Author: Tom Kern

Knowing is…..

GI Joe would say knowing is half the battle…

My research for home brewing is proving that knowing isn’t even the start of the battle

I’m have a pretty good idea of what I want to do. In the overall scheme of things.

Kegging looks to be vastly more efficient over bottling in both ease and getting things carbonated. The biggest turn off to home brewing since I became interested has been cleaning all of those damned bottles.

The down side to kegging is it’s a much higher upfront cost and I truly look at home brewing as something of a capital investment. If I do three or four batches a year at five gallons a batch that is just a bit more then four 12 packs of beer. So three or 4 batches over the course of the year would be about right for me.

The other thing with beer brewing is that unless you flat break something you can pretty much use it for freaking ever. They may come out with some new fancy thing but it won’t help you do your job any better.

I guess the other question is how many kegs do I buy up front?

87,648 hours….

My oh my look at how time flies.

Yes ten years ago my parents came kicking and screaming into the 20th century. They got the internet. We were far from the last family in town to get the internet but the first of the people I knew and worked with.

Curtis you don’t count… I didn’t start dealing with you until after this event.

How do I know this much less remember this? It’s easy. I was helping my dad try to find “the damned election results” for two people he knew that were running for office. I think both of them lost but that is my first definitive memory of helping someone find something on the internet.

Yes in those days we were styling with our 80486SX/8MB/220MBHD w/ a 12inch color monitor. Windows 3.1 and Dos 6.2

Yes it was ancient even then… I got my first computer that was truly mine about a month later as a early graduation gift.

OH and don’t forget the 28.8k modem on both of them 🙂

7 computers later…. I think I need another upgrade.

So hug your loved ones and remember it could be worse we could all be using some mix betweenm minitel and aol

The crickets outside….

I think this is the first time I’ve ever sat on my back porch…. ever.

Not in all the years I lived in Kingman the time in flag ever… this is the first time I’ve come back here and just sat and did my own version of meditation.

My neighbor to the east of me is doing something I could hear him in my office with the music and video game going it really sounds like he’s cleaning or putting stuff in the trash. And now he’s done.

There is a house behind me it’s two stories none of the lights are on. If I didn’t know where to look for the pitch of the roof I would say that there was nothing there. It’s really kind of shocking that you could lose a house like that.

crickets that is what amazes me the most down here… I didn’t expect to hear crickets in mesa…I don’t really hear crickets when I’m in high country at night like I’m hearing them right now. I know that neighbors on 2 of 3 sides have a backyard like mine pretty green and lots of plants.

This is the first place that I’ve lived that feels like a “home” to me. Not a cave with carpeted floors and a TV. Granted it’s still pretty sparse in the “Better homes and gardens” sense of cluttered but I like it. I truly think the best part of my house is the backyard.

Growing up we had a huge backyard I never liked it… the grass was short… there was no shade dog crap all over the place (a certain sibling was tasked to clean up said crap and never did on a regular basis) I’m pretty sure that is why I’m a cat person. I like dogs I just don’t like them enough to own one. Cat’s are cool you can have a convesation with a cat and they will just look at you like “WTF foool”.

You talk to a dog and they think that everything that comes out of your mouth is pure gold.

Anyone else ever notice how a harley sounds like a prop airplane when it’s going down the road?

The little blogger(s) that could….

Hmmm it would seem that hell has frozen over at some point in the last two weeks. Curtis went and finally hooked himself up with a big boy blog.

http://excess3.blogspot.com/

I never thought I would see the day.

And since I’m “pimping” blogs…

You should also check out Cody’s blog http://a-little-oblivion.blogspot.com/ for he is wise in the ways of america jr and some even say mayo… not miracle whip… Mayo.

All good things

All good things start someplace… this good thing starts here.

So if your a regular reader of my normal drivel you know that I have two loves in life. Beer and Linux.

I’ve always been interested in one way or another with home brewing and finally got a true lesson in it’s “mysterious” ways not long ago. It was enough to push me over the edge and actually try it out.

With the research I’ve done so far I’m finding A LOT similarities between home brewing and the same kind of learning curve I faced with Linux. Lots of info all over the place you just have sort it all out and figure out what works best for you.

So with that I christen this blog “Beer Obits” get it… it’s a “Beer Obituary” OK maybe that is just me and my humor talking there.

I’m sure I will update this blog every so often but not nearly as often as my other one.

Stay tuned I’m sure many bad batches of beer will ensue.

MU Tom…

That is Mirror Universe (MU) for those of you who don’t watch Star Trek.

I’m back from the high country of Arizona where I spent 9 glorious days riding over dirt roads looking for deer and not stupid users.

I didn’t shave once the entire time.

Why you ask?

Simple, deer don’t care how you look when your shooting at them they only care that you are shooting at them.

The other reason… I wanted to see just how bad a full beard would look… after 9 days I can tell you that it looks pretty bad… and when I say bad I mean awful and when I say awful I mean it’s now gone.

Except for a small part that is trying to look like a goatee… and it’s not doing do hot…

I look like a star trek mirror universe player…. you know patron #9 at quarks bar who in the regular universe does not have a goatee. But sits in the same bar stool and is decidedly less dastardly in the regular universe.

MU Tom isn’t gone, but he will be next time I find a sharp razor and five minutes.

The Grates Come Alive with Fire Water and a Champions Heart

Two posts back to back? what gives Tom?

Well curious reader I’ve been doing the blogger beta and I have to say it really appeals to me… I think the part I like best is the label post option… So keep a eye out in that for things that I think need a label.

Why would you want to label things?

I have a very western mind… every thing needs to be categorized, cataloged, dissected and then stowed where it is meant to be. I do not have a mind that operates in the “pile method” though you wouldn’t know it to look at any of my desks.

Three Sheets is my kind of show… I don’t know if I have talked about here, but I’m going to again because everyone who reads this either has a big girl blog or a training wheels blog.

Three sheets is a show where the host goes around the world “examing local drinking culture” pretty much every episode consists of this dude getting drunk all over the world.

It’s the kind of job I want but I don’t think I can handle… I mean really I have problems shotgunning a coors. What am I going to do when I start mixing whiskey and Guinness.

So lets review what my favorite things about drinking are…

Favorite Beer… Guinness duh (and if you didn’t know that you should be shot or not considered a reader of drivel)

Favorite Music to drink by… Anything Irish, I don’t know there is something natural about Irish music (not U2) and drinking. It’s like milk and chocolate chip cookies they are just meant to be together.

Favorite place to drink… anywhere I don’t have to drive… so really home.

Type of drunk… a quite drunk, some might even say a TMI drunk. I would go with either one but it really doesn’t take much to put me to sleep.

Type of drinker…. social drinker… I don’t drink to get drunk I drink because I want to and it helps me relax.

Some people depend on their happy pills I depend on my happy beers.

Hey look another beer.