Author: cdwan

Okay, this is a shameless plug. It’s my journal. Nyah nyah.

Corporate shill

Runny nose. Sore throat. General malaise.

How many goddamn variants on Sudafed are there? My crappy local CVS had five. Red, green, purple, blue, and orange. Each one had at least one off brand, each of which was exactly one dollar cheaper than the name brand. All of them dealt with “sinus congestion.” Some threw in a painkiller, some also had a cough suppressant. I love consumer culture applied to meds.

Mmmmm…Sudafed “Sinus night time” (purple). In short order, the protagonist was reduced to unconsciousness and blissful, healing sleep.

Oh, yeah: Gripe, bitch, plumber, gripe, lawyer, whine, moan, complain, inspection gripe. The usual.

The weekend is an unmitigated victory for cleanliness and order.

I have defeated the garage. 6 or 7 large (lawn sized) trash bags filled with “old person stuff” from the previous owner. Varnish, nasty crusty paintbrushes, rusted nails, short lengths of pipe, insect poison, rat poison, engine degreaser, and some very seriously 70’s clay flower pots. All gone. We can now, officially, fit two full size cars in our two car garage. Woo!

Then I turned to the basement. $100 worth of home depot plastic shelving, and another 6 or 7 trash bags later, the central area was clear of rubble, and the stacks of stored stuff do not interfere with access to the soon-to-be-replaced bits. I even cleared a space for the machine rack. It’s next to both the power and the cable drop for the house. This will be sweet. I’ll run one length of cat-6 up to the attic, mount the airport above the ceiling, and all other fixed electronics will be wirelessly enabled wherever they are happiest.

Pictures of the crap pile from the crawl space were previously posted.

All this, and I got a batch of Wheat beer in the primary fermenter. This means I’ll have enough to give decent quantities as gifts, and still pay off my losses from the election (in which I lost a case of homebrew in the worst possible way).

The rock climbing competition was fun. A few pictures here.

The finals were really amazing. The format was that each competitor had five minutes, starting from when they first set eyes on the route. Scoring was based on how far into the route (handholds) they made it. In case of a tie, the winner would be the one with fewer falls on the way to their best hold. There were a couple of really amazing “burns.” A burn, in this sport, refers to someone holding on to a grip despite slipping off with the feet. Basically, it’s a recovery based on grip strength and willpower.

Today: Cleaning, organizing, and throwing away more bags of crap that the previous owner left in the basement and garage. Wheeeee.

I went in the crawl space this afternoon to clean crap out, so the plumber will have an easier time accessing the pipes. I took these pictures.

The Lambic is racked and merrily fermenting on 10lbs of formerly frozen raspberries.

I had no idea how to approach this part of the process, so I made it up:
* Scalded the raspberries to bring them to room temperature and kill anything that might have been living on them.
* Crushed them, using a food mill.
* Put them in the carboy, using a funnel and a soup ladle
* Siphoned the beer over top of them per standard racking procedure.

Whatever happens to the beer, there’s a very cheerful smell of raspberries in my kitchen right now. There are also a seemingly neverending series of cheerful raspberry stains on the counters, floors, ceilings (ceilings?), etc. Such is life. Also, with the return of some bottles I had given away, I’m up to a full batch worth (50) in 12 oz bottles. Woo hoo! This “have a party, and also give lots away” technique means that I get to make more varieties without consuming more quickly or buying too many bottles. Good for the budget, good for the gut. Next batch is a Weiss beer for one of the guys I work with. He’s been pestering me about it for months now, and the timing is right for Christmas gift-beer.

In other news: The plumber never showed to re-bid the work, now that he knows I’m going to be a stickler for permits and inspections. Maybe I should just get a general contractor and be done with it. Somehow, I’m having a hard time with trust these days.

In still other news, I’ve signed up for a climbing competition tomorrow. I’m a “beginner,” and I fully intend to get my ass handed to me, competition wise, but it should be fun.

First off, we have the FIRE BUS. I think we’ve all imagined something like this happening on a choir tour or something. Click the picture for the slowly unfolding horror.

Then we have the One Man Band from the Future. Note the kilt.

A brilliant game of mirrors

Wait for the surprise ending

And, the Lobster game. Strangely amusing.

Meditation on my house, a poetry cycle

I love this state.

More plumbing issues