N. and I first had Chimay during our courtship while having dinner at The Copper Grill (very, very fine steaks) last March, and have since taken to purchasing it at Chan’s Wine World in Destin.

Chimay is brewed by Trappist monks at the Abbey of Scourmont in Belgium. Also known as Cistercians of the Strict Observance, these monks follow the rule of St. Benoit, dating back to the 6th century. It is from the Abbey of La Grande Trappe, in Normandy, that the popular name of ‘Trappists’ originates. Thomas Merton, you may remember, was himself a Trappist at the Abbey of Gethsemani, Kentucky. The Trappists of Scourmont have perfected the art of triple-fermented beer which is brewed at the Abbey and bottled at Baileux, a few kilometres away. The Trappists of Scourmont also make cheese that is said to be excellent. A majority of the profits from the beer and cheese are used for various Trappist charities. The Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky, which is a lot closer in proximity for most of us, produces cheese, fruit cakes, and bourbon fudge.

I drove out to the Emerald Coast Wine Cellar this afternoon and purchased a crate of local muscadine wine. It’s a beautiful day out; a peaceful drive along the beach, in the quiet and windy sunshine. Perhaps we’ll go for a walk tonight.

Sarah and I somehow managed a free meal at the Bonefish grill tonight, so while she takes a pregnant nap on the sofa (which naturally is more comfortable than our bed, even though we’ve worked hard to have the most comfortable bed short of down), I’m going out to cap the evening with a glass of Chimay Red and a bowl of 1Q.

What are some good stores to shop at for maternity clothes?

The second and third installments of Alastair Roberts’ thoughts on transubstantiation. I,II, III.

There’s been a stange and unintended intersection between A.S. Byatt’s A Biographer’s Tale, which I read over the weekend, and my work, which has led me into research on the Semantic Web . I became interested in metadata while looking for a way to standardize exchanges between the systems with which the test engineers in my office work and the data reduction/analysis tools that I and my predecessor have developed. The whole scope of what metadata is supposed to be able to do - flexible taxonomies, the death of ontology, xml, folksonomies, essentially change the way we view ideas - is a bit beyond what I need. I just want a standard that will outlive my time on the project.

The idea behind XML, the idea of a standardized data exchange language that can meet the subjective needs of users, is very intriguing, but the trend is to create data storage systems in XML as well, which seems unneccessary. Actually, I realize that the more I talk about this, the more technical I will become and the more confused most readers and myself will become, so I’ll cut this off here. As I said, I’m only just learning about a lot of this stuff, so if you’re interested, follow the links, but don’t expect me to be able to comment very intelligently on the debates that surround this phenomena.