Alembic Research Institute

What a difference a year makes!

2008-11-26T20:58:31Z

Last year at this time, my portfolio was up about 14.5% over the previous year! Joy!

This year, it is down about 13.5% over last year. Wow!

I guess I shouldn't feel to bad tho, it could be worse, since the S&P500 is down about 35% over last year.

Also, house prices here have fallen about 30% over a year ago: so I could actually buy a house if I
could ever get myself to take the plunge.

I've kept about $300k on the sideline for that purpose, so I might actually to it within the next year.

It is hard to decide tho: some  economists says house prices could still drop another 20% around here.

So I'll be making low-ball bids, trying to get that 20% off the asking price.

Another thing I'm trying to decide is whether to get something fairly nice for $600k, and then get a $300k loan,
or if I should get something that is not as nice and/or fancy, for about $300k, and either pay
cash or get a smaller $150k loan.

Since I might be   working another 3 or 4 years until they offer me early retirement, I could make
the payments on a 300k loan. However, a smaller 100k loan I could make the payments on
whether I'm working or not: in case they offer me early retirement much sooner.   But unfortunately,
I'm go valuble to THEM, and I don't think they're going to offer me it for a while.

Another thing is: I've gotten very comfortable where I'm at. The bay area is such a darn good place to be!
The only thing I miss is a nice house where I can garden and do other "stuff" that home owners are
always able to do.

Decisions, decisions!

Cutting down the trees to save the forest???

2008-03-25T20:43:26Z

Apparently the big ado going on in my town that is making

national headlines is over with: they will kill the trees.

The people fighting the chopping down of the redwood trees have

run out of money for lawyers to fight it, so the trees have to die.

These people planned some redwood tree a while back, and then some

guy moved into the house next door, and put up solar panels.

The redwoods grew (as they tend to do), and are shading the solar panels,

so the neighbor sued the redwood tree owners to have them removed,

and won, because casting shadows onto your neighbor's lot is illegal

in California, apparently.

The man from the SIerra Club apprently sides with the solar panels. Quote the article:

Kurt Newick, who sells solar systems for a San Jose company, says he loves trees as much as anyone, but he falls on the side of solar energy.

"I'm a big tree fan. They increase property values and provide shade and cooling. But it's actually better for the environment to put solar on your roof than to plant a tree," said Newick, who is also chairman of the global warming committee of the Loma Prieta Chapter of the Sierra Club.

"On average, a tree only sequesters 14 pounds of carbon dioxide a year and a solar electric system offsets that every two or three days," he said.

Original article at:

http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_8063034

Getting drunk on barleywine ... again.

2008-02-18T06:58:04Z

It was a great weekend for beer drinking ...
I got to judge the "finals" a the Toronado Barleywine Festival (2008).
This is the second time I've gotten to judge the finals ...
I think the last time was about 3 years ago.

This time we had to decide which of the 7 finalists was
the BOS. It was a long fight, which I won't go into here.

After that little "chore", I hung out in the judging area, and drank
2 pints of "Hop Stoopid" (sp?), a very tasting Imperial IPA
made by Lagunitas (they also won BOS with their Barleywine,
but it wasn't my favorite).

Then we all headed over to the Anchor Brewery for the
Homebrew Club of the Year Luncheon, and I drank a bunch more great beer ...
I think I drank about 7 pints there total. All for free.

I wasn't really very hungry, so I didn't even eat the luncheon.
Which might have been a mistake: it might have been wiser to
have some food in my stomach, since at about 6pm when they
ended the party, I was pretty drunk I guess.

Me and one of my other club members staggered the mile or so
back to the train station (I guess I wasn't so drunk I wasn't
able to walk a mile ...). But we missed the 6pm train,
by about 5 minutes, we had to wait until 7pm for the next train.

I sort of passed out for about 45 minutes, then woke up and
bought a second train ticket, since I had completely forgoten
that I'd already bought one earlier.

I didn't realize this until the next
morning when I found two train tickets in my pocket!

Fortunately, I didn't drink a whole lot of the Old Foghorn Barleywine,
since in years past when I did that, I was so hung-over the next
day that I felt horrible all the next day.

This year I only felt horrible for a little while in the morning. :-)

Coffee Roasting Results

2008-01-22T17:25:52Z

So I got back to work this morning, to where all my
coffee brewing equipment resides, and was able to taste
the results of my coffee roasting for the first time.

The result, while OK, is definately not as good as I
was hoping for.

Even though the coffee beans are very dark, almost black
(one of my fears is that I roasted them to much ... is that
possible?), the resulting coffee is kind of thin.

But even tho its thin, it still has a lot of flavor.
A regular coffee that looks this thin to me would have
almost no flavor. Flavor wise, this is fairly high
up there.

I really like very dark coffee, so this is not it.

I'm not sure yet what the deal is.

Could it be the beans used?

Could it be I need to use much more per cup
than I normally do?

Did I roast them to much?

Did I roast them not enough?

But this first attempt has given me great expectations
at what I can do if I perfect my techniques.

First Coffee Roasting

2008-01-21T05:44:20Z

At the Northern California Homebrew Festival two years ago
(the great yearly homebrewer's campout weekend in northern CA),
on a saturday morning, I discovered a group of people roasting
their own coffee beans with their homemade coffee roasters.

I thought that was very cool, and the coffee they were making
was great ... so ever since I've been wanting to do it myself.
But have never really gotten the proper equipement together.

But yesterday, I found a stove top pop-corn popper that some
people use, at a local thrift shop. So I picked it up,
and went over to the homebrew shop, which also sells raw coffee beans,
and bought a pound, in order to make my first attempt.

I bought the "Monsoon Java Arabica" which is supposedly "sweet pip tobacco,
light earth with smoky/nutty notes. Pristine light acid and very full body."
Mostly since this was my first attempt, and that was the cheapest available
at about $3.75

It took about 15 minutes on medium high heat on the stove top
to complete the roasting process.
It produced a lot more smoke than I was expecting (but smelled
terriffic).

Since I had watch people doing it a couple of times, I knew that
the roasting would be done, once the crackly popping stopped.

The cheap pop-corn popper did not seem to be the greatest ...
the gears have to be pushed at all times together, or they slip.
I'm sure the more expensive ones are built a bit better ...
but since I only spent $6, its hard to complain. I might be able
to fix it, buy bending the frame a bit so it connects better.
Of course the fancist ones at the homebrew shop cost in the hundreds
of dollars.

It seemed to work out though, the beans were roasted very dark black
(my hope is I did not over cook them).

I won't know what they taste like until tuesday, since my coffee brewing
set-up is at work.

alembicresearch @ 2008-01-20T21:19:00

2008-01-21T05:19:42Z

Had a wonderful dinner to night, which I cooked,
and worked out perfectly.

I bought a 2.25# tri-tip that was on sale at Safeway
at 50% off, since it was the last day it could be sold,
on wednesday.
It was a burgandy wine marinaded.

I cooked it tonight for sunday dinner.

A few hours before cooking, I added about a half clove of garlic,
chopped into spears, and imbedded into it, then sprinkled with
rosemary and black pepper.

Next, I cooked it fairly hotly on a BBQ (mesquite coals),
for about 7 minutes on each side, to sear in the juices.

Next, I put it into the oven at 350 degree F,
for about 1.5 hours (in a covered dish),
to slow cook it and make it as tender as possible

After which I let it cool for about 10 or 15 minutes.

At which point it was mouthwateringly tender and fall apart
in your mouth.

Served with red wine and rice pilof.

So many times my cooking attems are culinary disappoints,
which is why I want to record this success,
so I can hopefully do it again someday!

2007 Year in Review, part 1

2007-12-31T05:59:43Z

Seems like it was a pretty good year, generally.

Beer-wise, it seems like a lot happened:
I think I attended more beer-events this year than
any other year before: the highlight was a driving
trip to Denver, CO for the National Homebrew Conference
(which was about 3 days of beer drinking ...).

Another big beer event was the Northern California Homebrew
Festival. This was only 2 days of beer drinking,
but it was a lot closer and much cheaper
(only 4 hours of driving to it, and only $70).

Some other beer competitions and events I attended:
Dickens Fair Black & Tan HBC
California State Homebrew Compeititon
National Organic Homebrew Challenge!
Tulare County Fair Homebrew Competition
Santa Cruz County Fair Homebrew Competition
Amador County Fair Homebrew Competition
Amador Invitational
AHA NHC 2nd Round 2007
2007 Samuel Adams American Homebrew Contest
Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing HomeBrew to ProBrew
Alameda County Fair Homebrew Competition
11th Annual Silver Dollar Fair Homebrew Competition
AHA National Homebrew Competition 1st Round West Region
World Cup of Beer
Toronado Barleywine Festival

In all I earn about 30 bjcp points!
If I earn the same amount in 2008, I'll be
at my next BJCP judging level: Grand Master II

Other beer events I attended that weren't offical
BJCP events:
Dr. Bill's Beer Tasting (the day after the Barleywine Fest.).
Ran a 11 week BJCP Exam Study Group.
Bay Area Brewfest
H.O.M.E. Xmas Party @ Anchor Brewery
Homebrew of the Year Dinner @ Anchor Brewery
Sudzer Xmas Party

And probably a bunch more than I'm not recalling at the moment.

Financial wise, I did fairly well:
while the S&P 500 increased about 3.8% over the year,
my portfolio increase about 13%.
The difference is 9% ... which was probably savings
from my pay-check and what I made in bonds.

My diet worked pretty good this year: I lost about 30 pounds.
I went from about 254 pounts to 215 (but I figure over
the holidays I've gained a bit back).

My resolution for 2008 is to loose another 30 pounds
or so, in order to get down to what I should be for
my height, and to be more healthy.

I have more resolutions and goals for the upcoming year,
but I'll save those for another time.

A weekend of good beer and good hiking

2007-11-19T06:53:09Z

It was a very productive weekend ...

Saturday night I went to the monthly homebrew club meeting,
which was pretty good: plent of good, interesting beers.

The theme of the night was "strong ales", so people brought
many interesting things they've been hiding in their basements,
sometimes for years.

One very tasty beer was a very special edition of Old Rasputain
Imperial Russian Stout from the North Coast Brewery.
This was their 10th Aniversary version, which was higher
alcohol, 11.?% and aged in burbon barrels. The normal version
is one of my favorite beers, but this was extra special.
You can only buy this beer at the brewery in Fort Bragg,
and one of the members was up there over the summer and bought
it then. He never felt like drinking a full 22oz bottle by hisself,
so we were lucky that he brought it to share!

Another was 3 year old barleywine made by a guy who is now
a profession brewmaster one of the local brew pubs.

And there were many more; dozens.
Some other Russian Imperial Stouts, and some other barleywines.

Once again, I probably tasted more, and more interesting beers,
than 99% of people in the US drink in their lifetimes.
Which is a sad truth (I know people who have only drank "Coors Light"
their entire lives!).And all in one night!

My only goal was not to drink so much that I be to drunk to drive,
so I only drank about 1 ounce samples of most beers presented,
and I probably drank only an equivalent of 2 beers the whole night.

But it was a potluck, so there was also plenty of great food to
stuff myself with.

I didn't make it home until about midnight, and I don't think
I got to sleep until 1AM in the morning, so I slept
pretty late into Sunday morning.

Although about 5am in the morning, I was awakened by police sirens,
apparrently somekind of drug overdose in an appartment down the street:
someone OD on mushrooms and went crazy.

So I went back to sleep and didn't wake up until 10AM.

So I went for my cup of coffee and read the newspaper for a few
hours at the one of the coffee shop hangouts, and didn't
get back to about noon.

Since it was so late, I decided not to do what I had been planning
(make another batch of Scotch Whiskey in my still ...),
and instead I decide to go on a hike.

I hadn't taking a good hike in over a month, and I've been feeling
a bit out-of-shape.

I feel like I should get out and do some good exercise whenever
I do a big beer event like the night before.

So I got out and went for a hike at my favorite local nature preserves,
Windy Hill OSP.

The weather was pretty nice today, to good to be staying inside
making beer or whisky,and it was good to get out.

But I didn't get started until about 1:30PM!

It was a very pleasent hike, and warm enough that
I only needed to wear shortpants and a t-shirt.
But I also wore my good heavy leather hiking boots,
because I'm still trying to break them in
(no blisters, so they are pretty well broke in now).
Plus I get better exercise hiking with them on,
since they are so heavy, compared to my hiking shoes,
which are basically glorified tennis shoes.

There were lots of mushrooms out, thanks to the recent
rains (last time I hiked here about a month ago, there were none),
some varieties that I've never seen.
I think I found one edible mushroom, but I'm not sure yet,
since I've never seen it before (I took a picture to help me ID it).

Since I got started so late, I didn't get to finish the hike until
about 5pm, and it was starting to get dark (plus their was a high fog
setting in). Which was kind of interesting, since I rarely
ever do this hike at dusk.

Best of Show

2007-11-12T06:56:40Z

This weekend one of my homebrews won
"Best of Show" for the California State Homebrew
Competition.

This is the best award I've received so far
in my homebrewing career.

The last best win was Best of Show at the
Bay-Area-Brew-Off/Alameda County fair a few years ago.

But this is a better win, since it is a much more
competitive competition: there are about 200 entries,
and a lot of top homebrewers in the state are
entering this competition, because it counts toward
the Sierra Nevada "Homebrewer of the Year" Competition.

The beer I entered that won, was a German style Pilsner,
which I knew was very good, but you never know if
the judges are going to think it is very good also.

Happily, it was unanimous, and I did win it!

I guess my next goal is to win "Best of Show" at
the California State Fair, and the "World Cup",
the other two "big" California homebrew competitions.
And then maybe I'll graduate to the "National Homebrew
Competition".

However, what I really need to do to target that
competition is to enter a lot: I think my friend
Jamil how won it last year put in 34 entries, or
something like that.

But, at this point, I'm pretty confident that my
homebrews are world class and as good as any commercial
brewery makes.

The main problem I have is that I don't have enough
space to refrigerate all the beer I make, which is
required if you make lagers.

Maybe someday.

alembicresearch @ 2007-10-18T23:03:00

2007-10-19T06:03:44Z

We've been having very cold and rain weather
where for the last months.

Normally we don't start getting cold and rainy
weather here until about the second week of November.

But it started very early this year ...
on the same day the Goracle was getting
his Peace Prize for all his hard work with
Global Warming, he had to give his exceptance
speach while shivering in a very early cold rain.

The papers all said that proves that he was right,
since if the weather is cold, that also proves
global warming. It would prove it even more if
the weather was warm, but no mater what the weather is,
it does prove it, since the global warming theory
says no matter what the weather is, that proves it.

But I especially don't want it to rain on saturday,
because that is the day of one of my parties of the year:
the Oktoberfest Party that is put on by the Santa Cruz
Fungal Federation and the Santa Cruz Homebrewers.

The party is just an excuse for eating lots and lots
of great food (a lot of it made with mushrooms),
and to drink lots and lots of beer of all kinds
(homebrews and commercials) ... all the people in
the mushroom club are supposed to bring a food dish,
and all the homebrewers are supposed to bring beer.

It is always one of the best private parties I ever
get to attend.

Then on the next day, I get to go judge beer at a
beer competition in San Jose. In this case, I don't
particularly care what the weather does, since it is
all inside. I'm hoping since this is being held in
on of the biggest brewers of German style beer in the county,
that we'll get to drink gallons and gallons of
very tasty beer ... hopefully they'll still have
some of their Oktoberfest beer on tap. If so,
I believe I'll drink at least 4 half liter glasses.
Woo woo!

How not to hitch-hike ...

2007-10-16T17:51:41Z

Or gruesome SF bay area story of the week ...
or another story on evolution in action ...
or how to mess up a bunch of other people's commute to work ...

Body struck repeatedly on I-880 identified as Berkeley hitchhiker

(10-13) 04:00 PDT Hayward -- The man found dead after being hit on Interstate 880 in Hayward was identified Friday as a hitchhiker from Berkeley who secretly clung to the bottom of a truck for 20 miles before losing his grip, falling to the freeway and being struck by numerous cars, authorities said.

David Connolly, 37, walked up to a truck parked off Interstate 80 in Berkeley before dawn Thursday and, in Spanish, asked the driver for a ride, said California Highway Patrol Officer Mike Davis.

The truck driver, who had been sleeping, told authorities he was uncomfortable with the idea and told Connolly no. When Connolly insisted and tried to open the truck door, the driver blocked him and started to drive away.

Without the driver's knowledge, however, Connolly had somehow climbed underneath the truck and hidden himself in a space above the driveshaft, Davis said. Near the A Street exit on I-880 in Hayward, Connolly apparently lost his grip.

It was unclear whether Connolly let go because the truck hit a bump, if he passed out from fumes or fell asleep. It is also not known whether he died as a result of falling to the freeway or from being hit by many cars, Davis said.

Asked how Connolly could have hung on in such a fashion, Davis said, "For dear life."

Authorities reached their conclusion after the truck driver came forward. He had seen news reports about the death and found bits of clothing and remains under his truck, Davis said.

The space between the bottom of the truck and the ground measured 44 inches, which was enough to provide clearance for someone, Davis said.

Connolly's remains were strewn across five lanes and 1,000 feet of highway, and the CHP reported receiving about 80 phone calls from witnesses or drivers who had hair or blood on their cars.

The southbound freeway was shut down for more than two hours.

The Alameda County coroner's office used Connolly's fingerprints to identify him.

E-mail Henry K. Lee at hlee@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page B - 3 of the San Francisco Chronicle

Weekend of 100+ beers

2007-10-03T17:46:29Z

I'm looking forward to this weekend, and I'm praying
that I don't catch a cold between now and then.

Its the weekend of "Beer Camp", the Northern California Homebrew Festival (NCHF),
the biggest beer weekend of the year (in Northern California, at least).

Chances are, I'll be sampling over 100 beers ... maybe more ...
I'm going to try to keep track this year.

It all starts friday morning when I'll drive up to the campground in
the foothill of the Sierra (with a stop for lunch at the Sudwerk brewery
in Davis to sample their Oktoberfest beer).

(Actually, it really starts for me with the Chilli Cook-off
here at work on thursday at lunch ... since after that
I'm essentually worthless after that!)

Then I'll arrive at the campground at around 4pm (I hope), set up camp,
and get myself over the the "happy hour", which involves a dozen
kegs of beer, or so.

But I'll be trying to limit what I drink and eat there, because
the is a 7 course gourmet dinner waiting:
http://www.homebrewchef.com/NorthernCaliforniaHomebrewfestivaldinner2007.html
Which includes dishes made with beer, and lots of special beers themselves.

After that I'll stagger back to my tent, and try to sleep
(last year I had a hard time sleeping because I was so bloated!).

The next morning after breakfest, the main event starts:
dozens of beer clubs from all over northern californa will set up
thier booths around a big square lawn, and I'll wonder around the
whole day sampling the beer that each of the clubs has wraught/brought.

Assuming each club brings about 10 beers, and assuming there will be
at least 10 clubs there (probably more), that means I'll be sampling
over 100 beers.

This year I want to keep track of what I sample, somehow.

Hopefully with a note-book, but also with my digital camera.

After the vast sampling of beers, we'll all stagger back to the
camp at 5pm or 6 for somekind of dinner (I'm not sure yet what
I'll be eating ... at least 2 or 3 groups said I can come and join
them).

There will be lots of sampling of various people's beer and wine
(I know some people who make some really great wine that will be there).

After that the campground will errupt into many parties, and I'll
wonder around for a while seeing what is to partake in.

Then at 10pm or 11pm, the die-hards will gather for the crowning event
of the night: The Dead Palate Society.

Last year I was only able to last until about 1pm ...

They is where many special and limited beers and homebrews
make their appearance (things that are to expensive to let
everyone try).

Sunday morning, I'll wake up with a hang-over, and then drive
home.

Which I'm kind of glad of, since it is already way to much
for one single weekend.

Stupid Dead People Tricks: Reflections on "The War"

2007-10-02T17:37:24Z

San Francisco has a vast army of homeless people these days.
Thousands upon thousands of them: walk down any street,
and you'll see them passed out in doorways and begging
at the traffic lights. You'll always see hundreds of them
in the parks, and the library is full of them
(and these are just the ones you can tell are homeless
by their filthy clothing, and the have-not-bathed-in-months look
and smell, and long scraggly hair. (And why do crazy homeless people
all seem to pile on the clothing as if its winter?)
Why aren't there that many crazy homeless people that feel the
need to wear less?).

Anyway, I've thought I've seen everything, but last saturday
I was walking down a street near Haight and Webster,
and there was a homeless person sprawled out on the sidewalk,
looking very much like a dead person.

But I assuming he was just passed out ... at least we all
assumed that, since nobody bothered to call 911 or the coroner.
Also, his eyes were shut, and I figured a dead person would
look a little more paler and/or ashen (although I've never
really seen a dead person up close, so I'm not exactly sure
what I dead person looks like).

I'd been watching the Ken Burns documentary "The War" on PBS
over that week, so it kind of made me think this must be
what it was like to be walking along some street in a war ravaged town, stepping over dead bodies. Except there wasn't any blood or gore.

It must be really strange walking around someplace where dead people
are lying around.

I know a women who is going to be doing that for a living:
she is going to be a forensic etymologist.

At the university she works at, they are going to take a bunch
of dead people and lay them outside in a field somewhere, and study
the effect on their bodies of what the bugs and elements do to them.

I would find it strange to be working with dead bodies ...
I wonder if I'd get used to it after a while?

I guess so: since a lot of people do it all the time.

I bet this person I know will be in an episode of "Dirty Jobs"
one of these days.

Who am I better than?

2007-09-27T17:01:25Z

I was just sitting thinking, while reading the thread on the Nobel Prize,
why wouldn't Danielle Steele win it?

You might say, "well, she isn't a very good writer", right?

Which I'd probably agree (I haven't ever read a book of her's from
cover to cover, but every once in a while I'll pick one up
and skim a page or two, and realize I could probably read
the whole thing in a few hours or less ... its kind of one notch
above "Dick and Jane").

But then again, she's probably the top selling author in the history
of the world ...

So it makes me wonder, if I ever sat down and tried to write somekind
of book, for eventual attempt at publication, could I write something
better than what Danielle Steele writes?

Most of us here would probably say, "heck yeah, I could do that".
Right?
(it might not sell as many books, or even get accepted by a publisher,
but it would be better, literarily wise, than that).

So the question is, if "Danielle Steele" is to low a bar, which author
do you think you could be better than?

If it is to high, the same question ...

Now that I think of it,
and looking at the writing above ... maybe "Dick and Jane" is
about the level of "my" bar. :-)

Rain, rain ...

2007-09-24T05:27:44Z

We got a good splash of rain over the weekend ...
friday night I woke up, some time during the night,
to some fairly pitter-patter.

This is not something we get very often this time
of year ... usually its not until November that
we start getting rain.

I guess this was more of a freak occurance, due to
some tropical depressions down to the south.

No doubt we'll still have at least one or two "indian summers"
between now and November, where it will be warm enough to head
to the beach.

But it was pretty refreshing to have everying wet this weekend.

On Satuarday morning, since I had no obligations (one of the few
times between now and January that I don't have any),
I walked downtown for my morning coffee and bagel.

It was very pleasent, with since everything smells so fresh after
a rain. Even though it got a little wet now and then.

I always get a bit of a nostalgic yearning in the fall: it always
makes me think of college, life in the university.

Apparently, according to the weather man, it will be a very nice
time to go to the beach in the next couple of days: since we're
looking at an "indian summer" situation coming up.

alembicresearch @ 2007-09-22T00:01:00

2007-09-22T07:14:18Z

Driving around doing erands at lunch,
I noticed there was a homeless persons with a sign
begging at all four directions in the "islands"
at one of the intersections near the business
I had to stop at (the homebrew store I do my beer
appreciation class at ...).

I've never seen all directions "full".
Kind of strange.

Then the light changes, and I go, and I'm half way
into the intersection, some guy comes blazing through
in an SUV ... running the red light, many seconds
after it was red on his end.

So fortunately I have the state of mind that I'm
able think of hitting my horn ... two long "beeps".

I didn't really get a good look at the driver,
but there was a women in the passenger seat I saw
very clearly, and she had her hand up to her head
and her mouth was wide open, as if she was screaming
"I'm going to die!". If she was the boyfriend of the driver,
I hope she thinks of dumping the jerk, and giving
him a "Darwin Award". Although there is just as good of a
chance that she'll decide he is "Mr. Daring" for dashing
through the intersection ...

I notice all the homeless people in the intersections
looked to see what the honking was all about,
and turned their heads to look.

First cold of the season ...

2007-09-05T17:29:43Z

Well, at the end of my last post, I mentioned I couldn't
taste the spaghetti saurce I made, because my nose was stuff,
and I thought I was either catching a cold, or had some allergies ...
well, it turns out, I did catch a cold.

Grr ...

It is weird catching a cold when it is so nice outside.

So my "long holiday weekend" got extended a couple of days ...
except I'm not getting to have much fun.

I much more enjoy calling in sick when I'm not actually sick.

Hopefully this thing will blow over quickly, because I have
a beer class to give tomorrow night, and we're doing Belgian & French Ales,
which are very tasty, and expensive.

Also I have two beer competitions I have to judge this weekend:
the Santa Cruz Co. Fair and the Tulare Co. Fair.

Fortunately, this feels like a fairly normal little cold,
and not a flu, so it should go away pretty quickly (knock on wood).

Labor Day Weekend 2007

2007-09-04T05:38:54Z

Here's what I did over my "long" weekend (got 4 days off):

Friday: 8PM: after loading up the pick-up, and drove 4 hours,
after a few stops or so, to Yosemite National Park.

Arrived about 1 PM at my destination campground: Bridalvail.

After a bit of lunch, did a fine little hike up to Sentinal Dome,
and around to "The Fissers" and Taft Point.
Beautiful views many miles of Yosemite from Sentinal Dome.
Not a drop of water visible in Yosemite Falls.
Very different from when I was there over Memorial Day Weekend.

Very dry and fairly warm: in the 80's at 7,000 feet elevation.
Sort of draining.
Much hotter down in the Yosemite Valley 3000 feet lower.

The feeling of fall seems close ... except for the warm weather ...
Even tho its hot in the day,
all the plants looks like they're already in their "fall" mode ...
because ...
As soon as the sun sets, it starts getting cool fast:
have to change my t-shirt and shot pants to long sleeve, sweaters,
and long pants, very quickly.

Saturday: Did a big all-day day hike from the Bridalvail Campground,
due south, to Wawona, about 14 miles.

I've been thinking about doing this hike for about 9 years now
Apparently ... it doesn't seem like 9 years, but according to
my hiking journal, its been 9 years since I hiked:

Saturday (June 6, 1998)

hike in Yosemite National Park, CA
Hike from the Chilnaula Falls trail head near Wawona,
to the Chilnaula Falls, and return.
Approx. distance. 8.4 miles, 2200 feet elevation loss.

I've wanted to do the hike from Bridalvail campground to Chilnaula Falls,
in order to connect two areas of the park that I've done a lot of hiking in:
the one around the valley, and the other around the above falls.

It was a fairly easy hike, except I felt fairly lathargic,
for some reason, for a lot of the hike. Maybe it was because I was tired
from yesterday's hike. Probably due to the heat also.

Since the Chilnaula river was now nothing much but a small creek,
there were some very nice swimming holes exposed right where
the falls go over a 1,000 foot cliff,
and I got in and skinny dipped for a few
minutes in the refreshingly cold water.

As soon as I got out and dress, it was so hot, I was dry and
warming up gain in no time.

Hiked the rest of the way to Wawona, and hitch-hiked back to the
campsite. Only took 2 rides to get back, because a family
from the Belmont Astronamy Club, who was also camping in the Bridalvail Campground, saw me and gave me a ride.

Sunday: after exploring the Valley a bit, I drove home at 12 noon.

Got back to my apartment at about 4pm.

Didn't have more than 30 minutes to relax, when my mom & dad arrive.
They're heading up to Oregon in the camper with their boat,
and needed a place to stay inbetween.

So we went out for Thai food.

My parents are getting so elderly. And my dad is very grumpy all the time.
They are both hard of hearing. I have to repeat everything twice.
I know I'm going to have to repeat everything I say before I say it,
but it doesn't help saying it louder.
My dad is an extreme tight-wade with money ... he always wants to know
what the price of EVERYTHING is, and then is ALWAYS shocks him,
"Gawd! $1.75 for a cup of coffee!".

Monday: in the morning, we go out do breakfest at Dennys.
They leave about 10am, because they have an 8 hour drive to Eureka.

In the afternoon, I go to my garden and pick a bunch of tomatoes.
There are a lot coming in now.

Its been one of my goals since, starting a garden, to make
spaghetti sauce from scratch.
So, using instructions from the internet, I peel a bunch of tomatoes,
squeeze the seeds and juice out, add a bunch of spices
(oregano, fresh basil from my garden, onions, mushrooms, garlic ...),
and Voila! Spaghetti sauce!

I think the only thing I did wrong was I put in to much corn starch for
thickening, and it turned out a bit to think. I need to use about 1/2
as much next time (i.e., only 1 tablespoon). Also, only had "beefsteak"
tomatoes in my garden, which aren't the optimum variety for spaghetti
sauce. Next year I plan to plant the "San Marzano" variety, which is
supposedly the classic tomato in Italy for tomato dishes.

Also, I'm not sure I was tasting it ... my started doing something wacky
last night ... either I'm catching a cold, or there is something in
the air giving me alergies ... because I'm all "stuffy", all last night
and this morning.

More Colorado beer!

2007-08-30T16:32:38Z

We're having a heat wave here in the bay area right now,
in part due to the what used to be hurricane Dean blowing
up from Mexico.

Whenever it gets hot here in the bay area, they've started
having what are called "spare the air" days, where they
make all public transportation free (for part of all of the day).

So I took advantage of it, and took most the day off work,
and took a free train ride up to San Francisco, for a
big beer tasting event that was going on with
a brewery from Colorado: Avery.

They are a Boulder CO based brewery, and they are making
some of the most interesting and cutting edge beer in the
country at the moment: sort of in the league of Dogfish Head, Stone,
Russian River, etc.

There head brewer/owner/founder, Adam Avery, was touring the bay area
this week, and the event last night was a tasting of 15 of their beers
(for $35) at the Toronado tap house (I also needed to do some business
with the owner ... he's letting us run a BJCP Exam there at the end
of Sept.).

The nice thing was, when I was in Denver last June, I somehow did
not get to sample hardly any of these beers, so this was sort of
fixing a hole in my CO beer education.

So, holy cow, there were some good beers served.

Since I've been to hundreds of events like this one over the years,
I was fairly conservative in my drinking, and was only a bit tipsy
by the time it was over. However, my friend that I came up with,
who hasn't really down many of these, over indulged.

So on the way home (his girlfriend was driving, and she was sober),
we had to pull over multiple times, so he could make a few technicolor yawns.

This morning, I felt a bit yucky ...
I notice that some of the Avery beers are a bit "fuselly",
kind of like Anchor Brewery beers ... and can lead to bad hang-overs
and ralphing if one over-indulges.

Life Listing

2007-08-28T23:22:48Z

Over the weekend the NY Times had an article on people
doing "Life Lists". They also had the guy talking about
it on Talk-of-the-Nation on NPR today.

Here is my "Life Goals" list I've been maintaning since early 1999.
Although this is not exactly a "Life List", since I don't check boxes
when I accomplish them. Instead I remove them from the list,
or modify them (sometimes because I've accomplished it,
sometimes because I'm no longer interested in it),
and not the accomplishment at the bottom (which I didn't include here).

Also, I was thinking today, after listen to the NPR show,
that I don't really havea "just for the heck of it" catagory.
I'm not sure what you'd really call them: things like
jumping out of an airplane once, or climbing Mt. Everest
(I'm not actually interested in doing), or getting a sports car (something I
might do sometime, maybe, if I ever won the lottery or sometime),
but seem a bit illogical. So I added that as my "E" catagory
(a real E-ticket?). I haven't though of what I'm going to put
there yet, other than a BMW Z3, but I'm sure there are other things.

So here it is:

Life Goals: 5 to 10 Years

Started on 4/30/1999
This revision: 8/28/2007

A. Travel
1. International (current European travel plans are hurt by $1.36 exchange rate for the Euro)
b. Europe IV (Spain, Portugal, Morocco)
c. Europe V (Greece, Turkey, Isreal, Egypt)
d. Europe VI (Scandanavia/Baltics)
d. Trans-Siberian RR (Russia, Lake Bikal, Mongolia, China, [Japan?])
e. Madagascar (great wild life ... but expensive: $6,000 for 2 weeks!)
f. Torre del Paines in South South America (great walk trip)
g. Thailand (great food trip)
h. Japan (great food and different culture)
i. Turkey (fezbus.com)
j. Switzerland (hike hut-to-hut across the Alps)

2. Domestic (USA/Canada)
a. Car tour: Eastern Canada: Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, etc.
b. Hiking (Rae Lakes Loop?, Sierra JMT?, Olympics, etc.)
c. Car tour Southern Colorado (with a couple days stay in Denver forthe GABF)

B. Find Ms. Right (aka: "The One").
1. Make self more attractive
a. become more mentally attractive (read, travel, films, plays)
b. become more physically attractive
i. exercise regularly
ii. loose weight: loose 57 points, i.e. 257 -> 200.
e. improve appearance (dress better, overall hygene, haircut, etc)
f. take dance classes

2. Find out where the women are:
a. go there (Foothill College, Universities?)
b. spend more time there

C. Financial (continue saving for retirement and still have enough to achieve all goals,
at least $500,000. Between $400k & $1 million?) (achieved around 2004)
(At this point, if if I can hang on until Jun 2009, I might be able to
get the "early retirement" package, of about $26,500 a year. And by then
I should have more than $1,000,000 in the bank).

D. House
Buy a house and/or "cabin" (in 1999 USD$100,000), of the requirements:
a. near/in woods, National Forest (close to nature)
b. garden (grow oregano, basil, and San Marzano tomatoes)
c. good garage and/or work area for a pico-brewery and extra refrigerators
d. Warm or cool climate? (Puget Sound or Desert? Both?)
e. Close enough to major city for monthly dose of "culture"
(i.e. Port Angeles -> Seattle)
f. rock garden/stone work

E. Health
1. remain healthy and fit so you can achieve all goals
2. keep weight down (try to get to 200# or less)
3. keep hiking for exercise
4. drink alcohol in moderation (don't get drunk to often)
5. teeth maintainance (see dentist regularly)

F. Education
1. Worldly knowledge gleaned via Travels (see "A". above)
4. Diverse reading:
a. Literary: Pale Fire, ???
b. Other books from readling list (etc.)
5. Class room study
a. work related (boring!)
b. personal
i. full time graduate school:
get a Masters and/or Ph.d in Brewing ("Environmental Chemistry" or maybe Nutrition)?
ii. continue to take evening classes at local junior college
(drawing, painting, spanish, french)

G. Work:
1. Continue working at NASA another N years? (to 7/2009 for reduced pension)
2. Switch to another job (not easy now, unless perhaps as assistant brewer)?
a. stay in bay area
b. move somewhere else
i. Seattle area
3. Switch Careers?
a. brewer (start as assistant brewer for 1 or 2 years then move up)
b. naturalist (start as a volunteer for a national park)
c. writer (make journal entires daily, write a novel or book)
d. artist
i. painter (take classes at Foothill in perparation)
ii. writer (countinue with journal)
e. all the above (a renaissance man)

E. Weird Silly Things?
1. Automobile
a. BMW Z3

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[28 Aug 2007] Notes:
In the last couple months since I updated this, here are some of the accomplishments.

(A2c) Did a driving trip to Denver, CO and back, and attended the National Homebrew Converence there.

(B1b & E2) Lost another 10 pounds ... so I've lost about 35 pounds since January 1st,
and have maintaned my exercise regimen, so I'm much more healthy and fit.
I'm currently below 220#s, so I've achieved goal E2.
What I need to do now is keep loosing (i.e., get to 200#s), and then
maybe even loose more (i.e., get to 180#), and the bottom line is:
do not gain it back or increase.

(F4a) Finished reading "Sons and Lovers", D.H. Lawernce.
Need to find a new "big goal" to read for 2008.

On teaching beer classes

2007-08-24T22:01:49Z

I was thinking last night after teaching the 7th session
of beer judging class, "is there anything better in life than
this?" I.e., getting paid $1,000 and get to drink lots of beer
(which is paid for also).

I guess my goal would be to do it 3 times a year,
and that would net me enough to make a trip to Europe
or something once a year.

The Iceman Cometh

2007-08-23T05:35:30Z

Alas, the days are getting shorter.

On wednesday evenings, at 7:30 PM,
usually after dinner and Jeopardy!,
I stroll about a half mile to my
garden plot in the community garden,
to water (mostly tomatoes and basil).
Then I walk another half mile to
downtown, there on wednesday evenings
in the summer, they have the main street
closed to traffic, and have booths set up
(sort of like a farmer's market, but not quite),
and a band playing.

I usually check out the used bookstore for
a few minutes, and then look into the brew-pub
to see if they have any new beers on tap,
and sample some food from the indian food booth,
then I walk the mile back to my apartment,
usually getting there at 9pm.

At the peak of summer, I can usually get back
go my apartment just as its starting to get dark.

But now, as of 22 August, the sun is starting
to set just as I'm leaving. Looks like it
goes down right at 7:45.

So its getting dark right when I'm watering the tomatoes
(looks like I'm going to have tons of them in a week or so!).

And its pretty much dark by the time I get to down town.
And its completely dark the whole way back.

Just goes to show that the season is changing ... fall will be
here soon!

Although, I've got to remember, that we'll have very pleasant
summer like weather here for at least two more months.

It doesn't get cold here until November, usually.

Although it will be dark more and more early (and maybe a little
cool in the evenings).
Alas, which makes it less and less pleasant for going
on walks in the evenings.

Rule of the Four

2007-08-22T22:12:19Z

I finished reading the book "Rule of the Four" last night.
It was one of those quick books I felt like doing
as a summer read. It was kind of like "The Da Vinci Code",
with lots of literary references. But maybe not quite
as good. In the Da Vinci Code the characters are running around
Europe (so its kind of a travel book, in a way), whereas this
one they're sitting around a college campus most of the time (Princeton),
talking about Florence Italy. So I guess a person would have
liked it better if they had gone to Princeton.
I enjoyed Florence when I was there, so that was good:
it made me keep thinking about gelloto ice cream and other
great italian food I had when I was there.

Curse this diet I'm on!

However, this diet has been good to me so far.

I've lost about 35 pounds since January, so I feel much
more spry.

I did a hike at my favorite local park over the weekend,
and climbed up the 1,500 foot "hill" without hardly breathing hard.

(I saw a funny think coming down: there was a couple hiking
about 300 yards ahead of me, and I hard a "clunk" sound and looked
up, and notice the guy picking up the girl's backpack ...
then I saw them yelling at each other and arms waving like
what happens when people are having an arguement.
All I heard distinctively was the women yelling,
"OK, ITS ALL MY FAULT, ARE YOU HAPPY NOW?"
And she walk away down the hill very fast, and they
guy saying something which I could not hear, and
the women raising up her hand in the gesture that seems
to mean, "talk to the hand, because I'm not listening anymore".
I don't think the guy was very happy at that point.).

Also last night, I sorted out another dumpster diving "find".
Someone in my apartment complex moving out through away
a big box of mostlyl brand new, un-opened
office supplies: pens (red, green, blue, black),
mechanical pencils, post-its over various kinds.
There was enough there to last me 6 years of college,
if I ever go back and get my PhD.

I remember the last day of my internship with Pacific Gas and Electric,
in the summer of 1982, when my boss encouraged me to take a
bunch of office supplies with me to use in my senior year of college.
So I took what I though was a lot of stuff. I felt like a king!

But that pales in comparison to what I found in the dumpster over
the weekend.

Maybe this is Gods way of telling me that I should go back to college?
Or maybe its just a god, not "the God", as Bill Murray said in
"Ghost Busters".

Which reminds me, now that I'm done with the "Rule of the Four",
the next thing I want to read is "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman.
I need to pack at least one more "summer read" in before summer ends.

Hopefully its even better, since it won the Nebula and Hugo awards
for sci-fi & fantacy in 2002, and I've heard a lot of people saying
good things about Gaiman's books and writings.

alembicresearch @ 2007-08-20T15:07:00

2007-08-20T22:08:00Z

Wow, seems like my brain just keeps bouncing around
between things over the last day or so ...

I saw on the news that in some part of Iraq a 17 year
old girl was stoned to death by a mob because she might have
switch religions from on sect to another.
I wonder what it says about the human race that some of
us can still drag one of our own and brutally stone
her to death (and film it)?

This is the same race of people that can send people into space,
make faboulous music, art,I so happy because I bought a pair of camo pants for $3 from
GoodWill today. What a deal!

Drinking other people's beer, and Yosemite Art

2007-08-13T04:39:13Z

Since it was free day at the Oakland Museum,
I made an excursion up to it to see the "Art of Yosemite"
exibition they're holding.

But first I stopped by a shop in Berkeley that supposedly
has a lot of excellent beer for sale.
Unfortunately, they weren't open on Sundays,
so I didn't get to find out (when am I going to learn
that shops in Berkeley aren't open on Sundays?).

But the art exibit at the Oakland Museum turned out to
be very nice. I spent at least 2 or 3 hours there
looking at the art pieces: paintings from Albert Bierstadt,
photos by Ansel Adams, and many other lesser known artists.

It was fabulous! I wish I could do it again.

Hopefully I'm actually going to Yosemite next weekend,
for a couple days of camping.

While I was there, I cooked a turkey.
I got a turkey about 1.5 years ago, and I finally
got around to cooking it. The reason I decided to do it,
was because the tomato plants in my garden are about to produce.
And one of my favorite things is turkey sandwiches with tomato slices.

I was worried about leaving the the oven on while I was gone
for 4 or 5 hours, but my apartment didn't burn down,
so I guess it was OK.

Also this weekend, I got to drink a bunch of homebrews made
by people that entered the LongShot competition I ran in June.

I got about 50 cases of the left overs, but had not drunk many
of them since I didn't know which ones of the 1,000 bottles
were the good ones, and which were the bad.

But the Boston Beer peopel finally sent me back the flight sheets,
so I now know the scores they were given.

So I've been "sampling" a lot of beer over the weekend.