Merry Christmas everyone.
I hope to see most of you at New Years. ¶ 19:07 2 comments
On the 10th we went to a Christmas party that our friends hold annually. There was plenty of homebrew, as he is a fellow homebrewer, and other tasty beverages. My wife indulged a bit too much, the wine was fine but the shots were...nots, and ended up not remembering much of the end of the evening. She was quite embarassed, but we all get drunk from time to time and there was nothing to be ashamed of.
Last week was my wife's last week of school teaching for the calander year. That is fantastic for her because things have not been so hot there. She is having trouble with the Man and there are definate signs that the Man is doing his best to set up a paper trail to not have to bring her back again next year. This is really upsetting since my wife does so much every day to be the best teacher that she can be and this Man is more concerned about being in control on every detail of the school...down to where the front of each teacher's room is. In my line of work this is micromanagement and is an insult to the professionalism of his employees.
I went with my brother-in-law up to the Traverse Brewing Co. last Friday for their annual Christmas party. I have been there twice before and at most there were 10 people in the pub. Not for the Christmas party though. This was like a regualr bar...shoulder to shoulder everywhere. Of course, this is not a regular bar so people brought a dish to pass, there was a fire pit outside, you could attend a concert in the actual brewery part, and of course there was not one single Budweiser or Miller Lite to be found. Everything was fantastic micro-brew. Also, since we know the guys at the brewery we spent a bunch of time discussing beer and brewing with the head brewmaster there. It was an excellent evening. It must have been since I forgot my jacket there when we left and had to return to the scene of the crime the next morning (12:30pm).
Sunday we went to my Wife's family Christmas. There was no drinking to excess, thank God, but there was a fine bellydancing show. My wife has been taking lessons for almost a year now and she is quite good. So good, actually, that she was recently upgraded to the advanced class and her teacher is thinking about putting together an amauter troupe. My wife's cousins and such now this and demanded that she have a routine for the Christmas party. My wife's teacher lent her a costume and she put on a wonderful performance, they made her do it twice, and everyone was very impressed. I am quite proud of her.
Finally, if you have not caught my oft endorsed show you can now read the lothario's blog: Barney's Blog ¶ 08:39 1 comments
If we are lucky then maybe someday we can reclaim a free country of strong leaders who are willing to say what is unpopular and do what is right. That includes admitting mistakes and changing course when new information is at hand or circumstances have changed.
Strength of resolve is not shown by simply continuing on a path when it has been shown to be wrong. That is stubborness and is generally considered a character flaw. Strength of resolve is shown by doing what is unpopular even though it is the right thing to do. It is not uncommon that when one acts with strength of resolve that one will not longer hold to position that allows one to set the path. That is not a failure but a sacrafice for doing the greater good. ¶ 19:33 1 comments
Previously I had indicated that I was going to brew "Bock Your Brains Out" next, but because of the pending holidays I decided to move another beer ahead. BYBO will still be brewed and if I can find the time during this busy holiday season it will be in the fermentor before Christmas. Most likely though I will brew BYBO over my Christmas holiday.
So what jumped ahead? As the title says it was Saucy Winter Ale. It starts as a regular brown ale and then gets "pimped out" with nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, and dried orange peels. It sure smells like a holiday. OK, it sure smells like a holiday if you know what a beer smells like before it goes into the fermentor. I missed my gravity target again, but this time the target was high enough that the final alcohol yield should be acceptable.
For anyone who doesn't know about Thanksmas it is the only holiday where "you get what you want, as long as you bring it." Truly there is not a finer holiday that mixes the greatness of Thanksgiving (ridiculous amounts of food - not the destruction of an indigenous people) with the friends gathering power of Christmas. Mix in unnecessary amounts of alcohol and you have one heck of a party.
Make sure you watch "how i met your mother" tomorrow night at 8:30 on CBS.
