Author: Tom Kern

Stiff upper lip…. and I shoot from the hip

So this is the firs somewhat serious attempt to fork rollingskull.blogspot.com and rollingskull.com from one another.   I’m still undecided as to what I will do with both blogs.  There are a few features of the word-press setup that I haven’t been able to get working and I’m chalking most of that up to a lack of SSL support for godaddy and my choice of google as the email service for this domain.  Though truth be told it’s not that big of a move to get the email routed back to a godaddy server and try the whole post by email thing.  There are a few other things too, but they are mainly related to how google does things and I don’t know if I would know the difference if I hadn’t been using blogger for the last 4 odd years.

Of course some of it may have something to do with the fact that I’m anal-retentive and refuse to give up any functionality for another piece of functionality.   Look at the bright side at least I’m not on live journal where no one would ever find this drivel.

So there is someplace to start.  Why I’ve always called this blog of mine “drivel” I think a certain portion of it is self loathing we all have it some more then others.  I think I also do it as a check against myself to make sure I don’t start to let things go to my head.  Yes I know I’m just a I.T. guy, but it’s very easy for me to let things go straight to the old noggin.  This attitude has also followed me into other parts of my life and has given me a decidedly darker approach to alot of things (life and the belief that the absolute worst thing will always happen) and a much lighter approach to other things (i.e. some one dying is not a big deal)  it may also have something to do with the fact that I’ve tended to hang around weirder folks at my various places of work.

I chalk up alot of the things in my life in my choices.  And most all of my choices tend to be of the variety where it’s me doing whatever it is I’m doing and not caring what anyone else does.  I think this was best demonstrated when I was working in the hospital in Kingman and Mike asked me “So do you have any friends that you consider your best buddies and did everything with?”  and my response was something along the lines of “Nope, always have been more of a loner.” That was 2002 and I think it colored my time at Kingman Regional more then anything else.

You know I had elk for dinner and several Fat Tires and I’m feeling really good.  Like drunk Tom posting good, but you know what  I’m going to end this now before I say something that I regret.

3 More to go….

So Christmas was a while back and as is tradition in the Kern household we gave each other gifts… Parent’s get the kids junk, kids get the parents junk, and the cycle perpetuates itself.  This year was a little bit different as the junk count was down, but the at the time percived awesomeness factor was up.

My little brother got me a ice chest filled with Coors, now the gift was the ice chest but he couldn’t give it to me empty so he gave it to me with a 30 pack of Coors in it.  With each CAN being lovingly wrapped by himself and his assistant.

Did I mention there were a few that were double wrapped?  No?  They were….

So for the better part of the last 2 months I have had all of this damn beer in my fridge slowly working my way through it.  Because as we all know I like fat tire and Guinness, in a pinch or when I’m on call I will drink Coors.

Why not throw it out?  Well first off it was a gift that is just rude, and second you don’t throw out or cook with beer (except keystone it’s ok to cook w/ keystone just replace all water wth beer).  So I’ve been “suffering” through getting all of this damn beer drunk.

I’m down to my last three and two of them will be gone in the next hour and after that I only have one more to go.

Finally….

And what did I do to extract revenge on my brother? I bought him “Call of Duty4” for his birthday.  He gives me coors, I give him something that will suck the social life out of him.  I’m just evil like that.

Happy leap day!

Imagine if…

Rich didn’t care for me all that much… instead of being a side note in part of his contest I would be the target of the contest.

Let this be a lesson to you folks don’t piss off a security geek.

P.s. check out the contest since I think there are a couple of you out there that may have a story that qualifies.

Rich’s rather cool contest… at least I think so.

Oh and for the record I did not call Rich a slacker, I said I was looking forward to him typing while drugged up. Ok same difference.

Up in smoke…

I don’t often take a activist type stand on the old blog but I thought that this particular story merited some additional time and analysis above and beyond the usual mass of not caring that I usually imbue on to a article in the East Valley Tribune.

http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/109768

The cruxt of the article is this. In 2006 the voters of the state of Arizona passed a law that made it illegal for people to smoke in public places you know bars, restaurants, theaters, museums, libraries, and doctors offices. You know all the places it was already illegal to smoke, but now it was just actually put down into law.

The original intent of the law was good and I will admit I’ve enjoyed going out much more now that there isn’t a cloud of tobacco smoke hanging over every nook and cranny of every place that I go to. However we as a society need to question the actions the of the Arizona Department of Health in going after these particular establishments. They don’t serve food and only have a liquors lisc so that they can provide a full variety of drinks to the customers. I think it would be safe to say that Mr. and Mrs. along w/ Peanut will not be going to one of these establishments.

So why then is the Arizona Department of Health on what amounts to a crusade against these places? That I cannot answer since I’m not a investigative blogger I’m just a guy who’s been to Stogie Cutters down the street a few and have grown to know Rich and Jen (the owners). Do I smoke cigars? Not a regular basis, I’ve given it a couple of shots, but the results are never positive. I do however like the clientele that shows up there and sometimes you just have to watch the Suns play with other people who care.

I’ve never been one who agrees with the state taxing “sin” items (alcohol/tobacco) but I put up with it since it’s about the only way that any taxes get paid in Arizona it seems. Hey I live in a urban area I want my police department to armed to the teeth and well trained. As it stands today the Mesa Police Department is well trained and doing a stand up job, but if things keep going like they have been that won’t be the case for long.

So basically what I’m saying is we all need to call the Arizona Department of Health Services on this and tell them to knock it off. They may be trying to help, but at this point they are doing more harm then good.

Ramble On…..

Must be a presidential election year… sure as the tides change, the moon has an eclipse, and our country goes into the bowels of a of yet another election cycle I look up from whatever the hell it is that I’m doing and go… “shit I’m tired of how I’ve been blogging for the last 4 years I need to change some things up.”

So if you’ve been wondering where the hell I’ve been at for the last six weeks other then a couple of sub par posts most of my time has been spent in fierce battles of Team Fortress 2 or honing my skills as a interstellar space pirate. Which is to say I’ve picked EVE (the game not the pregnant blogger we all know and love (but not love her, like her husband)) in between my fits of flights of fancy I’ve also managed to keep my thoughts coherent and focused long enough to put together two websites. One of a professional nature and the other… well we are just going to have to say that it’s the natural evolution of what I do at night when I’m not doing what I do so well during the day.

The professional site is azpacs.org and is geared to be a site for the busy informatics professional. It’s a work in progress and I’ve enlisted some help that and my TG-WOW said I needed to get another tax write off. So I went and built me another tax write off. Just hope it pasts muster with the TG-WOW next year.

The other site is a honest to god serious attempt at a word press type blog.

So your probaly asking what the address is… well I’m not going to tell you, but I will give you a hint. I’m not a terribly creative person and the main content of the address is already contained within the address of this pile of drivel.

Now why start a word press type blog? Well two things really 1. I’m always up for experimenting with new apps and I’ve heard generally positive things about word press. 2. Cody told me how much he was paying for hosting and when I looked at what I was paying and not getting from my old provider I decided to move… and as with most things that involve me a few beers and rainy weekend it just kind of snowballed from there.

For the time being I will be keeping both blogs going updating one and then the other. I’m not totally committed to the idea of moving the blog. I’ve figured out a few things that I can do to help make the transition easier, but I have to get other pieces parts working.

And just in case your sitting in your jammies with a rocky mountain high going on around you I’m writing this email on my back porch at 8:00 at night, it’s 60 degrees, and not a snowflake to be found.

Of course come July we will see who’s laughing last.

Provided I haven’t spontaneously combusted.

Beyond tunnel vision…. like shadows into the light

If your a new reader you’ve probally never read my reasons to get a TG-WoW do yourself a favor and go read that post right now. For the rest of you who continue to not listen to my advice I don’t want to hear any whining.

You know who you are.

The weather has been excpitonally warm this weekend and as a direct result I’ve been spending a fair amount of time in the backyard. This has led me to a revelation of sort. Why on earth are pine trees planted in the desert? It’s not like we have ton’s of water out here yet I have two 30 foot+ pine trees in my back yard. The house in Kingman also had two giant pine trees! Really what possesses someone to plant these giant water sucking trees? You know if you could make beer from the things I could understand. Still that is just stupid ya know?

I think I’m just bitter I have to clean up all of those pine needles and don’t get any of those Rocky Mountain Views.

Yes, I like Phoenix I just have to question some random person’s motivation every now and again.

I believe in miracles….

I believe in Eli Manning and the New York Giants, they can and will beat the Patriots in the Super Bowl.

What gives me this confidence and insight?

I’m a Cardinals Fan! We had a not losing season this year therefor the NFC team in the Super Bowl must win when playing in a NFC teams home field! If nothing else I do feel that the Patriots should be taken down a rung or two on the old totem pole.

What more can you ask for?

A hail Mary or three and hope the either Tom Brady or Randy Moss trips over a Playmate at the Playboy party.

Carbination baby…. it’s what makes beer go fizz

So with the latest batch of beer I have run into a unexpected problem…. To much carbination! So much in fact that when I pull a glass I have a glass full of foam rather then a glass full of mostly beer and some foam.

It’s a disturbing situation to say the least.

How does one remove over carb from a keg of beer? I haven’t quite gotten that one figured out yet. Right now I’m trying the remove the CO2 tank from the keg and releasing the pressure method. I’m going to give it a few days and see what I come up with.

I did have a similar problem with the last batch, but it was resolved by simply dialing back the pressure on the keg. This time that is not working nor is the cold glass trick. I’m not espcially worried about it since I’m not above dumping home brew and starting over.

Which I’m seriously starting to think about.

Though on the bright side Curtis did declare the beer “passable” which I think means if it’s the only thing to drink in the house I won’t bitch. John also declared “if this was cold it would be perfect”

At least I know people like my kit home brew… just wait until I start screwing with them when I do my own recipies 🙂

Third Review… Shiner Bock Brown Ale

Shiner Brewery in Shiner Texas makes a full range of Ales (at least that is what they say on their website, www.shiner.com). Shiner Bock is one of the few brews that comes out of the third greatest state in the union (the first two being Arizona and Colorado) that is generally avalible here in Phoenix.

In general Shiner Bock is about how you would expect a Brown Ale to be. Full of flavor but not to much bite. It’s got a bit of sweetness to it, not like a fat tire but more subtle. It also has a hint of a smokey flavor like a porter again is very subtle to find it. Overall all a way above average beer that has come from much farther away then fat tire or the flying dog (~800 –> 900 miles to the Denver Ft Collins are as opposed to ~1100 miles for Shiner TX Ok it’s not that big of a diffrence but you get the idea)

Shiner loses points for having a twist off top.. I know it’s from Texas and all but come on even a good Texan in a dry county has to have access to a bottle opener (the whole dry county concept is the only reason I can come up with as to why a micro brew would even consider such a device acceptable). Also shave off a few more points for the beer being better out of a bottle then a glass, at the very minimum it should be equally good out of both if not better in a glass.

A good beer, just not the first one I would reach for.