kindlyviking » beer

sparrow hawk

viking — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 04:45:44 +0000

This past weekend was an eventful one. Weeman and I spent Saturday morning running about town getting ingredients for homebrew. We’re using a recipe called “Sparrow Hawk Porter”, a really dark but sweet-tasting beer. It turns out there’s a shortage of hops, and the brewing store would only sell us 2 ounces worth. Luckily, that’s all we needed. Everything went well, except when we tried to strain the wort into the fermenter. The strainer I had ended up being way too small, and it clogged easily and often. I had to run to the store to get a bigger one (not bigger as far as mesh goes, bigger as in total size).

The yeast took a lot longer to kick in than the last time I brewed, or maybe it’s just that I was worried about it so much that it seemed longer. This afternoon it finally started foaming up really well, and now it’s flowing readily into the blow-off tube. That was a relief. I even prayed over it at one point when it seemed to be doing nothing.

So in a month we should have some kick-ass homebrew ready to drink.

Also this weekend was the US Open golf tournament, which I followed for the first time in forever. I got more interested in golf after playing with my dad and brother. It made me appreciate how amazing the pros are. It was pretty much the best golf tournament I’ve ever watched. At the end I was pulling for Rocco more than Tiger; it’s a shame he didn’t pull it off. But hey, quite an accomplishment.

We also went to Dave and Buster’s, which was fun. It wouldn’t have been as fun without the alcohol, as there really wasn’t a huge variety in games there, and the bowling alley was reserved for a private party.

Brian’s coming to visit this weekend, so I’m looking forward to that. I have to clean up the mess we made brewing beer before then, which I’m not so excited about.

scratchy throat

viking — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 02:56:21 +0000

I stayed home sick today due to a sore throat. It started to hit me last night, and I tried to head it off by eating crap tons of vitamin C, but alas. Nate is sick, too. We suspect we got it from the theme park we went to on Saturday.

My homebrew is ready to drink today, too, but unfortunately until I get better I won’t be drinking any.

I did manage to finish off Harry Potter 6 though. It read incredibly fast this time around. Only two days left until 7! I’m going to have to start my media blackout very soon to avoid any more spoilers. I’ve already seen one, and I’m quite keen on avoiding any more.

looming deadline

viking — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 02:25:48 +0000

I found out today that Harry Potter 7 comes out three days earlier than I thought, so that leaves me little time left to finish re-reading book six. I’m about halfway through. I’m starting to get really excited about the release; I just reserved my copy at Border’s here in Nashville. It’s hard to believe that seven or eight months have passed since I first really starting looking forward to it. It’s a shame that I’m going to have to read it within a day or two, because the ending will surely be all over the internet in a matter of hours, if not minutes. There are a lot of assholes out there. I’d like to be able to read it leisurely during the course of a week or two.

Lately I’ve been a bit stressed out about bills and what not. It’s not that I don’t have the money to pay them; it’s just paying them that makes me anxious.

My latest batch of homebrew will be ready to drink this Wednesday. Fun, fun.

Today we were at Saucer, and I was playing around with the oil lamp. I put a napkin in there and it caught. Leah then says, “What do you expect to happen when you stick it in there??” Look for that quote at the top.

beer bottled

viking — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 01:47:16 +0000

This morning I went to collect empty beer bottles; my current homebrew batch had been in the carboy for a week longer than normal. I went to Nate’s and got about 20, but those put together with the ones that were in my apartment only totaled about 32. So instead of buying the extra 18 or so bottles I needed, I went to the recycling center nearby. The pile of bottles in the dumpster wasn’t quite high enough to reach the door, so I had to reach inside it a bit. But I got the extra bottles I needed. I’m not sure what the people at the center thought of me leaving with a trash bag full of bottles.

With Stuffy and Joey’s help, I got the beer bottled. We tasted the uncarbonated beer, and it was pretty good. I’m looking forward to drinking it 10 days from now.

My co-worker Cole offered me a free ticket to Kentucky Kingdom for next weekend. It should be fun, and hopefully I’ll come back with my feet intact. Awful story.

I think I might try to get in touch with Brian, since he lives near there, and stay an extra night to visit. I haven’t seen him in a while.

I’ve only got a couple of days left before the fifth Harry Potter movie comes out, and I’ve still got half the book to re-read before then. I might have to spend a couple of hours tomorrow reading it. I’m looking forward to the new movie all the same.

This morning I bought Thom Yorke‘s solo album from iTunes. It’s alright. The first few songs are good, but I don’t really like the later songs as much.

Nate and I pwnd Burly today. Dag.

beer bubblies

viking — Sun, 17 Jun 2007 15:32:16 +0000

railsconf 2007

viking — Fri, 18 May 2007 17:27:49 +0000

I’m in Portland, OR, for a few days for RailsConf 2007. It’s been pretty cool so far. I’ve met some cool people and learned some new stuff. There’s about 1600 people here, all Rails enthusiasts. Pretty exciting. Also I’ve found out that Portland is one of the best micro-brewery cities in the country, so I’m definitely gonna check that out before I leave.

My flight here on Wednesday was pretty typical I suppose, including the fact that my bag didn’t arrive until Thursday morning. My favorite airline now is Alaska Airlines; the flight attendants were happy and making jokes over the intercom.

Anyway, back to the conference.

apple-y

viking — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 15:27:17 +0000

Last night we had a little get-together for St. Patrick’s day. Aside from some people coming over that I didn’t know, it turned out pretty good. Beforehand I went to Tarboosh and finally got myself a hookah. It’s a little ghetto, but that’s alright. I packed the first bowl a little too tightly, but the second bowl hit like a champ. I was pretty pleased with it overall. I still smell like apple from the flavored tobacco.

Also, I started another homebrew batch yesterday morning. I’m still using the “beginner’s” method via the pre-made hop-flavored malt extract, mainly because it’s pretty easy and the more complicated way sort of stresses me out for whatever reason.

Pizza and ultimate frisbee pickup later. And go heels!

huge pupils

viking — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 16:22:51 +0000

I went to the eye doctor yesterday, since my eyes have pretty much been effed the past week or two. Wicked eye fatigue. So they dilated my eyes to do some tests, and my pupils were friggin’ huge for 5 or 6 hours. I’ll get my new glasses either tomorrow or Thursday. I’m pretty excited about that. Until then I’m sans glasses, so I’m squinting a lot at work. =(

Simple ways to prevent cancer number 13:

Have a beer tonight. Beer protects against the bacterium Helicobacter pylori, known to cause ulcers and possibly linked to stomach cancer. But don’t overdo it. Drinking more than one or two alcoholic drinks a day may increase your risk of mouth, throat, esophageal, liver, and breast cancer.

Beer saves lives.

Sub-freezing ultimate frisbee tonight, w00t.

undefeated season

viking — Sun, 05 Nov 2006 02:00:54 +0000

Our last two ultimate games of the season were this morning, and we won both. I definately feel like I’ve improved as an ultimate player this fall, although I wish I had a bit more confidence throwing the disc. I don’t get much chance to throw the frisbee way down the field, because there are people on my team that are much better at that than I am. Oh well, I can only keep getting better.

The tournament is next week, and then that’s it for fall league 2006. It’s been fun. There wasn’t a week that I didn’t get at least a little upset, though. There’s always those super-competitive people in sports who want to win more than treat people with respect. Maybe it’s “tough love” to them or whatever. I don’t know.

Homebrew batch #2 turned out to be good. It’s not quite as flavorful as I would have liked, but it’s still good. Next time I’m gonna shoot for lots of bite. Real hoppy.

FFXII is looking pretty sharp so far. I’m impressed.

I joined the Facebook group “I Wish I Were Your Derivative So I Could Lie Tangent To Your Curves!” Awesome. I looked through the posted photos, which were mostly awesomely nerdy math jokes. I miss complex math a lot.

Pizza and ultimate pick-up tomorrow.

drunken ff12 zomg!

viking — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 18:20:23 +0000

It’s that time again… time for Burly and I to lose our souls to a video game. Final Fantasy 12 time! We’re meeting up after work to go get it, and then let the anti-socialism commence.

Oh yeah, and homebrew is ready to drink tonight! Hopefully batch #2 is the shiznit.