Round 3 (or is it 4?)

Making Cheese: Montery Jack

2012-02-06T20:28:00.000-06:00

Yesterday, I decided to make another batch of cheese. I hadn't really thought through the recipe before going to the store. I kind of thought I'd make a batch of cheddar. I knew that the last batch had 3 gallons of milk, so I bought 3 gallons of milk... and the cheddar recipe called for 4 gallons. Flipping through the Leener's Cheese recipe book, we found the Montery Jack recipe called for 3 gallons of milk. We like Montery Jack, so we opted to try it.

The steps are fairly simple and straightforward:

Heat milk and calcium chloride to 88F.
Stir in Mesophilic-A and allow to ripen for 45 minutes.
Increase heat to 90F and add in rennet solution and 1 teaspoon flaked salt.

Let set, covered, for 60 minutes at 90F.
Cut into 1/2 inch curds and set for 10 minutes.
Raise to 100F over 30 minutes by placing the pot in a sink with 100F water, ideally increasing 2F ever 5 minutes. Stir gently and frequently.
Keep at 100F for an additional 30 minutes, stirring occassionally.
Pour off whey down to the level of the curd. Keep water bath at 100F.
Allow the curds to set for 30 minutes stirring every 5 minutes.
Pour into a colander lined with cheese cloth.
Gently mix in 3 tablespoons of cheese salt.

Press the cheese in the cheese mold with 4lbs of weight for 15 minutes.
Flip and keep pressing with 10lbs of weight for 12 hours.

Cut into fourths to age in smaller components and hopefully to let it dry faster.
Brush with salt brine solution and air dry for the next few days, flipping twice each day.

That's where we're at for now. When it's dry, we'll wax it and age it for a while then enjoy it.

Beer Tasting: Belgian Golden Strong (Homebrew)

2012-02-05T15:13:00.001-06:00

Beer: Belgian Golden Strong, Batch 2 (Homebrew)
Kegged: 2 Dec 11
Tasted: 5 Feb 12
Style: Belgian Golden Strong (18D)
Appearance: Slightly hazy, medium golden color. Thick white moussy head that lasts and laces excellently.
Aroma: Moderate sweet malt and pear fruit esters. Moderate spicy, peppery phenols. Floral, but not hop, scented bouquet. Soft and spicy alcohol scents. No diacetyl.
Flavor: Mild, soft malt tones with the pear fruit notes. Slightly spicy, focused on a peppery flavor. Excellent blending of the flavors into a delicious mix. No hops or diacetyl. Mild and soft alcohol flavor. Fairly dry finish. No astringency.
Mouthfeel: Medium light body with mild carbonation. Fairly dry finish. Smooth and drinkable. No astringency or alcohol warmth.
Overall: Dangerously delicious. Lots of flavor and very drinkable. The finish is dry enough (or "digestable," as the Belgians say) to drink lots of it. That's dangerous when it's over 9% ABV. Light enough for a warm spring or summer afternoon, strong enough for a cold winter night. I love it.
Comments: This was the second batch of the Vinnie Cilurzo's Belgian Golden Strong recipe (2005, 233) from Stan Hieronymus' Brew Like a Monk. Vinnie gives target ranges for the grain build of Pilsen malt (80-100%), wheat malt (0-5%), Munich malt (0-5%), and sugar (5-20%). The suggested hop bill is Styrian Goldings at 90 min (13-15 IBUs), Styrian Goldings at 30 minutes (7-10 IBUs), and Czech Saaz at knockout (3-5 IBUs). He recommends using Wyeast 1214. This recipe used German Pilsen malt (88%) and turbinado sugar (12%) with US Willamette hops at 90 min (1 oz, 12.1 IBUs), Willamette at 30 min (0.75 oz, 7.1 IBUs), and Saaz (1 oz, which I calculate to 0 IBUs, which makes sense) at knockout, using Wyeast 1214.

This is different from the first batch. The color is different and the taste is too. I wish I had some better tasting notes and a picture from the first batch. I think the fruit flavors are a bit different, still with pears, but no cherries. More times to duplicate in the future!

Beer Tasting: Midas Touch Clone (Homebrew)

2012-02-04T13:36:00.003-06:00

Beer: Midas Touch Clone (recipe from BYO) (Homebrew)
Bottled: 14 Feb 2011
Tasted: 4 Feb 2012
Style: Specialty Beer (23) or Fruit Beer (20) or Belgian Golden Strong (18D)
Aroma: Balance of fruit and malt. Hints of alcohol. No hop bitterness.
Appearance: Copper amber hue. Brilliantly clear. Slightly off-white head that quickly disappated.
Flavor: Moderate malt tastes. Light fruit esters. Well balanced between the two. A minor mead flavor with the hints of honey and the alcohol is present. No hop bitterness, but the hops balance the sweetness appropriately to keep a balanced and delightful beer. Fairly dry finish.
Mouthfeel: Moderate body. Very lightly carbonated. A light astringency in the finish.
Overall: I like this a lot. But it does not even hardly compare to DFH Midas Touch. The color is much darker and the head doesn't last enough. It appears more clear, however. It lacks the brilliant aroma as the original, especially lacking the grape aromas. The faint scents of malt extract are more evident than the grape esters. It tastes darker but much less bitter and less astringent. I would actually like the Midas Touch a bit better with less bitterness and astringency. The carbonation and slightly lighter body of Midas Touch is a bit nicer too. It's not the original, but was a fun experiment and I'm still happy to drink the rest.
Comments: So I took these tasting notes on 25 Feb 2011. The picture is from today. The notes hold up perfectly, so I simply copied and pasted them here (and added them back then for the blog purpose).

Beer Tasting: Smuttynose Gravitation

2012-02-03T18:29:00.004-06:00

Beer: Smuttynose Gravitation
Bottled: 2011
Tasted: 3 Feb 12
Style: Belgian Dark Strong Ale (18E) (BJCP doesn't have a Quad style, although Brewers' Association does).
Appearance: Dark amber to almost brown. Lots of carbonation. Thick mousse tan head that laces. Somewhat hazy.
Aroma: Rich, complex maltiness with complex fruit tones. Perhaps slightly rummy. Fruitiness is either figs or prunes, I'm not familiar with either to easily tell. Hints of soft alcohol. No hops or diacetyl. No spices.
Flavor: Rich and deep caramel malt. Mild rum flavors and clear fruit, probably prunes, flavor. Moderately sweet but clearly not cloying. Moderately sweet finish. Mild alcohol flavors. Mild bitterness, but not hops. Very smooth blending. Very mild pepper spices.
Mouthfeel: Medium body with mild carbonation. Very creamy. Smooth but noticeable alcohol warmth.
Overall: Very smooth and easy drinking beer. Good flavor, although the mild bitterness doesn't quite fit the style. Perhaps that helps to keep it from being overly quaffable, especially at 12.0%. Certainly one that I would like to drink again.

Beer Tasting: Rooster's Cream Ale

2012-01-30T20:38:00.000-06:00

Beer: Rooster's Brewery Cream Ale
Draft: Rooster's Brewery in Layton, UT
Tasted: 30 Jan 2012Style: Cream Ale (6A)
Appearance: Light straw gold. Brilliantly clear. Mild tan head.
Aroma: Mild sweet malt with mild corn notes. No hops or diacetyl.
Flavor: Smooth. Corn grits flavor. Light body. Clean finish.Mouthfeel: Light and smooth. Easy drinking.
Overall: Simple. Good but not great.
Comments: This was new since I was there at the end of November. I had to try it, but then went with the JunctionCity Chocolate Stout, which was excellent.

Beer Tasting: Cherry Fever Stout (Homebrew) - Current Tasting

2012-01-29T13:51:00.001-06:00

Beer: Cherry Fever Stout (Homebrew)
Kegged: 24 Oct 10
Tasted: 29 Jan 12
Style: Fruit Beer (20) and/or Dry Stout (13A)
Appearance: Dark black to the point of being opaque. Thick tan head that doesn't much but lasts with a thin covering.
Aroma: Deep malts highlighted by the cherry fruit aroma. Caramel tones with mild roasted notes. Faint hints of chocolate. No hops or diacetyl.
Flavor: Caramel malt flavors with a slightly bitter cherry taste. Chocolate notes, almost hinting at chocolate covered cherries. Very mild astringency in the finish. No hops, diacetyl, or alcohols.
Mouthfeel: Medium body with mild carbonation. Not too creamy. Semi-dry finish. Fairly smooth with a mild astringency in the finish.
Overall: A pleasing dark beer. It's not so fruity that the cherries seem overpowering.
Comments: I've got my first tasting notes from 6 Nov 10 to compare to and that's interesting. I also had listed it as a Sweet Stout (13B), but either through age or refined opinions, I wouldn't classify it there now. The aroma seems to have not changed much. I'd say the flavors have mellowed some, but not unpleasantly, and the mouthfeel has changed a bit too. I think that I'm also not quite as enamored with the cherry aspect now as opposed to a more traditional stout... but that could just be timing.

Beer Tasting: Dogfish Head My Antonia

2012-01-28T20:37:00.001-06:00

Beer: Dogfish Head My Antonia
Bottled: 2011 2 107

Tasted: 28 Jan 12

Style: Speciality Beer (23) - BJCP has a Pilsner (2) category, but thus far hasn't come up with anything for an Imperial Pilsner, so I'll list this as a speciality beer (23) for lack of a better category.
Appearance: A golden to goldenrod (not quite burnished gold) color. Brilliantly clear. Thick white head that settles to a thin layer with good lacing.
Aroma: Pilsen malt scents. Surprisng lack of aroma hops given that it is an "Imperial Pilsner" and continuously hopped. Mild fruit esters like champagne grapes.
Flavor: Up front pilsen malt flavors with an immediate hop taste and bite, probably from noble hops (but I'm not familiar enough with noble hop flavor to actually know for sure). No fruit esters. The hops overwhelm the malt but not unpleasantly. Clean flavor with with clean, if hop bitter, finish.

Mouthfeel: Medium body with a dry finish. Medium-highcarbonation. Hop bitter astringency.

Overall: A very pleasant high hop lager from DFH. This is a great lateral from their IPAs. I'd certainly pick it up and drink it again.
Comments: When I poured the end of the bottle, the glass clouded up a bunch, probably from yeast sediment. Not a bad thing, just something to know.

Roasting Coffee, Part 2

2012-01-28T18:52:00.001-06:00

I know that recording here the details of each time I roast coffee won't really happen or matter, but since I just changed how I am roasting since my last roaster broke (see previous post), I thought capturing today's coffee roasting would be good.

Today I used green Ethiopian coffee beans given to me by my sister, Erin, and her husband, my brother-in-law, Brody. Erin and Brody got the beans from Brody's sister and brother-in-law, who picked up the beans in Ethiopia when they were adopting their son. I've been very careful to slowly go through these, since they have such a special origin to me. Otherwise, I've usually bought beans from MoreCoffee.com or similar on-line sources. One of the big differences in the ones from Erin and Brody and those I get online is the level of sorting I have to do on the beans prior to roasting. With the ones I get online, someone has already gone through and removed extra bits of chaff, small broken/blacked beans, and perhaps even small pebbles. With the Ethiopian ones I got as a gift, I do this preparatory process.

In general, I start with 90g of green beans. I got to this number from the instructions with my first coffee roaster: put a single layer of green beans on the bottom of the roaster (pot). That volume of beans turned out to be 90g. After roasting, I generally would end up with 70-75g of roasted beans. It turns out that with my preferred strength for a cup of coffee, I use about 10g (before grinding) for each serving, which turns out to be 10g per day. So, starting with 90g of green beans means I get one week's worth of roasted coffee.

I can tell a flavor difference from that single batch of roasted beans as the week progresses: I get the most flavor the day after I roast (I almost never use them the same day) and it decreases (noticeably, if ever so slightly) as time goes on. As an aside, I grind just before I brew the batch (I get about 2 cups with each 10g) of coffee. The best flavor for a cup of coffee, I have found, is fairly freshly roasted and fresh ground. So, I try to roast each weekend and then I'm set for the week.

Weight: Today, I measured the green bean weight before sorting, so I started with 91g, then figured I pulled out 1g of chaff, small bad pieces, etc. I assume I had 90g of green beans when I started the actual roasting.

Equipment: I used the stainless steel roasting pot, a metal whisk, my OveGloves (cause the stuff is hot), and a colander/bowl combination for the air cooling.

Ambient Conditions: The weather conditions, as with any time you're cooking outside, directly affect the roasting process. At least, that's what I believe from my personal anecdotal evidence. So, to put my roasting times in perspective, the day was beautiful, about 65F, sunny, and no wind. If it had been colder or windier, I expect (from experience) that each step in the roasting process would take longer.

Roasting Process:

I heated up the roasting pot for about 10 minutes using the gas burner setting (side burner on my gas grill) that I learned when I started using the roaster, about medium to medium-low heat.

When the roasting pot was hot, I added the green coffee beans and started a timer. The beans started turning brown very quickly. I stirred continuously.
I had first crack (that's an important time step in roasting coffee) at 57 seconds.
I noted second crack (another important term) one minute 47 seconds later. During this time the color changing continued at different rates per individual bean (this makes sense, since each bean is getting heated at slightly different rates, based on stirring, heat transfer, etc.) I also had lots of smoke rising off the beans, as to be expected.
Another minute and 12 seconds later I killed the heat and started the air cooling process.

Air Cooling Process: I do a pretty simple method. I pour the hot roasted beans into a colander that is matched with a bowl to give me an egg-shaped container that I can shake and swirl the beans, separating off the chaff and allowing the air to cool off the beans until I can comfortably touch them with my hand. After this, I weigh them again and leave them uncovered in a glass bowl on the counter to off-gas overnight until I use them for the first time.

Like I learned last time, I really enjoyed roasting in the open container where I could watch the changing colors. I felt more connected to the process rather than removed and just turning a crank. Also, this would greatly simplify getting started for most folks. Most people have a heavy pot (or a cast iron skillet would work very well), a whisk, and a colander they can use already in their kitchen.

I'm glad I started with a roasting kit. Without it, I probably would have felt too intimidated to start roasting on my own. I don't understand why I had nearly the same breaks in two different roaster with different metal compositions when so many other people out there don't seem to have those problems. Certainly my new method (and ironically, a more traditional, older method) requires more direct effort from the individual doing the roaster (whom I would call the "roaster," but that gets confusing since the equipment has the same title) than more automated machines, but I actually prefer this.

I continue to really enjoy my fresh roasted coffee. It's much better than any roasted beans I've ever bought. It's also really simple to do. And now, I have a batch for this next week to enjoy. Of course, the Ethiopian beans from Erin and Brody are starting to run out, so I better plan to make a purchase of green beans pretty soon.

Beer Tasting: Ass Kisser Smoked Porter

2012-01-28T13:55:00.001-06:00

Beer: Ass Kisser Smoked Porter

Bottled: Batch 275; 09:45, 22 Aug 11 (082211)

Tasted: 28 Jan 12

Style: Smoked Robust Porter (12B) (I chose to put it under brown porter instead of the smoked category (22B) after reading the 22B notes. I'm not sure it's based on a robust porter and not a brown porter, but it's a shot to start with).

Appearance: Deep, dark brown with rich, ruby colors at the edges. Appears black in the center. Extremely clear at teh edges. Thick, tan head that nicely laces.

Aroma: Extremely rich, deep malty flavors. As the nose lingers, the smoked notes appear and nicely meld with the malt scents. The smokiness is evident but not overwhelming. The roasted malt notes fade behind the smoke.

Flavor: The smoke is much more evident in the taste than in aroma. But the malt is clearly the backbone. The smoke doesn't overwhelm the flavor, which is good. Roasted notes with the related dryness and very mild astringency. The flavor ends on a dry note. Medium bitterness, probably from a mix of bittering hops (little to no hop flavor is evident) and the roasted grains, works very well to balance the malt. Very well balanced with the malts, smoke, and bitterness. A fairly clean finish.

Mouthfeel: Medium body with a dry finish. Moderate carbonation. A very mild astringency.

Overall: An very nicely balanced porter with hints of smoke. The dry finish without too much astringency would allow this to be a nice session beer. At 8% ABV, that might go a little too easy as a session beer, and the alcohol is very well hidden by the flavor, aroma, and mouthfeel.
Comments: I don't drink enough (or brew enough) porters. Almost every time I have one I'm reminded how much I like them. This Ass Kisser Smoked Porter is no exception. I'd certainly drink this one again.

Beer Tasting: North Coast Grand Cru

2012-01-27T18:09:00.000-06:00

Beer: North Coast Grand Cru

Bottled: Unk.

Tasted: 27 Jan 12

Style: Specialty Beer (23)

Appearance: Medium orange hue that is effervescent. The thick white head thinned out but kept going (thinly) due to the carbonation.

Aroma: Mostly malt tones. A honey-like aroma (perhaps the agave nectar) is in the foreground. Mild, fruity esters that I can't place; it's probably the agave nectar. The press release talks about being "champagne-like," and a malty champagne might be the best comparison.

Flavor: Malt tones dominate in the foreground. The finish has distinct flavors from a Belgian yeast, but I can't identify any particular stain or distinct tastes. There are moderate, but not hot, alcohol flavors.

Mouthfeel: Moderate to heavy body but the carbonation dries it out and thins it down. The finish is mostly dry but with a surprising sweet and mildly cloying end.

Overall: Too sweet to be nicely balanced. The carbonation might try to balance it, but it doesn't affect the finish enough to give good balance. The nose also seems to promise something that is extra sweet... which the beer follows through on, although that's not necessarily pleasant.
Comments: The salesman at the Fort Walton Beach Wine World pushed this really hard. He hadn't steered me wrong before, but I'm not sure he had tasted it. Or maybe he likes sweet beers. This beer is too unbalanced for me to consider it good. At 12.9%, it's potent, but not really enjoyable. Maybe extended aging would help, but if so, then they needed to do that prior to packaging and shipping. My recommendation: pass it up.

Making a Treadmill Desk

2012-01-23T22:32:00.000-06:00

For those who don't know, Jamie is an unpublished author. I choose that descriptor carefully. She is an author; she has finished multiple manuscripts. She has not yet, however, published a book. She could choose to self-publish or pursue e-publishing, but she is focusing on traditional print publishing. You can find out more about her current works and what's happening with her on her webpage.

This is important to my entry today because this means that Jamie spends a lot of time working on the computer. True, she's also a stay-at-home mom, but when our children give her a break, she's usually writing... on the computer.

We got rid of our desktops sometime around 2005 and have been using laptops. When I went to graduate school in 2007, we got a MacBook Pro. In the ensuing years, our old Dell laptops went the way of the dinosaur. So, we basically share the MacBook now. The computer adequately handles our needs, to include Jamie's writing requirements.

What she lacks, however, is a good writing workspace. Sure, we have two nice desks up in our bonus/craft/junk room. But they are currently covered with crafts/junk/whatever. And the room, while it's nice to be able to count it as a fourth bedroom for our house, just isn't the most ideal space to spend most of the day. It gets warmer than the rest of the house, it's farther away from the rest of the amenities, and it's currently cluttered.

We use our "library" (on the original floor plan, it was called a living room with the main living space being called a family room. We put all our books in the room and it seemed much nicer to call it a library and the name stuck. As an aside, we don't own a dining room set and instead we put up pictures in the "dining room," so we call that our "gallery." The fun things you can do when you name the rooms of the house.

Jamie spends most of her writing time in the library sitting in the fairly comfortable, but not practical for working on a computer, sitting chair. We've got a nifty device called an iLap to make the laptop use better. It works, but it still doesn't help with the posture. And it has a problem that most computer workstations have... it leaves the user sedentary all day long.

I had seen several people discuss the possibility of a treadmill desk. One such author is a personal favorite of mine, Nathan Lowell. At the end of November, he put together his treadmill desk. There's even an entire blog/website dedicated to treadmill desks. You can even buy entire systems!

The idea is pretty straight forward. If you put the computer at the right spot, the arms will still be in a good position to type. You can walk slowly to put on a constant caloric burn. And usually your posture is better since you're walking. This is a great way to conduct a low-impact, low-risk, easy build-up exercise routine while still allowing a person to get work (or internet fun) done. With a laptop, we can use the laptop in the library, the living room, the kitchen, or at the treadmill desk with minimal hassle.

Jamie had considered the idea somewhat before, but with the New Year came new plans to do it. We determined we could afford it and I knew I could put it together. I searched on Craigslist, found a nice ProForm 770 EKG Treadmill for $200 and had the most challenge piece of the treadmill desk. For about another $7 plus some parts I already had on hand and about 2 hours of my time, I got the desk put together and installed. It can still be easily removed for when we want to pick up the treadmill (the treadmill folds up if we want it to) but it's also stable and solid.

I haven't done any finishing work on it yet, but I plan to sand it down and perhaps give a coat of paint or something to help keep it smooth and splinters away. I didn't take detailed pictures at each building step, but it was fairly simple. I already had the plywood, 2x4, wood screws, and 550 parachute cord on hand. As I mentioned, I bought the treadmill on Craigslist. The rest I bought at Lowe's. It probably took me an half an hour to do the measurements (a little challenging as I didn't have, nor did I want to make, detailed drawings of the treadmill) and really sketch out the design. I probably spent another 30 minutes cutting the wood to the appropriate sizes (also challenging since I didn't really know how long to make things when it all started going together, although it turns out that I'm pretty good at calculating/guessing.) It took another hour to really assemble it carefully. I wanted to do the drilling in the garage to cut down on the sawdust in the house, but the treadmill was already in place inside, so there was some good walking in and ou


The hardware for the desk

Parts Required:

Item	Qty	Price Ea	Sub-Total
Treadmill	1	$200.00	$200.00
17"x37"x1/2" plywood	1	N/A	N/A
2x4x8	1	$2.66	N/A
1 x 2 x 8	1	$0.88	$0.88
Box of #8 x 1.25" wood screws	1	$5.29	N/A
Bag of 6 ea #8 x 2" bolts and nuts	1	$0.88	$0.88
Bag of #8 washers	1	$0.88	$0.88
Bag of 3 ea #8 wing nuts	1	$0.88	$0.88
Bag of 3 ea eye screws	1	$0.88	$0.88
Spring Loaded Clip	1	$2.22	$2.22
~ 4ft of 550 parachute cord (not pictured)	1	N/A	N/A
Tax			$0.40
Total			$207.03

The size of the plywood was based on the size of the piece that I had on hand and could use for the project, as well as the iLap size. The 2x4 was cut to fit the plywood, so down to two 37" pieces. I just so happened to have some lying around the garage that would work perfectly. The 1x2 pieces I had envisioned to serve as braces around the treadmill arms. I over-engineered the design, which was good when I started not being able to fit some of the 1x2 pieces into place. I also put a hinged (around a bolt) piece of 1x2 around the arms near the front, to help keep the desk from having any chance of bouncing. Lastly, I tied the 550 cord through the eye hook on the left side before running it around the back of the console. I tied the cord to the spring loaded clip, which hooked to another eye hook. This gave me the best ability to add a safety rope to keep the desk from sliding off the treadmill arms. It also avoids rubber fatigue/breaking of a bungee cord.

I'm sure I used more fasteners than I really needed to, but I had them and it was the easy and safer thing to do. I used 10 to secure the plywood to the 2x4s (5 across each 2x4). I used 2 into each vertical 1x2 component. Lastly, I used the #8 bolts to create the swing arms out of 1x2s.

Jamie's already started logging time at the treadmill desk since I finished it Sunday night. I hope she continues to enjoy it and get good writing done at the same time.

Making Cheese: Heavenly Ricotta

2012-01-17T21:42:00.001-06:00

This recipe comes from Ricki Carroll's Home Cheese Making (2002, p153). It takes fresh whey from a hard cheese (which I have thanks to my recent attempt at making a Colby), heats it up, lets it set a bit, drains it and calls it quits. I can handle that while I'm waiting for the next pressing schedule on the Colby. Here are some gratuitous pictures. ~~Taste tests to come later this week or next weekend.~~

The smell, while it was cooking, was fantastic. I'm sure it's much the same as heated milk. It reminded me of tapioca, which is the time that I probably most often heat milk. It was sweet and creamy and enticing.

In the end, this was an utter failure. I poured the whey through a colander lined with butter muslin, and had nothing left. Rereading the instructions, it says to "place the whey in a colander lined with butter muslin and let drain for 15 minutes." I'm not sure the difference, but I certainly didn't have anything to show for my efforts except the foam I skimmed off the top!

The captured foam... yum!

Maybe I was supposed to put the foam in the muslin-lined colander. I'm tasting it now, and it's fantastic. Kind of like a tapioca, but I know it's healthier! And I don't think there's any way that I would have yielded 1/2 lb of ricotta per gallon of whey. Oh well, time to try this one again sometime.

Making Cheese: Colby Cheese

2012-01-17T21:27:00.001-06:00

Now that I've made a cheese press, I needed to make a pressed cheese. I really want to make Gouda, but Home Cheese Making and the Leeners instruction book have a few slight differences. To keep things simple, especially with the ingredients that came with the kit. Leeners didn't have a Gouda recipe, so I opted to try their Colby. Jamie picked up the ingredients over the weekend, but I didn't have time to start it with other projects going on around the house. I had hoped to get home a little early from work today to start it, but didn't, so I started it around 5:00. I knew it would take about 4 hours, and here I am nearing the four hour mark as I post this during one of the "Hold the temperature at ___ for 30 minutes" steps.

The ingredients

I followed the recipe as best I could. I don't have a double boiler large enough for 3 gallons, so when it called for indirect heat, I used direct heat. My temperatures and times didn't always perfectly match. Interestingly, a lot of the cheese recipes seem really similar, except for slight variations of temperature (maybe 2 degrees Fahrenheit) and time (maybe 30 minutes). So, this may or may not be Colby. Still, it'll be homemade cheese, and that's just cool.

Steps I basically did (heck, this is for me as much as anyone else):
1) Heated milk and calcium chloride to 86°F and let it hold there for 60 minutes.
2) Add annatto coloring (9 drops) and stir in rennet. Let it hold at 86°F for another 60 minutes.
3) Cut the curd into 3/8" (yeah right) cubes. Stir and let set for 5 minutes.

Cutting the curd

4) ~~Using a double boiler~~ Using direct heat, ~~slowly~~ raise the temperature of the curd ~~2°F every 5 minutes~~ until it reaches 102°F. ~~Hold at 102°F for 30 minutes.~~ At this point, I kind of put the lid on it to keep the temperature in and it probably held at 104°F for about 40 minutes.
5) Cover the pot and allow the curd to settle for 5 minutes. I had already basically done this in step 4.

Settling curd

6) Pour off the whey until it is level with the curd mass. I should have been cleaning the dishes instead of working on blog posts. That would have made this step much easier. And if I hadn't been trying to save some of the whey for a ricotta recipe, it would have poured off with less mess too.
7) Add cold water until it reaches 80°F. I got it to 81°F to which the instructions say, "A slightly higher temperature will produce drier cheese." Awesome.
8) Line a colander with cheesecloth (hey, I'm using it for the right reason!) and pour the curds and whey (where's Little Miss Muffet now?) and allow to drain. I should have remembered to run the garbage disposal first. Luckily I didn't have an issue, but this would be the one chance for the drain to back up.

That's a lot of curds.

9) Add 3 tablespoons of ~~cheese~~ flaked salt (I don't know if the flaked salt is the same; it came with the Leeners kit and is what I had in my hands... it looks and feels the same) and gently mix with my hands (no photo here, Jamie would kill me if I got the camera that dirty).
10) Put into a cheese mold (came with the Leeners kit) and put into cheese press (finally!) with 20lbs (9kgs) for 20 minutes. I had to put a hole in the pie plate so the whey wouldn't over flow. But then it just dribbled down the outside and onto the wood. I'll have to treat the wood or something to get that to not be as much of a problem in the future.

Going into the mold.

After the first pressing.

11) Remove from the press, mold, and cheese cloth, flip the cheese, and return to cheese cloth, mold, and press with 30lbs (14kg) for 20 minutes.

The second pressing.

12) Repeat step 11 but with 50lbs (22.7kg) for 12 hours.

Overnight pressing.

13) Clean up the kitchen before Jamie finds the mess I had.

The next steps take time over a couple of days. There's washing the rind with a mild saltwater solution, letting it air dry, and then aging. I've got cheese wax to treat some of it. We'll probably eat some right away too. That's the point after all.

In the end, it took me about five and a half hours. The cheese press needs the bottom board treated to handle moisture, and maybe some feet to lift it from the counter.

Beer Tasting: Ass Kisser Double IPA

2012-01-15T19:11:00.001-06:00

Beer: Ass Kisser Double IPA

Bottled: Batch 241A; 11:01, 15 Jun 11 (061511).

Tasted: 15 Jan 12

Style: Imperial IPA (14C)

Appearance: Orange hue that is hazy. A whole lot of carbonation. Creamy, light tan head that lasts and laces.

Aroma: Smooth, but not overwhelming hops. I can't place the hop. It's not piney or resinousy. Strong and clean malt undertone. Mild alcohol notes.

Flavor: Very smooth without overwhelming hops. Appropriate, if mild compared to many of the mainstream Double IPAs these days, bitter without any astringency. Clean malt flavor with mild caramel and toasted notes. Very smooth.

Mouthfeel: Medium-light bodied without astringency. Overall medium-dry.

Overall:A very smooth, not overpowering, DIPA. Not anything that would really get a hop-head excited, but a pleasant beer nonetheless.

Making a Cheese Press

2012-01-15T13:15:00.000-06:00

Last year (2010) for Christmas, I asked for a cheese making kit. While I like almost all cheeses, generally I'm a fan of hard cheeses more than soft cheeses, so I naturally asked for a hard cheese making kit. My father gave me a Leeners Hard Cheese Making Kit. We got home from the vacation and Jamie and I promptly made Farmhouse Cheddar.

The results were mixed. I had never had a farmhouse cheddar before and didn't (still don't) know what to expect. Consequently, I don't know if my methods were flawed or if the cheese came out perfectly and I just wasn't as much of a fan. I do know that I either didn't seal it enough or it's supposed to turn into a blue cheese. Since the directions didn't mention that, we didn't try the last wedge that I opened last weekend and found it all moldy. Lessons learned.

I should add that while we haven't tried hard cheeses again, we've been making homemade mozzarella about once a month ever since. There are recipes that use the microwave and give mozzarella in about 30 minutes. It disappears about as fast. I strongly recommend anyone try making it tomorrow. It's that good.

One of the best things in the kit was the book, Home Cheese Making, by Ricki Carroll. It's a great book. It goes into the history, the basic methods, a lot of recipes. Along with the Leeners book, it also helped me understand I was missing a cheese press. This is a pretty important piece of making hard cheese, as you need to press the whey out of the cheese as it's forming. I tried a jury-rigged method with the farmhouse cheddar, but knew that wasn't going to work. And I didn't really want to spend $100 or more to buy one. I looked at making some, but didn't have the weights with me and didn't want to buy them.

When I last saw my father last Thanksgiving (2011), he brought me some weights from an old weight set. I finally had the big pieces I needed to make a cheese press. Looking up a variety of instructions on the internet, I knew I had some options to choose from. I picked one I liked best, as it had the most commonalities with others I saw on the internet, was straight-forward, and looked like it would work the best. Finally, today I went to Lowe's, bought the last of the pieces I needed, and put it together.

Parts Required:

Item	Qty	Price Ea	Sub-Total
4ft 1x8	1	$4.18	$4.18
1/2" x 18" black pipe	2	$3.69	$7.38
1/2" Galvanized Floor Flange	2	$6.42	$12.84
12x1 Wood Screw Package (5 ea)	2	$0.88	$1.76
Tax			$1.57
TOTAL:			$27.73

I already had the free weight pieces and the dive weights to give me a total of 50lbs (22.7kg) of weight. We had some disposable pie plates (to catch the whey) and a can of vegetables (to act as a follower) as well as the mold. So, for under $30 and about 30 minutes, I have a cheese press that might otherwise run me over $100.

Tools Required:
Saw - I used a mitre saw, because I have it. It was a quick cut. I cut the 1x8 into a 22" piece and a 26" piece.
Cordless Drill
1" bit - I used a hole saw because I have it and my spade bit is dull
Pencil, square, tape measure

Assembling the components

Cutting the board

Using the hole saw to cut followers for the pipe guides.

Attaching the floor flanges.

Test Fitting

Finished Product

Getting the holes in the top board to follow the pipe guides is probably the toughest part of the job, and it's fairly easy. So, finally I got around to making the quick and cheap solution to my need for a cheese press. Now I just need to try it out.

Beer Tasting: Smuttynose "Finestkind" IPA

2012-01-08T16:51:00.001-06:00

Beer: Smuttynose "Finestkind" IPA

Bottled: Unk. Best before March 2012.

Tasted: 8 Jan 12

Style:American IPA (14B)

Appearance: Orange hue that is hazy with some particulates floating. Lots of carbonation. Creamy, slightly off-white head that lasts and laces.

Aroma: Smooth, but not overwhelming hops. Hops are resinous if I can pick up any specific hop aroma; I can't place the variety. Smuttynose notes it should be citrusy and the varieties are Simcoe, Santiams, and Amarillo. I do not get citrusy notes. Slight toasted scents. Faint, if any, malt, but certainly not sweet malt. Mild alcohol notes.

Flavor: Smooth, with hopsvery evident, but not overwhelming (as should be expected for this style, unlike an Imperial IPA). I still taste resinous hops, not citrus flavors, just like the nose. Perhaps a mild citrus flavor in the finish before it turns to a bitter hop flavor as the fairly smooth and lingering aftertaste. Clean, mild malt, perhaps with a faint toasted touch. Medium-dry finish. No diacetyl or fruitiness.

Mouthfeel: Medium-light bodied with a mild hop-dervived astringency. Overall medium-dry.

Overall: I didn't realize it was unfiltered, but that works and is to style. This is a pleasant IPA, that is perhaps a bit too astringent for my tastes. I don't think this is a particularly noteworthy version of the style, but neither is it disappointing.

Roasting Coffee

2012-01-08T16:00:00.000-06:00

In May of 2010, when I got back from my deployment in Liberia, Jamie got me a "birthday/welcome home/maybe it was some other reason" gift of a home coffee roaster kit. I had been talking about wanting to try that and get into it for a while, and she made the thought reality. The kit came with a great book, Home Coffee Roasting, by Kenneth Davids, that gave a great bit of the history of coffee roasting and broke down the process step by step.

I roasted my first batch on 5 June 10. Fresh roasted coffee is fantastic. I daresay, superior to almost anything else I've drank. The aroma is more fragrant, the flavor more defined. It's just wonderful. I enjoying roasting on a weekend and having enough to last me through the week. With the roaster kit, that was just about the right amount per batch too.

But, on 20 March 11, the roaster broke. The aluminum pot base had deformed, pressing a piece of the rotating mechanism upward and popping the gears apart. I tried another batch in April with the roaster doing the same thing. So, in July, I purchased a stainless steel popcorn popper and used it.

I used the stainless steel roaster 13 times successfully before it too broke this past December. I was irritated and didn't roast coffee for a while. Jamie brought home a bag of Christmas coffee from a gift exchange, so that became what I drank through most of the holidays. It wasn't nearly as good as my fresh roasted coffee, but it did in the pinch.

I finally fixed it yesterday and gave it a go again. The operation sounded smooth, no grinding of gears or the rotating arm on the bottom of the pan. But a few minutes into roasting, the roaster broke in a worse way. This was the same as with the aluminum. The gears (which had worn, as visible in the picture), just moved to a point where they wouldn't mesh. The center one popped up, actually breaking the grommet underneath. It was hard broke.

I was part way into my roasting, I wanted to finish, but I needed another option. I knew from Home Coffee Roasting that originally people used a skillet or a pot and a long stirring stick. I had read that you could use a case iron skillet too. So, I grabbed a metal whisk from the kitchen and started over again.

I held the pot with my OveGloves and stirred gently and slowly. The roasting seemed to go slow, but that's probably just because I was watching it. I had a desire to turn up the heat because it was taking so long; I thought that maybe the heat lost because of the lack of lid may dramatically and negatively affect my roasting of the beans. But, I held the desire to turn up the heat in check and just kept stirring.

I got to watch the color of the beans change as I stirred. I felt like I had a better overall experience with this roasting, since I was more involved, more engaged. There was less science (I had no idea what the roasting chamber temperature was) but that was okay. I was enjoying the simple art of roasting coffee much more than I did with the full roaster... and I had enjoyed it quite a bit then!

In many ways, doing the open top roasting took me to the reason I wanted to start roasting coffee. I think I started enjoying beer more once I had started brewing it. With roasting coffee, I got to change something on my own, understand (or at least know) everything (or almost everything) that happened as I enacted that change, and then experience the results that were fresher and more fulfilling than what I got when I go to a store.

This is a simpler method than I started with and there are obviously many fewer parts to break. It may take longer, but I should accept that and enjoy it for the hobby of the roasting, not just the end result of the better coffee. And I haven't stopped going out for coffee for a special treat now and then. But this makes my morning coffee much better and more enjoyable. And I get to experience that little joy with almost every sip.

New Years Eve is a Chance to Review the Year

2011-12-31T22:43:00.000-06:00

I'm sitting at home on the last evening of 2011. My two boys are asleep (I hope) in their beds, my wife is down the street at a friends' house having a bit of a party, and I'm relaxing, watching a cheesy but fun movie. Sitting around in the quiet gives me a chance to think about what I've done in the past year.

In February, Jamie and I welcomed the newest member to our family with the birth of our son, Liam Paul. Liam has grown up incredibly fast and just in the past few days he's started walking. He's a feisty little red head who is strong-willed and stubborn as can be. But he's also incredibly cute, wonderful, and sweet.

Kieran has continued growing like a weed. He has matured an incredible amount in the past year, although as he demonstrated at Christmas, he's still a three-year old at heart. Despite that, he and I are sharing more and more quality time together, especially our fortnightly trips to the barber and usually breakfast. He's continuing to learn all kinds of things at an incredible rate, making me a very proud papa.

Jamie continues to advance in her writing career but I'll leave that story for her to tell. Read more about what she's doing over at her webpage.

My job has gone well. I started out the year as an Executive Assistant to a senior executive in my organization. That had me doing a variety of odd jobs until April when I was selected as a branch chief in our Advanced Concepts Division. That has kept me busy traveling and learning and handling personnel issues. I've enjoyed the challenge and the growth opportunities.

In April, I was notified that the Air Force selected me for promotion to the rank of Major with the additional good news that the Air Force will save a seat for me at the next level of professional military education. When and where I will go to school isn't known yet, but being selected should mean that I'm roughly in the top 20% of my year group.

In addition to the family time and work efforts, I've had some time to keep up with my hobbies. I haven't done quite as much as I might have hoped, but Jamie will certainly tell you that I haven't been lollygagging too much and she'd probably state that I need to relax a little more anyway. But in a quick recap of things I've done...

Scuba Diving: I started the year with 40 logged dives. The last time I was diving was Memorial Day 2010 on the USS Oriskany. I had hoped to do another 10 dives in 2011 and earn my Master Diver Rating. For a variety of reasons, I had a challenge booking dive trips due to schedule, fatigue, and... well, I'm too tired to remember my other excuses. The times that I did book a dive trip, each time, the trip was cancelled due to weather or boat maintenance issues. So, I ended 2011 with 40 dives logged. Maybe 2012 will be better.

Coffee Roasting: So, I really like to drink good coffee. Since Jamie got me a coffee roaster for my birthday and homecoming in 2010, I got to really enjoying fresh roasted coffee. My coffee roaster broke in March. I replaced it with a stainless steel popcorn popper which did a pretty good job of lasting. The aluminum in the original model deformed under the heat required for roasting coffee. I had a slight glitch with the stainless steel one late in the year, but just today I think I fixed that. In the end, between the two roasters, I roasted about 90 g (3 oz, pre-roasting) each week, for a total of 2.165 kg (4.75 lbs) of green coffee into wonderfully tasty, fresh roasted coffee. I hope the fix I made to the roaster works to keep me supplied with fresh coffee throughout 2012... or that the next fix is simple and cheap. I'm not sure the math works out that I really roasted an average of 90 g each week, but it still worked out about right. I call this a success.

Volunteering: I started out the year focusing most of my volunteer efforts with Venture Crew 773 as an Associate Advisor. I didn't really get as much time working with them that I'd like and at the end of the year, unfortunately the Crew didn't survive as a group. My volunteer time didn't suffer, however, as I got more involved with the Eglin Chapter of the Air Force Association (AFA). In September, the Chapter elected me as the chapter president. The mission of the AFA is on their website; our chapter focuses as best we can on supporting the Air Force members in the area of our local installation, Eglin Air Force Base. The AFA work has taken up more of my time than I expected, but overall, I think it's a good mission and I plan to keep doing more to make things better for our community. At the end of the year, I had logged a total of 120 hours of community service between the AFA and the Venture Crew.

Language Study: I studied French in grade school and high school. I've wanted to get my French skills back up to where I can carry on a conversation easily. I've also wanted to learn other languages, such as Arabic, Urdu, and others. None of those were 2011 goals, but I had set out to log 180 hours of language study. As of today, I recorded over 232 hours, mostly focused on podcasts, especially from Radio France Internationale, such as Danse des Mots and Journal en Français Facile. I also applied for the Air Force's Language Enabled Airmen Program (LEAP) and the Olmsted Program, both of which were goal plans for the year. The first was a success, but the second I didn't make it through the Air Force selection board. LEAP should help me continue language studies (I was picked up for French), and I will start in early 2012. I'm really looking forward to it and to keep working on making my language and culture skills better. For Olmsted, I'll apply again next year.

Running & Fitness: I wanted to run on the order of 250 km (155 mi) this year. With my final run for the year today at 6.02 km (3.75 mi) took me to a total of 567 km (352.5 mi) for the year. To reach 250 km, I would have run 5 km (3.1 mi) each week. I'm very pleased to have done more than that. I also transitioned to running with Vibram Five Fingers shoes. I guess I did finally buy into the idea that barefoot running is more natural. Back in September or so, I had one issue when I added too much distance each week, but I've recovered from that and I'm back to building mileage each week and getting healthier. For overall fitness, I don't know what weight I started 2011 at, but I finished it around 180 lbs. I'd like to get back down to around 170 lbs, but I'm going to aim to do that by the end of 2012. I also need to work on pushups, situps and similar calisthenics. Again, more work in 2012.

Home Brewing: I brewed nine batches of beer this year. I did some work with a batch of mead previously brewed (added strawberries to it). And I made two batches of Grand Cru Chilean Malbec wine kits. All in all, a good year. I have probably been better about posting beer tasting notes on things I haven't brewed versus what I have, but that's all okay. More time for beer tasting notes to come in 2012.

Travel: Most of my traveling was for work. We took a family trip to St. Louis and Scott AFB for Liam's baptism in May. Kieran and I took a trip to Wisconsin to visit my Dad in August. That was a fairly fun trip, and Kieran got upgraded to first class with me. That's all good, especially for a three-year-old, except that Jamie's never been upgraded... and she found out (before today, for the record). I got an earful on that one, but Kieran got to sit in the cockpit and I got a picture, so I lucked out that time. Jamie and I didn't get any sort of big travel together this year, but we're already talking about plans for 2012.

Okay, that pretty well wraps it up. And I'm out of thoughts. So, I sit here, watching movies, drinking Dogfish Head Chateau Jiahu and getting ready to ring in the New Year... probably while asleep in my bed. Here's looking forward to 2012!

Beer Tasting: Dogfish Head Chateau Jiahu

2011-12-31T21:22:00.000-06:00

Beer: Dogfish Head Chateau Jiahu
Bottled: 2011 107 1
Tasted: 31 Dec 2011
Style: Speciality Beer (23)
Appearance: Light Gold, brilliantly clear. Thick white, creamy head that thins out and does not lace very much. Moderate but steady carbonation trickling to the surface from the bottom of the glass.
Aroma: Faint maltiness, strong grape scents, certainly sweet. No hops or diacetyl. Clean and sweet aromas.
Flavor: Smooth, sweet taste. Plenty of grape flavor. Good bits of honey flavor. While it's on the sweet side, it's not too sweet or juicy. No hops or diacetyl. Slightly cloying. The carbonation lends a slight acidity. Sweet finish.
Mouthfeel: Full body, but not chewy. Moderate carbonation. Sweet finish. Slightly smooth alcohol warming.
Overall: I still really like this as a special treat beer. It's a little too sweet and not quite balanced enough (mostly in the body and a bit in the finishing taste) to make it a routine go-to. I like it as a special treat and certainly as my fun New Year's Eve beer. I love that DFH went after the ancient ales and this was one of their successes. A delightfully fun beer!

Comments: I've been enjoying (or at least attempting to, depending on the availability of the beer) Chateau Jiahu for New Year's Eves for several years (I know I missed it in 2009, when I was in Liberia instead). I think the first New Year's Eve celebration was in 2007 with one of my best friends and his lovely wife, Nick and Kelly Skupnik. I found this at my favorite local beer retailer and grabbed a bottle just for tonight. I'd rather be sharing with them or other good friends, but sometimes you just have to enjoy when you can.

Beer Tasting: 2011 Holiday Cheer (Homebrew)

2011-12-25T20:04:00.000-06:00

Beer: 2011 Holiday Cheer (Homebrew)
Kegged: 11 Dec 2011
Tasted: 25 Dec 2011
Style: Christmas/Winter Specialty Spiced Beer (21B)
Appearance: Pleasant brown color and slightly hazy, but no floating particulates... perhaps a chill haze. Moderate tan head with good retention and great lacing. (Photo didn't show the good brown color but it was certainly there).
Aroma: Light malty sweetness. Caramel tones. Perhaps a very faint toasted quality. Faint ginger and cinnamon (they have mellowed in the keg).
Flavor: Rich caramel malt flavors. The ginger and spices quickly come to the forefront. The cinnamon and mild orange hints are striking. No hop flavors, but a slightly bitter (not acidic) finish. Mild peppery notes, especially in the finish. Very pleasant blending of the flavors. Slightly too sweet of a finish, especially since it's slightly cloying. Not quite "digestible" enough, as the Belgians would say.
Mouthfeel: Full body, but not chewy. Mild carbonation. Sweet finish. Slightly warm alcohol notes.
Overall: A nicely balanced, clean ale with holiday spices. This batch is a little too sweet in the finish. The ginger highlights and sets the magnificence for the style. A favorite new holiday tradition. I still want to try with a Belgian yeast too.

Beer Tasting: Bison Organic Gingerbread Ale

2011-12-25T17:35:00.001-06:00

Beer: Bison Organic Gingerbread Ale
Bottled: Unk
Tasted: 25 Dec 2011
Style: Christmas/Winter Specialty Spiced Beer
Appearance: Deep, rich, dark mahogany. It appeared brown to black until held to the light when the red peeks through. A nice creamy tan head appeared at first and then thinned to a respectable and constant layer. Good carbonation continued to bubble to the surface. Clear, when held to the light, but the dark color makes it appear opaque.
Aroma: Deep, rich malt with strong tones of molasses and rich caramels. The very noticeable ginger blends with the molasses doing a great job of creating the gingerbread scents for the namesake. No hops noticeable.
Flavor: Rich, rummy caramels and molasses front for the malt. The flavors are very well balanced and it finishes smoothly. The high carbonation helps dry out the finish which is a surprise given all the rich maltiness of the nose. The spices do not show much in the flavor, which is not a problem. Bison notes this is based on a porter and it would be a very balanced porter at that. No hops.
Mouthfeel: Medium body without any chewiness. High carbonation that helps dry out the finish for a good, semi-dry ending. Very effervescent. No hot alcohol or solventy character.
Overall: The nose is what really makes this special since most of the spices are hidden in the flavor. A very nice holiday beer.
Comments: Jamie got me this for a Christmas present and both the style and the brewery are new to me. The "Organic" label doesn't do much for me (I won't go out of my way to pick up something because it's organic), but it is nice to know that another brewery cares about the environment and so forth. She wasn't sure how I'd like it and initially I wasn't sure either. As I thought about how I like to try out new beers, however, I was eager to give it a go. I was very pleased with the results. The aroma really sold it as a holiday beer but it wasn't overwhelming in the spices in the taste. As a porter, I liked it very well too. I'd certainly keep trying Bison Brewery beers after having sampled this one.

Beer Tasting: Dogfish Head Sah'tea

2011-12-24T16:13:00.002-06:00

Beer: Dogfish Head Sah'tea
Bottled: 2110E ?
Tasted: 24 Dec 2011
Style: Speciality Beer (23) (Finnish Proto-Beer)
Appearance: Moderate white head that thins to a constant lace. Golden yellow. Clear. Lots of carbonation bubbles rising to the surface. Some few particles of sediment or something floating in the beer. The second pour (into a brandy snifter instead of a pint glass) had the head dissipate faster and was darker with more sediment.
Aroma: Sweet scent that is hard to place at first. Somewhat spicy, but hard to determine which spices were used. Upon additional checking (and looking at the DFH website), can pick up ginger, cloves, slight cardamom, the sweetness of what must be the juniper berries, and maybe mild hints of cinnamon. No hops or diacetyl. The spices overtake the malt, but the malt is there as a backbone.
Flavor: The flavor is equally unusual to the aroma. Malt in the forefront that quickly becomes the backbone. Some caramel notes (perhaps from the use of the hot river rocks). Belgian yeast like qualities seem present, but how much is yeast versus the spice blend is a little hard to tell. DFH says they use a German Weizen yeast, which might account for the slight banana and bubblegum tastes. There's also the slight spicy/peppery quality, but again if that's the yeast or the spices (including peppercorns), I cannot tell. Perhaps a slightly spicy hop was also used; no matter what, the hops aren't dominate but they balance the sweetness nicely. The finish is on the sweeter side but not cloying. I think I can pick out the juniper berries; they do not provide a flavor like gin but there's something there I think. The spices blend nicely together and none seem to stand out in front of the others. There's a mild tartness that I think comes from bittering hops, the yeast, and the high carbonation.
Mouthfeel: Full body but the high carbonation also works to dry it out slightly and keep it from being too heavy. High carbonation that helps dry out the finish some, despite the sweet flavor finish. Very effervescent. No hot alcohol or solventy character.
Overall: Wow. Another DFH winner in my mind. It's slightly too sweet for me to keep it as a routine session beer (and I can't find it anymore locally anyway). It's a great "occasional rarity" and fits well for Christmas - something about the spices and maybe the berries. This makes me want to explore the Weizen yeast a little more. And try brewing with hot rocks... because that's just cool (pun totally intended)!

Beer Tasting: Sam Adams Bonfire Rauchbier

2011-12-11T19:31:00.001-06:00

Beer: Sam Adams Bonfire Rauchbier
Bottled: Unk... Drink by January
Tasted: 11 Dec 11
Style: Classic Rauchbier (22A)
Appearance: Lots of carbonation, which could also be from e SA glass. Head quickly thinned out, despite carbonation. Burnt orange color. Pretty clear.
Aroma: Deep, sweet and smoky malt. The smokiness lends to a slight medicinal aroma. That scent hints that this is a strong beer. No hops or diacetyl.
Flavor: Smokiness overwhelms the rest. Otherwise malty but balanced. No hops or diacetyl. clean finish. Reminiscent of a peaty Scotch.
Mouthfeel: Medium body. Heavy carbonation. Moderate finish.
Overall: A very fun style. So strong a flavor that it wouldn't work for a great session beer. Not sure what it would best pair with... Probably barbecue. Sam Adam's website lists this at 5.7% ABV, so it's not as strong as I thought based on the aroma.

Comparing beers: Dogfish Head 90 Min and Hellhound on My Ale

2011-12-10T19:23:00.001-06:00

Just as I said back when I compared the DFH Midas Touch and Faithfull Ale, I didn't wait for another day to do a comparison of the 90 Min IPA and Hellhound on My Ale. While drinking and tasting Hellhound on My Ale tonight, I figured it was in the same style (14C) as 90 Min. So they begged for a comparison. So I did it. I broke open a bottle of 90 Min from my fridge and compared it to the last partial glass of what I had of Hellhound. The good news: I did the comparison. The bad news: These are mega-hoppy beers and that means that my taste buds and nose get shot pretty quick. So, both are great and hoppy. I knew the Hellhound was the hoppier of the two (nothing wrong with that, for the record). But, when I went to sniff and sip the 90 Min, I couldn't hardly tell there were hops there. Still, I went for it. And boy, am I glad I did! Up front, I'll tell you who the winner is... no, actually, I won't.

Bottled: 90 Min – 07/08/11 102 and Hellhound – 2011 102 2

Tasting: 10 Dec 11

Appearance: Both very similar. 90 Min is slightly darker… more red than orange. The head quickly died on the 90 Min whereas the Hellhound had lasted longer.

Aroma: I don’t think I set this up right, since I had been drinking the Hellhound before the 90 Min was ever cracked. I love the aroma of 90 Min, but it was incredibly subdued tonight, probably because I’ve hit my nose with the Hellhound’s hops like they were going out of style. At tasting, 90 Min only smelled malty, without any hops at all… but that had to be from the direct comparison. 90 Min even had a roasted touch to it. Still, it smelled marvelous, just not as strong and hoppy as I recall (or my notes indicate). After a bit, I got from the 90 Min a hoppy front to a great malty backbone that isn't overly sweet, but nicely bitter aroma.

Flavor: The 90 min had a pleasing bitterness, but not overwhelming, with flavor hops more than bittering hops. The Hellhound had a much stronger hop presence, reminding me of the other DIPAs that I’ve had (like 471) that had a heavier hop taste and sometimes felt less balanced to me. In the aftertaste, they are similar, with an equally semi-dry finish, although the Hellhound does finish with more bitterness.

Mouthfeel: Almost identical bodies, I think, both smooth and medium. Similar carbonation. The Hellhound is more astringent, which makes an apparent slightly drier finish, but it’s only in first appearances.

Overall: 90 Min IPA is one of my all-time favorites. I clearly said as much in my tasting notes for it in mid-November. I really loved the Hellhound and had to give them a comparison. Both are fantastic. The Hellhound will be a much better find for big hop heads, and I’d say West Coast hop heads. Both are utterly fantastic. Top marks for both, especially as variations on the same style.

Comments: I had already drank a glass of the Hellhound and was sipping the last when I broke down and decided to take the two vis-à-vis.

Beer Tasting: Dogfish Head Hellhound on My Ale

2011-12-10T17:47:00.001-06:00

Beer:DogfishHead Hellhound on My Ale

Bottled:2011 102 2 (Maybe October 2nd, 2011?)

Tasted:10 Dec 11

Style:Imperial IPA (14C)(Best Guess… DFH states “Hellhound is a super-hoppy ale that hits 100 IBUs inthe brewhouse, 10.0 ABV, 10.0 SRM in color, and dry-hopped with 100% centennial(sic) hops at a rate of 100 kilos per100 barrel brew-length.”)

Appearance:Beautiful, creamy, thick, off-white head which thinned after several minutesbut left a wonderful thick lacing. Very clear throughout. Deep orange amber. Mild carbonation bubbles continuallyrise.

Aroma:Starts with a strong and very prominent hop aroma that is clearly AmericanNorthwestern hops (which makes perfect sense since DFH states it’s 100%Centennial hops). The hopsare slightly resinous. Underneaththe hops is a clean and slightly sweet maltiness providing a nice backbone tothe hops.

Flavor:Strong and direct hop flavor in the forefront. The Northwestern hops flavor is very definitive. High hop bitterness both in flavor anddriving a mild astringency. Clearly malty, although this is nicely hidden underneath the hops. Themalt is clean, lacking toasted or roasted flavors. The overall flavor indicates alcohol, but not a hot orsolvent alcohol. The tasty hop bitterness lasts well into the finish and stayswith the aftertaste. Medium-dry finish,quite possibly driven by the bitterness.

Mouthfeel:Smooth and medium body with moderate to mild carbonation. Aftertaste yields aslight bitterness. Semi-dry finish, with a very mild sweetness. The hops and carbonation are probablypushing towards the dry aspects of the mouthfeel more than it actually being adry finish. Faint alcohol warming.

Overall:Very delicious. I do think that it’shoppier and more bitter than 90 Min IPA. In fact, this is probably what the 120 Min IPA should have been. I haven’t done a side-by-side with the90 Min IPA. Given the 10% ABV ofHellhound and the 9% ABV of 90 Min IPA, I’m hesitant to do that taste test onmy own tonight. This is afantastic example of a big DIPA. Inever found any lemons in the mix, but I think they might have just beenoverwhelmed by the hops. And there’snothing wrong with it at all. I’lldrink this again without a doubt. Well worth picking up several.
Comments: I picked this up at my local beverage store because it was a new DFH beer. All I knew was what was listed on the label: "Ale brewed with lemons." I thought it would be a Belgian-inspired beer, maybe a wheat beer or something. I didn't know it was an IPA (or anything else that I listed above from the DFH website). Boy, did I luck out with a great beer!

Beer Tasting: BJ's Lineup

2011-12-06T23:00:00.000-06:00

I visited a BJ's Restaurant and Brewhousewith a buddy while I was out in Palmdale, CA. The restaurant was a niceenough place to eat and drink. Ihad a mini-pizza which was a good size for one person and tasted prettygood. My buddy got a ribeye steakthat was far too thin for anyone’s good.

I didn't have achance to do full tasting notes since we were catching up on old times. It turns out that's okay, since for the most part there wasn't anythingextraordinary to note on any of these. The photo shows the flight ofbeers. The seasonal special was their Grand Cru. I find that namequite funny, since it doesn't refer to any sort of style. Looking up Grand Cruindicates that it’s a term originally used in wine and when adapted tobeers, it generally means a more elaborate version of a brand. When applied alone, such as done at BJ’s,it often references a Belgian style beer.

In general, each ofthe beers was a good example of their given style. More information about each beer can be found on BJ’s website. I didn’t think there was anything exceptionalabout any of the beers, neither good nor bad.

The Annual Grand Cru was ahazy yellow/orange with moderate head and decent lacing. The haze very well could have come fromthe yeast and had a slight milky appearance. The aroma yielded cloves and bubblegum for the Belgian yeastinferences along with faint spicy wheat aromatics. Hops were not clearly evident. The flavor followed the nose with the cloves and bubblegumand gave a spicy pepper finish, but that finish didn’t linger. The mouthfeel gave a moderate body andhigh carbonation. It finisheddry. It wasn’t a bad beer, and I’dsay it was the one I liked best of the bunch. While I didn’t dislike any of the beers, I wouldn’t go outof my way to try any of them again.

The beers I tried were(shown in the photo left to right):

BJ's Annual Grand Cru
BJ's LightSwitch® Lager
BJ's Brewhouse Blonde®
Harvest Hefeweizen®
Piranha® Pale Ale
BJ's Jeremiah Red®
Nutty Brewnette®
BJ's P.M. Porter®
Tatonka® Stout

Beer (and food) Tasting: The Lineup from Rooster's Brewery in Layton, UT

2011-11-28T08:00:00.000-06:00

While traveling to Layton, UT, I stopped in Rooster's Brewery for dinner. I orderedup a sampler flight of all of their beers, which had five “standard” beers andthree seasonal brews. I generallytried them from light to dark. None ofthe samples had good head, but the pint did, so I assumed that it be the sampleglasses that drove the poor head. I’ve had that issue with other beers too, as I recall. I kept all my notes on my iPhone notesapplication and later reformatted them for the blog here. That helps explain why they are sosparse. I also didn’t have an easyway to reference the BJCPstyle guidelines while I was taking notes (I have the app, buton my old iPhone 3G, I can’t switch back and forth very easily).

I also gave a try to their Gorgonzola Bacon Burger, which wasfantastic. It didn’t hurt that Ihadn’t really had lunch while flying out there and I was starving. Lastly, I wrapped up with the breadpudding. I should not have eatenit, certainly not as much as I did, but it was superb. I kind of wish I had taken tastingnotes for the burger and the bread pudding, but I was focused on the beernotes.

Rooster's Brewery Beers, with tasting notes from left to right

Beer: Bee'sKnees Honey Wheat

Draft: Rooster's Brewery in Layton, UT
Tasted: 28 Nov 2011

Style: Specialty Beer (23) (Iwould otherwise call this an American Wheat (6D),but the BJCP guidelines for style 23 note that “Honey Beers (not Braggots)belong in style 23).

Appearance: Hazy.Orange. No head or carbonation.

Aroma: Faintwheat. No hops.

Flavor: Mildwheat. Very mild malt. Dry finish.

Mouthfeel: Mild body.Heavy carbonation. The carbonationdries it out. Very clean finish.

Overall: Pleasant.Not too much wheat.

Beer: PolygamyPale Ale

Draft: Rooster's Brewery in Layton, UT
Tasted: 28 Nov 2011

Style: American Pale Ale (10A)

Appearance: Crystalclear amber. Mild head. No carbonation.

Aroma: Veryfaint malt. Almost no aroma.

Flavor: Mild maltat first then a burst of delicious hops. Probably Pacific Northwest hops.Bitter from hops. Bitter and dry Finish/aftertaste.

Mouthfeel: Goodcarbonation. Slightly astringent from hops and carbonation.

Overall: Great Americanpale ale.

Beer: DiamondbackAle

Draft: Rooster's Brewery in Layton, UT
Tasted: 28 Nov 2011

Style: American Amber Ale (10B)

Appearance: Crystalclear orange amber. Decent lacing. Mild off-white head.

Aroma: Faintmalt.

Flavor: Caramelmalt. Mild toffee. Balanced with faint hops. Semi-dry but clean finish.

Mouthfeel: Goodcarbonation. Mild to moderate body that is balanced with carbonation. Semi-dryfinish.

Overall: Pleasantsession beer. Rooster’s notes that this is brewed in Layton specificallyfor the Air Force folks from Hill AFB just up the road. Rooster’s calls it a “copper ale”,which as best I can tell, would fall under the American Amber category. I think that the flavors put it in theAmber category too. This couldalso perhaps fall into a ScotchAle (9A) category.

Beer: Two-BitAmber

Draft: Rooster's Brewery in Layton, UT

Tasted: 28 Nov 2011

Style: American Amber Ale (10B)

Appearance: Crystalclear red/amber. Mild off-white head. Good lacing.

Aroma: (Came backto this after dinner and rude ram red pint) Malt tones dominate.

Flavor: Again malttones dominate. Mostly base with some caramel. Hops are present but mostly inthe aftertaste. Mild astringency from carbonation and hops.

Mouthfeel: Strongcarbonation dominates. Moderate to mild body. dry finish from carbonation.

Overall: Anothergood session beer, focused on malts. Heavier than the Diamondback, which hasmore subtle yet persistent flavors.

Beer: JunctionCity Chocolate Stout (drank last)

Draft: Rooster's Brewery in Layton, UT\
Tasted: 28 Nov 2011

Style: Sweet Stout (13B)

Appearance: Tan head.Deep dark black with garnet red hints at the edges. At the garnet edges, cansee it's crystal clear. Good lacing.

Aroma: Incrediblyrich malt scents waft up, highlighting chocolate tones as well as black patentand roasted barley. Mocha tones are there, much more chocolate than coffee. Nohops or yeast at all.

Flavor: Mildlybitter but deeply rich chocolate malt. Very mild roasted malt presence. Nohops, but a mildly bitter (not sweet or dry) finish.

Mouthfeel: Rich andcreamy smooth. Faint carbonation. Clean finish.

Overall: Marvelouslyrich, creamy, smooth beer. I loved this and it perfectly accompanied thebread pudding.

Beer: Rude RamRed (pint)

Draft: Rooster's Brewery in Layton, UT
Tasted: 28 Nov 2011

Style: American IPA (14B)

Appearance: Crystalclear red with good white head and magnificent lacing.

Aroma: Hoppy witha malt backbone.

Flavor: Hoppy withnice malt tones behind. Well balanced, in the favor of hops. Dry finish, mostlyfrom the hop bitterness. Mostly clean finish but a hoppy aftertaste.

Mouthfeel: Mild body.Fairly dry finish from bitterness and carbonation. Mild astringency, mostly inaftertaste, due to hop bitterness.

Overall: Excellent.I ordered a pint of this to go with the Gorgonzola Bacon Burger and it was theperfect pairing.

Beer: Dunkleweisse(drank second to last)

Draft: Rooster's Brewery in Layton, UT
Tasted: 28 Nov 2011

Style: Dunkelweizen (15B)

Appearance: Opaque.Thin tan head. Dark brown, not black. Can see it's hazy.

Aroma: Heavy malttones. No hops or wheat scents. No esters. Just malt (but not wort levels).

Flavor: Roastedmalts dominate, balanced by hops. Very well balanced and smooth profile.

Mouthfeel: Extremelysmooth, with mild punctuation from carbonation. Full body.

Overall: I likethis, especially for a wheat beer. Very good session beer.

Beer:Oxymoron (Black Pale Ale) (drank third to last)

Draft: Rooster's Brewery in Layton, UT
Tasted: 28 Nov 2011

Style:SpecialtyBeer (23) (Black IPAs may yet get their own sub-category under the IPA style (14), but they’renot there yet, so general consensus that I can find indicates they belong instyle 23).

Appearance:Good light tan head and lacing. Very deep, dark red that appearsopaque except when held up to the light and you can tell it's crystal clear.

Aroma:Hops dominate over a strong malt base. Pacific Northwest hopsare apparent.

Flavor:Strong malt, with roasted flavors as well as black patent.Strong American hops are there too. The hops and heavy carbonation lead to amostly dry finish.

Mouthfeel:Strong carbonation. Moderate body. Semi-dry finish. Mildastringency from hops and carbonation.

Overall:Very pleasant, but would need a stouter food to matchwell.

Beer Tasting: Chimay Red

2011-11-25T21:09:00.000-06:00

Beer: Chimay Red
Bottled: 061105 (Maybe May 6th, 2011?)
Tasted: 25 Nov 11
Style: Belgian Dubbel (18B)
Appearance: Beautiful, creamy, thick, long-lasting, white/off-white head. Hazy, dark amber/red copper. Haze could come from the yeast sediment that I poured into the glass.
Aroma: Deep malt with hints of caramel. Mild fruit esters, perhaps of raisins or prunes(?). Spicy phenols present. Maybe mild Brett notes.
Flavor: Smooth and mild caramel malt. Balanced with the mild alcohol or carbonation. Dry finish. Noticeable phenols and esters evident. No hops or diacetyl. Mild bitterness.
Mouthfeel: Thin body. Moderate carbonation. Aftertaste yields a slight bitterness. Dry finish.
Overall: Much less body than I expected from the aroma. Carbonation yields a dry finish. Pleasant and very quaffable.

Beer Tasting: Abbaye Sainte-Remy Trappistes Rochefort 8

2011-11-23T21:30:00.000-06:00

Beer: Abbaye Sainte-Remy Trappistes Rochefort 8
Bottled: 070715 09:01
Tasted: 23 Nov 11
Style: Belgian Dark Strong Ale (18E)
Appearance: Impossibly thick light tan head that sticks to the glass. The head thinned down to a respectable and persistent level. Moderate lacing. Deep coppery-brown with hints of dark amber at the edges. Mild sediment poured into the glass from the bottle. Hazy and opaque.
Aroma: Incredibly rich, deep, malty sweetness that defies a simplistic definition. Caramel richness with fruity esters that are strong dark fruits like plum or prunes. No spicy phenols. Low, soft alcohols. No hops. The fruit esters give a rustic feeling, hinting at something like, but noticeably different than Brett.
Flavor: Deep malty sweetness that is pleasantly balanced to avoid cloyingness. Mild peppery phenols that tingle the tongue with a spiciness. Very soft prune or raisin fruit esters that are quickly overtaken by the mild pepper. Low bitterness. The alcohol balances the malt here. The flavors blend quickly, especially into the aftertaste. The aftertaste fades quickly for a fairly dry finish.
Mouthfeel: Surprisingly moderate body, much thinner than expected. High carbonation and effervescence. No alcohol warmth. Smooth finish with a very mild and not unpleasant astringency.
Overall: This is a marvelous beer. The mild spiciness might limit this from being a session beer, but at 9.2% ABV, that's not a bad thing. The nose is incredibly pleasant and doesn't belay all the aspects of the flavor. Both are fantastic and complimentary. This is a marvelous beer with fantastic complexity. A truly special treat.

Beer Tasting: Blue Moon Winter Abbey Ale

2011-11-23T19:00:00.000-06:00

Beer: Blue MoonWinter Abbey Ale

Draft: Applebee’sin East Peoria

Tasted: 23 Nov2011

Style: Belgian Specialty Ale(16E)

Appearance: Thin,off-white head with good lacing. Heavy carbonation. Brilliant clarity and adark red, caramel color.

Aroma: Heavymalty sweetness with caramel notes. Perhaps mild biscuit notes. Mild hopscents. Clean aroma.

Flavor: Thick,rich caramel. Mild ginger esters. No hops, but nicely balanced. Slightly sweet aftertaste.

Mouthfeel: Goodcarbonation, moderate body, slightly thick finish.

Overall: Very good.Reminiscent of my homebrew Holiday Cheer beers. I would order another of these if out and about.

Beer Tasting: New Belgium 1554

2011-11-22T18:05:00.000-06:00

Beer: New Belgium 1554
Bottled: Unk
Tasted: 22 Nov 11
Style: "Belgian Style" (perhaps 16E)
Appearance: Deep rich, dark red. Good carbonation. Thick, off-white head. Brilliantly clear.
Aroma: Deep, rich, caramel malt. No hops or diacetyls. Creamy. Slightly fruity, but I can't discern the type.
Flavor: Caramel maltiness. Moderate bitterness to balance, but not hoppy. Mild chocolate bitterness. Smooth finish.
Mouthfeel: Moderate body, although much thinner than expected. Medium carbonation. Smooth aftertaste. Semi-dry finish.
Overall: Very tasty beverage. Went great with BBQ ribs. Sufficiently rich, but not heavy. Probably a long, lower temp mash. This is a style I'd like to try to replicate.

Beer Tasting: Dogfish Head 90 Minute Imperial IPA

2011-11-14T18:32:00.001-06:00

Beer: Dogfish Head 90 Minute Imperial IPA
Bottled: 8 Jul 11
Tasted: 14 Nov 11
Style: Imperial IPA (14C)
Appearance: Clear golden orange/amber hue with a thick white head that both lasts leaves a wonderful lace on the glass. Many continuous bubbles rise up from the glass.
Aroma: Strong, American citrus hops greet the nose unabashedly. The scent is clean without any yeast or diacetyl notes. The clean malt tones are hidden beneath the blanket of hops. The hops provide a resinous aroma but not grassy. Some mild alcohol notes are there, lurking and just barely noticeable.
Flavor: Bitter American hops, slightly citrusy, as if tasting a bit too much rind, but it works perfectly for the style. The hop flavor dominates but focuses more on flavor hops than on bittering hops, allowing more of the delicious taste through instead of intensely bitter bite. The malt is overwhlemed by the hops, but provides a nice light backbone of sweetness for the style. The bitterness continues well into the aftertaste, but it is a smooth bitterness. The finish is medium, contrasting nicely with the bitterness of the hops, which help to dry out the finish slightly. A smooth alcohol is present, although it remains hidden under the hops.
Mouthfeel: Smooth with a medium body, but the hoppy bitterness masks some of the smoothness and the dry finish makes the body quickly feel lighter than initial impressions. The carbonation is moderate. A very faint hop-based astringency leads to a finish that starts medium and dries fairly quickly.
Overall: It's not fair to claim this as my favorite IPA without doing another vis-à-vis comparison with others such as Stone's Ruination or Breckenridge's 471. But having tasted both of them and some others, sometimes in a side-by-side comparison, I'll go ahead and make that claim. DFH 90 min is nicely balanced towards a strong hop flavor without a kick-you-in-the-teeth hop bitterness. That's not to say it's sweet by any means, it's just the best balanced I ever remember. At 9% ABV, it'll sneak up on you, but it's a wonderful example of the style and, in fact, it exemplifies why I love IPAs. DFH 90 min will always be a go-to beer for me.

Beer Tasting: Dogfish Head Namaste

2011-11-13T19:58:00.001-06:00

Beer: Dogfish Head Namaste
Bottled: 2011 10 74 ?
Tasted: 13 Nov 11
Style: Belgian Witbier (16A)
Appearance: Straw yellow with a nice white head that laces very well. Hazy.
Aroma: Citrus oragne scents. Mild spicy wheat aromatics. Wonderful coriander with very faint pepper notes. A spicy and fruity blend that is enticing.
Flavor: Pleasingly and mildly sweet. No cloyingness about it. Lightly citrus orange flavors begin the taste. Refreshingly dry finish that has a slightly citric aftertaste. No diacetyl or noticeable hops.
Mouthfeel: Moderate to thin body that finishes just on the slightly sweet side of dry. Effervescent that tingles the tongue at the beginning, middle, and end. Very smooth, almost creamy. Lightly acidic but no astringency or harshness.
Overall: Refreshing and tasty ale, perfectly suited for warm weather.

Beer Tasting: Dogfish Head Raison d'Etre

2011-11-13T18:20:00.000-06:00

Beer: Dogfish Head Raison d'Etre
Bottled: Unk
Tasted: 13 Nov 11
Style: "Belgian Style" (perhaps 16E)
Appearance: Deep rich amber with hints of red. Mild carbonation. Thick, off-white head. Slightly hazy.
Aroma: Deep, rich, caramel malt. Hints of soft alcohol. Raisin esters. No hops or diacetyls.
Flavor: Deep, caramel. Mild bitterness to balance. Slightly bitter/astringent finish.
Mouthfeel: Moderate to full body. Mild carbonation. Smooth aftertaste. Semi-dry finish.
Overall: Very tasty beverage. It does complement steak nicely. I don't think it will replace a red wine for me to go with steak, but it is a good beer. The heavier body is what makes it less desirable to me than red wine to go with a steak dinner.

Beer Tasting: Dogfish Head Olde School Barleywine

2011-11-12T20:00:00.003-06:00

Beer: Dogfish Head Olde School Barleywine
Bottled: 1 Oct 2011
Tasted: 12 Nov 2011
Style: American Barleywine (19C)
Appearance: thick, off-white head that thins quickly to a constant lace. Deep amber. Slightly hazy, perhaps a chill haze. No visible carbonation outside the head.
Aroma: deep, rich malty aroma. Hops present but not over-powering. Perhaps a cherry fruit ester. No diacetyl or strong alcohol aromas. The strong malt scents indicate there is a strong power of alcohol here.
Flavor: incredibly deep, rich malty sweetness that is nicely balanced with bitter hops. Slightly hop bitter aftertaste that diminishes but still lingers. The bitter hops balance the malt for a dry finish. No astringency or diacetyl.
Mouthfeel: Medium body. No hot alcohols or solventy characters. Not astringent, but the bitter finish may hint at that.
Overall: The malt and bitterness indicate (correctly) a strong beer. This is very tasty beer.

Beer Tasting: Guinness Draught in a Can

2011-11-12T17:02:00.004-06:00

Beer: Guinness Draught in a Can
Canned: 19/09/11 (that's the date on the can... I'm not sure what that means, as I'm fairly sure I bought it in March)
Tasted: 12 Nov 11
Style: Dry Stout (13A)
Appearance: Beautiful, creamy, thick, long-lasting, off-white head. Nearly jet black with occasional garnet tones. Clear, but can't hardly tell due to the deep, dark color.
Aroma: Thin scents of malt and faint sourness. No hops or diacetyl. No esters. In general, very faint nose (which matches memory).
Flavor: Light roasted bitterness, moderate hop bitterness that fades quickly. Dry finish and mild astringency yielding a slightly bitter aftertaste. Slightly creaminess but no lactose flavors.
Mouthfeel: Silken and creamy smooth. Thin body. Low carbonation. Very mild astringency in the aftertaste that yields a slight bitterness. Fairly dry finish.
Overall: Wonderful smooth creamy flavor that isn't too thick (despite common perceptions). I love this beer. While it's not the same as getting it in England or Ireland, the draught can is always a favorite. This will be a go-to beer for me forever.

Comparing Beers: Dogfish Head Faithfull Ale vs. Midas Touch

2011-11-09T19:06:00.005-06:00

Okay, I was going to go buy another bottle of Faithfull Ale, but I had some left in my glass and decided I should go ahead and do the head-to-head comparison right now. I went with BJCP factors for simplicity. What I can really say is, go do this test yourself.
Tasting: 9 Nov 11
Appearance: Faithfull Ale is clearer; Midas Touch is mildly hazier. Midas Touch appears slightly more carbonated. The head dies off on Midas Touch faster. Midas Touch has more amber color than Faithfull ale; both golden.
Aroma: Faithfull slightly more malty. Midas Touch has stronger sweet fruit smell. The grapes must be sweeter than the currants.
Flavor: Midas Touch is sweeter, more grapes. Faithfull is slightly maltier. Midas Touch has more of a bitter aftertaste, however mild. Faithfull is cleaner, especially with the finish.
Mouthfeel: Midas Touch is slightly more cloying, in the main taste as well as a sweeter finish. Faithfull is a much drier, but really a semi-sweet finish. Midas Touch has a heavier body. Midas Touch leaves the tongue feeling thicker due to the sweet finish.
Overall: I love Midas Touch. But Faithfull Ale is the winner in a head-to-head comparison.

Beer Tasting: Dogfish Head Faithfull Ale

2011-11-09T17:16:00.002-06:00

Beer: Dogfish Head Faitfull Ale
Bottled: Unk
Tasted: 9 Nov 11
Style: Belgian-Style Golden Ale (18D)
Appearance: Golden, crystal clear, moderate carbonation, thick white head.
Aroma: Mild malt. Heavy fruit esters - must be the currants, smells close to grapes. Very sweet. No hops or diacetyl. No spice or other phenols. Similar to Midas Touch.
Flavor: Malty, creamy, but balanced with the bite of carbonation. Sweet with mild grape flavors. No hops, but balanced. Soft to no alcohol flavors, hiding the 7% ABV power. Incredibly clean aftertaste.
Mouthfeel: Light, mildly to moderately carbonated. Semi-sweet finish. Not cloying. No astringency.
Overall: Wow! This reminds me of my first impressions of Midas Touch. I now need to buy another bottle to do a side-by-side comparison of the two.
Comments: Dogfish Head is doing one of their Music Series brews, focused on the 20th anniversary of Pearl Jam's debut album "Ten", this time called Faithfull Ale. I saw this (before reading anything about it) at my local best beer store (Wine World) and picked up a bottle. Boy am I glad I did! Faithfull Ale is another fantastic DFH brew that I strongly recommend!

My First Earthquake

2011-08-24T14:51:00.002-05:00

Yesterday, the East Coast was hit by an earthquake. This is my very short story. There are no pictures... because there were none worth taking.

I was in my hotel room, working on my computer, sending an email to work. At first it felt like a large, heavy truck must have been passing the hotel. I hadn't felt any such movement previously, although I had only been there less than 24 hours. The vibrations sustained longer than I expected from a truck. Additionally, I heard the ceiling tiles (although I don't believe there were individual ceiling tiles) shaking and then a wobbling of the window panes. I looked out the window to a building across the way and saw that building's windows wobbling as well. I thought it was possibly an attack (who can be in the D.C. area now and not consider that as a possibility) but changed my mind to it being an earthquake. As it continued (my thought process was quick, apparently), I moved into a doorway and waited just a moment for it to end. I considered calling the front desk to ask, but gave up and checked the USGS website and news websites; there was no information on an earthquake. So, I packed my bags to run some previously planned errands. I got to the lobby and saw the news on television that the capital and other federal buildings had been evacuated following a 5.8 magnitude earthquake. I had perfect cell reception, but I could not get a call to go through. I wasn't surprised, so I returned to my room to use the landline. I was able to text Jamie to let her know I was okay (“Small earthquake here. I'm okay.”) I still couldn't call the office (I knew I should check in, as it was likely there would be an accountability check) on my cell, so I used the landline to call my boss. She didn't answer, so I left a message and tried again on my cell to call our administrative assistant. This call went through and I told Robin I was okay... and explained there had been an earthquake where I was. Emergency vehicles raced through the streets and many buildings had been evacuated. I again went with my plans to run errands and eventually met up with friends who had been evacuated from the USDA office building in the district and sent home early. Not a bad deal for my first earthquake.

Beer Tasting: Dogfish Head Theobroma

2011-08-14T14:51:00.000-05:00

Beer: Dogfish Head Theobroma
Bottled: Unk
Tasted: ?? Summer 11
Style: Speciality Beer (23)
Aroma: Malty and fruity. No hops or diacetyl.
Appearance: Hazy orange color. Thin to no head but nicely carbonated.
Flavor: Light chocolate. Thin malt backbone. No hops or diacetyl.
Mouthfeel: Thin, easy to drink.
Overall: Nice. Much more chocolate in the nose than in the flavor. Very drinkable. My notes were scant; had Garry Haase over and was paying more attention to chatting than note taking.

Beer Tasting: Budwieser

2011-05-15T15:15:00.000-05:00

Beer: Budwieser
Bottled: 19 Apr 11
Tasted: 15 May 11
Style: Standard American Lager (1B)
Appearance: Light straw gold. No head. Brilliantly clear. Continuous bubbles rising from glass.
Aroma: Light malt scent slight bitterness of yeast. very clean. No diacetyl or hops.
Flavor: Very clean, dry, Crisp, thin malt flavor. No hop flavor or bitterness, but well-balanced. No diacetyl. Clean and quick fade in aftertaste. No yeast flavors. high carbonation gives a light dry sting. No fruitiness.
Mouthfeel: Very thin body. High carbonation.
Overall: Too thin of body and flavor. The high carbonation, without the balance of a malty body, is too tangy for my liking. It's also a little too bitter, not in hoppiness, but perhaps the carbonic edge mentioned in BJCP. I think with less carbonation, it might overall be more appealing to me.

Beer Tasting: Schlafly Bavarian Wiessbier

2011-05-14T15:30:00.000-05:00

Beer: Schlafly Bavarian Wiessbier
Draft: Growler from Schlafly Bottleworks from 13 May
Tasted: 14 May
Style: Weizen/Weissbier (15A)
Appearance: Hazy golden yellow. Very thin white head that laces the glass. Faint streams of bubbles rising from the glass.
Aroma: Delicious scents of banana and clove nicely balanced with faint malt. Spicy. Perhaps light diacetyl that fits the style. No hop aroma.
Flavor: Spicy with strong but not overpowering aspects of clove. Faint hints of banana. No diacetyl. Low spicy-earthy hop flavor. Light bitter finish that nicely compliments everything else.
Mouthfeel: Lightly tingly. Dry but not astringent. Medium-light body.
Overall: Light and flavorful. Very refreshing.

Beer Tasting: Midas Touch Clone (Homebrew)

2011-02-25T13:37:00.000-06:00

Beer: Midas Touch Clone (recipe from BYO) (Homebrew)
Bottled: 14 Feb 2011
Tasted: 25 Feb 2011
Style: Specialty Beer (23) or Fruit Beer (20) or Belgian Golden Strong (18D)
Aroma: Balance of fruit and malt. Hints of alcohol. No hop bitterness.
Appearance: Copper amber hue. Brilliantly clear. Slightly off-white head that quickly disappated.
Flavor: Moderate malt tastes. Light fruit esters. Well balanced between the two. A minor mead flavor with the hints of honey and the alcohol is present. No hop bitterness, but the hops balance the sweetness appropriately to keep a balanced and delightful beer. Fairly dry finish.
Mouthfeel: Moderate body. Very lightly carbonated. A light astringency in the finish.
Overall: I like this a lot. But it does not even hardly compare to DFH Midas Touch. The color is much darker and the head doesn't last enough. It appears more clear, however. It lacks the brilliant aroma as the original, especially lacking the grape aromas. The faint scents of malt extract are more evident than the grape esters. It tastes darker but much less bitter and less astringent. I would actually like the Midas Touch a bit better with less bitterness and astringency. The carbonation and slightly lighter body of Midas Touch is a bit nicer too. It's not the original, but was a fun experiment and I'm still happy to drink the rest.

Beer Tasting: Belgian Golden Strong (Homebrew)

2011-01-21T21:30:00.000-06:00

Beer: Belgian Golden Strong (Homebrew)
Kegged: 11 Nov 10
Tasted: 21 Jan 11
Style: Belgian Golden Strong (18D)
Appearance: Thick white head that dissipates to a thin white covering. Dark amber to copper or purple. Hazy. No to style at all, but not unattractive.
Aroma: Rich, malty sweetness. Fruity esters, like dried cherries or pears. Alcohol scents noticable but not solvent or hot. No diacetyl or hops.
Flavor: Fruit, very mild spice, mild alcohol, soft malt. Dry finish. Mild bitter aftertaste. No diacetyl.
Mouthfeel: Light to moderate carbonation. Medium body. No astringency or alcohol.
Overall: The color is not right, but the beer is generally very nice in all other aspects. I like it a lot!
Comments: This was the first batch of the Vinnie Cilurzo's Belgian Golden Strong recipe (2005, 233) from Stan Hieronymus' Brew Like a Monk. Vinnie gives target ranges for the grain build of pilsen malt (80-100%), wheat malt (0-5%), Munich malt (0-5%), and sugar (5-20%). The suggested hop bill is Styrian Goldings at 90 min (13-15 IBUs), Styrian Goldings at 30 minutes (7-10 IBUs), and Czech Saaz at knockout (3-5 IBUs). He recommends using Wyeast 1214. This recipe used German Pilsen malt (88%) and pale candied sugar (12%) with Styrian Goldings hops at 90 min (1 oz, 13.5 IBUs), Styrian Goldings at 30 min (1 oz, 7.9 IBUs), and Saaz (1 oz, which I calculate to 0 IBUs, which makes sense) at knockout, using Wyeast 1214.

Beer Tasting: Cherry Fever Stout (Homebrew)

2010-11-06T20:44:00.000-05:00

Beer: Cherry Fever Stout (Homebrew)
Kegged: 24 Oct 10
Tasted: 6 Nov 10
Style: Sweet Stout (13B) (but not a milk stout)
Appearance: Dark, opaque brown, almost black. Thick (3/8") tan creamy head that settled to a thin (1/8") and stable head that laced the walls of the glass.
Aroma: Mild roasted grain. Cherry esthers evident. No noticably hop aroma. Mild chocolate notes. No diacetyl.
Flavor: Incredibly smooth and deliciously sweet and fruity cherry flavors dominate. Chocolate flavors evident along with the malty background to the beer. Low to no hop bitterness but the sweetness is not unbalanced. No diacetyl. No evident alcohol flavors.
Mouthfeel: Medium-to-full bodied and smooth and creamy without the lactose flavors. Moderate carbonation. High residual sweetness but not cloying. No astringency.
Overall: I LOVE this beer. I will have to struggle to pace myself because there's no way I can brew more any time soon. This is truly a very sweet, dark, full-bodied ale.

National Public Radio reviews Dr. Horrible

2008-07-19T05:03:00.002-05:00

I found a note from actress Felicia Day that linked to the National Public Radio (NPR) review of Joss Whedon's Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. It is very neat to see that NPR picked this story up and I am sure the promotion can only be positive.

On another note, all three episodes of Dr. Horrible have been released. That means that it will not continue to be possible to watch all the episodes for free. By the end of the weekend, they will no longer be available on the website, but only through iTunes. At some point in the future, there will be a DVD for sale as well. But what that means is that people should act now and get out to see the episodes while they can for free... and then show support by purchasing the episodes on iTunes too.

Joss Whedon's Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

2008-07-15T06:24:00.004-05:00

Joss Whedon’s new production, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog just blew my mind away. In fact, it moved me so much I decided to actually write another journal entry.

For one, it’s a new production by Joss Whedon. If you don’t know his name, think Firefly and Serenity. If you don’t know those, go buy them - seriously, you don’t need to rent first, they are that good – and watch them immediately. I have never seen another show that combined action, spaceships, and such superior character development.

Secondly, the music in Dr. Horrible is fun, campy, and tells a great story. It reminded me of music by Jonathan Coulton, especially his song Skullcrusher Mountain. Jonathan Coulton, also known as JoCo, does fun and geeky music. If you listen to his stuff, you have to listen to the lyrics. The music is good, but it’s the lyrics where he really makes a difference. In fact, I would love to see Skullcrusher Mountain or some derivative written, and perhaps performed, by JoCo as an intro song to Dr. Horrible.

The music also reminded me of the music in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer musical episode, titled Once More With Feeling. This is perhaps the greatest episode of Buffy, mostly because it took an episode of the television show and turned it into a musical. Joss did not do this just by adding music, but he kept the music relevant to the story line by giving a reason for everyone singing. And he made it work brilliantly well.

Thirdly, Dr. Horrible messes with stereotypes in a fun manner typical of Joss Whedon’s style. For one, and this didn’t hit me until late in the episode, the good guy, Captain Hammer, wears black, acts pretentious and smug, but apparently the citizens of the city still love him. Dr. Horrible wears white, is meek and shy, and is the perfect anti-hero.

Lastly, it combines two actors I really enjoy: Neil Patrick Harris and Nathan Fillion. I’ve been a fan of Neil Patrick Harris since I watched Doogie Howser as a boy with my family. I saw Nathan Fillion in Whedon’s smash hit television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but I really fell in love with his work in Firefly and Serenity. If you don’t know why that is, that means that you haven’t seen either of those shows. Go back and reread the first paragraph.

I have not seen much of Felicia Day, but I was introduced to her in Buffy Season Seven. What I saw today in Dr. Horrible endears me to her. I look forward to seeing more of her work in the future.

Lastly, I think I like Dr. Horrible because of what Joss wants it to be. Reading his Master Plan for the show makes me appreciate more what he is doing. I have many friends who create works of art, predominately in the form of the written word, and who spread it via the internet. I have spoken before of many of the great podiobooks I have enjoyed. I have certainly been remiss for not mentioning more of them more often, especially after I have met more of the authors and spent good time with them. They believe in the idea that giving away their work will promote their work, build an audience base, and have a doubly beneficial outcome: 1) the audience will find enjoyment in the work and appreciate the author, and 2) the author will build an audience base that will, at least in part hopefully, purchase published works. Initial ideas indicate this process works well. Authors such as Scott Sigler and J.C. Hutchins have had their freely distributed audiobooks picked up major publishing houses such as Crowne Publishing. So, hopefully spreading the word about Joss’ work will help him and help fans like us get better content in the future.

Do yourself a favor and take a fifteen-minute break to watch the first episode of Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. It doesn’t cost you a thing but a little bit of time. And I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Back to School

2008-03-31T05:13:00.003-05:00

I have not journaled regularly in a long time. I had plans to do a 2007 wrap-up and review and potentially an entry on goals for 2008, but I just never got around to it. I would like to blame school on giving me a lack of time. That is only true in part, but part of it came from expressing myself elsewhere or just not feeling satisfied by expressing myself in this medium.

I certainly cannot blame school on my lack of entries over the last two weeks, since they have basically been spring break. But I took a lot of time away from the computer over the break. Instead I spent a lot of time in front of the television playing video games, or going on walks with my wife, or reading (see the previous entry about American Gods), but just not in front of the computer. As a quick note, the weather was not conducive to many other fun activities, so sitting inside was not terrible.

Today I go back to school for the spring term. I am taking a very full load again: sixteen credits. That may seem insane, especially as our first child will be born any day now (okay, kid, get the memo already), but I continue to front-load my coursework so I might have only thesis work this coming fall and winter. That is the plan at least.

And I mention that we still have not had the birth of our child. One reason I sat around all spring break was because I was waiting on that major event. But the child - stubborn as his mother (and father, I must truthfully add) - decided not to grace us with his or her presence during the period in which I had few obligations. I expect to meet the child sometime this week... after I have become embroiled in my coursework. Unfortunately, I will not have any additional time free, since I cannot push back classes. Still, I have managed my schedule wisely so I should be able to manage both the newborn and the coursework aptly.

A quick note: I do not think that I will post much information about our child here in the future. Mostly I do that for the protection of my family. I may keep a paper journal (I certainly hope I do, but I have to find, no... to make the time to do it), but I do not want the world to know many details and specifics. There are still people out in the world who serve as social predators and the best defense may be to guard against what information is shared publicly.

I mentioned above that I was expressing myself in other mediums online. Some of this was through chats with friends. Most of them have not heard from me in two weeks either, but we will start chatting again soon. Otherwise, I had spent a lot of time on Twitter, doing what some call mini-blog entries and/or a group chat. Twitter allows 140 character entries that get published to a feed, much like this blog. Friends may subscribe to that feed and get the entries as they are published. This makes it fast and responsive.

I stopped doing a lot on Twitter just over a month ago. I have made two tweets (as they are called) since February 25th, but otherwise left the medium alone. I got involved initially because many of my friends used Twitter. Some podcast authors or podcasters (they formed the initial base or nucleus of the groups I befriended on Twitter) used the service for promotion as well as friendly chats. I really enjoyed this at first. Gradually, though, I found I was not getting anything out of Twitter, but it became a timesuck. I would browse to the site multiple times in an hour just to see who had updated their feeds, likely post a response, and repeat. So, I stopped using it for a while to see how it went. I have not missed it much. I still keep up with most folks through individual chats, but I just do not follow the public feeds. Interestingly, I was not the only member to go through this same feeling at the same time. Several of the folks I met and call real-life friends felt the same way and went through the same time period of stepping away from Twitter. I do not really know if they have gone back. It might be interesting to find out.

I hope to get back to journaling again soon. I have many things I would like to record, such as updates on home brewing, running, podcasts and podcast books, and so on. But for now I have to finish getting ready to go back to school and start a new series of classes. That is, after all, my full-time job right now.

Perfect Afternoon: Exercise, Fire, and Beer

2008-03-26T17:12:00.005-05:00

I had a great afternoon today. Even though I am on spring break, I went in to school today to do a bit of work. I have been in the nesting or spring cleaning mode, just like my wife, so I have been working to get rid of stuff around the house. I have sold off old text books, organized my books, and today I scanned several sets of class notes so I could keep electronic copies while I recycle the paper copies. Today I managed to recycle over a ream of paper. It is a great feeling to get rid of the unnecessary space-fillers.

I caught a friend who is graduating tomorrow from the same degree program in which I am studying; he is just a year ahead of me. We went out for a very tasty and affordable pizza lunch at Roc-A-Fellas Pizza. Jamie and I have ordered take-out from them before and have always been pleased. The lunch special ($5.99 for two very large slices and a drink) was fantastic.

I came home, took Jamie on a walk - we did three laps or 1.5 miles (2.5 km) around the block, then I went for a nice 5 km run. I have not run in three weeks due to a suspected sprained ankle. The weather was fantastic: 60F (15.5C) and sunny. The run was wonderful and really invigorated me.

I had been wanting to dispose of a good bit of kindling sized branches from our backyard, so I borrowed the neighbor's fire pit and burned off a good bit of it. I have wood to burn yet, but at least I got a start.

While I burned the wood, I sat back and had a couple of pints of a homebrewed bitter. I brewed this back in December and it was one of the first beers I have kegged. I really enjoy having the keg setup. I will have to journal about it at some point in the future. In any case, I sat back, enjoyed stoking the fire, drinking beer, and talking with my parents on the phone.

Tomorrow brings another doctor's appointment. The baby should come any day now. Jamie and I both hoped the baby would come early on my spring break so I would have more time at home, but that has not happened. That is okay. The baby will come at the appropriate time. For me, I just am getting a hard lesson in patience.

It has been a fantastic afternoon. Maybe the rain will hold off and I can have another one of these tomorrow.

Best Book I've Read in a Long Time

2008-03-23T06:38:00.003-05:00

I just finished reading Neil Gaiman's book American Gods. This is the best book I've read in a long, long time.

I had heard about this book from several friends, but never had a thought to pick up a copy and read it. But recently, Harper Collins Publishers, along with Mr. Gaiman, tried a new style of publicity, by releasing the full text of the work for free. (I will not link to that specific article, as I expect it to have a limited life-span, but it is, as of this posting, available from their home page.) Mr. Gaiman discussed "giving away" his work and how he believed in the method. Many of my writer friends, most of whom seek to get published or seek a wider audience, attempt this through podcasting. Most of their works are available at Podiobooks.com, which I have discussed previously.

As a note, National Public Radio's Morning Edition did a story about Harper Collins making the book available. Harper Collins did note most customers making it no more than 50 pages into the on-line version. They said sales went up quite a bit, although much can be attributed to Mr. Gaiman publicizing the book and the on-line availability on his blog.

I read the first few pages of the book on the Harper Collins website, but felt I wanted to read it in a more traditional method. I borrowed a copy from my local library and read it over the past week. I've been so pleased with the book that I will buy copies to give as gifts as well as one for my shelf.

Neil Gaiman's website gives a good idea of a spoiler-free plot synopsis, so I will not try to repeat that here. Suffice to say, it is a story about an unlikely hero in the middle of a war of ideas. The story visits a wide variety of American towns and landmarks - all real as best I can tell - while interweaving mythology from nearly every society that has contributed to the American population. Some of the mythology was unfamiliar to me, but that did not hinder the storyline or my interest.

I have trouble better putting into words why I liked this book so much. I think I will stop here and perhaps journal more of my thoughts in the future. I am certain the book is not for everyone's tastes, but I heartily recommend it.

Homebrewing and Generic Updates

2007-12-09T17:52:00.001-06:00

I have had the desire to do a good update entry here for a while. I keep not feeling motivated enough to record my thoughts. I just found that I summarized my recent homebrewing activity in another area, which made me realize how easily I can update this medium.

In other areas, Jamie and I continue to prepare the nursery. This weekend we purchased a cedar chest, to work as a blanket or toy chest, and a glider rocking chair. The week after Thanksgiving we found a used changing table/dresser at a great price and got that. Amazingly, much of the furniture matches. All we really need is a rug for the room along with bedsheets and such linens.

The school term is quickly wrapping up with the last three days of class this week and then final exams. Maybe after the term is done I will have a chance to make a decent journal entry.

I have kept up my running, keeping on with three days of running five miles (eight kilometers) each week. I attempt to keep my runs on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, with occasional deviations to that schedule. Today was one such deviation: I did not run on Friday because I gave blood and took a flu vaccine on Thursday; Saturday I just slept in late. As of today, I have logged 460 miles (740 kilometers) for 2007. I am very proud of that record. I am easily on track to top 500 miles (800 kilometers) for the year.

My hobbies have slimmed to running and homebrewing, so I will update what I have done in the latter realm lately.

I bottled my Holiday Cheer (Papazian 1991, 225) on 5 December. I brewed it on 4 November and had it sitting in the primary for the month. It's targeted to be kind of like an ale version of Sam Adam's Winter Lager. Or that's the best representation I can give. It's got ginger, cinnamon, and orange peel. It didn't need, in my opinion, to bottle condition much, nor any carbonation, despite the fact I'm letting it sit there until the 24th or so. The sample I had at bottling was fantastic!

I brewed a very fast batch called Avagadro's Expeditious Ale (Papazian 1991, 182) on 25 November and "bottled" it in Party Pig (www.partypig.com) which is like a very simple 2.25 US gal keg. This is tasty, and I'll be excited to have it on hand in and around my upcoming finals (Master's of Aeronautical Engineering) time.

Today I did another extract batch. It was Rocky Raccoon's Crystal Honey Lager (Papazian 1991, 211-212). For the first time I used my turkey-fryer burner out on the deck instead of the kitchen. I really preferred that, since it was fast and easy. Less cleanup hassle too. I did have to contend with a bit of rain, which also went into my wort, but that wasn't so bad. I think I didn't need to boil for an hour, but that's a lesson learned. This also marked the first time I tried liquid yeast (White Labs WLP862 Cry Havoc). I don't have any fermentation activity yet, but it's only been 8 hours and my house is 62F, a bit cool.

Next Sunday I plan to make up a batch of Righteous Real Ale (Papazian 1991, 178) which looks to be very quick and easy. I plan to hopefully bottle half of it and put the other half into the Party Pig.

The other big homebrew thing I'm working is modifying a chest freezer into a kegerator and lagering chamber. That will be a slow and on-going project. Kegging should make life easier since I'll avoid the bottling. There's still something special about a proper ale that's not kegged that I may have to hang onto on occasion. At least until I get a firkin cask or something where I can do cask ales to seriously tap and share.

That is the extent of what I have to report on those issues. I hope to include more in the near future.

Camping and Canoing Weekend

2007-10-14T22:16:00.000-05:00

This weekend, Jamie and I visited with my sister, Erin, and brother-in-law, Brody, for a camping and canoing weekend in Western Indiana. Erin called me early last week and asked if we would be up for such a weekend. She then also picked the location, Sugar Creek, and a campground nearby where we could spend the night, The Original Sugar Creek Campground.

We all drove in on Friday night, arriving within an hour of each other. We had a short chance to catch up and then crash in our freshly-set campground. The next morning, we woke up, ate, and then went to our canoe outfitter, Sugar Valley Canoe Trips, to get on the water.

The weather was cloudy and chilly. On Friday night it dropped to 40F and the cloud cover on Saturday kept things a bit chilly. It was not too cold to float, however, and we had a grand time. We took the 11.5-mile (18.5-km) trip (by their measurements... we only measured it to be an 8.5-mile (13.7-km) trip with Brody's GPS) down Sugar Creek, passing under two covered bridges, both very pretty. We also passed through Turkey Run State Park, a very lovely location, one I would like to go back and visit on land as well.

After our day on the water, we returned to our campsite for a casual evening around the campfire. We shared good food, drink, and fellowship until we all fell asleep exhausted from the day's activities. We enjoyed breakfast together in the morning before we all split away back to our homes.

We had a great time seeing Erin and Brody as well as floating and camping. Like the last time I was camping, I had a lot of fun and really enjoyed being outdoors. Jamie also had a great time camping and said she would like to get back out camping again too, which makes me very happy. In the end, a great time and we look forward to doing it again soon!

Escape Pod #127 and Risks

2007-10-12T18:30:00.000-05:00

This morning I listened to Escape Pod episode 127, Results, by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. Steve Eley, the editor of Escape Pod, works hard to choose science fiction which moves people. I like good science fiction should challenge the reader’s (or listener’s) perspectives and world views. Science fiction has historically been able to look at humanity from an outside perspective, either from the view of outsiders or by putting a particular trait as the dominate trait of an “alien” species, which allows the audience to examine the situation in a microcosm of sorts.

There is, of course, science fiction (or any genre) that does not seek to challenge the audience, but simply entertain. I am not trying to make a value judgement on the material. I enjoy both. Results, however, challenged my thoughts and moved me in a powerful manner.

Without trying to spoil the entire story (although I must unveil part of it, as that makes a difference for how it affected me), Results explores a moment in a young woman’s life where she analyzes taking a risk to marry her fiance and start a family with him or not. The setting is the near-future in New York City. At this time, doctors can run a series of tests to determine the likelihood that a couple will produce a child with particular characteristics. The audience learns that genetic modifications are available, although expensive. Neither the narrator nor her fiance have much money. They have the genetic tests done before their marriage to determine their compatibility.

The concerns the couple faces is if their offspring will have a high intelligence quotient and athletic or artistic abilities. The genetic report also discusses physical traits, but those pose little concern to the couple. In the end, one of the couple’s greatest concerns is if their child will be average.

This concept of concern over the child being average is what really got me thinking. Honestly, it irritated me. I have absolutely no problem with Rusch writing a story about this concept - in fact, I do not think it is very far-fetched at all - but it bothered me that people may be worried that their child will only be average. I think that without genetic testing people already worry about an unexceptional offspring.

I had expected, and I think Rusch wrote her story to elicit this kind of expectation, the couple to be concerned about some terrible genetic disease. I expected the world had changed to the point where we could predict the likelihood of cancer, multiple sclerosis, or Alzheimer's. These were not the concern of the protagonists.

Perhaps since my wife and I are expecting our first child and we continue to get doctor’s visits and offers of different predictive tests I am more sensitive to this issue. Jamie and I have agreed that most of the tests do not matter to us. No matter what, we will have a child whom we will love. There is no chance that we will be ashamed of our baby. We should be so lucky as to have an "average" child. We may face unexpected financial burdens, but that is part of the nature of things.

Life is about taking chances. Just because we can produce statistics does not make them undeniable truths. Random chance is just that: random and chance. It bothers me that people fall so much into statistics that they forget to appreciate life and that the statistics may not fall true.

I have heard a lot of thoughts based somewhat on statistics since we got pregnant. Pregnant women are not supposed to eat uncooked (re-heated) lunch meats because the nitrates they contain pose some risk. Pregnant women are not supposed to change cat litter because cat feces may contain toxiplasmosis. Pregnant women are not supposed to eat steak that is less than completely cooked all the way through (well-done) because steak with pink in the middle may contain bacteria that might harm the unborn baby. I have not looked up the odds, but I also have not been ever quoted the odds of these risks. I imagine that all of these very well could cause harm to our baby, but so could being struck by lightning. There are chances in everything. At some point you have to not worry about chances and press ahead.

I cannot control anyone in life but myself. I can hope that others hear stories like Results and realize that worrying over some things is not worth the time or effort. I realize that me worrying, fretting, or getting caught up on the behavior of others and how they may or may not be affected by such stories can also be a waste of time. Good stories may challenge us to reconsider how we approach life and certain “facts” which we encounter.

The only way to move ahead is one step at a time. We should never get ourselves caught up in the possible risks so much that we become afraid of action. I believe that inaction is often as bad as, sometimes worse than, a potential negative action. As an old French song goes: “Que sera, sera.”

Listening to My Baby's Heartbeat

2007-10-11T18:30:00.000-05:00

Today I had a good day. The day started with Jamie and I going to the perinatal clinic for a monthly checkup on the progress of our pregnancy. Our visit with the doctor was good and fun, and she answered all of our questions. Jamie and the baby got a clean bill of health, and everything continues to progress properly. The doctor also used a doppler device to allow us to listen to the baby’s heartbeat. That sound was one of the most amazing sounds I have ever heard. The frequency was 154 beats per minute, perfectly within the 120 to 180 range.

I cannot explain why this sound meant so much to me. I could reproduce the sounds on the computer, but that is not the same. I think it has to do with the fact that I encountered an audible indication of my child’s life. While I see other indications, I sense this one through something besides my eyes. It further confirms that which I already know: I am a father.

After this incredibly rich, rewarding, and wonderful experience, I stopped by the blood drive office in the hospital to give blood. When we first moved to Ohio, Jamie and I had to stop in and find the perinatal clinic. That day, I found that we had a blood drive office that the hospital staffs every day. Coincidentally, that day was just a little more than eight weeks after I last donated blood, so I gave again. Today was just after eight weeks since I last gave blood, so I could give again. On this schedule, Jamie and I will visit the hospital on even counts from today, so I can keep coming in to donate blood regularly.

I believe that giving blood is something simple I can do to help many other people. I know that blood is a commodity that has a limited shelf life. Someone out there can use this gift I can give. Hopefully I will never need the return favor, but if I do, I hope that someone will do the same for me. I cannot be certain, but I will assume that my blood donation helps to save someone’s life. That is a small bit I can do, one I am more than happy to do as well.

So, it has been a very good day for me. Better yet, this weekend Jamie and I get to go camping and canoeing with my sister and brother-in-law. We are going to meet in Western Indiana and have a wonderful time enjoying each other’s company, the woods, and the river. Tonight, Jamie and I packed the van, so we are ready to go. I have had just a wonderful day.

September 2007 Wrap-Up

2007-09-30T23:53:00.000-05:00

The year is three-quarters complete. That is simply amazing. Jamie and I have settled into our new home in Ohio. We really enjoy our house here, as do our cats. In fact, they've happily taken over everything here. Speaking of Jinx and Saffron, we have had them one year this month. They've grown an incredible amount and become very important parts of our family.

I spent the month in a refresher training for my master's program. The benefit of this month I believe will be enormous. It allowed me to build back into a higher education program. I start classes full-time and "for real" tomorrow. I am nervous, but I think things will be okay.

Jamie and I did not travel anywhere together this month. I did go diving and she went to Atlanta for a weekend conference, but those were not together. However, we had several folks come to visit us. My best friend - and best man - Nick came to visit over Labor Day weekend along with his wife, Kelly. Actually, maybe I should say Kelly came to visit and brought Nick. Either way, they visited and we all had a great time hanging out and relaxing together. Two weeks later, my mother and aunt came to visit as well. My dad was supposed to join them, but he had a nasty accident resulting in a broken finger the prior weekend and he had to returned to St. Louis to see his personal doctor. We really missed having him, but had a great time with my mom and her sister for the weekend.

My running has been going great. I logged 36.4 miles (58.24-km) for the month, bumping my weekly training to three runs at 4-miles (6.4-km) each during the week. It looks like I will have to add another short run in the near future to include my school section's physical training program. For whatever reason, they chose me to be their physical training leader, which means I get to choose what I want to do each week. It works for me, but maybe not for them. I also started doing a lot of bicycling. I totaled 106 miles (169.6-km) for the month. I started bicycle commuting to school as often as I can manage. I have a 6-mi (9.6-km) commute from my house to school, giving me a great ride each day. I also save a great amount of money on gas too.

I did get out camping, as I mentioned in a previous post. This was one of, if not the, best activities I did during the month. It really helped me relax and, as Steve Eley (of Escape Pod podcast) says: "Have Fun." Much more of this to come.

I did a good bit of homebrewing or homebrew activities. I started the Barkshack Mead, the Imperial IPA, and another batch of porter, like I did earlier this year. This porter, however, I will be adding vanilla to so I can make a yummy vanilla porter. I am very excited about this batch. In a similar note, I really enjoyed the very tasty batches I have already brewed (like the mead ale). So, things are going very well on this front.

As I mentioned above, I did get out diving this month. That sparked interest in me to go out and dive more. I am not sure how much that will work or happen, but I will keep looking into it and hopefully get out later this year.

I have started my new master's program. My previous one at American Military University is on hold. AMU is looking into allowing me to transfer some credit into that program. Hopefully this transfer will allow me to speed up the AMU master's program.

Speaking of studies, I have not done any more for my Arabic studies. I really want to get back into this, but when I get back home at the end of the day from school, I just feel burned out. I will see how things go in the future, as this is not something I am ready to let go.

Dinner with friends fell off this month. We had dinner. We visited with friends. But not necessarily dinner with friends. The entire idea was to be social, and I think we have done a good job with that. But we can do better.

I think my journaling averaged out for one per week for the month, but I could do better. Even this entry is arriving much later than I had planned. But, I will keep up as best as I can.

So, things are very good. I am tired and the month is done. School is tomorrow, so I need to get back to resting for more school preparation.

Rescue Diving Weekend

2007-09-30T22:14:00.000-05:00

This past weekend I took my diving training to the next level. In the process, I switched certifying organizations from SSI to PADI. My next level of training was as a rescue diver. This means that I am trained to a higher level and to help other divers when they are in trouble, hopefully out of the water long before when they are in the water.

I was fortunate to complete my training prior to starting back full-time to classes for my Master's of Science in Aeronautical Engineering. I was also fortunate to be able to combine my diving weekend with a weekend of camping.

The diving, itself, was not a lot of fun. It was a lot of hard work, but training that was well worth the trouble. All day long Saturday and Sunday I worked very hard, practicing helping people underwater, on the surface, and from shore. I also expanded my personal confidence and abilities greatly. I also met several new dive buddies with whom I hope to dive in the near future.

As I mentioned, I also combined a weekend of camping with my diving. I dove at White Star Quarry. Across the road and part of the same park is the White Star Park Campground. It is not fancy, but it provided a great place for me to sleep and to enjoy being in the outdoors under the stars.

I have been having trouble lately with a serious lack of fun. I find it interesting how important having fun can be. I had done things that I enjoyed during September, but I had not necessarily had fun. Even the diving I did was enjoyable, good, and important, but not necessarily fun. I did find, however, that the camping was incredibly fun. I had forgotten how much I missed being outside with the fresh air, under the stars, enjoying a campfire and all the love of camping.

The camping, in many ways, was the best part of the weekend. The campground was mostly empty and quiet. I had a new camp that had mostly mesh for the walls so I could see the full moon throughout the night. I had a visitor both nights, whom I was not entirely certain I wanted, but it was still cute. I also had another one of our divers camp out the second night across the road from me. It was excellent to share my evening campfire and conversation with him.

I will have to get back out camping again soon. Maybe the next time I will take my wife. Camping is something that helps me slow down and enjoy all that is great around me. There is no way that I can record my thoughts completely, but in some ways that is not the point. I love my home hobbies, like home brewing and running and the like, but getting away and into nature is something extremely special. I just love it.

Coming in March 2008: Baby Farrell

2007-09-13T20:04:00.000-05:00

Today Jamie had her first appointment with the perinatal clinic. Everything was fine medically, much as we expected, and the doctor brought out the ultrasound machine. With the marvels of modern technology, Jamie and I enjoyed seeing the very first pictures of our future baby.

I just realized this is the first I have actually mentioned in this journal that we are expecting our first child at the end of March. We are both extremely excited about this next big step in our lives together. Things will certainly change, but we also realize that change is the one constant. Instead of fretting it, we must accept it. It helps that both of us want to make this next step in our lives together.

I had to put these few thoughts down and include a photo from our activities today.

Imperial IPA Update

2007-09-11T20:21:00.000-05:00

On 31 August, I started a batch of Imperial IPA from a kit from Listermann's. Things got started well and I put the carboy away for initial fermentation. I filled the carboy a bit too full, but did not think much of it.

Like usual, I ran an overflow hose from my carboy cap into a gallon milk jug filled about halfway with clean water. I do this because so much air comes out that an airlock does not work so well during the first few days. This time, however, even the milk jug trick did not work, and I had an overflow (about 1 September). The foam went out of the jug and down its sides and soaked the cardboard box in which I had the jug and carboy. I managed to clean up the mess, but found my liquid level low.

Tonight, I boiled and cooled one gallon (four liters) of water to add to the primary carboy to top it off to original levels. I again filled just a bit too much, but did not worry again. Next, I racked the beer from the primary into a secondary carboy for continued fermentation along with adding the dry hops per the recipe. I plan to let the secondary sit for at least three weeks before bottling. The beer filled to the perfect level in the secondary, coincidentally.

Things I noticed:
- The beer was very murky. It had a brown (with touch of clay red) color and was opaque.
- I gathered a bit of leftover beer after the siphon finished and measured the gravity. It came out to 1.015; that means the beer is at 8.4% ABV at the moment.
- The taste was certainly alcoholic, but not in a pleasing way. More in a manner of hard liquor or vodka. I did not get a lot of other flavors out of the bit I tasted. Then again, I had a lot of trub in the bottom of my glass.

Now the question is if the next three weeks in the secondary will clear up the murkiness and improve the flavor. Certainly, the beer should get hoppier given that I added more hops.

Barkshack Mead Update (#1)

2007-09-10T19:37:00.000-05:00

Tonight I brought up the mead to rack into secondary. Sanitized carboy, racking cane, tubing, carboy cap, new airlock with BTF Iodophore.

I took hydrometer reading at 74F. 1.001 => 1.002 normalized. That’s a whopping 6.72% alcohol by volume!

The taste is wonderful too! It has a slightly earthy scent, but the berries and ginger come through. The flavor is... well, I need to drink wine a lot more to properly describe it. But it’s wonderful!

Another Mead Ale

2007-09-08T20:57:00.000-05:00

I was so happy with my last Mead Ale in April I made making another batch my top home brewing priority after arriving in Ohio. I brewed up the batch one week after arriving in Ohio. The initial taste was very good. I could not strongly remember if it was different than the previous batch, but that does not matter. Every batch will be different.

This evening, Jamie and I bottled the batch. I would have liked to let it sit for another week or so in the carboy, but I need the carboy empty for other brewing activities. I measured the final gravity and calculated the alcohol content. Based on my readings for original gravity, I calculated 1.7%. Based on the original gravity from Listermann's, I would have a 2.5%. I average that to a 2.1% for my readings. That is 1.5% less than my last batch, and in any case, a very low alcohol content. But that is also okay.

I had a chance to taste the mead ale twice: one from the sample I took for the final gravity reading, taken from the first bit out of the bottling bucket; the second from the last amount in the bottling bucket. The first sample was a bit more tart than I expected, but still very good. The last sample was smooth and sweet. Maybe I did not stir the bucket enough, although most recommendations say not to stir up the beer at that point because the brewer wants to avoid inducing extra oxygen.

In any case, the beer is in bottles and ready to bottle age. I am excited to give this a real taste at the end of the month. I have learned to wait to drink my beer and let it get better with age. Delayed gratification at its finest.

Barkshack Mead

2007-09-05T00:48:00.000-05:00

I decided to make a mead. Well, another mead. I made one a week or so back, but also wanted to start one timed to drink at my graduation from AFIT. In my copy of The New Complete Joy of Home Brewing by Charlie Papazian, there is a recipe (1991, 346-348) for Barkshack Ginger Mead. I decided to give it a go. From what I read, it does best after aging for at least a year, and I have 18 months to go.

This entry is a bit more of a recipe journal than a typical entry, reflecting what I wrote as I went through step by step. It gets a little tedious near the end, but I wanted to record what I had done.

I bought ingredients a few days ago (1 September) at various shops at the Second Street Market in Dayton, Ohio. They lacked a few items, so I had to run to the local supermarket to get some out-of-season (but importable, I guess) fruit.

I will post updates as I continue working on the mead over time. I know I have to rack the mead into a secondary (carboy), but after that I am not sure how much more I will fiddle with it until I bottle it around February 2009.

Oh, and my apologies for the English units. I much prefer to use SI or at least give the SI conversions, but my kitchen is not easily set and this entry is really a copy and paste from another entry I wrote on my computer.

1 September 2007

Bought 7lbs (5lbs + 2lbs) raw honey at farmer’s market from Robert Irvin & Sons, 4087 Route 35, Jamestown, OH 45335.

Bought 6oz (ea) of blackberries and raspberries at Kroger. About 1/2 of the raspberries were bad and were not used.

4 September 2007

Used Barkshack Gingermead recipe from Papazian (1991, 346-348).

Sanitized 5 gal carboy, pot, and utensils with 1 Tbsp BTF Iodophore and 5 gal water.

Mixed gypsum, citric acid, irish moss, and yeast nutrient in small glass bowl

Peeled 1 ginger root, about the size of my index finger after peeling. Tried to grate with cheese grater. That didn’t work out, so I took my gratings, a little of the juice, and the rest cut into match stick size pieces (or so) and put in a small glass bowl.

Put about 1 1/2 gal tap water (from well) in pot. Added sugar, contents of both bowls, and honey. Heated honey jars (first alone, then with a bit of water) in microwave to get out the rest of honey.
Turned heat to high. Stirred frequently while water warmed to boiling point, which took about 25 minutes.

Boiled (moderate) for 15 minutes. Stirred frequently to avoid having honey burn to bottom. Removed from heat.

Mashed (with potato masher) fruit in a bowl. Skimmed out some (probably 1/3) of ginger root pieces. Added fruit to must five minutes after removing must from boil. Let fruit steep 10 minutes.

Added 1/2 gal room temperature water to pot to lower the temperature from 180F to 148F.

Let fruit steep another 5 min while I added about 2 1/2 gal room temperature water to carboy. Was at perfect 5 gal mark.

Added carboy cap, closed, and agitated carboy. Placed carboy in sink full of cold water to cool contents. (21:00)

At 55 minutes in the bath the temperature was still above 90F, so I added some ice to help cool things down so I could pitch the yeast (and go to bed).

Agitated must at 70 minutes (22:10) and found temperature dropped to about 90F.

Agitated must at 80 minutes (22:20) and found temperature was at 86F.

Agitated must at 90 minutes (22:30) and added ice.

Agitated several more times.

Removed from bath at 270 minutes (00:00). Temperature was 80F. Rehydrated Lalvin EC-1118 yeast (10 grams) in 16oz water at 106F for 10 minutes.

Took hydrometer reading at 80F. 1.064 (16) => 1.066 normalized. Flavor was wonderful, albeit sweet. Heavy honey, very mild ginger.

Pitched yeast 12 minutes later with must at 78F. Agitated carboy. Took carboy to basement closet and set up overflow tube into milk jug half-filled with water for initial fermentation.

August 2007 Wrap-Up

2007-08-31T21:49:00.000-05:00

Wow. August is now behind us. I completely missed doing a July wrap-up for a lot of reasons. Jamie and I went on vacation in July, came home, and started packing up the house to move from Georgia to Ohio. I intended to go back and write a review and post-date it, but that just never happened. I gave up. I am here now and this is where I begin again.

While the picture above is from July, I am focusing on August. We traveled to Ohio as we moved, so that does not count very well for travel. We did take her sister to meet their parents just west of Indianapolis as a day trip, but that also was not much of a travel point for the month. As we are still in the summer quarter, I think we are doing fine for travel as long as we project something for the October through December time frame.

For the most part, I kept up my running. During the move week I dropped off a little bit. I logged 37.2 miles (59.5 km) for the month. I also decided that I am not going to worry too much about my shin splints anymore. Pain comes and goes. I just need to run, letting my body dictate the pace per day. I also started biking a lot more here in Ohio. If all goes well, I will be able to bike to and from school for a good part of the year, but I am still working out those details. In the short term, I got out for 4 bike rides totaling 26.4 miles (42.4 km). Much more biking to come as a cross-training event.

Since we got to our new home, I have actually made two batches of beer and my first attempt at mead. I made another mead ale two weeks ago along with the mead at the same time. Both promise to be wonderful. Today I made an Imperial India Pale Ale which has an insane amount of hops. I am really excited for it to mature (probably two months or more from now) and give it a real taste. As for the mead, I wanted to try mead and I recently found a few commercial varieties which I enjoyed. Mead traditionally is a major celebration drink, so I planned to make one for my graduation in 18 months, giving it plenty of time to mature. I made the batch two weeks ago to give it a try in the short term.

As for diving, a friend of mine referred me to a very good school near my home in Ohio. It is Aquatic Realm Scuba Center. They serviced my dive gear, but that's all I have had time to do so far. Once I save enough money, I will go take the rescue diving course.

I worked well on my master's program. I completed the two courses. The last course I finished hanging on by the skin of my teeth and more precisely because I had a very generous professor. I need to have the school evaluate my other training and courses and see if they will give me any transfer credit towards my degree. I do not think I will actually finish the program this year, since I am starting another master's full-time. Still, I made good progress.

My Arabic studies fell apart throughout the summer. I really need to study it again, but keep finding other things to do, like get settled in the house.

We have been doing dinners with friends up here pretty well, but I have not been keeping track of how often. My best man, Nick, and his new wife, Kelly, are coming to visit later tonight and through the weekend. Nick and Kelly are the ones who married in Spokane, Washington back in June. This will be a great weekend!

Obviously, my journaling has not kept up. I would like to get back into the habit and as things settle down, I think that will happen.

For now, I think I will go take a nap and wait for Nick and Kelly to show up.

Dayton AleFest 2007

2007-08-25T19:08:00.000-05:00

This morning I started my day with a 5.1mi (8.2km) bike ride. Then Jamie and I went out for breakfast at Cracker Barrel followed by a few errands.

This afternoon I went to AleFest 2007 - Dayton. They had approximately one-hundred craft breweries and about two-hundred and fifty beers. A $35US entry fee bought a tasting glass and twenty tickets for beer samples (6oz, 175mL) of the beer.

I'll scan the brochure to come. I apologize for the markings in the brochure. I circled the beers I tried. I tried to Twitter my beer drinking. I couldn't keep up. I had limited time to drink and could not keep up the texting and enjoying the party. I focused on the party.

Beers I drank:

Moylans Kilt Lifter Scotch Ale - Very tasty and had a palate I could not quite figure out; I would drink plenty more.

Breckenridge Vanilla Porter - My favorite of the evening; I will try to make this as a homebrew and buy plenty if I can find it!

Stone Brewing Smoked Porter - Pretty good. I avoided Arrogant Bastard and Ruination. I have tried them before and did not want to ruin my palate for other beer.

Fort Collins Major Tom's Pomegranate Wheat - Very sweet with a slight touch of bitter. A decent summer beer.

Dogfish Head Raison D'Etra - If DFH raised this from the grave, I applaud them for it. I did not have the chance to really experience the excellent mix of flavors in this beer, but enjoyed every sip.

Rogue Mocha Porter - An excellent combination of coffee and beer. This has a superior mocha flavor but all the joys of beer.
Monty Python Holy Grail (Draught) - Whoa! Brilliant mix of flavors with a slight touch of honey as an after taste. A must for every fan!

Flying Dog Double Dog Pale Ale - An excellent hoppy beer. Not Stone AB, Stone Ruination, DFH 90min IPA, but an excellent hoppy beer.

Stoudt's Double IPA (Draught) - An excellent IPA. Plenty of hops and kick. At 10% ABV it gives quite a kick too.

Bell's Third Coast Old Ale (Draught) - A very tasty barleywine. I could drink this plenty more. At 10% ABV, I probably could not drink it for a long time, however.

Lagunitas IPA - A decent IPA.

Barrel House Red Legg (Draught) - A simple red; don't think I would choose unless nothing else appealed.

Barrel House Cumberland Pale (Draught) - A decent pale, nothing to write home about.

Barrel House Double IPA (Draught) - Tasty and hoppy.

Young's Double Chocolate Stout - Way too chocolaty for me.

Bare Knuckle Stout (Draught) - Not great, but not chocolate.

All in all, I had a great afternoon hanging out with my friend Ryan and drinking delicious beer!

Next year I hope to have more than two hours to do my enjoyment of AleFest. I cannot say, though, that I did not enjoy this year. This was, for me, a great way to spend my anniversary.

And then I came home, made my wife dinner, and watched the Bourne Supremacy. What a great day!

Publicizing Podiobooks.com

2007-08-21T16:52:00.001-05:00

I don't get much time to read books anymore, so I listen when I go running or have any kind of drive (commutes work great, I hear). The downside, you've got to have an MP3 player or computer to hear the stuff. But it's a great way to go.

I wrote the following in response to a friend's blog post looking for recommendations on good science fiction books to read. I liked the entry quite a bit, so I thought I'd add it here. I list some that are available in traditional (aka: dead-tree) versions. I imagine more are also available, but these are the ones that popped out in my mind... probably because I own a dead-tree copy or something.

I'm a big fan of Podiobooks.com which offer serialized audio books for free. Many of these are Sci-Fi. Many of the books below are available through direct feeds from the authors instead of just through Podiobooks.com. Podiobooks is a great site, though, and I want to give it loads of exposure. So, if anyone finds something they like, be sure to look around to see if you can find more information about the author or some of their other works.

If you're up for a modern day science thriller, an essential is 7th Son by JC Hutchins.

If you're interested in modern day science horror (best description I can give), check out Earthcore or Ancestor, or just about anything by Scott Sigler. Both of these two are available in dead tree formats.

For another modern day science (a bit heavier on science than other fiction) fiction, Bill DeSmedt's Singularity is awesome. This is one of my favorites from the site. You can get a dead tree version too, if you'd like.

For a Stephen-King-esque sci fi (yep, starships, space stations, etc), check out Phil Rossi's Crescent. This one is still being released, but it's a heck of a ride!

Mark Jeffery's The Pocket and the Pendant. This is fun and kind of touches on a Stargate flavor.

For a weekly Science Fiction story, look up Escape Pod. Steve Eley (editor) does a great job choosing top science fiction (usually, sometimes a bit of a fantasy slant) stories with a wide variety of flavor and fun. I catch the new stuff each week without fail.

A few other recommendations from Podiobooks.com, when you're off the sci-fi theme:
- Tracy Hickman's The Immortals. This is a serious alternative (at least I hope so), near-future story. It'll touch your heart and it deals with some pretty heavy issues, but it's solid gold. Perhaps the finest book at Podiobooks.com (my apologies to Hutch, Siggy, and Tee).

- Matthew Wayne Selznick's Brave Men Run. Set in the 1980's about a teenage boy dealing with superpowers.

- Mur Lafferty's Heaven series. This is her takes on the afterlifes and it's awesome.

- Christiana Ellis' Nina Kimberly the Merciless. Strong female lead as a barbarian warrior princess on a quest. Campy fun.

- John Lenahan's Shadowmagic. More of a fantasy story, it's a good take on Celtic mythology.

- Tee Morris' Morevi. This is the first podibook to which I listened and it sets the bar for the rest. Great story about English pirate captains and Oriental queens crossing a magical rift to help each other. Available in dead tree format.

- Tee Morris' Billibub Baddings and the Case of the Singing Sword. A dwarf (think Tolkien) meets Al Capone (literally). This was a very fun story. Available in dead tree format.

- Phillipa Ballantine's Weaver's Web. This is a solid fantasy story. Phillipa is a Kiwi (read: New Zealander) which makes this story music to listen to.

Okay, that covers nearly every Podiobook to which I've listened. At worst, those are the best. Tee Morris, Scott Sigler, and JC Hutchins are probably the three kings (or Rat Pack) of Podiobooks. They rock and are all great people too.

I hope this list helps other folks find great works to enjoy.

Moved to Dayton

2007-08-13T05:21:00.000-05:00

I have a lot about which to journal, including a delayed entry for a July 2007 Wrap-Up. That will come (and be back-dated) soon, I hope. For now, Jamie and I have moved to our new home in Dayton, Ohio. The place is still a train wreck of moving boxes and various unpacked items. We have been tackling it as best we can, but there's a lot to do yet. The house is wonderful. It is much larger than our previous home (probably 2200 sqft, versus 1360 sqft) so we will have to resist expanding to fill the void; of course, nature abhors a vacuum, so we'll see how we go.

In the short term, there is more house work to do, I have to check in for my duty station today, and I have to finish my master's class for the other degree on which I am working. All in the next two weeks. Yikes! Back to work!

2007 Alaskan Cruise - Entry #6

2007-07-15T09:47:00.001-05:00

Alas, our cruise is basically at an end. We pulled into the port of Seattle this morning around 5:30 am, and now we are doing our final packing and will go have breakfast before disembarking the Pearl.

Yesterday was a pleasant day, predominately at sea. One unusual thing that we did was to get another photograph with the photographers. That alone is not unusual, but what we accomplished was. Because the photographers were slow getting off the ship in Ketchikan, we missed getting a photo with one of them dressed as a moose as well as having a picture from that port-of-call. Jamie likes to have these photos to scrapbook our holidays together. We asked (begged may be more accurate) if we could get our photo taken with the moose and have them print it on the Ketchikan background. Harry, the man who dresses as the moose, obliged, and we got our photograph, only the staging for our shot was a bit different than the others in the gallery. Better yet, our background turned out even better than the others!

We had a light lunch with a couple we met on the first day before going to the Honeymoon and Anniversary party. The party invites those couples who have purchased the Honeymoon/Anniversary package (quite the good deal) to get together. On our first cruise, it was early in the week, which I prefer, since a couple is more likely to meet other couples and then carry those relationships through the week. In any case, we still had a good time, telling and hearing stories of how couples met and how long they have been married. Several couples were married just a week ago, on 7-7-07, one couple was getting married soon (not a bad idea to do the honeymoon first), and one couple celebrated their sixtieth wedding anniversary!

We spent the rest of the afternoon packing and relaxing, to include spending some time back with Denitsa and Ramil at our favorite bar. Luckily, Junior, the head bartender, was there and so we had a chance to chat with him, as well as praise his two finest workers. We parted with our good friends, leaving them to get ready for mostly a night off while we were in port.

Jamie and I left the ship not long after it docked in Victoria, British Columbia, and we walked around a bit of town. We had a few things in mind that we had interest in seeing or doing, but honestly we were in port late in the day (docking from six until midnight) and we were both tired. I actually think I was (am?) ready for the end of vacation. Adding in the five weeks I was gone in June, I have been away from home for a very long time, and I think I am ready to be there for a bit. Additionally, with the upcoming move to Ohio, I have a lot on my plate.

Regardless, we walked around Victoria a bit, saw the Parliament building and some beautiful homes and gardens (one might even say better homes and gardens) and returned to the ship for dinner.

We completed trying every restaurant on the Pearl last night by eating at Mambos, the Tex-Mex restaurant. We had appetizers (on NCL ships appetizers are reasonable sizes, actually just enough for one person) of nachos and southwest spring rolls, followed by a salad for Jamie and a soup for me, with the main of Il Popo. This main dish was “grilled” steak, chicken, pineapple, mushrooms, and peppers, all served on a grand “platter.” We had too much to finish, and my description does not do the presentation justice, so we will have to share photos later.

After dinner, we made our final purchases and returned to our stateroom to retire. We both slept soundly, just until I woke around 5:00 to see us pulling into the Seattle harbor. Now we will fetch breakfast and disembark by 9:00 to start our travels back home.

The trip has been fantastic, and we are both pining to cruise again in the near future. We have other travel plans to consider before our next cruise, but the time to return to NCL will soon come over the horizon, I believe. It is just a fantastic way to travel!

2007 Alaskan Cruise - Entry #5

2007-07-14T13:23:00.000-05:00

We are now cruising outside of Vancouver Island towards Victoria, BC. My last notes left off at the Johns Hopkins Glacier, and so I will resume there. We pretty much wrapped up Glacier Bay after Johns Hopkins Glacier, although we did transit out of the Bay. Jamie and I shared lunch at the Asian fusion restaurant, where we had a window seat and watched the mountains slow move by throughout our lunch. We spent a good part of the afternoon relaxing on our cabin balcony; once again we saw a few whales off in the water. Jamie and I have seen more whales from aboard the Pearl than we did on our whale watching trip in Juneau; however, we probably would not know how to spot them as easily without the trip.

We had our anniversary dinner on Thursday night in Le Bistro, the French restaurant on the Pearl (and the same name as the one on the Jewel). Le Bistro is my favorite restaurant of them all. It costs a bit more, but the service is fantastic and the food sublime. Like last December, we paid extra for the special menu, of which the main course is chateaubriand, a fantastic cut and preparation of steak. Our waiters Arif and Arturo made the evening very special. Along with Furtoso, the maître d', they serenaded us with “Let Me Call You Sweetheart” at the end of our meal. It was a wonderful and romantic dinner.

We had a quick after dinner drink at my favorite bar on the ship, talking with Ramil and Danitsa, our bar staff, and called it an early night. After all, we rose at half past five in the morning to see the glaciers and had already been staying out late most every other night.

Yesterday morning we arrived early into Ketchikan. Jamie and I had booked a trip to Misty Fjords which left the docks at half past six in the morning. We stumbled off the Pearl and luckily only had to walk about ten yards (ten meters) to the waiting boat. The trip was wonderful, taking about four hours to explore the majestic beauty of the area and see some wildlife. We saw eagles, a black-tailed Sitka deer, and seals. We did not see, nor did we ever see on this trip, any bear or moose. That is just one more reason for us to return to Alaska, I figure.

After our tour we came back to the Pearl early to enjoy a relaxing afternoon. I sat in the hot tub enjoying a beer as we pulled out of port while Jamie relaxed on a lounge chair reading. I met some nice people on their first cruise in the hot tub; we even enjoyed a light sprinkle of rain which started just as we left town - perfect timing in my opinion.

Last night we went to the second Jean Ann Ryan company production: Garden of the Geisha. This show focused on acrobatics and dance, with very little singing. The performers continue to stun me with their abilities. After the show, Jamie and I enjoyed another wonderful meal in the more intimate of the two main dining rooms last night. Sarah, our waitress, was a real joy to get to know. She has two weeks left before she gets two months off at home in Indonesia. While Sarah served us, we again spotted more whales off the port side of the ship - what a great treat!

Today we slept in after another late night - a time zone change did not help that either - and rose to see a wall of fog around the ship. We had a light breakfast from the buffet and have since been doing little odds and ends. Tonight we go to Victoria, where we think we’ll do a casual tour of the town and then maybe come back to the Pearl early. We will probably play it by ear. For now, however, the fog has burned off and we have smooth sailing under partly cloudy skies.

This will probably be my last note until we return to Georgia. We have a few activities left today, to include the unfortunate aspect of packing. Packing bags means the trip is at an end, and I would really rather not be done with vacation just yet. But someone has to earn money to fund these travels, and I do not have a job yet that allows me to do that from aboard the cruise ship.

2007 Alaskan Cruise - Entry #4

2007-07-12T15:16:00.001-05:00

At the moment, we are cruising in Glacier Bay. We just pulled away from the Margerie Glacier and headed to Lamplugh Glacier. I had to hop on the computer for a minute to download the photos from our memory card. Between Skagway yesterday and the first half of Glacier Bay today, I had done a good bit of filling up the memory card. In otherwords, we’ll have plenty of photos to share next time we meet up.

Skagway was fantastic. We got off the ship early in the morning and toured the town when it was still and empty. It also allowed us some great photographs. We then met up with the folks from Sockeye Cycle and did a wonderful bike trip around the Dyea Flats and explored an old ghost town from the Goldrush Days. The ride was very easy, mostly on flat terrain, and pretty much at sea level. We were, however, in the midst of beautiful mountains and amazing fresh air.

After our cycling, Jamie and I started the second half of our excursion: a 2-mile hike and then a quick float trip. We hiked the start of the Chilkoot Trail, which was one of the most treacherous trails that goldrushers traveled to get from the Skagway area to the Klondike Gold Fields. There is an entire great set of stories about the trails and those times, but the best way to learn those is to travel to Skagway. We were on the easy part of the trail, but it was still a bit of a challenge. We traveled through rain forest - who knew there was rain forest in Alaska? - and saw a wide variety of flora.

At the end of our hike we had a casual float down the Taiya River. The river was glacier fed, and very chilly; I certainly am glad that no one fell in! We saw bald eagles on and around the river as well. The guide did all the work, so we just had to sit back and enjoy the view. At the end, the guide produced a simple snack with some of the best smoked salmon I have ever tasted. We stopped in town to buy a little to take home too. Unfortunately, I do not think that it will last long enough to share.

We explored Skagway a bit more, and had a beer and some fries in the Skagway Brewing Company. I had read poor reviews of the company because they stopped being a brewery and had just been a gift shop for several years. On 4 Jul, however, they reopened as a brewery. They don’t have their own beers on tap yet - a few equipment problems that accompany all startups - but I was very pleased. In fact, I’d say it’s the best place in town, and I hope to come back again to them.

Jamie and I returned to the ship early, beating most of the crowd. We joined in a small group to do a Murder Mystery Dinner, which was a good bit of fun. We also had a chance to see one of the “headline” shows; it was Sea Legs, a showgirl review. The dancers and singers, as usual for the Jean Ann Ryan Company, were phenomenal, and gave a great musical review. We couldn’t stay out late after, however, since we were going to get to Glacier Bay early and wanted to be well rested.

This morning has been amazing. The cloud cover and fog welcomed us in the morning, but as we cruised north we broke out of the mist and were greeted by phenomenal views of mountains, glaciers, waterfalls, and the calm-as-glass bay. At the moment, we are sitting five miles off Johns Hopkins Glacier. The sheer magnitude of these beauties of nature is amazing and hard to capture in either words or photos. And it is certainly not like I am trying. I’ve already shot 564 photos today, and we’re not done yet!

I have decided (and Jamie agreed) that when (and that is when and not if) we come back, I am going to buy a serious high-res (high megapixel) SLR digital camera with changeable lenses to include a very good telephoto to shoot more of these shots. Our little camera is good, but not that good. I also would very much like to come back here to Glacier Bay National Park and do back country camping, backpacking, kayaking, and other outdoors activities to actually get into nature and these scenes. But I also know that I could not get some of the views which we got today from the 9th deck of our cruise ship.

Great people like John Muir have already described these beauties in writing, and I know I cannot do better. I think the only real way to experience it is to visit here, as I hope you all can do some day.

2007 Alaskan Cruise - Entry #3

2007-07-11T02:20:00.000-05:00

It is the end of the day, and Jamie and I are relaxing in our favorite little lounge on the Pearl. Truth be told, it’s my favorite lounge, probably because it is quiet and the staff is very friendly. I started writing this as we pulled out of Juneau, but since then we had another couple stop by for a drink, and we’ve been chatting with our waitress Denitsa, a very charming young lady from Bulgaria.

We had a pretty good day. We disembarked, signed in for our whale watching tour, and then had a short chance to check out the town of Juneau, at least that which is close to the port. There was a lot of shopping. As neither Jamie nor I are big shoppers and neither of us want to add to our collection of stuff at home just before we move, we didn’t do a lot of shopping. Jamie got some stuff for scrapbooking, which is good, but otherwise, we passed by the loads and loads of stuff, predominately jewelry.

Our whale watching was successful: we saw humpback whales. What I mean is that we saw their “steam” from their blow holes; we saw their backs as they arched through the water; and we saw their tails as they dove deep from the surface. I got a few good photos, but nothing spectacular. To be honest, I think the orcas we saw (but did not photograph) earlier today from aboard the Pearl were more interesting; they jumped (breached, for those in the know) and splashed much more than the humpbacks. On an upside, we had a great sightseeing tour from our whale watching boat.

After we wrapped up, we opted to skip anything else in Juneau and head back for dinner in one of the main dining rooms: they had a great menu tonight. After sharing a toast of champaign, Jamie caught the comic on the main stage tonight: I sat in the lounge, downloading the photos from our camera and drinking with another couple we’ve met on the Pearl, as I said above.

Now, Jamie’s gone to bed, I’m finishing up this note along with a glass of Tawny Port, and relaxing. I’m going to get this out and call it quits as well. Tomorrow we have a (potentially rainy, like today) tour of Skagway by bike, hike, and float. I need a good night sleep to get ready for that.

2007 Alaskan Cruise - Entry #2

2007-07-10T13:39:00.000-05:00

Greetings once again from aboard the NCL Pearl. Jamie and I are steaming towards Juneau as I write this (although you may read below that I have updated tis again). The weather is overcast with low clouds and at the moment there is light rain.

We had a tasty dinner last night at La Cucina, the Italian restaurant onboard. After dinner we watched a performance of Second City, the comedy troupe out of Chicago. They had some of the same skits we’ve seen on the Jewel, mostly making light of cruising. They also do a good bit of improv, which means no two shows are the same.

This morning we had a nice breakfast in one of the main dining rooms and have now moved to the most forward lounge on the ship. This lounge provides a great view from the fore of the ship. The clouds are restricting some of our views of the mountains and islands, but what we can see is still very pretty. We also are getting to see whales this morning!

We have seen orcas jumping and showing off for us. Other whales (probably orcas too) simple show their hump as they swim by. On occasion we see the whales exhaling through their blow holes or flapping their tails. This is a great way to start the day!

We’ll get to Juneau in four hours where we are taking an orca watching tour. I think we’ll need our rain jackets, and probably warm fleece jackets, but if our current odds hold, we’ll see quite a few whales. I’ll come back and write more later, but for now I’m going to go back to watching for whales. =)

It’s now 1:30 in the afternoon. We’ve had lunch of Asian and Sushi for Jamie and me respectively. We just arrived into port and are waiting for another NCL ship to pull out so we can have the slip.

We’ve got overcast weather and steady but light rain. We haven’t seen any more orcas since this morning, but hope to for our whale watching trip. We’ll let you know more about that later.

The views up here are just amazing. It’d be a bit better without all the clouds, but we’ll take what we can.

2007 Alaskan Cruise - Entry #1

2007-07-09T16:43:00.000-05:00

Hello to all from the Inside Passage of Alaska! :)

Usually, we wouldn’t write from onboard the cruise, but we had to buy internet time so that we could check Jamie’s email about potential job opportunities. It would not be good to miss a perfect opportunity because they post it on the web for only 3-5 days, and we just happen to be out of contact.

We haven’t been aboard long yet, but we’ve had a good time. We boarded yesterday around 11:30, and did a quick tour around, figuring out the differences between this ship, the NCL Pearl, and the other ship we’ve cruised aboard, the NCL Jewel. We had a nice lunch in one of the main dining rooms, and then took a seat on the upper deck, looking over the bay. We pulled out of Seattle yesterday afternoon at 4:00pm local. The weather, which had started the day as overcast, improved as the day went on. Consequently, we had a beautiful start to our cruise.

The wind did pick up, however, as the ship started moving, so we retreated into the forward lounge. We met a nice couple, whom we found again in the lounge, and had a nice chat with them. The Puget Sound was very pretty as we cruised through it, but we had to stop watching to make our dinner appointment. As I’ve mentioned before, we don’t have a set dinnertime, but we had made reservations at Cagneys, the steak speciality restaurant. Jamie and I shared a wonderful dinner as the Pearl cruised into the fog and out of the pretty weather. I figure if it’s not going to be pretty, the best time is while I’m not out in the nice weather.

We skipped the “welcome aboard” show, especially as it started before we finished our dinner. We changed into comfy clothes (this is Freestyle, after all) and went to our (maybe just my) favorite, quaint bar. I’ve learned that one of the best things that cruisers (or any vacationers, likely) can do is to make friends with the crew. You don’t necessarily get anything for free, but the already impeccable service usually improves a bit, and the atmosphere becomes even more friendly. So, we met Ramil and Danista, the bar tender and his assistant.

We both slept in late this morning. We were at sea (before we got to the inside passage) and had nothing better to do. It’s a rough life. It’s been a very casual sea day. We haven’t done a lot of the activities, instead choosing to take it very easy and relax plenty. We had lunch at Lotus Garden, the Asian fusion restaurant, and have now retreated to our private balcony.

This stateroom is much larger than our previous rooms, and we both really enjoy and appreciate that space. Having the private balcony is great too. We’re sitting on it, looking at the mountains rising out of the west side of the inside passage. The weather is very comfortable: I’m in a t-shirt and flip-flops. In fact, I’ve found they might overheat the inside of the ship; that’s probably to keep all the old fogies comfortable. Don’t worry, mom and dad, the fogies are much older and less active than either of you will ever be. ;-)

Actually, we’ve been very surprised at how young many of the passengers are. There are lots of kids, to be sure, with their parents on summer vacation, but there are less apparent retirees than either of us had expected. We both think the average age of our fellow passengers is 40-45.

Tonight we have optional formal night: we can get dressed up, or not. I think we will, however, especially to get some nice formal photos. We’re not sure where we’ll do dinner tonight, but that’s okay: we have time to decide.

Tomorrow we cruise to Juneau, debarking the ship at 2:00pm, where we’ll do a whale-watching tour. We haven’t seen any marine wildlife yet, but have heard good reports of folks who have cruised up here earlier this season.

June 2007 Wrap-Up

2007-06-30T20:52:00.000-05:00

June is now at a close. I have been insanely busy with my Professional Military Education, which took up the whole month. As such, now at the end of the month, I am tired. Today, my first day at home since Memorial Day, I spent relaxing with Jamie around the house. Because I did not have much free time, I am not going to do a goal-recap this month. The easy solution is to review my May 2007 Wrap-Up entry.

While on my class, I knocked out 44 miles (70.4 kilometers) of running in the month. I set a personal record for a three-mile (just shy of five-kilometers) run of 22:03. Also, despite being insanely busy, I did get away from class for two weekends. On one occasion, Jamie and I ran to Atlanta for a weekend away with some of our good friends. We visited the Georgia Aquarium, Max Lager's, a Braves Game, and the Atlanta Zoo.

We also had a second trip to Spokane, WA. This was for my best friend's wedding. While Jamie had a nice trip visiting with friends for a week, I flew up early on Saturday morning, did the wedding on Saturday, and then back on Sunday morning. This was an amazing whirlwind trip, but well worth it. There was no other place I would have wanted to be than at Nick's wedding and reception. And I will admit, I did tear up the dance floor.

Now, the month is over. Jamie and I leave for vacation on Monday. We have about a week in Seattle and then an Alaskan cruise for a week. I am really looking forward to the time away. We get to enjoy great food, fantastic beer, and some of the most amazing scenery in the world. I am very, very excited.

So, July brings two weeks of vacation, then three weeks of getting ready to move to Ohio. This is going to be a very fast and busy summer, but it will be a good time. Perhaps I will be able to journal while on our travels.

May 2007 Wrap-Up

2007-05-31T22:08:00.000-05:00

The year keeps going quickly, and this month was no exception. I never did get to post about my dive trip (maybe in June?) nor do many updates. I could not do that because I just did not have the time. And June is not looking much better at the moment.

And for the check of how I am doing on my goals list:

Travel with Jamie out of the country at least once;
- The cruise is a go for July. And that vacation is much needed and anticipated.
Travel with Jamie out of the state at least once per quarter;
- We knocked out the trip to DC in April, and then went to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, for part of a day in May. I am also now in Montgomery, AL, and Jamie will come visit me here in June. Plus we have the short (short for me at least) wedding trip in June to Spokane, WA.
Travel with Jamie in the state (in which we live, since we know it will change) to different cities at least once per quarter;
- We went to Savannah - our last trip there - in mid-May.
Continue running three times each week, slowly building up my distance to a long-term goal (maybe not the goal for 2007) of 20 miles (32 km) each week;
- My running went very well. I had my fastest ever 1.5-mile (2.4-km) run in early May, with a 10:12 time. My shins hurt a bit after that, but were doing okay. Now that I got to Squadron Officer School, we have done some running this week, and my shins are back in pain. I will run through whatever I need to do for the month of June, but then might have to take some time off to heal.
Camp or backpack at least once per month;
- Nothing. Boo, hiss.
Make a new batch of home brew beer (or root beer) at least once per month;
- The mead ale turned out awesome, and I have otherwise put the brewing on hold until after we move. I just do not have the time right now.
Golf at least once per month;
- I again did not try golf.
Dive at least four times in the year;
- I am not sure when my next dive will be, but everything is going okay for this goal so far.
Complete my current master's program;
- I have made some progress, but SOS is not helping this at all.
Continue studying Arabic at least four hours per week;
- Arabic is going well. I started studying one lesson per day instead, shooting through my four hours. Again, I do not have time right now to do much on Arabic, and may put it aside until July.
Enjoy a game night with friends at least once per month;
- Still failing miserably.
Enjoy a dinner night (different night) with friends at least once per month;
- We did multiple dinners with friends.
Blog/journal at least once per week;
- The end of the month was too busy for this to work well. I'm thinking out putting this aside too in June.

SOS is not giving me any free time, which is not surprising. I am working hard, and will continue to do so. I am also eagerly looking forward to a break in July, however.

A Happy 28th Birthday

2007-05-11T17:47:00.000-05:00

So, today is not over, but today has been my 28th birthday. On Wednesday, my boss told me to take Friday off. I was not sure that I would be able to pull it off, but things worked out, my replacement is up to speed (if one does not know, I am going to a five-week training program in June, then vacation, and then moving, hence the replacement), so I was able to stay at home.

I woke early, not being able to sleep well, so I got up at 4:15 and studied for an hour before going back to bed. Then I did something very unusual for me: I slept in until 6:45. I skipped out on my 5k run for the day, in fact I did not do any kind of physical training/gym time today, another unusual thing.

I spent the morning surfing the Internet, chatting with friends, and generally wasting time. My wife's boss told her to take a long lunch to celebrate the day - especially nice since my boss had hoped I could share the day with Jamie - so we got to go to my favorite restaurant in town: Sushi Thai. We had a good meal of Sushi and Thai (her more on the Thai, me more on the sushi... although I did enjoy a Thai tea and a bowl of tom ka chicken soup), and I ate too much, as usual.

I took Jamie back to work, spent about an hour with her sitting at her desk chilling out. That was great time. It was nice to spend part of an afternoon with Jamie on a weekday. But, she had to work, and I had beer waiting at home. See, Jamie is wonderful: last night she went out and picked me up a four-pack of Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA. I came home and had a couple of rounds.

I had the great opportunity to chat with Tee Morris and Steve Eley during the afternoon. I convinced a friend to stop over - and bring more DFH 90min IPA - and we chatted for an hour before he had to go and I had to go to the store to get dinner. Jamie had agreed to stop on the way home, but I needed a walk and the store is only about a mile away. Still, she picked me up on the way home (how wonderful!) and we came home to make a grilled ribeye steak dinner, complete with baked potatoes and steamed broccoli.

As I made dinner, I also had the chance to try the home brew mead ale I bottled on 22 Apr 07. WOW! It is awesome! The light carbonation is perfect, as the beer is light with a slight fruity taste. This is certainly a beer I could drink all day long, and it does not have the macro brew, over-done taste like Miller Lite. I also have to say I love the color of it.

Jamie made me a cake, which is wonderful as usual. I did not have any special request, but in the end opted for the standby: a butter cake with home made chocolate (light) and almond frosting. Mmmm. More than one piece of cake (sorry Mur, it's not pie; but it's sooooo good!) shall I eat tonight.

While I am writing this, two more fine people dropped me birthday wishes: Christiana Ellis and PG Holyfield, two fantastic podcasters I met last year at Dragon*Con. While I love to hear from close friends and family - thanks to those who called/emailed today - in some ways it means much more to me to have those less close to me wish me a happy birthday. I think (pardon the philosophical bend here) that is because I "expect" (lacking a better word) that from my close friends and family, but not as much from others. So, that helps make me happy.

Now, onto another note, perhaps to the chagrin of Mur Lafferty. I think I am become less of a geek. To some people, that would be a good thing, but to me (and others in the podosphere at least), that is a sad state. It is certainly part of who I am. But, I digress. Long and short, I have not been excited about my birthday, and much less (gasp!) gifts. I received two packages this week from family, and have left them in the corner of a table.

So - and my apologies to family - this is for several reasons. One, I have not been excited about this birthday. In fact, I am not sure I have been very excited about many birthdays since my teenage years. In college, I really enjoyed taking myself out to dinner (mmm... Annie's) and chilling alone.

Lately, I have lost (Mur, if you are reading this, sit down) interest in gifts. Maybe it is because I am moving this summer, but there is less stuff I want. Less desire means, I guess, less anticipation.

On the other hand, since I have no idea what is within the packages, the anticipation builds. So, now that my cake bowl is empty, and my beer low, I think it is time to wrap-up this entry and go eat more cake, open presents, and chill with Jamie.

I still promise an entry about my dive trip to come soon. I have great photos and some good video I want to share and log. But that is later this weekend at the earliest. Tonight, I party like its... well, um, 2007.

Blue Light Special

2007-05-09T03:49:00.000-05:00

It seems to me that all manners of electronic gizmos are coming with blue LED lights these days. From the Braun Oral-B toothbrush, to the Western Digital My Book USB hard drive, to the humidifier, everything has a night light/blue LED power light.

I am not sure why everything has to have light on it now. Perhaps manufacturers believe that because lights are cheap and consume little power, they should put lights on their products. Perhaps customers claimed they desperately wanted night lights.

While it is not limited to blue lights, those are the ones that seem the brightest to me. My kitchen microwave and oven both of green digital clocks. My telephones have red LED charging lights (which have no glowing/illuminating effects, however).

For whatever reason, now I seem to have a blue glow in several rooms during the night. At first, it bothered me a bit more as a distraction that kept me from falling asleep. I got over that point, and now when I wake in the morning, I can pad around the house, from bedroom to bathroom to office without turning on the overhead incandescent lights, all thanks to a blue glow in each room.

April 2007 Wrap-Up

2007-04-30T18:46:00.000-05:00

Holy smokes! April is over.

"April showers bring May flowers." And naturally, Mayflowers bring Pilgrims. But if April did not bring much rain, what does that indicate about May?

I am tired. I do not know what happened to the month of April, but it must have worn me out. I think I had a lot of fun, but fun can make one tired.

This month I think I will go directly into my list, and then cover any miscellaneous information at the end of my entry:

Travel with Jamie out of the country at least once;
- The planning for our Alaska cruise in July continues to excel.
Travel with Jamie out of the state at least once per quarter;
- Jamie and I shared a fantastic trip to Washington, D.C. in early April, visiting Tee Morris, and my best friend Nick and his fiancee Kelly. Furthermore, we might go to Montgomery, AL, Florida, and we will certainly go to Spokane, WA for Nick and Kelly's wedding yet this quarter.
Travel with Jamie in the state (in which we live, since we know it will change) to different cities at least once per quarter;
- We do not have any plans yet for this quarter for an in-state visit. Hmm, this might be an area to address.
Continue running three times each week, slowly building up my distance to a long-term goal (maybe not the goal for 2007) of 20 miles (32 km) each week;
- Running is going great! I surpassed my centenial mile for the year, kept up running 9.3 miles (15 km) per week, with additional 1.5 miles (2.5 km) runs on alternate days. For the month, I logged 46.3 miles (74 km) for the month, making a total of 140 miles (224 km) for the year.
Camp or backpack at least once per month;
- While I did not make the Boy Scout camping trip, I did camp this past weekend while scuba diving (that will have to be a journal later this week) on Friday night. It was short, sweet, and quick, but fun.
Make a new batch of home brew beer (or root beer) at least once per month;
- I did not brew a new batch, but I have made five batches of beer and two batches of root beer for the year so far. I might be able to make one more batch of beer before we move, but I cannot be certain. I tried the honey wheat ale, which I think turned out terrifically, with a good bit of carbonation and head retention and plenty of flavor. After about a month, I bottled the mead ale, and the taste I had at the bottling time promised the batch to turn out as a delicious drink.
Golf at least once per month;
- I did not even try for this in April.
Shoot at least once per month;
- This is the last time I will track this goal in this method. I have not tired to go shooting, and will not before we move, as far as I can tell.
Dive at least four times in the year;
- I had a wonderful dive experience this past weekend, with five dives at Vortex Spring and two dives on the USS Oriskany. More to come in a future entry.
Complete my current master's program;
- This has not been going well, especially tonight.
Continue studying Arabic at least four hours per week;
- Arabic is going well. I did not complete four hours of study last week, but I am above the average for the year.
Enjoy a game night with friends at least once per month;
- This is failing miserably.
Enjoy a dinner night (different night) with friends at least once per month;
- We had some new friends over for dinner at least once.
Blog/journal at least once per week;
- Seems to be going okay.

I have been incredibly busy and procrastinating left and right for the month. I applied for extensions to my school work, and yet I still did not get anything done today. After the road trip to Gulf Shores, AL this weekend and the seven dives, I have been tired since I started the day, and work gave me no relief.

Now it is late, I am tired, and I need to sleep. Arabic and Master's work will wait until tomorrow, as will writing about my dive trip. For now, I will bring April to a close.

Procrastinating and Studying

2007-04-22T11:51:00.000-05:00

I have been thinking about journaling about a great many things lately. But I haven't. Nothing has been so great, so influential to inspire me to put words on paper.

In short, a friend of mine disappeared on the last day of March. He went on a bike ride with the clothes on his back, cash in his pocket, and did not come back. After many people worried about him and the situation, he finally made contact late last week. He is taking a walkabout, for lack of a better term, and finding himself. I cannot say that I blame him; certainly I have thought about doing the same before, but I do wonder about his taking off without giving any kind of word. Still, when people go through such stages in their lives, no one can ever predict or probably even expect certain behavior. In fact, I would really question if many people have ever taken the time to seriously question what they believe about themselves. Instead, we get caught up in the daily grind, and keep pressing ahead without question.

I am glad my friend is alright, and I certainly hope he finds what he seeks.

Since Jamie and I returned from Washington, D.C., we have been caught up in the daily grind of life. Our neighbors had their first child, a healthy baby boy, and we have had at least a little chance to celebrate with them. I am certain we will celebrate more when the family stops visiting.

On 12 April, an event I had planned for several months culminated. I orchestrated the 2007 annual awards lunch for the Carl Vinson Memorial Chapter of the Air Force Association. The event turned out wonderfully, and I also received an award at the luncheon: Engineer of the Year. I felt a bit awkward receiving the award, but I had nothing to do with the selection of its winner, and the chapter president, who did the final selection, felt I was the best candidate. I defer to his judgment.

I have been improving my running. I keep up my 3.1-mile (5-km) runs three days each week, and have added in two additional days of a 1.5-mile (2.5-km) run. The 1.5-mile run is part of the physical fitness test which the Air Force requires me to take. I ran a personal record time last Saturday, 14 April, of 10:12. If all goes well, I will do very well on my test this May.

I have also added bicycling around the base, taking rides between six and eight miles (9.6 to 13 kilometers) about twice each week. I still bicycle to work on occasion, but sometimes have to drive based on the events of each day. I am compensating for my exercise by eating more cakes and treats which Jamie bakes for me. I think it is a good trade-off.

Today, I corresponded with a friend of mine who is currently in Qatar. I sent him the following blurb (now editted) and figured it gave a good update, and so I will record it here too.

I have not been backpacking, camping, or mountain biking in a long time. I am supposed to be working on schoolwork (like I am supposed to be doing right now too) but I am not doing well in the motivation area. I am just tired of it for now. That does not bode well for my upcoming full-time school assignment, which I start in August.

The cats are great. Always having fun and growing up fast. This past week they both spent some good bit of time curling up with me, which is unusual, but pleasant. They provide hours of entertainment and bring us both great joy.

This weekend I am going to Gulf Shores, AL to dive a purposefully sunken aircraft carrier. I cannot dive really deep on it, since that would be technical diving, so I will visit the tower and some of the superstructure, but the trip will still be exciting. It's the USS Oriskany. I am looking to take a day-pass on Friday, and go down early. If the timing works out, I will stop at Vortex Spring on Friday afternoon, dive about three times, then go camp at NAS Pensacola (for $6 per night, that is impossible to beat!) which is about 30 minutes from the marina out of which we cruise for the dive trip on Saturday.

Now, as much as I would prefer to keep procrastinating, I really think I should go and try to study some more.

Tenacity

2007-04-17T16:03:00.000-05:00

People often refer to a bulldog as tenacious. They mean that the bulldog will bite into something and not let go until the bulldog gets what it wants.

To become an Eagle Scout, a boy must be tenacious.

To be a good leader, a person must be tenacious.

To be a success, an individual must be tenacious.

Envision a goal, take hold of it, and never let anything get in your way to achieve it.

When the situation is really important, never take "no" for an answer.

Tenacity means always finding a solution and achieving the goal.

A Case of the Mun-days

2007-04-09T18:57:00.000-05:00

We are home from our trip, and our days of work.

Easter Sunday was nice with Nick and Kelly. I woke up before everyone else and got an hour of studying accomplished before the rest of the group rose. The girls put dinner in the oven and then got ready to go to church. I took care of cleaning up the part of the apartment where Jamie and I had lived for the past few days, while Jamie, Kelly, and Nick went to church.

I studied more, prepared dinner, and continued laundry. When the group returned home, we ate lunch. Kelly prepared a tasty ham dinner, with pasta salad, and au gratin potatoes as sides. Unfortunately, after we finished dinner, Jamie and I had to rush off to the airport for our trip home.

The flight and drive home were both uneventful, but we both returned home extremely tired. That fatigue led me into today. I have been moving slowly all day. I did not get out for my run this morning, in part because I was tired, and otherwise because it was chilly. I got into work at a normal hour, and was inundated with emails and extensive work for the week.

After I did my run tonight, and put away a few more things from the trip, and now I am ready for an early turn in to bed. Maybe tomorrow will be better.

April Showers Bring... Snow

2007-04-07T11:34:00.000-05:00

We enjoyed a very casual Saturday. I woke up before everyone and had a bit of time to study. When Nick woke up, he shared the surprising news that it had snowed during the night. His ultimate frisbee game was still on, so he prepped and left for that, while I went down the street to get some fresh bagels for breakfast.

I walked past Oakland Park, and admired the snow on the ground and on the trees, and knew Jamie had to see it and to take pictures. After Kelly, Jamie, and I ate breakfast, Jamie and I went back out to look at the snow in the park. Unfortunately for her, much of the snow had already melted as the sun warmed things, but she still enjoyed the bit she saw.

Nick returned early from his game, as the park officials shut down the game before it started for some poor reason. We visited the Air Force Memorial, which I believe is very well-done. After spending a bit of time at the site, we drove downtown attempting to visit the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, but were thwarted by the throngs of tourists in to visit the Cherry Blossom Festival. I am very glad that Jamie and I did our own touring earlier in the week, without the masses of people and cars.

Instead, we opted to visit the National Portrait Gallery. The gallery is a decent piece of the Smithsonian, but I realized I just do not really enjoy much art. I much prefer to do things than to see things. I did find one very interesting point in the galleries of influential Americans throughout the twentieth century. In the post-World War II gallery, excluding the gallery that was exclusively for civil rights leaders, the Americans pictured were predominately actors, musicians, and sports stars. I think it is slightly depressing that the most influential people of our times appear to be from those groupings.

We tried to swing by the National Building Museum again, so that Kelly could see The Green House exhibit, but we arrived about twenty minutes after they closed their doors, which happened at five in the evening. Instead, we opted to grab a beer at R.F.D.'s. I had the chance to have two kinds of Dogfish Head beers, the Aprihop and the 60 Minute IPA. The apricots used in brewing the Aprihop gave the beer a wonderful flavor, without being too fruity. The 60 Minute IPA had good flavor as well, and certainly not near as much hop as the Arrogant Bastard I had yesterday, but tasty all-around.

After our beer stop, we met with the piece de resistance for the evening: dinner at Fogo de Chao. Jamie and I wanted to treat Nick and Kelly as an engagement gift and thanks for having us stay with them. Fogo certainly did the trick.

We spent at least two-and-a-half hours enjoying and savoring our meal. I think we all ate more than we needed to, but enjoyed every bite, sip of wine, and digestif. After Jamie's birthday dinner last month, Jamie and I agreed that going out for a dinner such as one at Fogo should happen no more often than every sixty days. Tonight's dinner broke that principle, but with good reason, since we were with friends. I think, however, that we have met our quota for many months, although I know we will likely have a meal of that caliber on our cruise in July.

Finally surrendering, after dessert and digestifs, we returned to the apartment for a bit of socialization before we all succumbed to fatigue. Tomorrow brings Easter, our last day in town, and the sad end of our travel to visit friends. But that is for tomorrow, because for tonight, I am ready to close my eyes and rest.

A Chillying Day

2007-04-06T23:52:00.000-05:00

Our adventure in the D.C. area continued today, but at a much more laid back pace. Kelly got off to work at a decent hour, and Nick took his time getting out of the apartment. Jamie and I relaxed around the apartment most of the morning, until Tee Morris gave me a call and set up lunch plans. We still did not make it to Dog Fish Head Alehouse, but met in Clarendon, VA.

Jamie and I walked the mile or so from Nick's place and looked around the shopping center there. I explored the Apple Store, perusing the MacBook Pro laptop which I think I will buy in the coming months. I also had a chance to look at a Mac Mini which I might get for an entertainment console and shared hard drive for my home.

Tee met us at the Apple Store, talked to me a bit about Macs (he is a confirmed believer), and then we went to lunch. Jamie and I were both in the mood for something in the traditional American fare, so we ended up at Boulevard Woodgrill. Amazingly, Jamie and I ate here last year when we visited her friend, Jos.

We had a great meal, shared some wonderful fellowship, and I got to try a beer new to me: Arrogant Bastard Ale by Stone Brewing Co. I have heard a great deal about this beer from Evo Terra on Wingin' It. I knew, even before Tee cautioned me, that this was a hoppy beer. For a long time, I have thought that I did not like hoppy beers. I had one the other day, a Troegs, which I liked a lot. AB, as Arrogant Bastard is known, is certainly hoppy. And I loved it.

The beer was great, the food was wonderful, and the company brilliant. We wrapped things up, and Jamie and I walked back to the apartment. The weather was a bit chilly and windy, but it was still good to take a walk and work off some of lunch. After we got back to the apartment, Jamie took a nap while I watched television and played Xbox, before studying a bit of Arabic.

We ate dinner in, once Nick and Kelly got home, and then watched The Bourne Identity for a relaxing evening. Now it is time for sleep, so we can take tomorrow with a vengeance. Although I do not think we have anything planned to do, besides see the Air Force Memorial and eat out for dinner.

A Monumental Day

2007-04-05T23:54:00.000-05:00

After getting into the Washington, D.C. area late last night, Jamie and I stayed up with our friends Nick and Kelly chatting until one or so. We all got just a few hours of sleep because Nick and Kelly had to work, and Jamie and I wanted to ride the Metro into town with Kelly.

Jamie and walked around the Mall, looking for cherry blossoms. Unfortunately, it rained two days ago and knocked most of the blossoms off of the trees. Still, there were some that were pretty to see.

While on the Mall, Jamie and I walked by the Washington Monument. We did not opt to tour the monument, despite the rather chilly and windy day. The Washington Monument makes for some great pictures, especially in black and white, I think.

We also explored the World War II Memorial. This is one memorial that neither of us, despite having visited D.C. before, have seen. This is, in part, because it opened in 2004, and we did not go looking at memorials when we visited last February.

Working our way around the Mall, we saw the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, the Korean War Memorial, and a few other locations. We spent some time in the tulip library near the tidal basin.

We worked our way back to the Smithsonian Castle, where we took a break and sat in a nice side garden and explored the inside. Jamie and I were getting hungry, so we called Kelly to suggest we do lunch.

Kelly joined us and led us to Bangkok One, where we had a tasty meal in a cozy atmosphere. Jamie and I both ate a bit more than we needed to, but given the amount we walked during the day and later that afternoon, the calories were beneficial for us. Kelly had to return to work, but she gave us directions to get to the National Building Museum, which proved to be our next (and last) stop for the day.

The National Building Museum is a very cool museum. It has a few permanent exhibits, but also two temporary exhibits: the Green House and Reinventing the Globe. The Green House is about making environmentally-conscious lifestyle and home design choices. I really enjoyed the exhibit, and hope that some day when I own a home (or better yet, build a home) I can incorporate many of the suggestions. The thing I remember best is that bamboo is a great choice of wood, because bamboo is actually a member of the grass family, and therefore is plentiful and fast growing. It is also very durable and looks great. My favorite take-away besides the bamboo concept is a sliding door or wall made of horizontal wood slats. Instead of a typical screen door, this wall on a rail can be moved in front of a door opening. The wood allows the breeze to pass into the home, but keeps the sunlight out, helping to naturally cool the room or home.

Reinventing the Globe was an exhibit on the Globe Theater. While part of the exhibit suggests approaches in presenting 400-year-old plays to modern audiences, I preferred the section that speculated on what the original architecture of the Globe Theater - along with the Rose, Swan, and Hope Theaters - might have been. I think the difference is that I appreciated the classic approach, but did not like the ultra-modern (and I do not know if that is really the proper art generation or term) styles the exhibit also explored.

While wrapping up the Building Museum, I received a phone call from Tee Morris. For a variety of reasons, he was unable to meet up with Jamie and me for dinner at the Dog Fish Head Alehouse tonight. Instead of going up there without him, Jamie and I headed back to Nick's apartment to relax for the rest of the day and night, and planned to cook and eat dinner with Nick and Kelly.

For dinner, we had some buffalo burgers (buffalo meat, not the buffalo wing sauce on top of ground beef), a wonderful cheesy potato dish which Jamie invented on the spot, salad, and beer. Some of the beer was store-bought, but Kelly, Nick, and I wrapped up with some of my home brew Belgian Wit. We also played a game of Killer Bunnies, which took us into the late hours of the night. Now our evening is complete and it is time for sleep.

At least Jamie and I hope to meet up with Tee tomorrow for lunch. Otherwise, we have no plans for the day. I plan to go for a run on the treadmill in Nick's building's fitness center, and otherwise relax. Maybe I will get some homework done as well. Neither Jamie nor I really want to do more museums, memorials, or monuments, and both Nick and Kelly have to work. On Saturday, we will see the Air Force Memorial, and otherwise hang out with Nick and Kelly. Sometimes vacations need to be about the relaxing, and not attempts at accomplishing every possible activity.

Centennial Mile for 2007

2007-04-04T11:33:00.000-05:00

I started using a new running log software application to keep track of my running. The site is RunningAHEAD and thus far I am really impressed with the ability to track and log running and cross-training events.

I went back and copied over all of my runs from 2007 to date. I updated my log this morning after my morning run, which was in the light rain and in the dark at 6:30 in the morning. When I looked at the site just now (just because), I realized that today I ran my one-hundredth mile for the year. So, for 2007, I have run 100 miles, in a total of 15 hours, 22 minutes, and 26 seconds.

RunningAHEAD also offers a feature to post recent workouts on a person's website, of which I have taken advantage, and have a link on the right side of this page. It has other interactive tools, but I will explore those at a later date.

In other news, I am now off work for a holiday weekend. Jamie and I will go to Washington, D.C. to visit some friends for a 4-day getaway. I took the afternoon off as well to do some travel preparations, and to take my bicycle to the shop for a tune-up.

I would like to journal while on the trip to D.C., but I cannot be certain I will have the time or Internet access. Additionally, I really need to concentrate on my studies, so all computer time should focus on those activities as a priority. I shall see how I fare.

March 2007 Wrap-Up

2007-03-31T22:33:00.000-05:00

The year is one-quarter completed. I am amazed at how fast the time passes.

My home brewing continues to be fun. The porter I made turned out pretty well, although I continue to have troubles with head on the glass of beer. It is strange that the glass I had on the 23d poured great, but a glass I had yesterday was almost flat. Currently I have a batch of honey wheat finishing in bottles, and a batch of mead ale in the carboy waiting for me to bottle it.

My kittens continue to bring me joy. They, mostly Jinx, certainly love their mother, but on occasion I get to spend some quality time with one or the other. They continue to grow quickly, and I find it hard to imagine that when we brought them home they barely fit in my palm.

Jamie continues to take care of me, especially as I burn the candle at both ends with school and work. I love her more than words can say, and I really appreciate all that she does for me.

I started the month mentioning that March came in like a lion, and it has certainly gone out like a lamb. Last weekend and today, Jamie and I sat comfortably under the car porch (in the shade), enjoying the wonderful spring weather. In the shade, we avoided heat from the direct sun, and sat reading, listening to books, or typing on the laptop computers (I was doing homework today); the time was wonderful. April comes in a few hours, and will probably bring a bit of rain, but I do not think the month will start like March.

If I summed up the month, I think of procrastinating, especially over school work, and a bit of travel, since we went out of town for two weekends. Again, I want to review my 2007 goals:

Travel with Jamie out of the country at least once;
- The cruise is still on for July. Things are looking good for this.
Travel with Jamie out of the state at least once per quarter;
- We made it to both Kentucky and Charleston this quarter.
Travel with Jamie in the state (in which we live, since we know it will change) to different cities at least once per quarter;
- Jamie and I had a fantastic trip for her birthday weekend to Atlanta.
Continue running three times each week, slowly building up my distance to a long-term goal (maybe not the goal for 2007) of 20 miles (32 km) each week;
- Everything is going well. I have even added in a few afternoon runs of 1 mile (1.6 km) each on some Tuesday and Thursday afternoons; of course, that was only for one week, but maybe I can make those happen more often.
Camp or backpack at least once per month;
- I bailed on another Boy Scout trip and did not get out on my own.
Make a new batch of home brew beer (or root beer) at least once per month;
- I made two batches of beer this month, and one batch of root beer. The porter, made at the end of February, turned out pretty well too, and maybe the glass I had today was just a fluke.
Golf at least once per month;
- I had a great golf outing with a buddy, and that fell through due to bad weather. I thought we were going to get out in the last week of the month, but work was non-stop.
Shoot at least once per month;
- I think that shooting is on hiatus.
Dive at least four times in the year;
- I am still working on this for next quarter.
Complete my current master's program;
- Working on it.
Continue studying Arabic at least four hours per week;
- I force time for Arabic, even at the cost of my master's program. But I enjoy it more, so that is not really tough to pull off.
Enjoy a game night with friends at least once per month;
- It is a very good thing I checked this on the 20th to remember we should have a game night. We had the people over for a game night on the 24th, but fatigue made us all call it quits after dinner before we got to the game.
Enjoy a dinner night (different night) with friends at least once per month;
- We went to our friends' home for St. Patrick's dinner, and had some friends over on the 24th for a St. Patrick's dinner of our own.
Blog/journal at least once per week;
- I kept this up.

April brings a trip to Washington, D.C., to visit my best man, Nick, and his fiancée, as well as my friend Tee Morris. I have a big luncheon I have planned, as well as a military exercise. The school work will not diminish, so I will be busy.

Eric O'Shea, Stand Up Comedian

2007-03-22T08:30:00.000-05:00

Jamie's friend sent her a video, which she shared with me, and I in turn found on You Tube. A lot of stand up comedians are funny, and this guy just has a great skit.

Scott Sigler's Ancestor

2007-03-21T18:05:00.000-05:00

Scott Sigler is another author I met at Dragon*Con last September. He wrote the second podiobook to which I ever listened, Earthcore, along with many other fantastic books. Recently, I have mentioned his latest podcasted work, The Rookie, which is fantastic.

Scott has one of his books coming out in dead-tree format on April first. I have listened to the book, Ancestor, previously as a podiobook, and Scott did his usual bang-up fantastic job. The paperback version will be available for purchase, and Scott asks that people purchase it at noon Eastern Daylight Time on April first. I plan to purchase the book.

As part of his marketing effort, Scott has made an electronic copy of the text available for download. The words are the same, although somewhat changed from the podiobook version, although you cannot take it beach very easily, and a printed out version will not format correctly. However, for those who want to get a taste (or even the full text) of the story, Scott made it available. The download is available from Scott's podcast website.

I think Scott is following a wonderful marketing effort in letting people have access to his work, and hoping that his efforts will follow in the footsteps of Cory Doctorow. For me, I will be buying a copy of Ancestor on April first.

Now I just have to find a time to meet up with Scott again, to get him to sign my book.

Does Bad News Really Come In Threes?

2007-03-21T15:54:00.000-05:00

I certainly hope that bad news does not come in threes. If the news will be targeted to a particular subject, that would be bicycling. Most days, I bicycle in to work, which is just one mile from my home. I save a lot of money for not needing gasoline, I do not put a lot of miles on the car, and I get better exercise.

On Friday, just as I got to work, I had the first bicycle problem. I jumped the curb to get from the parking lot and to the bicycle stand. As soon as I did, I heard air start escaping from my rear tire. I blew out the tire with what is known as a snakebite flat.

Jamie picked me up at lunch, as I already planned to take the afternoon off work, and had a nice, quiet, relaxing Friday afternoon. I picked up the bike later that night when I went back to the office to study on my master's work. Over the weekend, I replaced the tube, and was back to riding on Monday morning.

This morning, however, I had my second bicycle problem. On my way back from the gym this morning (again, about a mile from the house), I was riding on the sidewalk. I opted to cut the corner, and cut across the grass (which was wet with dew) for a bit. The sidewalk was about an inch higher than the grass, and I came back into contact with the sidewalk at a very acute angle. Instead of climbing the lip of the sidewalk as I intended, the front tire edged roughly against the lip, causing me to lose control.

My momentum already had me moving towards the sidewalk, and since the bike did not get on the sidewalk, I fell over and off the bike and hit the rough concrete. If I had been able to throw my weight to the left, I could have landed on the soft grass. Instead, I skinned up my right knee (I cannot recall the last time that happened), sprained my left wrist, and got multiple abrasions across my right leg and right arm.

Now I hurt.

I spoke with a coworker who is an avid bicyclist, and he told me that instead of coming in threes, once a rider has a wreck, it restarts the "bad news clock" for about another eight or nine months. Maybe that is the silver lining on the storm clouds.

But for now, I am going to go indulge in Vitamin M. For the neophytes, that is Motrin, which is the drug of choice for the Air Force to prescribe for any and all injuries and ailments.

Funky Cool... Mr. George Hrab

2007-03-20T19:59:00.000-05:00

As I mentioned previously, I first heard the very talented George Hrab at Dragon*Con last September. I purchased two of his albums, Coelacanth and Vitriol, and enjoy them both very much. George had a special offer a while back (but I will not provide a link, instead challenge any reader to find out more about George's offer by poking around his websites) that I took up and he sent me a copy of Interrobang.

I cannot recommend his music enough. George is brilliant, funkadelic, energetic, and produces wonderful music. He also now has a podcast, The Geologic Podcast, which has all his trademark fun and goofiness. I am still listening through Interrobang, and I really cannot choose a favorite from the three albums I have. I foresee picking up the last two of his albums which I do not yet have, [Sic] and Minutiae, both available at CD Baby.

I should also mention thanks to Tee Morris for helping me choose from among George's albums, at least to start. I do need to get back to Dragon*Con or some other venue to meet George again, because I think I need to get the CD cases autographed at some point.

So, I give a big thank you to George Hrab, and all his funky coolness for keeping me hooked on his music! And, perhaps, giving me a song or two that should be part of the soundtrack to my life.

St. Patrick's Day 2007

2007-03-17T20:14:00.000-05:00

In addition to studying my course work today, I celebrated St. Patrick's Day by making a mead ale, listening to podcasts, and going to dinner at our friends' home. I had actually planned to write this entry earlier, while I was making the home brew mead ale, but instead I got enamored by the story of Scott Sigler's podiobook, The Rookie. I have never been a fan of football. Scott's take on football places it 700 years in the future, where the Galactic Football League spans the galaxy, and football teams have aliens from various races. Scott does a great job of capturing the action from the game, and furthermore he has crafted a lead character whom I would love to hate, but instead really enjoy hearing how Quinton Barnes overcomes his bigotry and limited education to become a true leader. I think I am enjoying The Rookie not because it is science fiction and not because it is football, but because at the core, the story is about a leader who has to pull his team together. I am, have been, and likely will always be, a sucker for stories about fantastic leadership.

The mead ale started well, although I was surprised at the low original gravity of the wort. I am checking with the shop owner at Listermann's to see if either the instructions (which give an estimated original gravity, which I've found to be very accurate thus far) are incorrect, or perhaps I will just have a low alcohol content batch. Certainly, given the low original gravity, I will likely end up with a low alcohol content batch, and that works fine by me as well. I just hope I brewed the honey and the carafoam well together and turn out a tasty beverage.

Our friends Bryan and Marsha invited us over for dinner. Bryan made a batch of tasty ribs, and Jamie baked fresh bread to share at the table. We had a good time, just relaxing with good people. This dinner was far different from the meal my mother made every year when I was younger. So, we did not have an Irish meal of any kind, but I think we might have one next weekend. I plan to make Irish stew and soda bread. But for this weekend, the extent to which I went for Irish foodstuffs was drinking a couple of Guinnesses.

After I finish up one more quick episode of The Rookie, polish off the last of my Bailey's on ice, and I will call it a night and get some sleep. I hear the sound of the honey wheat (brewed on 8 Mar 07) softly bubbling in the air lock. The rhythmic sound would happily lull me to sleep, if it was in the closet in my bedroom, and not in the closet in the office.

Naturally 7

2007-03-15T19:06:00.000-05:00

I think it is interesting to follow various links around the Internet on occasion. Tonight I was link-surfing, and I arrived at Boing Boing, which is new to me. I have heard of the site, but never visited before tonight.

Looking at their main site, they had an article on a group called Naturally 7. The video of this group is wonderful. The performance is amazing in their musical skills, but furthermore, in my opinion, in their choice of venue and the audience interaction and reaction.

I believe if American metropolitan transportation systems adopted this sort of interactive, energetic, and cutting edge entertainment, the companies would see a spike in use by passengers.

Okay, the spike may be a small spike, since that would not solve the underlying problem of lack of convenience, limited routes, and the problem of urban sprawl, but I think the entertainment would certainly make the travel more interesting.