John
McIntyre is bold but smooth, refined yet unpretentious. A lot, in fact, like
the wine he sells.
Last year, McIntyre landed a job with excellent perks—the wine enthusiast
works part-time at a wine boutique in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, owned by a
friend. For McIntyre, who describes himself as a wine-lover but "not an
expert," the job at Villa Wines has turned out to be a great way to earn
a little dough as he indulges his passion. "Tonight I'm eating steak, so
I'm going to try Red Truck, a blend that's close to a Zinfandel," McIntyre
gushed recently. "We just got it in our shop."
McIntyre, a former teacher and counselor, will have to cut back his hours at
the shop soon, though, because he's running for a state Senate seat this
November. If his track record holds, it will be a tightrope race. In 1996 and
1998, he ran for the state House of Representatives and—incredibly—tied
his opponent, Hal Wick, each time after recounts and appeals were completed.
The races were decided by the House, with McIntyre being awarded one election
and Wick the other. "My friends started calling me ‘Landslide,'"
he jokes.
With luck and hard campaigning, McIntyre will be able to pair the perfect wine
to go with an election party celebration. In the meantime, he says he'll
enjoy helping customers get the best grape for the buck. Two of his current
top picks: The 2002 Red Truck from Cline Vineyards and a 2002 Bogle Chardonnay.
Both cost $10 or less.
-John O'Neil
Raising Oars and Eyes
New
Jersey member Judy Gallagher keeps fit through competitive rowing—on a
team whose name has become the talk of the dock.
People in Brigantine, New Jersey, take their competitive rowing seriously.
But that didn't stop Judy Gallagher and three friends from adding some
levity to the sport, when they took it up three years ago, by naming their team
"The Hot Flashes."
"All but one of us is retired, so we loved the name and christened our
boat ‘The Hot Flash,'" says Gallagher, who spent 32 years
as a reading specialist and curriculum coordinator for the Margate, New Jersey,
schools. "The name startles some people, but they usually get a good laugh
out of it."
Gallagher first became interested in rowing when her son took it up in high
school. "It's a tremendous aerobic exercise for people of any age,"
she says. "I didn't have my first lesson until I was 50. Because rowing
isn't too hard on the joints, it's something most people can do to stay in shape—and
have fun."
Gallagher's three teammates are also active or retired educators, so
she feels like they're representing education in their races. How seriously
do they take the sport? Despite the tongue-in-cheek team name, Gallagher and
her teammates train all summer and compete hard in the fall—hard enough
to have won 10 gold medals to date. "The competition is great, as is the
exercise, but it's the total experience of boating that is truly beautiful,"
she says. "We get up at 5:30 in the mornin
