GO CATS

11am Saturday.  Is this really considered a good start time for college sports?  I mean, even now that I’m not a late-rising college student, I still think 11am is probably a bit early for many people.  Me?  No.  I could start straight out of the gate at 9am for football.  There’s this strange sort of unhinged zeal I get on Saturday mornings, especially in the fall.  I get up between 6 and 7am, totally unprompted.  Oh, that my weekday prayer life could be similarly forged…

We did have to rush just a bit to pack up some stuff and head down the street to Jodi’s Dad’s house, but made it in time- barely.  He has Dish Network-  which, incidentally, was of no help.  It seems that the Big Ten Network programming schedule is being randomly usurped in certain regions by only showing up at certain times.  Maybe.  If at all.  Evidently, it’s obvious to someone that I have absolutely no need to watch the game as it actually happens, but 3am Monday morning is a very appropriate time to replay the game in its entirety.   Not to mention that the game scheduled to be on (Ohio State vs Troy) was nowhere to be found.  Channel 439?  What channel 439?  So, we ended up listening to good ol’ WNUR over the internet, just as we would’ve at home.  This only perpetuates our staunch family decision to not pay for TV.  That, and our brains would probably rot out of our skulls in a venture to “get our money’s worth” out of whatever we paid for programming.  Eh, I like the fact that I can catch the game on radio online for free (well, DSL costs… GAH, guess I’m still a slave to media companies).

Amado Villarreal kicks another, moving to 8 for 8 on the season so far.

Anyway, it was a rather exciting game overall.  The final score was Northwestern over Ohio University 16-8, and, if memory serves, at no time did the Ohio Bobcats actually take the lead – which is more than Ohio State could say (dig).  Of course, the Buckeyes are still ranked and NU isn’t, but that’s never surprising.  Either way, Northwestern is now 4-0 for the first time since 1962!  Even in 1995, with the Rose Bowl trip, they lost a non-conference nailbiter early in the season (by 2 points! I was a junior there that year).  Of course, these first 4 opponents were not USC- or LSU-caliber teams, but it’s a historic beginning for the season.  I just sincerely hope they don’t fall into the usual NU mentality of being the whipping boys of the Big Ten.  Minnesota still has a 4-0 record as well, so they’re definitely a team to watch later in the season when NU plays them- NU doesn’t play Penn State, the only other remaining undefeated team in the Big Ten.  Next week, conference play begins against Iowa (3-1), which will be a real test.  I hear the Iowa stadium is a tough place to play because it can get very loud- the Sun-Times reports that the 70,585-seat Kinnick Stadium is sold out.  Yikes.  The game will be broadcast on ESPN Classic at 11am.

water, water, everwhere

Thankfully, we heard from some good friends who moved to Houston this summer (about 20 minutes from Galveston I believe) and they made it to a hotel safely on the northwest side of Houston Thursday night/Friday morning, before Ike hit.  We’ve been praying for their continued safety and for their home and possessions. 

Hey, you have to have a sense of humor to survive trials like these.

Jodi and I had planned to go on a retreat for a group she’s in both Friday and Saturday night.  Then I found out I’d need to work overtime on Sunday (today), so we cut the trip in half and came back Saturday evening.  Thankfully we did, because:

1. It was very hot/humid.  Friday night was disgusting- did I mention this was a camping retreat?  With a 5 month old.  I know people do this, we’re just not as rugged as- say, even a nice, fat, house cat.
2. There were bugs.  Now, I’m not being a pansy here.  I can take bugs- the kind that crawl, the kind that fly, the kind that eat other bugs.  But these were seed ticks.  Worst things possible- they’re tiny, like the size of teensy freckles.  They do not wash off.  They bite.  They bite, and then they move around so they can bite you again.  Sometimes they embed themselves in you.  Not fun.  I only found 3-4 on me, 4 on Maya (how her tiny body got the same number as me does not make sense), and Jodi found a few on her.  One girl got up and went running at 6am Saturday morning, through some brush/leaves, and ended up with hundreds on her shoes and smartwool socks.  I could have used that as a blanket argument against all forms of exercise, but that would simply be a pathetic attempt to explain my body’s current condition.  Plus, I actually do like being fit & exercising-  I just haven’t  truly felt that for a couple years now.

So these things made Jodi and I both pretty miserable, and quite antagonistic.  Vicious would be a good descriptor.  So, to put it mildly, we were happy to be leaving early on Saturday evening.

But no words can express my thankfulness that I currently feel that we did indeed return early.  Ike has had so much residual impact upon the midwest it’s unreal.  Even here, as far away as St. Louis, we’ve experienced so much rain and flash flooding.  I woke up at 7:00am to get ready for work, completed my routine, and was getting ready to leave when our power went out at about 7:30.  I immediately knew that was a terrible thing.  Our sump pumps were dead.  Water was continuing to fill the sump wells at an alarming rate.  I grabbed some buckets and started emptying.  Jodi helped some, but the 6-gallon buckets were pretty heavy.  Luckily, her dad’s house (he lives just down the road) was fine.  He even went to Sears to pick up two generators (one for us, one for him).  Jodi’s nephew Josh and her sister Jessie (they have a fondness for alliteration in that family…) came down to help [a clear answer to prayer].  Without Josh’s help, the water would have risen too quickly and come up out of the wells.  Anyway, the generator arrived, we got it unpacked, oil poured in, moved it, was getting ready to put gas in it, and- of course, the power came back on.  Which is fine by me.  I’d planned on getting a generator anyway.  The sumps caught up and got the water out, so we had very minimal seepage.

Our neighbors had some trouble with their sumps keeping up, so I helped them tote some buckets for a while as well before returning home.  One direction from our house was flooded out, but the other was open, so I made it in to work.  4 hours late, and arms/hands pretty tired from carrying 6 gallon buckets of water outside for 3.5 hours straight, but I made it.  Much thanks and praise were said (still are) that we were spared any real damage.  I can only hope and pray the same for as many as possible, and for quick recovery for those who were not so lucky.

busy day

so today looks like a busy day.  well, after work, anyway.  had to work late last night to finish up some stuff, but it should be a relatively easy work day today (AFAIK so far).  this evening, we have our church pictures.  it’ll be great to have a nice family portrait- hope they come out ok.  aaaaannnd not too expensive.  like, less than the price of a nice shrubbery.  then i’m headed to a show.  first show in… i have no idea.  almost 2 years?  never been to Fubar, it’s a newer place.  but Behold the Arctopus should be good- masters of the infinitely precise and carefully controlled composition.  the interview Colin posted on their myspace page was really interesting, it’s recommended.  i doubt he’ll recognize/remember me, but that’s ok.  he and Dysrhythmia stayed at our house after a show back in 2005, but i’ve had zero contact with them since then.  i’d like to offer them a place to stay, but not sure that will work well logistically [see tomorrow's schedule below].  i’ve not done a lengthy tour myself before, but i can only imagine that when your past tour comments speak highly of truckstop showers, you just might be receptive to a night at someone’s home.  they do have to drive to Des Moines the next day, and we’re a half hour 1-way in the opposite direction so i’m not sure we’d be helpful in that regard.   also hoping to stop by Buffalo Brewing Co tonight since it’s like 1 block from Fubar.  great beer and food, highly recommended.

tomorrow, we have to get up early and head to the hospital for jodi’s sibling class.  the last time i kept Maya while jodi taught it, things did not go well.  lots of crying, fussing, tired eyes.  the baby hated it too.  she’s become a lot more playful since then, and she’s more apt to lay on her tummy and play, so i’m praying it will go well.  especially since it’s earlier in the day.  once it gets to be about 7pm, she becomes rather – easily irritated, shall we say?   after that and a little bit of shopping, it’s home to listen to the NU vs Duke football game at 6pm on the intarweb.

what’s this?

Maya, age 4 months. No, those are not cheek implants.

I think I totally forgot I had one of these.  Things have been busy, but seriously- how long does it take to type something in?  A year?  I don’t think so.

So, since I last left off, our baby girl was born (Maya, now 5 months).   Jodi has temporarily stopped taking clients, and she’ll be teaching her second sibling class (a class for young kids about 3 who are expecting to become siblings; it’s basically a puppet show) this weekend.  We hosted a family reunion this past 4th of July, with about 45 people at our house for most of the weekend.  Work has been busy for me, since we’re implementing that rewrite I spoke of in previous posts. 

Other than that, we’re loving being parents.  Except for that whole selfishness part.  Maya’s really helped it bubble up to the surface a lot more.  Plenty of opportunity for us to find things to work on: communication, helping each other out, taking care of others’ needs before our own, etc.  The eradication of selfishness was something I expected and was STILL unprepared for. 

We plan to go visit my sister in Chicago in October, and will hit a Northwestern football game as well.  We’ll also need to show Maya Lake Michigan (the closest thing to an ocean she will have seen).

We’re excited to get rolling with some home-based childbirth classes Jodi’s been looking to do.  We had a trial run with 3 couples recently, and that should help us gather material and develop a focus.  I desperately need to study the material myself so I can get used to it; there’s no way I can know as much as Jodi does (she’s been in the field 10+ years), but as long as I can get the bulk of material we’ll be presenting under my belt and develop the Christian focus we’re planning to incorporate, it should be fine.  She’s obviously the one to answer specific technical birth questions.  If anyone had a math or C# coding question, I could help with that.

all grain

All grain.  So, this is now my third attempt at the SAME recipe (Shark’s Tooth Pacific Pale Ale, from Bob Giralomo at TastyBrew.com).

 First one:  brewed fine.  Hit all my target measurements.  Threw the batch onto a yeast cake of Safale US-56 (now US-05).  Fermented good for a couple days.  Day 3, it BLEW UP.  Like, the carboy bung shot up to the basement ceiling and caked the floor and celing and immediate surroundings with hop and yeast gunk.  The carboy was about half as full as it had been.  Nuts.

Second:  Brewing process was messed up.  Added the Centennial hops too early, didn’t get quite the right amount of wort, it DOWNPOURED half way through the boil, forcing me inside.  I was also shopping for a new car due to an unfortunate accident (to be documented later), so my mind was really elsewhere.  Fortunately, the batch turned out AWESOME.  Like, one of the best I’ve ever brewed.  Tasty pale ale I would recommend in a heartbeat.

 Third:  Today I vowed I would actually brew this recipe the way it is supposed to be brewed.  So far, it has worked out.  Although newly developed family commitments are hanging over my head.  The start was early this morning, as I got up about 6am and was out here in the late July St. Louis humidity at 7am putting together the equipment.  It’s now about 12:20pm, and the boil has finished 60 of its 90 minutes. 

Music choices for the day have been good.  Elliott Smith’s New Moon (posthumusly released scratch music- 2 discs’ worth!  and awesome stuff), Miracle Fortress’ debut Five Roses (a thoroughly amazing effort of acoustic art rock-y pop stuff from my e-buddy Simon’s hometown Montreal- he has been to see the main guy XXX in intimate loft shows several times), and my old friends maudlin of the Well’s dual release effort Bath and Leaving Your Body Map (former ‘labelmates’ who I never really met until after they’d dissolved and formed Kayo Dot- great folks who’ve produced fantastic music that burns so furiously bright it melts the molds from which metallic and intelligent music have been forged).   

Minus the humidity, a perfect beginning to a day:  great sounds, great smells-


And we’re pregnant.  Found out two days ago.  Life is good.

brewing in ‘07 so far

So in terms of my brewing history, you could say i’ve skyrocketed:  4 beers brewed so far this year.  For me, that’s nuts.  The first one was mentioned already, but the second was an American IPA with chinook, cascade, and centennial hops (first time i’d used whole leaf hops, which was weird- they take up lots more room).  The third was a simple, cheap low alcohol beer with mostly free ingredients (only about $12 invested in 6 gallons, which is low for an extract batch).   The fourth, which I just brewed last night, was a Belgian Dubbel.   For this, I used some piloncillo, which is a raw form of sugar that looks like hard dark brown sugar and tastes kind of like molasses.  Hopefully it will provide a bit of flavor to the beer and not just transform entirely into alcohol through fermentation, as plain sugar usually does.  The Dark Belgian Candi Syrup that has become pretty popular the past 6 months or so would have been fantastic, but this was about $7 cheaper, not including shipping (as no on local had it).  The next shipment I order will definitely contain some though, because I’ll be reusing the yeast cake of Wyeast 3787 Belgian Trappist yeast I bought for this one.   Should take about 3-4 weeks to finish fermenting, and then I’ll bottle it. 

 I still find it odd that i enjoy this so much.  But rest assured i’m not alone.

this is more like it

man, one inch of ice/sleet and this place falls apart.  seriously, Chicago would laugh at this stuff, and Canada wouldn’t even turn away from the hockey game on tv.  i saw someone in a jeep wrangler going 15 mph down a hill, using her brakes the whole time. how come people don’t understand that just doesn’t work? 4wd even.  wow.

brew night the first, aught seven

so i’m realizing after this one thread at the tastybrew site (about how much people brewed in 2006) that i’m not exactly a prolific brewer.  i mean, the range was all over the place: actually, it was kind of bell-curved to where people either made like 250 gallons or more like 45.  me, i maybe did 6 5-gallon batches so that’d put me around 30 gallons.  possibly the lowest of anyone who posted.  not that i’m looking to increase my volume that much necessarily, i just want to learn more in the batches i do make. 

but perhaps more important than how much you brew is the attitude with which you brew.  or something?  not that i’m insinuating that you should always be singing operettas about malted barley or translate batch sparging into a puppet theater romantic comedy featuring a ben stiller lookalike puppet.  i usually try to brew when the house is empty (save the 3 canines who still insist on taking up residence in our kitchen) so that i can give my old Arcam integrated amp a much needed workout and enjoy the fruits of some other brewer’s labor.  sometimes i even throw on some episodes of Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations and hearken to his prattling on about how  today was a particularly good day since my free copy of The Nasty Bits arrived in the mail.  ah, Microsoft and Amstel: a thoroughly odious and yet fruitful pairing.  so of course i went straight to the vignette appopriately named I have a Drinking Problem and enjoyed Tony poignantly describe that wondrous substance that vexes me so- a properly poured Guinness.  who would’ve thought nitrogen could do something so cool? 

in the background throughout the night, i switched my duelling personalities on and off between Shaun Groves’ Invitation to Eavesdrop and Opeth’s Still Life.  Christian rock, death metal- i honestly think in this particular universe they can get along.  it’d been years since i listened to Still Life, and Mikael’s growls still rock.  can’t listen to Face of Melinda still, but the sheer headbanging goodness of White Cluster makes up for that. 

for imbibing it was 2 Below from New Belgium.  i’ve slowly grown away from New Belgium’s beers for the most part; Frambozen was my first taste of theirs, and i still love that.  and their Abbey dubbel (although it’s sort of an Americanized dubbel) helped me really get into Belgian ales.  but really i’ve started to lost interest in their beers.  and then they come up with this winter blast of hops.  i had it last winter at the brewery where it was on tap, but this year in the bottle it seems much better:  not strictly malt, and with much more hop flavor.  and way good.

the beer i made this evening was a basic American Pale ale, but with Summit hops, a relatively new varietal of Simcoe known for achieving a somewhat tangerine citrus flavor.  i loved the pale ale i made last year with Simcoe, so i figured this would be a decent chance to see what other brewers thought considering this beer will be my first one taken to a StLBrews (local homebrew club) meeting.  as long as no one makes a Sunny D reference, i’ll be fine.

a 5 year old’s birthday party + Canadian Hockey Day

so Saturday i hung out at a Canadian Hockey Day party.  a friend has one every year, with tons of Canadian beer, food, and a giant Canadian Flag on the couch - we watch 3 or more hockey games and try not to burn our retinas looking at Don Cherry’s suits.  this year he pulled out all the stops:  Unibroue beer (he didn’t quit at Labatt’s, Moosehead, and Molson), and actual hot dog warming equipment rented from a local Chicago Dawg place.  fresh red hots, big beef franks, brats, gyros- man, i hated myself the next day.

i left around 3pm to go to a 5 year old’s birthday party for a few hours at this place called the Bounce House, where they basically put adults and kids from your party in a big cinderblock room filled with different kinds of those giant air bouncy moonwalk things. there was an obstacle course and a giant netted room with puffy balls, and i got chased by 5 yr olds until i fell over. it was neat.

anyway, this 5 year old opened his presents, and his aunt/uncle gave him a LUDWIG DRUMKIT. like a $1500 drumkit. they bought it for their 12 yr old and he played it for 6 months and quit, and they decided (!) to give it to this 5 year old.  wow.  i mean.  uh.  wow.

anyway, these friends are moving and have asked if they could store it at our house for the time being, so i get to play it for a while before i have to relinquish it to the kid – who, by the way, was totally excited about the flying screaming monkey that we gave him. it had a cape and a mask and rubber arms and you shoot it like a slingshot, i mean COME ON WHO WOULDN’T LOVE THAT?

after the bouncing, it was back to the Hockey Day party for more HeadOfMoose boisson.  i actually noted that this year Don Cherry’s suit jacket matched some autumn table linens my mom gave us- a sort of golden yellow, burnt red, and tuscan orange plaid.  but of course he IS DON CHERRY, so he took it over the top with a purple-ish-pink-ish oxford shirt with a white collar and a red and white striped satin tie with the Canadian flag Maple Leaf emblem.  sweet.  the Stl Blues even won their game, 6-5, so it was a decent day indeed.

this must be seen to be believed

http://www.ifilm.com/video/2810911