July 29th, 2010

1. Football season is sooooooo close!
I can give you two reasons why I believe this:

• Yesterday, I purchased my fantasy football magazine to prepare for our draft that is several weeks away.
• Henry slept in these pajamas last night.  April picked them out.....not me. 

  

Everytime I use the flash he makes the bug-eyes at me.

Fantastic!

Home Brewing (Vol.2)

2. The first batch turned out well.
As of two weeks ago, my first attempt at brewing is finally complete.  I apologize for being so late with this post.

Overall, the IPA tastes pretty good.  Much better than I ever imagined.  To be quite honest, I thought I would have to lower my expectation due to the equipment used.  This isn't a million dollar brewery.  Just a some ingredients boiled together and thrown into a large glass jug with some yeast.  But I tell you what...you can make some great beer that way.  Great hoppy taste.  Smooth.  My only complaint is the lower amount of alcohol. IPAs should have a higher alcohol content, but I goofed during the boil. Don't worry though.  That mistake will not happen again.

One of the fascinating things of this process is the carbonation in the bottles.  Basically, you add 3/4 cup of sugar to your beer, mix it and then bottle it.  Seven days after bottling, there was some bubbles in my beer and was pretty happy.  I wasn't expecting much because, like above, I lowered my expectations.  However,  now (almost 2 weeks since bottling) the carbonation is fantastic.  You pour the IPA into a glass and you actually get a foamy head (easy).

3.  Thinking of a name for your beer is just as much fun as brewing it.
While my beer was fermenting, we took our annual family vacation to South Dakota.  In paying homage to one of my favorite past times in the Dakotas, I have named my beer "Aiming Fluid Ale."  What is this past time you speak of, Martin?  Gopher hunting.  Well, its more like gopher shooting.  "Hunting" implies effort to track, find and precisely kill your prey.  "Shooting" implies aiming your gun and shooting.  We do the latter.  And sometimes....your aiming is off.  You just can't hit those pesky varmits.  That is where my Aiming Fluid Ale comes in.  When you are eradicating vermin...you will always need some aiming fluid for precise shooting!

4.  Batch Number Two is almost halfway done.
Tonight, my second batch of brew was moved into the second fermenter.  It will need to sit another 10 day until bottling.  I am really looking forward to this one.  I found a clone recipe for a beer that kicks @ss.  You are probably wondering, "well, why don't you just buy it if its a clone recipe?"  That is the thing....Texans cannot enjoy this wonderful beer.  Only the state of Washington can.  During my travels with my last job, I visited Seattle several times.  It also helped to have a college buddy that lived up there, too.  He introduced me to Mac and Jack's African Amber.  This beer is only sold in keg form in the state of Washington.  Nowhere else.  This beer is amazing.  I may even say that it is my favorite beer of all time.  It probably helps that I can't drink it ever......and in my mind it becomes more and more perfect and awesome.  Hopefully, this recipe will be spot on and transport me back to the northwest (and hopefully tastes like a Mac and Jack's)  But what if I can't remember what it tastes like?......

Grilling (Vol. 2)

1.  There is something more awesome than PLANKIES.
This past weekend, we had our annual trip up to the Frio River.  It was a short trip for us, since we had just gotten back from our 9 day trip to South Dakota.  Anyway, the way we do dinner is split up each night.  Each night, one of the siblings is in charge of dinner.  Our night, I also made dessert.  I made Grilled Candy Bars.  What are Grilled Candy Bars you ask?  It is pretty simple.

Take a tortilla.  Spread some marshmellow fluff on that bad boy.

Then take any candy bar you choose and lay it onto the fluff.  We bought those mini-sized candy bars, so we doubled up.

Roll up the tortilla and spread butter on the outside.

Why don't you sprinkle some sugar on top, too?

Cover it in aluminum foil.  Throw it on the grill for 10 or 15 minutes on medium-low heat.  Turn once, of course.

And that is it.  Grilled Candy Bars.  The heat melts the candy bars in to gooey awesome-ness along with the fluff. The butter and sugar on the outside give it a bit of crunch to it.  Good stuff.  Highly recommended.

Blog Update

Well, I have changed the face of this blog.  I am pretty surprised that I have gone this long without tinkering.  Love to tinker.  But ultimately, it will be easier to customize things using the blogger templates.  The old look, I had found at a blogger template site.  Loved the way it looked, but changing something meant messing with html code and that is a big pain in the butt.  What, what...?  Nevermind.

So, anyway.  A subtle difference.  Also, I have these cool reaction checkboxes at the end of each entry.  You don't have to write anything.  You just check a box on how you feel about my random thoughts.  Enjoy.

I promise new entries are coming....

Craigslist

1. It attracts idiots.
Oh, Craigslist.  Why do the idiots flock to you?  Probably because putting up an ad is free.  To be fair, I have bought a few things through Craigslist and had no problems.  Mostly video games.  Good place to pick up used games for cheap.

Here is a screen grab of my current ad.

For those of you not catching on....I am selling DJ HERO for the Xbox 360 for $60.  Just wanted to clear this up.  NOW!!!  Here is an actual email conversation I had with a potential buyer.  I will use his email handle "trejos_revenge."  His emails will be in BOLD.  My thoughts will be in ITALICS.  My actual emails will be in regular.  Enjoy.

trejos_revenge: Yo I want the dj hero how much
What I should of said, "Uhhhhhh. It says $60 in the title.  So, I will sell it to you for $80."
Me (what I actually said):  Sorry for responding so late.  I was on vacation and didn't have internet access.  I am selling my DJ Hero: Renegade Edition for the Xbox 360 for $60.  Are you still interested?

trejos_revenge: Hell ya I want dj hero can u send me pics

Me (what I actually said): Yeah I can send them tonight.  Its in great shape.  No scratches on turntable, disc or stand/carrying case.

trejos_revenge: Ok sound good I be waiting
For some reason, when I read this, that damned Black Eyed Peas song "Imma Be" popped into my head. Damn you, trejos_revenge!

Me (what I actually said): Hey man,

I didn't take the pictures last night.  If you are waiting for pics, you will have to wait until tonight.  However, I am getting more offers on this game the past few days...

trejos_revenge: Well if u are frying deal give it to someone else I can find something batter
Do iPhones not have a period button?  And I will give him a pass on spelling "better." He may of just hit the wrong key in haste.

Me: I am just saying that while you are waiting for pictures, other people are asking about it.  If you want to meet up in person you can see the merchandise yourself.  If you are willing to pay $60 for it and want it in almost new condition....that is what I am selling.  Pictures are just delaying this process.  That is all I was saying.

trejos_revenge:  Naw am good now u can sell it I found a batter deal
I take that back.  He doesn't know how to spell "better."

trejos_revenge: Thanks anyways

Me (what I actually said): Rawk on that wuz fast hope ur batter deal werks out
--END TRANSMISSION--

Sorry, I had to have the last stab.  My brain hurts.

...Anvil: The Story of Anvil (movie)

Note: I wrote this entry roughly 2 months ago, but never posted it.  This is due to the negativity towards the end of this entry.  To me, it's just to easy to be negative.  To me....extremely easy.  However, I haven't posted anything in the past two weeks.  So, there you go.

1. You can snort beer.
Are you kidding me? This has nothing to do with the quality of the movie.  In a throw away scene, it shows a fan of Anvil at one of their shows SNORTING BEER.  What in the world?


2.  Some dreams do not come true.
Who has heard of Anvil?  I cannot remember where I heard about this film, but it was thrown up on my netflix queue.  This is a documentary about the supposedly biggest metal band in the early eighties that just didn't make it.  Shoot, Lars Ulrich (of freakin METALLICA) says on camera that ANVIL kicked @ss and most metal bands in that era basically ripped them off.  However, all the metal bands except ANVIL got paid and sold millions of records.

The documentary takes place in 2007.   Not 1984.  These crazy Canadians are still playing shows.  The lead singer is a driver for a company delivering food to schools.  The drummer is working construction.  Still trying to "make it."  23 years later?!?! So wild.  The lead singer's 50th birthday was part of this documentary. A show for 20 drunk people.  Wow.  Still trying to make their dream come true.

Hey, look.....a quote about perseverance found by Google searching "quote on perserverance."  Yep.  I misspelled it.  And Google corrected it for me.  You smug bastard!!!

The greatest oak was once a little nut who held its ground.

-Author Unknown

I do not want to be negative.  It is just too easy to be negative. I believe you should follow your dreams, but maybe that just is not in the cards.   After 23 years, maybe it's time to hang things up.  I will end this entry on another quote.

The deadest oak was once a little nut just like the greatest oak.
-Martin Roy