I was finally able to read The Abortionist, by Michael James Caughill.

The Abortionist is the story of an ex-Milwaukee police officer, Elliot, who was left paralyzed after he was shot in the line of duty. Now, instead of fighting crime, Elliot spends his days writing a well-known crime blog. When the recent murders of a serial killer hit close to home, he is pushed into helping the police solve the crimes.

The first thing that you will notice about this book is that it is distinctively Milwaukee. From the names of businesses to the street names, you can actually see exactly where the murders are occurring. If you are lucky enough to have met Michael Caughill in real life (he is a Milwaukee blogger and runs the site FromWhereISit.org – the same as the blog mentioned in the book), you will even picture Michael as Elliot. For the record, though, Michael does not use a wheelchair in real life*.

The storyline in Caughill’s novel is terrific. Though the chapters flip-flop between Elliot’s encounters and those of the twisted Abortionist, it is very easy to follow along. The love story seems real, almost if it was written from experience. The murders are gruesome, but they have to be in order to keep the story in tact. The language is conversational and allows you to actually believe that you are listening to Milwaukeeans speak their native tongue.

Pick up Caughill’s book, The Abortionist, today. You won’t be disappointed.

*though I was almost disappointed when I read that Elliot has hair. I’m sure it was wishful thinking by Michael.

Prepackaged energy comes in many forms: drinks, pills, concentrates, gels, and candy-like chews. Over the years, I have written a lot about the different energy drinks available. And, until recently, I had only tried one type of energy chew — Kick Brix. It was one of the worst taste disasters that my tongue has ever encountered. Ever.

When I was recently given a few packages of HyDrive Energy Chews to try, I was initially reluctant. The Kick Brix experience left me with a pretty mean learned-taste aversion. I didn’t want the gagging, salivating, and twitching sensations that I was left with after my last run-in with energy chews.

But, I tried the HyDrive Energy Chews anyway.

The directions instruct you to eat two chews right away, then wait an hour and eat another chew, and then wait one more hour to eat the last one in the package. I followed the directions, and to my delight, they tasted great!  I could feel the energy burst quite quickly after eating the first two chews.

I was given two different flavors of the chews – orange and berry. My favorite of the two is orange, but the berry holds its own, as well.

Recently, I have been taking a lot of long bicycle rides. On my last 50+ mile ride, I took along a package of HyDrive ECs. I ate two about fifteen minutes prior to my ride, and then the last two while I was out on the trail. For the entire trip, I had the energy I needed to keep going. In fact, I could have gone even longer if I had more time. Obviously, a can of Monster would not have sufficed on the bike, but those compact little chews packed a big punch and were easily stored in my under-saddle bag.

To sum things up: I definitely recommend HyDrive Energy Chews.

The last time that I was in Breckenridge, CO, I purchased a sampler pack of Breckenridge Brewery’s different kinds of beer. I was pretty surprised, today, when I walked into John’s Liquor in West Bend and found a bunch of different kinds of Breck. There were some that I had tried already, but then I saw “Vanilla Porter,” and I had to try it.

My initial thought on the beer: it tastes too much like Vanilla Coke. Actually, the vanilla tastes so artificial that it’s hard to drink. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had worse, but this isn’t the best beer that I’ve ever tasted. If it were more “beery” with less “vanilla,” it would be a good beer. Unfortunately, they overdid it.

/10 Bottles of beer on the wall.