A new discovery

Since I have gone to all-grain brewing I have been having a difficult time figuring out where my efficiency is going. I have long speculated that it was from the crush I was getting from the local brew shops, honestly is just didn't look good enough but there was nothing I could do. Tuesday I went to crush my 2-row for yesterdays double brew day and I had noticed the the crush from the local shop looked much finer. I asked around and nobody knew anything but as the day finished I ran the numbers and found my efficiency had jumped by almost nine points.

This tells me something, and I am willing to bet that if I had crushed all my grains from the local shop I would have seen a much bigger increase. Side Note: I buy bulk 2-row locally and thus crush at the store but get my specialty grains elsewhere and I am subject to their crusher. So once I can get a job again I will re-order my crusher and hopefully see the increase I am expecting.

Double Brew Day! (Iron Brewer (national) and Naked Nilla)

Yesterday was the brew day for the Iron Brewer Quad Berry Wheat IPA and since I had all the equipment out I decided to make up a batch of our "Naked Nilla" vanilla porter at HD's request so that it will be aged and ready to drink when she is able to enjoy beer again.

All the pictures below come from the IPA brew session. Brew assistant today was Dax. As you can see he was ready to get to work and get the kettles out.

Next up was cereal mashing the wild rice with some of the 2-row. When this cereal mash is done it tastes fantastic! (I'm also a believer in trying your brew at every step, ever chew on a 14% hop pellet? I have)

On to the main mash. Not to much to report here except I have a new mash paddle and I think I'm in love. It's a 5 gallon paint mixer and can mix up your mash in 30 seconds with no dough balls.

Under Dax's careful watch the mash progressed perfectly and temps were maintained.

Mash complete it was time to get onto the boil process. 4 oz of hops in this boil today.

And we had to make sure to keep the homebrew gods happy. So no brewing without drinking.

OG comes out to be 1.061 It was about three points under the estimated but determining the sugar content of wild rice has proved to be inconsistent.


Here's the two batches bubbling away and the after picture of Dax and his long day.

Iron Brewer (national) Recipe

As promised here is my recipe for the national Iron Brewer competition. It is a remake of my Wild Rice Peach Wheat IPA. To meet the competition guidelines I needed to include oak with a medium toast, fruit of any kind and Chez Saaz Hops. The Fruit portion has been changed to a Quad Berry mixture of raspberry, blueberry, blackberry and strawberry. I also chose to keep the wild rice in the recipe with the thought that I know I liked the previous batch with it and if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 6.50 gal
Estimated OG: 1.064 SG
Estimated Color: 15.1 SRM
Estimated IBU: 58.1 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 60.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item
1 lbs 8.0 oz Wild Rice (3.0 SRM)
6 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)
6 lbs Wheat Malt, Bel (2.0 SRM)
1 lbs Caraamber (30.0 SRM)
4.0 oz Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM)
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (Dry Hop 7 days)
0.50 oz Chinook [13.00 %] (60 min)
0.50 oz Chinook [13.00 %] (45 min)
1.00 oz Saaz [4.00 %] (30 min)
1.00 oz Saaz [4.00 %] (15 min)
1.00 oz Liberty [4.30 %] (0 min)
1.00 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 15.0 min)
2.00 oz Oak Chips (Secondary 7.0 days) Misc
5.00 lb Quad Berries - Frozen (Secondary 14.0 days)
1 Pkgs American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056)


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 14.75 lb
----------------------------
Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
60 min Mash In Add 4.61 gal of water at 168.9 F 155.0 F


Notes:
------
Cereal mash wild rice with .5 lb of 2-row and add to mash. 165 for 20 min boil for 20 min.

Brew day recap and pics can be found in the next post.

Iron Brewer (National) Intro

The set-up --- an email comes through and the first six people to respond get invited to compete in a Iron Brewer competition. This is the third time I have tried to get in, the first two attempts I just missed the six person cut-off. Third time was a charm as I am now a member of Iron Brewer round 5.

The premise behind Iron Brewer is similar to that of Food Network's Iron Chef. The brewers are given three special ingredients and seven weeks to create the best beer. Amount used, when used and style of beer are all up to the brewer.

For round five of Iron Brewer we have been asked to brew using:

1. Oak - Medium Toast
2. Fruit (real, puree, or extract)
3. Czech Saaz Hops

This was going to take a bit of thought. The oak can add so many different flavors to a beer depending on the toast and the origin. Flavors from pepper, leather, chocolate, smoke, vanilla, creme brule and so much more.

Just saying "use some fruit" is such a wide open invitation to a blank canvas.

The Saaz hops - Spicy, a bit bitey, peppery and a strong hint of cinnamon.

Wow, this is going to be fun. It just so happens that as I was thinking about what to brew I was transferring a beer for the local homebrew clubs Iron Brewer to cold crash it. I was drinking my hydrometer sample and realized that this recipe would be perfect for the challenge ahead.

Original Recipe:
The local Iron Brewer seceret ingredient was wild rice. After spending a few days thinking about the flavors in wild rice and reading what other people thought of it I decided on a wild rice peach wheat IPA. The rice has a nice earthy yet sweet character that I really wanted to pair with fruit. Peaches are naturally earth and sweet as well and the addition of the hops would guarantee things wouldn't be overly sweet in the finished product. I had found the base of this recipe awhile back on www.homebrewtalk.com and this seemed like a great time to break it out.

Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 6.50 gal
Estimated OG: 1.064 SG
Actual OG: 1.059
Final SG: 1.012
Estimated Color: 15.1 SRM
Estimated IBU: 51.7 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 60.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item
1 lbs 8.0 oz Wild Rice (3.0 SRM)
6 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)
6 lbs Wheat Malt, Bel (2.0 SRM)
1 lbs Caraamber (30.0 SRM)
4.0 oz Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM)
0.50 oz Chinook [13.00 %] (60 min)
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (Dry Hop 7 days)
0.50 oz Chinook [13.00 %] (45 min)
0.50 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (30 min)
0.50 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (15 min)
1.00 oz Liberty [4.30 %] (0 min)
1.00 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 15.0 min)
4.00 lb Peaches - Frozen (Secondary 14.0 days)
1 Pkgs American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056)


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 14.75 lb
----------------------------
Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
60 min Mash In Add 4.61 gal of water at 168.9 F 155.0 F


Bottled this the other day and HD has name it "PeachInYourFace" and yes, she says you have to say it all at once. Aroma is that very distinct Cascade hop grapefuity smell and the flavor start out strong with the peach and slides into a nice smooth hop bite but not overly bitter. I feel like the addition of the wild rice helped to fill in the blanks between the flavors and make a well rounded beer. Estimated drinking date, October 23.

Look to the next post for my Iron Brewer (national) recipe.

A Re-Birth

Ok, so it's been over a year since I have posted anything on this blog. I don't have any real good excuses as to why not. Life got interesting with the mis-carriage and then we had a second one and that sucked too. We survived the winter and spring brought pregnancy number three and a trip to St. Louis for a Jimmy Buffett show and my getting laid off July 1st.

There, now you are pretty much caught up. Due date for baby is Dec. 14th.

So why the new re-birth in the blogging? Well, the past year as brought a lot of action to our house in the homebrewing area. Most recently we made it into the Iron Brewer competition and part of the information requested was if I had a blog or website. This sparked me to re-visit this whole blogging thing and at least for now a lot of it will be beer related.

I am constantly reading about, hearing about, talking about and thinking about all things beer. It comes at an odd time as HD cannot drink at the moment but that won't stop me. I hope to use this space to share what's going on in my head and in our little brewery corner of the world. Feel free to comment, discuss etc as that will inspire me to post more.

So as the phoenix rises from the fire so does this blog...again.

Error!

Today's error is brought to you by Twitter and @BreakingNews

"BNO News confirms that the wildly popular cast for clunkers program will be brought to an end at 8 p.m. EDT on Monday."

So, what is this cast for clunkers? Cast of a movie? Cast iron? hmmmm

Great Friends and great times

Well, it's Thursday. If you read the post previous to this one you can understand the week we've had...a great one. To explain, Monday sucked, but by Monday night we decided that it was time to get back into routine so it was off to Mystery Beer Monday. Everyone was there and smiling, we laughed and socialized and life was good. Tuesday brought on a geo cache night full of caches and joy. Wednesday, yet another geocache night! Really, HD and I are on to the next step, trying again!

All through the week we gotten kind messages, flowers and I even got a pack of oreos and a half gallon of milk AT WORK! To all of this we say thank you, it's always nice to see your friends step up when you need them.

Our miscarriage

One week ago we took 3 home pregnancy tests and got 3 positive results. The doctors agreed we were pregnant. It was the best seven days of our lives and now this morning (Monday) things weren't right when HD woke up. We went to the ER.....They poked and prodded and did what they do. The took blood and tested for the pregnancy hormone, at five weeks she should have been over 1000, the result was 27. HD goes back in on Wednesday to run the blood work again to confirm that the hormone level is decreasing and that we had a miscarriage. At home we took another test and this time it came back negative.

We really didn't want to tell people about our pregnancy since it was so early on but this past weekend was Western Days in Chatfield and it would have been impossible to hide all the tell-tale signs such as not drinking, being overly cautious on food choices etc.....Personally I don't like the idea of telling people until you have seen that first ultrasound with your own two eyes.

This sucks, we know you are all sorry. HD has begged that nobody calls/contacts her with the "I just heard you pregnant, I'm so excited" so we need your help to spread the gloomy news.

Thank you for you thoughts, kind words etc...

Today's Internet Error...

And today's winner is.................... Facebook! The quiz entitled "what were you born to do?"


Look at option #3 - Organise a speech - how does one organise?

My mission...

Recently Heather and I went to the cities to hang out with Brooke and Truman on Tuesday adventure day. (Brooke's blog entry about the trip) and as I played lightly with her camera I realized that I don't play with my SLR nearly enough anymore. So my mission is to play more and also to post more pictures of what ever I might find through the lens.

On a small side note: Heather and I submitted 10 photos to the Olmstead County fair and got 8 ribbons out of it all. Once I'm at home on the desktop computer I will post the winning pics.

My Life According to Jimmy Buffett

I found this going around Facebook and thought it was kind of fun. So I invite you to do the same.

Using only SONG NAMES from one artist, cleverly answer these questions. Don''t use the band I used, and try not to repeat a song title. It's a lot harder than you think! Repost as "My Life According to (BAND NAME)," and tag at least 10 people (including me!)

The artist: Jimmy Buffett

I'm male or female?
School Boy Heart

Describe myself:
Anything, Anytime, Anywhere

How I feel:
Growing Older but not Up

Life is:
Party At The End of the World

I currently live:
One Particular Harbour

I currently work:
Public Relations

What's the weather like:
The Weather is Here, Wish You Were Beautiful

My favorite form of transportation:
No Plane on Sundays

If I could go anywhere, I would go:
Margaritaville

My favorite color is:
Blue Guitar

My favorite time of the day:
It's 5 O'Clock Somewhere

If my life was a TV show, it would be called:
We Are the People Our Parents Warned Us About

If I could change my name, I would change it to:
Lage Nom Ai

My best friend is:
My Lovely Lady

My relationships:
Smart Woman (in a Real Short Skirt)

My fear:
It's Midnight and I'm Not Famous Yet

The best advice I have to give:
Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On

Thought for the Day:
What If The Hokey Pokey Is All It Really Is About?

How I would like to die:
Vampires, Mummies And The Holy Ghost

My soul's present condition:
Chanson Pour Les Petits Enfants

My Motto:
That's What Living is to ME

A Wave of Emotions

I've been working the new job for eight weeks now. It's been going well and I've been enjoying it so today I decided to go back to the Rochester Center for Autism for a little visit. I haven't let myself do this yet out of pretty much fear. Fear of kids not remembering me or caring I was there, fear of wanting to come back right that second, fear of seeing a kid dramatically improve once I left. I was surprised at the anxiety I was feeling just walking up to the door and really all the emotions that I went through during the hour I was there. (Man, I forgot how fast time goes in that building) It was great and so heart warming when a few particular children noticed me from across the room and came over to say hi and dance and sing and play. Really, you can't help but to be happy when you're in a place like that. So I sang, tickled, chased, listened, followed and watched the kids doing what they do best: Being kids and impressing people. It was so great to see old friends and old co-workers and everyone seemed happy to see me. I had the thoughts of "why did I leave here again?" and "I wonder if I could really come back?" and as it was time to leave I went home a little down. I realize how much I miss that place.

Then I go home, open the door and Dax (the dog who will get a post I promise) is there waiting and wagging his tail. I realize that had I not made the job change we wouldn't have gotten Dax, we wouldn't have bought a few new toys and most likely the thoughts of starting a family would be more on the back-burners of our minds rather than an active part of our life. It's all bittersweet, to realize you left a place you loved so much in order to take yourself to a place in life that you will surely love some more.

What a day.... I'll have to go back more but really, maybe it is time to stick out the grown-up job and enjoy things like nights, weekends and holidays off, having a dog, having toys and hopefully having a family.

What you need to work at Best Buy

So as I was working away today I saw a tweet come through about a job posting for Best Buy. The image is below but in a nutshell it states that a preferred qualification is having 250+ Twitter followers. Interesting how the world is changing all around us. (Origional blog post)

A few weeks back somebody asked, "what were the major forms of communication you used in high school to talk to your friends?" I would have to say AOL IM, landline phones and a few cell phones (but before text messaging) and the occassional note passed. So I raise this same question to you, and add, how many of them do you use today? What have they been replaced by?

CNN Error

Thank you CNN.com for not proofreading a simple quote. Did word not give you the red underline?

Twittering from the tractor: smartphones sprout on the farm
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/TECH/07/02/twitter.farmer/#cnnSTCText

Actually a really interesting article.
The offense:
"Most farmers are going to be in their [tractor] cab," he said. "You're going all day long, night and day -- it can get a little bit boring, you know? So, a lot of them have satellite radio, smartphones, iPhones, BlackBerries. I can't tell you how many farmers are following me who are tweeting form the cab."

I'm sure a lot of farmers tweet FORM the cab...

So what, yeah I've been gone. Wanna fight about it?

Ok, so I realize that I have neglacted my blog for over a year, get over it. The real point at hand is "what made him start again? What will his first post be about?" Here goes:





Backstory - I have switched jobs and am now titled "Technology-Based Communication Coordinator" for Workforce Development Inc. (http://www.workforcedevelopmentinc.org/) and spend a lot of my day on the internet reading different things about a variety of subjects. (a more in depth post to come later) Now I have never claimed to be a great speller but at least if I know the public has a chance of reading what I write I will attempt to proofread a little bit. You wouldn't believe all the simple spelling errors I'm seeing! These people are professionals with massive followings, they have an image and are paid more than I will see in quite a while to fly around the country and give presentations on how to be a part of mass media. So, as a running feature on this blog I will be posting errors I find - public humilation if you will. Feel free to send me any you see too.





Today's post - Facebooks' "When will you die in a horror movie" quiz. I apparently will die in the middle of the movie when the "bood" starts moving. Line 5 in the pic. Come on, really?

So, there it is, the much wondered about first post back. Stay tuned as I will bring details on why I switched jobs, our house we bought in September, our new dog and other interesting things.

~~~Pat

So Yeah...

Well, I guess I made the new girl at work cry yesterday. I didn't really try to but it really felt like my messages weren't getting through so I tried a little harder and a little more direct. In hindsight I shouldn't have told the new girl that she was, at that moment, an overpaid babysitter. I think a big part of the problem is that everyone I interact with knows that I'm one of those people who will just go ahead and say whatever they think and that although it may sound mean it's really not meant to be. So know I work with a person that doesn't even want to look my direction, this being the same girl that was singing the cha cha slide with me on tuesday. Oops. My bad on this one. And to top it off I've now had 2 conversations with supervisors/owners about how I was training her, it took 18 months for me to get in any kind of trouble and ya know, I don't really like it all that much. No black leather coat and a big bad motorcycle for this guy. Tomorrow is another day and I have a feeling that this weekend will be just what we both need, or at least let's hope so.

Me So Happy!

If you look at this picture you will either have two thoughts...WOW! or WHAT?

Let's just put it this way, Landshark is Jimmy Buffett's beer that you can't get outside of Margaritavilles YET, but thanks to a good wife and some great connections I got some for Valentines day so FINS UP!

WTF!?!?!?

So for whatever reason I can't remember my login info for Charter.com...so I click on the "chat now with a representitive" link to get a little help and I see...

A representative will be with you shortly.
You are currently number 14 in the queue.
All agents are currently busy. Please stand by.

AHHHHHH!

AHHHH Stupid Poker

So 6 guys and 3 ladies sit down for a lovely game of Saturday night poker. Now I sit here and watch the 3 ladies play for ALL the money. If Obdell hadn't rivered every freaking person I might have had a snowballs chance in hell. But oh, well it's just a game and it's just $5. Even Keith got taken out when HD hit 3 running 10's to get 4 of a kind! AHHHH!

I Claim Victory!

Yeah for winning BOTH games of poker last Saturday. The 4 straights IN A ROW helped a lot on the first game though. Wonder what the odds are of that?

New Phones!

So, Heather's phone was really starting to show its age the other day. Somehow in the whole process I convinced her that we should both get new phones (since the camera on mine died in August) and now we both have camera phones with picture messaging. And as cute as it is they are matching phones except for color (hers is red while mine is blue) and only $40 after rebate!

I should REALLY go to bed...I have to work tomorrow....

How do you think?

I once had a teacher confront me with one of those weird tests that is supposed to show what kind of thinker you are. I don't remember all the answers but I will look for them, in the meantime feel free to comment with your answer and we'll see how you think:

You're driving a very nice, very expensice two seat sports car in the pouring rain. It's the kind of rain that is coming down so hard you swear it'll break your windsheild and man is it cold. You pass a bus stop for which the bus is not running this evening and you see three people. On the bench is a very old, frail older woman who is moments from death if she doesn't get to the hospital, the most beautiful person you have ever seen and your best friend. You only have room for one, who gets the ride?

Playing Catch Up

So below you will see 10 post all from the same day. Why you ask, because I got lazy and had to catch up. Enjoy!

Stupid Mouse

So I sit down and get ready to fill my blog with entries and I find that my right mouse button doesn't work. AND for whatever reason I decide that going to mouse options and switching my primary button will magically fix the problem. Now you tell me, when your right mouse button doesn't work and you proceed to make it your primary button how are are you supposed to accomplish anything INCLUDING undoing what you alread did? Yeah, I did that. Solution - Connecet my other mouse.

Thank You Jen D.!

Let me set the stage for this one folks.

I was starting me session with a child at work the other day (Rochester Center for Autism) and he is always a funny little guy. He poked at me a few times and proceeded to tell me I was fat, I thought this was cute and didn't think much of it.

Later in the day I was telling a co-worker (Jen D.) about this story and she had said "did you tell him the same cause he isn't that small. And anyways you're not fat and I was just looking at a bunch of your pictures on facebook and you've lost quite a bit of weight."

So thanks Jen, I have only known you for a few months so I think comments like that in catagories such as weight carry a little more power then when them come from friends you've known forever.

606 37th St.

So I believe it was almost 2 years ago that Heather and I kinda looked at a house. It wasn't the greatest place ever but it had 2 acres for a back yard and that certainly rocked. I drove by it the other night and found out it was STILL for sale and had been foreclosed on (cheap?) Well tonight we now know that we are to late and it looks like somebody is already buying our house. Sad, but at least now I don't need to figure out how to get out of our lease......

Rob & Big Season 3!

I'm so freakin excited that Rob & Big is back on! If you haven't seen this marvelous piece of reality television you really need to watch Mtv Tuesdays at 9:30. During season 2 Rob took on the personality of Johnny Light and they recored his hit song "Dirty Girl" enjoy! (thanks youtube!)

Feel the burn

Finally, the holidays are over and I can get get back on some kind of normal work out routine. As much as I enjoy big holiday checks from Ritz and working 78 hrs in a week I'm glad to see things getting closer to calm. It still makes me laugh when I walk in and the place is just packed and each week less and less people show up. Guess their new years resolutions didn't mean that much afer all.

Jef-fa-fa Dunham!

So if you know me you know I LOVE stand up comedy, it's just amazing to me. Even when people totally suck I am tempted to watch them, granted it's like watching a train go barrelling down the tracks when you know the bridge is out but hey I'm still entertained so there!

Jeff Dunham (left) is the crazy guy with all the dummies, you may know Jose the jalapeno best with his line "on a stick."

We've known about Mr. Dunham for a while and now it seems that everybody else is catching up and thanks to Comedy Central running 2.5 hours of him shortly after Christmas everyone is having a ball quoting him. Heather has even taken to naming on of her outfits the "Ta Ta Ta Taaa shirt" hehehehe. "Silence, I Keel You!"

Good stuff - Check it out sometime. Spark of Insanity provides great quotes. www.jeffdunham.com

Attack of the Penis Finger!

Ahh! It's the penis finger monster! Run for the hills! Get some ice or something else cold!

In case you haven't met, this is Mark's penis finger. Watch out!

So I went to a basketball game...

My phone is ringing at one of those time when you sure as hell ain't gonna answer it - turns out it was a coworker wondering if I wanted to help him use his T-Wolves tickets he got for Christmas. Now I really don't like basketball, I find it mostly boring and quite repeative but I do want to see every professional sports team Minnesota has so hey I decide to go. If any of you have been following the Wolves you'll know we haven't been doing so hot...we lost, but it was still fun in the end. Go Wolves!

Just for Carrie

Ok Carrie, just for you as you requested the lost verse to Margaritaville. (gotta hear it live - We have twice :-P )

Old men in tanktops
Cruising the giftshops
Checkin' out Chiquitas down by the shore
They dream about weightloss
Wish they could be their own boss
Those three day vacations become such a bore

Wastin away again in Margaritaville
Searchin for my lost shaker of salt
Some people claim that there's a woman to blame
But I know it's my own damn fault
Yes, and some people say that there's a woman to blame
And I know it's my own damn fault

Happy New Year (A little late)

Yeah for new years. Due to stupid neighboors we moved our annual celebration over to Mark's house but still had a blast playing Wii and just being stupid. I hope 2008 is super duper awsome for you all! (Man did we have food left over that night) See you next year, put it on your calendars now!

Me Like Hockey

Dateline - December 29th 2007
Place - Excel Energy Center

So we all saddled up and headed north to lose our voices cheering for the one and only Minnesota Wild, man what a night. I really starts with putting 8 people in a 7 person van and making the 90 min drive and then watching everyone guzzle beer in the parking ramp. (Cause there was and is no way in hell they were gonna drink in the vehicle I'm driving.)

The game started out sucky and by the halfway point our beloved boys were down 4 to 1; but not for long. It all started late in the 2nd period and carried through till the SHOOTOUT but we won 5-4.

What a game, and the boys ran the bar out of coors light AGAIN.
Whenever the Wild score Mark runs up and down the row high fiving and screaming goal, in case you missed it it looks something like:

Go Wild - I have 30 tix to the final home game of the season if anyone is interested!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone, I hope your holiday went as well as mine. Good friend, great family and fun times have been the theme of my holiday break as of this point. And in that line of thought, my inner child was given great gifts this year too.

A Wolfgang Puck professional chef's knife set (I love shiny, sharp objects)
New MN Wild clothing, along with new Captain Morgan boxers. I'm styling now!
And an Archos (iPod but different) that matched the one I wrapped up for Heather, hot pink and all. I think I'll trade it for a black one.

The intresting part of the Archos story is A)Two days after it's purchase Heather won an iPod nano on the radio and B) I gave Heather the same thing but I had the time and idea to preload hers with music (kinda like including the batteries) Now if you read the previous post you will see that our laptop died taking with it a few victims, 700+ of them Heather believing to be part of our music collection. Boy was she happy to see all our missing songs and some of their closet friends waiting for her under the tree. HEHEHE.

Look for an upcoming post on the ridiculousness of music managers and their interaction with the Catholic church!

It's Been Awhile

Well, if anybody is actually keeping up with this blog you'll notice that it's been awhile. Long story short, our hardrive crashed leaving us computerless for a week and then I started an insane run of working that has me seeing 42 work hours logged in as of this post..UGH! But I'm back and as I stare at this monsterous 22 inch monitor I feel like talking more. But not tonight, I'm too tired.

Goodnight all!

Happy Birthday Sarah!

Happy Birthday Sarah! Another celebration of your 21st b-day. Woo Hoo! It took us over an hour to get here and take this picture but it was well worth it.

P.S. - Happy belated birthdays to Carlie, Erin, Ben and Walt Disney.

Look for more frequent updates now that more people know this harbour exists.

A Sad Day In Minnesota Hockey

It's funny; I've been away from my blog for almost two weeks now. In that time there was turkey bingo, Thanksgiving, black Friday shopping and loads of other stuff worth sharing and yet I was just to lazy. But today, as I watched the Minnesota Wild's Wes Walz retire I was drawn to post something.

Walz was never the greatest player but damn he was consistent and he had a bigger heart than anybody. Every game he came to play and he played hard. Constantly put up against the big lines and the big guys he pushed himself to be better than the last game. He always seemed to have a smile on his face and an appreciation for the fact he was getting paid to play hockey. And now, he retires. I'll miss cheering for him at the games and watching him do what he does but all good things must come to an end.

I had the chance to talk to Walz for a minute one day while he autographed a picture for me, what a nice, genuine guy.

Goodbye Wes, we'll certainly miss you.

Happy Turkey Day Everyone!

Farewell Meghan

Farewell to you Meghan, you have been a great person to work with and a shining example of good therapy. May your new job bring you much happiness and joy. We'll miss you.

Happy Birthday to Me

Well, I'm now offically another year older. So far so good I'd have to say. I've been to quite a few places and seen lots of neat stuff and met more people than I'll ever remember names of. Just a nice quite birthday filled with warm wishes from A LOT of people and a couple of free drinks too ;-) Thanks everybody!

Better late then never - My Halloween pumpkin

So I carved my first pumpkin this year for Halloween. I love it, but now what will I do next year? Who knows, I've got a little while.

Oh how I hate the common cold

Oh common cold, how I hate thee. You make me achy and stiff and although I feel fine you make me unable to speak and able to fall asleep with no notice.



This sucks. Thanks to a nice boss and a bank of PTO time I came home from work today with such great ambitions of all the stuff I would get done and instead I took a little four hour nap. Oh well, apparently Heather says I sound like I have more energy and I feel good so it's off to work I go for the evening. Hope all is well with everybody reading this and I'm working on getting pictures added to this lovely adventure I call life.

Welcome

Welcome to this long awaited blog of mine. I hope to keep it rolling with new stuff on a fairly regular basis but bear with me at first. I do leave you with the inspiration to this blogs title however.

ONE PARTICULAR HARBOUR
Jimmy Buffett & Bobby Holcomb

IA ORA TE NATURA (Nature lives (life to nature))
E MEA AROFA TEIE AO NEI (Have pity for the Earth(Love the Earth))
IA ORA TE NATURA
E MEA AROFA TEIE AO NEI

I know I don't get there often enough
But God knows I surely try
It's a magic kind of medicine
That no doctor could prescribe
I used to rule my world from a pay phone
And ships out on the sea
But now times are rough
And I got too much stuff
Can't explain the likes of me

Chorus:
But there's this one particular harbour
So far but yet so near
Where I see the days as they fade away
And finally disappear

But now I think about the good times
Down in the Caribbean sunshine
In my younger days I was so bad
Laughin' about all the fun we had
I've seen enough to feel the world spin
Mixin' different oceans meetin' cousins
Listen to the drummers and the night sounds
Listen to the singers make the world go 'round

IA ORA TE NATURA
E MEA AROFA TEIE AO NEI
IA ORA TE NATURA
E MEA AROFA TEIE AO NEI

Lakes below the mountains
Flow into the sea
Like oils applied to canvas
They permeate through me

And there's that one particular harbour
Sheltered from the wind
Where the children play on the shore each day
And all are safe within

Most mysterious calling harbour
So far but yet so near
I can see the day when my hair's full gray
And I finally disappear

IA ORA TE NATURA
E MEA AROFA TEIE AO NEI
IA ORA TE NATURA
E MEA AROFA TEIE AO NEI

UA PAU TE MAITAI NO TE FENUA (Bounty of the land is exhausted)
RE ZAI NOA RA TE ORA O TE MITIE (But there's still abundance on the sea)