Lunch IPA

Met my wife for lunch at Mad Mex. Mmmm... they have a yummy chimmy changa. Had a tall Titan IPA to wash it all down.

Location: Mad Mex
Event: Lunch with my Lovely Wife
Amount Spent on Alcohol: $6.00
Tax Spent: $0.60
2008 Cumulative Drink Tax: $47.43
PAT Usage: 0

Normal After Work Round

Stopped by SoHo with a couple of co-workers after a late night of creating proposal. Got there around 11:30pm and stayed for an hour. Had three beers and went home

Location: SoHo
Event: Drinks after work
Amount Spent on Alcohol: $16.50
Tax Spent: $1.65
2008 Cumulative Drink Tax: $46.83
PAT Usage: 0

Bew Pub

Met the wife and boys at John Harvards Brew Pub after work - had a nice dinner complimented by two brown ales. I highly recommend their brown ale. Good stuff.

Location: John Harvard's Brew Pub - Wilkins Township
Event: Dinner
Amount Spent on Alcohol: $13.60
Tax Spent: $1.36
2008 Cumulative Drink Tax: $45.18
PAT Usage: 0

Pens Game and Fat Heads

Went to a 3pm Pens game with my brother-in-law. For some reason, when we get together we always find beer and plenty of it. It was a good game, but the Pens lost in the shoot out. We managed to mysterously find ourselves at Fatheads after the game eating a pile of wings. Oh man... Fatheads has the best wings on earth.

Location: Mellon Arena and Fatheads
Event: Pens Game and Really Good Hot Wings
Amount Spent on Alcohol: $42.50
Tax Spent: $4.25
2008 Cumulative Drink Tax: $43.82
PAT Usage: 0

Eleven

Went out with some coworkers and their spouses for an excellent dinner at Eleven. I highly recommend this place, by the way. While they have a fantastic wine menu, we opted to stick with beer. And boy did we. The food was great, the drinks kept coming, and the conversation was pleasant. Lot's of laughing - all the way around.

Location: Eleven
Event: food and festivities
Amount Spent on Alcohol: $38.50
Tax Spent: $3.85
2008 Cumulative Drink Tax: $39.57
PAT Usage: 0

Blast from the Past

OK... my buddy calls me last minute and says that he has tickets to Gene Loves Jezebel - a flamboyant alternative, new-wave band from the '80's. In case you didn't know, I was a skateboarder back in high school and listened to all kinds of crazy music - from early alternative to punk to ska to hardcore.

So, anyway, I didn't have anything to do after the traditional church fish fry - so I said, "sure, I'll meet you there". The show was at Clube Diesel - the opitome of cheeze when it comes to venues - and the crowd was full of middle-aged ex-alternative rockers. It was a fairly unsightly crowd of people that used to congregate at the Upstage Lounge or Metropol back in the day.

Anyway, the show was OK. It was enjoyable enough and it brought back a lot of memories. They certainly played all thier "hits". Afterwards, we walked down to Dee's to play some pool and pound a few more Iron Cities. Had a nice night out with my high school buddies.


Location: Club Diesel and Dees
Event: Concert and
Amount Spent on Alcohol: $28.50
Tax Spent: $2.85
2008 Cumulative Drink Tax: $35.72
PAT Usage: 0

Couple of Beers After Work

Stopped in at SoHo and bought a round for the crew before heading home. Much needed alcohol

Location: SoHo on the Northshore
Event: After work round of booze
Amount Spent on Alcohol: $22.25
Tax Spent: $2.23
2008 Cumulative Drink Tax: $32.87
PAT Usage: 0

Tapas Anyone?

Took the wife out on a date. We met her sister and brother-in-law for dinner at Ibiza in the Southside. While I love Tapas... I have to say that I'm not that fond of Ibiza. Frankly, the food just seems over-priced for the quality. But we had a great night. Because I have a designated driver (my wife is pregnant), I managed to tie-one-on. We did a flight of wine and had a few other drinks. All in all... it was a ton of fun.

Location: Ibiza
Event: Evening out.
Amount Spent on Alcohol: $58.00
Tax Spent: $5.80
2008 Cumulative Drink Tax: $30.64
PAT Usage: 0

Pens Game

Yep - went to anther Pens Game. We beat the Islanders 4-3... and I bought two rounds at the arena (4 beers) and two more (4 beers) at my favorite post-game dive bar Shales.

Location: Mellon Arena and Shales
Event: Penguins Win!!!
Amount Spent on Alcohol: $44.00
Tax Spent: $4.40
2008 Cumulative Drink Tax: $24.84
PAT Usage: 0

Working late again

Same story... working at Mad Mex to check email and send some docs.

Location: Mad Mex- Monroeville
Event: Working late - again
Amount Spent on Alcohol: $24.40
Tax Spent: $2.44
2008 Cumulative Drink Tax: $20.44
PAT Usage: 0

Internet is Down - Must Find Wireless

Be careful... very careful. Switching your DSL/Phone/Cable isn't as easy as it sounds. We tried to do the Comcast bundle for $99/month but ran into installation issues. Comcast couldn't get our high-speed internet up and running for a month due to a paperwork snafu, so we decided to switch back to Verizon. In the meantime, Verizon canceled our service, so we have to get back in the queue to get it turned back on. The bottom line... our internet is down and it looks like it will take a couple weeks to get it back up.

So, I have to work late tonight in order to send out a few documents. That means that I need to find highspeed wireless that is available past midnight. The only place I've located in town is Mad Mex. And when you go to Mad Mex at 10PM... well... you have to have a beer... don't you? Well... a few beers... right?

Location: Mad Mex - Monroeville
Event: Working late - cold ones flowing to keep the mind alive
Amount Spent on Alcohol: $19.40
Tax Spent: $1.94
2008 Cumulative Drink Tax: $18.00
PAT Usage: 0

Shopping Break

Shopping on a Sunday at good old Monroeville Mall. Took a break for lunch and felt like a beer... or two.

Location: Houlahans - Monroeville
Event: Lunch while out shopping with the family
Amount Spent on Alcohol: $8.50
Tax Spent: $0.85
2008 Cumulative Drink Tax: $16.06
PAT Usage: 0

$7.70... Please...

Took the family to Shogun Japanese Steakhouse for a nice dinner out. You know... one of those places where the chef puts on a show right in front of you (kinda like this). The boys loved the chef - especially when he lit the grill on fire. I had a couple of fine Sapporo Beers in those cool silver cans. When I asked the waitress how much they cost, she told me, in a thick Japanese accent, "Sapporo were $7.00... now $7.70 due to tax." Ha...

Location: Shogun Japanese Steakhouse - Monroeville
Event: Dinner out with the family
Amount Spent on Alcohol: $14.00
Tax Spent: $1.40
2008 Cumulative Drink Tax: $15.21
PAT Usage: 0

Shot and a Beer

On our way back from a good new business pitch in Philly - we had a couple of drink coupons to "spend" during the flight. We got off the plane a bit happier and decided to cap it off with a shot of Patron and another beer before heading home.

Location: Pittsburgh Airport - TGI Fridays
Event: Traveling back from a new business pitch
Amount Spent on Alcohol: $34.00
Tax Spent: $3.40
2008 Cumulative Drink Tax: $13.81
PAT Usage: 0

Pens Game. Think about this

I took my 4-year old boy the Pens game last night. The Pens lost and Sidney Crosby was injured - he suffered a high ankle sprain that will keep him out for 5-6 weeks.

Oh... and I had a beer at the game. $7 for a Labatt Blue Lite. Who the heck drinks LaBatt Blue Lite.

Location: Mellon Arena
Event: Pittsburgh Penguins Game
Amount Spent on Alcohol: $7.00
Tax Spent: $0.70
2008 Cumulative Drink Tax: $10.41
PAT Usage: 0

This whole thing got me to thinking. If I spend $7 on a beer at a Pens game... how much tax is generated at sporting events in the city. Let's assume that every person at the Pens game had one beer (now, I know that some people won't drink, but there are a lot of people who have 2-4 beers during the course of a game... so lets average that out to one beer per person). That's 17,500 beers x $7.00 = $122,500 in alcohol sales. And 10% is equal to $12,500 in taxes collected from that one event. Multiply that over the 41 home games at Mellon Arena and you come to $512,500 in tax revenue earned from JUST PENGUIN GAMES. And that's not counting playoffs.

Steelers - same rule applies: 70,000 beers consumed during a game x $7 each x 8 home games = $392,000. NOTE: I think there is a lot more drinking at Steeler games - but we'll leave it at that. Pirates - 25,000 is the average attendance and if each person had a beer x $7 apiece x 82 home games = $1,435,000. Drinking might be lighter at Pirate games - but lets hold true to form just for arguments sake.

OK- if you add it all up - $2,339,500 in tax revenue from just local professional sporting events. Wasn't the original gap in PAT funding about $2mm? If so, why couldn't they just tax something like drinks at sporting events. Wouldn't that pay for the gap. Maybe I'm wrong about the $2mm figure... but a tax on all alcohol poured in the county seems like overkill to me.

But who am I... just a poor sap paying for a pour tax.

mmmmust have beer

Well, I plunked down some cash again...

Location: SoHo on the Northside
Event: Worked until midnight to hit a project deadline - then stopped by SoHo after work for a few beers with the boys
Amount Spent on Alcohol: $24.00
Tax Spent: $2.40
2008 Cumulative Drink Tax: $9.71
PAT Usage: 0

Well, I don't think I'm an alcoholic, but this project will certainly have the side effect of tallying how much I spend while out at the bars. My wife is going to love this. So, when she says in 15 years that we don't have enough money for my kid's college tuition, she'll be able to point back to how much I drank in 2008 as the primary reason. Well, I'm going through with this experiment... no matter what it says... somebody has to tally up the impact Dan Onorato has on their daily lives.

Second Time Out

My second time out in three days. Gosh - I hope this doesn't prove that I'm an alcoholic...

Location: SoHo on the Northside
Event: Worked late and went for a few beers with a couple of co-workers before heading home
Amount Spent on Alcohol: $32.00
Tax Spent: $3.20
2008 Cumulative Drink Tax: $7.31
PAT Usage: 0

Start the tally

Here it is - January 7th, 2008 and the light bulb went off. I’m sitting at Mad Mex and it struck me…

I’m a pretty ordinary guy from Monroeville, Pennsylvania who works in the city of Pittsburgh at an ad agency. I have a wife and two kids (and one more on the way, thank you). To get the standard crap out of the way, when I’m not chasing my kids around the yard, I ski, run, mountain bike, read history & politics, and watch TV. I enjoy cooking, eating out, and spending QT with my friends & family. Pretty normal dude.

And oh, by the way, I drink. Nothing truly crazy. But I enjoy beer and maybe a martini now and then. Honestly… it’s just part of who I am… like the rest of you. I go out on occasion, whether for a family dinner or with my buddies, and when I do, I tend to have a couple drinks. On Steeler Sunday’s… maybe more than couple of drinks. And for work – I have to take clients out– as well as the occasional happy hour with fellow employees.

My point is this… I think I’m a pretty average guy.

Sooo… let’s see what Dan Onorato’s ridiculous and unnecessary drink tax cost me over the next 12 months. If you are from Pittsburgh, you know the drink tax I’m talking about. Then, we can all determine if this is a net gain for people like me… or a net loss. Like I said, I feel that I’m and average suburban Pittsburgh guy with a fairly robust social life and a career that requires client entertainment.

Let’s see what happens when I plunk down the credit card or drop cash at local bars and eateries over the next year. Then, you can determine how my lifestyle compares to yours… and it might be possible for each Pittsburgher to see what this tax actually costs them. My guess… if you are young (or relatively young), have any social and/or professional life, you will see that this tax rips hundreds of dollars out of your pocket during the course of the year.

The ground rules are simple – I’m only going to tally my expenditures (what comes out of my pocket) for alcohol bought at bars & restaurants in order to determine the 10% drink tax that has been added to my life. I will subtract out food – so we are only talking about booze. Note – that will include both personal and business expenses. I will not keep track of what other people spend when they buy me drinks – just the receipts I sign for and/or the cash that I drop. That’s it.

At the end of the year, I would ask two things (1) how much has the drink tax cost me and people like me, and (2) is it worth it. You can make the call. Then, you can determine if you want to vote out of office the jerks that decided to impliment such a system.

Sooo… let’s start. It’s January 7th and I bought my first drinks at a bar. I had a couple beers at home up to this point and enjoyed a good buzz while attending a Steeler party on Saturday – but these are the first drinks I bought at an establishment outside of the home.

Location: Mad Mex (Monroeville)
Event: My buddy Quinn is in from Denver – I only see him a couple times of year. It’s only the two of us. We hang out and watch the BCS championship. LSU wins. Yawn.
Amount Spent on Alcohol: $41.15
Tax Spent: $4.11
2008 Cumulative Drink Tax: $4.11
PAT Usage: 0