Well, it’s fairly bloody obvious that I don’t really update this too much. I don’t really ride anymore, it’s not like I need to document the pain of searching for a house, so….

What I do think I’ll do in the New Year tho is convert the blog for brewing. Be nice to document my brewing shennanigans, so I (since I’m the only one who reads this…. well, and Michael, too) keep track of recipes and my crazy building experiments.

Tags: Beer

Someone once said “House guests are like fish; they stink after three days.” Now, don’t get me wrong – we’ve got some absolutely fantastic friends, and I’m thrilled whenever any of them makes the trip out to visit us. Humorously, since we moved to the rather phenomenal Bay Area, and have a house with a rather comfy guest room, the amount of emails and calls we’ve gotten from family and friends alike that involve the words “So I was thinking, it’d be really cool to hang out, maybe I’ll buy a ticket and come visit!” have skyrocketed.

I mean, c’mon. This place is fantastic! You’d be nuts NOT to visit!

The steady stream has kicked our arses and left us jaded, though. In 2009, we had nine different visits from various folks and couples. And that’s not even counting locals like Professor Mike, who’ll crash here on occasion. Nine!!!

Ordinarily, the visit is fantastic. It’s fun, invigorating, and enjoyable. And I like to think that we do what we can to make sure our visitors have as good a time as possible. But Christ if the occasional one comes through that just takes the piss.

Caveat: It’s not someone who would be reading this blog.

Sinbad – shitty comedian, shittier houseguest?

Friends and family share. No problem with that. But fuck me if it doesn’t piss me off when someone rolls through and takes advantage of it. The beer fridge gets decimated, we get eaten out of house and home, and after they’ve left with a mumbled “thanks for letting us crash” we pick up the pieces from the trashed bathroom and spare room that looks like Led Zeppelin just stayed there. I mean Christ, we tell everyone to help themselves, but most folks have the common sense to maybe toss a six pack or two into the beer fridge if they’re indulging, or replace a few of the groceries, or offer to take us out to dinner, or something.

I dunno. Maybe I’m overreacting, or maybe I’m just jaded from having so many visitors in a relatively short time.

Oh, and happy new year!!

Hey, relax. I’m right here. Been busy.

Holy crap, I haven’t posted since September? Jesus…

Yes, busy. Up the walls with work, who’d have thought adding the Transcript and Journal to my plate would fill it up the way it did? And as soon as one’s done, the other rolls into town. But hey, at least I’ve still got the job…

When I’m not working, I have people visiting. Honestly, that’s been the way of it. As mentioned before, my sis came out for a week, along with her husband Bob. I don’t get to see her nearly enough, so was a treat to have her make the trip, especially with Bob, a bloke I enjoy immensely. (Wait… that sounds wrong…) They had a good time (at least I think they did) with us even introducing them to the SF Giants half the nights they stayed with us! And of course as soon as they headed out, we had a quick weekend of running about doing housey stuff, before our next set of guests showed up. We’ve got Bennie heading out for two weeks (!!) later this month, which we’re excited about.

Brewing’s still been going on. To sum up so far: First batch, Java Brown, hit and miss (some bottles tasted excellent, others tasted like carbonated cold coffee). Second batch, chocholate stout – fecked up big time adding the cocoa powder at the last minute. Third batch, Honey Orange Vanilla Crema – absolutely awful, although Jeret loved it. Fourth batch, Mocha Porter. Here’s where things get interesting. This beer actually came out REALLY well, and tasted great, although over time it developed that metallic/medicinal “twang” the three previous beers had. But that first bottle? Outstanding – which immediately proved to me that we weren’t cleaning our bottles properly, and our beer was gettin’ funky from the brewing. But the real eye opener for this batch, was when we ran out of 12oz bottles at bottling, and we switched to bumpers. There was still a gallon left in the carboy, so for shits and giggles I dumped in a quarter bottle of bourbon, and about an ounce of vanilla. And good GOD, the stuff was tasty!! So much so, I brewed an entire 5 gallon batch of it myself. (Still aging, will let you know how it tastes.) We’ve also got a winter ale (Santa’s Bulging Sack) bottled and aging, as well as an Anderson Valley Summer Solstice clone that’s in the carboy waiting to be bottled. Mmm, beer!

Outside of work, visits, and homebrew, there’s not a lot going on. Holidays are fast approaching, Christmas shopping is done (need to get stuff in the post for Jacqui and the Lehane boys!) and in a fortnight the office shuts down until January 4. Until then tho, I got a magazine to get out, so I best get back to work!

*begins furiously masturbating*

McLaren just released a new car for the unwashed masses, the MP4-12C.

Okay, it’s not as nice as the original F1, but I still wouldn’t say no to it. And available in that orange colour that Tracee likes, so she’d be sure to let me get one.

Now where did I leave that spare £150,000….?

Two weeks since the last update, which honestly feels like yesterday. Where has 2009 gone?

The opening barrage of the Premiership has seen Liverpool… well, play like shite, really. Already two losses in the books, to Spurs and to Aston Villa. They tried their bloody best to lose another one this weekend to Bolton – or rather Jamie Carragher did, whose best days in a red jersey seem to be behind him. All he seems to do these days is cock up, followed by hopping around shouting and blaming everyone else (sounds like me, actually…)

Brewing’s been going well. The brown ale is in the bottle, awaiting carbonation. We stuffed it in there Tuesday, so only six days, which means there’ll be feck all yet – but that doesn’t stop me having to fight off temptation “just to crack one open to see”. We’ll be brewing up batch 3 this weekend – a honey vanilla cream ale, inspired by Anderson Valley’s Cerveza Crema – and will crack bottle #01 then. Fingers are crossed.

Meanwhile, the Impossible Imperial Chocolate Stout is in secondary, and looking blacker than Dick Cheney’s heart. Tastes pretty good too – lotsa malt, and a hint of chocolate. Certainly hoping that the flavour balances out over the next couple of weeks in the carboy, followed by a few months of bottle conditioning. We definitely need to give it a wee chocolate boost, which we’ll do at bottling with a little chocolate essence, but this is one that’s going to be REALLY hard to avoid opening early. (Jeret’s will be gone by Christmas…)

Speaking of beer, I’m never drinking again. Jeret’s 30th birthday saw a group of us go out and get sauced at Fly Bar in the city. Numerous pints of Brother David Triple snuck up on me and kicked my arse, rewarding me with stupid judgement and the hangover from hell. Stupid judgement, you ask? Yep, Jeret’s handmade 30th Birthday Present (a locked wooden case inspired by JC’s kickass Trillium beer crates, stuffed with 12 of Jeret’s favourite bumpers) was sitting in the car to give to him at the end of the night. Only I decided to leave the bar and run to snag it. And, of course, I thought it’d be a good idea to try and balance it on my shoulder while locking the car up, and it ended up sliding off, smashing, and taking half the beer with it. Grrr.

In other news, I got off my arse and did the 5K plate to plate run yesterday with Tracee, Jeret, and Anna. I haven’t done any form of running in a few years, other than chasing after a ball, so I was a bit nervous. Especially since Jeret’s been training for it for two months, and Anna was able to knock off the SF Marathon. Happily though, I was able to motor through it without stopping or slowing down, finishing in 30:41. Would have been a minute or two quicker too, if I didn’t have to negotiate around throngs of people who decided they just wanted to walk it, and pulled numerous Crazy Ivans all over the course. This was followed by a most excellent baseball game, where we got to watch the Giants sweep the Rockies to get into the last wildcard slot for the playoffs (well, temporarily, at least). So while Liverpool are circling the drain, at least the local baseball team are doing alright!

My sister’s getting here in a week. Looking forward to it, while at the same time not. Love her to bits, there’s just a lot of work we need to get done before she gets in, and having ANYONE stay with for a week is always a test of my patience. But there’ll be plenty to do, and a good time will be had. The day she flies out, I’m supposed to be heading north to Tahoe for a mountain biking weekend with Michael, but work has decided to make that Friday a mandatory staff meeting. I’m furiously trying to get out of it, but not looking good, damnit…

Wow, apparently so. Fair amount’s happened in the past few weeks since the last post.

First up, work. Conference went well by all reports, despite the “legal issues” surrounding our esteemed Prez. As that was going on, I managed to whack out the magazine, which was greeted with much applause and back patting. Seems like I’m capable of doing my job AFTER all, and it would have been a rather stupid move to give me the old heave ho, eh Mr. President? Alas, rather than make this statement to the afforementioned Prez, he fell on his sword and resigned. So all change at the office again, but the atmosphere is a lot better back there, and people have reported that they now wake up for work singing this.

Not an image I want in my head. (Shudders)

In other news, we managed to disappear up to the cabin for a long weekend. Myself, Tracee, Professor Mike, and Jarod were joined by a pair of lovesick teenage kids. Awww, just kiddin’ Michael, but you did almost induce vomiting at a few points! (That might have been the copious amounts of beer…) As usual, a good time was had by all, and the beer served an extra purpose – creating empties for the newly formed….

Ta-daaa! Yep, not satisfied with buying the brewing equipment, I’m getting all obsessive about things as usual, so Long and Short Brewing has a name. And a logo. But more importantly, two (count ‘em, TWO!) brews in progress. The brown ale which is unofficially titled Ol’ Dirty Bastard, and a – wait for it – double chocolate imperial stout to be referred to as “Whenin Doubt – Chocolate Stout”.

The brown hits bottles next weekend, while the chocolate stout’s not going to be drinkable for another 6 months or so. Which means we’ll have to make a couple more stopgap brews to tide us over until we crack that mutha’!

Other than that, not a lot going on. Michael will be furiously dialling me when he reads that my arse hasn’t been on my bike at all in the past month – thanks to crappy scheduling for work, being out of town or busy doing other crap (cabin, roped into wife-related events, in-law invasions, etc.), my riding partner disappearing for two weeks on vacation (how dare he!!) and – I’ll be honest here – lack of motivation to ride dusty as feck trails in the height of summer. The result is that the past month has seen zero weight loss – but has also seen zero weight gain. But being on my duffer is certainly not going to see me in good stead when we ride Tahoe next month. (I know, Michael, I know…)

Footy season kicks off this weekend (another excuse to not ride!), with Liverpool in action against Spurs. Have to say, the confidence that our strong finish had given me for this campaign’s worn off with our activity in the transfer market. Two players out – one of whom was our player of the season – to be replaced by two similar players. Glen Johnson steps in for Arbeloa, which in fairness is an upgrade, while Xabi Alonso’s replacement is Alberto Aquilani – a tremendous talent when he’s not on the treatment table being nursed with some injury or another. Indeed, the guy’s not even available to play for us for another month, as he recovers from ankle surgery.

Christ!

So, um, Gerrard and Nando? Up to you two. Again.

Right, I’m off to bed. Night night!

Tags: Beer, Footy, life

Well, it’s not going to be Ubermick brewing – since I’m partnering with Jeret on this little venture. But this past weekend saw me head into town and pick up…

….my very own gear for brewing my own tasty goodness. Jeret and I have long talked about brewing our own beer, and since we were at the Asian Art Museum checking out the Lords of the Samurai exhibit, I made an executive decision to drive us over to SF Brewcraft (Tracee was thrilled) to snag some tasty wares.

I’m rather excited about it, and chomping at the bit to get started, but we’re headed to the cabin this weekend, so (hopefully) next weekend is when we can get together and get going. First batch is going to be an English Brown Ale – based on the recommendation of SF Brewcraft’s resident guru, the Griz (who folks love or hate, depends on who you ask) but we’re already planning a chocolate coffee stout for the winter…

Tags: Beer

You can tell I’m running out of snappy titles to my posts, eh?

Interesting news out of jolly old San Francisco yesterday. Former head of the City College and my current boss (well, überboss – he’s the current head of the association) got charged with 8 felonies including money laundering, electioneering, and misuse of public funds. A few days before our national conference.

Hmm.

SAN RAFAEL (Reuters) – Beleagured, bald, belligerent, and still overweight Irishman Gaz was resting comfortably at his San Rafael home today, after a large simian escaped from his rectum. The cause of the incident is still unknown, but experts believe it may have had something to do with USA beating Spain 2-0 in the Confederations Cup. The monkey could not be reached for comment.

Seriously, I didn’t see THAT coming. Truth be told, I was so buried in work I completely forgot about the game, until JB shot me a text half time, asking if I was watching Spain losing to the US. Whaaaa?

Fair play to the US team – they defended REALLY well, Timmy Tourettes was phenomenal in goal for them, and they took their two chances well (because in fairness, that’s all they had – two chances!) Spain, on the other hand, rained hell and damnation on the US area, but just couldn’t crack them open. They seemed predictable at best, and certainly didn’t look like a team that was considered unbeatable. Bummer that we’ve been robbed of a Brazil v Spain final, but I suppose I’ll have to wait until next year for the World Cup final for that…

Work’s on my tits. Conference time is usually bad enough, but throwing in the need to design a magazine from the ground up adds to the fun. Actually, no – what REALLY adds to the fun is when the editor of said magazine disappears for a two week holiday, meaning yours truly didn’t get the articles until the arse end of last week. No, that’s okay – I have a magic button that I just press that makes finished design pieces. Suuuure I do…

Course what makes that even BETTER is when your computer decides to shit the bed, meaning I had to spend all day yesterday wiping it and reinstalling EVERYTHING.

So with that, little time to ride. In fact, haven’t hit China Camp in over a fortnight thanks to the work schedule and the fork issues I had. But even though I’m not riding the trails, I’m at least on the trainer downstairs. Thank Jebus for that thing, otherwise I’d be going mental.

Sigh, back to work…

Tags: Footy, life, work

Mountain bike related post. If you’re not interested, move along.

This is getting ridiculous.

Friday I decided to go for a ride. Headed downstairs to grab Ike, and noticed he was pretty slippery. Oil all over the place, dripping happily from the fork, forming a nice puddle on the ground.

Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!

So I head back to Fairfax Cyclery, and show them the carnage. Hey lads, so umm…. you know that fork rebuild I paid for less than two weeks ago? You might want to take a look at this. And the cheeky feckers had the nerve to tell me that it had nothing to do with them. “Oh, we never touch the uppers on a rebuild, it’s all the lowers. We never touch the o-rings, and that’s obviously what’s gone wrong here. Totally different problem. Gonna cost you a new set of o-rings, and umm… we’re gonna have to rebuild the fork again.” But I just PAID you guys to rebuild the fork!! “Yeah, but that had nothing to do with it. Now, since all the oil’s leaked out again, we’re gonna have to replace all the oil, and that’s basically a new rebuild. Oh, and we’re completely booked solid, so we won’t be able to even look at your bike, let alone order parts, until next Tuesday.” What made it even better is they started saying crap like “Ohh, it’s a Reba! And a 2006? Yep, those ones ALWAYS have this problem.”

Jesus, if you KNOW these things have a problem, isn’t that something you’d LOOK for? Especially when someone brings in a fork for a FULL REBUILD?

So feck ‘em. I wheeled Ike out of there, promising never to set foot in that place again – and tell of their “service” to friends, and on Yelp. Instead, I took Ike to where I should have taken him in the first place – Sunshine Cycles, just down the road from that shitheap. (When I replaced the XR rockers a few weeks back, I needed new rocker bolts, and since Sunshine is a Turner dealer, they were able to hook me up). Ian, the chap behind the counter, gave it a quick look. Let me know that they were pretty booked in terms of service, but called SRAM with the intention of diagnosing the problem, ordering the parts needed, and then having the service appointment squared away for the day the parts showed up. After a few minutes, he was on the blower with a tech. First thing he did, was try and get it done for free, telling them it was a warranty job. (No go, the cute hoor at SRAM wanted the serial off the fork, which confirmed it was an 06 model.) Anyways, after some more back and forth, the problem was found. Wasn’t the o-rings at all, was the damper. The seals in there had blown, and unfortunately, SRAM doesn’t make those replaceable – the whole damper had to be replaced. The flipside of that is that the fork doesn’t need a rebuild at all. In fact, it would be such a quick job, and they felt bad about this having to be done after me paying for a full rebuild, that they were going to let the labour charges slide. (They are marking up the damper though, charging me $75 as opposed to the $50 I can get it for online myself.)

Anyways, upshot of it all is that I should be getting Ike back on Wednesday, ready to roll, for about $90. Whereas Fairfax were going to have me waiting about a week longer, charging me 50% more, and that wouldn’t have fixed the problem. At all.

In the meantime, looks like I’m on the trainer. Two thumbs up for the lads at Sunshine. I’ll be picking Ike up armed with their beer of choice, and no other shop will be getting my business.

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