Shipyard makes some of the most popular beers available down here in Florida. Seeing Pumpkinhead Ale in stores for the first time in a season is like Christmas morning. Aside from their regular beers, they also have a series called Pugsley’s Signature which is basically their high-end line. When I heard about their Pugsley’s Signature Smashed Pumpkin Ale, I couldn’t wait to try it out. Luckily, I got the last bottle at my local Total Wine but I haven’t tried it yet. The only drawback to this series is that it’s quite pricey.

If you’ve ever been curious about trying all of the beers in the Pugsley Signature Series and you live in Florida or New England, you can pick up a sampler pack with 22 oz. bottles of each of the four beers for $24.99. You can read the full press release below. (more…)

I’ve talked about my band megaphone on here before. In the past, I’ve preferred to keep my personal life separate from my Average Dudes life, but right now we could use all the help we can get. The local rock radio station here in Orlando is having a contest to determine who the “Best Band in Central Florida” is. Now, personally I don’t think that the number of votes a band can drum up accurately determines how good they are, but I didn’t make the rules.

Anyways, if you could take a second and go vote for us, that would rule. This thing has been going on for about a month now and they’ve narrowed it down to 8 bands. Voting for this round only lasts through Sunday, March 8th so if you’re going to do it, do it quickly! If we move on to the next round, that will begin on Monday the 9th and there will only be 4 bands left. Here’s the link to vote. Just click the bubble next to “Megaphone - Gravitate” (you can listen to the track if you like), fill in a valid email address at the bottom, then watch your inbox for the confirmation email. The vote won’t count until it’s confirmed and it may go to a spam box so look hard for it! Also, if you wouldn’t mind getting some friends to vote too, that would be great. Thanks!

The Matador - 56 E. Pine St., Orlando, FL

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It seems as though a large percentage of stupid stories like this come out of our local Orlando area. Zachary Moir, a stupid 19 year old (did I mention he’s stupid?), wouldn’t listen to his mom, Dena, and come downstairs for dinner because he was in the middle of a game. When she came up and unplugged the Xbox, the turd (Zachary) pushed her and “called her a bad name.” Probably something like “doo doo head.” Later, while Dena was in the kitchen (someone’s in the kitchen with deeena…sorry), Zachary came down and proceeded to be a bad little boy.  (more…)

Look what we happened upon in the art room at Otronicon. I’m thinking it’s some kind of Medieval zombie girl in line at a local soup kitchen being handed a rather tasty bearded head. I may be way off though. What do you think it is?

The folks at Otronicon certainly know how to cut to the heart of a true geek. They have an entire hallway of the Orlando Science Center dedicated to the history of Apple computers. Some of the specimens present are pretty impressive, especially since most of them were functional. You can also see the stark contrast in the appearance of these machines before and after Steve Jobs’ return to the company in 1997.

Hit the jump for some more photos. (more…)

One thing I’ve always wanted to do with Average-Dudes is go cover some kind of event as a member of the “press.” This weekend, that dream becomes a reality! We’re heading to the Orlando Science Center to check out Otronicon, a five-day video game event that starts on Friday, January 16th. In its fourth year, Otronicon hosts a number of competitions, workshops, and even a Halo-themed wedding. Ok, I’m all about the competitions and stuff, but I can’t promise that I won’t laugh out loud at a bunch of people dressed up in Halo garb watching two gamers get married. Although, if they offer me a piece of the Halo cake, they’re alright with me.

Anyways, Dyna, Steve and I are psyched to check this thing out. We’ll probably be totally out of our element, but that’ll just make for some great photos. The Science Center always hosts some awesome events and I’m sure this one won’t disappoint. Read on for a press release about the event. (more…)

I’m a big fan of music. I come from a musical family, play in a band with my brother (Megaphone), and I own a few iPods. As a fan of (good) music, I find the radio to be nothing more than a source of frustration. It’s no secret that radio stations only play songs from approved playlists, meaning you’re basically forced to listen to what the record executives and station managers deem worthy. As a result, you can listen to the radio for a matter of a few hours and begin to hear the same songs over again. My simple solution was to just ignore it completely and use my iPod instead. After the events of today, I have a feeling a lot more people will find themselves making the same decision. (more…)

I’ve lived in this city my entire life and just had to shake my head at this one. It is never good when you see your hometown mentioned on BoingBoing. Apparently a blogger saw this sign next to one of our many parks here in “The City Beautiful” that forbids any horizontal positioning on a park bench. (more…)

If you’ve never heard of IKEA, it is hands down one of the biggest furniture stores you will ever see.  There is nothing average about IKEA at all.  The great tourist filled city of Orlando, Florida was just graced with an IKEA one month ago and it has been mayhem ever since.  I never really understood it.  Something about build-it-yourself furniture just doesn’t seem wooing to me. (more…)