Wow, my life just got awesome! It's much easier to become a serious rodeo clown when you can consult the spirits of all the long-departed clown virtuosos of the past. Regarding wine certification, I am technically a "guild member" of the International Court of Master Sommeliers. Level 2 (of 4) is actual Sommelier certification, and I continue to consider climbing that hill IRL ... Sounds like I already have in the hubskiverse.

My more meaningful achievement (insofar as any such initials are meaningful) is the CSW (certified specialist of wine) by the Society of Wine Educators. They have a corresponding track of titles, and professionals usually choose one route or the other. To generalize, the ICMS is more service/ceremony oriented (more aristocratically capricious as well), and the SWE is more science/sales oriented.

Anyway, that's way more than anyone wanted to know about the small hurdles of my professional life, but just wanted to set the record straight, so people will be less disappointed when I don't know stuff. My main asset is that I really, really like wine. I think it's yummy. Well, not all of it. I work on Sunday, but hope to join in when I can, if the party is still rolling.

Do I need to download software to participate in this IRC? Is that a dinosaur's question? I was around for the dawn of email, you know ...