It was pointed out on a program I was listening to that zombies are quickly becoming the scary icon of our time. They asked why and I wanted to answer, but of course radio is a 1-way medium so I couldn't. Instead I have a blog, so we'll take a break from the brew blog for something else for a minute. So why zombies? I think the bottom line is that they're safe.
We live in a word of intense motivations, whether religious, political, or financial. We see bad guys in the news every day, killing for power, exploiting for personal gain, or just so desperate/psychotic/greedy they turned to crime to get by. Around the world there are people who believe so deeply in their version of Truth and Right and Wrong and Justice that they feel justified committing all sorts of atrocities. These things are truly scary. But at the same time, there's a part of us that sympathizes, if only in a tiny way. Terrorists are evil, but what would you do if your homeland had been seized by outside forces? Religious extremists are nuts, but what is there that you believe that you would fight for? None of this is to say that there isn't plenty of truly mindless violence on the planet, but there's more grey area in the things we consider evil than we would like to admit.
But zombies are safe. They don't need a motivation, they're dead. They don't have a political agenda, they're driven only by a survival instinct. There's no question of "what would I do in that person's situation?" because the answer is always the same...I'd be a dead shambling zombie. Unlike bad people in the real world there's no moral ambiguity whatsoever in killing a zombie. Their moral compass and free will died the 1st time around, so slaughter away. If you survive the pang of guilt you might have felt with die quickly. It's escapism at its finest.
Monday, October 31, 2011
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Yes, but Tebow doesn't brew.
The Broncos pulled off a win today. Tebow is now the starter and there's been a lot of talk of the Magic and Intangibles he brings to the offense. For 3.5 quarters this was not visible at all. He sucked, the team sucked, nothing worked at all until the end of the 4th quarter when they got a touchdown, retrieved an on-side kick, got another touchdown, got a 2-point conversion to tie, then hit a field goal in OT for the win. So yeah, crazy ending to a crap game. Tebow Time has been declared loudly from every source that declares such things. All because our 1-4 team pulled out an improbable OT win against 1 of only 3 teams in the nation with a worse record going into the game. Oooooo.
During the Packer game and into the evening it was brewtime! #17- Liquid Cheer was brewed and the wort smells amazing. The last 15 minutes of the boil include vanilla bean, cinnamon sticks, fresh ground nutmeg, cloves, allspice, and orange zest. It's definitely not an every-day beer, but oh-so-perfect for the holidays. The original gravity was at 1.066 when it went in the carboy. The spice mixture was added to #15- American Pie and we'll bottle that next weekend. We also managed to bottle #16- The Great Pumpkin before our Sunday evening TV watching commenced. We're now out of bottles. I think I'm going to have to build some new shelves or something...we're also running out of room to store things. 1st world problems. *sigh*
During the Packer game and into the evening it was brewtime! #17- Liquid Cheer was brewed and the wort smells amazing. The last 15 minutes of the boil include vanilla bean, cinnamon sticks, fresh ground nutmeg, cloves, allspice, and orange zest. It's definitely not an every-day beer, but oh-so-perfect for the holidays. The original gravity was at 1.066 when it went in the carboy. The spice mixture was added to #15- American Pie and we'll bottle that next weekend. We also managed to bottle #16- The Great Pumpkin before our Sunday evening TV watching commenced. We're now out of bottles. I think I'm going to have to build some new shelves or something...we're also running out of room to store things. 1st world problems. *sigh*
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Fermentables ferment
Sitting in Dulles, on the way back from Auburn, ME. Boarding soon...just enough time for an update!
#13- Strawberry Fields is now bottled. We tried some as we were bottling and...we'll see. I think this is going to be a case where we set it aside and open one up every now and then. It had a very alcoholy aftertaste, which covered up the berry and basil flavors. Often (I'm told) with high alcohol contents the aftertaste mellows over time, so there's definitely some waiting to do before it's ready to introduce to the public.
#15- American Pie continues to ferment. We're giving it time. I made the rum concoction last weekend and it made the whole house smell amazing. It's sitting on top of the fridge right now, sealed tightly of course, and I'll add it next weekend.
#16- Name TBD was moved to secondary fermentation last weekend. There was a huge amount of crud caked to the bottom of the carboy and it took awhile to clean out, but it seems to be developing well. The pumpkin and spice flavors were perhaps more muted that expected, but it did have a definite Thanksgiving vibe. It's all a learning process, so we can always tweak next time if we need to!
And that's it for now. I think a batch of Liquid Cheer needs to be next. It's our spiced holiday brew we made last year when we were very new at this and it was a huge hit. The 2012 edition should be delicious as well!
#13- Strawberry Fields is now bottled. We tried some as we were bottling and...we'll see. I think this is going to be a case where we set it aside and open one up every now and then. It had a very alcoholy aftertaste, which covered up the berry and basil flavors. Often (I'm told) with high alcohol contents the aftertaste mellows over time, so there's definitely some waiting to do before it's ready to introduce to the public.
#15- American Pie continues to ferment. We're giving it time. I made the rum concoction last weekend and it made the whole house smell amazing. It's sitting on top of the fridge right now, sealed tightly of course, and I'll add it next weekend.
#16- Name TBD was moved to secondary fermentation last weekend. There was a huge amount of crud caked to the bottom of the carboy and it took awhile to clean out, but it seems to be developing well. The pumpkin and spice flavors were perhaps more muted that expected, but it did have a definite Thanksgiving vibe. It's all a learning process, so we can always tweak next time if we need to!
And that's it for now. I think a batch of Liquid Cheer needs to be next. It's our spiced holiday brew we made last year when we were very new at this and it was a huge hit. The 2012 edition should be delicious as well!
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Repurposing begins now!
Hi blog!
I think 6 months is long enough. It's a fresh start, for realsies this time. I think this is going to become my brewing blog. We're brewing more regularly and getting to where we're experimenting, and everybody says to keep a notebook or some such. My handwriting sucks and I type faster, so I'll blog it instead! If the ins and outs of home brewing bore you...sorry! There will probably be other posts as well, but obviously I haven't been updating much lately so this will get me back in front of the keyboard.
So we currently have fermenting:
#13- Strawberry Fields. A conversation at Hailey's work combined with a memory of a strawberry basil drink from her past inspired this concoction. This is a basic porter recipe, with basil and strawberries. We used probably 1/4+ cup basil...everything we could get off the plant without making it look sad. It soaked in vodka for 10 min or so to sterilize and then went into the primary. (On a friend's request we used a bucket for the primary for ease of cleaning. Good idea!) For the strawberries we got a big bag of frozen strawberries at Costco and threw 3 lbs into a food processor, then they went right in as well. The whole thing fermented 4 weeks in the primary, then last weekend I moved it to the small carboy for secondary. The plan is to bottle next weekend.
#15- American Pie.* Our 2nd attempt at a hard cider. The 1st attempt was a smashing success, so we're going to repeat it. The 1st time around we were under time pressure to have it ready for a party and it didn't get to ferment long enough. As a result it was delicious, but very low in actual alcohol content. This time we're going to give it time. The idea is simple: 5 gallons of store-bought apple cider. 1 gallon is boiled with a pound of brown sugar to sterilize, then mixed back in. Yeast pitched, then the whole thing ferments (we're giving it a month or so this time). We'll do a secondary fermentation, at which time we add a "rum tea" we'll cook up about a week in advance. Last time this was about 1.5 - 2 cups of rum boiled with vanilla, cinnamon sticks, and allspice. We let this work it's way through the wort for another week, then bottle. The result last time tasted very much like apple pie...we just want a slightly "harder" cider this time around.
And then today we added #16- an as-yet-unnamed Pumpkin Ale. We followed the recipe straight from the book on this one. Holiday beers can be tricky I'm told, with over- and under-spicing causing problems, and the book with the recipe hasn't led us wrong yet so why mess with it? 8 lbs of real pumpkin, roasted for 2 hours with pumpkin pie spices sprinkled on top, then added to the boil right along with the hops and more spices (cinnamon sticks, allspice, and whole nutmeg). It's in the primary and after a couple hours there's already a 2" layer of sediment on the bottom of the carboy. It tastes fantastic!
Next up: bottling #13, then the 2011 installment of Liquid Cheer.
*Where's #14 you ask? It was a 3rd batch of Zombie Cow, our Milk Stout recipe we love. It's a fast recipe...only 1 week in the primary, then into bottles, so it's already in the fridge to drink. Mmmmm.
I think 6 months is long enough. It's a fresh start, for realsies this time. I think this is going to become my brewing blog. We're brewing more regularly and getting to where we're experimenting, and everybody says to keep a notebook or some such. My handwriting sucks and I type faster, so I'll blog it instead! If the ins and outs of home brewing bore you...sorry! There will probably be other posts as well, but obviously I haven't been updating much lately so this will get me back in front of the keyboard.
So we currently have fermenting:
#13- Strawberry Fields. A conversation at Hailey's work combined with a memory of a strawberry basil drink from her past inspired this concoction. This is a basic porter recipe, with basil and strawberries. We used probably 1/4+ cup basil...everything we could get off the plant without making it look sad. It soaked in vodka for 10 min or so to sterilize and then went into the primary. (On a friend's request we used a bucket for the primary for ease of cleaning. Good idea!) For the strawberries we got a big bag of frozen strawberries at Costco and threw 3 lbs into a food processor, then they went right in as well. The whole thing fermented 4 weeks in the primary, then last weekend I moved it to the small carboy for secondary. The plan is to bottle next weekend.
#15- American Pie.* Our 2nd attempt at a hard cider. The 1st attempt was a smashing success, so we're going to repeat it. The 1st time around we were under time pressure to have it ready for a party and it didn't get to ferment long enough. As a result it was delicious, but very low in actual alcohol content. This time we're going to give it time. The idea is simple: 5 gallons of store-bought apple cider. 1 gallon is boiled with a pound of brown sugar to sterilize, then mixed back in. Yeast pitched, then the whole thing ferments (we're giving it a month or so this time). We'll do a secondary fermentation, at which time we add a "rum tea" we'll cook up about a week in advance. Last time this was about 1.5 - 2 cups of rum boiled with vanilla, cinnamon sticks, and allspice. We let this work it's way through the wort for another week, then bottle. The result last time tasted very much like apple pie...we just want a slightly "harder" cider this time around.
And then today we added #16- an as-yet-unnamed Pumpkin Ale. We followed the recipe straight from the book on this one. Holiday beers can be tricky I'm told, with over- and under-spicing causing problems, and the book with the recipe hasn't led us wrong yet so why mess with it? 8 lbs of real pumpkin, roasted for 2 hours with pumpkin pie spices sprinkled on top, then added to the boil right along with the hops and more spices (cinnamon sticks, allspice, and whole nutmeg). It's in the primary and after a couple hours there's already a 2" layer of sediment on the bottom of the carboy. It tastes fantastic!
Next up: bottling #13, then the 2011 installment of Liquid Cheer.
*Where's #14 you ask? It was a 3rd batch of Zombie Cow, our Milk Stout recipe we love. It's a fast recipe...only 1 week in the primary, then into bottles, so it's already in the fridge to drink. Mmmmm.
Friday, May 6, 2011
Hereafter
Can't sleep. We just watched Hereafter...definitely one of those movies designed to make you think. Spoilers follow if you don't know the general gist of the movie.
One of the main characters is a kid, maybe 9 or 10 years old, who loses his twin brother in an accident. He becomes convinced after his brother's death that if he can just talk to him one more time he'll feel better. I remember that feeling. Rebecca died when I was about that age. She was 6 months old. I spent many years coming to terms with the fact that the time we had with her when she was alive was all I was going to get. There's no going back, no redoing things, no final conversation once someone is gone. The experience is over and all you have left are the memories, whether good, bad, regretful, joyful...some endings are final. The choices you make day to day have to be the choices you would be comfortable with if your loved one died tomorrow.
Another thing on my mind triggered by movie-watching...if you know where things end, you can use that to make the present a better place. As the Flaming Lips say "Realize the sun doesn't go down / it's just an illusion caused be the world / spinning round." Life is cyclical. Some cycles last a lifetime and end when you pass the world on to your kids. Others last only a day, starting over when you wake up tomorrow. Embrace where you've been, and use it to inform where you're going, but don't dwell on something which has ended. You've moved on to a new cycle. Who knows how long this one will last? "Realize that life goes fast / It's hard to make the good things last."
One of the main characters is a kid, maybe 9 or 10 years old, who loses his twin brother in an accident. He becomes convinced after his brother's death that if he can just talk to him one more time he'll feel better. I remember that feeling. Rebecca died when I was about that age. She was 6 months old. I spent many years coming to terms with the fact that the time we had with her when she was alive was all I was going to get. There's no going back, no redoing things, no final conversation once someone is gone. The experience is over and all you have left are the memories, whether good, bad, regretful, joyful...some endings are final. The choices you make day to day have to be the choices you would be comfortable with if your loved one died tomorrow.
Another thing on my mind triggered by movie-watching...if you know where things end, you can use that to make the present a better place. As the Flaming Lips say "Realize the sun doesn't go down / it's just an illusion caused be the world / spinning round." Life is cyclical. Some cycles last a lifetime and end when you pass the world on to your kids. Others last only a day, starting over when you wake up tomorrow. Embrace where you've been, and use it to inform where you're going, but don't dwell on something which has ended. You've moved on to a new cycle. Who knows how long this one will last? "Realize that life goes fast / It's hard to make the good things last."
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Random thoughts on Bin Laden's Death
Do Sasha and Malia have to go to school tomorrow? "Please excuse my daughters from class today. Their father was up late announcing the death of an international terrorist and they didn't get to bed until late in the evening."
One of the clues that led to the identification of this "palace" as Osama's hiding place was that it was a million+ dollar home with 12 foot high walls and no internet or phone lines. Welcome to the 21st century...NOT being connected is more suspicious than being online. In Pakistan.
Obama is a badass. He completely put his presidency on the line with this. Authorizing ground forces to go into a friendly country (even with Pakistan's permission) could have destroyed his administration if things had gone wrong. I'm reminded of the pirate situation awhile back, when he authorized the assassination of the hostage-taking pirates halfway around the world and then gave a press conference where he said "Yes, I authorized that. Buh-bye now." I don't recall in my lifetime a president using our military so effectively and nonchalantly efficiently. He trusts what they can do and really only acknowledges his position in passing when he talks about what they did. I continue to be impressed. Maybe he's not the perfect walking-on-water president we might like, but he's damn good. Easily the best of my adult life.
One of the clues that led to the identification of this "palace" as Osama's hiding place was that it was a million+ dollar home with 12 foot high walls and no internet or phone lines. Welcome to the 21st century...NOT being connected is more suspicious than being online. In Pakistan.
Obama is a badass. He completely put his presidency on the line with this. Authorizing ground forces to go into a friendly country (even with Pakistan's permission) could have destroyed his administration if things had gone wrong. I'm reminded of the pirate situation awhile back, when he authorized the assassination of the hostage-taking pirates halfway around the world and then gave a press conference where he said "Yes, I authorized that. Buh-bye now." I don't recall in my lifetime a president using our military so effectively and nonchalantly efficiently. He trusts what they can do and really only acknowledges his position in passing when he talks about what they did. I continue to be impressed. Maybe he's not the perfect walking-on-water president we might like, but he's damn good. Easily the best of my adult life.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Grey's Anatomy tackles Clinical Trials?!
I came in here to vent. Hailey is watching last week's episode of Grey's Anatomy in the living room and I was having a hard time biting my tongue any more, so here I rant.
Normally Grey's is an OK show. Not what I'd choose to watch in my own time, but an acceptable "sure dear, we can watch that" sort of show. This season the Patrick Dempsey doctor guy is doing a Clinical Trial looking at an Alzheimer's medication. Great! Public exposure for clinical research is a great thing. We currently have several clinical trials for Alzheimer's meds, so I spend a good portion of every work week in this world. But boo to this episode.
So they have a guy on the table and it's time to "Randomize" the patient. This involves opening an envelope which says "He gets Placebo," pulling out a syringe labeled "Saline" and administering the treatment. Um, no? Why isn't this double blind? Why does the injecting and evaluating physician know what the treatment is? Oh, right, because later it's dramatic if a grieving wife can plead with the assistant to swap the medication if her husband is assigned to the placebo group. No. Just No. Randomization. Blinded trials. Important, no?
They spend a bit of time on the placebo effect, also good if not totally twisted. Dr. Dempsey (I don't know the character's name, whatever) even goes so far as to tell his helper dude that he should be encouraging! He should be more positive about the trial because that will lead to better outcomes if the caregiver thinks it will work! Helper dude is trying to give a realistic assessment of the potential benefit of this new med and he's shut down and told to be more positive! Um, ethics much? You don't enroll someone in a trial with unreasonable expectations.
A more minor quibble is that they don't talk at all about how the endpoints will be measured. Sure they're surgeons, but the amount of cognitive testing that goes into efficacy assessments in real life is totally ignored. I guess that's not good TV.
Grrr.
Normally Grey's is an OK show. Not what I'd choose to watch in my own time, but an acceptable "sure dear, we can watch that" sort of show. This season the Patrick Dempsey doctor guy is doing a Clinical Trial looking at an Alzheimer's medication. Great! Public exposure for clinical research is a great thing. We currently have several clinical trials for Alzheimer's meds, so I spend a good portion of every work week in this world. But boo to this episode.
So they have a guy on the table and it's time to "Randomize" the patient. This involves opening an envelope which says "He gets Placebo," pulling out a syringe labeled "Saline" and administering the treatment. Um, no? Why isn't this double blind? Why does the injecting and evaluating physician know what the treatment is? Oh, right, because later it's dramatic if a grieving wife can plead with the assistant to swap the medication if her husband is assigned to the placebo group. No. Just No. Randomization. Blinded trials. Important, no?
They spend a bit of time on the placebo effect, also good if not totally twisted. Dr. Dempsey (I don't know the character's name, whatever) even goes so far as to tell his helper dude that he should be encouraging! He should be more positive about the trial because that will lead to better outcomes if the caregiver thinks it will work! Helper dude is trying to give a realistic assessment of the potential benefit of this new med and he's shut down and told to be more positive! Um, ethics much? You don't enroll someone in a trial with unreasonable expectations.
A more minor quibble is that they don't talk at all about how the endpoints will be measured. Sure they're surgeons, but the amount of cognitive testing that goes into efficacy assessments in real life is totally ignored. I guess that's not good TV.
Grrr.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Stuff to do, stuff to do...
Now that I live with Hailey I have a whole new house to subject to my home-improving ways. Of course we're working on paying for a wedding too, so the funds are maybe not what they could be, but there's always stuff to do.
Saturday I need to fix the drywall in the office. My dog, in his persistent gigantitude, kind of fell through the wall when trying to bolt out the door to explore a noise in the kitchen on Christmas. Oops. He's really just trying to help me learn a new skill, I'm sure of it. (Another new skill learned due to Obi's direction...how to apologize to my fiance for a nipped finger due to over-exuberant treat-taking...)
After that I get to build shelves in the guest bedroom, then...we'll see. Hardwood floors are somewhere in the future, but then so's a honeymoon. Hmmm...
Saturday I need to fix the drywall in the office. My dog, in his persistent gigantitude, kind of fell through the wall when trying to bolt out the door to explore a noise in the kitchen on Christmas. Oops. He's really just trying to help me learn a new skill, I'm sure of it. (Another new skill learned due to Obi's direction...how to apologize to my fiance for a nipped finger due to over-exuberant treat-taking...)
After that I get to build shelves in the guest bedroom, then...we'll see. Hardwood floors are somewhere in the future, but then so's a honeymoon. Hmmm...
Thursday, January 13, 2011
The engagement story
Hailey has gotten to tell this story many times, so I thought I'd share my version for posterity.
We've been talking about marriage for awhile. We'd been looking at rings together and then Hailey had the audacity to guess, to my face, the date on which I was going to propose. I had a choice at that point: I could just suck it up and acknowledge that she tends to be right about most things (which would also make the whole proposal entirely predictable) or I could move the date. Pushing it back just seemed cruel (to both of us), so I had to move it forward.
The plan all along was pretty normal: dinner at the sushi restaurant where we had our 1st date, with a proposal half a block away under a tree where we chatted for an hour on that same date. Then a friend of a friend had a spectacular idea; why not do all that and then *NOT* propose! Do the date, go through the whole thing...but then don't do it until breakfast the next morning to retain the surprise factor.
This seemed like a brilliant idea the more I thought about it. Not only because I might achieve some element of surprise, but because breakfast is completely Hailey's thing. Since dating she has introduced me to all of the most delicious brunch places in Denver and I've eaten more breakfasts in the last 7 months than in the prior 5 years combined, thanks to her influence. We'd already discussed having brunch food for our wedding reception, so asking her to marry me over breakfast seemed like the perfect thing.
So last Friday the plan was set in motion. I watched Katie until 5:15 as usual, then stopped to get a dozen roses on the way back to Hailey's. I got back to her place with the roses (and a snowman cookie jar that was a post-Xmas gift), we went out to Sushi Hai in Highlands, walked by the tree where I was going to ask, and came home. We watched some Netflixed Dexter and then went to bed.
This is where I had not thought my plan through. It turns out that building up expectation and then not following through provokes some anxiety. Also, oddly enough, planning on proposing 1st thing in the morning when you wake up does not make for a restful slumber. As a result Hailey and I got almost no sleep Friday night. By 5:30 AM Hailey was ready to give up on sleep and I was ready to get up and get breakfast made so that I could finally give her the ring I'd purchased the weekend before.
And that's what happened. We got up, I made breakfast, and once she was through eating I asked her to marry me. She said yes, there were tears...and then the phone calls started. First her mom, then East Coast friends (it was early!), then everyone else. I think Hailey spent 75% of Saturday on the phone, and about 80% of the day staring at her ring. I guess that means I did good :-)
Wedding planning has now started officially...the contract for the reception location was signed today and I think we've found a location for the ceremony as well. It's still a long way off, but it's nice to be this excited and hopeful about the future.
We've been talking about marriage for awhile. We'd been looking at rings together and then Hailey had the audacity to guess, to my face, the date on which I was going to propose. I had a choice at that point: I could just suck it up and acknowledge that she tends to be right about most things (which would also make the whole proposal entirely predictable) or I could move the date. Pushing it back just seemed cruel (to both of us), so I had to move it forward.
The plan all along was pretty normal: dinner at the sushi restaurant where we had our 1st date, with a proposal half a block away under a tree where we chatted for an hour on that same date. Then a friend of a friend had a spectacular idea; why not do all that and then *NOT* propose! Do the date, go through the whole thing...but then don't do it until breakfast the next morning to retain the surprise factor.
This seemed like a brilliant idea the more I thought about it. Not only because I might achieve some element of surprise, but because breakfast is completely Hailey's thing. Since dating she has introduced me to all of the most delicious brunch places in Denver and I've eaten more breakfasts in the last 7 months than in the prior 5 years combined, thanks to her influence. We'd already discussed having brunch food for our wedding reception, so asking her to marry me over breakfast seemed like the perfect thing.
So last Friday the plan was set in motion. I watched Katie until 5:15 as usual, then stopped to get a dozen roses on the way back to Hailey's. I got back to her place with the roses (and a snowman cookie jar that was a post-Xmas gift), we went out to Sushi Hai in Highlands, walked by the tree where I was going to ask, and came home. We watched some Netflixed Dexter and then went to bed.
This is where I had not thought my plan through. It turns out that building up expectation and then not following through provokes some anxiety. Also, oddly enough, planning on proposing 1st thing in the morning when you wake up does not make for a restful slumber. As a result Hailey and I got almost no sleep Friday night. By 5:30 AM Hailey was ready to give up on sleep and I was ready to get up and get breakfast made so that I could finally give her the ring I'd purchased the weekend before.
And that's what happened. We got up, I made breakfast, and once she was through eating I asked her to marry me. She said yes, there were tears...and then the phone calls started. First her mom, then East Coast friends (it was early!), then everyone else. I think Hailey spent 75% of Saturday on the phone, and about 80% of the day staring at her ring. I guess that means I did good :-)
Wedding planning has now started officially...the contract for the reception location was signed today and I think we've found a location for the ceremony as well. It's still a long way off, but it's nice to be this excited and hopeful about the future.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Engaged!
What to say here...I'm happy. Hailey is awesome and I asked her to marry me on Saturday. She said yes, which wasn't too suspenseful since we'd been ring shopping and such.
Logistically...I'm moving in and we're going to actually tie the knot on 3/17/12. It's St. Patrick's Day, which makes for a fun anniversary, and it's coincidentally the birthday of one William Patrick Corgan who keeps showing up at significant points in my life.
Between now and the big day there's a lot of planning to be done, a lot of living to do, a lot of happiness ahead. I'm doing this one right...I've managed to land a great girl, we're going to do this right and start our life together the old fashioned way (aside from the whole "yeah, we're living together now" thing...)
Logistically...I'm moving in and we're going to actually tie the knot on 3/17/12. It's St. Patrick's Day, which makes for a fun anniversary, and it's coincidentally the birthday of one William Patrick Corgan who keeps showing up at significant points in my life.
Between now and the big day there's a lot of planning to be done, a lot of living to do, a lot of happiness ahead. I'm doing this one right...I've managed to land a great girl, we're going to do this right and start our life together the old fashioned way (aside from the whole "yeah, we're living together now" thing...)
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
H.E.Y.
This is an idea that's been kicking around in my head for awhile.
Every religion has a version of "The Golden Rule." There's a nice compilation of passages illustrating this here. For further advice on how to behave, some turn to the WWJD sort of idea. Spinoffs include Batman, Chuck Norris, Pacman...and many more. There's this underlying idea that we need to ask ourselves what someone else would do in a similar situation.
What if we flipped it? Instead of playing the hypothetical "what if that person was in my situation," why not "what if everyone else in the world were in my situation?" What if everyone on the planet behaved *just like me*? It seems this would be a quick shortcut to a better planet. What if everyone lived within their means? What if everyone spent too much? What if everyone was dedicated to being a good spouse and parent? What if everyone was a backstabbing bastard? What if everyone dropped out of high school, pursued an education, failed to pick up after their dog, or treated the waitress with respect? How would the world look if you extrapolated your actions?
The planet should try this. I should write a self-help book. I'd call it "HEY! (Hold on...Extrapolate Yourself)" Or maybe this should be an Ignite topic. Hmmmm...
Every religion has a version of "The Golden Rule." There's a nice compilation of passages illustrating this here. For further advice on how to behave, some turn to the WWJD sort of idea. Spinoffs include Batman, Chuck Norris, Pacman...and many more. There's this underlying idea that we need to ask ourselves what someone else would do in a similar situation.
What if we flipped it? Instead of playing the hypothetical "what if that person was in my situation," why not "what if everyone else in the world were in my situation?" What if everyone on the planet behaved *just like me*? It seems this would be a quick shortcut to a better planet. What if everyone lived within their means? What if everyone spent too much? What if everyone was dedicated to being a good spouse and parent? What if everyone was a backstabbing bastard? What if everyone dropped out of high school, pursued an education, failed to pick up after their dog, or treated the waitress with respect? How would the world look if you extrapolated your actions?
The planet should try this. I should write a self-help book. I'd call it "HEY! (Hold on...Extrapolate Yourself)" Or maybe this should be an Ignite topic. Hmmmm...
Sunday, January 2, 2011
It's.....Alive!! (?)
Hi blog. I'm sorry I've neglected you.
Obi has officially moved in with Hailey. Being indoors with my dad's allergies doesn't work as well when the house is closed up for the winter, and Obi seems to enjoy the company of Roxy and the cats, so he has moved. My computer has also wandered to Hailey's...her brother needed a computer, so she loaned him her laptop and I filled the gap with my computer (leaving only 5 computers at my parent's house).
My (our) new hobby is brewing our own beer. Turns out it's pretty simple and quite fun. We've had 4 excellent batches so far, with a 5th currently sitting the carboy working on the secondary fermentation. So far we've done a chocolate honey porter (K1ng St Porter), a hefeweizen (Home Front Hefeweizen- brewed while Hailey was in Germany), and 2 batches of a spiced Christmasy beer (Liquid Cheer). The new batch is a Java Stout we're calling Daydrinker. It will be ready to bottle in a week, and we'll put some in the new Tap-A-Draft system I got for Xmas :-D
What else...still gainfully employed, still love what I do, looking forward to a year full of happinesses yet to be discovered. 2010 taught me a lot about myself, and a fair amount about other people. 2011 is going to be that much better because of where I've been and what I'm moving towards.
Obi has officially moved in with Hailey. Being indoors with my dad's allergies doesn't work as well when the house is closed up for the winter, and Obi seems to enjoy the company of Roxy and the cats, so he has moved. My computer has also wandered to Hailey's...her brother needed a computer, so she loaned him her laptop and I filled the gap with my computer (leaving only 5 computers at my parent's house).
My (our) new hobby is brewing our own beer. Turns out it's pretty simple and quite fun. We've had 4 excellent batches so far, with a 5th currently sitting the carboy working on the secondary fermentation. So far we've done a chocolate honey porter (K1ng St Porter), a hefeweizen (Home Front Hefeweizen- brewed while Hailey was in Germany), and 2 batches of a spiced Christmasy beer (Liquid Cheer). The new batch is a Java Stout we're calling Daydrinker. It will be ready to bottle in a week, and we'll put some in the new Tap-A-Draft system I got for Xmas :-D
What else...still gainfully employed, still love what I do, looking forward to a year full of happinesses yet to be discovered. 2010 taught me a lot about myself, and a fair amount about other people. 2011 is going to be that much better because of where I've been and what I'm moving towards.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
This bagel was made in New York City!
Posting from NYC. Currently waiting for Jennifer & Paul to get here from Rhode Island to hang out for the day, so I'm sitting in a bagel shop on Broadway killing time while Hailey is out at brunch with an old friend.
Once again this blog has been neglected in favor of things that involve not being at the computer as much. I'm reminded of what Lewis Black said: "If you're twittering about it, you're not actually doing it." The Doing of Things continues to fill my life.
So I'm in NYC, saw the Gorillaz show (amazing), did lunch in Google HQ with Hailey's friend Suzanne (neat!), Brooklyn brunch and Botanical Gardens with my sister and Matthew yesterday (quite nice), and wandered the city with Hailey (adjectival modification would seem inadequate). We're staying in a hostel (Hostel Fresh) which requires a post all its own. Hope I don't forget to do that.
Off to explore more now. Jennifer & Paul will be here in 30 min, then meeting up with Hailey again in a couple hours. Life is good :-D
Once again this blog has been neglected in favor of things that involve not being at the computer as much. I'm reminded of what Lewis Black said: "If you're twittering about it, you're not actually doing it." The Doing of Things continues to fill my life.
So I'm in NYC, saw the Gorillaz show (amazing), did lunch in Google HQ with Hailey's friend Suzanne (neat!), Brooklyn brunch and Botanical Gardens with my sister and Matthew yesterday (quite nice), and wandered the city with Hailey (adjectival modification would seem inadequate). We're staying in a hostel (Hostel Fresh) which requires a post all its own. Hope I don't forget to do that.
Off to explore more now. Jennifer & Paul will be here in 30 min, then meeting up with Hailey again in a couple hours. Life is good :-D
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Goings on
Wow, I've skipped 2 entire months this year. Is the blog dying? I don't know. It's odd that just a few posts ago I was still (legally) married. Craziness.
Now there's Hailey. The crypticness from the last update has a name and she is...we'll say awesome and leave it at that. We'll see where this goes, but we've already made plans for the holidays...I'm meeting her parents over Thanksgiving. In related news I am no longer looking for a house. See, that's what happens when I never update. Of course to update I need to be in front of a computer that's not at work and that hasn't happened much lately either.
Obi lives with me at my parents' house pretty much permanently now. He's getting walked daily, something Steph and the kids didn't have time for, and pretty happy about it. He's still sitting at 110 lbs, but hopefully getting in shape. He still looks big next to Hailey's 80 lb doggy Roxy. Almost 200 lbs of dog (plus 2 cats) is a lot for one house, but we manage when Obi's over there! Obi is learning about cats and so far he's really just curious. His body awareness is an issue when he steps on a cat tail, but we'll work on that. In the meantime he is serving as a goodwill ambassador for dogginess and I think he's convinced my parents that they need one when we move out.
Additional fun stuff in the future...The Smashing Pumpkins Sept 18, Muse Oct 2, then Gorillaz at Madison Square Garden Oct 8. Oh hell yeah.
Now there's Hailey. The crypticness from the last update has a name and she is...we'll say awesome and leave it at that. We'll see where this goes, but we've already made plans for the holidays...I'm meeting her parents over Thanksgiving. In related news I am no longer looking for a house. See, that's what happens when I never update. Of course to update I need to be in front of a computer that's not at work and that hasn't happened much lately either.
Obi lives with me at my parents' house pretty much permanently now. He's getting walked daily, something Steph and the kids didn't have time for, and pretty happy about it. He's still sitting at 110 lbs, but hopefully getting in shape. He still looks big next to Hailey's 80 lb doggy Roxy. Almost 200 lbs of dog (plus 2 cats) is a lot for one house, but we manage when Obi's over there! Obi is learning about cats and so far he's really just curious. His body awareness is an issue when he steps on a cat tail, but we'll work on that. In the meantime he is serving as a goodwill ambassador for dogginess and I think he's convinced my parents that they need one when we move out.
Additional fun stuff in the future...The Smashing Pumpkins Sept 18, Muse Oct 2, then Gorillaz at Madison Square Garden Oct 8. Oh hell yeah.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Got my A machines on the table, got my B machines in the drawer
^^I have no idea what those lyrics mean, but "A/B machines" by Sleigh Bells is a catchy, ear-wormy song.
So BONNAROO!!! I went. I saw. It rawked. I returned. I can't possibly blog the entire experience, but I'll say it was just what I needed at this point in my life. I basically disappeared in a crowd of 80,000 and wandered anonymously for 4 days with no cares in the world. There was excellent music everywhere, thousands of super friendly people to chat with when I felt like it, and yummy food (I satisfied a falafel craving and tried fried alligator tail, cuz why not?) The Lips were great of course, Jay-Z was better than any rapper I've seen live *and* I got into the pit for his performance. I was about 30 feet away and loved every minute of it. I ran across a lot of other bands I'll need to check out on Pandora too.
The vacation was awesome, marred only by my car being driven into another car on the interstate outside of St. Louis while I was sleeping in the backseat. It will get fixed though and nobody was hurt.
In home-front news, I went house hunting yesterday with my realtor and may have found a house to buy. I need to crunch some numbers, but I think I'll make an offer and see what the universe has in mind for me. It's a nice, newly updated place off I-70 & Chambers...nice and close to work and perfect for what I need at the moment. Yesterday was great for other reasons as well, but it would be premature to get into it here. Cryptic, eh?
Off to budget now. What can I afford? Hmmmmm
So BONNAROO!!! I went. I saw. It rawked. I returned. I can't possibly blog the entire experience, but I'll say it was just what I needed at this point in my life. I basically disappeared in a crowd of 80,000 and wandered anonymously for 4 days with no cares in the world. There was excellent music everywhere, thousands of super friendly people to chat with when I felt like it, and yummy food (I satisfied a falafel craving and tried fried alligator tail, cuz why not?) The Lips were great of course, Jay-Z was better than any rapper I've seen live *and* I got into the pit for his performance. I was about 30 feet away and loved every minute of it. I ran across a lot of other bands I'll need to check out on Pandora too.
The vacation was awesome, marred only by my car being driven into another car on the interstate outside of St. Louis while I was sleeping in the backseat. It will get fixed though and nobody was hurt.
In home-front news, I went house hunting yesterday with my realtor and may have found a house to buy. I need to crunch some numbers, but I think I'll make an offer and see what the universe has in mind for me. It's a nice, newly updated place off I-70 & Chambers...nice and close to work and perfect for what I need at the moment. Yesterday was great for other reasons as well, but it would be premature to get into it here. Cryptic, eh?
Off to budget now. What can I afford? Hmmmmm
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
30's the new 20
Jay-Z says so and I'm going to believe him.
The fun parts of my birthday-
-Went to Dave & Buster's last Saturday with some fun folks and had a good time with pool, skee ball, air hockey, and assorted gaming.
-Now have more gray hairs than I care to count on the sides of my head.
-Spent the evening at an Urgent Care to be told that yes, the aching of my foot for the last 10 days does in fact indicate a hairline fracture in my left 5th proximal metatarsal. Then they didn't have a post-op shoe at the clinic I went to, so I got to drive 90 min to Longmont and back to get the right thing to keep my foot from flexing too much. Recovery shouldn't be too bad, but this does set back training for the half-marathon I was planning to run in August. Drat.
In other news, I leave for a trip to Boston early (6:30 a.m. flight) tomorrow, get back Friday, then leave for Bonnaroo on the 8th. I need the break, and it's going to be amazing.
The fun parts of my birthday-
-Went to Dave & Buster's last Saturday with some fun folks and had a good time with pool, skee ball, air hockey, and assorted gaming.
-Now have more gray hairs than I care to count on the sides of my head.
-Spent the evening at an Urgent Care to be told that yes, the aching of my foot for the last 10 days does in fact indicate a hairline fracture in my left 5th proximal metatarsal. Then they didn't have a post-op shoe at the clinic I went to, so I got to drive 90 min to Longmont and back to get the right thing to keep my foot from flexing too much. Recovery shouldn't be too bad, but this does set back training for the half-marathon I was planning to run in August. Drat.
In other news, I leave for a trip to Boston early (6:30 a.m. flight) tomorrow, get back Friday, then leave for Bonnaroo on the 8th. I need the break, and it's going to be amazing.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Chutes & Ladders
At some point everybody has played Chutes & Ladders, right?
3 years ago I ran up a really big ladder and went straight to the end of the board. In a year I jumped from single young guy living with my brother to married home-owning step-father of 2. I got close to the end of the game, close to where I wanted to spend the rest of my life...as a husband and father, living out my days with my family. I had everything I wanted, and somehow I'd skipped most of the journey most people have to go through to get there. I watched other people come up the board behind me. While I was sitting near the coast-to-the-finish line, friends were getting married, getting pregnant, having their own kids, and coming ever closer to where I had found myself. While I was getting comfortable, Steph was apparently deciding that marriage wasn't the right thing for her. She says now that she's just not meant to be married, so I found myself sliding down a chute I had hoped to avoid.
The interesting thing is that I'm back at the start, but now I've had a taste of what I've always felt I wanted in my life. I've been a dad and a husband and I did a damn good job at both, thank you very much. (Most days Steph would agree that I was a good husband, if she's not mad at me for something else. She's never blamed me for the marriage falling apart.) I'm behind where my friends are now. They're married with kids and houses and I'm living with my parents, trying to pay off debt from the marriage/divorce before I set out on my own again. I know I can get back to where I was. Obviously there are casting changes that needed to be made in the Saga of My Life, but I'll end up where I want to be. It's just going to take more rolls of the dice to get there.
3 years ago I ran up a really big ladder and went straight to the end of the board. In a year I jumped from single young guy living with my brother to married home-owning step-father of 2. I got close to the end of the game, close to where I wanted to spend the rest of my life...as a husband and father, living out my days with my family. I had everything I wanted, and somehow I'd skipped most of the journey most people have to go through to get there. I watched other people come up the board behind me. While I was sitting near the coast-to-the-finish line, friends were getting married, getting pregnant, having their own kids, and coming ever closer to where I had found myself. While I was getting comfortable, Steph was apparently deciding that marriage wasn't the right thing for her. She says now that she's just not meant to be married, so I found myself sliding down a chute I had hoped to avoid.
The interesting thing is that I'm back at the start, but now I've had a taste of what I've always felt I wanted in my life. I've been a dad and a husband and I did a damn good job at both, thank you very much. (Most days Steph would agree that I was a good husband, if she's not mad at me for something else. She's never blamed me for the marriage falling apart.) I'm behind where my friends are now. They're married with kids and houses and I'm living with my parents, trying to pay off debt from the marriage/divorce before I set out on my own again. I know I can get back to where I was. Obviously there are casting changes that needed to be made in the Saga of My Life, but I'll end up where I want to be. It's just going to take more rolls of the dice to get there.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Moving truck, WTF*?
Moving Saturday was successful, as most moves are. My things are no longer in my former home and are now split between self-storage and my temporary digs at my parents' place. I'm a bit more established here now- I have my TV and PS3 in my room, and an actual dresser! It's the little things, but seeing as I need to pay off some things before moving on it's good to have some stuff here that makes it more comfortable.
So Saturday started out entertaining. I had reserved a Budget truck from a location right next to a Public Storage facility (which has a big sign on the side advertising TRUCK RENTAL). It seemed convenient and Tim and I got there right at 9, as scheduled. The place didn't open until 10. Weird. Checked my phone and the address listed was not that of the storage facility. Hmmmmm. Remapped and drove towards the correct address...a block away. That's when we spotted the Budget Truck Rental sign up on a pole. Aha! 45 seconds later we're sitting in the parking lot of an obviously closed shop. Huh. Checked the email confirmation again and called the listed number. The girl helpfully told me they were located "at I-70 and Harlan." OK, we're there. More specific? "Oh, we're in the Phillips 66." That's the gas station across the street, directly in between the Budget Truck Rental-labeled place and the "TRUCK RENTAL"-advertising place. Crack much? Turns out they'd picked up the franchise when the other places had quit doing it and the other signs just hadn't come down yet. The truck was rented with one last snag- no ramp on 10' budget trucks. Grrrr. But we made it work.
The rest of the move went about as expected. Steph and the kids helped haul stuff up from the basement and I'm almost completely out, except for the dining room table Steph's "storing" until I get my new place and a bookshelf we ran out of room for. Sunday on my 1st day officially out of the house Mr. K asked me to come over and play Risk with him. So I spent all day in the old house anyway, playing with the kids and taking Obi for a walk. Funny how these things work.
*WTF was defined in a video game I played recently as "Where To Find," meaning you clicked the WTF link to get to the help section. I'm going with that. The title of the post certainly does not rhyme.
So Saturday started out entertaining. I had reserved a Budget truck from a location right next to a Public Storage facility (which has a big sign on the side advertising TRUCK RENTAL). It seemed convenient and Tim and I got there right at 9, as scheduled. The place didn't open until 10. Weird. Checked my phone and the address listed was not that of the storage facility. Hmmmmm. Remapped and drove towards the correct address...a block away. That's when we spotted the Budget Truck Rental sign up on a pole. Aha! 45 seconds later we're sitting in the parking lot of an obviously closed shop. Huh. Checked the email confirmation again and called the listed number. The girl helpfully told me they were located "at I-70 and Harlan." OK, we're there. More specific? "Oh, we're in the Phillips 66." That's the gas station across the street, directly in between the Budget Truck Rental-labeled place and the "TRUCK RENTAL"-advertising place. Crack much? Turns out they'd picked up the franchise when the other places had quit doing it and the other signs just hadn't come down yet. The truck was rented with one last snag- no ramp on 10' budget trucks. Grrrr. But we made it work.
The rest of the move went about as expected. Steph and the kids helped haul stuff up from the basement and I'm almost completely out, except for the dining room table Steph's "storing" until I get my new place and a bookshelf we ran out of room for. Sunday on my 1st day officially out of the house Mr. K asked me to come over and play Risk with him. So I spent all day in the old house anyway, playing with the kids and taking Obi for a walk. Funny how these things work.
*WTF was defined in a video game I played recently as "Where To Find," meaning you clicked the WTF link to get to the help section. I'm going with that. The title of the post certainly does not rhyme.
Friday, March 26, 2010
Time to move
A long time ago, I wrote this. Tomorrow I officially move all of my stuff out of that house. Yuck.
In other news...I'm going to Boston in a few weeks for a meeting. I've been there exactly once before, when I took a train from Denver to Boston w/ my family (mom, dad, and Tim) then drove to my sister's graduation from the College of the Atlantic in Maine. The train ride was long and exhausting. It also happened to be on my 19th birthday and my brother brought my present along, giving me Garbage Version 2.0 somewhere between here and there. It was my 1st non-radio exposure to Garbage and Tim was right...it's an excellent CD. (This was a year after I failed to be given The Smashing Pumpkins' Adore for my 18th bday *ahem* but that's another story.) My only memory of Boston itself is getting there after a hellaciously long train ride, getting in a rental car, and driving out of the city with no food. I remember thinking I had never felt so hungry in my life, being exhausted from the train ride, and desperately, frantically wanting something to eat. Funny the things that stick.
This time is a meeting though, and it couldn't come at a better time. Jennifer and Paul are in Rhode Island just an hour away, so I'm going to spend the weekend with them after the meeting is over on Friday. The divorce will be final on April 22 and I'll get to spend the weekend before that with friends I haven't seen in awhile. That'll be good.
In other other news...awhile back I created a hotmail account for the sole purpose of craigslisting. (I bought my PS3 on craigslist, not a prostitute, for those keeping score at home...) My gmail uses my actual name, so I made up a throwaway hotmail account that I programmed into my iPhone as an alternate means of anonymous communication. In the last few weeks the spambots have discovered me. How the hell does that happen? I've sent maybe 4 emails from that address, all to actual people, and I'm getting spam. Grrrr. I'd forgotten how much I love the gmail spam filters.
In other news...I'm going to Boston in a few weeks for a meeting. I've been there exactly once before, when I took a train from Denver to Boston w/ my family (mom, dad, and Tim) then drove to my sister's graduation from the College of the Atlantic in Maine. The train ride was long and exhausting. It also happened to be on my 19th birthday and my brother brought my present along, giving me Garbage Version 2.0 somewhere between here and there. It was my 1st non-radio exposure to Garbage and Tim was right...it's an excellent CD. (This was a year after I failed to be given The Smashing Pumpkins' Adore for my 18th bday *ahem* but that's another story.) My only memory of Boston itself is getting there after a hellaciously long train ride, getting in a rental car, and driving out of the city with no food. I remember thinking I had never felt so hungry in my life, being exhausted from the train ride, and desperately, frantically wanting something to eat. Funny the things that stick.
This time is a meeting though, and it couldn't come at a better time. Jennifer and Paul are in Rhode Island just an hour away, so I'm going to spend the weekend with them after the meeting is over on Friday. The divorce will be final on April 22 and I'll get to spend the weekend before that with friends I haven't seen in awhile. That'll be good.
In other other news...awhile back I created a hotmail account for the sole purpose of craigslisting. (I bought my PS3 on craigslist, not a prostitute, for those keeping score at home...) My gmail uses my actual name, so I made up a throwaway hotmail account that I programmed into my iPhone as an alternate means of anonymous communication. In the last few weeks the spambots have discovered me. How the hell does that happen? I've sent maybe 4 emails from that address, all to actual people, and I'm getting spam. Grrrr. I'd forgotten how much I love the gmail spam filters.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
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