while I decided to check out your website which you have so kindly provided on the pins.  I was excited to see that the following week was "Take Your Rubber Chicken to Work Week".  I quickly sent out an e-mail to all of my friends telling them about the event and encouraging them to partake in the fun.  I then started thinking about where I would bring my rubber chicken and where I would take a picture with it.  I realized that my rubber chicken.. the one my mom bought me a few years ago at the tasting room in Murphys.. is at my boyfriend's house in San Jose.  This past summer I hung it up on the wall in our bedroom as a joke... and it has stayed there ever since.  I had to find some way to get my rubber chicken down to me in southern California for the big week.  Luckily my boyfriend was planning on driving down on the 4th to spend the week with me.  I told him he had to bring the rubber chicken with him so I could partake in the festivities.  My parents were going to be in the Twisted Oak area on the 2nd and 3rd and they were both going to buy rubber chickens to bring to work.  They offered to buy one for me too and ship it to me.  But I said no, cause I was gonna ask the boyfriend to bring mine to me.  The boyfriend agreed to bring it and I reminded him before he left to come down here... and everything was right in the world **cue lovey dovey squawking rubber chickens and hearts floating in the air**

 

**BANG! BANG!**  (the chickens just got shot down from the sky... so sad) 

 

Back to the story...

 

So my boyfriend calls me when he is four hours into the five hour drive down here.  The conversation goes like this:

- "Honey, I'm gonna tell you something... and you have to promise not to get mad at me..."

- "I can't promise I won't get mad... but tell me anyways"

- "Well ummmm... remember how you gave me a list of things to bring with me....?"

- "Yes..."

- "Well... uhhhhhhh... I... forgottherubberchicken!"

- "You WHAT!?!?!? I even reminded you before you left.  Like RIGHT BEFORE you left! I CAN"T BELIEVE you forgot it!"

- "I know baby... I'm so sorry.  I feel really bad."

- "Fine fine... nothing you can do about it now... but now your job this week is to find me a rubber chicken to take a picture with"

- "I know I know... I will"

He ends up apologizing every two seconds once he gets here.  I knew that he would find a rubber chicken somewhere so I got back to trying to figure out where I would take the picture with my new friend.  Boyfriend finally found a rubber chicken at the local mall on Tuesday while I was at work.  He surprised me with it when I got home. This rubber chicken is not like your rubber chickens.... this one does this super annoying scream when you squeeze it.  I fell in love with it when I saw it and I have slept with it every night since then (well not really... but that would be funny).  As I was going to bed on Tuesday night I had a great idea.  I was set to do a presentation on the genetics of autism to my classmates at CSUN.  I had to pick two science journal articles about the genetics of autism and present the findings to the class.  I thought it would be great to incorporate my rubber chicken into my presentation.  At first I was going to use my chicken as a pointer... but that was a bad idea since anytime I touched the thing it screamed.  So I came up with a better idea... I put a picture of a rubber chicken on the title slide of my power point presentation. Then I took it one step further and put a little rubber chicken picture on every slide (50ish slides in total).  I even found a way (with the help of my mom) to justify the rubber chicken in my presentation. There is a woman in San Jose who teachers and works with autistic children.  She uses a rubber chicken in the classroom to serve as a fidget toy for the children and to remind everyone that no one is perfect... when someone does something incorrectly or is embarrassed about something they did, they are able to hit themselves on the head with a rubber chicken so they can learn to laugh at and accept their mistakes.  Checkout her website and the story behind the rubber chicken at http://www.socialthinking.com/rubberstory.asp. 

 

So my rubber chicken sat next me while I presented.  Everyone loved the rubber chicken and the story and my presentation (I don't think my teacher fell asleep during mine like she usually does for the presentations)... and I got my classmate to take a picture of me and my new rubber chicken and my presentation.  I have attached the picture for your viewing pleasure which will serve as my submission for the picture contest.  I have also attached my power point presentation about the genetics of autism (complete with the rubber chickens on each slide) for your information... because I know ya'll want to know more about the genetics of autism (or not... whatever.. see if I care!).

 

So now we are at the end of my (long) story... I hope you enjoyed all of it.  Go and spread the word!

 

My new rubber chicken now hangs in my room here and my housemate squeezes it every time he comes into my room.  Lovely, isn't it?  Well it's time for me to stop procrastinating so i can do my work.... so I can graduate (in May!!) and move back up to San Jose... where I will be able to take regular trips up to the mountains and to Twisted Oak to enjoy the company and the wine.  See ya'll for Passport Weekend 2008.. I'll be the cute blond telling everyone to be nice to me cause my birthday is a few days after Passport Weekend.

 

Signed Your Twisted Servant,

 

Emily Enns

Another Presidents Dinner Under Our Belts

Last night a large contingent of the Twisted Few convened at the Winery for our annual Twisted Presidents Dinner. We feasted on salmon, beef, gumbo, and creme brule, among other stuff. These were all washed down with several selections from our Twisted Wine Library - including the 2003 *%#&@! and 2002 Petite Sirah. And Once again we had the crazies from Peridot Corp. who had livened up the event so much last year (but unlike last year, they mostly kept to their own devices, so to speak... except for the lovely bit of laser etching you see there to the right!)

One other item of note: Greg, spawn of El Jefe and the Queen, turned 21 yesterday. And following a family tradition we started yesterday, Greg served barrel samples of the 2006 River of Skulls and 2006 The Spaniard to tasting room visitors during the day Saturday. After the dinner, we served him a platter of cupcakes filled with candles to a rousing chorus of Happy Birthday. (Later in the evening Greg lost his cupcakes... but that was just clumsiness!)

Hope you enjoy this smattering of pictures from the evening. And we would like to thank Amber and the crew of Sugar and Spice Catering of Jamestown, CA for the outstanding food!

Above: Presidential Hopeful Hilary and First Lady Hopeful Bill joined us for the day. (Apologies to Kevin, who came dressed as President John Kennedy - I got no good pictures...)
Below: The crew from Peridot...

Above: Our fierce Twisted Few! Below: Greg blows his cupcakes...

Below: Amber (L) and her crew from Sugar and Spice!

Deadline Extended!

When we first scheduled Take Your Rubber Chicken to Work Week, I think I underestimated the speed of the internet (word is still just getting out.) That, coupled with the fact that Monday is a National Holiday, has compelled me to extend the deadline for submitting your photos and/or videos two more days to Wednesday, February 20th. Don't miss your chance to take part in the fun!

(rubber chicken dental hygiene photo by Erica Lusch!)

There's Still Time!

But not a lot of time to get your pictures and videos in for Take Your Rubber Chicken to Work Week. As you can see the entries are pouring in...

You still have six days. If you were on vacation last week, that's OK - think of this week as a "make up week". As long as you have it in to me by February 18th, I'm happy!

(photo of Ruben xeroxing his butt by Lynn Hirth!)

Dark and Delicious

Tonight Fermento and I slipped into the city under cover of darkness to take part in the "Dark and Delicious" food and wine event, which was put on by Jo Diaz (that's her to the right there) and the PS I Love You group.

Thirty-six wineries poured nothing but Petite Sirah and twenty-one restaurants served food to go with it. Our 2005 Calaveras County Petite Sirah was a big hit, and so were the Rubber Chickens!

The event was scheduled to run from 6PM to 9PM but, even though we were serving tasting-sized pours, we ran out of a whole case of wine by 8PM!

We'd like to thank Jo, and everyone else who attended, for making this such a fun event!