Author Archives: Pat

Sunday’s Adventures In Brewing

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I ran up to Homebrew HQ to pick up some kegging supplies, specifically a third CO2 supply line since I have a third port on the check valve. Unfortunately, that third port isn’t flowing gas so I’m still stuck at two lines. I’ll expand later.

After that I kegged the wheat beer I started a couple weeks ago. Final gravity was a little higher than I expected at 1.013 but it’s very tasty even straight out of the carboy. A week or two in the fridge and it’s going to be yummy! Too bad Lent’s starting. I guess it’ll be a weekend treat until Pascha.

Finally I took three pounds of honey that one of my godbrothers brought back from Holy Archangels Monastery. The monks there keep bees and have some honey to spare. It’s really good stuff, almost untouched. I dissolved three pounds into a final volume of a gallon and pitched a packet of Lalvin D-47. It’ll be a nice treat for him once it’s done…

A Beer Geyser

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After a slow start it looks like the wheat’s going to be ok. It’s currently foaming out the top of the airlock rather vigorously. Not bad for 9 month old yeast which didn’t get properly activated!

A Batch Of Wheat

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I did up an extract batch of wheat today. Really simple batch, just 6.6 pounds of extract, 1.5 oz. Tettnang, 1.5 oz. Hallertauer, and Wyeast 1010 yeast. I had a bit of trouble with the yeast not swelling up like it should, which I initially attributed to it being an older pack. When I finally pitched it turned out that the nutrient pack didn’t open so I ended up pitching unactivated yeast. I did have one major positive though. I found an adapter for a sink to garden hose so I did my chilling in the master bath instead of having to lock up cats and run a garden hose in from outdoors. Much better!

Princeps Fury

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This one’s taken a while to get through, what with me starting school and everything. I actually started it on the train ride back from Illinois but had to put it down because of the insanity that was January. Now that I’m done I can say that I really like this book. I’m not just going to regurgitate the jacket notes, but it’s really good. It, to me, doesn’t feel like a stand-alone novel like some of the others in this series were. It feel more like a book used to set up the next few books. And it’s done in such a good way. I didn’t want it to end, but the way it did has left me urging Mr. Butcher to write faster!

Crazy Not So Successful FiOS TV Install

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Well, the installation is done but it’s not quite right. There’s still a bit of a knowledge gap between the business and residential sides in the ordering center so I was not provisioned with what I was told I was going to get. That means I’m missing a ton of sports and HD channels. The good news is that at least here in North Texas we’re getting multi-stream CableCards so I didn’t need two of them for the TiVo. I’m going to call Verizon in the morning and see what I can do to get the programming issues resolved…

Major Ikea Scores!

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I went out to Ikea this morning to take a look at the bed that they had on sale. I got there about a half an hour before the store opened, but in time for breakfast. Unfortunately the hundreds of other people had exactly the same idea. So, to the back of the line to wait to get in. And then the unexpected happened. There was an employee walking down the line, handing out coupons for the mattress deal I was there to look at. I snagged one and waited my turn. On the way in they had the mattress, box spring, and topper set up so of course I hopped up and tried it out. Perfect!

With the pressure off thanks to that coupon I enjoyed breakfast a lot more and then headed over to the kids section to look for a bed for Reese. I was in luck and also picked up a loft bed, mattress, and desk setup for him as well. So now when he comes down this summer he’ll have somewhere to sleep other than the floor!

It’s all paid for and set up for delivery on Monday. Thanks Ikea!

Moving to FiOS TV And A New Tivo

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I have FiOS, the business class service because I wanted static IPs so that I could host things like this blog. In mid-December Verizon had me change netblocks to allow us business customers to take advantage of new products and/or services. Well, it turns out that one of them is FiOS TV. I called them today and spoke to some very helpful people who answered my questions and set me up for an installation. Soon enough I won’t have rain fade during severe weather and the borked up guide data that doesn’t mark repeats as repeats.

After I scheduled the installation I went over Tivo‘s site and ordered a Tivo HD. Why a Tivo? A few reasons. First, I’ve been totally spoiled with the DirecTV one I’ve had for years. Second, I like having the ability to add more storage, and third, having known people with Verizon’s DVR, lets just say I didn’t want to have to deal with those issues!

The installation is set for a couple weeks from now, which should give me time to get the Tivo in and set up. Anything to make the installer’s life easier!

Adventures In Reloading

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A friend was selling a Lee 1000 press, and it was a good enough deal that I couldn’t pass it up. I’ve been talking about getting in to reloading for a while now, and this is perfect for my needs. I’ve got to put a bench together and do a bunch of reading before I’m ready to actually start work, but getting a good deal on the press puts me that much closer to my goal.

Grad School Starts

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Well… Today’s officially the first day of grad school and I’m busy signing in to resources, posting introductions, and generally getting class stuff in order. I’m taking 2 classes (Accounting and Operations Management) this semester, both deficiencies needed due to my tech heavy undergrad degree. It looks like the learning environment that UIS has implemented is usable in Windows, Mac, and Linux. Linux is the big surprise, but everything I’ve tried out so far has worked perfectly.

King Tut At The DMA

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I got to go to the King Tut exhibit at the Dallas Museum of Art tonight. The museum does a few nights a year where they’re open until midnight, so I took advantage of that to avoid some of the crowds. That wasn’t to be, the museum was actually really crowded, but the King Tut exhibit wasn’t. It took about an hour and a half (probably a little less) to go through it, but it was really good. Lots of items with good information on them and they were exhibited in such a way that you could see the backs as well as the fronts of most of them. The sarcophagus and death mask weren’t there, because they’re too fragile to travel, but other than that there was a great selection of artifacts.