The birds are back

photo from Flickr

My walks to work are so much more cheerful now that I'm hearing the calls of birds again. I don't mind winter so much, except for the cold, and the darkness, and the silence. Our part of the planet goes to sleep in winter. When the trees sing with a dozen different species of tiny feathered animals, it's like the world is saying, "good morning.

"The snow is still here, and there's more on the way, but it won't be cold forever. Chin up. The birds are making the best of it."

I heard a bunch of little chirping sparrows and parking-lot birds. I heard a woodpecker going "brtrtrtrtrtrt," and I think I saw it but I'm not totally sure what that thing was. I heard a flock of geese today for the first time this year, honking happily as they return from holiday. If it's good enough for the geese, it's good enough for me.

Beer with substance

I shoveled this weekend. Lots. I did some other stuff too, but mostly I shoveled. We knew when we bought a house on a corner that we'd have bunches of shoveling to do when the snow hit, so I'm not complaining. I kind of enjoy the forced exercise. I get a real feeling of accomplishment when I'm finished, too, even though the snow is still coming down and I keep going back outside to do it all over again.

Last night was our annual Sibley Bike Depot general meeting. Because of the blizzard, almost nobody came this year. I picked up nine pizzas and we split them among six people. The elections were brief. I stepped down from my role as treasurer and got elected secretary (unanimously, by all five people). As a reward, I got to take home two pizzas.

The former president gave our new president a ride home to Minneapolis, and then stopped at my house just as we were finishing another round of shoveling. He gave me four beers, including this bottle of Schell's Snowstorm. What a nice guy. I'm saving the other three for a special occasion, but I really felt I had earned this one.

Craft-strava-band-za!

I just spent the last six hours getting this to work. Behold! A web mp3 player with music samples by bands in the 2007 Craftstravaganza.
http://www.craftstravaganza.com/mp3s/wimpy.php

There are two more bands to come. For now, enjoy the soothing stylings of Bla Bla Blacksheep and Bridges Over Chamberlain.

Cider racking

Today I 'racked' my hard cider. Racking is a fancy brewing term for siphoning the juice through a tube from one bucket into another bucket. It's not very complicated, but I still prepared a multi-photo blog post to display the process. It turns out that homebrewing is just a few simple activities, separated by long periods of waiting. Dump stuff into a bucket, wait; transfer it to another bucket, wait; open it up and drink it. In that framework, racking is an EVENT! and that makes it noteworthy by default. Nearly two full months after I started the process, I was very excited to pop open the airtight seal on my primary fermenting bucket, and see what was inside. Before I got to that, though, my first step was sterilizing all the equipment I'd be using (we're at the first image now, if you would like to follow along). This is a very important step. It ensures that we don't get any crap into the cider and mess stuff up. Interestingly, I am doing some research at work that has to do with sterilization of medical equipment, so it's a topic that has been on my mind lately. For homebrewing, I fill the bucket with water and cleaning solution and just dump everything inside. It is clean like magic! On the second photo, you can see my improvised mortar and pestle. I crushed 5 Campden tablets and put the powder into my secondary bucket. This stuff will help to kill bacteria and preserve the cider. If I was labeling my drinks, I would have to write 'contains preservatives' on the label. Okay, time to open up the bucket and make the transfer! The third and fourth images show different stages of the racking process. The cider in the primary bucket (on the right) is a very deep color, kind of like, well, fresh apple cider. With only a little juice in the secondary bucket, it's very light and yellow. Once a gallon has been siphoned across, it has already darkened significantly. When I got to the bottom of the bucket and took out the siphon, there was a layer of dark muck on the bottom. This sludge is full of the dead yeasts that fermented my cider for me. Their sacrifice was not in vain. But although we appreciate their contribution, we don't want to drink them, so they got left behind. The lid goes on the secondary bucket, full of fermented apple juice (minus yeast). It was probably a bit lighter in color than the cloudy juice in the primary. I didn't take a picture, though, so the world may never know. Now that it's sealed around the rim and air-tight with a fancy airlock, I can forget about it again for several months. It's supposed to 'clarify' during that time, improving in taste and appearance. But... what does it taste like now? I was a little nervous to find out. Before we get to the tasting, let's have a Science Moment. Next slide, please. In the second-to-last photo, you can see the bottom of a half gallon apple juice bottle. I was saving these on purpose. I planned to use them for storing the finished cider. I changed my mind about that, because I learned an important lesson today about cleaning: if you don't wash out all the juice from your bottles, you'll get to see the results of natural fermentation! That's two months' worth of mold and slime. Gross. But also kind of cool. Finally, I worked up the nerve to actually taste my hard cider. The juice is cloudy, which should decrease over time. I tapped all my wine tasting experience, took a sip, and detected... a distinct taste of apples. It seems to be on the low end of ABV, somewhere around 5% alcohol, which would be about right. Next time I'll buy a hydrometer and find out for sure. Overall, it tastes pretty good, so I'm happy! It would probably be fine to drink it all now, but I've got five gallons of the stuff and besides, I'm eager to see how it changes with aging.

Short, but sweet

photo from Flickr

Today was a bright, warm, happy day. The sun was out and the temperature got up to 50 degrees by one account (this is about 70 degrees warmer than just a couple of weeks ago). It's like the world is waking up outside. Dogs emerge from hibernation, pulling people behind them. Summit Ave is surrounded with birdsong. The hardness of winter melts away, and retreating snow piles reveal strata of trash on the dead grass next to Clean Cuts. Cor blimey, I love the spring in Minnesota!

I know it's a trick of nature and we'll freeze again soon, probably tomorrow, but I can still enjoy it while it lasts. I have a trifecta of spring activities planned for my free day:

1. Birdhouse making
2. Cider racking
3. Hair cutting

Lords of the Chain Ring

Warning: f-bombs! Also: possibly not safe for work (underwear-clad male crotches)? Otherwise, an awesome tale of vengeance against a car that decided to mess with the wrong bicycle. I'm not the biggest fan of the music in the last two thirds of the movie; it reminds me of a time when I was in high school, and the only rock group I knew of was the powerhouse of Christian 80's rock, Petra (incredibly, still making music that sounds exactly the same).

It's a cool short film, though. I'm guess I'm a sucker for movies about bikes and destroying things.

Chapter books

I am sporadically writing a novel again. I decided that it would be fun to start updating this blog with words again. Probably I'll get bored and give up quickly, but be prepared for links to mysterious and seemingly unconnected source materials until then. THIS novel I think is one that could turn out in the end and that other people can totally read if they want to, when it's finished. I'm inordinately proud of the one chapter I have completed so far.

Do you want to read about the New York City blackout of 1977? I know I do! It is scary to think about being in a big city with looting and violence and fires happening all around, but I always enjoy when the power goes out during a storm and I feel safe and cozy in the candle light with my family for a few hours.

Also in book-related news is this sad story about Dreamhaven Books in Minneapolis, via Neil Gaiman. Some jerk(s) stole money and made a mess of the store last weekend. As owner Greg Ketter points out, "Three bookstores have closed in the Twin Cities in the past two months and I don't want to make it four." I've never even been inside, but it was impossible to miss that purple facade across the street every time I went to Ink Lab for more tattoo work. Local book stores are in a sad state. You can help this one stay open by buying stuff! They are having a sale.

Mii

Presented for your amusement, a free web version of what some people say is their favorite thing to do on the Wii: make your own Mii! (Above, my wife and me)

UPDATE: now a full family, with a Nintendogs version of our puppy Lola. I couldn't duplicate her constantly-licking tongue, but otherwise that's a pretty good likeness of her, I'd say.

Happy "tell your best friend what turns you on" day

It is another wonderful new holiday courtesy of Dinosaur Comics! I consider you to be my best friend, so I would like tell you what turns me on, music-wise (warning: MySpace!). Yesterday it was Makeout Revolution. Right now it's (Shake Your) Baby Maker.

Special note: at least one of these bands will be performing in the Craftstravaganza!

Speaking of which, check out our new VENDORS page. It is awesome (unless you're looking at it with Internet Explorer, in which case it's busted).

Office art

A blog I used to read daily, which has since disappeared, recently posted about office art--small works created in short time, in a cubicle, with whatever materials are at hand. I was immediately reminded of the above piece, but it took me a while to track it down. Then it took me another week to post it.

I created this tiny icon during my employment at the cube farm where I worked a few years ago. It incorporates blue ink, colored pencil, and white-out for the sheen on the hair. The image is based on one from an ad we received via fax machine. The man was originally a patient in a doctor's office, but he could also be a cover model for a Harlequin romance novel. I made several variations on this man and his doctor, but I believe that this is the only extant copy. I pinned it proudly to my cubicle walls and deemed it worthy of taking home when I quit that awful position.

At my current job, I have my own office, with art prints adorning the walls (one of my choosing, one not). Nice as it is to have professionally-made paintings in my work area, seeing this again inspires me to try a new art project. But first, we've got over 160 applications to sort through for the Craftstravaganza!

The Nosebleed Song

I was at the mart. Jhenn just got back from Hong Kong and somehow found this gem to fill the Leshik-shaped hole in my heart that has been missing all these long years. Behold: the best video ever sent to the Internet. WARNINGS: volume is out of control, don't listen to it with headphones, and there are swears. Enjoy the brilliance!

"MY DAY AT WORK"

Home brewing adventure

After I bought my brewing supplies, it was a few days before I made it to my local supermarket to pick up five gallons of 'soft' cider. I have never been more excited about a trip to Cub Foods.

On the day before Christmas Eve, I carefully sanitized all my stuff and poured the apple juice in to my fermentation bucket. I kept the plastic jugs to use for bottling the hard cider when it's done. I stirred some yeast nutrient in with the juice, put the lid on the bucket, and whacked a "smack pack" of yeast. Next morning, the plastic package was swollen with hungry and activated yeast molecules. I opened the bucket and tossed in the yeast. Then I sealed it up again and we left home to celebrate Christmas in four locations over the course of two days.

When we returned home, there was no discernible activity in the airlock; in other words, it didn't look like fermentation was happening. Had my yeasts fallen asleep while we were away? We bought a fancy new room heater to warm my brewing area up to the recommended minimum temperature, and the yeast woke up again. As of yesterday, it was happily fermenting in the juice. After a month or so in primary, it should be all done turning into hard cider, and it'll just take some time to clarify and mellow out before it's ready to drink.

Heavy bottle, classy wine

When I saw the label to the left pop up on my favorite wine blog, I scratched my head. Where have I seen that before? I wondered. It looked very familiar, but I could not figure why until I remembered that I won a bottle of Ex Libris as 1/6th of my grand prize case of wine. There's still a bottle of the stuff in my own cellar. Now that it has been given the official Dr. Vino nod of approval, I bumped it up to top pick for Christmas dinner wine.

I promised to provide tasting notes for Dr. Vino since he was kind enough to run a contest and ship the wine my way. I'll let you know how it goes down with the in-laws, but I guess he already knows what he thinks of it: "seize it now and give in abundance," he says. 'Tis the season for giving, after all.

But what shall I bring for the bottle of white?

Wind power: it's now or never

From the always-entertaining and educational Consumerist, I was directed to this list of 25 Gadgets That Actually Save Money, which ends with a link to the Skystream residential windmill company. Doesn't the windmill look cute up in that photo, just humming away? When I build my Earthship, I'm going to want one of those. Sure, it's a lot of cash up front, but it pays for itself after 12 short years!

Applecraft: home-brewed hard cider

Setting aside, for the moment, plans to put video game controllers in guitars or pick locks, I took the plunge in a new hobby. I decided to brew hard cider and got myself some fermentation supplies from Northern Brewer as an early Christmas gift!

Home-brewing beer is cool, but it's also complicated. You've got all those ingredients, all those steps, and all that equipment. So then I thought about distilling me some rum, but that's even more difficult and probably illegal? But the first issue of craft zine set off my imagination along the lines of authentic hard cider. Supposedly it's different and better than the commercial stuff, which makes it worth the time (I can already buy good beers and rum). Best of all, it's cheap and easy! Take your apple juice, add yeast and time, and you've got some cider! If all goes well, some friends will be drinking bottles of homebrew for next Christmas.

My next big project?

I'm toying with the idea of trying this conversion. I'm itching to do something new with my hands again. In the past couple of years I've learned how to fix bikes, type Dvorak, and knit. Why not turn a full-size guitar into a wireless Guitar Hero controller?

Maybe the biggest strike against this plan is the fact that I read through the build notes, and I have no idea how to do 90% of the steps. But I'm dauntless. Undeterred. I've been there, baby.

My last challenging mechanical project was a bike conversion. When I started that job, I knew maybe how to change a tire. When I finished it, I'd reconstructed an entire bicycle. It subsequently became my favorite ride, but that's beside the point. The main goal of a project like this is to learn things along the way, regardless of the outcome. The work is rewarding in its own right. If I do pull it off, then aside from the educational value and the time spent doing something productive, I've got a piece of functional art. There's nothing wrong with that.

There's no rush, so I figure I can take my time in gathering the materials and tools before I go past the point of no return. The first step is to find a suitable host body. By the way, musician friends, don't cry for the instrument in the photo: it's a Squier Bullet and is probably more valuable as a videogame accessory than a guitar. I'll probably have to hit up the local pawn shops and thrift stores to find a cast-off that will do the trick. But just in case, has anyone got a broken electric guitar lying around that they could donate to the cause?

each clump of symbols is a brief, urgent message--describing a situation, a scene.

We Tralfamadorians read them all at once, not one after the other. There isn't any particular relationship between all the messages, except that the author has chosen them carefully, so that, when seen all at once, they produce an image of life that is beautiful and surprising and deep. There is no beginning, no middle, no end, no suspense, no moral, no causes, no effects. What we love in our books are the depths of many marvelous moments seen all at one time.

--Slaughterhouse-Five

Best beer game since Tapper?

"In Beer Tycoon you build, staff and manage your very own brewery. Invent new beer recipes from dozens of available ingredients, set them into production, create market leading brands and distribute them to your customers."

If only you could drink it, I'd be sold.

No Coast Craft-o-Rama

The Craft-o-Rama is today! Isn't this a lovely poster by Miss Amy Jo Hendrickson?

We attended a sneak preview of the show last night, and it was looking very impressive already. Today they will have live music and a RollerGirls kissing booth. Yes I am sure they will have other things, but that is what caught my attention.

We did some Christmas shopping, but it may not be safe to disclose any details here. However, we also bought some items for ourselves, which I am only too happy to write about in graphic detail. At this very moment, I am rocking a pair of Cricket Syndicate underwears, emblazoned with the image of an awesome pirate ship. (In a buy-one-get-the-second-one-at-half-price barter, I snagged some Juliana Theory briefs to keep in reserves.) Also, SPC sweethearts Stomp-N-Thrash sold me a sweet Sailor Jerry button.

I meant to buy a deck of illustrated playing cards from Lonny Unitus but I forgot. I'll buy one from you at next year's Craftstravaganza, Lon! Speaking of which, the prep for our own fair is rolling smoothly ahead. Applications ahoy!