For all those participants interested, here are some stats about the contest:

• The average of Ryan’s 10 hairs measured 64mm.
• The shortest hair measured 38mm.
• The longest hair came in at 94 (wiry) mm.

Nicely done, everyone.

Wow, it’s been a LONG time since we’ve blogged.  We’ve just about given up blogging for Twitter (see @ryanmaple and @christimaple for our feeds) but every so often, something comes around that you just can’t summarize in 140 characters.

It’s that time of year again, folks: #bigshave2012!

I’ve been growing the beard since July and, quite honestly, it’s beginning to annoy me.  Couple that with the fact that it’s been an unseasonably warm winter, and the urge to shave it — and move on — has overtaken the urge to see how long I can grow it.   I haven’t done a big shave contest in a while (you can see the last one in 2009 here), and I haven’t brewed in a few weeks, so I thought I’d have one this year.  You can see my current beard (photo was taken the morning of Sunday, January 15th) in the photo to the left — click on it to get a high-res version.

So, without further adieu, here are the contest details!

Right before I shave or on January 21st, whichever comes first, Christi will pluck (with relish!) ten (10) random hairs, solely at her discretion, from my face.  These hairs will be set aside for judging.  She will measure all ten of them, in millimeters, then calculate the average length.  This average length is what you all will be guessing.

Each person is entitled to one (1) guess.  This guess may be provided in whatever measurement you want, but it will be converted into millimeters for the purposes of judging.

The prize is 2.5 gallons — half a batch — of #homebrew and, of course, bragging rights. I’ll brew whatever the winner wants, within reason (must be an ale, and something I can brew with my equipment), and will bottle and ship it to them at my expense.

Your guess must be submitted, via email, to bigshave@mapletrees.com, by 9am on Saturday, January 21st. Christi is the judge, and her judgement is final. She will resolve all conflicts and questions.

Ben Thomas (@ibackupyourshit) is the defending champion, and he can attest to the quality of the homebrew.  The 2009 contest was a success, but let’s make this year’s even better!  Spread this contest around to anybody you know who likes beer, or facial hair.  The more the merrier!

Leave questions and notes in the comments below.  Please do NOT put any guesses there — you don’t want to help out anybody else, do you?

Lastly, I may shave before January 21st (maybe today, maybe tomorrow, we’ll see) but that doesn’t change the terms of this contest.  Good luck, everybody!

Happy New Year Everybody

As most of you know, @christimaple and I were in Paris for Christmas this year… this trip was a present to Christi for her 30th birthday.  Heavily edited digital photos of the trip may be found on my Picasa page... I’m eager to know what y’all think, so don’t be shy and leave a comment!

This afternoon we’ve been relaxing with some football and watching the kids come by for trick-or-treating. I want to know, though, when kids stopped saying “Trick or Treat!”? We’ve probably had about 30 kids total – enough to dole out four bags of candy – which seems a little low. It’s now 5:10 pm and we haven’t had a single ghoul or ghost or princess come to our door in the last half hour. Is it over? When did trick-or-treat time become a daytime activity? Even last year, when Halloween was on a Saturday, the kids were out during the afternoon. Is this the norm now?

Well, November 1 is knocking at the door, which means Thanksgiving will soon be here (my favorite holiday) and Christmas will show up swiftly.  If you haven’t heard, I’m super-excited for Christmas because that’s when I’ll get to use my 30th birthday gift – a trip to PARIS!

I didn’t bring my camera and used this party as an opportunity to shoot and edit everything on my iPhone 4.  Here is the movie I cut up, again, entirely on my iPhone using the iMovie app.  The A4 processor made this exercise a total breeze, taking just under 20 minutes.  It’s quite incredible that the technology is here to do this entirely on your phone, potentially while the event is still going on.

Anywho it’s a bit big (1280×720), and entirely HD, so it may take a while to download.  If you want a copy just right-click on the link above and use “Save as…” to save a copy to your local system.  The raw pictures are also up in my Picasa gallery.

I’ve also posted it to YouTube and MobileMe but, quite honestly, they both look like crap compared to the high-res version above.

Enjoy!

… a tea press from Bodum. Place loose tea leaves into the stainless steel filter, pour in hot water and allow the leaves to steep through to the glass pot. When the tea has reached the desired strength, push down the plunger to stop the brewing.

Tea press available for giveaway is packed in its original box.

…a pen from Tiffany & Co.. The clip is shaped into the letter “T” and the entire pen made of sterling silver. Original box and fabric pouch available.

Remember, if you want it, you must leave a note in the comments saying so. First person to request the item in the comments gets it!

Check back again this week… hint, hint.

I’m getting a head start on spring cleaning as Ryan and I need to organize our garage and buy some shelving, so today I went through all the items we set aside for eBay (this eBay pile has been gathering since 2005 and we have yet to set up an eBay account). Instead, we’ve decided to offer these items to our nearest and dearest – YOU! – totally gratis. Some items originally retailed for about $400 and others are probably only $20-$30.

I was going to start the trend of Freebie Friday but I truly think it’s better to just offer these items whenever we have a chance… an e-auction, if you will. So check back to this site often, because it’s first come, first serve.

The rules: Either of us will post a description and photo (or two) of the item randomly during the week. The first person to leave a comment on that post can claim the item. We’ll try to deliver it to you as soon as possible, but we might just hold on to the item until the next scheduled time to meet.

Hope you all get a kick out of this… and enjoy our goodies!

It was entered into 2010 National Homebrew Competition and will be entered into the 2010 Sam Adams Longshot Competition.  I’ll update this space with how it does!

OG: 1.076, FG: 1.011, ABV: 8.5%, SRM: 28, IBU: 20

Picture coming soon.

Brewed this beer on January 2, 2010 to kick off the new year.  It’s, as it’s name implies, a Foreign Extra Stout (13D).  Very dark in color and a wonderful, roasty, flavor.  I aged this beer in my Dad’s 5 gallon french oak barrel, after he conditioned his Zinfandel in it.  It took on a lot of the Zinfandel, which you can clearly taste in the finish.

It was entered into 2010 National Homebrew Competition in both the 13D (Foreign Extra Stout) and 23 (Speciality Beers) categories.  I’ll update this space with how it does!

OG: 1.085, FG: 1.011, ABV: 9.7%, SRM: 36, IBU: 40

Did we mention that we went to San Diego and San Francisco last year? It was a great vacation and we had lots of fun. We started our trip in San Diego, in town to celebrate Dennis and Lisa’s wedding. The wedding was beautiful taking place on a paddle boat in the Santa Barbara Cove in Mission Bay. It was a beautiful, emotional wedding and a fun, festive reception. We spent a few days in San Diego with Jason & Jess and Rob & Becky, taking in the sights, then went to San Francisco for a few extra days. Ryan took advantage of being on the west coast to explore local breweries (we called this his beer-cation) and together with Rob & Becky we saw Alcatraz, the Golden Gate Bridge, Haight/Ashbury, Fisherman’s Wharf and other sites. It’s a beautiful city and we experienced beautiful, sunny weather. One day, Ryan and I took a two-hour Segway tour in San Fran that took us all over the city. It was a blast and we recommend to anyone, in any city that offers tours, to experience the fun!

Since then, we’ve celebrated the holidays, I’ve lost my job, Ryan received an interim promotion at his, we spent time with friends for a long weekend in the Poconos (and then helped demolish the kitchen up there), I took a trip to Charlotte for my cousin’s baby shower and most recently we celebrated Ryan’s birthday. Our third wedding anniversary is coming up so we’ll be celebrating again at the end of the month.

Ryan’s still brewing and I’m sure he’ll write a big post about his accomplishments, including his 1st place win at a recent competition for his Oatmeal Stout. It received that recognition within the “Sweet, Oatmeal and Foreign Extra Stout” category and then was entered into the “Best in Show” category, where he placed 5th! I’m so proud of him, because this was the second biggest competition on the East Coast with over 800 entries!

Enjoy your St. Patrick’s Day celebrations, be safe and happy, and check back here soon for more updates!

The pictures are up in my Picasa gallery.  I didn’t get as many as I usually do because, stupid me, I forgot to bring our camera Christmas Eve (when most of the action happens, as that’s when the kids open up their gifts).

I’d promise to blog more but, as I’ve made that empty promise before, I’ll just go back to brewing.  Cheers!

We will try to post something this weekend bringing everybody up to speed.

As a side note, I thought I’d share a four-minute video I put together of my garden. It’s been a challenge to get outside because of all the rain in June, but my patience has paid off. The soil was pretty wet all month, and whenever there was a bit of sun, I was quick and methodical with what I planted. So the one sunny weekend in June, I finally got out into my garden to plant. I really had a good time and have been exploring new plants to include that would add color and variety to the beds. So I decided to take a video of the main gardens and share them here with you, so you can experience what I see every day!

(If you click on the video twice, it will take you to a larger screen to view.)

]]> http://www.mapletrees.com/2009/07/05/holiday-fireworks/feed/ 3 http://www.mapletrees.com/2009/06/28/2009-waldwick-fireworks/ http://www.mapletrees.com/2009/06/28/2009-waldwick-fireworks/#comments Sun, 28 Jun 2009 12:36:33 +0000 Ryan http://www.mapletrees.com/?p=1147 Last night Christi and watched the 2009 Waldwick Lion’s Club fireworks from the Waldwick Train Station.  It’s only a few miles away and, in my opinion, gave us a better view than we would have gotten from the field.  In any event the view was great, except for the one train that interrupted us for about 30s.  I think I’m getting pretty good at shooting fireworks with my Canon PowerShot SD700 IS, so enjoy!