A night at the 'bones

So, I know I haven't posted in a while, but that's only because I haven't really been doing awesome stuff lately. However, I never did fill ya'll in on the most recent awesome thing I did...which happened almost two weeks ago now and has ALREADY been mentioned here by 'Wrence. SO...I drove back from NYC pretty early on the Saturday after Christmas and hollered at 'Wrence on the way. It was decided that we would eat and drink things while sitting near each other that night. The venue was to be determined, but the intent was clear. On this night, awesomeness would be given free reign. It was eventually decided, after not too much deliberation, that we would be spending our time at RedBones BBQ in Davis Square...this place puts nipples on the proverbial Tits. 'Wrence and I have taken our frustrations out on this place before and had decided that it was once again time to let shit fly.

After a very successful execution of the trick*, 'Wrence and I took the T to Davis and promptly arrived to Redbies to find the place not-too-packed. Despite some upstairs availability, we opted to examine the downstairs, dubbed UnderBones by some. Dimly lit and pretty wide-open...UnderBones feels a bit cavernous and homey...just the place for eating massive quantities of meat and drinking far-too much booze. On to the action...the beverables were duly noted by myself on my phone for posterity's sake...there is no way, under other circumstances that I would be able to recall them all. Or even one of them for that matter. They are as follows:

Ry

1. Bear Republic Racer 5 IPA
2. Lagunitas Brown Sugga
3. Rogue Mocha Porter
4. Smutty IPA
5. Stoudt's Pils

'Wrence

1. Six Point Bengali Tiger IPA
2. Weihenstephaner (which, after ordered, provided a good 5 minutes of conversation)
3. Founder's Backwoods Bastard
4. Goulden Draak
5. Sierra Nevada Celebration
6. Clipper City Winter

Now, I admit, things got hazy at the end, and I may have misattributed a couple of those, but you get the idea. Not included was the goddamn shot of tequila 'Wrence made me have somewhere in the middle.

As far as mangibles, we started things off with some collards and catfingers, both old standards. 'Wrence attempted to have the brisket, but that was out for the night, and was forced to change his order to ribs of some type (i think). As for myself, I had a full order of Memphis ribs...I think. See I usually get a combo of Memphis and St. Louis and then always like one more than the other and have to do it all over again the next time. This time I threw caution to the wind and just ordered one type...and it turned out to be the one I like better. I now I still can't fucking remember which one it is for sure. Oh well, I have never been opposed to experimentation by eating.

The night got hazy and we rode the T home. However, we thought it might be a good idea to take some pictures of each other on the T. We probably looked like a real happy couple of gay dudes. See for yourself.

Just another night for the dudes (that was the name on our tab this time I think).

&Ry

GUI

I'd like to regale you with a tale of what happened to me on Friday night. For those of you not in the Greater Boston area, Friday was a flat-out gorgeous day. I spent the early part of the day running some errands and the like. Seeing as I am no longer gainfully employed, I had gotten tired of sitting in my house and watching The Wire (an unbelievable show, btw...highly recommended to anyone). So towards the end of my errands I started to get that hankering. You know that feeling where you know you have to sneeze, but it isn't quite there yet? And you sit around and get yourself all worked up and uncomfortable until you finally do sneeze? Well, that is the hankering I am talking about...except mine could only be relieved by drinking beer in the sun.

So I fired off a couple of exploratory text messages in the hopes that one of my working friends would be getting off soon and would want to engage in some daytime outdoor beer-having. As luck would have it, a threesome from mine and 'wrence's former place of employment took me up on the offer. We'll call them Cluck, Devin, and Slavacek. We sat outside at The Times for a good three or four hours talking about boobs, LOST, and less fortunate people than ourselves. It started out incredibly crowded and by the time we left there was only one other table of people. At this point, I probably should have had dinner...or at least something to eat, but I did not.

We then ventured to the Old Watering Hole to imbibe further and watch the Celtics close out the series against the Magic. Things get hazy here, although I know I was there for the whole game. At about 11:30, as best I can figure, I decided to make the 2.7 mile trek home on foot to save money on the cab.

As you can imagine, by the time I got home I was famished. I had put a couple of pork chops in a brine earlier in the day, intending to grill them for dinner. So I fired up the BBQ for some midnight thermal hijinks. Seeking a suitable accoutrement, I settled on making a baked potato as well. Started it in the microwave and finished it in the oven in the interest of saving time. After chowing down I promptly passed out on the couch only to wake up at 3:30am to actually put myself to bed. As I was doing some of that cursory drunken cleaning up of the mess I made, I realized that I had left the oven on. There it was, firing away at about 350 degrees...and had been for about three hours. Grilling under the influence is probably not the best idea....ditto baking. I decided that I need to make sure that I put a Chinese food number in my phone for situations like this. I turn 30 in a week...I really should not be pulling this nonsense anymore.

&Ry

Return to the LHBS

So, bros, here we are. Last time I checked in, I was bringing tidings of a certain American skier's wang in a way-too-tight suit. That was a long time ago, and a lot has transpired in the interim. I have finished up the whole school thing at last and graduate on Monday. No job yet, so we'll see what happens there. But this should free me up to ramble about my exploits and travails.

To celebrate my new period of indolence, I took a trip up to the LHBS to purchase stuff to brew since it has been since last August that I had anything going on...and my last batch is still sitting in a carboy in my room. A year old heffe doesn't really sound too enticing to me, so here goes.

My first reaction when I walked in was to the fact that the comic book store-ish dude who is usually dressed in leather was there. No leather this time, but he did have an odd head-shaving thing going on. It was like a mohawk mullet with some other designs on the sides. Maybe there is some rule that he always needs to exude a certain degree of oddity and lacking the leather chaps, chose to shave this shit into his head. Long time, no see...it's good to be back.

Upon my arrival at the back of the store where they store the grain I was pleasantly surprised to see that the mill area had been totally revamped. Check the pics here and here. They built a new support cabinet and the mills are now more contained and less susceptible to the prying and poking of local nerds. They may have even replaced the mills themselves, but I am not too sure.

It was a good trip anyway and I milled my grain in the big guy in no time flat, which is awesome. I'll brew it up on sunday, recipe below.

Cheers,
&Ry

Grainbill
#6 UK 2 Row
#3 White Wheat
#2 Golden Promise...used this on my last blonde wheat and i liked what it added...i might bump it up this time from 1 pound to 2

Hoppage
1 oz Pacific Jade...amazing aroma on these bad boys. High alpha, and I don't know how I will use them yet. The non-nerd LHBS dude told me sierra nevada is debuting a brew with these next month, so I may actually wait to try that before I use them.
1 oz Vanguard

Yeastitude
1271 American Ale II

I am calling it Back in Blonde...I think

It's always 7 o'clock in Bode Miller's house

So it's been a really busy couple of weeks for this little kid. I have had a ton of work-work and school-work and have just been running ragged. This is not to say that my life has been completely joyless. I recently was forwarded one of the most hilarious pictures I have ever received. I am going to share that picture with you now....here.

If you don't see it right away, take a closer look...pay attention to detail and you will. I have been sending this to people I know for the past two or three days always with awesome results. Kinda reminds me of this development prior to the last Summer Olympics. What is it about the games that brings out the exhibitionist in these guys?

Alright, I am off to write a paper about John Dewey's idea of the interplay of time and the development of individuality. I hope it sounds as awesome as it is.

&Ry

Lostnerdness

forgot to mention this. check out what my bro and his friend did in central park today...nerdy? yes. awesome? absolutely.

&Ry

Beer Run!!!!

Just a quick-hitter here as there isn't much fun and games type of stuff going on lately aside from how asinine the weathermen, the school systems, and your mom looked for predicting SNOWMAGEDDON!!!!

Anyway, I am trying this ASAP. In fact, I think I am stopping at the liquor store on my way home tomorrow just to see if I can score a boddle. I had something like it once upon a time in Ireland, but that was a long time ago and I was really drunk.

Stay thirsty my friends,
&Ry

LOST Tonight

LOST starts again tonight. I think I speak for Bros11 as a whole when I say I am pretty excited. I am so excited in fact that I actually kicked my dog in the balls this morning....AND I DON'T EVEN HAVE A DOG!!!!! I actually changed my facebook status today to read something along the lines of: I'm Jessie-Spano-on-diet-pills excited about Lost tonight.

I made the mistake of watching the first four minutes on-line....some ABC promo. It honestly felt like cheating on a diet or stealing money from your mom...just cheap and dirty. I also think that the first four minutes video was a total red herring, I will explain whether or not I was right after watching tonight's action.

That said, I encourage all non-believers to head over to hulu.com or watch the episodes on-line via Netflix. It's a pretty righteous show.

Happy Islanding
&Ry