Thanksgiving, and Last Weekend

Where to begin?  I hope everybody had a happy Thanksgiving, we sure did!  It was great unplugging for a nice four day weekend.  With the exception of the pictures I threw up from the Jets game yesterday, we didn’t blog at all… sorry for the silence.

I’ll start from the beginning.  Thursday we had a great Thanksgiving over at Kristen and Jon’s.  We started the day with the first annual Turkey Bowl then, after sampling my Belgian and Chocolate Imperial Stout — which were liked by all — we sat down for a great Thanksgiving dinner cooked by the man himself, Jon.  Everything, as usual, was fantastic especially the XXX which was the sleeper hit of the meal.  The pies were okay… not great, so next year pie duty will fall upon Christi and I.

As you can see from the picture on the left, Jon doesn’t mess around: he gets a good look and gets out all of his stuffing!

Friday and Saturday we did errands all day and, whenever possible, I spent some time working on my new fermentation chamber.  No pictures yet but as soon as it’s finished I’ll upload a bunch.  I’m still at least a week away from finishing it, as I need to figure out some electrical issues with the thermostat, but I made significant progress on it this weekend.

On Saturday night we started a fire with our new fireplace grate.  This new grate has a mesh at the base, so the kindling doesn’t fall down and away from the wood as you’re lighting it.  As you can see from the picture to the right it helped quite a bit, and we got one big fire going!  We’re still trying to figure out how to slow down the burn so we don’t use up wood so fast, but we’re making progress.

Anywho, the fire did a great job of keeping our living room warm.  We were able to turn off the heat and the fire maintained the temperature we had set.  We have plenty of wood (thanks Dad!) so we expect to be using this quite a bit this winter.

Lastly, Sunday, we froze our ass off at the Jets game.  Stupid us didn’t buy a tent so our tailgate consisted of us sitting in the car while I ran outside a few times to cook some food.  It was fun, but not as fun as it could have been.  Our seats were pretty good but, unfortunately, not quite under the overhang so we were in the rain the whole time.  By halftime the rain had soaked through our pants, onto our skin, and we were so cold (and the Jets were playing so badly) that we just left.

Now, it’s Monday, and we’re back at work… fun, fun, fun.

Enjoy the week everybody!

A Home For The Squirrels

So on Sunday Ryan and I were out in the yard, raking up what could possibly be our last round of leaves. These were dry, light leaves, so when we put them into bags they didn’t compact as well as one would hope.

But my blog is not about leaves. Well, not in the way you’d expect! We actually had a few helpers this weekend. Three squirrels were running around our yard, gathering leaves – just like this fat one in the picture to the right. I thought it was pretty funny seeing them gather mouthfuls of leaves and go up and down our big backyard tree. Turns out that they were building their nest for the winter.

Here’s a picture of their nest. I was so surprised to see a nest like that up high in the tree that I had to do some research. I always thought squirrels nested within a tree (or in an attic or crawlspace if open). But turns out that they also build nests, called dreys, made of twigs and leaves. Our yard is certainly full of both, so it seems like as good a place as any for them to make their winter home.

And bundling up for winter they sure are! All three squirrels who were going up and down the tree were all pretty big and fat. They were definitely bulking up for the winter.

I wonder if we’ll see any little squirrels come springtime?

Ryan just told me that our neighbor’s tree has a drey in it, too. Our nice little wooded neighborhood seems to be the perfect place to hunker down for a long winter nap!

Go Jets!

As you’ve heard by now, the Jets beat the (formerly undefeated) Titans on Sunday.  Not only did they beat them, they pretty much dominated them.  Go green!  While some people are starting to bring up the S word, I’m going to reserve judgment.  Sure we beat New England and Tennessee in consecutive games, but does that make us a great team?  Not necessarily.

Let’s rewind.  Saturday was a brew day!  This week I brewed an ESB but hit a couple of snags, so I don’t think this batch is going to turn out that well.  Halfway into the boil my propane tank started to empty so my flame went down, and it took me about 20 minutes to realize this and change out the tank.  Because of this I didn’t boil off as much wort as I was expecting, so my starting gravity was way lower than I was expecting.  On top of all of this, a leaf fell into the boil.  I was able to fish it out while it was cooling and I’m sure it got sanitized by the boil, but that’s never a good thing.

This time I stuck to hop bags, instead of throwing the pellet hops into the wort, so I didn’t have to worry about clogs.  All-in-all a pretty good day and I proved to myself that I can brew when it’s cold outside… as long as I have a full propane tank!

I also removed the window AC unit from the brewery on Saturday since it’s now too cold outside to use it.  I’ve been in the planning phases for a more permanent fermentation chamber for quite some time and on Saturday I finally bought some supplies (insulation board) from Home Depot.  I got most of the cuts done, but not enough to start assembling yet, so I’m using them as a Ghettoer Fabulouser Fermation Chamber (TM), pictured to the right.  I have this setup next to an open window.  The chamber temperature fluctuates a good deal, but the wort has been sitting between 64*F and 67*F: the perfect temperature.  I’ll leave it like this until primary fermentation is done (about one week), then move the carboy to a cool place for it to finish out.  Hopefully, this weekend, I’ll be able to start assembling the fermentation chamber so I can have something more permanent!

Sunday, before watching the Jets game, we did our last round of leaves.  By now all of the leaves are off of the tress so we really should be done.  I got out the ladder and cleaned out the rear gutters… I’m starting to get good at that.  Most of the leaves in there were frozen so, next year, I need to do it before the freeze!

That’s about it for us.  Christi has been obsessed with some animals in our back yard, which she’ll probably be blogging about that in the coming days.  Enjoy the short week and have a great day everybody!

Victory Plate Pete

Tonight I’m having dinner with an old friend of mine, and Guardian Digital alumni, Pete O’Hara.  Since leaving Guardian Digital Pete has become a male model.  You can see him on the Just for Men Touch of Gray box (far left box in that picture) the next time you go shopping, or in Sex and the City in the “auction scene.”  He also has other projects currently in the works which you can see on his website.

In honor of hanging with Pete, I’d like to share with you his latest work, The Victory Plate:

Click on the link to see a short infomercial pitching the Victory Plate.  Pete is the one writing on the desk as the camera pans-out of the plate, and sitting on the couch saying “I can’t believe this day would ever come.”  Good job Pete: I’m sure you’re happy that they didn’t have you do the McCain/ plate!

Fill in the blank in the comments .

Leaves and Kegs

Guess what we are doing today after we go buy the kegs?

Blogging from Tappan Zee = difficult!

Lazy Weekend

So as Christi said we were up early yesterday, since I had to address a server problem at work.  Yes, a server called me to tell me it was having problems.  I’m a geek, get over it

Max

Saturday was fun.  We went to Max’s football game and, luckily, the rain held off until the game was over.  It’s so cute watching them at that age, without pads and with flags.  Max’s team had some really good runs and, despite the defensive lineman opposite him being much larger than him, Max did an excellent job blocking.

I also took some movies on my camera but haven’t yet had a chance to assemble them into a single video yet.  If I had a MacBook Pro (hint hint, wifey) I would have had this done since I could have done it from the couch instead of from the brewery but, alas, I don’t so I couldn’t.

When I get the video done I’ll post it online… I’ll try to get to it by next week, but we’ll see.

Michelle

Later in the day, after some errands, we went to Aunt Robin and Uncle Ben’s to celebrate Michelle’s birthday a few days early.  By the afternoon the sky had cleared up so we spent some time outside playing.  Jon, Jeff, Justin, Max, Benny, and I played a game of football which we lost on a last-play interception I threw… my bad.  Better luck next time!

The kids were running around, as usual, but did manage to stop for some pictures available at the link above.  I got a really good picture of Serfina, Emma, and Ava.

Fireplace

Sunday was a washout, literally.  We had high hopes of getting yardwork done but, contrary to the weather reports, it rained most of the day.  It’s a good thing I got home early enough to mow the lawn on Friday!  We spent a good part of the day trying to start a fire.  After several failures, we’re blaming the wood.  The picture you see to the left was a close as we got but no matter what we did we could not get the logs to ignite.  Gonna pick up some new wood and try again some night this week.

I also finally got around to changing out our bathroom faucet.  It went easier than I was expecting and, towards the end, I was finally gettting the hang of using the basin wrench.

Christi’s friend Meghan came by to see our house and we all went out for lunch at Mela, yummy.  After that we plopped our butts down on the couch and had a lazy day.  We kicked a bottle of Medoc and called it a night.

I hope to bottle the Belgian in the coming days, and my latest B3 order came today.  Almost 30lbs of extracts and grains, along with almost 15oz of hops.  Weather permitting, I’m going to brew this Saturday while Christi is out of town on business!

Have a great week.  If I don’t get a chance to blog tomorrow, don’t forget to watch the town hall-style debate tomorrow night!

+6 and the Vice Presidental Debate

I’m back to +6 in our NFL picks this week.  I gained a net game… Baltimore beating Pittsburgh (who saw that coming?) saved Christi, and kept me from going to a season-high +7.  The Jets have a BYE this week so our Sunday is pretty open.  Assuming it’s nice outside we’re probably going to do some long overdue outside work like cutting the lawn and getting the beds and plants ready for winter.

During the storm last weekend a giant branch fell from one of our trees onto our front lawn.  This branch was big enough to really hurt our car, had it fallen about 10 feet away from where it did.  Ahh, the joys of homeownership.

Also, another huge plug for Amazon.  The Rock Band drums that we bought Max for his birthday didn’t work so I had to RMA them.  Went online, filled out a form, and got a shipping label to send the defective system back, and a replacement overnighted.  It’s here in my office as I type this.  I’m not sure if the overnight was because I’m prime, but it sure was nice!

I haven’t had a chance to watch the debate from last Friday yet (it’s on our DVR) but tomorrow night is the VP debate between Palin and Biden.  Is anybody else even remotely upset that Palin, since being tapped as VP, has not held a press conference?  So far every question to her has been controlled and, unless something radical happens, this debate is going to be no different.  While it’s good to hear where the candidates are on issues — that’s what stump speaches are for — the press conference holds a particular place in the vetting process.  Can you name one other candidate for national office who, during the course of their campaign, did not hold a press conference?  If you can I’d like to hear about it.

There are many, many unanswered questions about Palin.  They are as crazy as “was Trig really her baby?” (of course he was) to “what was your role in the ‘troopergate’ affrair?” (which, contrary to what her people are saying, is very relevant).  She is seeding immense amounts of doubt by not holding a simple, harmless, press conference.  Couple that doubt with her (and McCain’s) “blame the media” strategy, and you can understand why here approval rating has dropped 20+ points since her convention bump.

In any event, as always, I encourage you to doubt what I say and come up with your own perspective.  Watch the debate and, if you can bare it, the Couric interviews which are all over YouTube and the political blogs.

Ignore the spin, look at the facts, and seek out the truth.  Because I like to send you away with a smile, here is a funny picture:

McCain Palin 2008

Have a great second-half of the week!

It’s Official!

It’s official! Ryan and I have actually hung something on the walls! In the six years that we’ve lived together, we’ve never once hung anything, including curtains or blinds. Now, I don’t count the roman shades in our dining room because they were necessary for privacy. I’m speaking strictly in terms of decoration. So we hung pictures that my mom painted… beautiful watercolors of sheep grazing in the snow. See here:

We stopped by Aunt Robin and Uncle Ben’s on Saturday to pick up a headboard for our guest bedroom – Thanks very much! Slowly but surely our house is being decorated and is coming together nicely.

Also on Saturday, we went to Max’s soccer game. He’s doing great so far and really seems to love it. He takes charge, running down the field, and looks like he has pretty good control of the ball. So much so that he scored 5 goals when we were there!

Today was Waldwick Day at the local Borough Park. Because of the great weather, it was something fun and different to do. At the park were a variety of vendors, all local from town, face painting and games for kids and food from local vendors. It was fun and we learned of a 5k run through Waldwick that will take place in April. I think we just might participate!

Well, I’m off to LA for a few days for work.  Hope everyone has a good week – and enjoy the new shows that are premiering this week!

Our First Party

Had a really great time this weekend.  On Saturday we had our first party at our new house, (re-)celebrating Christi and Emma’s birthdays.  I grilled chicken and beef kebabs (overcooked them a bit) and Jeff, Jon, and I sampled the Wreski Porter.  Jon called it a “one-and-done” beer, Jeff seemed to like it, and I really loved it.  I’m a dark beer guy and the consistency, and flavor, of this batch is right up my alley.  I also have an execuse to drink it all soon: I’ll need the bottles for my upcoming IPA, which I’ll (hopefully) be brewing Labor Day weekend on my new gear.

I got some decent pictures of the event and some really good video, which I’ve assembled into a complication below:

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

This is my first foray into posting homemade flash video on the blog so please let me know (in the comments) if you have any trouble viewing it.  I’ve only tested it in Firefox on Ubuntu and have no idea how it will work in Internet Exploder.

Sunday was a nice lazy day.  I drank the beer leftover in the cooler, transferred the Honey Ale into a secondary carboy (to clear the yeast out a bit and stop primary fermenation), and we watched more Heroes.  That evening our friend Kim came over to see the house and, as always, we had a great time.

Be well!

PS: Happy Birthday Emma!@#

Closure, and Last Weekend

Great news: after weeks of delay we finally got our new washer and dryer hooked up!

It’s a portable dishwasher (that was included with the house) but we had it converted into a permanent location because dragging it back and forth to the sink was really annoying.  At some point, if we ever overhaul the kitchen, this will all change again… but we can finally stop hording quarters and do laundry at home!  Our fourth load (yes, we’ve been putting it off for quite some time) is spinning away as I write this.

Ran our first load last night, the machines are great.  The washer used very little water (it’s High Efficiency) and the dryer got our (slightly oversized) load done in less time than the ones at our old apartment.  All-in-all we’re very happy and, with this done, our “A” list is nearing completion.

Now I can finally get the bar into the kitchen and, ultimately, run my keg lines from the garage.

Last weekend was a lot of fun.  Christi’s Uncle Jerry drove down from Connecticut and stayed the night, then on Saturday the three of us went to the 2008 New Jersey Festival of Ballooning in Readington, NJ.  Over 120 balloons all took off at the same time, it was really neat.  They have a 6:30AM and 6:30PM liftoff, we went to the early one since, later in the day, we drove down to Maryland.

Once in Maryland we attended a surprise 60th birthday party for Dot and Pat.  It was a lot of fun, and both Christi and I had a great time seeing everybody again.  She hadn’t seen some of her family in quite some time.

Finally, on Sunday, we went to Ron’s ordination.  After many years of seminary school, was ordained as a Pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.  We’re all very proud of him and wish him and Pat well in their move to Sharon, PA later in the month.  We’ll see them again in a few weeks at the Crab Feed (we’ll blog about that later).

That just about sums up what is new with us lately.  This coming weekend we’re going to the joint birthday party for Emma and Ava over at Aunt Robin’s house then, on Sunday, I’m bottling the Wreski Porter and brewing my Honey Pale Ale.  Christi may have some friends over so it should be a good time; we’ll probably cook out on the grill.

As usual, if anybody wants prints, drop me a line and I’ll order them through Apple: they’ll be better quality than ordering them from Google.

Take it easy!