So what AREN'T you drinking now?

@BlueNote, you have my profound and ongoing sympathies. Did you discuss with your physician a steady controlled dose of ethanol as your primary anticoagulant? That would be a lot more enjoyable than taking Warfarin or some other crap. You could discuss your proposed whisky agenda at your periodic visits. Maybe some of the more recent anticoagulants are a lot better than Warfarin (which in higher does is used as rat poison), if your state system will pay for them. I took Warfarin for 6 months after surgery a few years ago. What a pain in the butt...the list of foods to avoid, the monthly blood tests. I was counting the days to get off the stuff. But your situation sounds more like an anticoagulant life sentence. I certainly hope that it is not.

@Victor Very good suggestions. A steady drip of Nadurra 16 or Laphroaig 18 should keep things under control. Actually, I'm on Rivaroxaban, which is much better than Warfarin, but not anywhere near as good as Lagavulin 16.

@Victor

I did a brief unofficial search on anticoagulants and while every patient is different, the risk of bleeding goes up with more than 1-2 drinks a day. NOACs and warfarin are the same.

Alcohol does not provide anticoagulant protection for Afib.

Otherwise it would be a wonderful way to do it...

@Nozinan, alcohol cannot be taken for recreational purposes because it is an anticoagulant, but cannot serve as an anticoagulant for therapeutic purposes, is that what you just said?

@Victor Alcohol is not really an anticoagulant. It has no effect on the clotting cascade unless by means of liver failure. It does increase the risk of bleeding from drugs like aspirin and can cause gastritis and bleeding, that way.

So you are saying that more than 2 drinks produces liver failure?

...perhaps more liver function inhibition?

@Victor Disclaimer: I am providing no medical advice.

What I'm saying is that the most common way in which alcohol affects coagulation is in the extreme cases where people get liver damage. In a healthy person 1-2 drinks a day SHOULD not lead to liver damage, but I make no guarantees. When a person has another illness affecting the liver, such as haemochromatosis, hepatitis B or C, which may have no symptoms, that amount may not be safe.

The 1-2 drinks comes from my online search of recommendations for a number of oral anticoagulants.

The best person to determine how much one should consume would be one's primary care physician, not some online hack by the name of @Nozinan.

@Nozinan, all of your disclaimers have been noted.

@Victor I think @Nozinan is talking moderation. A good rule to live by. I have to cut back on my potato chip habit as well as my malt habit.

@BlueNote Well, I've gotten in trouble pontificating on moderation. I was just trying to get across that the literature seems to suggest anticoagulation is safe with moderate amounts of alcohol but that people should get individual advice from their own doctors.

@BlueNote, Ohhh, potato chips. I wish you would have disclosed that previously;) lol

I wholeheartedly agree, moderation is the key.

Much of anything tonight and for the next few nights. I'm currently trying to empty my cabinets for the move and all my bottles are stashed out of the way of the movers who will be here in a few days.

I COULD rummage around and find an open bottle and I still have some glasses lurking around, but I'm getting stressed out by the move. Lots to pack and running out of time. Contractors still working. My wife was rear-ended on the highway with the kids in the car. No one was hurt but it will take most of tomorrow morning to do the paperwork and tonight was a write-off for packing. So with all this stress I tend to stay away anyhow.

Sunday a friend will help me to move my collection after the move the day before, and given I moved into the house I'm going back to when I was 12 years old, I hope to thank him in the evening by sharing some 12 YO Springbank CS, and any other 12 YO whiskies I can find that survive the journey.

@Nozinan Glad to hear that none of your loved ones was hurt in the rear ender. Scary nonetheless and a reminder that it's a dangerous world out there.

I'm not drinking 'Velvet Rope Experience' (which retails for $3,300). It is that time of year again when TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) invades the beautiful city of Toronto and bores the snot out of all of us. The last place Blue Jays are looking attractive for their six home games during the TIFF invasion.

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News hounds at theloop.ca report,

_"Last year, the Ritz-Carlton in downtown Toronto debuted a $600 cocktail at TIFF in honor of the city’s Drake-given name, ‘The 6.’ The drink was basically a souped-up Manhattan (we see what you did there) and came garnished with an edible gold leaf. How does one top a drink like that? By offering something that’s more than a drink.

The ‘Velvet Rope Experience’ is more than just a cocktail. It’s a drink and dine combo consisting of some of the most expensive liquor and nibbles money can buy. The drink is a spin on a French 75 cocktail and is made with Louis XIII cognac (which retails for $3,300) and Cristal Champagne (which goes for about $300) and topped with a caramelized hibiscus flower.

The ‘Experience’ includes two of those bougie cocktails and six New Brunswick oysters topped with Acadian wild sturgeon caviar. So you’re pretty much looking at the most expensive combination of food and booze you’ll ever see (assuming you’re not a millionaire) and it’s not even a meal’s-worth.

The only time to get The Velvet Rope is during TIFF this year (September 7 – 17) and the bartenders at the Ritz-Carlton seem to believe that people will be enchanted by the extravagance and Hollywood atmosphere and splurge on the package. The hotel sold about 30 of ‘The 6’ last year, and that was almost half the price of this year’s incarnation."_

theloop.ca/heres-whats-1000-tiff-cocktail/

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@paddockjudge I'm IN! I'll just tell the contractors that we don't need a front door...

@paddockjudge The Summerhill LCBO had the Louis XIII cognac in their tasting room for $60. A friend and I bit and have to admit it is a mighty fine cognac but all things considering, the Napoleon 21 offers the same taste at $2950 less.

@paddockjudge, yeah, better to hang out at those Jays' games...but you are going to have to kidnap Edwin Encarnacion back to Toronto. That's what the Blue Jays need, and more decent pitchers. Every time I see Encarnacion I think of you. You are kindred spirits. He is looking mighty good in Cleveland these days.

@Victor Too good. I'm a Red Sox fan and the prospect of facing Cleveland in the first round is worrisome. But the Jays also need some help in the field. Pillar only looks "good" because the rest of what the Jays have is mediocre at best.

@OdysseusUnbound A decent bullpen would be a start for next year.

@BlueNote @OdysseusUnbound @Victor

Everything started to go south when they traded Grilli. He could have held the team together.

Oh, and fewer injuries. And not having everyone slumping all the time...

@Nozinan Yes, the slumping factors large.

@BlueNote and yet....Morales hit three home runs tonight and they did hold on for the win.

@Nozinan I missed the game tonight. I usually do the Jays in 30. Sounds like there is life yet.

People still watch baseball? Sorry guys it's so slow paced and boring to me. College football and basketball is much more fun to watch. Watching baseball is like watching paint dry.

@casualtorture I can't watch Golf or soccer (excuse me...futball) without falling asleep. Ditto for any kind of racecar event. Snore. My top 3 are hockey (surprise), NFL football and MLB. I grew up watching the Expos and I've always appreciated the strategy involved in baseball.

I like the Blue Jays, but I would be happy to see Baltimore beat them the next three days. l do live in Maryland, you know. And was born in Baltimore. For 34 years DC didn't have a team, and DC area residents became Orioles fans.

@casualtorture, I understand your sentiments. I stopped watching baseball for about 30 years at one stretch. Tastes change and fluctuate. It helps enthusiasm to have a good local team. DC has mostly been a barren wasteland for baseball after the 1920s. Now we have a good team. Yes, @Nozinan, I know that the Nationals used to be the Expos.

As for basketball, I play. I have been a member of three weekly games for a few years now, one of them for 20 years. I play with people sometimes 30, 40, even 50 years younger than I am. I stay away from whisky on my game days. Whisky does not help my game.

@OdysseusUnbound, I am with you on golf, (world) football, and racing...and would add poker. I cannot fathom why anyone would want to watch gambling on TV. Live, at a casino, you can actually feel the energy at a craps table as the chips get hauled away. That is kind of exciting, for a few minutes, anyway.

You can sit in your recliner reading a book with the ball game on while the commentators drone on with their endless statistics (only three runners who were on base before a rain delay of over one hour and fifteen minutes have ever made it to home plate since 1954). You only have to look up when you hear the crack of the bat and the roar of the crowd. That's when you see a spectacular double play or outfield catch, or Jose Bautista gunning down a runner at home plate with a pinpoint throw from deep in the outfield. Then you go back to your book, your beverage of choice, your big bowl of chips and wait for the next magic moment. What's not to like.

@BlueNote When's the last time Joey Batts did ANYTHING (positively) noteworthy like that? Especially on defense...Eeesh. I'm a Red Sox fan, but living within as close to Toronto as I do, I see a lot of Blue Jays games. Well, I used to, when they were worth watching...