Random Musings

The Thinning of the Cellar

2011-10-17T22:35:00.000-07:00

So I have this "cold box" I keep the bulk of my beer in (check it out if you don't know what I'm referring to). I have mentioned a few times that I need to drink some of the beer in there to make room... for more beer to take up space, which then needs to be consumed to make room for more beer... ad infinitum.Well, I finally have been ::ahem:: working on that over the past several weeks. Since I haven't had "The Guys" over much to help me out with this laborious endeavor, I have had to tackle this beast of a "task" mostly on my own. Let me tell you, the going has been slow... but here's what I've enjoyed over the past few solitary (or shared with my brother) beer:30 sessions;

Ballast Point -- Indra Kunindra (India-Style Export Stout): This stout is brewed with curry spices, coconut, kaffir lime leaves, cayenne, and cumin. Damn! I had to go back to Holiday Wine Cellar to buy a few more bottles. I took a couple to share with the crew at The Bruery, but the rest are for the cellar. It's really good now, but let's see how this one ages! Maybe I'll have to get a few more to drink fresh. Yeah. That's it, fill that cellar back up!
Coronado Brewing Co. -- Barrel Aged Barley Wine Ale (Ale brewed with honey and aged in oak brandy barrels): Yeah, it's like that. This beer snuck up on me. Usually I prefer bourbon barrel aged barley wine ales, but this one said "Dude, respect this" and, well, I had to. It's a pretty good beer that exhibits the charactistics of its history; barley wine, brandy, oak... yep, they're in there. I had to go buy a couple more to have around in case of "emergency" situations.
Deschutes Brewery -- Fresh Hop Mirror Pond Pale Ale: Well, I think I was expecting a bit much from this beer. For some reason I was thinking "wet hop IPA" but instead I got "fresh hop pale" which was a little underwhelming. No biggie. I enjoy their "Hop in the Dark Cascadian Dark Ale" periodically.
Deschutes Brewery -- The Stoic (A Prized Potent Belgian-Styled Quad of Stirring Depth and Complexity): A wax sealed bottle. I find this intriguing... I'm going to have to find a couple more bottles of this to really help me with my assessment of this beer. The label says "[...] malt beverage brewed with pomegranite with 16.5% being aged in oak wine barrels and 16.5% being aged oak rye whiskey barrels." This demands more "investigation".
Port Brewing Co. -- High Tide Fresh Hop IPA: Nice... yeah, nice. Great fresh hop aroma and flavor. I wish this could be concentrated a bit more and bottled... wait, there are a few breweries that do this. :)
Port Brewing Co. (Carlsbad) -- Plant to Pint: Another "fresh hop" IPA. This beer was great, especally with the bright flavors in my veggie pizza in their Carlsbad location. Man, I miss getting out there to sample the fresh local brews.
Shipyard Brewing Co. -- Imperial Porter (Pugsley's Signature Series): For some reason, I thought this beer was better than it tasted this time. Last year I had a few bottles and I really enjoyed it, but this year... meh. Perhaps I'm simply jaded by the vast ocean of superb craft beers in the near vicinity.
Stillwater Artisinal/Mikkeller -- Our Side (A Collaborative Gypsy Ale): Nice. To be honest, the memory of this beer is a bit "fuzzed" by the beers before and after on the Saturday night I had this, but I remember nice hops, balanced flavors... overall, a great impression. I still have one in the cellar and will have to drink it before it is past its prime.
TJ Brewing Co. -- Cerveza Bufadora (Premium Lager Beer): Okay, so I don't like lagers for the most part. This lager I like. There. I said it. TJ Brewing Co., you can quote me on that. Congrats on bringing me back around to craft-brewed lagers!
Uinta Brewing Co. -- Cockeyed Cooper (Bourbon Barrel Barley Wine Ale - Crooked Line Series): To be honest, I was hoping for a bit more bourbon, but this beer was still good. Malts are balanced by the hops with a touch of bourbon sneaking into the flavor. I have one more in the cellar that will be busted out during Thanksgiving... to share with my brother... yeah... it's gonna go good with the whole "cooking the bird" process I undertake every year.
Jason Fields & Kevin Sheppard, Troegs, Stone Brewing Co. -- Cherry Chocolate Stout: I'm gonna be honest here... I like this beer, but I was hoping for something more viscous, like our Imperial Russian Stout. I know that the collaboration beers are just that, beers that the brewers contribute their expertise to brew.In this case Jason and Kevin contributed a great Cherry Chocolate Stout during our Homebrewer's Rally, and then we meshed it with our "Stone style" and one other brewery, namely Troegs. Ah, long story short, I have one more left and will see how it tastes in six to twelve months.
Stone Brewing Co. -- 15th Anniversary Escondidian Imperial Black IPA: I had this one in various incarnations... dry-hopped, cask, draft, and from the bottle. Holy crap! I love this beer. I'll do what I can to get this beer on the regular brewing cycle, but I don't know how much my vote will count for.
Stone Brewing Co. -- 2009 Imperial Russian Stout: Um, see the next entry, but substitute IRS or OG. yeah, this is my second favorite beer that Stone produces.
Stone Brewing Co. -- 2009 Old Guardian Barley Wine-Style Ale: What's a growler fill among friends... er... among worthy beer peers? It's nice to work for Stone and get a chance to compare Archive beers to what I have in my cellar. Sometimes I take the time to pop open a bottle from my collection if I doubt the storage conditions my bottles have endured. Usually, however, I consider the growler fill a progress report, a status update to let me know how my beer is aging. "OG" is my favorite among the Stone beers I can get throughout the year, but I only can buy a case each winter. Hmm... the dilemma... how many can I drink before I sequester the remaining bottles deeper into my beer archive? Four? Six? Eight?! Often times, the count is eight. I force one into the "permanent" archive" and keep the rest in the "drinking shelf"
Stone Brewing Co. -- Lukcy Basartd: Another progress report. I've always thought of this beer as OAKED 1.5 Bastard, as irreverent as that sounds. Alas, this beer was not intended to age, and that is starting to really show. I don't think it's bad, but it seems to be a bit past it's prime. I only have a bottle or two left, so they will probably disappear during the holidays.
Stone Brewing Co. -- Arrogant Bastard Ale: A sixth barrel on tap at home. Please see the IPA keg entry below...
Stone Brewing Co. -- IPA: this is a sixth barrel (5.16 gallons) I have on tap at home. I would have to say that this is my favorite IPA. Working at Stone has provided me the rare opportunity to sample a countless number of IPAs over the years... and I keep coming back to Stone IPA. It's just that good. I'd probably say the same thing if I didn't work there and have a nigh endless supply readily available.
There are probably others, but my son and I have actually made a run to the local recycler to exchange the bottles for $$$ he is applying toward his personal college fund. Hey, gotta teach 'em young, or they may never appreciate the value of it!

Not counting the small multitude of beers that I had to select from during the Volunteer Appreciation Party

The Bruery -- Tart of Darkness
Ska Brewing Co. -- Steel Toe
Stone Brewing Co. -- 13th Anniversary Ale
... and seven others which I don't recall immediately... but will update this blog if I remember and have the time.

While I am at it, here are a few beers I tasted while at the tasting room at The Bruery in Anaheim this past Saturday, all of them damn fine:

Oude Tart
Humulus Wet
Birra Basta
Autumn Maple
and a pair of Belgian-style golden ales (one spicy) that I can't remember the somewhat goofy name of and aren't in RateBeer's list! That's the spirit of craft beer.

All in all, it's a tragic situation I find myself in, isn't it? ::snicker:: Okay, so I am enjoying it, but I really think my beer is for sharing! Friends across the globe, you know who you are, I emplore you, visit and let's pare down the number of bottles in the larder together!

...and yet I have neglected this blog for five months. ::sigh:: I presume you're used to it by now. We'll see each other again soon enough. Cheers!

Fiction: Out Back

2011-05-16T21:55:00.000-07:00

Just ahead, deep shadows had gathered behind Badger's place hiding the delivery entrance from sight. A glint of light in the darkness--a reflection from the parking lot lights across the alley--drew me to the fire escape's ladder. Using the planter wall as a launching platform, I ran up it and kicked off toward the lowest rung. Reaching up, my fingers caught a hold of the painted metal and I tightened my grip. My momentum carried my legs forward straining my grip.

"Damn it!" My right hand pulled free. I twisted, nearly losing grip with my left hand. I windmilled my right arm to get my body to twist back. Slowly, I turned far enough to get both hands on the rung again--just in time too, as I was starting to lose grip with my other hand. I monkeyed up the ladder until I could get my feet up to the bottom rung.

"Just like high school." I noted to myself as I climbed up the ladder. I clambered up to the second floor and tucked in next to the window. I remembered coming up here with Badger's brother, Doug. Their dad hated us using the fire escape to get into their apartment above the shop. Badger usually ratted us out to their dad. He was a jerk back then too.

I settled against the brick and tried to gather my thoughts. The "Devils" gang were after me. The cops were following me too. I am single and live alone in the house my grandma left me. My job as a support desk technician was boring, or at least that's what Ed, my neighbor, tells me. Most of my friends lived about twenty miles away and lead similar lives. My collection of paperback books and roleplaying games wasn't valuable to anyone other than geeks like me. My fridge has three different kinds of mustard, half a bottle of Coke, some tortillas, a partial bucket of leftover fried chicken, and some bleu cheese. Well, maybe it's simply blue. I didn't have much if value outside of my backpack and laptop.

Wait.

My laptop.

There was that side job I did for Amy in customer service a couple of weeks ago. She needed me to repair her laptop hard drive. After doing the work, she said she would pay me after we got paid. She didn't show up for work after that and I thought she went back to Denver to help her sister take care of their mother. I should have figured that story was a lie. Who skips out on almost two weeks of pay? I had a copy of her hard drive in my pack on my external drive just in case she showed up looking for it again.

This spot, sitting on a fire escape ten feet off the ground with the Devils chasing me, was not the place to fire up the laptop to go mining for valuable data.

Coming out of my self-reflection, I listened for the booming of the street racer's stereo. I couldn't hear that noise or the whining of it's exhaust. I took the risk and climbed down the ladder. My backpack and laptop bag pulling me down faster than I cared to go.

Landing again on the back entryway, I turned toward the rear entrance to the liquor shop.

Rave: Secrets, Like Dragons

2011-04-19T23:24:00.000-07:00

Here's something worth knowing about...

A longtime friend of mine, Steven Schend, has launched a Kickstarter project and I ask my friends here to seriously consider supporting it. The project is called "Secrets, Like Dragons..." and can be found at http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1136561409/secrets-like-dragonsare-tales-untold. Steven has a goal of publishing a collection of short stories as what I hope will be the first of many stories set in his world of Kharndam. I have had the privilege of reading many of Steven's stories over the years and am looking forward to the interpretations of his world at the hands of the authors he is working with. Those who know him and his writing will agree, he is a bit of a perfectionist (in the positive sense) and always strives to produce the best written work possible, and I know this will carry through in this Kickstarter project. So, again, I ask you to contribute to Steven's project... You won't be let down.

Been here before?

2011-04-11T22:21:00.000-07:00

Ever have one of the days when you realize you were busy and accomplished quite a bit, but you're not exactly sure what you did? You started your day with a list of things to do, but by the end of the day, you're staring at that very same list of things that still need to be done. "That can't be right!" you think. You're tired and need to sit down, get a bite to eat and grab a beer*. Relaxed, you review the day. You were out there, doing stuff, going places, meeting people, and making "it" happen. (aww man, it just happened again... I lost big chunk of text... Like half of this... The agony of delete on an iPad I suppose... Where's undo?)

I've had one of those weeks. Eight days actually. Meetings. "putting out fires." lots of work. More meetings. A quick weekend that wasn't as restful as I needed and then it started all over again. I missed last week's Monday night blog posting (sorry about that) due to the fast paced blur that life has been lately. I'm determined to get the situation back under control.

I hope your day has been better than mine.

* - beer, or beverage of choice. I like to have a beer when my day ends.

Fiction: Two Blocks

2011-03-28T22:59:00.000-07:00

I slowed slightly to catch a deep breath or two and heard a slow thumm-thumm of the green car's bass pulsing louder to my right.

"Shit!" I blurted. The gangers had somehow whipped a tight U on the crowded street and were about to turn onto Hickory. I picked up the pace, separating myself from the street by a couple of backyards.

"Yeah, yeah, keep runnin' Guero. You know what they say? You only gonna die tired!" shouted the ganger from the alley near my place. He had seen too many movies, but I could hear his footfalls as he jogged towards me. Old Lady White's place was only four houses up, so I dug harder at the broken asphalt of the alleyway. The thumm-thumm of the street racer's stereo was booming reverberating in my chest.

"Hey!" came a different voice from the street. "Aye!" The car was at the foot of the alley!

"Hah-huh!" I laughed, realizing why they weren't following me into the alley; the lowered street racer was not able to easily navigate the dip between the street and the alley. Finally, a stroke of luck! A second bit of luck graced my path a heartbeat later. The gnarled trunks of the old trees that peppered the sides of the alleyway jutted deeply into the narrow road. I ducked to the right and kept running, hoping the venerable tree trunks hid my path.

"Chaaarlieee," the voice called--was that Roberto in the car? "Where are you going? We live here too, you know, man."

Only one more more backyard separated me from my path to Broadway. I tried to listen while I ran to Old Lady White's back gate. I could hear two sets of feet jogging toward me as the exhaust of the street racer whined its way quickly to my my right and started up Fourth. They were working hard to catch me... almost too hard. Another grizzled tree trunk provided some concealment ahead and I ducked out and around it and, catching a familiar branch, vaulted over the picket fence and into Mrs. White's yard.

I landed somewhat hard, grabbing at the rotting leaves and branches as I pushed myself up. I had mowed this yard several times as a kid, so I was hoping to grasp one of those branches that had often kicked out at my shins. "Oh, score!" I stood up, carrying a thick twig toward the gate's latch. Jamming it into the padlock hole, I spun back toward the front gate I knew was there.

I hurdled the gate--just like I did in high school while practicing for track--and continued running toward the sidewalk. I could hear the thumm-thumm of the car's bass somewhere near Ivy. I had to move quickly.

Sprinting across the street, I veered back towards Hickory and kept running in the direction of Badger's place.

My lungs were burning as I got back to Hickory and turned left towards Broadway. The traffic on Second Avenue was blocking my path. Thank goodness for old city blocks, as they were much smaller than the ones I'd seen in the new housing tracts in the suburbs, but I still had to get the liquor store. I squeezed through a break in traffic and continued on my path.

I couldn't hear the gangers behind me anymore, but that didn't mean they weren't looking for me. I found a burst of energy to get me through a small break in traffic on Second, generating only one irritated honk before I landed on the opposite curb. I ran down the block within sight of Broadway and paused to listen. I could faintly hear the thumming bass of the ganger's car behind me--almost directly behind me. If I could get this far this fast, they could do it in half the time if they figured out where I went.

I found a new source of energy and bolted across Broadway, looking to the alleyway beyond. From the edges of my vision, I could see the neon traced name of "Broadway Liquor" lighting up the street. I needed to find the fire escape behind Badger's place before I knew if I was going to make it tonight.

Steampunk Speaker Stands

2011-03-27T23:55:00.000-07:00

One of the things I like to do in the studio is listen to music. I have created a space dedicated to listening to music while sitting comfortably in recliners. Prior to this weekend, I had the speakers perched on whatever I could find to coax the speakers to ear-level. "Whatever I could find" didn't always sit well with me.

However, in an effort to trim down the project list, I sought to create and complete something this weeked. I nearly achieved my goal... you'll see what I mean at the end.

I have the Onkyo 7.1 system wired up to various components, including my computer (on the other side of the old gray desk, destined to be refinished... yet another project on the list). I found this ordinary ladder shelf at Lowe's and repurposed it to be a stereo component shelf. I'll add an isolation box for my turntable after I have knocked out some of the projects in my list. I have seen various designs for stereo racks online, but I think this one works rather well. I was able to buy it for just over $100. Assembly and installation took about one hour. I still need to create some cable management to route component and speaker cables through, but that can be a quick task one of these nights. I will then add the additional DVD changer and cassette player to the rack. After all this, a question still remains: How do I get the sound into the room without resorting to speaker mounting that seems out of place with the steampunk motif I am nurturing and without sacrificing sound quality?.

I had a burst of inspiration: Why not use wrought iron stair ballisters as speaker mounts? I went to the metal supply company that happens to have a "sister" store in the front which specializes in ornate metalwork. The idea grew from there. I could get all the parts needed to mount speakers to a post and I found some other parts that triggered further ideas. What about using the spare white oak 4x6 posts I had? That could work.

So this weekend I decided to complete something. I took a couple 4x6s and cut them down to create seven blocks of roughly the same size.

I drilled 1/2" holes at a "strategic point" (hopefully somewhere close to the ideal balance point). If you have a drill press, I recommend using it as your holes will be at 90 degrees to the base.

Take a 1/2" chisel and mark the corners of the hole you need to mortise. I do happen to have a mortising jig, but the density of this oak made its use impractical. I removed the wood with a chisel, occassionally needing the help of a hammer.

Here's a photo of the additional parts I found while wandering the metal supply store. Wooden base, steel post with decorations, and finally the simple rod mounts (not yet hammered into place by a ball peen hammer and then glued.)

i drilled two holes to accept some 3 inch rods to strategicly hold the speaker on the post..

After assembling everything, here's what they look like. They are simple for now, but they don't sacrifice too much to get a good look. Now if I can only figure out what color I'm painting the iron and what kind of stain I want to use on the base. Maybe I will even find some acoustically transparent cloth to keep the Victorian flair going.

The Studio, pt 1

2011-03-27T23:00:00.000-07:00

Above the garage we have this room I like to call "the studio". It's a space about 24ft wide by 22ft deep. I think it was listed as a "game room" when we bought the house. When a friend needed a place to stay after his divorce, it was known as “Josh’s place”. When my wife was pregnant with our son, it became known as "the junk room", the dumping ground for everything that was in the room formerly known as "our office" and now known as our "son's bedroom". During his toddler years, it was all but lost to us. I'd brave the dust and piles of random stuff to escape into a book or drink a beer and listen to music undisturbed. Slowly but surely I reclaimed the room, chipping away at the junk that was put up here (95% of it mine admittedly), donating some things, throwing away others, or simply finding a decent home for the rest. My wife surrendered her claim to the space and started calling it my "man cave" (she's getting her own office in our home impending remodel).

About five years ago, I started thinking over the space.

I am not one to have a "man cave" in the grunting, crotch-scratching, poker-playing, football-watching, beer-guzzling sense. That image actually bothers me. I needed something else… something that had the Victorian feel of the rest of the house, but allowed for technology in a complimentary sense… something that reflected my "jack of all trades" tinkering mindset… and something that looked like it had been here for 115 years… or more.

With that thought in mind, I recalled the feeling of awe I experienced when my wife and I were touring the various rooms of Hearst Castle. A few of the rooms, Hearst purchased in Europe, had them meticulously disassembled, and then reassembled them inside of a newly built room in his mansion. Most of his other rooms were “gathered together”… this is my definition, but essentially, what they all had in common was a feeling of age. Permanence. History. It was as if the rooms were built in the twelfth century and had been lived in ever since, it’s inhabitants gathering things on their travels and bringing them together in these rooms over generations. I felt I was walking into rooms that were a few hundred years old, not ones that were less than a hundred. There was something to be learned here.

I also had been introduced to the term "steampunk" by a friend of mine. Shawn said "What? You've never heard of 'steampunk'? Holy crap, Bryon!! You of all people I know should know what steampunk is! You are one and you don't know about it? Wow!" He was flummoxed. Shawn was one of a handful of people who had known me since childhood and he was completely right. I have been a steampunk my entire life and I didn’t even know it.

So I toured some more houses and museums, took and reviewed photos, searched online, and looked into this “steampunk” thing seeking a design for “the studio”. I did some sketches and gathered ideas together as photos and notes in my computer. I did a lot of this. Heck, I still am.

As some of you know, I was fortunate enough to come into some free lumber. Not a lot, mind you, but I stumbled upon enough weathered lumber to use in the studio and give it that sense of age and weight. There were several white oak 4x6s chunks around 2.5 feet long and three 2x6s at 5.5 feet long. There were also some large pieces of mahogany, 3x16 and 5.5 feet long inches long. I got lucky. To me, these were the components necessary to build my bar.

My grandfather gave me his 1960’s vintage Shopsmith about nine years ago to help me fabricate the parts necessary to maintain an old house. (Thanks, Grandpa!) This tool, above the others I have acquired, is invaluable.

My ideas started making the leap from my brain to paper and even into physical shape... but I wasn't content with simply buying things at the local hardware and furniture stores.

Hardly. I started building.

First, I tore out the closet and built a cellar (aka “cold box”). Then I installed beer faucets and started building a bar. Embarrassingly enough, that was about a year ago. I’ve tweaked some designs, cut some lumber, and re-tweaked some designs. Along the way, I have made a few strategic purchases at hardware stores and antique shops, getting this bit of hardware or that interesting piece of furniture, all the while taking reference photos when something “spoke to me”.

Now I find myself staring at a "meta-project", a project of projects: "The Studio". It has become a collection of projects that will not be complete until all of the sub-projects are they themselves complete. I have become more aware of my incomplete project workload recently, so this realization bugs me. I have added this new project to the nigh infinite list in an effort to start whittling away at it.

Hence, "The Studio pt 1" begins.

Fiction: The Alley

2011-03-22T00:17:00.000-07:00

Turning right down the alley, I jogged toward Hickory Street, trying to keep as quiet as I could.

"Hey! Guero! Going somewhere?" said a voice behind me to my right

"Yeah," I replied, not turning my head to look at the source of the voice, "Some guy is following me. Jump him instead."

"You think you're funny, Homes?" the voice replied, somewhat irritated. "Micky, stop this punk!"

A hulk of a man stepped into my path at the end of the alley--Miguel McDonnell.

I picked up my pace, figuring I could fake to one side and get past him on the other. Remembering I had watched this guy play a few years of high school football, I wasn't very sure of my plan.

Miguel's face was coming into focus, a fleshy moon pocked by acne scars and freckles. He puckered his face in anger, puffy wrinkles enveloping his eyes.

I started sprinting right at Miguel, edging slightly to the left. He lifted his arms, sighed heavily, and dropped into a slight crouch, matching my leftward drift and getting ready to absorb my impact.

Just before colliding, I swerved to the right. He had anticipated my feint, and grunted loudly as he lunged at me, his arms reaching for my torso. Still running as fast as I could, I whipped my hiking staff in a downward arc at his head. He must not have seen the staff as a threat because the impact hit solidly, nearly knocking me over. I stumbled sideways, and saw him slumping over backwards out of the corner of my eye.

The lack of a noise from Miguel told me he would not be chasing me. I might be in the clear if I could keep away from his friends. I did, however, hear his friend start talking in unintelligible quick phrases, so my luck was starting to turn.

Rather than running out onto my street and drawing more attention to myself, I crossed Hickory and continued parallel to it down the alley toward Grape Street. My new route would take me an extra block out of my way, but the alley was dark and their car was facing the wrong way on a narrow street; they would have to circle around the block to cut me off. I also figured I could cut through Old Lady White's yard if things got more complicated.

Fiction: Packing Up

2011-03-15T00:00:00.000-07:00

[here's a quick writing exercise to get the synapses firing on the other side of my brain.]

I knew I had to visit Badger next, but I also knew I would regret it in more ways than one. For starters, Badger wasn’t just his nickname, it was his personality. He seemed to be perpetually angry with any person who entered into his lair. Second, he shared his lair with Tiffany, an ex-girlfriend of mine. Once we had been going out for a while, she realized I was set in my ways and wasn't going to fall for her manipulations. She said she had to go, though I didn’t know she would go two blocks over and wind up with the guy who runs the liquor store. Personally, I think she discovered Badger was all settled in, made decent money, and wasn’t going anywhere. Finally, there were the guys I saw sitting in their cars.

I ran upstairs and, without turning on the bedroom light, pulled aside the curtain to get a better look down at the cars on the street. By the looks of the black sedan, it was an unmarked police car of some kind. The cops--or maybe even federal agents--were still sitting there watching and waiting. I couldn’t see much of the other car, but I knew what little I saw earlier well enough; a green street racer with a few of the gang bangers I had pissed off still probably sitting inside. "Damn!" I didn’t hear its tuned exhaust or booming bass echoing off the old buildings down the street, so it had to be a couple doors down still. If the cops didn’t believe me and the gangers were still after me, I had to move.

I carefully eased the curtain into place, pulled my backpack from the bedroom closet and stuffed some clothes and my hiking boots in it. Good thing I had repacked my gear after the last trip with the guys. I flicked on the light switch and closed the door. At the base of the stairs, I grabbed the aluminum bat from the coat closet and shoved it in the pack too. My hiking prep routine kicked in and I grabbed some energy bars and started filling the water bladder in my pack.

“Dammit! I’m taking too long.” I don’t know how I looked when I walked down the sidewalk and entered my condo—I tried not to look across the street at the cops and pretended not to notice the gangers down the street—but my panic was starting to manifest now. My hands were shaking when I turned off the water and sealed up the water reservoir.

“Laptop! What did I do…?” I spun back toward the front door and grabbed the bag I dropped there on my way in. My backpack and laptop bag were too much to carry, but I didn’t know where I was going or when I would be coming back here. A shadowy form, silhouetted by the light filtering from windows across the street, was slowly opening the gate. Hustling back to the kitchen, I shouldered my pack, picked up my hiking staff, and carefully opened the door.

Slipping outside, I locked the door and carefully pulled it closed. I tried to listen for the guy at the front door but all I could hear was my pulse pounding in my ears. I ran to the back gate and opened it into the alley. Under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t be caught dead in the alley this time of night, but if I didn’t risk it, I’d probably be found dead here anyway.

Living in the Future, pt 1

2011-03-07T22:41:00.000-08:00

Do you ever sit back from whatever you're doing at a particular moment in time and observe what you were doing? You know, from a perspective removed from the here and now? Like some outside observer looking in on your own life? Every once in a while I do and it sort of amazes me, not what I'm doing, but the things themselves.

Looking at the gadgets around me, I find it really staggering that my phone probably has more computing power than my PC ten years ago (I may still have that PC!). For that matter, I remember how cool I thought it was to get my first cellular phone. Do you know what it could do? It could make phone calls! ::gasp:: Come to think of it, I think it also made the opposite ear warm with its radio emissions and could sterilize a rabbit at ten yards! (I know, I know, cheap jokes.) What else is around me? Hmm...

This laptop I am working on is pushing 18 months old and people usually remark "that's a big laptop" in shock upon seeing it. I smile and assure them "it's not just a laptop, it's a desktop replacement. This thing's got horsepower, a BluRay and a widescreen!" They just look at me and say "Oh." before finding somewhere else to be. While they may not be impressed, I sure as hell am. I can watch a 1080p movie while on a trip. I can crunch some numbers in seriously big spreadsheets. I can render fractal graphics and export animated video sequences in moments. Just try to do that in a few hours with your ol' Pentium... 486... 386... 286... XT/AT. XT/AT? Whoa! That's a blast from the past. Heck, my XT/AT had an actual selector switch to run in accellerated mode. You think I ever turn that switch off? You're right. I never did. NEH-EH-VUR! Oh... speaking of that XT/AT, I upgraded the video card in that sucker eventually, so I could display multiple shades of green! In hindsight, I think it was just dithering... like I am now... back to my point. Living in the future is so freakin' cool.

I have an iPad to my left, opposite my Windows Phone 7 HTC phone to the right of my laptop. I enjoy using the iPad as a reading platform, and plan to make better use of some new(-ish) apps. Yet, even as a glorified book and/or newspaper, it's great. Plus, if I get too tired to really focus on something and viola, I can zoom in for a closer look. (ewe, I feel that creeping on.). The phone is pretty good as a phone, but the other functions seem somewhat hobbled when compared to my "old" HTC Tilt2 Windows 6.5 phone. Even so, both devices provide me with access to enormous amounts of information and data. Data that I can't live without. At least, I think I can't live without it.

In contrast, my upbringing was grounded in some basic tenets that many people my age probably didn't get to experience. For starters "my upbrining was grounded" is a somewhat humorous choice of words... mostly due to my idiocy combined with somewhat strict parents. (I digress. Again.) I learned some valuable hands on skills from my parents and both sets of grandparents. Basic carpentry, woodworking, metalworking, machining, cooking, camping, drafting, and other hands-on skills. Hah! Hands-on. I had a vivid memory this morning of splitting wood with a sledgehammer and steel splitting wedges! It's not the work that shapes the boy into a man, it's the endless frustrations experienced while splitting eucalyptus firewood. (Eucalyptus is a pain in the ass to split.) I still lean back on some of those skills as a bit of therapy. A cathartic release. Also, when I'm done using whatever skill I have engaged on a project, there's usually something tangible to show for it. I can look at the bench seat to my left and know I built it with my own hands... and some power tools.

Spending my days working within the digital realm is a little less rewarding. Sure, I take pride in the work I (and my team) generate, but when the computer is turned off, or I'm talking to someone less technologically inclined, the accomplishments amount to little more than an oversized paperweight, some cheap parlour tricks, or a punchline to a weak joke. Yet I stubbornly keep at it because I love working in the Information Technology realm. Working in the brewing industry makes it that much better.

Having grown up in the '70s and '80s, I grew up around home computers, and as an adult, it seems that my life around computers makes dealing with today's technology that much more like second-nature. I "ask" it for something and I get what I wanted.

Now if I can only remember where I put it.

* This entry ended up being more negative that I was intending when I started, but I am going to let it stand. Perhaps, when I get around to writing "pt 2", I can steer the story back into a positive light. For now, it stands as is.

** Also, this was written as I really started to fade towards sleep... must go now... zzzz.

Tasting Notes: Mikkeller Single Hop IPAs, pt 1

2011-03-01T21:57:00.000-08:00

Since Steven asked for it, I'll deliver a mini review of the beers for the night.

Before I get started, I should probably explain the concept of Mikkeller's Single Hop IPAs... or at least my understanding of why they were made. Hops make an IPA, and there are many different kinds of hops out there for the brewers of the world to experiment with. Mikkel took the experimentation to its natural conclusion: create a base IPA beer recipe then change out the hops to showcase the unique characteristics of a particular hop. Pretty damn cool if you ask me. (I've done a similar experiment with yeast strains in a couple of carboys of the same homebrewed stout, and I was pleased with the results.) Anyway, on to the tasting notes...

First up was the beer I had with dinner tonight: Mikkeller Tomahawk Single Hop IPA. I forgot that Tomahawk is another name for Columbus, which has a higher alpha acid percentage ("bitterness" to make it easy). That bitterness carried through past the other flavors on my palate... meaning it blew away my palate, makng everything else harder to taste. Pairing it with the somewhat bitter Lacinato kale—the veggie in tonight's dinner—was probably a mistake, as the nuances of bitterness and flavor were mostly lost. As I like to drink my beers on the "warmer" side, I should have let it warm up to about 40 degrees F. Also, I think the "best by" date is exaggerated for the international market, which further exacerbates the lost subtleties of the hop characteristics of this beer. I know better... drink IPAs fresh, slightly warmer than the 'fridge temp, and in a good tulip glass to accentuate the hop aromas. Sorry Mikkel, I know this beer is good, but I didn't treat it properly. [RateBeer.com: 98 pts]

Tonight's second beer is Mikkeller East Kent Golding Single Hop IPA. I'll start by saying I made the same mistakes with all six of the Mikkeller Single Hop IPAs I have left (drank a few back in late December). Now that I gotten the "baggage" out of the way, I can say that I really enjoyed this beer. I can taste "through" the age to what this beer was when it was fresh: another fine beer. The bitterness was less than the Tomahawk (duh!), with a subtle fruity-hop sweetness still present. There is a bit of grassy hop flavor present, but I'm struggling to get the rest of the flavors quantified from my "flavor-memory" of an hour ago. [RateBeer.com: 90 pts]

Since I decided to indulge the tasting notes request, I figured I should add a third beer to tonight's list to round it out. Normally I stop at two beers on weeknights, sometimes having just one, but tonight, well, what the heck! The third beer is Mikkeller Nelson Sauvin Single Hop IPA and... uh... Wow! Nice, especially given the "baggage" that I know is dragging down this beer. I'm tasting... grapefruit and... hmm... something tropical in the hop flavors. The malts, like the other beers listed above, are present but not overpowering or massive like in an Imperial IPA. I am glad I'm drinking this now, as the beer is on the downward slope of its flavor peak. Among the three beers tonight, this is the best in my opinion. [RateBeer.com: 98]

Tonight's Tasting Notes soundtrack (highlights):

Ramasutra - Daisy
Enigma - Seven Lives
Nikkfurie de la Caution - Thé à la menthe
Nine Inch Nails - The Good Soldier (instrumental version)
Add N to (X) - Poke 'er 'ole
Crystal Castles - Alice Practice
Oingo Boingo - Ain't This the Life (from the vinyl "Urgh! A Music War")

Lesson Learned: Drink IPAs fresh, dammit! (I already knew that, but ignored it with these beers for some reason. Feh!)

Just a Note

2011-03-01T09:25:00.000-08:00

I am blocking out Monday evenings as my time to write. Maybe I'll even write on alternating Friday evenings too. It's barely a start, but it's something. I listened to a podcast from "Writing Excuses" on the author's responsibility to the reader and it motivated me. Then Kevin politely nudged me and some other friends. I have also gotten involved in a new writing project with Steven and Ed (more on that later) and it has further motivated me. Let's see if I can stick to the plan and have more than 40 posts in 2011.

I Don't Like Mondays

2011-02-28T22:49:00.000-08:00

I don't like Mondays.

Seriously. I dislike them.

Honestly speaking, though, I'm not going to go on a shooting spree like Brenda Ann Spencer merely because "I don't like Mondays". I am also not going to write a song about it, partly because Bob Geldof beat me to it years ago, but most especially because I don't have a shred of musical talent. Instead, I'll write a blog post about it.

For me, Mondays mark the end of a good thing and the beginning of a thing less desirable. Obviously, to a great number of you, going back to work fits this definition, but I'm not necessarily referring to the obvious. I am referring to the transition from the wonderfully cathartic outlets of the weekend back to the manic hustle that is my work week. That transition is why Monday is drawing my contempt. Occasionally the transition doesn't hit me until I've been at work for an hour or so, but usually the reality hits sometime within a few minutes of waking up. You know, it's the "damn, I have to wake up, get my son and I moving, and haul our butts where they need to be" realization. (My wife has long since left the house.)

To me this transition is especially rude, because its counterpart, the shift to a weekend's unwinding, is slow. The transition to the weekend mindset is like sliding into a steaming bath or hot tub. Sure, it might hurt a little at first, but once you've eased yourself in there... whoa... you know it feels good. In contrast, the Monday transition marking the end of the weekend is probably much like looking over at your empty beer glass surprised to see one more swallow of beer, only to find out the hard way that some jerk has poured in a finger's depth of malt vinegar into it. Well, since I was the jerk in that scenario, perhaps I need to come up with another analogy (though in hindsight, it was pretty rude, but it was also pretty funny). I think you get the point. Mondays are especially annoying when they show up disguised as a Tuesday or some other day of the week.

Sure, getting into the "day off mindset" is sometimes as fast as walking out the lobby doors at work on a Friday night, but normally it happens sometime during the late afternoon Saturday. That leaves a little over a day to enjoy my "weekend". If I get a call from work, the time to relax gets more compressed, in direct opposition to the concept of relaxing.

Perhaps I simply need to unbolt the responsibility of work and go on a vacation for a week. Vacations have a way of undoing a few Mondays.

* Thanks goes to Steven E. Schend for suggesting today's subject. I told him my intention and he supplied the title, which led me swiftly to the introduction.

** Also, I love my job. I just need to unwind once in a while.

Chap Hop Bout

2010-11-08T21:00:00.000-08:00

Well then. I shudder to think of how long it has been since I posted something here. :shudder:: Now that I've gotten that out of the way, I will share something that brought a bit of humor to my day...

First, if you have no idea what Chap Hop is, then I recommend you watch the next video to get the fast introduction:

If your musical tastes are anything like mine, you took a perverse pleasure in that! Now that you've had a brief encounter with Chap Hop, watch this:

Professor Elemental has thrown down the gauntlet and I sincerely hope Mr. B The Gentleman Rhymer comes out of his corner with gloves on and in good form.

Gentlemen Rhymers, this bout is abiding by Queensberry Rules, and I expect a few rounds before the match is called. Fight!

Update Update

2010-06-17T23:05:00.000-07:00

I don't know about you all, but some days it can really suck being busy. Too busy, that is, to really get out and participate in that thing called "life". I have been working some long-ish days lately and, by the time I get home, my brain is threatening to leak out of my ears as some over-used liquid (or a gel). By the time the weekend rolls around, I am more interested in spending time being with my family and friends or working on the backyard... more interested in that than updating the blog. Yes, it has suffered a bit. It seems that family and friends who are more distant have suffered a bit as well, so I felt it was due time to update the blog to include everyone in the happenings.

Work - Yes, my job has its rewards, but when too much work stacks up—for a myriad reasons—it can be a bit stressful, if not downright painful. I'm chugging through things, delegating tasks, outsourcing others, and have even identified a new position I need to fill. (The Muse says I must stop talking about work... so I will comply)

Family - My wife is done teaching for the year and is moving to a different (and I daresay more affluent) school. A good summer's rest has been well earned. Our son is transferring schools to now attend the same school my wife teaches at. This should save time for everyone! He is enjoying Taekwondo classes, now on his second colored belt.

Friends - Among the "guys" (which also happens to include the wives/fiancees/girlfriends) we have been drawn closer by the sudden death of Shawn. We don't yet know why, but hopefully that will come in due time. "Fenn", you're missed! Everyone else, please know you can share whatever is on your mind!

Projects - ACK!!! A list of what is perhaps the meat of this post—or merely an "index" of posts to come—here is what I'm doing as a bit of stress relief:

Fountain - The fountain is nearly complete, requiring some adjustments to the "return" pump gallons per minute as well as the float switch that serves as a safety to prevent the pump from emptying the fountain into the alley behind our property.
Backyard landscaping - Thanks to a lot of pent up stress in need of some form of release, as well as some much needed help from Sterling Landcare Co., the yard is getting closer to completion. The patio needs to be leveled with a final layer of decomposed granite before I can set the bluestone and bricks. Nearby, the vegetable and herb garden is several weeks old and starting to offer up its bounty (a bit), netting us strawberries, sweet basil, and French marjoram. Green bell peppers, eggplant, butternut squash, baking pumpkins (probably too many), leeks, zucchini, chamomile, spearmint, and pineapple mint are all still settling in. Other plants will be added as we complete the entire garden plot... it's probably about 20% built out. (I've even considered aquaponics to conjoin the fountain/fish pond and the garden... and then slapped myself for considering another complex backyard project)
Coldbox - Okay, so there's not a lot of progress here, but I keep considering a few tweaks here and there... better hinges, a furred out frame on the latch side, finish work on the hinge-side frame, a better cooling system (or at least a way to fully chill the kegs separate from the bottle cellar), vintage temperature guages, and quick disconnects for all the keg lines.
Bar - Now that the cabinetry is in, it's easier to see the shape. With a mini-refrigerator inside, plus a wine 'fridge and the cellar next to it, the beverage supply is handled. I need to complete what would normally be the drip tray system (but in my case is an assembly of copper piping and assorted fittings) to manage any stray drips and runoff. I also have to get a bunch of hardware from various sources... enough info on this to be it's own post... like several of these items
Tools - My 1960-vintage Shopsmith Mark V, the most important tool in my shop, broke about three months ago. I've been so damn busy that it took me until this week to order and receive the pieces I need to get it back up and running. I'm looking forward to fixing it on Saturday... after I spend the day at work cutting over to a new SQL cluster.
Beers - Sure, I've posted some tasting notes here and there, but I've been pretty lax about that. Sorry. Usually by the time I'm done drinking them, I don't feel like posting about them (or maybe just can't see myself focusing long enough on the weaving keyboard and shifting screen to actually complete it). I will do better on this. I've got more tools at my disposal now, so it should not be as difficult (or at least I'll have fewer excuses).
Music - I have been neglecting this area worse than most others. Sure, I love music, but I have so much that getting new music hasn't been a priority. However, I did find time to see a Beats Antique and The Mutaytor show at the Belly Up Tavern. I bought a couple of CDs while there and will have to share some of that—as well as other great music—through blip.fm now that I have an account. I also got Abney Park's "Aether Shanties" for Christmas (thanks Hon) to go with my nearly complete "Vault" collection of Abney Park tunes. Other stuff has been catching my ear now wand then.
House remodel planning(!) - yeah, me ("Iron Man") and my family are in the process of planning for a remodel. The house needs some repairs and there are certain things that we just simply don't like, so we're going to fix them. The "new" portion of the house will get a complete overhaul, becoming a two story structure that looks like it has always been part of the house... as opposed to the strange collision between an 1895 Victorian farmhouse that is being "violated" by a 1970's California ranch.

That should... wait... I forgot "Miscellaneous", normally the largest section! ::sheesh:: I could go on for a very long time, but I'll stick to the immediate future:

building my first steampunk computer keyboard. It's been sitting dormant for about four or five months, but I started tinkering with it in the late nights lately. I like the progress.
restoring my rolltop desk, while hiding a full computer in it, and modifying some monitors to look like they have been part of the workstation since the 1890s. I hope to add more surround speakers and enough gadgetry to make H. G. Wells' spirit grin.
building some steampunk speaker stands for the Sapphire and Onkyo surround speakers on my Onkyo 7.1 system. The prototype looks good so far, but needs some additional wood, brass, gilding, and finishwork to be complete. I may have to add an amp to get the "B" 5.1 speakers online too.
refinishing the old chess table that keeps getting thumped by my left elbow tonight
getting the Liberty & Company Thebes Stool professionally repaired, restored, and refinished (and completing my amateur reproduction, now that I have my Shopsmith parts)
determining if the inherited '60s/'70s era rocker is an early Maloof piece or not... either way, I like it.
rigging up the temporary home theater in the studio (so we can have TV and movie entertainment up there while the house is being remodeled)
building the faux beams and arches for the studio, incorporating the mid-twentieth century Marcus Designs statues I picked up at a local antique shop.
converting another oak whiskey barrel into the studio bathroom's sink pedestal (complete with new glass "bowl-style" sink.

...and the most important step...
converting the studio over to a temporary living space for the family while we remodel the house

::whew:: that should cover it. I'll post more info on each of these as another form of stress relief over the next several weeks/months.

Project: Cold Box, pt 2 & Bar, pt 1

2010-04-06T22:43:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I posted anything on the status of my projects. Since I have so many "irons in the fire" that one of my friends has started calling me "Iron Man", I'll share just one... well, maybe two... in a way: the "Cold Box" Project and the associated bar.

A lot has happened since I last posted anything about the cold box project. The exterior got some drywall, "mud", and preliminary decoration. I drilled a few holes in the insulated panels so I could route CO2 and beer lines through the wall and out of the barrel ends. Well, the gas is currently sitting behind the bar and will eventually end up inside the bar... or given a Victorian treatment and displayed proudly as part of the bar.

At present, those two faucets are pouring Arrogant Bastard Ale and Stone India Pale Ale. The parts list is currently:

Oak barrel - since the barrel was no longer liquid-tight, I got it free. With the ends cut off and glued up, they make nice ornaments for a bar.
Faucets - the brass finish faucets come from Micromatic, as do all the other pieces and parts behind the scenes.
Tap handles - the handles are just that... antique door handles with a threaded hole that just so happened to be the same thread as the handle mount. They were found in a box in my garage when we bought our house.
Kerosene lamps - they were a cheap $3.00 find at Goodwill.
"Tool holder" - really, it's a matchstick holder for a fireplace. Again, a cheap find at $1.00. I repurposed it for the bar to hold a bottle opener, a corkscrew, and a "sporkener" I picked up at Magic Hat brewing Co. on my last vacation.
Railroad lantern - This was a Christmas gift from my grandfather. It has been converted from kerosene to electricity, but it is still really cool. Thanks Grandpa!

The bar itself is currently made up of three unfinished oak base cabinets I picked up at Lowe's (reasonably priced). The bar top is currently two massive slabs of mahogany I salvaged from an old pallet. Yeah. An old pallet. From France. Circa 1945. The pieces that make up the bar surface are 65" x 15.5" x 3". The bar's "arm rest" is made of the other two sides of the ol' rectangular pallet. They're a bit smaller at 64" x 7" x 3". I've resawed them into the front and side cantilevered raised section of the bar. Interestingly enough, these smaller pieces have some significant wear and weathering that, when combined with small amounts of dryrot and insect damage, give the surface the appearance of many years of service in the bar. Perfect!

The front of the bar (the ugly back of the cabinets) is currently obscured by two cherry veneer covered desk ends. As things progress, they will be replaced by some salvaged oak 4" x 6" posts and 2" x 6" planks. The mahogany will be finished with oil and a light sealant. All the oak will probably get a stain to complement the mahogany... unless it looks better oiled and sealed too.

What you can't see in the photos above are the other details I have planned. As of this writing, I anticipate building a canopy over the bar to store glasses, show off some sort of stained glass, and provide the requisite moody task lighting (like the example at right). I haven't selected the posts quite yet, as they need to be stout.

Around the outer edge of the cantilevered section of the bar, a band of LED lighting will provide more accent lighting. I don't know if I will mount it inside of some polished brass or copper tubing, but I'm considering it.

Where the cantilevered area joins the rest of the bar top, I will install some brass strips I found on our property. I stumbled across two large pieces of brass; the biggest, at 44" x 1.75" x 3/16" (with a shorter brazed-on 'L' section) will allow me to put an edging to provide more visual interest. The second piece of brass is close to the first in dimensions, but was found buried in the backyard; a significant (though not impossible to remove) coating of corrosion leaves me wondering what I will end up doing with it.

More later as the work progresses. I'll share updates in "Project: Bar, pt 2".

Got Disk?

2010-01-13T17:40:00.001-08:00

I'm gonna geek-out about some computers, so please bear with me.

Some servers were delivered to work the other day... two Dell PowerVault MD1000s "tethered" to two Dell PowerVault NF600s. We're using one of these as a disk target for our backup systems and the other as an offsite mirror.

What does this add up to? Well, take a look at the pictures and follow along with me:

NF600 - fully populated with eight 1Tb
MD1000 - fully populated with fifteen 1Tb drives
That subtotals - 23Tb
Multiply that times two, since we got a matched pair - that's a whopping 46Tb

Now I know some of you may have more disk space in your server room(s), but this is a step up for me and my crew.

Happy (Star Wars) Holidays

2009-12-09T13:27:00.000-08:00

Wow... I thought my childhood memories of this were painful enough... then I had to go watch it as an adult!

Alright, I'll be honest. I didn't watch the whole thing. It just hurt too much. That and ::yikes:: Mark Hamill is a bit too scary in that much stage makeup. Besides, if I show my son, he'll want to watch the whole thing and I don't want to go through this more than necessary.

I still love Star Wars, but this... this... is something else.

NaNoWriMo, pt X

2009-12-09T12:53:00.000-08:00

National Novel Writing Month. Yeah, that "thing" that happens every November.

For the past several years I have signed up and started writing. For the past several years the fates have conspired against me, plunking some huge project or life-changing event in my lap, effectively killing my novel writing efforts. This year was no different.

Next year, I won't participate. No offense or slight meant to those who participate, the event, or to the great organization behind it. I wish everyone the best of luck!

As for me, I think I can find the time to write what I want when I want to. NaNoWriMo was probably an excuse for me to spend more time sitting and writing. My life simply doesn't let me do that right now. I can find time for a creative outlet every now and then. When I do, it seems to quiet the nagging Muse within my head. Right now? Sure, she's screaming like a banshee, but I have found a way to filter out her wailing until we can spend some proper time together.

Does this mean I won't get back to the writings I have started for NaNoWriMo? Not at all. I will continue posting them here, albeit sporadically.

At least I will be writing.

NaNoWriMo, pt 1

2009-11-02T14:29:00.000-08:00

My Fake Family History: Fictional People and Events that Shaped My Life

[Author's Note: this entry is first part of my National Novel Writing Month novel project in what I endeavor to be 50,000 words by month's end. The project, "My Fake Family History: Fictional People and Events that Shaped My Life", is truly a "Random Musing" where I am taking nuggets of factual events from my family's history and weaving them into fictional stories while exploring different writing styles. I may reveal to you, the reader, the truth now and then, but don't expect it all the time.]

~ 1 ~

A Steampunk's Time Machine

There I was, sitting in the studio over the garage the other evening, looking over the myriad of projects in their varying stages of completion, when my eyes lingered upon the roll-top desk that once sat in my grandfather's house. Why had my eyes picked that moment to stare at the desk? Why did they linger? Perhaps some deeper part of my consciousness desired to start yet another project? The rest of me shuddered at the thought; I'm busy enough at present for two or three people.

To slake the thirst of project beast within, I walked to the desk, seeking the thing that drew my attention and held it fast. The desk, its outer shell a once-varnished thing of oaken beauty, was now coated in what I remember—from a few different conversations about the desk—to be World War II surplus gray paint from the naval shipyards of 32nd Street.

My grandfather was the master recycler, “repurposer”, and “upcycler”, and this desk symbolizes those aspects of his manner and personality to me. Thinking back to conversations about the desk with my mother, she did not know from where it was purchased, nor did she quite remember when it entered her family. All she could recall was that the desk always seemed to sit in the garage-shop of her childhood house on Church Avenue, serving the role of cash register in her parents' businesses: first for her father's welding business and later her mother's toy shop. Sometime in its history, my grandfather repainted it with the gray paint he had obtained while welding ships' hulls in the shipyards, covering the oak surface in a dull coat.

No. The lure of another project wasn't what the inner me was reaching for. My eyes took a quick inventory of the many little things are scattered across its top: miniatures… Victorian corner-shelves I had yet to hang in the corner of some room in our house… (etc.) Not one of the nigh-countless curiosities in sight had held my interest like the room-breadth stare had. There was something else calling to me.

Taking a seat in the old wooden office chair, the contents of cubbies and slots passed under my visual scan without a second glance. I leaned back seeking a different perspective. Crossing my legs under the desk, to gain some comfort while maintaining the critical counterbalance to my deeply reclined posture, my foot bumped the center drawer.

“That’s it!” my awareness urged, “Open the drawer!”

I had nearly forgotten it was there. Reaching far back under the desktop, I found the bottom lip of the cash drawer with my fingertips, my knuckles brushing against the pulls of the alarm till’s finger lock mechanism. Oh yes, I had nearly forgotten about that mechanism too. Indeed. This is what was tugging at me.

The Kymera Magic Wand

2009-10-15T21:34:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I found the need to seek out a universal remote. Looking for a good list of remotes with comparisons and ratings proved to be... boring... and tedious. Just as I was about to give up for the afternoon, I stumbled across just what I was looking for. The review had five or six remotes listed, with pros and cons to each device. Then, it listed a remote with no buttons in the form of a "magic wand". They didn't have too much to say about it, because it wasn't a traditional universal remote, but they did say it was fun. It sounded just like the kind of device I needed.

Curious, I visited the website to check this "wand" thing out. (The site is worth a peek... take a look... this page won't go anywhere while you're checking it out... back already? Let's press on.) I was definitely intrigued by the web site's presentation of the device. Overall, it called to the science fiction/fantasy geek that is a big part of me. Magic. Technology. Both of them in one cool package. How do I buy... bah! The wand was still being produced in the "Orient" and would arrive in the UK and US soon. I could reserve one and decide if I was still interested when they notified me of the impending availability.

Last week I got the email. The shipment had arrived! I took the rest of the week and weekend to think it over. Yes, it was cool. Yes, it was very, very geeky. But it was fun. My wife asked why I hadn't gotten it already. I guess that was answer enough. Tuesday at lunch, I ordered the Kymera (its proper name) and looked forward to its arrival. Today, when I got back from lunch, it was sitting on my office chair bundled in a FedEx package. I opened it, shared it with a few coworkers, and put it away, knowing I wouldn't be able to really mess with it for several more hours.

Several more hours have passed. I opened it up again and really took a good look at it. This thing is cool. Sure, the body is plastic, but it's not that bad. I was hoping for wood, but this'll do. I quickly read the instructions. Andie and Ethan got a look at it, Ethan grinning like a gnome (or, better yet, a kender) who'd found a Wand of Wizardry in his closet. He's off to bed. She's watching some vampire show. I'm in the studio waving a magic wand around. After a bit, I'm really ready to try this thing out.

With a "big swish", the electronic beast that is the Onkyo rack turns on. Industrial/electronica music thumps from the speakers. I grin and chuckle. Another "big swish" and it turns off. I check to see if the beer I've popped open was inadvertently consumed and I am merely experiencing some alcohol-induced delusion. Nope, I've only had a swallow or two. This wand is cool and fun. Yet another "big swish", the music continues, and I try some other gestures. A twist of my wrist "anticlockwise" and the volume drops. "Clockwise" and it goes up. I've got ten more gestures to associate to other functions and/or devices. Muwahahahaahaaaaaaa!!!

One word here... awe-sommme!!! This wand is a brilliant addition to my neo-Victorian, Steampunk-ish, Tolkien-esque, Medieval-influenced, 100% "geek cave".

I think I just had a nerdgasm.

Project: Fish Pond, pt 4

2009-08-21T11:27:00.000-07:00

One of the things the pond needs is a respectable "spitter" to go over the PVC pipes sticking out of the back wall. I've seen countless Green Man sculptures over the years, many of which would be perfect for such a job. Of course, when I actually make the effort to find one out there on the web, I can't find many that look good, are worth the price, or are the right size for the job.

It took a while, but I found the web site of Walter S. Arnold (stonecarver.com) with a few Green Man faces and even gargoyles that could work. This guy is an amazing stone carver! Ultimately, Andie and I chose "Mirth", a Green Man, from his collection.

Of course, once we decided on "Mirth", we realized we probably couldn't get it shipped in time for it to arrive before the vacation we had planned. Then, as things play out, I got a bit busy and didn't order them for another week or so. I did finally place the order. There's a saying that is something like "you can't rush art", so I waited. Not long, but I was anxious to keep the project rolling along. The confirmation email came from Walter, where he answered my questions. A few days later, he sent another email letting me know that he had shipped our "Mirth" castings, thus starting the "where is the package" game with the freight carrier.

It took about a week, but "Mirth" arrived two nights ago, complete with signatures, certificates of authenticity, mounting holes, and drilled out mouths. The "antique white" color as a hopeful match to the light cement walls was a guess, but Walter said they should look fine. He was right. The size of the Green Man faces is slightly smaller than ideal, but all the other attributes more than make up for it. Wonderful. Now all I have to do is mount them on the wall and hook up the water lines to their mouths... but that's another post.

Project: Cold Box

2009-08-16T22:56:00.000-07:00

The other project I have going on right now is a "cold box"... or at least that's what we call them at work. It's really a large refrigerator built out of insulated panels.

Around noon on the Saturday before Memorial Day, I decided to have a beer in the studio. I grabbed a Stone IPA and kicked back in my favorite desk chair. While it wasn't extremely warm outside, it was definitely a bit too warm in the studio. Well, too warm for the ten cases of beer I have stored out in the open up there. My wife was busy, my son was more than occupied with his Legos, and I had nothing planned, so naturally a "project" started poking at me. I resisted the urge for as long as I could—perhaps a whole five or ten minutes elapsed before I buckled under the pressure—and then dove into the project with full force. I moved the makeshift bar, emptied the closet, and tore out the wall... then the ceiling. As I got down to the studs, I was amazed at the poor construction. hardly any ceiling structure, but four 2x4s on one side of the doorway!

"Mini-me" came up during the deconstruction and totally got into it, banging holes in the drywall and laughing maniacally... the same way he does when he plays a driving arcade game while crashig into everything. Perhaps we "parental units" should worry about that a bit.

Anyway, once I had the space cleared out, the first couple of insulated panels went up quickly. Then everything slowed down as I figured out how to fit the remaining pieces in place of the wall, ceiling, and cold box door. The most important "trick" I needed to remember was no metal outside of the box can come in contact with the metal inside the box. If it does happen, I will have a big condensation problem. On the off chance I still ended up with condensation, I put in a PVC underlayment and shower drain. I covered over the insulated panel wall with drywall... which makes it completely boring to look at in a photo, which is why there isn't one of that phase here.

After much delay (heh, go figure!), I finally got back to the project. I used some more of those insulated panels--the same kind that make up the walls--as doors. An online order supplied the wire racking. A trip to Home Depot netted me the much needed strap hinges, foam-in-a-can, box o' self-tapping screws, and ducting for the cooling system. Currently, my cooling system is a salvaged window-mount air conditioning unit, but hopefully some day I will be able to swap it out for a Breez-Aire (or similar) cellar cooling system. Everything but the cooling system got put together during the spare moments I found here and there. I decided to hang two doors instead of one because it was "easier" and I didn't have an insulated panel big enough to act as the "single door". As I thought out this hare-brained scheme a bit more, it actually works in my favor: the bottom door will be for the kegs and coldest beers I don't access that often, while the upper door will cover the beer archive and "in-the-clear" (and already represented in the archive) interesting beers I have. Andie suggested I sheath the door in some luan "doorskin" to make it match the door adjacent to it. That awesome suggestion will be incorporated as soon as I tweak the doors so the don't rub each other and split the black insulating tape on the seams.

Ultimately, I found a little more time this weekend to burrow through the insulated panel ceiling to insert the supply for the cooling system. The cooling system is happily humming away as it chills my beer archive to cellar temperatures and below. After transferring most of the beer out of the old "beer 'fridge" into the new "cold box" I realized that... um... okay, don't tell anyone this... no, really, I'd be a bit embarassed if this got out... I have too much beer. Okay, there, I said it. I've got a problem that I think can only be solved by an "Open Bar" kinda party. I have to figure out when it could... wait a second. Septoberfest. Heck yeah! This might be the answer to my "problem". Until then, I have to whittle down the cellar a bit... one 22oz bottle at a time.

When everything was all said and done, I wondered "how much beer can this thing hold?" After a quick count of all the stuff I found energy to put in there tonight, the total is currently three 5-gallon kegs, twenty cases of 22-ounce bottles (that's 12 x 20 22oz bottles equalling 240 bottles), and an uncounted quantity of 750ml "laid-down" bottles, loose 22oz bottles, and 12oz (or less) bottles that are either "drink now" or "don't touch 'cause I'm aging 'em" beers.

::sheesh:: I've got to free up some room for the wine that is supposed to go in here. This was, after all, supposed to house not only beer, but wine as well. Sure, the bar just on the other side of the wall will have a small fridge for white wines (and maybe a cold 6-pack if it'll fit), but this thing has to be able to hold some laid-down reds. Well, there's only one thing left to do...

So... when does Septober arrive again?

Travel: Vermont / New Hampshire, day 3

2009-07-27T19:21:00.000-07:00

Day three found us slowly moving about... that French toast was good, but it takes a couple more cups of coffee to work through it to my bloodstream so I can get on with the day. Since I wasn't about to make them give me another pot "to go" and we just "happened" to be down the road from Green Mountain Coffee, we all thought it was a good idea to visit them... okay, so they were already on the agenda, but given the time of day, it totally made sense. They have some interesting business ideas and some great ethics. I will suggest "Stone-like" variations to the powers that be.

Further down the road was a visit to Cold Hollow Cider Mill. Since we had gotten a small sample of their cider while at the Grunberg Haus, we were anticipating their famous cider and apparently even more famous cider donuts. We got free samples and savored every drop. This stuff completely blows away anything I have ever (yeah, "eh-ver") had in Julian. It's $13 a gallon, and about $12 to ship it home, but I'm still considering getting some around the holidays. The donuts were good, but not as good as the cider itself (in my opinion).

From there, it was back on the road to get to our next stop, with a little side trek through Montpelier. Don't blink or you might miss the nation's smallest state capital! It was during this leg of the road trip when I developed a little used skill: something I now like to call "kung-fu photography"! Simply put, you find yourself in a situation where you know a good picture can be had if you could somehow separate yourself from whatever it is you're doing and shoot the photo, say, blindly out the window while you're concentrating on driving. Everyone in the car is saying "wow" and "look at that" and you're stuck with few options: look and risk crashing; pull over and lose time toward the next destination; handing the camera to someone else and not get "wow" photos, or put the camera in your own hand, point it where you think the "wow" is, and shoot, hoping to look at the photos later. So far, I've even started using the technique in other situations. Yes, that's a "kung-fu photo" to the right. Maybe my name for the technique is bad, but how good is your kung-fu (photography)? :)

The Cabot Creamery was next on the itinerary, so we jumped on the road once again. Like the other factories, this one has lots of stainless steel tubing and big tanks. The difference was the "cooking" troughs. They heat the milk and other ingredients in the troughs and it is mixed. When done, it is dumped out of the tough into an augered pipe that moves the cheese to the press where it is formed into a somewhat large block (or round) of cheese. Most cheese they make is supposed to be eaten before a relatively short time has passed, but some is aged for up to two years (and cave aged for much longer). We threw down some cash and picked up some cheeses for a lunch "on the road" in the White Mountains.

The White Mountains of New Hampshire are... well... green, but the Green Mountains are in Vermont, so I guess they had to come up with some name. Whatever the name, they are gorgeous! Even more spectacular was the Flume Gorge at Franconia Notch! I'm familiar with "flume" when it is used to refer to logging, but I never really thought about other uses. Now I can see where they got the name (thought I don't know which usage came first). Since we arrived late, we took the bus up to the "base station", bypassing a quarter of our hike, but driving through one of New Hampshire's oldest covered bridges (by trip's end, we had crossed four and saw two others). The hike to the flume was quick and the cantilevered walkway through the flume itself was a little dicey in spots (while watching a 5 year old), but I'd do it again without hesitation. The flume and surrounding woods were breathtaking. Aside from the falls at the top, I really liked the countless trees growing atop boulders with their roots stretching across them to the ground. It was like a forest on another world!

We had dinner that night at the Woodstock Inn Station & Brewery. As usual, I got the sampler tray of beers. (I'll have to fill in the details soon). The food, beer, drink, service, and atmosphere were all good.

Back at the hotel, that night's beverage was a 750-ml bottle of Farnum Hill Extra-Dry Cider I split with Andie. Very good cider, with some funky smells and notes. Perhaps there is some bret in thier cider.

(I'll probably update this entry with some more information, but for now... mmm... sleep)
(I'll also deal with my feelings about toll roads in a more appropriate entry... but I don't hate them quite as much as I first did.)

Travel: Vermont / New Hampshire, days 1 & 2

2009-07-25T21:30:00.000-07:00

[Please keep this in mind while reading... as of posting, I have taken over 450 photos (and some short videos) attempting to capture the various interesting and cool things we've seen.]

What a wild ride this vacation has been. The first day was spent travelling... no big surprise there, as we're in Vermont and New Hampshire (with a house/cat sitter of sorts back home keeping things cared for... thanks Gary). We got delayed by a rain storm while we were sitting the tarmack at JFK. "This is the captain. We've got about 25-30 planes ahead of us waiting to take off. We'll be here for a while as we wait for our turn." We finally arrived in Burlington about an hour and a half (or more) late. Throwing our luggage in the rental car, we dashed south to our hotel and then to dinner at Lake View House. I also grabbed a pint of Switchback Unfiltered Pale to go with the grilled-cheese panini dinner (dinner and beer were both quite good). I also took the car on a quick detour to see where Magic Hat Brewing Co. was located for the next day... about four blocks away from our hotel.

Day two, I dropped Andie and Ethan off at the waterfront in Burlington so I could spend an hour or so at Magic Hat. I got quite the tour and tasting (thanks Matt!). That brewery is worth the visit if you like beer and are in the area. Even if you can't go on a guided tour, you can walk up to the brewery overlook to get an idea of what is going on. Their attitude and way of doing things is awesome... they are cutting their own path, but are definitely cool like Stone. (I'll have to create a Flickr account just to share the best photos.)

Leaving Magic Hat just before Andie called (good timing there), I got on the main thoroughfare and arrived at the Burlington waterfront just in time to join her and Ethan for a luncheon cruise on Lake Champlain. (food: meh, beer: FYB). Andie and Ethan shared the photos of the places they visited while I was at the brewery... we'd have to visit the highlights after the cruse! Ethan had spotted a statue of Champ, the region's lake monster. Andie had found the gorgeous downtown area. The cruise itself was quite picturesque and informative; as we gazed at the amazing landscape around us, the boat's "disembaudio" told us about the historical significance of the lake.

After docking, we hit the streets in search of all the cool things Andie and Ethan had found, including our "ritual" Christmas ornament souveniers we purchase on all vacations. The square (with a clever name that escapes me at the moment) was filled with cool shops, great architecture, and a busker every half block or so. Musicans, singers, bluegrass punks, and even "that guy" performing as the one man band (he wasn't bad... but the bluegrass punks were really good, even if I am biased)

Once we were "done with" downtown Burlington, we set our four-wheeled mule* for Ethan Allen's Homestead Museum. It was a quick sidetrek worth the few bucks we spent. It's good to see a bit of our history while on vacation, and each day this trip was no exception. Like most of the buildings we are seeing during this trip, the architecture is amazing, given the period and a geek's love for history. Like all vacationing, I get inspired by this and take reference photos, or simply photos to help me recapture the moment (if I can help it, without anyone but family in them, if that much at times (meant in the best way)).

We had another stop for the day, so after wandering around Ethan Allen's farmstead, we made a beeline for some sweet nectar of another kind: ice cream. Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Factory & Tour was on our list! The tour was photo-less and like most food manufacturing these days--filled with stainless steel pipes and tanks. The cool part (pun intended) was the ice cream tasing at the end. The flavor presented to us was Oatmeal Raisen Cookie Dough. Awesome! Well, awesome if you like all the things that would go into the cookie, including the cinnamon ice cream. In the adjacent store, they were also serving a flavor that was in the "Flavor Graveyard", which had me guessing a bit. The most intersting flavor in the graveyard (in my opinion and that of several other visitors) was "Economic Crunch" from the late '80s. I say, let's bring it back... but perhaps it should be somewhat bitter. Maybe just a little.

We found our lodging at the Grunberg Haus, a wonderful bed and breakfast not too far away. The innkeepers were nice, the food was good, and the building was filled with character. I took numerous reference photos, as this was the quintisential D&D style inn to me, complete with the extremely warped floor requiring "sea legs" to safely find your way from one room to another. We stayed on the third floor, with the balcony seen in this photo. The deck wrapped around the second floor and was accessible from the rooms or from a couple of precarious "stairways" that looked more like ladders. Simply wonderful. Speaking of wonderful, if you like custard-style French toast, they serve a good dish of it. That night, we ate at Arvad's Grill & Pub (good food, good beer) as the wait at the Alchemy Brewery & Pub was at least 45 minutes (and it was already 7:30pm). It was a surprising pleasure to have a beer-geek waitress who knew everything about the beer they server (as well as that at Alchemy a few doors down, plus all the awesome craft beers available in nearby liquor stores.

Beer that night was Otter Creek Imperial Series Russian Imperial Stout. It was decent, though the mouthfeel was a little thin... but I'm spoiled by Stone's IRS.

* A note about our car. It's a Pontiac G6. I'm unimpressed to say the least. Not only do we keep hearing about the great deeds of the Subaru Outback in this region, but we have to hear about it while driving this "clunker". First, the door locks are not even slightly intuitive. When I pull the handle from the inside, don't keep me locked in! The lights and radio are the same. Why do the lights sometimes automatically turn on during broad daylight, but turn off when it gets dark? Why do I have to turn on the crappy Monsoon radio and switch it to XM1 every time I start the car. Why does it lose traction when the traction control is turned on? Reverse is gutless and the car always rolls backwards down a hill if you take your foot off the brake... and it's an automatic! This car, I hates it more than toll roads precious (see next post). It is made of concetrated suck. Give me a crappy PT Cruiser (a previous junky vacation rental) over this thing any day!

Project: Fish Pond, pt 3

2009-06-10T23:04:00.000-07:00

Just another progress report on the fish pond project... it may not look that different from the last picture, but trust me, there is progress. The coolest change is the contour of the arch "supporting" the shelf between the walls. Another other cool thing? The finishes. They are nearly done! The finish coat is on the upper wall and the outer portion of the lower wall. The triple-layer sealant is on the inner portion of the pond area. There are a few more finish items that need to be addressed, such as the tiles along the waterline, and the Green Man water spitters.

There are still plenty of mechanicals to deal with, like the "return" water line going to the pump and filter, the "supply" lines going to the spitters, fountain-heads, and the electrical lines for the pump(s) and underwater lighting. I put together a test of the lighting tonight and I think it looks pretty good. It can only look better when the water is pouring across the arch and the pond and walls are illuminated by the radiant light filtered and warped by the water. Well, when the time comes, I will have to invite family, friends, and co-workers over to see it.

Project: Fish Pond, pt 2

2009-06-02T14:27:00.000-07:00

The fish pond project is coming along nicely. It's really cool to see the design I put down on paper being built in the real world. It's also really cool to have this project finally approaching completion. Andie says it's also good to have the big hole filled.

As you can see, the design is very geometric, with squares and circles dominating the design. I had someone ask me the other day "how big is the fountain?" Each leg of the "L" is eight feet long, with the half-circles being about six feet in diameter.

Randomness: Oingo Boingo on the Gong Show

2009-05-26T22:29:00.000-07:00

For some strange reason, while watching a recorded show on the mathematics of networks (Connected: The Real Matrix) dealing with the whole "six degrees of separation" thing, I had the impulse to "challenge" my wife to look something up on YouTube (she says she hasn't found anything she's looking for on the site). I tried to clear my mind and then she said "I don't know, something funny." Well... coming from nowhere... almost like some form of primal, childhood memories, I dug up "The Gong Show". That was the "I don't know" factor. Then the "something funny" demanded that I dig up... hmm... yeah, the "Unknown Comic" for a brief laugh. Yep. YouTube had it. (You can dig that one up yourself.)

It was my turn. I riffed the Gong Show idea--still wondering what cobweb-filled depths of my brain that idea came from--remembering that Oingo Boingo was on the show. Yes. It's on there. Check it out for yourself and... wow... revel in the randomness that was the Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo.

Project: Fish Pond

2009-05-22T10:13:00.000-07:00

I finally conceded defeat a couple of weeks ago and agreed to get a masonry contractor to finish my fish pond / water feature for the back yard. Andie will be much happier to have this project completed. Like the bookcase for indoor projects, this is the bottleneck for outdoor projects.

When the pond that was originally in this location sprung a leak two summers ago, due to some strange tropical tree growing up right next to it, I was forced to drain it. Rather than completely demolish the pond, we decided to rebuild it and merge the two fish ponds into one. Not only would this consolidate the fish into a single pond, it also has reduced the potential water evaporation... just in time for level 2 water restrictions.

According to what I've read in the newspaper, ornamental water features that do not recirculate their water are banned during level 2 restrictions. So, for the moment, our project is safe. Not only does this pond serve an ornamental function, but it recirculates its water and provides a safe habitat for our fish which we've had for almost nine years. Take a look... and yes, those older fish are over a foot long!

Car Wars... on TV?

2009-05-18T23:04:00.000-07:00

Anyone else watch "Weaponizers" on the Discovery Channel? It's like a game of Steve Jackson's Car Wars made real! Two teams each mod a vehicle with armor and weapons and then put them head to head in a "last car rolling" match.

It makes me want to blow a Saturday in the Hammer Downs Arena with a tricked out car on the verge of a D3 turn. If not Car Wars, then perhaps Crimson Skies.

YouTube: Elephants Dream & A Gentleman's Duel

2009-05-16T22:23:00.001-07:00

If you haven't seen this short YouTube film, you should take a few moments out to watch it and wonder...

... wonder several things... like is this a strange Matrix derivation? Why is Emo annoying? (Wait, that's a whole other topic:) )

And while you're at it, check out A Gentleman's Duel

Woodworking: Bookcase Magazine

2009-05-16T19:07:00.000-07:00

Quite a while ago, Steven asked where I got the plans for the bookcase I want to build. It is from the December/January 2006 issue of "The Family Handyman".

The website www.familyhandyman.com isn't as robust as I had hoped, but they do offer back issues for $5 (includes shipping).

If you're in the market for some bookcases, this magazine has some interesting sets of plans.

Tasting Notes: Beer-Geekin' Out

2009-05-14T21:22:00.000-07:00

[old unposted notes from 03/28/09]

There I was, sitting at my desk, wrapping up my day and week (I'm taking a couple days off), and I decided to cap off the day at work by heading downstairs to the Bistro. It's not like I didn't know we were going to have some special beers available for the evening. On Tuesday, I heard about the plan for Stone release five "pilot beers" on Thursday night ( http://blog.stonebrew.com/?p=781 ). I arranged with the family to have a late evening so I could drop by the Bistro and taste them. I had no idea what I was heading into.

I got downstairs before the crowd had rushed in and ordered up a "flight" of "tasters". Here's what the bartender handed over:

Pilot #1 Stone Imperial Red Ale
Pilot #2 Imperial Porter (a strong porter)
Pilot #3 Belgian Porter with Vanilla Bean and Tangerine Peel
Pilot #4 Peated Scotch Ale
Pilot #5 Everything but the Kitchen Sink Stout

I took a seat near the brewery windows with some coworkers. I proceded to enjoy what I was thinking was the only beer I would have that night, sharing a few sips here or there with a friend. With the last beer in hand (Pilot #5), I decided to step out to the patio for some fresh air and to see what was going on at the outside bar.

Things got more interesting when I realized that this was the eve of the next big collaboration beer we were brewing. So this was the "Pilot-palooza" and "Collaboraton Eve" that was blogged about earlier in the day. I saw Will Meyers from Cambridge Brewing Co.--we had met briefly near the coffee pot that morning--talking with Mitch Steele (our head brewer). I walked over and said "hi" and listened in on the "shop talk". A short while into the conversation, Dr. Bill came over and handed us all glasses of something that looked rather murky. "The pilot" he said and jumped back behind the bar to get a few more glasses worth as realization dawned on me. This was the pilot for the Juxtaposition Black Lager! Excellent! I took a deep smell. Interesting aromas. The flavor was just as interesting even if the beer looked a bit "milky".

A few guys from Production and Distribution were working out the kinks in a mobile draft system... Will brought along a pair of kegs to share! The keg system was fixed and Will started pulling tasters off the system:

Cambridge The Wind Cried Mari (a gruit... that is a beer made without hops... simply excellent)
http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/cambridge-the-wind-cried-mari/30454/
Cambridge YouEnjoyMyStout Russian Imperial Stout (but he aged this batch in an oak barrel for 4 years so it was equally great and was taking on an interesting "funk")
http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/cambridge-youenjoymystout-russian-imperial-stout/43129/

What an evening it was turning out to be.

James Watt of BrewDog was also in the crowd, easy to distinguish with his Scottish accent and a collection of the local beer community around him. He too was sharing a few beers he brought along from Scotland... here's what I think he shared:

Zephyr... er... Zephyr Raspberry? A slightly different version that what they normally do.
http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/brewdog-zephyr/95790/
Hardcore IPA with a slightly different hop quantity and variety. James said "this is what we wanted to do originally"
http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/brewdog-hardcore-ipa/76701/
Paradox "the I couldn't hear the specific release James Watt mentioned" variation, but it was just pulled from a whiskey barrel before he jumped on a plane in Scotland and made his way to the brewery in Escondido. It was "still" and the very first bottle opened from that barrel... what a treat.
http://www.ratebeer.com/brewers/brewdog/8534/ (pick your favorite Paradox)
and finally Old IPA... but not just any old IPA. He said it was based off a 200 year old recipe and then...
http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/brewdog-old-ipa/98459/

The event and beers were awesome... simply freakin' awesome. It was an incredible evening.

Oh, and there was a video shot during the two days surrounding the brew:

In case you don't know:

A "pilot beer" is a small batch of beer brewed up by professional brewers to test out a recipe.
A "flight" is a series of beers to be tasted, sometimes lined up in a particular order
A "taster" is about 4oz or less served in an equally small glass... not to be confused with...
A "sampler" which can be as much as 8oz per serving

but these are my observations... your mileage may vary.)

AFK... Again!

2009-04-22T14:03:00.001-07:00

Geez... it seems that I am struggling to find time to do many things lately, and posting new blog entries is one of them. Well, posting and responding to email are two of them. Okay, posting, email, and getting delayed projects back up and running are... Bah! Chief among the things I need to find time to do are blogging, emailing, working on projects, and writing.

I guess I need to step back and address things one at a time, in an orderly fashion, perhaps even micro-manage myself for a while until I get back on track.

I'll post soon. Really. No, seriously, I will.

[apologies to Monty Python]

Music: A Deep Breath

2009-04-03T14:34:00.000-07:00

For those of you having one of those kind of days, here's a quick list of some mood music...

If you need something hopeful, uplifting, and happy, take try this Midge Ure track. (Using that wikipedia site again...) He was in bands including Slik, Thin Lizzy, The Rich Kids, Visage, and most notably as frontman of Ultravox. Ure co-wrote and produced the charity single "Do They Know It's Christmas?" and co-organised both Band Aid, Live Aid and Live 8 with Bob Geldof. How's that for a flashback to the '80s?

Next up on the list is a "chill out session" with "Little Fluffy Clouds" by The Orb (with bandmate and legendary producer "Youth", previously of Killing Joke):

...or if you'd rather wallow in despair, here's SPK with "In Flagrante Delicto":

By the way, SPK worked with William S. Burroughs for a while. Graeme Revell, their most notable member, has gone on to do numerous solo project and score numerous films and tv shows. More on SPK and their varicolored work later. Enjoy!

Music (for): I'm a Steampunk, pt 1

2009-03-20T16:07:00.000-07:00

Here's some steampunk music for your Friday (and to go with my first "I'm a Steampunk post from last night/today at lunch).

By the way... I think I have to go to the Edison someday. Everything I've seen about it is awesome. I just hope they have high-quality craft beer. It seems a little cheap to "dump and run" on this post, but there's more steampunk stuff coming soon.

(really only 4:07 long, so you can stop watching at that point)

I'm a Steampunk, pt 1

2009-03-19T09:54:00.000-07:00

Have you heard of steampunk? If you haven't, I'd say now is your chance!

To me, it's a lifestyle that pays homage to an era that never was but should have been (and could have in many respects). There's this part of me that is absolutely obsessed with steampunk. It's in my blood and comes out in subtle ways every day. I don't dress the part like many a steampunk cosplay afficianado--though the thought has crossed my mind for certain "special" events or holidays. There's something more elegant about the Victorian industrial design motif, especially when compared to the smooth and sleek modern design with all the mechanicals hidden behind a faux metal skin of simplicity.

I think my mindset has a lot to do with my father and his father (and by extension, both sides of the whole family). They are complete train nuts... or perhaps steam technology nuts... to the extent that they both have built multiple fully functional 1/8th scale live steam engines (that's a separate post). I also grew up around large steam tractors at the Antique Gas & Steam Engine Museum in nearby Vista. In fact, my father and grandfather did the initial restoration of this 75-horsepower Case steam tractor. At the AG&SEM, we worked with several other club members and volunteers to restore all kinds of steam engines, equipment, and tractors.

Heck, my "first car" was an 1889 Advance steam tractor (60 horsepower)... well before I drove a car. This is the one (right), from an old mid-80's photo I found on the web. How odd is that? I bet I even parked it next to the sawmill and Case (in background to the left and right respectively) just before this photo was taken. I suppose the photo could also be from the time period when I shared the engineer/fireman duties with Randy Chase (great guy), but I can't tell.

An odd note about the "mere" 75 or 60 horsepower--back in those days, that meant these were equivalent to hitching up 75 or 60 draft horses to one piece of farm equipment. The horsepower of a draft horse was recently calculated at 14.9 horsepower for a short peak period (declining to less than 1 over prolonged periods (for the math geeks, I suppose that would be jerk, acceleration, velocity, and inertia all playing together). This means these two steam-beasts theoretically generate an estimated 1,117 and 894 h.p. if I understand the "then versus now" calculations correctly. Even if I misunderstand them, I've seen these things rip a barn off it's foundation, so I know they have more power than the measly two-digit numbers imply.

So, in a way, there's actual "steam" experience flowing in my veins.

To be continued...

All a-twitter-ed

2009-03-16T21:58:00.000-07:00

So there I was today, working with Mike (the Art Director/Webmaster) and Bill (the Web Programmer) on inserting some RSS feeds onto the company website (http://www.stonebrew.com/) and I was having some difficulties... mainly with the feeds from twitter and WordPress blog not... well, feeding into the Google AJAX feed API (http://code.google.com/apis/ajaxfeeds/). It was coded, it just wasn't working right. The feeds were there, but the window was blank. What the heck?

"How hard could this be?" I asked myself. "I mean, really? This should work." So I get the source code and host it on the web server a couple of meters* away from my desk. "There, that should eliminate some variables." Right?

Wrong! The same problem. The window is there, but the message says "waiting for feed" So... I'll look into the possible sources of the problem... the feeds. Well, the WordPress blog is working fine (again, on said server in the server room). Let me double check that somehow... aha! Feedburner is reading everything fine. Maybe the other feed is somehow breaking the JavaScript or Google's aggregator. Who knows?

Off to the next problem feed: twitter. So I Google the issue and find a document on twitter's site. I click the link and... ::RRRRNNNNNNTTTTTT:: (in my best Dr. Steel buzzer impression) Wrong answer! Thanks for playing. I got a crappy copy of the login screen game! You have to be a member of twitter to look at twitter content. That includes any solutions to tech issues you might have. Seriously? W... T... F, huh?

"Sherman, set the WABAC machine to two weeks ago."*** I am quite sure I stated at the time that I didn't have a use for twitter. Furthermore, if I could get into twitter to see what was there, I would find my suspicions confirmed, by a bunch of "ooo, me too" and "::giggle-giggle:: he's a q-t." chatting, texting, googly-eyed, teen-ager nonsense. I'm too old for this new "digital note passing" part of the social web. I didn't like it in high school and I don't like the idea of it now.

On the other hand, people say I should be more social and not "hate people" so much. As I've explained to many people along the way, "I don't hate people. I hate stupid people." For clarification's sake, when I say stupid, I am referring not to someone with less... um... "processing power" in their "CPU". I mean people who know something, choose to ignore it, and do what they want anyway. I digress... where was I? Ah, twitter and work.

For business purposes, what could possibly be there that doesn't show up on a company's main web site?

Well, as I've learned in the ensuing two weeks, a lot. It's essentially "micro blogging", something even I could get into because I don't always have time to write or read a blog in depth like this. I've seen everything from CNN and other news agencies talking about their twitter pages and (wherever) blogs. Heck, I even found out about a name change to a book I'm looking out for via a web page link to a blog that referred to a twitter account. That name change happened quite a while ago and I could have known about it if I was I twitter.

::sigh:: "Am I the last computer/web techie to use twitter or what?"

So... I was sitting there, staring at a twitter join/login screen separating me from an answer to my RSS feed difficulty. "Alright, alright, alrightalrightALRIGHT. Fine. I'll do it. I'll do it.I'll do it.I'll do it!"**** I created an account.

It didn't even hurt.

I didn't find exactly what I was looking for, but I will now have access to all kinds of information, delivered in short bursts.

Oh, and Mike found a better looking twitter RSS feeder anyway. Now we just need to get one for the WordPress feed.

* Hey, why not use the metric system in this case? I like the system, though I sometimes have to do a little conversion in my head to really 'get' how far away something is.

** Dr. Steel. He's better than Dr. Horrible any day! I'll share... just not today. Or, you can look him up yourself. It's worth your time.

*** If you don't understand the reference, I'm sorry. You're too young to read this blog. Oh, all right... here's the requsit wiki link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayback_machine

**** That's one heck of an obtuse and bastardized "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" reference.

Writing: Distracted by distracting distractions

2009-03-10T22:34:00.000-07:00

It's one of those nights...

I'm trying to be productive, yet everything is standing in my way, drawing my attention this way and that. A few nights ago I moved from the studio over the garage to the library in the house. Yeah... that photo to the right is essentially what it looks like right now. Me hunched over a folding table. My glass is currently empty though... no tasty barley wine left to enjoy. As far as my choice of fine furnishings goes, I won't intrude upon Andie's desk in here... I've got the oak rolltop desk in the studio which will someday find its way in here below the the tapestry to my right (out of frame) or perhaps in the corner behind me and to the left. All that happens after I complete my bookcase... after I complete the bench seat for the breakfast nook. ::sigh::

Oh, by the way, the color/hue of that photo above was achieved purely by accident, taking a picture in very underlit conditions. In normal circumstances, I'd delete it for the "garbage" it is. However, in this case, the photo exudes the right mood.

Anyway, someday the library bookcases might look something like this, if I ever get the chance to work on them:

(by the way, I have no idea why the photo is turned sideways at the moment... it's correct on my computer... I even resave the photo and it comes out like this... dunno... not wasting any more time on it tonight.)

Hey, there's a strange noise outside. An owl or bat? Hmm...

What was that about being distracted?

Good night everyone.

Music: Chiptune Music

2009-03-04T20:37:00.000-08:00

Select people used to get an email from me about the music I was listening to at the time. I had to stop sending it though... something about needing to "practice what I preach", or something like that. Lately, I've had a few people tell me they miss the "Friday Music" email, with my brief story, comments about music, narratives about the experience (perhaps watching Babyland at the Poway Rodeo Grounds way back when), and even what the artist is up to today (especially if they were big in the '80s, but aren't really noticed anymore).

Fast forward to today. That fiesty muse is pestering me again. She's grabbed a rolled up newspaper and is thumping over the head and shoulders with it. Fine, fine, fineFineFINE! I'll write something like I used to... except things are easier to link to on the web nowadays. So now I can show people as well tell them about it!

Chris walked by my desk at work one day and heard me listening to Beck. Specifically, he heard Ghettochip Malfunction (Hell Yes 8-bit remix) from the EP "GameBoy Variations":

He asked if I like the Atari/Gameboy/Nintendo "chiptune" sound. I told him "yeah, if it's done right"... or that's how I remember the conversation going. He told me to about a few bands and said I should definitely check out Crystal Castles.

So I did. Now I have the album... and now I'm sharing them with you:

There's a slightly different version of the song on their MySpace page I hope you enjoy the songs. Let me know.

Oh, by the way, speaking of "chips" and "tunes", did you know that Daft Punk is doing the soundtrack to Tron 2.0? Check the info out for yourself.

Enjoy!

Tasting Notes: '05 Old Guardian

2009-03-04T19:56:00.001-08:00

Okay, so I'm not sure if this completely qualifies as a "tasting notes" entry... let's go down the list:

Q: Good beer?

A: Yep, Stone Old Guardian Barley Wine 2005 vintage

Q: Beer:30?

A: Er... nope.

Q: Special guest(s)?

A: No. Just me.

I had just finished a dinner with the family (at the dinner table no less!), and I thought "Hey, I want a beer. Let's see what I have." Wandering up to the studio, I stood next to the bar. "Hmm... well, there's that case of IPA I forgot to put in the 'fridge. Nope, not gonna drink one of those. How about something cold? Well, this bottle has volunteered itself. What is it? Ahhh... OG... an old one... 2005! That'll do nicely."

So there I was, holding a bottle of beer I would normally share with friends, heading back downstairs to the house. I don't really know why I grabbed it, but I did. Here are my notes.

Appearance:
This beer is an amber color, a bit redder than a whiskey

Aroma:
(bear with me on this one... my nose never works right, the weather is changing, and I just ate a garlic-bombed broccoli dinner... excuses, excuses!) Hoppy! I am actually somewhat surprised at the amount of hops still left in this beer after four years. I think they have dropped off a bit, but they are there in the foreground, with some malty sweetness backing them up.

Flavor:
That hoppy character--flavor and bitter in equal parts--is the first thing I notice, but it is quickly balanced out by the malt flavor. Wait... the hoppy flavor lingers nicely. Perhaps the flavor of grapefruit.

Palate:
The mouthfeel is nice, with a silky-syrupy feel. Not fizzy, nor champagne-like. Simply good carbonation.

Overall:
This is good. In a way, I wish I hadn't opened it, as I think it would age nicely for a year or three more. Maybe I have a few more bottles.

Metapost: A Post About Posts

2009-03-03T17:41:00.000-08:00

I have several topics I want to blog about, but just as I can't do them all in any given day, I also can't post about them as fast as I want to. In no particular order, they are:

Writing - not about the blog itself, althought it fits the description, but actually about the other writing projects I am working on
Beer Tastings - as they happen, rather than days or weeks later
Music - akin to the Friday email I used to send at work, and nods to the old Bryonics tapes I made ages ago
Woodworking - hopefully I can finish the breakfast nook bench and get on with the library bookcase and window seat
Green Efforts - I've looked into this one a bit. Living in SoCal requires that I conserve water and I have a few ideas about that. I also think I can make other "green" strides.
Travel - though infrequent, the little outings here and there fill things in nicely
New Year's Resolution Progress - hey... I don't want to forget this one!

As strange as it might sound, I would also like some feedback from you all about what I should post about. What do you want to hear about on this blog?

Quiet, but not forgotten

2009-03-03T17:24:00.000-08:00

For the countless masses of... alright, who am I kidding? For the small handful of you who read the blog, I haven't forgotten about it. I have been busy on another writing project that has sucked away my free time. Since it's "on spec" and "unofficial" (and I don't want to jinx the thing), I won't discuss it here yet. I'll post something else here soon. I promise.

Tasting Notes: Lost Abbey, round 1

2009-02-10T16:45:00.001-08:00

Like I mentioned previously, Gary, Kevin, Trent, and I shared some beers a Friday night not too long ago in a "beer-thirty"* session... a session that found us talking well past 2am! Times like that are... well, priceless. Knowing that we'd eventually get around to drinking the beers, I buy one or two of the special beers I find and save them for the next beer-thirty.

This time, the Lost Abbey line up consisted of Witch's Wit, Carnivale Ale, Inferno Ale, and Serpent's Stout (and then we topped it off with a pull or two off the keg of Stone Imperial Russian Stout).

Let's begin.

The Witch's Wit was cracked open first because I thought it would go best with the food Trent was eating (roasted chicken) and it would also taste okay after the meal I made for the family and my brother Gary (a simple non-Oriental stir fry). That, and I had heard it was not a great beers (not bad, just not great). Many of those wheat and malt notes in the nose and flavor. The yeast contributed a spicy character. The beer was good, yet not as impressive as other Lost Abbey beers, but I bet it was a nice complement to the chicken. (RateBeer's entry - 75 pts)

Beer two was Carnevale Ale, a nice saison. As a "rule", it seems that saisons defy classification and rules. I guess this beer is really "how the Belgians brew at home", in short. I can totally see this beer as being made in a rustic Belgian farmhouse brewery (not that I've been to Belgium... yet). I enjoyed this beer, with its citrus nose, yeasty spiciness, and good mouthfeel. (RateBeer's entry - 93 pts)

It took us a while to get to beer three--Infernal Ale--as we were savoring the beer and really caught up in conversation. Nice name. This one's a Belgian strong ale, so the flavors were less rustic and more focused on the malt and the yeast. This beer was nestled comfortably in the midst of other Belgian strongs... pretty good, but not great. I'll reserve great for Angel's Share (mentioned below). (RateBeer's entry - 92 pts)

The penultimate beer for the evening was Serpent's Stout. Wow. Okay, so maybe I was mistaken and should have allowed for this beer to be called great. It was. Excellent chocolatey, coffee-like roastiness nose that carried through to the flavor. The richness of flavor slowed us down a bit more as we carried on talking and enjoying this beer. Go get a bottle or two. Wait, make that just one... leave more for us. (RateBeer's entry - 99 pts)

The final beer of the evening was Stone Imperial Russian Stout 2008, which I had on draft from a 1/6 bbl hanging out on the balcony. Everyone got at least a pint of this one--the tap was open for the night! As the preceeding 750ml bottles were split four ways, I needed something to cap off the evening. Since I'm not done building that kegerator yet, it was a little warm from being exposed to the Escondido winter air that evening, but this beer is great at cellar temperature and gets better as it warms and opens up. All the flavors of my second favorite Stone beer were there... present and accounted for. Perhaps I'm a bit jaded, but I grew used to the keg of "IRS" being there through Christmas, New Year's and into February (just blew the keg last weekend). (RateBeer's entry - 100 pts)

In conclusion, I must doff my hat to Tomme Arthur and the brew crew at Lost Abbey (aka Port Brewing). They brew some damn fine beers. Between them and the brewers at Stone, I don't know what the hell I'm going to brew at home. They make what I like!

A future Lost Abbey round or two will include Amazing Grace Ale (2007), Angel's Share Ale (2007), Red Poppy Ale (late 2007), Cuvee de Tomme (late 2007), and a vintage Cuvee de Tomme (2004 or 2005?)... at the very least. I'm not sure if I want to open those all in one night though. Beers of this caliber deserve to be savored, not pounded or even consumed without a bit of consideration. If we get too distracted in conversation, or perhaps a little drunk, our palattes will miss all the finer details... all the subtle flavors of the beers... but we'll have the memories.

Afterall, that is what a real beer-thirty is about. I'm looking forward to the next one... for the conversation and the beer.

* for those of you who don't know what a beer-thirty is, it is that special time when you gather with friends to drink good beer and discuss what is on your mind. Some people like to go to a happy hour at their favorite bar/restaurant/dive. I prefer to have them in the studio at my house. Low stress, excellent beer, and a place for everyone to crash if they feel they've had too much to drink. Good all the way around.

Tivanico - The Black Pontiff

2009-02-10T13:41:00.001-08:00

[Just a little something I'm toying with... a militant "pope" who prefers to wear black to connect with his beginnings in a small chapel in the wilderlands of Tivanico (think Spain). This is set in the same world as the other fiction I share in my blog... just a different country.]

The blackness rippled and snapped.

Grasping the edges of his robe the Black Pontiff spun toward the doorway and the corridor beyond, his robe whipping through the familiar, practiced flourish behind him with a quick twitch of his hands. His escort fell in around him silently, searching and scanning their course with grim anticipation of the assassin they all knew would someday come.

The gathered bishops stared after him, faces aghast at such a stark declaration. Whisperings of unanswered questions “had they heard his pronouncement correctly”, and “were they going to live through this” echoed after the Primate.

Gorika - Empire Building

2009-02-10T13:37:00.000-08:00

[This is a "fan fiction" piece set in Steven's world... before he went and changed things and I decided I wanted to keep going my direction. It doesn't exactly fit in either world now, but I'll probably change it when I get the chance. This is set in the same world as the other fiction I share in my blog... just a different country.]

The setting sun turned the distant mountains a deep purple-red, and the air in the broad valley a pale gold. The sun-lit dust billowed up from the thousands of tromping feet on the plateau carried by a breeze to the small troupe of onlookers standing on the hillock. The clatter of broken rocks filled the air, overpowering the grunted cadence and groaning complaints of the workers below. Like ants streaming from their nest, they climbed from a pit quarry in the valley, struggling under the weight of baskets filled with rock shards, and made their way to the hill a half-mile distant.

“Nitrell!” Gorruck bellowed, “You’re nearly on schedule. Maybe when I die you will be done? Eh?”

Nitrell nodded, bowing slightly, to his king. “Yes, Clanmaster. The workers were eager to impress you with their progress these last two months. Even today, they are inspired by your presence and work harder than ever.”

“You lie Nitrell.” He turned to face the barrel-chested human. “I have eyes watching the site from afar, and I know that they work because you beat them and withhold food. That is good.” Talen, the priest of Narimoran serving Nitrell, smirked.

“Thank you, noble one.” Nitrell responded, snapping to a crisp attentive posture.

Gorruck let the compliment rest in the gritty air and looked back to the bustling activity. The mound of stone shards ringing the hill rose steadily, a mirror of the young Gorruck’s growing power in Gorika. The precarious slopes of the tomb were their thickest on the northern side of the hill, tapering to a scant five-pace wide oval footprint on the southern face adjacent to his nearly complete redoubt-temple. He grinned a tusk-filled smile as the he surveyed the scene, pleased by his architect’s progress.

Raising his voice so it could be heard by those further down the hillock. “They should also know that I will send the laziest workers to the front lines. The clumsy troop holding up the other workers there can spend four tours on the Tivanican front!” He pointed to the nearby quarry road with humans and kelshay scurrying to right a wagon. “If they live, and have proven their loyalty by slaying twice their number, then maybe they will be worthy of returning to working on my tomb!”

The response of “By your order Scourgelord” echoed up the incline.

Gorruck knew the workers had built up the shattered rock construction faster than anyone expected in such a short time. He had commissioned the tomb on the eve of the feast of Ghamus, the War God, a scant season ago. Scouts went into the borderlands looking for a suitable site the next morning and one had returned with information including this grassy valley. The hill had stood out from the surrounding fields, and now, due to the clearing of trees, it dominated the dismal landscape. Today, the precarious slopes of fist-sized jagged rocks climbed nearly two hundred strides up the small mountain, not more than an eighth of the way up, but soon, the architect would need priests of the Fortifier to add forcewalls to shore up imminent rockslides.

“Nitrell, I trust your progress will be more pronounced next time I visit.” Gorruck added with a smirk. He looked to his counsel “Talen, gather the guards. We leave!” He strode down toward his horse.

“By your order, Clanmaster.” Nitrell replied, bowing. Talen whistled and made a circular motion with his raised hand. The six swordsmen handpicked by the king for these journeys jumped to their feet and mounted their warhorses. Once mounted, Talen repeated the gesture accompanied with a longer and shriller whistle, and the escort gathered around the king already riding toward the eastern hills. He watched as the King and his guards disappeared into the tree line a few miles distant, and nodded at some silent thought.

=====

The ride was brisk, and the horses seemed to enjoy the fast ride into the edge of the hills. The trail veered into a small valley and followed a dry creek bed to a water-carved cavern. Horses whickered and neighed as King Gorruck of Lhuranal slowed the pace of the riders to navigate the low ceiling of the cavern. The group stopped in a chamber that was cramped by the seven riders and their horses.

“Guards, remain mounted, weapons ready. Prepare for any Tivanican hostiles at Altida.” Gorruck looked at the faces of his men dimly lit by the sunlight reflected off the cavern walls.

“I can’t abide using these waypoints, sire. It’s just not safe.”

“Pomax aaren Altidaes. Kori genay Lhuranes”

=====

The mosaic on the floor of the cavernous room shimmered and Gorruck saw the room’s details come into focus. His gaze fell upon Verad, Imperial advisor and priest of Narimoran. Verad was frowning. Gorruck walked past him into his private rooms.

“Majesty, I trust your inspection of the construction went well?” Gorruck nodded, and motioned toward his suite, urging Verad to follow and continue. “Then I must tell you that I have gotten word that a clutch of Loyalists and Imperium mages will be here tomorrow morning to inquire about your motivations surrounding it’s construction. It seems someone was speaking of you to the wrong ears in Imperium chambers.”

“Verad, why is it that every time you meet me here it’s bad news? Just once I’d like you to have a tankard of ale waiting for me. Better still. Have a slave girl and ale with you. Close the door.”

Verad, pushing the door shut without moving his eyes from the king, responded stoically “Majesty, you know I have little time for worrying about such pleasures for myself. I…”

“Really, Verad, you should take the time. You may find it stimulating.” Gorruck sighed. He removed his belt, unbuckled the clasp that held the cloak to his armor, lifted the heavy crimson cloth from his shoulders, and started unstrapping his armor. “Who do you suspect?”

“I don’t have anyone specific in mind at this moment, sire. due to the seriousness of our impending visit, I suspect the information came from someone with privileged access and Imperium influence.”

“Thank you Verad,” Gorruck sneered, removing his chest armor. “I don’t think that I could have figured that out for myself. Tell me something of interest… something insightful. Surely, all that Loyalist training should give you some clue as to who has the influence to get a contingent of Imperium inquisitors here.”

“I’m sorry your Majesty. I have no ideas. Perhaps it would be best if we can draw what we can from the questioning and use that to sniff out our traitor. Trust me, sire, this reflects worse on me than it does on you.”

“You better find out what they are up to, Verad. That’s all I can say.” Gorruck grew silent. Yes, he thought, that is an interesting observation. There is hardly a reason for Verad to betray himself to the church.

Talidon - Reassignment

2009-02-10T13:33:00.001-08:00

[This story is set in the central country for the fiction stories I share in my blog... how the other countries border this one is an interesting question I haven't answered yet. It is written to be read aloud to players in my Dungeons & Dragons game, hence the main character being the "reader".]

"Soldiers, to your feet for you are in the presence of Her Royal Majesty the Queen, Radiance of Talidon, Eyes of the Dragon Talid, Keeper of the Claw, Exalted Seeker of the Lost Orb."

The Queen appears before you.

"Soldiers and war bands of Our Armed Forces, We have called you here in Our presence to announce a reorganization of Our military to a structure used before the Slaughtering, a branched military hierarchy with ranks and rewards. As with other reforms in Our Majestic Lands of Talidon, these changes will help bring us closer to the lost greatness we all desire.

"The ranks are based on merit as are the rewards. The ranks are only used within the military forces, though they carry honor among the common people. The rewards are not entirely exclusive to the armed forces, though some can only be achieved through military service. Among the usual rewards of ribbons, medals, cords, and chains, are appointments in Orders, royal charters, noble titles, land grants, and even royal entitlement. With the multitude of rewards and the honor they impart, We see this as the beginning of a new era in Majestic Lands of Talidon.

"This reorganization marks a distinct departure from the mercenary groups that have pillaged Our nation’s lost treasures for the benefit of a highest bidder. This heralds a clean break from the warlords with their war-bands and in-fighting over who controls Our lands and marches. From this point forward, Our nation will benefit from such expeditions, rather than suffer loss.

"As the first reward for your proven excellence in service, We have entrusted your new officers to reassign you into one of three branches of Our new military. Army, Navy, Police. To initiate the reassignments, We will personally appoint the Arch General of Our Armed Forces."

The Royal Herald calls out "Grand Prince Temor of House Volodin, approach and be recognized."
A man who you presume is the Grand Prince climbs the steps of the stand. When he reaches the red-draped planks of the stand, he gracefully bows to the Queen, walks to two arm’s lengths away from her left hand, and kneels on both knees.

The Queen turns slightly away from the Grand Prince and says "Master of the Armories, the Sword of State.

" A man, garbed quite similarly to the royal herald approaches the Queen holding a golden-sheathed, bejeweled sword by the scabbard. He bows the hilt to the Queen and she draws sword. The Queen turns her back to the man and faces the Grand Prince with the sword in her right hand. The Master of the Armories steps back and another man in less ornate trappings steps to take his place

"Grand Prince Temor Volodin, We challenge you to defend Talidon from all threats, foreign and domestic. Do you accept this challenge?"

"I swear to defend Talidon and accept this challenge."

The Queen nods and plunges the sword through his chest. The Grand Prince jerks backwards at the shock of what his body is enduring. He looks back up into the Queen’s face. She nods again and pulls the sword from the Grand Prince. He nearly falls forward, following the sword’s quick withdrawal. The Queen swings the sword backwards, its tip sending an arc of his blood’s droplets across the first few rows of those in audience.

As the Grand Prince steadies himself without touching his hands to the carpet, the Queen continues her arm’s movement until the sword comes into the grasp of the Master of the Armories’ attendant behind her. She releases the sword and the attendant wraps the blade in a white cloth, bows, and retreats behind his Master who steps forward with a large tray between his hands. Beside him a third similarly garbed man steps forward also bearing a tray.

"The Claw of Talid sees the truth in your heart. The Claw of Talid tastes the strength in your blood. The Claw of Talid knows your bond. Rise, Grand Prince Temor and meet your charges." The Queen turns to the Master of the Armories and removes a shining footman’s mace from the tray with both hands.

Surprisingly, the Grand Prince does rise, steadily and purposefully, almost slowly, first raising one knee to place his right foot on the carpet, then following it with his left.

"Grand Prince Temor, you are charged to command the Police and defend the throne and people of Talidon. Do you accept this charge?" The Queen extends the mace to the Grand Prince.

"I accept the charge." He replies in a strained voice, taking the mace with both hands and bowing.

"I hereby grant you the commission of Grand Marshall of the Police." He twists slightly to his right hanging the mace from his belt. As he does so, you think you see a red stain on the back of his jacket. He faces the Queen stiffly and snaps his arms to his sides.

While you were looking at the Grand Prince’s jacket, you heard the Queen say "Master of Arms". She must have also removed an ornate golden chain from his tray because she was holding it now. Two of the Master of Arms’ attendants moved in unison to positions behind the Grand Prince.

"With your charge, I appoint you First Link of the Most Noble Order of the Chain." The Queen reaches out with her hands, extending the chain toward the Grand Prince and over his head as he bows again slightly. The Master of Arms’ attendants each take the chain carefully from the Queen’s hand nearest them and button its links into the Grand Prince’s epaulets. The Queen turns again to the Master of the Armories and removes a golden-sheathed short sword from his tray.

"Grand Prince Temor, you are charged to command the Royal Navies and defend the waters and skies of Talidon. Do you accept this charge?" The Queen extends the short sword to the Grand Prince.

"I accept the charge." He replies again, taking the short sword with both hands and bowing.

"I hereby grant you the commission of Admiral of the Seas of the Navy." As before, he arms himself with the newly gifted weapon at his left hip. Your eyes catch another glimpse of blood, this time as a stain on the front of his jacket. Again, the Queen turns to the Master of Arms and removes something from his tray, this time a sash. Spreading the gold-trimmed sky blue sash with her hands, she speaks.

"With your charge, I appoint you Helm of the Most Honorable Order of the Sash." As before, the Grand Prince bowed so the Queen could bring the honor over his head, and again the attendants gently lifted it from her hands and brought it down to affix it to the Grand Prince’s uniform. The sash was buttoned in his right epaulet under the Chain, and brought down to buckle to his sword of office at his left hip.

The Queen turns again to the Master of the Armories and lifts a familiar long sword from the tray. It is the Sword of State, the Claw of Talid, the very weapon that moments ago was run through the Grand Princes’ torso.

"Grand Prince Temor, you are charged to command the Armies of the Crown and defend the lands and interests of Talidon. Do you accept this charge?" The Queen extends the ornate sword to the Grand Prince in both hands.

"I accept the charge." He replies, taking the Sword of State with both of his hands and bowing.

"I hereby grant you the commission of General of the Armies of Talidon." The Queen pronounces as the attendant to the left of the Grand Prince quickly helps him buckle the sword to his hip with the sash and Sword of the Navy. As he does so, you see the bloodstain has spread further across the left breast of his jacket and down his side. His face slightly pale, he faces the Queen stiffly and keeping his arms rigid and to his sides.

"With your charge, I appoint you to the Most Noble and Most Ancient Order of the Claw and bequeath unto you the office of Bearer of the Claw and all the duties it entails. Face your forces and be recognized." The Queen turns in unison with the Grand Prince to face you.

The Royal Herald announces loudly, "Presenting His Royal Highness, the Grand Prince Temor of House Volodin, Arch General of Her Majesty’s Armed Forces, General of the Armies of Talidon, Admiral of the Seas, Grand Marshall of the Police, Bearer of the Claw for the Most Noble and Most Ancient Order of the Claw, Helm of the Most Honorable Order of the Sash, First Link of the Most Noble Order of the Chain!"

A cheer rises up from the crowd, though many people look around and whisper to one another, seeming somewhat confused at the pomp of this ceremony.

The Queen adds "With these three branches of our military, three offices installed, three orders of honor appointed, and three awards bestowed, We wish to ignite within you the fires to forge magnificent deeds of your own and wield them to propel our nation to greater heights." The crowd applauds and cheers more loudly this time as she steps back from her position at the front of the platform.

The Grand Prince, more importantly to you it seems, the Arch-General, stands alone near the front of the platform. He seems steady, having regained the color in his face despite the size of the blood-soaked wetness on the breast of his jacket. "Soldiers," he says, his voice strong, "over the next few days each of you will be called before your commanding officers and reassigned to a new unit within one of the three new branches; Army, Navy, and Police. I will now appoint the branch commanders."

The Royal Herald calls out "Archduke Makaris, approach and be recognized. Duchess Anfis, approach and be recognized. Earl Khariton, approach and be recognized."

Each of those summoned to the platform climb the stairs and take up positions to the Arch-General’s left as he had just done with the Queen. The Master of the Armories moves beside the Arch-General and the Master of Arms beside the Queen, each with a tray. A similar ceremony to the Grand Prince’s commissioning ensues for the newly appointed commanding officers of each military branch.

The Royal Herald announces "Presenting His Highness General Makaris, Archduke of Mischa, the Most Noble and Most Ancient Order of the Claw! Presenting Her Highness Admiral Anfis, Duchess of Melorin, the Most Honorable Order of the Sash! Presenting Marshall Khariton, Earl of Tarentum, the Most Noble Order of the Chain." They all stand proudly, the Archduke with his gold long sword and Claw medallion, the Duchess with her golden naval short sword and gold-trimmed sky blue sash, and the Earl with his mace and gold chain.

The Grand Prince turns to the Queen, bows, turns back to you and shouts "Dismissed!"

As the assembled soldiers disperse, you hear everything from excited talk about the future of the armed forces to the seditious mutterings and oaths of possible separatists. It is going to be an interesting couple of days.

Within a day you all receive your first orders from your commanding officer: you are to move into your new quarters before high noon tomorrow and wait there for further orders. You are given directions to your new lodging and get your gear set to move.

Late afternoon arrives in your new quarters and you hear a knock. Answering your door, you see no one nearby who could have knocked. You close the door and turn around to find a man standing beside a trapdoor near the foot of your rack.

"This is your first assignment from your new commander - Follow me." He turns to descend the wooden ladder into the lamp-lit tunnel below your quarters.

The tunnel is carved from the earth and supported by bricks, rocks, plaster and occasional wooden beams. Though haphazard in construction, it appears sound. You follow your guide until you come to a junction of tunnels where you meet four others; two soldiers each with their own lamp-bearing escorts. A short while later you meet up with eight more people - half soldiers, half guides. One speaks up.

"Good, we’re all here. Let’s get moving. Our commander awaits." He peels off down another corridor. In a few minutes the corridor widens into a small chamber with a door in the back wall.

The guide who spoke in the junction speaks again "Through the door and have a seat. I will let our commander know you are here. He will be with you in a moment." He goes through the door and into another in the room. The sound of squeaking metal and creaking wood fills the space beyond the door and falls quiet as suddenly as it started.

Lurking about in tunnels. Secret meetings in underground rooms. Hopefully your new commander will reasonably answer all of your questions.

The room is made of the same construction as the corridors that brought you here, but more wood resembling wainscoting is used on the lower half of the walls, and more red brick and white plaster are used throughout, both giving you a forced sense you are in a tavern above ground. A large rectangular table dominates the room, surrounded by a random collection of chairs. A high-backed chair sits on the left middle of the table with its back to a door, obviously the one the guide went through. Warmth emanates from a small iron stove in the near left corner of the room. The sound of almost boiling water comes from a small kettle on the stovetop. A small cupboard sits in the near right corner, with a large and random collection of clay, wood, and ceramic dishes. Small cabinets, a sideboard, and a stack of chairs sit in the remaining far corners. The table is illuminated by a four oil lanterns, their flames turned down to a low flicker.

Some of you take a seat while others walk slowly around the room, all anticipating the arrival of your new commander. You do not wait long as the sound of squeaking and creaking beyond the door returns. The noise stops with a thud and the door rattles open. You see the guide holding the door open for someone stepping out of what looks like a gated horse stall. The person lifts his head and you think he is the Arch-General!

"Attention! Presenting Arch-General Volodin" the guide says, eyeing those who were seated.

The Arch-General looks at you all, pulls out the high-backed chair and sits down. "Be seated." He pauses as he scans everyone’s faces again. "Soren, dark tea with lemon and some hard cheese. Enough for all."

"Yes sir." The guide says. He steps through the door once more and returns with a wheel of cheese on a plank and two lemons.

The Arch-General reaches forward to the two lanterns nearest him and raises their flames. "You are probably wondering at the covert nature of our meeting. The short answer is this. You came to the attention of my cadre, and one of them noticed a particular...er...synergetic aptitude among you all. He brought it to my attention and presented a plan I must say is quite devious. We discussed our options and decided to make you into a special unit dedicated to serving the unique needs of the Queen, the branch commanders, and myself. The work will be hard. For now, you will live your lives in secret, and will not discuss the details of your missions with anyone without my permission."

Soren placed a small plate of cheese in front of the Arch-General. He then put a small stack of mismatched saucers and the plank of cheese on the table, with some wedges already cut from the wheel. "Your tea will be ready in a moment sir."

"If you will join me" the Arch-General’s manner softens slightly and he says "I have spent much of my life at war, so most of the pleasantries enjoyed by those of even a lesser station are lost on me. I do, however, enjoy a few niceties. The tea is from Tivanico, a gift from the Black Pontiff, and the cheese is from some small goats Soren...ahem...acquired from Gorika." He smiles, hoping you catch his humor "I think it quite humorous our two comestibles are sharing the same table being that their countries of origin are at war." His smile grows wide, then quickly fades away as if it was never there. "So, now you know a little about me. Let us continue."

Soren’s hand moves in beside the Arch-General, setting a saucer and cup beside him. Soren pours steaming tea into the cup, floating a thin slice of lemon to the surface.

"Thank you Soren. Make sure to give some to the lads." Looking back to you all, his face darkening, the Arch-General continues grimly "Do you accept this charge? Yes? Good. Well then, now that you have been strong-armed into service, let us set some more rules and expectations.”

“You are now members a Police company I have, ah, borrowed from Earl Khariton. Hydra Battalion, E Company, Second Platoon, Second Squad. The battalion has numerous tasks associated with rooting out subversives, putting down rebellions, and the like—a splendid cover for the rest of our activities. Among the Police forces, only he knows about this, ah, shall we say, this extracurricular arrangement, so your role in this, and by extension everyone else’s, is safe as long as you follow protocol.”

“Your orders will normally be delivered to your quarters by courier. On rare occasions, we will contact you as we did tonight, by messenger via the tunnels. There are only certain people with access to these tunnels, so you will not be contacted in this manner unless it is authorized and necessary.”

“When on assignment, you must leave and enter your quarters via the tunnels you used this evening. When leaving the Police compound, you will move by night, exiting the tunnel system via a special building dedicated to our purposes. When leaving, you will be masked.” His mouth twists into a dark smile for a moment.

“You will be issued some standard equipment required to complete your tasks. Among these items is a magical mask you will wear during all missions. This mask will conceal your identity and protect you from any later retaliation by witnesses. You will be issued uniforms to be used while on all missions. They are to be stored down here. Another set will be issued for daily use. You will not always have special equipment you may need, and in such cases you will contact Soren’s team via this meeting room.”

Talidon - Introduction

2009-02-10T13:33:00.000-08:00

[This "dust jacket" introduction came to me one afternoon way back when... then became so much more. This is the beginning of the fiction stories I will continue to post in my blog.]

In an age long since past, our peoples thrived in these lands at what many say was our civilization’s height. The great dwarf-built cities, with their spires reaching to the gods, protected all they oversaw.

That was before the dragons came and plunged our world into centuries of darkness. The Slaughtering saw the proud elves hunted to near extinction, the brave dwarves decimated in battle and driven back to their ancestral mountain halls. The humans who stood beside those warriors died on the fields of battle... those that ran were enslaved or worse. The orcs and goblinoids played to the dragons’ egos and found a place in their hordes. Some of our peoples turned against us and entered into the dragons’ service as well, though most were eventually killed as their greed overtook their dark loyalty.

It is only in recent memory that our peoples have regained footholds in our ancient homes, allowing the seeds of our once great civilization to sprout in the hopes that we will see it grow to the lofty heights once again. Much is lost that we once were, and much remains hidden to us, but with each day we recover the precious knowledge and artifacts of our forebears.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

"In an age long since past ... was our civilization's height." - roughly 750 years ago (30 generations), though I'm seriously thinking of dropping this to about 200 years.
"the dragons came and plunged our world into centuries of darkness" - again, roughly 750 years ago. It is said that the Slaughtering swept across the land from one coast to another like a wave of blood and destruction. Again, I'm seriously thinking of dropping this to about 200 years.
"in recent memory... our peoples have regained... our ancient homes" - roughly 15-25 years depending on the area.
"Dragons haven't been seen in a while" - about 5 years since anyone has (reportedly) seen a dragon.

Rant: Education Sacrificed

2009-02-03T11:35:00.000-08:00

This post was originally a small comment on Marc's "Tenure?" posting on Another Look Around, but as I continued my comment, I found myself wanting to say more and more on the subject. The more I thought about it, the more I realized I was essentially writing a blog entry on someone else's blog. Bad form. So, I mentioned I was going to post this on my own site. Not good form, but not as bad as the full post itself. I'm no master of debate, nor am I all that interested in politics, but I felt I should still say something. Anyway, here's the rant it became...

The California budget is jacked up. The economy is jacked up everywhere. (Captain Obvious here with news you already know.) What stinks is we have politicians who don't appear to care about solving the situation. Sure, they talk about solving things, but where is the balanced budget in California? They are still getting paychecks while people are losing their jobs. People and jobs, by the way, that are crucial to our future. One of those jobs is that of educator, and they will be among the first to pay the price of poor government in this doom's day plan. Our children will be the next ones to pay the price as kids are jammed into classrooms of 30+ students and suffer the side-effects of overcrowded classrooms. Next are all the "trickle-down" losses and troubles stemming from the lost jobs and poor learning conditions (trouble at home, for one). Ultimately, these children will be the same ones who will work in our companies and government, and care for us in our old age. Would you really want that to play out that way?

To me, it seems like we're all on a boat leaking and listing somewhere in the south Pacific. Some people are bailing as fast as they can, but the water is rising quickly. Others are trying to fix the leaks, but they are not boatwrights, so they cause about as much damage as they repair. Finally, there is a group who, in an effort to improve their cold and wet condition, are prying up planks and throwing them into a fire they built on the bow! Unfortunately, if we try to follow rats jumping off the ship, we'll drown just like them. So we're stuck here, hoping someone can do something to fix our situation before we all go under. (Look at me... I'm the one in the back stating the obvious and annoying everyone in earshot... yeah, the first one to get eaten by the shark, causing everyone in the theater to cheer.)

We already have one of the worst ranked education systems in the nation, and now we're about to cut the funding further? This is in addition to the proposed cap of lottery money income at the current rate of $1.2 billion (from some sources, that is around 3% of the annual education spending in California). This is happening during a time where things are costing more and becoming harder to come by.

The education system seems to be broken. What other profession do you have to go through college, get a degree, take additional classes, take certification tests, serve a two year probationary internship, endure repetitive annual state mandated training, suffer through lack of funding, and spend your own money to get supplies? Then, as if that wasn't enough, have your "bosses" tell you your pay will be linked to your performance, but you can't deviate from a particular curriculum, even to bouy the slow learners? It stinks like day old roadkill skunk. I didn't even get into poor curriculums, monopolistic text book contracts, poorly designed government policies, and the insanity of penalizing schools and teachers for not having kids perform in the higher percentiles in the "bell curve" ranked standardized testing (perhaps someone needs to explain a "bell curve" to government officials again).

[Whoa, look over there. Something is coming out of left field.]

Meanwhile, the 2008 NFL team player salaries totalled $3,624,115,487 for the 2008-2009 season. Yep. 3.6 billion dollars. With a 'B'. I can watch a bunch of people play football for free in a park. People who are playing for free and having fun. That large figure was for the players in one sport. Imagine how much money the entire professional sports industry generates. Season tickets, official jerseys, logo merchandise, product endorsements, and the list goes on. Staggering, huh? I think professional athletes' (not just football or even just sports I suppose) salaries should be capped (keep it high at $200,000, why not) and the "extra" money diverted into schools. It won't solve our problem, but it could put a minor dent in it. Wow, that sounds SO socialist... spreading the money around like that... but we have people being paid enormous amounts of money and they really don't contribute much to society other than entertainment. We worship them for it and ignore what really should matter. Instead, let's funnel that "excess" money into something important to our future (other than a memory of a good game and a collection of statistics), rather than entertainment, and we might be able to dig ourselves out of this hole we're in.

Children want to become professional athletes--not that there's anything wrong with striving for a goal, even an impractical and nigh unachievable one. I think they strive to be athletes because "we" like athletes, we put them on TV, we pay them lot's of money, and we pay them to do things most people do for free; play ball games. Maybe--and here's a really against-the-grain thought--maybe we should pay educators more. Like, lots more. Make that the job students strive for to get one of the few slots. We'd end up with better educators, and each generation would be smarter than the one before. Nice by-product.

Imagine what it would be like if we valued the valuable people in our society, instead of the athletes, actors, and rock stars.

There's so much more to say on this subject... but as usual, I'm quite tired and I have to work tom... er... today. Also, I could and probably should list all the resources I read while writing this post, but they are numerous, including USA Today, LA Times, CNN, the State of California, and on and on. If this issue bugs you, you'll have no trouble finding material on the subject.

Travel: San Pasqual Battlefield

2009-02-02T14:35:00.000-08:00

Friday evening, Ethan asked Andie and I if we could to go to a museum and on a hike. Being five years old, he is sometimes cued into the day of the week, and in this case, he knew the weekend was rapidly approaching. Since he had had a "good" day, we felt we could indulge his request. Andie didn't really know where we could go, but I had recently remembered about an interesting piece of history a short distance from our house: the San Pasqual Battlefield. Andie visited their web site and learned that they have visitor center/museum and a nature trail... both of Ethan's requests fulfilled by one nearby trip.

Sunday arrived and we gathered up the few necessities for a short outing, jumped into the car, and got on the road. About ten minutes later, we found ourselves parking at the site. Walking up the path toward the monument we saw a small crowd gathered in the amphitheatre. What luck! There was a group of presenters telling the tale of the battle of San Pasqual and demonstrating period (and reproduction) equipment. Naturally, we took a seat and listened to the presentation. The speaker first told the story of the known historical events, situations, and decisions leading up to the battle, then discussed the battle itself and the subsequent movement of both American and Mexican troops toward what is now Old Town San Diego. (I'll let you read and/or visit to get the story yourself.)

During the presentation he referred to the surrounding geography and monuments on the site (noting the typical omission of the Native American guide on the large bronze monument behind them), which happens to also include a small field with a few trees, boulders, and a small number of brass/bronze plaques about half a mile down the road. Around the visitor center, I was a bit surprised to find myself looking at the terrain and thinking "that's a good spot to camp without being easily spotted by the enemy", "there's a good spot to put scouts" and "the U.S. cavalry probably took the approach from the ridgeline to the south because they were hidden until they were close to the Mexican 'Californios'." I suppose you can take the man out of West Point, but you can't take West Point out of the man.

The presentation shifted to a walk-through of the equipment used by a cavalryman during the Mexican-American War. Starting with the food (::sheesh:: one should always use that term loosely when referring to military rations from any point in time... I've eaten my share from a few different eras!), he and an assistant (lower ranking, from the chevrons) showed the typical amounts carried by each soldier. The typical kinds of ammunition for a "mountain howitzer" were explained (and happen to be in the photo to the right), and all sounded pretty nasty. He and his assistant then showed the weapons the U.S. used, including the lance, breach-loading shotgun, flintlock pistol, cavalry saber, and cannon.

Everything concluded with a bang... quite literally. Ethan a.k.a. "Swag-Mag"--as he seems to have a high concentration of some bizarre magnetic substance that attracts swag--was picked out of the crowd to join the cannoneers when they fired the howitzer. His job? To yell "Fire!" once every station was finished with their loading duties. It was especially funny because he got distracted by everything going on and forgot to say fire until the team leader prompted him... three times. The ensuing concussion left a smile plastered to his face for a good while afterwards. Someone in the crowd asked the presenters to gather around the cannon, so I snuck a photo in.

Afterwards, we jumped onto the nature trail (you can see it winding up from the upper right across the hillside toward the other portion of the monument on the lower left). The web site says it is only about a mile, but after walking the trail there and back, I would have to say they must have measured wrong... or only one way. Sure, we were walking with Mini-Me, but he kept up a decent pace, even through the areas where we wished he would have slowed down to avoid a 40-foot slide into pricklypear cactus (he didn't fall, we were just worried he would).

When I am on such adventures, I often find myself thinking of how "this or that" would help set the scene in a story I'd like to write or some RPG adventure I'm working on. In this case, reference photos were needed:

...other times, I think it would be nice to have a photo of the "thing".

Oh, and what would this blog post be without a relevant link to Wikipedia? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_San_Pasqual

Windows 7?

2009-01-30T11:16:00.000-08:00

Some of you may not have heard, but Microsoft has released the Windows 7 Beta for techies (like me and many of you) to preview and help build buy-in and interest. It's pretty obvious to most of us that the seemingly hurried release schedule is in direct response to the bad press and poor response that Windows Vista has been buried under. Personally, I don't understand why so many people are willing to jump on the Vista-bashing bandwagon. Perhaps it is the pack mentality or "all the cool kids are doing it" or they simply fear change. Whatever. I've been using Windows Vista Ultimate since I got my first beta back in late September of 2006 and I don't have many problems with it... fewer than with XP... but definitely different. That said, I'm an IT guy who has focused on using Microsoft server and desktop products over the years, so I'm a different kind of user, and I can be more forgiving than others.

What I'm really here to bring up is the name "Windows 7". Really? That doesn't sound right. Let's count the versions:

[DISCLAIMER: in the HTML, this is an ordered list with numbers, so I don't have any idea where the freakin' flower bullet points are coming from]

Windows 1.0 - I remember the box, but I think I used GEM at the time
Windows 2.0 - I think I immediately upgraded to 2.03 with overlapping windows, rather than sticking with 2.0's tiled window interface. I also used Word for the first time with this version
Windows 3.0 - it is arguable that Windows 3.1, and 3.11 for Workgroups were different enough to be "versions"
Microsoft Bob - I had blocked this from my memory, but Trent pointed it out and I must include it
Windows 95 - this was like day and night when compared to 3.1
Windows 98 - I think Windows 98SE (as in Second Edition) is worthy of being called a separate "version"
Windows Me - ::hork:: let's not talk about the "Millenium Edition"
Windows XP - for Home, Pro, or Media Center Edition, this was a nice improvement
Windows Vista - Home Basic, Home Premium, and Ultimate
Windows 7 - or should that be "Windows 10"... oops, make that "Windows X"?

[Pre-update]
When I counted this with the guys in my IT crew, we ended up with ten, but that included Windows 2000 in the list, which is really a different "flavor" of Windows (covered below). That would make it "Windows 10"... or "Windows X"... "Windows OS X". That makes me uncomfortable.

[Post-update]
With the Microsoft Bob included, the list is now up to ten. "Windows X" it should have been! However, with my mentioning it here, there are lawyers at Apple twitching, Mac fanboys getting the "Windows just copies Mac" flame-mails ready, and perhaps even Microsoft lawyers hovering near "cease and desist" documents. All in good fun! :)

Maybe they were counting "IT professional" version of Windows when they came up with the name? Let's count:

Windows NT 3.1
Windows NT 3.5
Windows NT 3.51
Windows NT 4
Windows 2000 Professional
Windows XP Professional - the much beloved XP Pro so many people have latched onto
Windows Vista - Business or Enterprise editions (by the way, Vista is "Longhorn" for those who wonder where that version went)
Windows 7 - or should that be "Windows 8"

If I condense the IT pro list down to leading version numbers, we'd only have six, not seven.

I could break out all the different editions, service packs, and releases into their own items, but the lists would be even longer. We could throw in DOS versions, but they are not Windows even if they are operating systems for the PC.

Wait, I think I see what they did:

Windows 1.0
Windows 2.0
Windows 3.0
Windows 9x (95, 98, Me)
Windows XP
Windows Vista
Windows 7

That's cheating the list's count though. It's probably a marketing spin on the underpinning technologies of Windows. Thanks to Wikipedia for having a good list for me to check my memory against.

Woodworking Progress

2009-01-29T17:43:00.000-08:00

For those of you who read my last post about New Year's Resolutions/New Beer Revolutions progress, I mentioned a couple things that don't make much sense unless can see what I am working on. So... to facilitate that, I've taken some photos that I will post this evening. First, I want to have a 2005 Double Bastard downstairs in the Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens. Then, once I get home and everything settles in for the night, I'll upload the photos (and probably the "tasting notes" post about the beers we drank last Friday night).

Okay, now that the evening has settled down, here's the rundown...

First up, the makeshift bar. What you see in the picture to the right is the physical mass of the bar I would like to build. The space it takes up is just about what I desire for the dimensions of our studio. The bar surface--as shown in the photo--is salvaged mahogany from a giant pallet, and will be resawn (probably by hand) to make two 16" x 1.5" boards 65" long for the counter top. The smaller pieces sawn off the larger pieces will be around 32" long. The upper portion of the bar--the arm rest if you will--is made up of er... smaller boards: two 9 x 16" pieces at 64" long also with 32" pieces attached (one of which I have already sawn off).

I also salvaged some other wood to use on this project: oak, also from pallets up for grabs up at work. I think it is white oak, but it also could be (and probably is) some cheaper variety from South America or Asia. Regardless of that (or "irregardless" if you want to watch a certain big Irish guy twitch), it looks pretty good. It's the wood to the right of the photo. The mahogany (which could also be a cheaper substitute from overseas) is the wood to the left of the photo. Again, it looks pretty good. Both woods are heavy... hea-vy... dense... and difficult to cut, especially when compared to pine and douglas fir, which is the usual wood we encounter regularly.

Anyway, back to the bar concept... you'll also notice a few other "salvaged" items that, while helping me determine the actual shape and function of the bar, will not be a part of the final piece. For instance, the chair legs balanced on the right side of the frame are there to represent one of the four turned posts which will ultimately support the canopy over the bar (you know, where stemware is hung from).

Below the bar to are two whiskey barrels. They will not be used for the bar directly, but they will be used around the bar area. Look on the wall above the beer bottles. That circle (and one that should be below it, but fell off) represents a barrel end that will "stick through" the wall from the refrigerator behind the wall to the bar area. I think that at least one tap per barrel end will pour from the kegs in the 'frig. I also think I will be able to use the remaining barrel staves for some bar stools. We'll have to waiti and see. Representing the front of the bar are two desk ends. Sure, they don't look that bad, but on closer examination, their facade starts to fall apart. They are a "cherry" veneer on pressed wood... not exactly what I'm looking for in the finished piece. Instead, they nicely represent the two large mohogany panels that will be front (and side?) of the bar.

The drawback? This is not the project I need to complete for my NYR/NBR. It'll help me lear stuff, but it doesn't put a bookcase in the library, nor does it empty the... what... fifteen? twenty?... numerous paper boxes of books that are filling one of the corners of the studio.

What clears things up and helps me learn about what I'm getting into are the breakfast nook benches that I've started working on again. One of them was started previously, and the other was brought to a point where I can figure out the corner seat. The carcass of the bench seats is essentially all you see here, as quite a bit more work is coming this weeknd. I'll bulk up the feet up a bit and complete the boxes just under the hinged seats. Now this project is helping me learn about the construction of the bookcases for the library. So far so good.

Just for the sake of "sharing" what woodworking projects I'm working on, here is the gargoyle I'm working on:

I think I'll learn a bit about hand carving various aspects of my future projects. Plus it will look cool somewhere in or outside the studio.

Oh, and here's the drawing it is based on.

Tasting Notes: Rarity and Obscurity

2009-01-26T22:50:00.000-08:00

Since Marc asked for it, I'll offer up some tasting notes from New Year's Eve (I think), when my boss decided to "thin out his refrigerator" and share the spoils of his trip to Europe with several people at the brewery.

First on the list was a pair of "rustic" Italian beers: "La Mummia" and "Dolii Raptor" both brewed by Birrificio Montegioco. I'd categorize these beers as "farmhouse ales", since they had that flavor typified by some Belgian traditional fermentation techniques: Brettanomyces was prominent, but well balanced. The "Dolii Raptor" (Barrel Thief) was my favorite of the two, as it had some wonderful oak flavors.

Those two were quickly followed by... er... a beer that everyone around the table said I had to try (while snickering, that is). I tried it, and wondered why it was at the table. I was "underwhelmed". It didn't have a label, so I can't tell you who made it or what it was called. Hec, it didn't even make it downstairs to the lab for other people to taste. I think it was poured out when people left the conference room.

Anyway, off to the next beer on the list... Struiselensis by Struise. It was a nice follow-up to the Italian rustics, with tart fruit-like flavors. It was good, but among its neighbors at the table (it's the one to the right of our next entry), was not outstanding. I still like the "Barrel Thief" better.

What was outstanding was the Kriek Cuvée René by Brouwerij Lindemans. Now, for those of you who know your sweet "lambics", this isn't one of those. It also isn't extremely sour, as my caveat might have led you to believe. Instead, this beer was nicely balanced... slightly sour, with some cherries in the nose and more in the flavor, but the nicest thing (to me, of course) was that this beer was not sweet. Now, I have a "sweet-tooth" of a sort, but that beer normally doesn't fit into what I would consider a "regular" beer. Again, for those of you who know your sweet beers, especially Lindemans, you'll note the red label in the photo, instead of the usual school bus yellow found on most of their bottles.

There was another beer on the table at this point... maybe two, but they were overshadowed by the two that followed them... for the beer geeks in the crowd, you'll totally understand why I can't remember much about them. The monks at Brouwerij Westvleteren (Sint-Sixtusabdij van Westvleteren) produce some of the most sought after beers on the planet. And Steve brought two of them back to Stone. The first of these was Trappist Westvleteren 8 and is probably the second or third best beer I've ever tasted. Ever. That was followed up by Trappist Westvleteren 12. The "best beer I've ever tasted" list met its number one. Yeah. This was quite an afternoon. I suppose some of the flavor memory I speak of was due to the hype, but the flavors were really that good. So, in addition to being quite rare, these beers were awesome. I'll let the beer write-ups in the links to explain this... I can't do them justice.

The last two beers on the table were good, but I didn't even taste that much of them as I didn't want to ruin the Trappist Westvleteren 12 flavors still lingering in my mouth. Nøgne Ø brewed up a pretty damn good holiday ale in "God Jul", from what I remembe, but the crew over at a brewery I won't call out need to rethink the flavor in their Creme Brule beer. Usually that flavor needs to stay away from beer... creme brule needs to stay away from beer.

Anyway, I'm sleepy and any more of this will just make you want to get some beers of your own.

Resolutions: A Start

2009-01-26T22:37:00.000-08:00

Wow, what a week. If it wasn't work they'd call it something else, right? It turned out to be such an interesting week that, by Wednesday morning, I wanted to take Friday off (thanks, Steve for giving it your stamp of approval!). Naturally, that meant that I had to bust my butt to complete some outstanding issues to make the day off practical as well as possible. I'll probably have a few interesting ones waiting for me upon my return.

...fast forward to Friday...

Friday morning I had breakfast at A Delight of France, which was a nice change of pace from the routine shower-shave-get the E-Man to preschool-show up at work. Nice. Decent coffee, good eggs and garlic potatoes, and an awesome almond croissant. (Item: Lose girth. Status: Fail.)

I called Shopsmith to purchase some safety items for my Mark V. That went mostly okay. In retrospect, I got something that may not fit my 1960 model. Fun. I'll have to fix that tomorrow. (Item: Bookcase. Status: Creeping forward.)

A short while later, I visited a particular antique store on Grand Avenue in search of a few items I saw in mid-December: a garden astrolabe amd a nice set of plates (hey, they looked awesome for the "look" I'm going for in the studio over the garage.* Success? Zero. It seems that the rule of "see it and buy it" applies to antique stores. (Item: None. Status: Fail.)

Now that I was on the road, I took a trip to Escondido Metal Supply to see if they had some items I need for my studio bar project. Some? Yes, but it is tainted by the hassle of dealing with an understaffed team of annoyed people. Eh. So be it. I got an idea of what some things will cost through them (more on that project later), but at what additional cost? (Item: Bookcase practice. Status: time wasted.)

Annoyed, I turned "Kompressor"** back toward home, stopping through Showcase Moulding here in town. Good crew. Awesome selection of moulding and wood. Their prices were a bit higher for what I was quoting out, but the cherry plywood was very clear. It’s worth another $20 a sheet to get knot-free cherry rather than having to compromise and use maple. I think they will be my supplier for the projects in the queue. (Item: Bookcase. Status: Information gathering.)

Arriving at home, I performed the remaining Mark V calibrations and preventative maintenance I could, all in an effort to get the system running as good as possible. I then re-sawed the two smallest salvaged mahogany boards that will be part of the bar… the arm-rest counter to be precise. It is amazing how long that took. The density of the wood only allowed shallow cuts, relative to the 4 x 10 board. Two passes at each depth, and four depth settings later, I still wasn’t through the board, but I was at the maximum height of the saw blade. The remaining 2+ inches in the center of the board had to be hand-cut. I ended up using one of the old handsaws hanging on the wall of the garage. I don’t really know how old the saw is, but it has held its edge far better than the other saws less than half its age hanging alongside it. Once I got the board split, I got a chance to look at it. The wood looks pretty good. So good in fact, that I am questioning the decision to utilize the natural wearing of the wood and make it look like it has been worn by countless arms, hands, and pints. For now, I’ll stick with the plan and incorporate the “aged” look. (Item: Bookcase. Status: Practice makes perfect.)

Last year, I started a breakfast nook bench project. It is made out of birch plywood with a design based off of Andie’s library desk. I didn’t finish. Obvious, huh? Thought so. I brought that unfinished project down to the garage, considered what it would take to finish it up, and realized the benefits to be gained from finishing it up. One less unfinished project laying around. One more thing to practice on before starting in on a new project that is much more unforgiving. Besides, we need a few more seats at the breakfast table. “I’ll work on that this weekend” I told myself. (Item: Bookcase. Status: Planning makes perfect.)

Andie and Ethan came home shortly thereafter, so I was off to do some family things until after dinner. That night, Trent, Kevin, and Gary came over for beer-thirty. I have acquired several beers over time that have been relegated to the “share only” stash. The Lost Abbey beers we had that night will be the subject of another “Tasting Notes” entry. We had a good time and the “dry fit” of the bar worked out well. (Item: Lose girth. Status: Fail.)

Saturday and Sunday came around and spent most of it measuring up the breakfast nook area and working on the benches. (Item: Bookcase. Status: Practice, practice, practice.)

* Some might call the "studio" my "man cave", as much as I find that particular phrase... um... annoying? loathsome? Whatever. I don't think that I reside in a cave. It is currently filled with bookcases, boxes, a roll top desk badly in need of refinishing, and a bunch of stuff destined for Craig’s List, ebay, or one of the local thrift stores.

** Named early on by "the guys", my Mercedes Benz C230 Kompressor gained the name of another Kompressor out there in the world... of music in this case.

Tasting Notes - 1980 Courage Imperial Russian Stout

2009-01-19T14:24:00.000-08:00

Back on December 12th, I had the honor of tasting a 1980 vintage Courage Brewing Imperial Russian Stout beer. This is now the oldest beer I have tasted, coming in at 28 years old, knocking the 1985 Thomas Hardy's Ale I tasted early last year to #2!* Anyway, back to the beer at hand (ooo... I wish there was more "at hand"). It didn't have the usual "IRS" flavor profile I was expecting and was instead slightly sour with a tinge of soy sauce flavor. The grain roastiness was still there, as was the chocolately flavor. The mouth-feel was somewhat like a thin syrup, but that was most likely due to the nearly absent carbonation. If you're wondering what it tasted like, I'd say the closest beers would be Harvey's Imperial Extra Double Stout or Jolly Pumpkin's Madrugada Obscura. It was quite good considering its age. Too bad I probably won't get any more of this ever again. Check it out at RateBeer.com and Beer Advocate.

Anyway, my late lunch break is over. Back to work...

* I'll cover the oldest beers I've ever had in another post.

New Beer's Revolution!

2009-01-18T20:51:00.000-08:00

I am finally getting around to my second post, and it looks like I will be blogging more often now. Yep. I was off to a slow start (imagine that), but things will get rolling faster now that I made this part of my "New Beer's Revolution" at work.

Since I work at a brewery, and that brewey happens to be Stone Brewing Co., things aren't always traditional and are seldom boring. So why should the traditioal--and often boring--New Year's resolution be any different?

So let me guess, you’re planning on losing weight and exercising more in 2009, and that’s your New Year’s Resolution for the fifth time in six years? It’s ok to admit that—really it is. Or perhaps you’d like to improve intellectually, you know, learn a new skill or teach someone something? Maybe you want to make a difference in your community? All noble aspirations, but will you actually do any of them? Maybe, maybe not. But what if you had a support system—a team? And what if there was an incentive to accomplish your goals, like a reward?

That, and the "support group" of co-workers going through this with me... and the chance to win $500 or even $2,500 if the judges deem my efforts to be worthy of rewarding.

Let me guess. About this time you're wondering what I said I was going to do, right? Here's the list:

Physical Goals: Decrease my waist size (36+ to 34-36) and "lifestyle belly" while increasing muscle mass and cardivascular health. Achieve this by exercizing (somewhat) regularly and making subtle dietary changes.
Intellectual Goals: Write 50,000+ total words in the following areas:

blog (every other day)
novel projects (Talidon, Dune)
short stories

Community Goals: Ride bike to work more (at least one time a week). Research "green" projects and solutions for my house and develop implementation plan (rain barrels, solar water heating, etc.)

I've finally registered for this thing on Friday, but as I said, I'm off to a slow start. Thankfully I have until the end of April to complete this journey, assemble the packet, and present it to the judges.

What have I done so far? ::hmm:: Not much. I'm not feeling well, and I'm not sure why I am so tired lately. I've been fighting some sinus issue or another for what seems like forever. Neither of those help me get moving. In response to that lethargy yesterday, I spent some time reading through the issue of Family Handyman magazine that has the plans for the bookcase I intend on building. I also spent some time tuning my vintage 1960 Shopsmith, getting it prepared for a workout. I took a quick trip to Harbor Freight to look for a pocket hole jig and some "extra arms" in the from of an adjustable roller assembly. I got some quotes for cherry and maple, but I haven't quite locked in the decision to go with the maple... it's slightly cheaper and doesn't have the knots like the cherry wood does (or so I am told). Since Andie and Ethan are home tomorrow, I won't have to take Ethan to preschool and I'll be able to ride my mountain bike to work instead of driving the "grueling" three and a half miles to work.

That's it for tonight. I'm falling asleep in front of the keyboard. I'll post again tomorrow... if I remember and am not too tired.

Hello World!

2008-12-29T21:44:00.000-08:00

As it is the first program that any person working with computers eventually writes, it only seems fitting that I begin my "story" with a hello world statement... Hello world!

As I write this, the world is very caught up in the laboring gears of an economy destined--or so it would seem if you listen to "The End is Nigh" cries--for another Great Depression. It also seems that machine, dieseling relentlessly to a stall, is doing its best to catch us in it, like some chickens getting caught in the gears of an over-large government subsidized corn combine... just one of the anonymous flock going in... and less identifiable coming out the other end.

:: Mmm... a third ever sip ever(1) of absinthe... strangely soothing(2) ::

Where was I? Ah, yes. "As I write this" musings. This evening, I am spending it as I regularly do, sitting on the bed beside my snoozing wife thinking about the day ahead and inevitably reaching for the laptop that is seldom more than a few paces away. (Yes, yes, I am typing on said laptop this very moment... I am merely painting the picture, you see.)
:: A little taste of that absinthe... mmm... nice ::

Tonight, however, I was heartily prodded in the ribs by a particularly feisty muse who told me I should finally consider this "blogging" thing and share my thoughts, (mis)adventures, and observations with my family, friends, and the Internet's random passers-by. "Give them an idea of what's going on. You're horrible at keeping in touch with people and it may be a way to reach out. Besides, as you grow older, your community of friends is growing more scattered... like autumn leaves fallen from the tree and randomly picked up by a gusty breeze of change and dropped somewhere else. Sure, they have some faint tie to the tree they grew from, but a bit of chaos has intervened and stretched the tie a bit longer, a bit thinner." Let me come back to the feisty muse in a moment.

So tonight, I read to my son, from a book I read myself when I wasn't much older than he is now. "The Hobbit", and he's just barely turned five. I think he can handle it. The detail might be a bit much for him, but we read a couple of pages each night, then we talk about it briefly and he can ask any questions that are on his mind. Besides, I was about his age, maybe a little older, when I read this book in kindergarten. I distinctly remember putting "Island of the Blue Dolphins" back on the bookshelf of my elementary school's library, thinking it was too easy, and letting my eyes wander the spines of the books in front of me. It must have been that classic dust jacket that caught my eye.

I admit it. I was hooked on Tolkien back then. Once my parents bought me my first Dungeons & Dragons books two years later, I was hopelessly lost in the fantastic realms of someone's imagination, be it in a fiction novel, fiendish D&D dungeon, or some random musing that crossed my brain.

:: Aw... the last of the shot of absinthe. Is that what this stuff does? Muse juice?::

Anyway, I found it uplifting, to read "The Hobbit" to my son and escape the doldrums of this world with him to fascinating weavings of someone else's imagination. So far, so good. For both of us.

I also indulged the muse, creating this Blogger account, and doing my part to send some strengthening ties through the aether to those scattered leaves I don't often see or speak to. Or even to those who I do see every now and then. Perhaps even to those I have never met and will probably never meet if it wasn't for the world wide web.

Hello world!

(1) For those who know me, I'm not much of a "liquor" guy. More accurately, I'm a beer aficionado... beer connoisseur... beer snob. Whatever. I do enjoy the occasional red wine, port, or mead but, for the most part, it's ale for me. Especially the spiced holiday ales.

(2) Strangely soothing... It's hard to explain why I am getting pelted by this "flavor memory" of spending time with my late grandparents, but the flavor of absinthe is doing just that. I can picture myself, maybe as a boy of about thirteen or so, entering through the nutmeg-infused kitchen of their old Victorian farmhouse, walking through the dining room with the built-in china cabinets and big red glass candy dish, into the sitting room. I see them both, slightly reclined in their chairs, with their subtle, gentle smiles looking back at me. Soothing. Strangely soothing. What is has to do with absinthe, I could only guess. Since they didn't have much, if any alcohol in their house, I'd wager it has to do with my Grandma's use of spices in her cooking. Nutmeg was a big part of her cuisine. Her use of spices I have completely embraced, probably to the extreme... I use entirely too much, sometimes accidentally stumbling over the line into bitter, pungent and unpalatable dishes.