So, I'm noticing that I'm terrible at blogging lately. It's something that I haven't had a ton of time for these days, because there's a ton going on both at work and at home. I'll try to fill you in...
My work informed me that my last day is going to be September 30th. This is something that I expected, and is a part of my plan. Still, having that official end date makes things suddenly crazy, because there's a ton that I have to do before the big move.
I'm starting with my dad on October 5th, and will probably find out about the bar exam right around then. (GULP). I'm nervous as all get out, but even if I didn't pass the bar there is still a lot of work I can do whilst studying for bar exam number two. (Ugh. I sincerely hope that I don't have to go through that again.)
I've had some opportunities lately to do the things I used to know and love. I played some D&D with friends last weekend, and it was a lot of fun. I went to the Reniassance Festival one day last weekend, and hope to go again this coming weekend with my in-laws. Last night, I brewed some beer (it had been MONTHS!) with Ryan. That was a ton of fun. I've played a couple of rounds of golf, and although my game is still fairly terrible, it's been a lot of fun to get out and play.
The house still hasn't sold, and that's a huge pain. We're going to drop the @#$%% price yet again, and make some improvements on the basement. Not much we can do at this point. We entertained the thought of putting in a bathroom, but it would be cost prohibitive. Therefore, we'll do what we can.
Showing posts with label beer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label beer. Show all posts
Tattoo!
Yay!
So, as you can see from the pictures, I got my tattoo. It turned out fantastic, and well worth the wait. Thaddeus, the same dude at Electric Dragonland that did Kerry's tat, was a stand-up guy with an obviously large amount of talent. It was a fun experience.
Obviously the new one is bigger than it's little brother from 10 years ago. Hee hee. Still, there's a balance between the two, in the way that they're standing and whatnot. I've always been happy with my dragon, but let's be honest. The Jabberwocky kicks the crap out of it.
Rhyno came to the tattoo shop with me, and was there the whole time. He took pictures with his iPhone and sent 'em to Kerry, who was at home with the kid. We had a good time hanging out, talking to Thaddeus, and just shootin' the crap about music, video games, motocross, comic books, and all manner of stuff that I would talk about normally. It was a good time. And to those of you who are about to ask the inevitable question, "Did it hurt?", well it didn't feel good. Tattoos hurt. But it's sofa king worth it.
So, the rest of the weekend was also pretty eventful. We went to Megan and Kristian's house on Friday night for another blind beer taste test -- this time the subject was American Lagers. Surprisingly, Grain Belt Primo won with flying colors. The delicious blueberry hints pushed it over the edge. It destroyed other brews such as Budweiser, Miller Genuine Draft, and Stroh's.
Today is Easter, and my girls and I went to my grandparents' house. We saw a bunch of my family, and it was a lot of fun. Gwenner was basically running on empty by the time we left at 3:00, but she slept the whole way home so she managed to get a little nap. When we got home, I set up an egg hunt in the back yard, and she had a blast. She's just so fun to interact with these days.
Tomorrow it's back to the grind. Blech.
Week update
Gads, it's been a hectic one. There's hardly been time to breathe around this joint. First off, work is in super uber turbo mode, because mortgage rates are ridiculously low these days. Anyway, that's work. Work is work. And it's worky.
Beyond that, school is school. And schooly. I had a presentation to give on monday, about dangerous children's products. It went well, and I'm glad it's over. Then, yesterday, I took the day off to do my second Land Use midterm. The awful thing took me 14 hours to complete.
See, I dispise take-home tests. A lot of people think they're better, more fun, easier...whatever. They're always more difficult. They're always more of a pain. The reason behind this is simple: When the whole class has the opportunity to take the thing home, the professor invariably makes it take a lot longer than a two-hour in-class exam. (See above 14-hour comment). Second, there are always uber lame gunners who will go completely overboard on a take-home exam, so the curve is hosed anyway. In the immortal words of my good friend Kristian, "D's get degrees". I'm sure he's never had a D in his whole life, but considering the apathy that's taken over our fourth-year-law-student brains, it seems like a good set of words to live by.
Speaking of Kristian, we (Kerry, Gwen and I, although Gwen was sleeping) went over to Kristian and Megan's house on Saturday night for the "Great American Light Beer Blind Taste Test". It was a lot of fun. We tasted and rated such wonderful beers as Mich Golden Light, Miller Lite, Coors Light, Bud Light, Stroh's Light, etc. There were 8 beers in all. I think that Kristian is secretly a salesman for Mich Golden Light. I like beer. I like them all. I'll just state once and for all, for the record, that Miller Lite is my Domestic Pilsner of choice, simply because it doesn't give me a headache or gas. A taste test revealed (unsurprisingly) that there were other beers that I liked the taste of better. It was a fun time, and something that we're going to repeat with some Domestic Heavies.
I started listening to the audio version of the first book of Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy, because he's doing the last book (well, now 3 books) of the Wheel of Time. I gotta say, this guy can write. The premise, in a nutshell, is that 1000 years ago there was a prophesied hero that would rise up and conquer the dark lord, but unlike a billion other epic fantasies, this prophesied hero lost. The bad guy took control, and now the land is a place where ash falls from the sky and flowers don't bloom. So far, it's a heist book, and the main characters aren't the typical fantasy cut-outs...they're a gang of theives. There's no epic quest, there's an epic job. However, the real selling point for me is how effing cool the magic system is in this book. That's all I'll say on that. You'll have to read it to find out. ;)
Beyond that, school is school. And schooly. I had a presentation to give on monday, about dangerous children's products. It went well, and I'm glad it's over. Then, yesterday, I took the day off to do my second Land Use midterm. The awful thing took me 14 hours to complete.
See, I dispise take-home tests. A lot of people think they're better, more fun, easier...whatever. They're always more difficult. They're always more of a pain. The reason behind this is simple: When the whole class has the opportunity to take the thing home, the professor invariably makes it take a lot longer than a two-hour in-class exam. (See above 14-hour comment). Second, there are always uber lame gunners who will go completely overboard on a take-home exam, so the curve is hosed anyway. In the immortal words of my good friend Kristian, "D's get degrees". I'm sure he's never had a D in his whole life, but considering the apathy that's taken over our fourth-year-law-student brains, it seems like a good set of words to live by.
Speaking of Kristian, we (Kerry, Gwen and I, although Gwen was sleeping) went over to Kristian and Megan's house on Saturday night for the "Great American Light Beer Blind Taste Test". It was a lot of fun. We tasted and rated such wonderful beers as Mich Golden Light, Miller Lite, Coors Light, Bud Light, Stroh's Light, etc. There were 8 beers in all. I think that Kristian is secretly a salesman for Mich Golden Light. I like beer. I like them all. I'll just state once and for all, for the record, that Miller Lite is my Domestic Pilsner of choice, simply because it doesn't give me a headache or gas. A taste test revealed (unsurprisingly) that there were other beers that I liked the taste of better. It was a fun time, and something that we're going to repeat with some Domestic Heavies.
I started listening to the audio version of the first book of Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy, because he's doing the last book (well, now 3 books) of the Wheel of Time. I gotta say, this guy can write. The premise, in a nutshell, is that 1000 years ago there was a prophesied hero that would rise up and conquer the dark lord, but unlike a billion other epic fantasies, this prophesied hero lost. The bad guy took control, and now the land is a place where ash falls from the sky and flowers don't bloom. So far, it's a heist book, and the main characters aren't the typical fantasy cut-outs...they're a gang of theives. There's no epic quest, there's an epic job. However, the real selling point for me is how effing cool the magic system is in this book. That's all I'll say on that. You'll have to read it to find out. ;)
Stress
Arrgh. It's been a week since I've blogged. Actually, it's because I've had little to nothing to talk about. Not much has changed since last Tuesday.
I'm under a bunch of stress lately, but that's nothing new at all. Work sucks, but that's nothing new, either. I just keep my head down and do what I have to do, and the rest will sort itself out in five months or so. :^O
Speaking of five months or so, I've got a bar exam application to fill out, and it's quite daunting. I need to have the names of every employer I've ever had for the last ten years. That doesn't sound like such a long time, but it is. I've had a few. Not nearly as many as some other people I know, but still enough to be an annoyance.
Furthermore, I need to supply a record of every time I've been caught on the wrong side o' the law: Yes folks, this means speeding tickets. The time frame on this one is ever. So yeah, I have speeding tickets out there that I can't even remember getting. I have no idea where to even begin looking for that information, and I'm kind of hoping that it will miraculously fall into my lap in a fate sort of situation.
I'm still (of course) trying to sell my dumb house. (It's not a dumb house in actuality. It's a very nice place, and I've loved it for like 6 years now. Still, I want to move. It's all part of my life plan, you see, which first and foremost involves graduating from law school and NOT working for the place I currently work.) To add insult to injury, there were spray paint marks in the yard of our vacant next door house. The guy that lived there died last year. OK so looking at that link I can see that it was actually the end of 2007. So a little over a year ago. Yeah, well it looks like that house has finally gone through probate and whatnot, been foreclosed upon, and will be going up for sale soon. For sale by some buttwad bank that only wants like three cold chickens and a nickle for it or something. I hate the world right now. I hate the market. Buy my house.
There's weird banging going on at work right now. It sounds almost as if someone is crawling around in the heating ducts. That would be kind of awesome, in a Die Hard way.
I've been watching the X-Files again lately, which rules. However, the only season that I own is season 4. It's very cool, but I now really want to start the entire season from the very beginning and watch it all again. Seriously, I love that show.
My weekend was awesome as well. I played some D&D, went skiing with some friend types, watched the Superbowl with some friend types, ate some cheese balls, drank some beer, drank some mead, drank some fine wine. All in all, it was a good and revitalizing weekend.
I'm under a bunch of stress lately, but that's nothing new at all. Work sucks, but that's nothing new, either. I just keep my head down and do what I have to do, and the rest will sort itself out in five months or so. :^O
Speaking of five months or so, I've got a bar exam application to fill out, and it's quite daunting. I need to have the names of every employer I've ever had for the last ten years. That doesn't sound like such a long time, but it is. I've had a few. Not nearly as many as some other people I know, but still enough to be an annoyance.
Furthermore, I need to supply a record of every time I've been caught on the wrong side o' the law: Yes folks, this means speeding tickets. The time frame on this one is ever. So yeah, I have speeding tickets out there that I can't even remember getting. I have no idea where to even begin looking for that information, and I'm kind of hoping that it will miraculously fall into my lap in a fate sort of situation.
I'm still (of course) trying to sell my dumb house. (It's not a dumb house in actuality. It's a very nice place, and I've loved it for like 6 years now. Still, I want to move. It's all part of my life plan, you see, which first and foremost involves graduating from law school and NOT working for the place I currently work.) To add insult to injury, there were spray paint marks in the yard of our vacant next door house. The guy that lived there died last year. OK so looking at that link I can see that it was actually the end of 2007. So a little over a year ago. Yeah, well it looks like that house has finally gone through probate and whatnot, been foreclosed upon, and will be going up for sale soon. For sale by some buttwad bank that only wants like three cold chickens and a nickle for it or something. I hate the world right now. I hate the market. Buy my house.
There's weird banging going on at work right now. It sounds almost as if someone is crawling around in the heating ducts. That would be kind of awesome, in a Die Hard way.
I've been watching the X-Files again lately, which rules. However, the only season that I own is season 4. It's very cool, but I now really want to start the entire season from the very beginning and watch it all again. Seriously, I love that show.
My weekend was awesome as well. I played some D&D, went skiing with some friend types, watched the Superbowl with some friend types, ate some cheese balls, drank some beer, drank some mead, drank some fine wine. All in all, it was a good and revitalizing weekend.
Ugh
Holy hangover, Batman. This sucks. Seriously.
So I was surprised to discover that my friends Travis and Katy, from Yuma, were in town for Christmas. They came over to my house last night. The rest is history. A blurred, drunken history of which I am not incredibly proud. I'm sure we had fun. This morning (and afternoon) no such luck.
I just managed to consume a slice of pizza, and I'm not entirely sure that it's going to stay where I want it to. After reaching my 30s, it seems that hangovers have changed from the morning inconvenience of my college days, and are now a beastly all-day affair. At this rate, I'll probably still feel like crud tomorrow. Ugh.
I guess I deserve it. It's a nice reminder to myself to take it easy on New Year's Eve
I got a bunch of fun stuff for Christmas this year. My darling wifey got me a Bose SoundDock, which is awesome. The slight problem with it is that the remote control doesn't work, and I have to contact Bose directly because it's a factory refurb. I'm lazy, though, and have just been controlling it un-remotely.
I also got a kit of some Irish Stout from my in-laws. I was going to brew it tonight, but I'm rethinking that idea. The smell of brewing beer will not be a fond one this evening, I'm afraid.
Well, looks like I'll go back to my day's activities of sitting and/or lying on this couch. I leave you with my work-in-progress ode to a hangover, Hands of Fate.
What up, player?
I have ONE final left tomorrow, and studying for it is getting old. I've got such a complete and total lack of motivation for school right now that powering through my studying is becoming a real chore. I can only imagine how hard it's going to be in May, when the sun is shining and the birds are chirping and it's my last set of finals ever. (Besides the dreaded Bar Exam, of course.)
One good thing about next semester is that I've successfully registered for classes that are basically fluff. So that rules. I'm excited for some good old fashioned slackin'. Coming from a guy whose current semester allowed him sufficient time to write a novel in a month, saying that I have fluff classes next semester is saying a lot. Hopefully it's actually true. Heh.
On a totally different note, my friend Lukas was interviewed on NPR yesterday, regarding the mortgage industry. If you didn't get a chance to check out the interview, here it is. It's very interesting and informative, and it (*gasp!* I know that this next sentence will be shocking) actually makes me happy about my current job. I don't have to do any cross-selling, nor do I get any incentives for getting someone into a product that they don't need. Woot for credit unions. (I still don't bank here, though, because I don't poop where I eat. LOL.)
During my finals week, my limited spare time has been spent sneaking snippets of the Twilight series. I'm forced to admit that I really liked the first book. It's the teen girl in me, as previously discussed. The second is equally gripping, although for much different reasons. Most of it is kind of irritating me, honestly. Vampires rule, werewolves drool.
On the subject of the undead and lycanthropy, it's freakin' D&D time on Friday! WOOOOHOOOO! I'm super excited for that shizzle. I've got quite the crew coming over to throw down. I've since moved my keg of porter into the basement, so it's a nice temperature and easily accessable by players that want to get rowdy. (Taking that sentence out of context would be funny for the use of the word "player". Like "playah!" Yeeuh. Unfortunately IN context it denotes a player of the lovely game of Dungeons and Dragons. Aww yeeuh, thugg life.)
One good thing about next semester is that I've successfully registered for classes that are basically fluff. So that rules. I'm excited for some good old fashioned slackin'. Coming from a guy whose current semester allowed him sufficient time to write a novel in a month, saying that I have fluff classes next semester is saying a lot. Hopefully it's actually true. Heh.
On a totally different note, my friend Lukas was interviewed on NPR yesterday, regarding the mortgage industry. If you didn't get a chance to check out the interview, here it is. It's very interesting and informative, and it (*gasp!* I know that this next sentence will be shocking) actually makes me happy about my current job. I don't have to do any cross-selling, nor do I get any incentives for getting someone into a product that they don't need. Woot for credit unions. (I still don't bank here, though, because I don't poop where I eat. LOL.)
During my finals week, my limited spare time has been spent sneaking snippets of the Twilight series. I'm forced to admit that I really liked the first book. It's the teen girl in me, as previously discussed. The second is equally gripping, although for much different reasons. Most of it is kind of irritating me, honestly. Vampires rule, werewolves drool.
On the subject of the undead and lycanthropy, it's freakin' D&D time on Friday! WOOOOHOOOO! I'm super excited for that shizzle. I've got quite the crew coming over to throw down. I've since moved my keg of porter into the basement, so it's a nice temperature and easily accessable by players that want to get rowdy. (Taking that sentence out of context would be funny for the use of the word "player". Like "playah!" Yeeuh. Unfortunately IN context it denotes a player of the lovely game of Dungeons and Dragons. Aww yeeuh, thugg life.)
In a nutshell
I've been a bad blogger lately, obviously. My posts have dwindled severely of late. I think that 10 days might very well be the longest that I've ever gone between posts. Hopefully this will be a nice, long blog full of stuff to make up for the lack. ;D
Let's see here, what's been going on. The last time I posted was on election day, and I'm happy to say that things went the way I wanted them to. Enough about that, we don't need to get all political. Hopefully things will turn out good.
Kerry and I put our house on the market last week. There's a big 'ol for sale sign out front and everything. If you know my address, you can find the listing online. Due to the state of the market, we obviously have to ask for less than we would like for the place, but that's the way things go. At least we're not asking for less than we owe, which would really suck and is still within the realm of possibility.
Things aren't all bad, no matter what housing doom and gloom you hear these days. Home sales went up 24% in September. That's a LOT. Some people think that our country's downturned economy will last forever, or for years, but that's simply not the case. Things will get better! Now...everybody do your part and go out there and buy a house. Start with mine. Thanks.
School has been plodding along. I'm into the last three weeks of the second-to-the-last semester of my law school career. I registered for classes for the last time EVER yesterday, and I'm happy that all of the stress of that crappiness are behind me. I'm pretty much taking all fluff classes tought by professors that give really high average grades. It shouldn't be too much of a hassle, I'm hoping.
I kegged up my porter, and now I have a keg full of beer in my house! It's warm, but it's very good. Not my best batch, but it's a very good and delightfully strong porter. I shudder to think of how beer on tap will change my life. I'm becoming something like a chocoholic, except with alcohol. Just kidding. I've had the keg filled for almost a week and have had two glasses of the stuff thus far. No need to plan an intervention.
The latest WoW expansion came out yesterday, and it's awesome. I've only played for about 45 minutes, though, because (of course) everybody with a WoW account is playing WoW now, due to the expansion's release, and there are queues of over 1000 people waiting to get on some servers (including mine). That means it takes about an hour to log on. I'm not too worried about it, though, because that's just time to work on my novel.
That brings me to the next point. I'm still hard at work doing National Novel Writing Month. (Sometimes it amazes even me how much crap I take on to do at a time). I'm basically halfway to the 50,000 word mark, which means I'm right on track. My novel gets increasingly sillier with each word I type, but as I mentioned before, it doesn't have to be good. I can write really quickly when I don't have to cite anything. No need for stimulants, just good time management.
Yep. That's the last week in a nutshell.
Let's see here, what's been going on. The last time I posted was on election day, and I'm happy to say that things went the way I wanted them to. Enough about that, we don't need to get all political. Hopefully things will turn out good.
Kerry and I put our house on the market last week. There's a big 'ol for sale sign out front and everything. If you know my address, you can find the listing online. Due to the state of the market, we obviously have to ask for less than we would like for the place, but that's the way things go. At least we're not asking for less than we owe, which would really suck and is still within the realm of possibility.
Things aren't all bad, no matter what housing doom and gloom you hear these days. Home sales went up 24% in September. That's a LOT. Some people think that our country's downturned economy will last forever, or for years, but that's simply not the case. Things will get better! Now...everybody do your part and go out there and buy a house. Start with mine. Thanks.
School has been plodding along. I'm into the last three weeks of the second-to-the-last semester of my law school career. I registered for classes for the last time EVER yesterday, and I'm happy that all of the stress of that crappiness are behind me. I'm pretty much taking all fluff classes tought by professors that give really high average grades. It shouldn't be too much of a hassle, I'm hoping.
I kegged up my porter, and now I have a keg full of beer in my house! It's warm, but it's very good. Not my best batch, but it's a very good and delightfully strong porter. I shudder to think of how beer on tap will change my life. I'm becoming something like a chocoholic, except with alcohol. Just kidding. I've had the keg filled for almost a week and have had two glasses of the stuff thus far. No need to plan an intervention.
The latest WoW expansion came out yesterday, and it's awesome. I've only played for about 45 minutes, though, because (of course) everybody with a WoW account is playing WoW now, due to the expansion's release, and there are queues of over 1000 people waiting to get on some servers (including mine). That means it takes about an hour to log on. I'm not too worried about it, though, because that's just time to work on my novel.
That brings me to the next point. I'm still hard at work doing National Novel Writing Month. (Sometimes it amazes even me how much crap I take on to do at a time). I'm basically halfway to the 50,000 word mark, which means I'm right on track. My novel gets increasingly sillier with each word I type, but as I mentioned before, it doesn't have to be good. I can write really quickly when I don't have to cite anything. No need for stimulants, just good time management.
Yep. That's the last week in a nutshell.
The war on bugs
My work is hilarious. Every single year we get infested with one bug or another. Once upon a time it was Asian beetles. (Y'all remember those suckas?) They were seriously everywhere in here. It would crunch when I walked down the hall.
Over the past few years, box elder bugs have been the typical pests. They're disgusting, because they don't really do anything, they're just everywhere. I'll sit down and start my computer, and one of the lil' red bastards will climb over the ridge of my keyboard and look at me.
I have declared war on the bugs. I will kill every one I see, by shoe. I will mash the bugger into the floor. This is particularly funny, because just last week the carpets were cleaned, and now there are a bunch of bug splatter marks over everything. (Personally, I've caused the most bug destruction on walls, chairs, and my desk. Looking around it's obvious that I'm not the only one at war, though.)
Today, I met a new bug. He was faster, stronger, and harder to kill. I had to give him the ol' boot three times before he stopped coming at me. I named him Rasputin. He was a fighter. Unfortunately for Rasputin, his reign of terror is over.
In pursuit of my latest musical obsession, I've recorded a bunch of Irish music. I'm silly, you see. Here are some .mp3s. (Keep in mind that these versions are just myself, and all of them are intended to have the full backing of the rest of the members of my crazed entourage, "A Flock Of Kobolds". However, until the day that the music is joined by all of my compatriots, you can find enjoyment in the 'demo of a demo' versions by yours truly.) Two of these songs are original Ben masterpieces, and the others...aren't:
The Hands of Fate (with Ryan on elec. guitar and backing vox)
The Wanderer (with Ryan on keys)
Haul Away Joe
Fathom the Bowl
Hanging Johnny
What's Left of the Flag (Arrgh. For whatever stupid reason, Blogger isn't letting me link the whole link to this one. It should be http://b33n3r.lundo.com/What's%20Left%20of%20the%20Flag.mp3 which still might not work past that apostrophe, so copy and paste the link. Grr.)
Yeah, I'm weird. Whatever. I'm over it. Tonight, I brew beer! I've picked up a nice porter for the coming fall weather. Hopefully all goes well with the keg.
Over the past few years, box elder bugs have been the typical pests. They're disgusting, because they don't really do anything, they're just everywhere. I'll sit down and start my computer, and one of the lil' red bastards will climb over the ridge of my keyboard and look at me.
I have declared war on the bugs. I will kill every one I see, by shoe. I will mash the bugger into the floor. This is particularly funny, because just last week the carpets were cleaned, and now there are a bunch of bug splatter marks over everything. (Personally, I've caused the most bug destruction on walls, chairs, and my desk. Looking around it's obvious that I'm not the only one at war, though.)
Today, I met a new bug. He was faster, stronger, and harder to kill. I had to give him the ol' boot three times before he stopped coming at me. I named him Rasputin. He was a fighter. Unfortunately for Rasputin, his reign of terror is over.
In pursuit of my latest musical obsession, I've recorded a bunch of Irish music. I'm silly, you see. Here are some .mp3s. (Keep in mind that these versions are just myself, and all of them are intended to have the full backing of the rest of the members of my crazed entourage, "A Flock Of Kobolds". However, until the day that the music is joined by all of my compatriots, you can find enjoyment in the 'demo of a demo' versions by yours truly.) Two of these songs are original Ben masterpieces, and the others...aren't:
The Hands of Fate (with Ryan on elec. guitar and backing vox)
The Wanderer (with Ryan on keys)
Haul Away Joe
Fathom the Bowl
Hanging Johnny
What's Left of the Flag (Arrgh. For whatever stupid reason, Blogger isn't letting me link the whole link to this one. It should be http://b33n3r.lundo.com/What's%20Left%20of%20the%20Flag.mp3 which still might not work past that apostrophe, so copy and paste the link. Grr.)
Yeah, I'm weird. Whatever. I'm over it. Tonight, I brew beer! I've picked up a nice porter for the coming fall weather. Hopefully all goes well with the keg.
I'm old!
They're married! Rhyno and Meghan tied the knot this weekend in a beautiful ceremony and a superfun reception. I was successful in most of my best-manly duties, and gave what I thought was a pretty darn good speech. The day was a lot of fun, and I offer sincere congratulations to both of them. Have fun in Cabo.
Yesterday was the anniversary of my birth. I am now officially 32. Funny, I don't feel a day older than 31. Har har har. It was a pretty low-key day, as the mornings after big weddings usually are. I took my tux back, did some hanging out with my parents, racked my mead, played some video games, read some more geek book, and watched most of a movie with Kerry. It was nice.
Kerry got me a kegging system! This means, ladies and gentlemen, that I will have my own homebrew on tap at my house. That is sofa king cool. No more running upstairs for beer during D&D sessions. Oh no! Just reach over to yon tap and fill thy frothing mug with ale! My lovely wifey also got me a Flogging Molly T-Shirt, because she rules.
Yesterday afternoon, our 2nd realtor came over after having done a market analysis. It was like night and day compared to the first lady that came (see previous post). The news was much more to our favor, and this lady really has her stuff together. The last chick seems to have been doing exactly what I thought: Trying to get a quick, small payment now rather than wait out the winter. Well, good luck to her in her endeavors, she won't be selling our house.
It sucks to be back at work, because the weekend went by like lightning. That's always the problem with a power-packed weekend. So, here goes. Time to work.
Yesterday was the anniversary of my birth. I am now officially 32. Funny, I don't feel a day older than 31. Har har har. It was a pretty low-key day, as the mornings after big weddings usually are. I took my tux back, did some hanging out with my parents, racked my mead, played some video games, read some more geek book, and watched most of a movie with Kerry. It was nice.
Kerry got me a kegging system! This means, ladies and gentlemen, that I will have my own homebrew on tap at my house. That is sofa king cool. No more running upstairs for beer during D&D sessions. Oh no! Just reach over to yon tap and fill thy frothing mug with ale! My lovely wifey also got me a Flogging Molly T-Shirt, because she rules.
Yesterday afternoon, our 2nd realtor came over after having done a market analysis. It was like night and day compared to the first lady that came (see previous post). The news was much more to our favor, and this lady really has her stuff together. The last chick seems to have been doing exactly what I thought: Trying to get a quick, small payment now rather than wait out the winter. Well, good luck to her in her endeavors, she won't be selling our house.
It sucks to be back at work, because the weekend went by like lightning. That's always the problem with a power-packed weekend. So, here goes. Time to work.
I'm happy with my geek status.
I’m excited to go to the Ren Fest this weekend. I’ve been there a billion times, and there really isn’t anything that changes, but I love the Renaissance Festival like other people love the State Fair: It’s this happy place that satisfies a craving for scotch eggs, mead, and bread bowl soup while at the same time providing nostalgia on about a billion levels: First, nostalgia from my youth. See, from high school until now, I’ve gone to the Renaissance Festival at least once a year. Sometimes (hush now) I even wore a costume. The second type of nostalgia is from my past lives: See, I’ve been a Viking, a Pirate, and a British serf in my past lives, so…wait, no. I’m totally kidding about that stuff.
Speaking of Vikings, I’m brewing some mead, so far it smells really good. Unlike beer, I can actually smell the mead through the airlock. I tried to convince Kerry to let me get a good drinking horn from which to gulp my honey libation. I’ll grow a crazed beard like my friend Johnny and shout “SKOAL!” with mead dripping from my drinking horn as I guzzle. Perfect. That’s the life for me.
On a tangent – last night I was playing WoW while drinking my homebrewed IPA and eating my father-in-law’s homemade venison and elk beer sticks. See, my father-in-law got a spiffy sausage maker for a retirement present, and the results have been delicious. Talking over my snack with friends produced the suggestion that we get my father-in-law and move to the woods somewhere and survive off of beer and sausage for the rest of our lives. Sounds like heaven. Might need to recruit some gatherers, though, or the ol’ bowels might suffer from lack of roughage. Of course, Lundo suggested that maybe we would just evolve to be some sort of beer-and-sausage culture. Like Germans.
In furtherance of my quest to become the ubergeek, I’m playing some Dungeons and Dragons after the Ren Fest on Saturday. I don’t know what’s going to happen – all of that geeking might cause me to turn into a druid or something. I predict best day evar!!!!11
Speaking of Vikings, I’m brewing some mead, so far it smells really good. Unlike beer, I can actually smell the mead through the airlock. I tried to convince Kerry to let me get a good drinking horn from which to gulp my honey libation. I’ll grow a crazed beard like my friend Johnny and shout “SKOAL!” with mead dripping from my drinking horn as I guzzle. Perfect. That’s the life for me.
On a tangent – last night I was playing WoW while drinking my homebrewed IPA and eating my father-in-law’s homemade venison and elk beer sticks. See, my father-in-law got a spiffy sausage maker for a retirement present, and the results have been delicious. Talking over my snack with friends produced the suggestion that we get my father-in-law and move to the woods somewhere and survive off of beer and sausage for the rest of our lives. Sounds like heaven. Might need to recruit some gatherers, though, or the ol’ bowels might suffer from lack of roughage. Of course, Lundo suggested that maybe we would just evolve to be some sort of beer-and-sausage culture. Like Germans.
In furtherance of my quest to become the ubergeek, I’m playing some Dungeons and Dragons after the Ren Fest on Saturday. I don’t know what’s going to happen – all of that geeking might cause me to turn into a druid or something. I predict best day evar!!!!11
The Inner Sanctum
Those of you that know me (which I have to assume is all of you…heh) know that I tend to have really crazy dreams. This morning, during a thunderstorm, I was drifting in and out of sleep, and ended up having a really interesting one. OK, not that interesting, just vivid.
I was in class, just waiting for the professor to point his finger at me and make me answer a question from an assignment that I had not read. So, in my dream, I just got up and walked out. I went to my car and drove around the street. (This isn’t so important, but in my dream William Mitchell was situated perpendicular to the way it is in real life…not important to the story but weird in my dream and hard to explain). I got in my car and drove around the corner, and saw police, out of their cars, in a heated gun battle with some criminal types. I promptly turned my car around to avoid them, and decided to go back to class.
I was on a side of the building that I was unfamiliar with, and in my dream the building was much much bigger. I couldn’t get back to the parking lot – something to do with the gun battle. So I parked my car and went into a door at random. I found myself in a hotel that was attached to my school. It was kind of like a hotel/daycare, but there was a concierge/reception desk with a receptionist. Just outside, there was a playground and a swimming pool. The swimming pool was filled with kids around 2 to 3 years old. It was thundering in my dream (and in waking life as well, I later discovered). I told the receptionist to get those kids out of the pool, because it was raining.
Relying on my deft sense of direction, I chose a door that I thought would lead me back to my class. It opened into a darkened section of the building. Have you ever been wandering around a part of a building that you know you’re not supposed to be in, but just couldn’t help exploring a bit? That was the situation in my dream. I started looking around this back area. There was a sink, and a bathroom. I could hear someone in the bathroom, and I glanced to the right and saw that it was the Dean’s office, and presumably the Dean was taking a pee break. I turned around. Down a hallway I heard voices, so I investigated.
At the end of the hallway was a board room, with a board meeting going on. I didn’t want to get caught, so I turned around and went back toward the first door to the reception area. On a table, I spied some dirty dishes. I picked them up and put them in the sink. Then I woke up.
Yep, no clue what that one means.
Back to real life: I got myself a cork, so I made my mead last night. I’m fairly positive that I wrecked it. OK, I’m always positive (read: paranoid) that I’ve ruined beer. Every time I brew it, I think I’ve done something that will wreck it, only to find that it’s still good. This time, though, I think I’ve got a problem. I really thought that the carboy I was using was clean. It looked clean, and smelled of cleanly goodness. I had washed it with a powder cleanser thoroughly after using it last time. I rinsed it out and sanitized it last night. As I filled it with my freshly made honey-water, though, I noticed a spot, maybe a ½ inch square, of crusty old krausen that was still clinging to the side of the carboy, just under the surface of the might-someday-be-mead substance. DOH. That sucks. I’ll let you know in a month, I guess, when I rack it.
I was in class, just waiting for the professor to point his finger at me and make me answer a question from an assignment that I had not read. So, in my dream, I just got up and walked out. I went to my car and drove around the street. (This isn’t so important, but in my dream William Mitchell was situated perpendicular to the way it is in real life…not important to the story but weird in my dream and hard to explain). I got in my car and drove around the corner, and saw police, out of their cars, in a heated gun battle with some criminal types. I promptly turned my car around to avoid them, and decided to go back to class.
I was on a side of the building that I was unfamiliar with, and in my dream the building was much much bigger. I couldn’t get back to the parking lot – something to do with the gun battle. So I parked my car and went into a door at random. I found myself in a hotel that was attached to my school. It was kind of like a hotel/daycare, but there was a concierge/reception desk with a receptionist. Just outside, there was a playground and a swimming pool. The swimming pool was filled with kids around 2 to 3 years old. It was thundering in my dream (and in waking life as well, I later discovered). I told the receptionist to get those kids out of the pool, because it was raining.
Relying on my deft sense of direction, I chose a door that I thought would lead me back to my class. It opened into a darkened section of the building. Have you ever been wandering around a part of a building that you know you’re not supposed to be in, but just couldn’t help exploring a bit? That was the situation in my dream. I started looking around this back area. There was a sink, and a bathroom. I could hear someone in the bathroom, and I glanced to the right and saw that it was the Dean’s office, and presumably the Dean was taking a pee break. I turned around. Down a hallway I heard voices, so I investigated.
At the end of the hallway was a board room, with a board meeting going on. I didn’t want to get caught, so I turned around and went back toward the first door to the reception area. On a table, I spied some dirty dishes. I picked them up and put them in the sink. Then I woke up.
Yep, no clue what that one means.
Back to real life: I got myself a cork, so I made my mead last night. I’m fairly positive that I wrecked it. OK, I’m always positive (read: paranoid) that I’ve ruined beer. Every time I brew it, I think I’ve done something that will wreck it, only to find that it’s still good. This time, though, I think I’ve got a problem. I really thought that the carboy I was using was clean. It looked clean, and smelled of cleanly goodness. I had washed it with a powder cleanser thoroughly after using it last time. I rinsed it out and sanitized it last night. As I filled it with my freshly made honey-water, though, I noticed a spot, maybe a ½ inch square, of crusty old krausen that was still clinging to the side of the carboy, just under the surface of the might-someday-be-mead substance. DOH. That sucks. I’ll let you know in a month, I guess, when I rack it.
Fancy dinners and Star Wars elitism
Kerry and I had a nice dinner last night, in celebration of our seven-year anniversary. We went to Bacio, an Italian restaurant near Ridgedale, and stuffed ourselves silly. It’s amazing how much I now appreciate going out for a nice dinner with just my wife, after having a kid. Don’t get me wrong, I love Gwennerz to pieces and love spending time with her, but it’s very nice to take a break every once in a while. Anyway, if you want a nice dinner I recommend the place, the food was excellent.
In my hasty weekend update I forgot to mention that Kerry and I took Friday off to go see the Star Wars exhibit at the Science Museum. It was really neat, but we weren’t able to spend as much time there as I had thought we would. That’s fine -- I got to see everything I wanted to see. Perhaps I’m a bad person, but I started feeling a little bit elitist about the whole thing. I liken it to the feeling that a person who went and saw Jerry Garcia play with the Grateful Dead 120 times must feel when he sees a 13-year-old kid wearing a Grateful Dead t-shirt. Kind of a “Move over kid, and let me see Chewbacca…I was there, man, I saw it live” thing. I mean, there was a kid – about six years old, I’d say -- listening to his grandmother tell him about the Millennium Falcon. She was saying, “Ooh, this is the space station from the movie,”. GRRRRRR DOUBLE-FAULT! Now this kid (who wasn’t even there, mannn!) is being poisoned by the drivel coming out of the mouth of his ignorant grandmother (who also wasn’t there). Sorry for the rant, these things are dear to me.
Also -- and this is a note to parents everywhere – I am taking a picture of Darth Vader. I am not taking a picture of your kid. Your kid doesn’t know better, but you do. Kindly remove your kid from my Darth Vader shot, otherwise it will completely ruin my ability to capture the look of scorn and hope of redemption from his glossy visage.
One last gripe -- the Omni Theater showed a movie with the Star Wars exhibit. This movie was called "Special Effects". It was from freaking 1996 or so. It showed the filming of "new scenes for the Star Wars movies" and "a new blockbuster called Independence Day" and movie magic from freaking "Kazaam" starring Shaq. Seriously people, that stuff is over a decade old. Science changes in that time...especially the science of special effects. Come on, Science Museum. You can do better.
Keeping on the subject of being a dork, I was in Borders the other day and simply could not resist picking up a copy of “Shadowdale” by…some author. It’s a Forgotten Realms book. Yeah…I’m a dork who occasionally dips really deep into the murky pool of genre novels, but D&D books are good clean fun that can’t be replicated by…well, by better writers, really. Back off, man. I love it. Yes, I’ll lend it to you when I’m finished. ;^)
Last but not least, I got me a cork for my bunghole. That is seriously funny to me. So…maybe some mead will be made tonight. We’ll see.
In my hasty weekend update I forgot to mention that Kerry and I took Friday off to go see the Star Wars exhibit at the Science Museum. It was really neat, but we weren’t able to spend as much time there as I had thought we would. That’s fine -- I got to see everything I wanted to see. Perhaps I’m a bad person, but I started feeling a little bit elitist about the whole thing. I liken it to the feeling that a person who went and saw Jerry Garcia play with the Grateful Dead 120 times must feel when he sees a 13-year-old kid wearing a Grateful Dead t-shirt. Kind of a “Move over kid, and let me see Chewbacca…I was there, man, I saw it live” thing. I mean, there was a kid – about six years old, I’d say -- listening to his grandmother tell him about the Millennium Falcon. She was saying, “Ooh, this is the space station from the movie,”. GRRRRRR DOUBLE-FAULT! Now this kid (who wasn’t even there, mannn!) is being poisoned by the drivel coming out of the mouth of his ignorant grandmother (who also wasn’t there). Sorry for the rant, these things are dear to me.
Also -- and this is a note to parents everywhere – I am taking a picture of Darth Vader. I am not taking a picture of your kid. Your kid doesn’t know better, but you do. Kindly remove your kid from my Darth Vader shot, otherwise it will completely ruin my ability to capture the look of scorn and hope of redemption from his glossy visage.
One last gripe -- the Omni Theater showed a movie with the Star Wars exhibit. This movie was called "Special Effects". It was from freaking 1996 or so. It showed the filming of "new scenes for the Star Wars movies" and "a new blockbuster called Independence Day" and movie magic from freaking "Kazaam" starring Shaq. Seriously people, that stuff is over a decade old. Science changes in that time...especially the science of special effects. Come on, Science Museum. You can do better.
Keeping on the subject of being a dork, I was in Borders the other day and simply could not resist picking up a copy of “Shadowdale” by…some author. It’s a Forgotten Realms book. Yeah…I’m a dork who occasionally dips really deep into the murky pool of genre novels, but D&D books are good clean fun that can’t be replicated by…well, by better writers, really. Back off, man. I love it. Yes, I’ll lend it to you when I’m finished. ;^)
Last but not least, I got me a cork for my bunghole. That is seriously funny to me. So…maybe some mead will be made tonight. We’ll see.
The Weekendy Weekend
Well hey, whaddya know, today is my anniversary. Kerry and I have, as of this day, been married for 7 years. I’m trying to say this as romantically as possible…ok here I go.
I just wanna give a shout-out to my sweet sugar mamma, who’s been wit’ me all of these years. Baby, you so sexy. Awwwwww yeeeuh. Thanks 4 makin’ this pimp’s heart all a-fluttery.
Sorry sweetie, that’s the best I could do with this early A.M. timeframe. I love you, wifey.
Moving on! The weekend was pretty rad. Well, it started out un-rad, because I was back in class on Saturday morning. That wasn’t such a big deal. It’s an interesting class with an interesting professor, so it should be ok. After class got out, my girls and I went to my Grandma’s birthday party. Gwen had an absolute blast. She got to hang out with her cousin and my youngest cousin…the three of them are all within a few months of each other in age. They had a very good time running around like maniacs, playing ball, and riding on Grandpa Don’s shoulders.
Sunday morning I decreed that we were going to the MN State Fair. So, we hopped in the car and did just that. After causing my lovely wife of seven years to nearly have a heart attack from my driving “skills”, we parked and went in. Gwen had a ton of fun looking at sheep, horses, and cows. I managed to hungrily consume my greasy fair food trifecta: Cheese Curds, Pronto Pup, and Mini Donuts. The deliciousness is still oozing from my pores in the form of batter-fried sweat.
Our fair day was awesome – perfect weather and good times – until we got back to the parking lot. It turns out we had a completely flat tire. I have some sort of back-right tire curse, because this is the third one I’ve had to change in as many years. The other two were on my other car, though, so once again I had to figure out the silly little tire-iron and jack that came with the vehicle. Luckily, even though these items are small and hard to get out of their hidey-holes, their basic function is pretty straightforward. I’m also happy that my Jeep has a full-sized spare tire, because donuts suck (except state fair mini donuts, as previously mentioned).
My WoW experience has become much, much faster, as I am now the proud owner of an epic flying mount. Awwwww yeah.
So last night I was going to brew up my first batch of mead, and I couldn't find my spare BUNGSTOPPER! (seriously, a word like that has to be in all-caps. Sorry.) So, I've gotta hit up the beer store again for an extra one. (oh darn.)
I just wanna give a shout-out to my sweet sugar mamma, who’s been wit’ me all of these years. Baby, you so sexy. Awwwwww yeeeuh. Thanks 4 makin’ this pimp’s heart all a-fluttery.
Sorry sweetie, that’s the best I could do with this early A.M. timeframe. I love you, wifey.
Moving on! The weekend was pretty rad. Well, it started out un-rad, because I was back in class on Saturday morning. That wasn’t such a big deal. It’s an interesting class with an interesting professor, so it should be ok. After class got out, my girls and I went to my Grandma’s birthday party. Gwen had an absolute blast. She got to hang out with her cousin and my youngest cousin…the three of them are all within a few months of each other in age. They had a very good time running around like maniacs, playing ball, and riding on Grandpa Don’s shoulders.
Sunday morning I decreed that we were going to the MN State Fair. So, we hopped in the car and did just that. After causing my lovely wife of seven years to nearly have a heart attack from my driving “skills”, we parked and went in. Gwen had a ton of fun looking at sheep, horses, and cows. I managed to hungrily consume my greasy fair food trifecta: Cheese Curds, Pronto Pup, and Mini Donuts. The deliciousness is still oozing from my pores in the form of batter-fried sweat.
Our fair day was awesome – perfect weather and good times – until we got back to the parking lot. It turns out we had a completely flat tire. I have some sort of back-right tire curse, because this is the third one I’ve had to change in as many years. The other two were on my other car, though, so once again I had to figure out the silly little tire-iron and jack that came with the vehicle. Luckily, even though these items are small and hard to get out of their hidey-holes, their basic function is pretty straightforward. I’m also happy that my Jeep has a full-sized spare tire, because donuts suck (except state fair mini donuts, as previously mentioned).
My WoW experience has become much, much faster, as I am now the proud owner of an epic flying mount. Awwwww yeah.
So last night I was going to brew up my first batch of mead, and I couldn't find my spare BUNGSTOPPER! (seriously, a word like that has to be in all-caps. Sorry.) So, I've gotta hit up the beer store again for an extra one. (oh darn.)
Pirate ballads = the new bluegrass
Years back, the Cohen bros released the movie “O Brother, Where Art Thou” and billions of people bought the soundtrack…myself included. It was filled with old timey bluegrass music, and was quite good. I enjoyed it.
A year or two ago, I saw an ad for an album in Relix called “Rogue’s Gallery”. It’s a 2-disc collection of pirate ballads and sea shanties. I just got it, and it’s freaking amazing. I have a number of friends who are also thoroughly enjoying the collection. It was actually put together by Johnny Depp, who got into pirate songs (you guessed it) after doing the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. So anyway, once again a movie (or three) becomes a medium for releasing old fashioned music on the populace. I care not a whit for the musings of the populace, but I’m quite happy that I got the music.
This, of course, is all because of the infamous aforementioned Flock of Kobolds, who will soon be adding pirate ballads and sea shanties to their ever-growing pub-friendly repertoire. Fal riddle da, wack fol the riddle timmy roo dun dah.
This weekend was pretty uneventful, but fun. Kerry worked on Saturday, so I chilled at home with my lil’ girl. She was quite adorable, as usual. On Sunday the three of us (well, Kerry and I…Gwen didn’t have much input) tried to think of something to do and couldn’t, so we went to the park. Gwenner LOVES slides. She had a great time on the playground equipment.
Last night I got together with Ryan and Corey and we brewed some friggin’ beer. I love brewing, especially outdoors in the summer time. The smell of the wort is just fantastic, and sitting in the driveway tending a boiling kettle gives a sense of peace that can’t really be described, it’s just a good feeling.
The idea behind last night’s brewing is that the beer will be done and ready for drinking just in time for Rhyno’s bachelor party. We’ll have some blond ale a la Ryan, some Scottish ale courtesy of Corey, and some Honey Amber ale by yours truly. Yum times three.
A year or two ago, I saw an ad for an album in Relix called “Rogue’s Gallery”. It’s a 2-disc collection of pirate ballads and sea shanties. I just got it, and it’s freaking amazing. I have a number of friends who are also thoroughly enjoying the collection. It was actually put together by Johnny Depp, who got into pirate songs (you guessed it) after doing the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. So anyway, once again a movie (or three) becomes a medium for releasing old fashioned music on the populace. I care not a whit for the musings of the populace, but I’m quite happy that I got the music.
This, of course, is all because of the infamous aforementioned Flock of Kobolds, who will soon be adding pirate ballads and sea shanties to their ever-growing pub-friendly repertoire. Fal riddle da, wack fol the riddle timmy roo dun dah.
This weekend was pretty uneventful, but fun. Kerry worked on Saturday, so I chilled at home with my lil’ girl. She was quite adorable, as usual. On Sunday the three of us (well, Kerry and I…Gwen didn’t have much input) tried to think of something to do and couldn’t, so we went to the park. Gwenner LOVES slides. She had a great time on the playground equipment.
Last night I got together with Ryan and Corey and we brewed some friggin’ beer. I love brewing, especially outdoors in the summer time. The smell of the wort is just fantastic, and sitting in the driveway tending a boiling kettle gives a sense of peace that can’t really be described, it’s just a good feeling.
The idea behind last night’s brewing is that the beer will be done and ready for drinking just in time for Rhyno’s bachelor party. We’ll have some blond ale a la Ryan, some Scottish ale courtesy of Corey, and some Honey Amber ale by yours truly. Yum times three.
Thursday thoughts
Holy flying-by week, Batman. Hmm, Batman…that’s a good place to start.
Kerry, Gwen and I went to the lake last weekend. It was awesome. We spent a lot of time with my parents and did a lot of hanging out. I went waterskiing, which is always a blast. Unfortunately for me it involves the use of muscles that I don’t normally use, so I pooped out rather quickly. Still tons of fun.
On Saturday night Kerry and I left the punk with the grandparents and headed to Alexandria to see The Dark Knight. Holy crap what an awesome movie. It was a perfect comic book movie. Eight-and-a-half out of five stars. We’ll call it an even nine for the disappearing pencil trick.
Of course, that led me to want to see more comic book movies that I haven’t seen, so last night Kerry and I watched Spider Man 3. Wow…that movie really sucked. There were some slightly cool parts, but basically it was the same plot as the previous two with a lot more unnecessary crap added. As a whole, it was just a bad movie. Negative six out of five stars.
Rewind a bit. Chronology is not my strong suit this morning. Ryan, Kristian and I went golfing on Tuesday, and we all shot really well compared to a couple years ago. Ryan sunk an astounding birdie put from about 30 feet. Kristian chipped and hit the pin twice. I had three birdie chances (all of which resulted in an unfortunate, choke-under-the-pressure three-putt). We all had fun. Afterward we went out for drinks at Ol’ Mexico. It was a very good night just hanging out with the guys.
Kerry and I have seen Creepyguy in his window a few times this week, but there’s a wonderful turn of events there. See, if he sees us in our yard or whatever, he bolts away from his window faster than you can say “sketchy stalker”. This is a victory for us. See, he’s afraid that we’ll call the cops on him. He’s scared in his own home. Turnabout is fair play. He’s not gone yet, but I’m hoping that this is his last day (as it’s July 31st today) and that we can go back to Defcon 5 after tonight.
My I.P.A. is ready for bottling, so I’ll be trying to motivate myself to get that done tonight.
Kerry, Gwen and I went to the lake last weekend. It was awesome. We spent a lot of time with my parents and did a lot of hanging out. I went waterskiing, which is always a blast. Unfortunately for me it involves the use of muscles that I don’t normally use, so I pooped out rather quickly. Still tons of fun.
On Saturday night Kerry and I left the punk with the grandparents and headed to Alexandria to see The Dark Knight. Holy crap what an awesome movie. It was a perfect comic book movie. Eight-and-a-half out of five stars. We’ll call it an even nine for the disappearing pencil trick.
Of course, that led me to want to see more comic book movies that I haven’t seen, so last night Kerry and I watched Spider Man 3. Wow…that movie really sucked. There were some slightly cool parts, but basically it was the same plot as the previous two with a lot more unnecessary crap added. As a whole, it was just a bad movie. Negative six out of five stars.
Rewind a bit. Chronology is not my strong suit this morning. Ryan, Kristian and I went golfing on Tuesday, and we all shot really well compared to a couple years ago. Ryan sunk an astounding birdie put from about 30 feet. Kristian chipped and hit the pin twice. I had three birdie chances (all of which resulted in an unfortunate, choke-under-the-pressure three-putt). We all had fun. Afterward we went out for drinks at Ol’ Mexico. It was a very good night just hanging out with the guys.
Kerry and I have seen Creepyguy in his window a few times this week, but there’s a wonderful turn of events there. See, if he sees us in our yard or whatever, he bolts away from his window faster than you can say “sketchy stalker”. This is a victory for us. See, he’s afraid that we’ll call the cops on him. He’s scared in his own home. Turnabout is fair play. He’s not gone yet, but I’m hoping that this is his last day (as it’s July 31st today) and that we can go back to Defcon 5 after tonight.
My I.P.A. is ready for bottling, so I’ll be trying to motivate myself to get that done tonight.
But wait, there's more.
I'm sure that most of you have already read a lot of this on the Jabberboard, but I'll save it here for posterity:
Wow. So the story totally did not end. [Tuesday] night was fine. There was not a word spoken, not a wave given...I didn't see the guy at all. Then [Wednesday] he showed up at my house. At my front door. He asked if I had found anything out [about a supposed legal problem that I had previously told him I would not research]. I told him to go see a lawyer. That part was just fine, of course. The weird part was that he said, "Yeah, I saw you guys through my binoculars." I laughed at his joke. Then he said, "No I just like to watch the birds and stuff outside my window."
RED FLAGS!
He then said that he was now staying in the apartment until september.
RED FLAG!
He said that he wanted to be friends, and that if we're having any parties or anything that he wants to come down and hang out.
NO!
So yeah. The conversation ended aaaaaaaaaaand...
Kerry called the cops. Who showed up. And went and talked to him.
The cop called me after talking to him, and told me that his name is J@mes J0seph G@rcia, not the name that he had given us, he is indeed moving but is most assuredly not moving to Plymouth but rather moving to some other apartments about a block away...basically the whole thing is a pack of lies and my initial gut reaction of creep-outitude was spot-on.
The police officer said that she doesn't think he's violent and doesn't think that he'll retaliate -- she thinks that he'll try to apologize (which we also do not want).
So I chatted with my 'rents about it. Dad's opinion was that the action we took was the exact right thing to do. Mom's insight was that for the first two years that my family lived in Benson, there was (unbeknownst to them or the rest of the area) a murderer living across the street who was likable, talkative, and eventually carried away by a S.W.A.T. team. So, there are Creepyguys everywhere.
Last night Kerry was gone for a work-related overnight, so it was just me and the Gwennerpants. Ryan came over and we played magic and swilled homebrew for several hours, and it was awesome. I would have been decidedly less comfortable if I were home alone. I'm not physically afraid of Creepyguy himself. I really don't fear violence. I just don't want to talk to him at all. I know that he's probably hurt by the situation. Whatever. I have a lot of anxiety that I'll have to tell him to get off my property or to stop talking to me or something. He needs to learn that those actions make people uncomfortable. I have a wife and daughter to think about.
Thankfully he hasn't come by. Kerry and I are headed out to the lake this evening, so we won't have to deal with him. What a tool.
Wow. So the story totally did not end. [Tuesday] night was fine. There was not a word spoken, not a wave given...I didn't see the guy at all. Then [Wednesday] he showed up at my house. At my front door. He asked if I had found anything out [about a supposed legal problem that I had previously told him I would not research]. I told him to go see a lawyer. That part was just fine, of course. The weird part was that he said, "Yeah, I saw you guys through my binoculars." I laughed at his joke. Then he said, "No I just like to watch the birds and stuff outside my window."
RED FLAGS!
He then said that he was now staying in the apartment until september.
RED FLAG!
He said that he wanted to be friends, and that if we're having any parties or anything that he wants to come down and hang out.
NO!
So yeah. The conversation ended aaaaaaaaaaand...
Kerry called the cops. Who showed up. And went and talked to him.
The cop called me after talking to him, and told me that his name is J@mes J0seph G@rcia, not the name that he had given us, he is indeed moving but is most assuredly not moving to Plymouth but rather moving to some other apartments about a block away...basically the whole thing is a pack of lies and my initial gut reaction of creep-outitude was spot-on.
The police officer said that she doesn't think he's violent and doesn't think that he'll retaliate -- she thinks that he'll try to apologize (which we also do not want).
So I chatted with my 'rents about it. Dad's opinion was that the action we took was the exact right thing to do. Mom's insight was that for the first two years that my family lived in Benson, there was (unbeknownst to them or the rest of the area) a murderer living across the street who was likable, talkative, and eventually carried away by a S.W.A.T. team. So, there are Creepyguys everywhere.
Last night Kerry was gone for a work-related overnight, so it was just me and the Gwennerpants. Ryan came over and we played magic and swilled homebrew for several hours, and it was awesome. I would have been decidedly less comfortable if I were home alone. I'm not physically afraid of Creepyguy himself. I really don't fear violence. I just don't want to talk to him at all. I know that he's probably hurt by the situation. Whatever. I have a lot of anxiety that I'll have to tell him to get off my property or to stop talking to me or something. He needs to learn that those actions make people uncomfortable. I have a wife and daughter to think about.
Thankfully he hasn't come by. Kerry and I are headed out to the lake this evening, so we won't have to deal with him. What a tool.
Stuff and random things
I got a new coworker this week, which is both good and bad. Good because I finally get another person to help me to do the work of two people. Bad, because I no longer get to blast obnoxious music at any time of the day. That could still turn out ok, though, because it turns out that she’s got good taste in music. In fact, she was at one of the Clutch shows that I attended (the one at the Quest). She was there to see Fu Manchu, though…oh well. Nobody’s perfect.
There has been no recent sign of Creepyguy. I’m starting to breathe a little bit easier. Soon he will be on his merry way. My wife had a very interesting take on the whole situation. “Honey,” she said, “There are unsavory people everywhere you go,” (ok I’m paraphrasing). “You’re going to be a lawyer, and you’re going to have to talk to lots of them, and you’re not going to want to.” That’s true, I suppose. I wanted to counter with the fact that I’ll be getting paid, but that’s not necessarily true at all. There are probably going to be plenty of people that just need to have a conversation with a lawyer but don’t have any means of payment. I expect that there will be a great many times in my life that I’ll talk with people that I don’t want to talk to, and I won’t be expecting any type of payment for it anyway. Then there is the simple fact that the practice of law is adversarial, so a lot of the people on the opposing side will be people that I just don’t want to talk to. I’m totally rambling now, but the point of this section is that this guy is not a big deal.
I’ve got beer a’brewing, and tomorrow night it shall be bottled. I’m excited about that. I still have a good bit of hefeweizen left, because I kind of held off on drinking it until it can mature a little bit more. Yum. I’m excited for my IPA. Mmm…hoppy.
Well, I’m off to work on my freeze ray.
There has been no recent sign of Creepyguy. I’m starting to breathe a little bit easier. Soon he will be on his merry way. My wife had a very interesting take on the whole situation. “Honey,” she said, “There are unsavory people everywhere you go,” (ok I’m paraphrasing). “You’re going to be a lawyer, and you’re going to have to talk to lots of them, and you’re not going to want to.” That’s true, I suppose. I wanted to counter with the fact that I’ll be getting paid, but that’s not necessarily true at all. There are probably going to be plenty of people that just need to have a conversation with a lawyer but don’t have any means of payment. I expect that there will be a great many times in my life that I’ll talk with people that I don’t want to talk to, and I won’t be expecting any type of payment for it anyway. Then there is the simple fact that the practice of law is adversarial, so a lot of the people on the opposing side will be people that I just don’t want to talk to. I’m totally rambling now, but the point of this section is that this guy is not a big deal.
I’ve got beer a’brewing, and tomorrow night it shall be bottled. I’m excited about that. I still have a good bit of hefeweizen left, because I kind of held off on drinking it until it can mature a little bit more. Yum. I’m excited for my IPA. Mmm…hoppy.
Well, I’m off to work on my freeze ray.
I just want to golf...
I haven’t exactly been impressed with the weather this summer. There have been occasions where it’s been beautiful (this past weekend, for example) but by and large it’s been full of suck. All I want to do is find some time to play some golf, and for whatever reason it’s just not happening. Here we are, another week, and rain in the forecast every single day. What is this, April? No, I’m afraid it’s June.
Aww crap, it’s already June! I’d forgotten how ridiculously quickly summer goes by. I know that I’m probably jumping the gun on comments like this – it is only the beginning of June, after all – but I know that the feeling is only going to grow as the summer continues, so I figure I’ll get my complaining started early. The upshot is that there’s only one year of school left for me, and then I’m free from school and free from the shackles of a dead-end job.
A good friend of mine, Amy Lundebrek, had her first book published. It’s all done and available for order, and I must say it’s fantastic. It’s a really cute story that points out that beautiful things can be found everywhere. It’s called “Under the Night Sky”, and it’s about going outside in the middle of the night to view the Northern Lights. You should pick up a copy, especially if you have kids. I’m not a book reviewer or a blurbist, so I’ll leave it at that. Ever since I’ve known Amy we’ve chatted about writing, and I’m proud of her for taking her passion and making something really beautiful out of it.
Other than that, it’s a pretty uneventful week so far. My coworker got a new job, so I’m stuck doing the work of two people (while, of course, only being paid for one person). It’s a hectic, frustrating, panic-attack-inducing situation that I would very much like to end. If anyone wants to work with me* (and by that I don’t mean for the same company or the same building, I mean literally in the very same office as me, in a chair that sits about ten feet away) feel free to apply for the job. It’s posted somewhere in the Star Trib, I think…
Since the forecast proves that the weather does not want me to golf, I’ll be spending the week with activities such as beer-bottling and D&D. (yes. I’m such a freaking dork). Should be awesome.
For those who like WoW, I wrote a song last night that’s full of win. Bask in the smooth harmonies of “Stranglethorn”.
*You don't. Trust me
Aww crap, it’s already June! I’d forgotten how ridiculously quickly summer goes by. I know that I’m probably jumping the gun on comments like this – it is only the beginning of June, after all – but I know that the feeling is only going to grow as the summer continues, so I figure I’ll get my complaining started early. The upshot is that there’s only one year of school left for me, and then I’m free from school and free from the shackles of a dead-end job.
A good friend of mine, Amy Lundebrek, had her first book published. It’s all done and available for order, and I must say it’s fantastic. It’s a really cute story that points out that beautiful things can be found everywhere. It’s called “Under the Night Sky”, and it’s about going outside in the middle of the night to view the Northern Lights. You should pick up a copy, especially if you have kids. I’m not a book reviewer or a blurbist, so I’ll leave it at that. Ever since I’ve known Amy we’ve chatted about writing, and I’m proud of her for taking her passion and making something really beautiful out of it.
Other than that, it’s a pretty uneventful week so far. My coworker got a new job, so I’m stuck doing the work of two people (while, of course, only being paid for one person). It’s a hectic, frustrating, panic-attack-inducing situation that I would very much like to end. If anyone wants to work with me* (and by that I don’t mean for the same company or the same building, I mean literally in the very same office as me, in a chair that sits about ten feet away) feel free to apply for the job. It’s posted somewhere in the Star Trib, I think…
Since the forecast proves that the weather does not want me to golf, I’ll be spending the week with activities such as beer-bottling and D&D. (yes. I’m such a freaking dork). Should be awesome.
For those who like WoW, I wrote a song last night that’s full of win. Bask in the smooth harmonies of “Stranglethorn”.
*You don't. Trust me
Among the Living
Apologies for the lack of correspondence lately – once summer hit, the things to blog about gave way to relaxing nights and lack of motivation to write. Also, I’ve had a heck of a time finding time to write. These two things combine, and suddenly even weekly blogging becomes less likely.
Last week was pretty rad. Everyone in my house is finally starting to feel better, which is awesome. We’re finally able to actually enjoy summer, instead of suffering on sick beds. It’s nice to be back among the living. (Spreading the Disease, Among the Living…what’s going on here? I don’t listen to nearly enough Anthrax for all of these references).
Last Thursday night I got together with Ryan and Corey and did some brewing. We all hung out in Rhyno’s driveway with turkey burners, kettles, and beer recipes. It was a fantastic time.
I woke up the next day and, as I always do in these situations, I checked on my beer to see how it was coming. Nothing was going on with it, but I didn’t worry about it. I knew that it would start fermenting soon. I went to work.I got off at noon on Friday and went home to mow my lawn before the holiday weekend. I gasped, because the airlock on top of my beer had filled completely with beer and was oozing out onto the floor. I forced myself not to panic…in situations like this (according to books on the subject of brewing and the FAQ on http://www.midwestsupplies.com/, this is an ok occurrence, because the escaping CO2 is going up and bacteria isn’t usually getting into the beer in this situation. Luckily, I had another airlock. I sanitized it and replaced the other one with a fresh airlock.
Not fifteen minutes later, I heard the new airlock clatter to the floor as my vigorous fermentation blew it from the top of the glass carboy. Yikes.
I ended up rigging up a blowoff tube, which was something I’d never done. Thankfully my kit had the necessary tubing. It appears that all is well, although I’m worried that there’s been some contamination. I always worry about that, though. I really won’t be able to tell until I’m able to taste some of the beer when I bottle it. We’ll see.
Well, that’s enough of a blog for today, I’m thinkin’. I’ll recap the weekend’s travels sometime in the near future.
Last week was pretty rad. Everyone in my house is finally starting to feel better, which is awesome. We’re finally able to actually enjoy summer, instead of suffering on sick beds. It’s nice to be back among the living. (Spreading the Disease, Among the Living…what’s going on here? I don’t listen to nearly enough Anthrax for all of these references).
Last Thursday night I got together with Ryan and Corey and did some brewing. We all hung out in Rhyno’s driveway with turkey burners, kettles, and beer recipes. It was a fantastic time.
I woke up the next day and, as I always do in these situations, I checked on my beer to see how it was coming. Nothing was going on with it, but I didn’t worry about it. I knew that it would start fermenting soon. I went to work.I got off at noon on Friday and went home to mow my lawn before the holiday weekend. I gasped, because the airlock on top of my beer had filled completely with beer and was oozing out onto the floor. I forced myself not to panic…in situations like this (according to books on the subject of brewing and the FAQ on http://www.midwestsupplies.com/, this is an ok occurrence, because the escaping CO2 is going up and bacteria isn’t usually getting into the beer in this situation. Luckily, I had another airlock. I sanitized it and replaced the other one with a fresh airlock.
Not fifteen minutes later, I heard the new airlock clatter to the floor as my vigorous fermentation blew it from the top of the glass carboy. Yikes.
I ended up rigging up a blowoff tube, which was something I’d never done. Thankfully my kit had the necessary tubing. It appears that all is well, although I’m worried that there’s been some contamination. I always worry about that, though. I really won’t be able to tell until I’m able to taste some of the beer when I bottle it. We’ll see.
Well, that’s enough of a blog for today, I’m thinkin’. I’ll recap the weekend’s travels sometime in the near future.
Plumbing woes
Yesterday was simply gorgeous weather, and today is more of the same. The big difference between yesterday and today, though, is that today I’m stuck at work. Alas for Mondays.
Yesterday was weird. Kerry had to work, and that always increases the weird factor, just because she’s not around. What really made it a pretty lame day was the plumbing disaster that we experienced. Going into yesterday I thought that plumbing was just the connection of a series of tubes, and really wasn’t that big a deal. Now I understand the necessity of plumbers.
It all started with a clog in my bathroom sink. The little teeny sink-sized plunger was no match for this clog, so I brought out the big guns: The snake. I shoved it into the pipe and tried to fight this clog. In doing so, I somehow shoved the whole drain pipe off of the sink. Smelly, disgusting water was suddenly covering my bathroom floor. Not cool.
After finally procuring a wrench that was able to properly disassemble the rigging beneath my sink, I found myself with a severe backache and pieces of pipe that I was completely unable to put back together. OK, that’s not entirely true. I knew exactly how they went together; there was just simply no existing way to put it back onto the sink. I don’t know if it had been soldered before or something, but there were no threads, nuts, or any other means of fusing the pipe to the drain. All of my wrenching efforts were in vain. The plumber was called this morning. As a plus, I now have an awesome monkey wrench. Even if I never have to use it again, the board game “Clue” has taught me that a nice monkey wrench is a viable murder weapon, and one can never have too many of those. I digress.
Before the whole plumbing fiasco on Sunday, there was a Saturday that I have as of yet failed to mention. Most of the day was pretty uneventful, but that evening Ryan, Lundo, Amy, and Brian came over to eat a whole crapload of chicken wings and play some Settlers of Catan. Much fun was had, much beer was had, and life was good.
I’m sure I’ve mentioned it already, but when I have a whole bunch of people over to hang out, and beer is involved, I never have a good morning the next day. Not because I’m hung over or anything; I worry because I think that I said something stupid that would make my friends think less of me. More than the beer, the simple fact of being a social host sometimes causes me to just…verbally vomit. Some sort of subconscious thing within me (insecurity, mayhap?) causes me to just constantly try and fill any silence. When you add any amount of alcohol to the mix, I talk louder, faster, and much, much more. My apologies to everyone that came over – I hope I wasn’t too annoying.
Yesterday was weird. Kerry had to work, and that always increases the weird factor, just because she’s not around. What really made it a pretty lame day was the plumbing disaster that we experienced. Going into yesterday I thought that plumbing was just the connection of a series of tubes, and really wasn’t that big a deal. Now I understand the necessity of plumbers.
It all started with a clog in my bathroom sink. The little teeny sink-sized plunger was no match for this clog, so I brought out the big guns: The snake. I shoved it into the pipe and tried to fight this clog. In doing so, I somehow shoved the whole drain pipe off of the sink. Smelly, disgusting water was suddenly covering my bathroom floor. Not cool.
After finally procuring a wrench that was able to properly disassemble the rigging beneath my sink, I found myself with a severe backache and pieces of pipe that I was completely unable to put back together. OK, that’s not entirely true. I knew exactly how they went together; there was just simply no existing way to put it back onto the sink. I don’t know if it had been soldered before or something, but there were no threads, nuts, or any other means of fusing the pipe to the drain. All of my wrenching efforts were in vain. The plumber was called this morning. As a plus, I now have an awesome monkey wrench. Even if I never have to use it again, the board game “Clue” has taught me that a nice monkey wrench is a viable murder weapon, and one can never have too many of those. I digress.
Before the whole plumbing fiasco on Sunday, there was a Saturday that I have as of yet failed to mention. Most of the day was pretty uneventful, but that evening Ryan, Lundo, Amy, and Brian came over to eat a whole crapload of chicken wings and play some Settlers of Catan. Much fun was had, much beer was had, and life was good.
I’m sure I’ve mentioned it already, but when I have a whole bunch of people over to hang out, and beer is involved, I never have a good morning the next day. Not because I’m hung over or anything; I worry because I think that I said something stupid that would make my friends think less of me. More than the beer, the simple fact of being a social host sometimes causes me to just…verbally vomit. Some sort of subconscious thing within me (insecurity, mayhap?) causes me to just constantly try and fill any silence. When you add any amount of alcohol to the mix, I talk louder, faster, and much, much more. My apologies to everyone that came over – I hope I wasn’t too annoying.
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