Archive for February, 2008
Friday, February 29th, 2008
Today was another busy day. I spent a good majority of the day organizing things online. I would tell you what they are, but I have this thing about telling people my secrets. Oh well. I will say that I find it simply amazing that I am able to wake up every morning of my life and work on the computer for at least eight hours straight. Mind you, those are the days I have nothing to do. Oh, I just love looking at the clock as it reads 3PM and realizing that I have been sitting here since 7AM.
As I get older, I find myself focusing on my “physical” self more than I used to. I always try to sit up straight in my chair, so I don’t get a bad posture, like I have been warned about when I was a kid. I also recognize that I need exercise these days. When I say need, I mean “need.” I mean, I am in good shape, but as anyone gets older, I think they become more aware of these things. I also feel my eyes going to hell. When I was a kid, I used to pride myself on not wearing glasses. Well, the years of staring at this monitor has taken its toll, I’m afraid. Last year, I bought computer glasses to help take the strain off my eyes. These days, I find myself having to focus a heck of a lot more. I can actually feel my eyes getting tired. People say that you should get up every so often to give your eyes a break. They say that you should look out the window every once in a while so your eyes can focus on something else, other than your computer screen. I do that, but I am just hoping that one day I will make enough money to pay someone to do my work for me as I sit in a chair behind them, telling them what to do.
So, what’s new in life…I guess it’s just day to day stuff. As I work, the cats take their turns using my lap as their bed. I am not working on adding any more websites to my portfolio…well, I had to pop a new one in there, I just couldn’t help myself. This is the year of marketing. I haven’t focused on that portion of the business all that much in the past few years, so it might be something I should do to boost the $$$. I believe I can do a very good job with that in the next ten months.
I also have been making beer, if you haven’t noticed. I think it’s a pretty rewarding thing to do. Paul came over to pick up ten bottles for a party he is having tomorrow. He is going to get back to me with the consensus. I hope he likes them.
Since I have been in college, I have been looking for the perfect place to live. I have learned that it’s pretty useless looking on the internet for that perfect town. All it takes is one lousy picture of a town to ruin everything. On to the next perfect town with that one lousy picture, and so on. I think the only way I am going to make it is to get an “anchor” house somewhere up north, with another smaller home in the heat for weekends in the Winter. I have also learned that the perfect town may not even exist anymore. Back in the day, there was a quiet little main street somewhere in Indiana that you could walk up and down for the rest of your life. Now, you have to worry about tornadoes and the Wal-Mart they are putting up at the end of the block. You might think I’m kidding, but look around. The most pristine places are very unaffordable. So the quest goes on.
On Monday, Laura and I are making a trip to Washington, CT. We are going to have lunch at the Mayflower Inn. A few years ago, my mother got us a gift certificate for the Inn that we used for a perfect Valentine’s Day dinner. It was one of the nicest places on earth. We were thrilled with the little antique town, but it was kind of dark on our way in. We really want to see it during the day. You would be surprised what the Connecticut hills have to offer, for a price. I’ll let you know how it goes. YouTube certainly needs a video or two of Washington, CT.
It just started snowing. Laura proposed another walk in the snow. Who am I to say no? I have a feeling I will be putting my boots on at midnight again. I do want to say that I am getting a little tired of the snow. Every time I think the driveway will be clear for a few days, it snows. I admit that it keeps things exciting, but enough already. It’s been a snowy Winter. The next week looks warmer with the temperatures above freezing. Also, the sunset is much later now, so that January depression has lifted. Now, the sun is going down close to 6PM. In March, we set the clocks ahead, so that should be fun. I am going to try to really soak up the seasons this Spring, Summer and Fall. I think they are worth it.
Wow, what a post. This might actually be what blogs are for. I guess I have to write some real stuff when I am not busy buying things and writing about them. Hey look…it’s another cat on my lap. I think they are doing laps now. This one is Sexy Boo.
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Thursday, February 28th, 2008
12 Practical Steps for Learning to Go With the Flow
Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them – that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.
7 Abandoned Wonders of the European Union
The rich stories of individual European nations can be read in part through the amazing abandoned buildings found across the continent. It is truly remarkable how intact some of these structures are even after centuries. From Finland to France, Belgium to Denmark and Poland to England here are seven amazing abandonments from all over Europe.
Google Gives All SF Homeless Free Voicemail
Google has made an announcement that could help hundreds of homeless people in San Francisco get back on their feet. Every single homeless person in the city will be given a life-long phone number and voicemail.
9 Signs You Shouldn’t Hire THAT Web Designer
Funny article about 9 signs that tell you to avoid that clueless web designer.
Are They Watching You Online?
When surfing the Internet you probably take your anonymity for granted, most of us do.
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Thursday, February 28th, 2008
Brewing the Coopers Stout gave my an opportunity to use my new bottle caps and capper. It also gave me an opportunity to use some glass bottles and eventually taste some more Stout. I like Stout.
Yesterday was the third day of the hydrometer reading 1.010. That means bottling is ready. I gave it five days. They say that if you let fermented beer sit too long, it can go bad. I had to get this stuff in the bottles.
I also took this pretty picture for you. Overall, I got 63 bottles out of the 23 liters I brewed. I have no idea how it’s going to taste, but hope it’s good. The capping was relatively simple and the capper worked great. The only issue was that I needed to adjust the height every so often, because some of the bottles were different sizes. That was really no big deal though. I would say the whole process took about an hour.
I am going to drink some of this beer before I go ahead with the Coopers Irish Stout. Firstly, I am almost out of bottles, second, I am running out of room to put them and thirdly, it’s just ridiculous having that much beer in the house.
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Tuesday, February 26th, 2008
Tonight, I cracked open my first real home brewed beer. It’s the Coopers Australian Lager. I know I have told you many times that I don’t like light beers, and I still don’t. I have to say though, this beer ain’t have bad.
I poured it into my favorite beer mug and took a sip. I was surprised to see that it tasted just a bit better than the day I bottled it (two weeks ago…to the second). I was also surprised to see that it actually tasted like real beer. Laura took a sip too. We both agree that it tastes like Corona. Stick a lime in this thing and sit by Rob’s pool on a hot August day. There you go.
Looks pretty good, right? Two big parts of my beer drinking experience are the bottle the beer comes out of and the glass I am pouring it into. This looks like the real deal.
Today, I read that I should bottle my next batch…Coopers Stout, between 4-7 days, and after the hydrometer has a consistent reading for two days in a row. Today is the fourth day and the hydrometer read “1.010″ both yesterday and today. This batch is brewing faster than the lager partly because of the type of beer and partly because of the warmer temperature I am keeping it at.
With the hydrometer readings the way they are, I bottled one beer today. I wanted to make sure my capper was working properly for the remainder of them. Everything worked fine. I am keeping it stored upside down, just to see if there are any leaks. If not, I think tomorrow is the day to bottle them.
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Monday, February 25th, 2008
SEO Shenanigans Pose Clear & Present Danger to Social Media
Steve Rubel: “I have recently witnessed a disturbing trend. Some respected experts are advocating launching social media marketing programs solely for the purpose of influencing search engines, rather than with the intent of fostering collaboration. This represents a clear and present danger to the fabric of the community.
Facebook Offers $85 Million To Acquire Chinese Social Networking Site Zhanz
Facebook is said to have offered $85 million to acquire Zhanzuo.com, a Chinese social networking site with seven million users.
Was Digg the best social site of 2007?
In 2007, the world’s favorite social network, MySpace, quickly gave ground to Facebook and companies like the ill-fated Netscape tried to take on Digg. But which of these sites was the best of 2007?
The Next Social Network: WordPress
Could open-source blogging platform WordPress serve as your next social networking profile? Chris Messina, co-founder of Citizen Agency, thinks so. He’s started a project called DiSo, for distributed social networking, that aims to “build a social network with its skin inside out.†DiSo will first look to WordPress as its foundation.
Inside The Social Networking Craze
If you’re not already a part of the social networking craze, it can be difficult to understand what’s so great about sites like MySpace and Facebook. But nonetheless, millions of people flock to them and lead secondary lives on them.
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Saturday, February 23rd, 2008
I mentioned earlier that Paul gave me a bunch of beer bottles. That was very nice of him. Well, it’s been a long afternoon cleaning them out. I have a sore back.
In order to really clean them out, I first soaked them in bleach water in the sink. That made the house nice and smelly. Then, I rinsed them out and scrubbed the outside to remove the labels. After that, I put them all in the dishwasher. It took two dishwasher loads, but they are all done and smell great.
Since I now have about eighty bottles, I thought the best place to store them was on an unused shelf in the corner cabinet. That way, that are off the beaten path. I even took a picture for you…
Believe it or not, this is all of them. It doesn’t look like that many, but it is.
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Saturday, February 23rd, 2008
I have been keeping this batch of beer at a steady 25C. That is warmer than the last batch. When you ferment beer at a higher temperature, there seems to be more activity down in the big jug.
I learned this today. Today, Paul was kind enough to bring over about seventy bottles he has been saving up. I am cleaning them out right now. While he was here, I was showing him the beer kit. As I was showing him, I noticed that the foam inside the jug was touching the inside of the lid. It reminded me of making good bread…it rises real nice. Well, I knew I was going to have to do something about this because it was only going to get worse in the next few days.
After Paul left, I took another look at the fermenting beer and was shocked to see bubbles coming right out of the water seal thingy.
I knew I needed to do something before liquid found its way to the floor. I took a stroll downstairs to look through my tube inventory and found some good stuff I had been saving for…well, nothing. I brought it back upstairs and stretched out the end by heating it up.
As you can see from the picture, this is going to be good beer.
After I hooked it up, I had to use my belt to hold it to the side of the tank. Then, I grabbed a five gallon bucket from the basement and stuck the other side of the tube into it. Now, as it drips, it won’t make a mess.
I love it when things ferment like this.
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Saturday, February 23rd, 2008
As I mentioned somewhere along the way, I ran out of USB ports on my computer a while back. Now that I have the web cam, camera, backup drive and USB backup drive, I am really running out of them. I am also getting a little tired of getting up to switch out USB cables…so, I did something about it.
Today, I recieved my new Nexxtech USB 2.0 7-Port USB Desktop Hub. Ya like that? This USB hub has seven ports on it. That is really good. I am currently using only two of them, but I am sure that will grow. The reviews on this item were good, with only one area that people didn’t like. As you will see in the photo below, there are some pretty bright lights on it. Some people say these lights keep them up at night. Some other people say they use these lights as a night light. Either way, we keep our computers out of the bedroom, so I don’t think there will be a problem.
There are four ports in the back of this unit and three on the top. I guess people plug the more permanent things in the back and use the top three for the swappable devices. I am not too sure. All I know is that seven ports should be good for me.
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Friday, February 22nd, 2008
I finished setting up my latest project today…Experato.com. It is the latest and greatest web directory. It has a really great rating and review system as well. This is actually the reason I set this up…I was looking for a review website.
I found one script that was for reviews only, but it was just in its infancy. I decided to go with a much more robust script that offered many more features. It had the review portion as well as many other things. This script has been in the making for over six years, so I would say that it is mature.
You are more than welcome to stop by and drop your website in the directory. Who knows, maybe people will give you a good review.
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Friday, February 22nd, 2008
Yes, it’s been a few days since I received my Coopers Stout in the mail. I have been very excited to get the ingredients together to start the brewing process. This time, I will be brewing a beer I actually want to drink, as opposed to the Lager I just bottled.
As you can see, this beer is much darker than the last. This is the regular Coopers Stout. I am hoping it is good.
This is all the ingredients getting mixed up together with the boiling water.
The brew is supposed to be between 21C and 27C. It always starts off good like this, but eventually gets cooler. Now, I am keeping it next to the pellet stove, wrapped in a towel for a toasty 26C. At this temperature, the fermentation should be complete in about five days.
This is just a photo to show you how dark this stuff is.
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