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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

Support your local mechanic....buy Hyundai

Little known fact: both myself and 'wrence (as well as Bones) have at one time or another owned and driven (when road-worthy) vehicles produced in South Korea. Suffice it to say that you get what you pay for when you buy these little buggers.

As my time in school winds down and I begin the whole job-hunt/possible relocation/wedding financing thing, I have found myself white-knuckling it every time I get in my little silver pseudo-testicle of a vehicle. I had a really awesome little string of luck going. No major repairs for about a year and a half...just oil changes and the like. In fact, I was just thinking the other day "Man, this piece of shit is actually holding up pretty well lately." Talk about really Munsoning it.

All that good karma came whip-snapping back at me on Friday night. See, the little bitch had been squeaking for a couple of days. One of those squeaks that gets progressively higher pitched and more frequent and then all of a sudden something "catches" and it stops. I didn't think much of it, just the cold...maybe a loose belt or something. Then, I was driving some students to an overnight program for kids who were thinking about going to law school and all hell broke loose. My dashboard lights started flickering, my headlights started dimming, my radio turned off, my tachometer stopped working. It was like I was in Apollo 13 or something and the shit just started all farting in my face at the same time..."Pusan we have a problem."

Then all of a sudden, the squeak happened, something caught and it lit up again...like Marty McFly all of a sudden standing up straight and strumming along to Earth Angel. Long story short, I was leaving this place in Dover, Mass and after four tries at jump starting I finally got it going, it just died on me at the first red light I came to. So I called AAA and joined up, which they actually let you do, and they came out an hour and a half later not with a tow truck but with jumper cables...apparently they didn't really understand my predicament. So they jumped me and less than 3 miles later it happened again in the middle of Rte 16 in Wellesley....and I couldn't push my car out of the way so I was just sitting there stopping traffic...talk about flagrant douchebaggery on my part.

At the end of it all, I had spent 3 hours waiting for roadside assistance and $500 on a new alternator and some belts. I just hope this little pain in the ass doesn't decide to fuck with me anymore before I graduate.

&Ry

Bad crunches

It has been a while since I did any formal exercise. Once daylight savings ended, I can no longer run outside in the dark without fear in South Boston after watching Gone Baby Gone. The gym at school costs five bucks per visit or $135 for the semester. I'm not about to pay five bucks every time I want to go for a little jog, nor do I see the wisdom in paying over a hundred dollars just to be able to work out for the last 6 weeks of the year. So I decided that I would pay for a membership for the second semester and in the meantime, I will just do situps and pushups at home. Decent plan, no?

Time went by and I never actually held myself to my own promise of residential calisthenics. That is, until Tuesday. After Angie went to bed and I had plowed through another 4 or 5 episodes of Lost on my comeback tour, I decided to do some crunches.

Fast forward to Wednesday morning...not only was my stomach sore, owing to my long layoff from any kind of activity. But my neck was also incredibly sore. Like....I couldn't even move my head from side to side without feeling like Daniel Lorusso after getting worked by Johnny on the beach. I don't remember this ever happening to me before...I guess I must have been doing something wrong, huh?

&Ry

Advertising Tourette's

for the last year or so i have been primarily listening to 92.9FM in Boston. In the car I am usually listening to the ipod, but my alarm clock plays this station and I put in on in the shower. I like it because when they started they didn't really fuck around with commercials that much and just played music for long stretches. they also don't have actual DJs, so it's like a computerized playlist. for those of you who are more romantic, i suppose the loss of the DJ is a cause for mourning, but there really is nothing I like less than listening to self-important pricks talk about shit I don't care about.

anyway, lately there has been a development that has me concerned. in lieu of your standard commercials, they have been throwing in these guerrilla ad...almost subliminal. this morning, some crappy red hot chili pepper song had just finished and spoonman by soundgarden was starting. sandwiched right in the middle some dude just blurted out "BLUE MAN GROUP." It always seems to be random Boston-ish types of stuff, but it is always hilarious like "KELLY'S ROAST BEEF" or "ERNIE BOCH JUNIOR." to be honest, i really feel like this is the type of stuff i would rather have happen instead of sitting through 30 second long commercials. just plant the seed my friend...just plant the seed.

&Ry

Parts of me are still frozen

So, BC lost the game last night, or at least that is what the scoreboard said. I couldn't tell you a damn thing that happened there last night. As you can see, our seats were a bit distant from the action. Here's a little video I took from my seat:

It was also really cold as my brother referenced in the video...and I don't own boots. I deserve to have frigid feet, I realize, but that doesn't really do too much to console my sub-freezing toes. There is no way in hell Eric would have ever been able to handle it...big brown or no big brown. I was wearing a George Costanza-esque bubble jacket under my BC jersey. Gooey brought a facemask and 180s.

All in all though, it was a pretty awesome time and I am glad that I had the chance to go. The atmosphere was fun, without any of the usual BC vs. BU provocation that can often get ugly. I was also apparently on the big screen at one point although I did not see this for myself.

Solid times. Be well people.

&Ry

Outdoor Hockey

Just a quick hitter here. As many probably already know, the NHL has been hosting a New Year's Eve outdoor hockey game for the pasts three years. This year's was at Fenway in Boston. They had the ice up for a few weeks prior and have kept it up for the last week. The final frozen event is tomorrow. One of college sports' best rivalries will be taking place with BC facing BU. I was lucky enough to get tickets, albeit a mile away in the bleachers. So I will be there. I'll take pictures. It's supposed to snow. I am pumped.

&Ry

The First Bros11 Post of the Second Decade of the Millenium!!!

Despite the fact that not much too noteworthy has gone on since I last wrote, it would be worth a quick note to apprise all interested parties as to the comings and goings of the last couple of weeks.

I managed to travel to and from the Tri-State area (NY/NJ/CT) for Christmas without incident. Got to see my Dad and both my Moms as well as all my cousins on my Mom's side. The most interesting of the gifts included:
a) a Flip video camera, which I will find some good use for at some point. For the time being it will function as a means by which I can annoy the crap out of Angie
b) Alton Brown's baking book. I have always had the urge to get into breadbaking, pie-crusting, and muffining but I never really had the time or ambition. I plowed through the book and immediately started putting some thing into action. So far I have gotten a decent multi-grain loaf out as well as a delicious banana-nut bread. Stay tuned for more baked goodness.

I haven't had to work in a good few weeks, which is dope. I have been staying up late, sleeping in, and watching a a lot of TV. If I don't sound upset by this, then you are picking up on my mood wonderfully. I just put the finishing touches on my third watching of season 1 of Lost. I decided to once again rewatch the series in anticipation of the looming final season premiere on February 2nd. There's always something else to pick up on, or something that you might be forgetting so it is a good exercise in laziness.

Lastly, Angie's mom got me two dope DVDs as gifts. The first is the two disc combo set of Queen's rock Montreal concert in addition to their Live aid performance. The Rock Montreal one is particularly epic in that he begins the set fully dressed and end in nothing more than his underoos...classic. Second, I was gifted a two DVD set of Festival Express, which while not as amazing as the Last Waltz, has a similar awesome-70s-rock-god-lifestyle vibe to it.

Hope Santa was good to everyone else. Party on.

&Ry