Good Luck Chuck

Holy Cow I’m a real life Good Luck Chuck! But more about that later.

It’s been awhile I guess, my Internet sticks so I am even less inclined to blog my life, along with being “summer” busy I haven’t been very active and probably will continue to be a poor blogger. Excuses excuses. So what is up with me? Let’s see… I have been hot and heavy on two fronts. I have boosted my fishing to a new level, caught some good size fish in small streams, and have been spending many hours in chest deep waters in hopes of finding some R&R. I have been successful in that endeavor by all measurable means. Also I have been steady on the trail of my first house; my realtor has put some major miles on her car showing me houses. I’m going to view a real contender house tomorrow. I’m looking forward to seeing it and the next phase of home hunting (low-balling home owners). Other than that I have been working, not much more to my life right now.


Now back to the Good Luck Chuck. Every other Monday after my long weekend of work we have a “meeting of minds” so to speak at Macado’s in Marion for wing night. Anyone is welcome to come and we talk intelligently about all maters relevant and not so relevant to the journey we call life. It’s mostly guys’ night but sometimes we have a wife or other lady friend make an appearance (setting the group dynamics up for you). Tonight was all guys and we were B.S.ing like normal about this and that and catching up here and there. When another member brought to my attention that every girl I have ever “officially” dated or merely taken on a date is now engaged or already married (Even the really young ones!) And that is why I have concluded I am a real life Good Luck Chuck (my life showing a similarity to the movie starring Dumb Cook and Jesexy Alba). And I find this realization a little freaky. Hopefully I can run into Jessica Alba soon and we will see how much my life mirrors the silver screen. Anyway I thought that would be blog worthy. (I even FaceBooked the old flames, all married, incredible, of course I am rapidly become an old man so I guess it’s not so shocking that I am a real life Good Luck Chuck, you know life takes it course and that biological clock is a ticking and all, marriage happens). I bet money that even the “unofficial” dates will be off the market soon too. Oh well. But seriously if anyone knows who my Jessica Alba is, be sure to introduce me.

There is talk in LCF of starting and funding an orphanage in Peru somewhere within the Amazon basin. I have put some serious thought behind this next statement. I really want to go and help the kids, but I really want to fish the Amazon River. Is that wrong of me? I don’t know. But I would really like to catch some Amazon fish…. and help the kids too. What if I could help the kids and catch some fish, win-win right? I have been to Peru before; great place would love to visit again. Didn’t get to fish the first time but had a blast anyway. Total supporter of the mission field here at home and elsewhere, looking forward to seeing what develops of this, wouldn’t mind to take some extended time off and see what I can get into down there.


I wish I was on the lake now and looking forward to being there some this week. Also have a graduation to attend on Sunday. Good times.

Found A Way.

Found a way to get that video to the web, But you have to follow the link to my YouTube account to watch it, because now I can't figure out how to upload videos on to blogger anymore.   My age is showing with this technology stuff.

Anyway here is the video of T & June.   I love my dog. 

Couldn't Wait

I can’t seem to get a video of Tristan playing with June and a garden hose from my phone to the internet. Once I figure that out I got a great video for you to see.

I had a good weekend off last weekend, will be working my butt of this week till mid week next. Was super sick (death bed sick) Wednesday, but survived. Enjoyed the lake for the first time this year, celebrated a friend’s graduation, watched Iron Man II, fished, and house hunted. I now think realtors are worthless, and I am going to have to pay one for doing nothing. And that’s about it, just living life. I had some major life insights, but I forgot what they were. Figures.

Success

Stir-fry try two, a success. Notice the reduction, real tasty it was.

Salty Stir

I dusted the cobwebs off the Wok today. I spent at least 4 years honing my skills with the Asian cuisine till I finally had it pretty darn close to the real deal (some would say better), then I stopped cooking that style for about a year. And now I am here to say it is NOT like riding a bike. I totally bombed on tonight’s stir-fry. It was way over seasoned to a point of too salty. I forgot one of my main rules, “let the ingredients speak for themselves”. What’s the point in getting fresh meats and vegetables if you’re going to cover up their flavor with sauce? I didn’t even taste the dish before I took it to group. I could kick myself. Lesson learned. However I did work on a reduction with this night’s meal. That worked out pretty good, going to expand on that skill set in the coming months.

On a side note: my church has this new activities building with an awesome kitchen. And I have been thinking I might just teach a once monthly “College Cooking Class”. You know to teach the kiddos how to live off of more than ramen noodles and pizza when they move out of mom’s house. Haha, I have been requested not to teach them anything about beer. I guess they will figure that out on their own, (shame all they are going to learn is quantity and nothing about quality). But I think I will enjoy teaching that class. I already know what the first dish will be. Do you think it’s a good idea? I can’t wait to cook with gas again.


P.S. - Spring is officially here my Apple Mint is taking over the flower beds again and I have already had my first mint tea and mojito of 2010.

First Fish

Here she is!

This is fish number two of the 2010 season, a female rock bass (red eye) full of eggs. The first fish jumped off the hook before I could snap a picture (and it was a tiny little feller too). Sorry for the blurry picture, I was too afraid to take my camera-phone out of the Ziploc bag while in the middle of the river. I will get better pictures of the monsters I catch throughout the season. I did pretty good today. I set out to catch my first fish of the new year and I ended up with about 30 red eye, one smallie, and a lamprey of all things. The water is still a little cold, good thing I had on chest waders. Actually today was a perfect day off, could not have asked for much more.

Another Picture through the ziploc bag lens.

And this a Lamprey if you were wondering what that is, first time I have ever caught one.

Real Thin

I’m going to catch my first fish of 2010 on Wednesday 4/14/10 (calling it). I’ve been busy, spring is here, baseball games to watch, fishing to do, lawn to mow, property searching continues, already have a tan. One month from this weekend I will be the first lake weekend, can’t wait. Not been feeling like blogging lately, will post again when feelings change. Hope all is well your way. “The weather is here, wish you were beautiful”…. Later

“Call me Mr. Flintstone”

I decided I would write in the ol’bloggo tonight and while at work I came up with at least 5 things to write about. I even wrote some of the ideas down on the back of my hand (it’s how I keep notes for myself), but since then I have washed my hands a couple of times and can only just make out part of one story. I guess I will wing it.

Did you know there is Techno Bagpipe music out there? Who would have thought? Don’t get me wrong I really like bagpipes. I normally try really hard to make it to the Pipes in Abingdon during the Highlands Festival. Nothing like hearing the sound of a pipe cut threw the distance in the early morning fog. It takes me back to my college days and hearing the piper playing on the drill field while walking to those blasted 8am classes. But you have to admit out of all the instruments in the world, bagpipes can be one of the more annoying ones. Then mix that with the hands down most obnoxious music genre out there! WOW, step back and watch out.

And to get you further in the spirit of the-someday-national-holiday that is today here is a really awesome Celtic Rock Band (believe it or not but they have those too, and these guys are pretty good) called Frightened Rabbit.

I got another work story! So today I get a called-in question that led to a one man dance party (I’m the only man at work). First off let me tell you today turn out to be a goofy day as you can probably tell from the previous sentence. I only managed to wink out about 8 hours of sleep the past two nights combined plus working the 12 hour shifts during the day really drains the batteries, so I was a little goofy by day two. Back to the question, a woman asked me today if a home pregnancy test would be thrown off by her having polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS). I had no idea. So I did what I normally do when I don’t know the answer, I search for it. Now I know the home pregnancy test measure minute traces of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) which is produced by the embryo to stop the hormone machine that is the “woman’s cycle”. But I wasn’t sure if PCOS could produce hCG in the course of the condition. So I grabbed an e.p.t. home pregnancy test and called the customer helpline on the back of the box (800-337-7266). Surely they would know right? I was on hold for about 45 minutes and I found it ironic that the hold music was the most sensual elevator music I have ever heard. That’s right the testing-if-baby-was-made company was playing some pretty good baby-making music. I cracked up when I realized this and then put in on speaker phone for everyone to listen to. Then I started dancing to it (which is a little weird, but you have to do something, it is work and I was on hold for 45 minutes). But my dance wasn’t a sensual dance like the music suggested, that would be inappropriate at the work place. I was dancing like I was in a Siberian Techno Dance Hall (because Siberian Techno Dance Hall dancing is appropriate in the work place. Go ahead look it up it’s in the manual under VIIIa page 34 paragraph 6d line 9). And I wasn’t dancing alone, after 15 minuets of the hold music my technician was dancing some too. A little more reserved than I, but dancing nonetheless (workplace victory). Long story short I was speaking Greek to the helpline guy. Once I started telling him that the test measures trace levels of hCG he told me I knew more about it than he did. I did get out of him from his stock Q&A list that ovarian cyst can cause false positives and that was enough to answer my question (not everyone who has PCOS will have ovarian cyst, but it does occur in PCOS thus there is a possibility for a false positive). Knowledge obtained, sensual baby-making elevator music found, and a hand full of stock techno dance moves executed to near perfection equals an hour well spent at work. Please call the number, listen for yourself, and enjoy.

Speaking of baby-making, that reminds me. I started another book this one is called A Cook’s Tour and in it the author really mingles sensual pleasure with the pleasure we get from eating great food. Did you know the pleasure/reward zones in the brain for sex and food are in the same areas? I don’t know if I learned that in this book or picked that little fact up somewhere else, but it’s something to think about isn’t it. The intro talks about moments burned into memory like hands smelling of crushed fireflies, first stolen cold beer on a hot summers night, thinking American Chinese food is an exotic cuisine, the taste of champagne on a woman’s lips, a few beads of caviar licked off a nipple… etc. (For the record I’m adding the last two to the to-do list. I am also going to indulge that I started celebrating St. Patrick’s Day about 3 hours ago so please excuse my forthrightness) I wonder if the pleasure zone activation is what burns those memories into our long term recollection, a Pavlovian Conditioning of sorts. I never ate or had sex with a lightning bug but I do remember experiencing immense joy as a child jumping, twisting, and lunging to catch them barefooted on the damp grass of a warm summers night in the backyard when I was about 6 or 7 years old. I also remember the first beer I stole riding home from a canoeing trip ducking out of sight in the bed of my dad’s pickup truck. I don’t remember much of my chemistry classes in college, didn’t have a lot of pleasure sitting through those. But I do remember with vivid clarity the story behind why I want to throw-up every time I taste marshmallows, which has nothing to do with pleasure. Actually that story is the opposite of pleasure it involves the pain of a broken tooth. Maybe ingrained memories are established from punishment and rewards in our lives, divinely designed fixed in quick recall to direct our future actions and decisions. Hum… makes me wonder how my mad techno dance skills will positively affect future decisions. And here is how I’m going to tie the rewards/punishment musing in with St. Patrick’s Day. As a kid you were negatively rewarded with a pinch if you forgot what today was and as an adult you are positively rewarded with funky green clothes, green food, and green beer if you remembered. Nice tie in huh?

My beard is red and my glass is full. Here is to you and me on this not quite but almost national holiday, good health, good friends, and good times. Hope you enjoy it and many more like it. 3/17/2010

Hirsute Esophagus

Couple of updates then a story, a disgusting story that might make the weak stomached person toss their cookies (*disclaimer).

This past week has been a heavy work week. I’m tired, and I’m still going to pick up an extra day this Friday because of update number one. I need to buy a house. Last week I went house hunting and let me tell you, it’s not a fun activity to do alone. From Tuesday night to Thursday morning I probably spent 10+ hours combing the internet, local realtor mags, and for sale by owner sites. I narrowed it down to 3 houses and decided to make a quick visit on this past Thursday afternoon. After all that time and energy all three houses were a bust. It’s back to the drawing board for me. But it is kind of my own fault, I’m a very particular person, it will either take a million dollars or the perfect fit to suit me. But if I’m going to have to live in the place for at least 5 years, I want a good place. Story of my life, I’m still looking for the perfection. I’m not giving up yet.

OK, kegged batch number 3, it’s ready to enjoy. Had a mishap with the dispensing end of the pressurized keg, ended up with a face full of beer. I believe I have figured out the fix and should be enjoying an English IPA next time I run downstairs. As for the Nut Brown Ale (batch number 2), it is great, had my first one last night, and am very pleased with the outcome. Sad news, I will be loosing my brewing buddy soon; AG is heading back out west for a job. I’m taking applications for a new brewing buddy as we speak. If you know anyone who enjoys cooking, science, fishing, and/or a wide variety of beers, please tell them to apply.

I watched Endless Summer II one late night when I was half asleep. It is a surf docu-movie about chasing the waves around the world in the mid 90’s. I dreamt about living on a pacific island where all I did was fish and surf for the next 3 nights after that. I have to learn to surf sometime, it’s a necessity. I wouldn’t mind giving it all up and chasing the wave around the world. I think that’s totally gnarly!

I have been helping out with the planning of my ten year class reunion. I guess I am on the committee, I go to the meetings. Anyway in August of this year there will be THE party of the decade. I have already asked off 4 days from work for it. I can’t wait; I’m almost giddy with excitement and anticipation. So far we have a lake day, Ben G and the Sidearm’s at the Mill, family meet and greet (bring the kids thing, i'm not attending that one) and then the official reunion, live bands, catered food, swinging from chandeliers. It’s going to be a weekend for the history books. I literally can not wait till August.

Now for the gross story:

I work in the health care industy and I see some pretty sick stuff day in day out. I have a pretty strong stomach. But tonight took the cake. I get a little queasy just thinking about the sight I saw this evening. Let me lay out the story, my tech and I were talking about what to get for dinner, busy doing work, normal night. Up rolls this scraggly dude and he tosses a script over the glass. I’m obviously busy doing something and he goes “Hey, you’re the pharmist right? Come here, I have a question for you.” So I go over to him expecting the normal questions. But not this guy, he goes “Have you ever seen this?” opens his mouth as wide as he can and goes “ahhhhhhhh”. The back of his throat was covered in what looked like long grey/white pubic hairs coming up from his stomach!!!! He then tells me the story about how he has chest hairs growing in his esophagus. It’s the craziest most disgusting thing I have ever seen. I wouldn’t even imagine that possible, couldn’t have dreamed it up in a million years. It blows my mind just thinking about it. I’m going to gross out my kids and grandkids around the fire on camping trips with this story. Needless to say I wasn’t as hungry after the man’s visit, but I still managed to eat my burger for dinner.

Started fishing, I've been a couple of times now. I have got one bite so far, the season is getting near!!! Moving to deep water next sunny day I’m off. Also I’ve started growing a beard just to try it out again; turns out I have turned into a red head since the last time I grew a beard, crazy huh?

Proposition 3-17

Ok, here is the deal. I haven’t blogged in awhile, it’s not because I have been any busier than normal, I just haven’t felt like it. I’m not a writer, I have friends that are… they are amazing writers, and I would buy a book they wrote even if it was on nuances of growing a rose garden. I’m sure I would laugh, cry, throw the book across the room, and end it thinking time well spent loving roses. But I’m not like that. I don’t have cool stories and I can’t write a boring story into a cool one. So with that being said I’m going to promise to not dedicate myself to this blog. I’m just going to write when I feel like it, be it weekly (no way I’m doing it daily), monthly, or longer.

So anyway, since I wrote last here is what has been going on.

I’m over winter. I want sunny warm weather, warm water, fishing, swimming in the lake, being able to drive the car with the top down, and bare feet on green grass. I’m tired of waking up to gray skies, frosted windshields, wind so cold it feels like an ice pick is being driven into my face. It’s starting to make me depressed, it’s bleak out there. I know why bears hibernate; if I didn’t have to work I wouldn’t mind sleeping till it’s warm again too. I’m over it, bring on spring.

I love the Olympics. My eye’s swell with pride during the opening ceremonies. I watch the competitions every time I get a chance it makes for great background stimulus. Did you see Shawn White dominate (On his victory lap no doubt)?!?! I want so bad to go to the Olympics. And I think the winter Olympics are better than the summer ones. But I would be happy to be at either one. I think Curling is my only option. I believe if I put in a curling ?rink? behind the mill and served beer, in four years we would have a Lebanon team bringing home the gold. Could you imagine an Ltown crew staying in the Olympic Village? It would be ridiculous, I’m sure we would be kicked out after the first night. Finally something I noticed from the opening ceremony, 55% of the Olympian women are hot blonds, 42% are hot brunettes, and 3% are just plane scary (I know, it’s degrading to the worlds top female athletes, complain to someone who cares). I can’t wait to stay there in the Olympic Village as an American Curler with all the other international Olympians (wink wink); I finally have a new goal.

We are almost done fermenting the third batch of brew, an English IPA that we dry hopped for 2 extra weeks. Batch number four or five is going to be the most intense one yet, we have the materials to make it just like they do in a real brewery. I look forward to saying “Yeah, we sparged the mash today”, matter-of-factly in passing conversation. I figured out why I enjoy brewing also, it’s a science and cooking at the same time, to things I am passionate about that just coincidently I can drink the final product when all is said and done (Bonus).

I burned the hair on my face off for the 3rd time in recent memory today. This time it was a grill on the porch with a lighter and a tank of propane. Dose this happen to everyone? Third time in probably two years, and I’m a fairly careful person, how does this keep happening? Good thing I didn’t become a firefighter, don’t know how long I would have lasted.

And lastly, March 17th, let’s make it an official US holiday. Who is with me?

The Basic Four: Water, Malt, Hops, and Yeast

Alright, beer experiment #1 is complete. To sum it up, it was a learning experience. I think I will call it “Bad Student Wheat”, because I learned a lot but I still got an “F”. Two primarily Bud Light drinkers like it (or were kind) so it can’t be considered a complete lost. It has a sweet malty taste to it that I wasn’t expecting I think the yeast were lazy and didn’t do their job completely. We will have an official tasting after it is finished a little more, and then we can find out where we should make improvements.
As for the “Snowy River Nut Brown” we bottled it today and it taste great pre-bottle finished and flat. It is real smooth with hints of nuts and chocolate, can’t wait to see how it taste in 2 weeks. I think we made some exponential improvements between the two batches. Batch number 3 starts this weekend.

As promised here is a detailed breakdown:

With the first batch we just boiled the pre-hopped malt extract, added that and yeast in a carboy, let ferment (or half ferment) for two weeks, bottled, and let finish for another two weeks. A real no frills beer.

This is our cooking apparatus.
A propane turkey fryer, 38 quart aluminum pot, and a porch.

Here is one of me adding the hopped malt extract (it’s a syrup mix) to the boiling pot of water.

AG is stirring here; we boiled and stirred for 20 minutes to get the sugars dissolved into solution. (At this point it is called wort)

Adding the hot wort to cold water that is in the carboy (fermenter).

This is the carboy in the extra shower

This is a picture of the second batch bubbling off CO2, dead yeast, and proteins. (This is only about 5 hours since we put the yeast in there!)

After the primary blow-off, I moved the carboy to a warmer part of the house. (Notice the top has a bubble lock on it)

Once the bubble lock pushes a bubble out every 90 to 180 seconds it time to bottle. Clean Bottles are a must.

This is the bottling station.

This is my attempt to be a hand model. We racked the carboy into the bottling bucket, added a little more sugars for carbonation, being careful of contaminates at this point, and then we filled the bottles.

AG did most the capping with this fun little toy.

It’s impossible to bottle homebrewed beer without having some.

And this is AG lovingly embracing batch number two; we have high hopes for these little guys.

I’ll keep you posted on our works of art as they develop.


Side note:
As you may or may not know, the east coast has been slammed with a snowy winter. Here in SWVA the snow hasn’t been all that bad, but we have had a fare share thus far. The problem is that a lot of the counties around here are poor (more so than those in NOVA and DC) and I guess they have run out of road salt or money for road salt. The county that I live in is a white collar county with higher taxes and the one I work in is below blue collar… whatever color that is and probably only gets a five dollars for the whole county budget. My guess is they cannot afford road salt and it is making my commute really interesting and fun. Right at the county line you can tell who doesn’t have road salt, its blacktop and then white on I-81. The wrecks start just north of mile marker 35 and continue right into my parking lot at work.

When the older generations talk about how bad the winters were back when they were little I now believe that is because road salt wasn’t invented yet. Because without the salt the roads just stay bad when all they are getting is a scraping. Here are some pics from my commute, notice the jackknifed truck. If I’m quick enough with my camera phone I’m going to try to get pictures of all the wreckage I see every morning on my way to work. The truck still runs great in the snow, even at 75 mph, I really do enjoy driving in this stuff. It’s an adrenaline rush.

Say No To Sleep

Since I can’t seem to fall asleep at a decent hour I thought I would try my hand at video documentations. Below is what I do at 3:30am.

Our second batch, a Nut Brown Ale, we are going to call the “Snowy River Nut Brown Ale”. So named because it was brewed on a cold and snowy night here by the river. This second batch was a lot more complex than the first. And I have confidence that this batch will be a good one based on the fact that the house smells so good right now. It smells like a mixture of the best aromas from a bakery and a plant shop.

What if?

Brew update. We have bottles (hiccup)! Someone I don’t know, somehow got wind we were brewing and left us some cases of empty 16oz brown bottles. Thank you Dude, whoever you are. Will be bottling this Saturday and starting a new batch of Brown Ale. This second batch will be better than the first. We are looking for a name of our operation. Brew de la Casa is just the R&D department’s name. If anyone has any suggestions feel free to let me know. We are looking for a name that has the theme of a river, fishing, or something ranging from Ltown to SWVAish. A name that is edgy, allows for cool artwork, and bam in your face. Imagine if you will that we are most awesome rock band of all time and we are called the “{______}” Brewery and we just knocked your dad’s teeth out with our felt bottomed fishing boots. Please keep that in mind with your suggestions and don’t be insulted when we don’t pick yours.

The Survivalism Movement. (Wikipedia that)

There is a country song that goes “…a country boy will survive…”, and it is right! I will survive. I don’t know if this is a normal male line of thinking or not, but I fully believe that with the knowledge I have amassed if society as we know it collapses I will be the only house in the neighborhood with the lights still on. I know how to survive MacGyver style. I don’t mean to sound like a crazy internet doomsayer predicting the collapse of all we know. I’m just saying that I have just picked up skill sets and knowledge from here and there that I feel confident will carry me through the worst of anything. I have the country boy roots, so I can shoot, fish, or raise my food. But I also have those smarts mom is so proud of. I can make a gasifier to fuel my truck and generator when the oil runs out. I know how to make a tesla coil out of car batteries to make a radio transmitter to call for help. I can make an ozone generator to purify water. I can perform simple medical procedures if forced to. I know how to use local plants medicinally. And I am still learning, picking up on things here and there. I’m not saying the world as we know it is going to end tomorrow and I’m not hording canned food in a bomb shelter, I’m just unintentional preparing mentally for the worse. As long as I don’t get hit in the head by the falling sky I should be fine. Our society is more fragile than you might think. All I want to do is make you aware of the movement and tell you the Boy Scout motto “Be Prepared” I think I am and I hope you are too. It just makes sense.

I Know I Can

We started our first batch of homebrew (Brew De la Casa) and it feels like an experiment doomed from the get go. Only time will tell how it turns out. Hopefully it is drinkable and more than muddy stump water. It will be another few weeks before all is said and done. [Side thought - Patience is earned by agony and torture in my opinion. If you really knew how God has been working on patience with me you would think I should be nothing but pure virtue by now. Hopefully in life much like in Brew De La Casa I will see an end to the waiting soon. But that’s all another story for another day.] I will lay out the whole Brew De La Casa experiment when all is done.

I would like to talk about the “Eli Condition”. In my mind I multitask, which means I am thinking about several completely different things at any given moment of time. So remembering what I need to do and even completing conversations kind of gets suppressed to lower levels of thought.

Example: Saturday night our subject “Eli” goes to dinner, he enjoys his sushi and conversation, he gets in car to leave and go to a party, he then looks at written note of stuff he needs accomplish tonight (written on back of his left hand is the word “Beer”) and in the next 5 minutes this is what goes on in his mind.

He calculates what the best place for quality beer in reasonable distance from route to final destination. Finalizes which route he will take, remembers the most important thing he does tonight is get ***Brown Bottles with Pop Top Lids*** because he needs roughly 60 of the 12 ounce bottles to contain his new homebrew experiment in and he needs to collect the 60 sum bottles in the next few weeks before he bottles the brew. He then does a quick review of why it is only Brown bottles that he wants, because when light hits beer it provides the energy necessary to drive a reaction that transforms the iso-alpha-acids into 3-methyl-2-butene-1-thiol causing beer to go skunk. Brown bottles let in the least amount of light so those are the best ones to use because skunk beer is no good. Thinks that is cool science, how come we didn’t talk about that in high school chemistry. He is reminded of the cartoon caricature Pepe Le Pew the skunk getting drunk on love (chuckles out loud as he gets out of car to walk to the Food City near the restaurant). Buy Brown Bottles. He thinks about his right knee since it is still a little sore from falling out of the church attic several weeks ago. Wonders if his dominate right leg is now equal in stride with non-dominant left leg and if stuck in a desert will walk in a straight line instead of a circle over a distance of 50 miles. Decides to buy some Ibuprofen because it is the least harmful NSAID on the stomach lining and liver when used in combination with alcohol. Buy Brown Beer Bottles. Amazed he didn’t break his neck falling out of the attic, wonders what it would be like to be Christopher Reeves before he died but after the accident. Decides he would rather die than be paraplegic. Reviews conversation from dinner and analyze it for key words in combination with facial cues to determine intent of fellow dinner companions. Nothing sticks out from conversation (Looks at watch as walking in door to grocery store). Estimates time of arrival at party calculating amount of people in store and waiting in line, weather outside is raining slowing driving time, and guessing about 2 minuets to choose from beer selection. Buy Brown Beer bottles. Knows he is only getting a 6 pack, but is reminded about his college days when grabbing beer to hang out with the same people he would have grabbed a 24 pack and spent about the same amount of money. He realizes that the price of beer for him has stayed a constant while quality, volume, and time have been variables and quality and volume are inversely proportional to each other (chuckles to self again). Buy Brown Beer. Looks at the beer selection and decides on a 6pack of Newcastle. Wonders what it would be like to live in Newcastle England, and bets that it rains there all the time like it is raining outside at current moment. (Hands ID to female cashier who is in conversation with male assistant manager) Listens to conversation, not relevant so starts to ignore what they are saying but watches for facial tones and other non-verbal expressions. Decides they are friends outside of work, the cashier likes the assistant manager and flirts strongly because she knows it is not going to go anywhere and that makes her more comfortable, meanwhile assistant manager is looking at a more attractive female cashier about 20 feet away from the corner of his eye every few seconds, for him cute cashier is not ruled out as a possibility (without thinking says “thank you” to cashier and grabs bag of Newcastle). Wonders what the three employees will look like when they are old. He realizes that last thought was really random and then shakes his head at himself as he walks out the door. Knows he is forgetting something, what is it? He can’t remember if he said “thank you” to the cashier or not. Thinks that must have been what he forgot since he can’t remember saying anything. Remembers he has one 600mg Ibuprofen in jacket pocket from snowboarding trip two weeks ago, that had to be what he forgot, feeling he forgot something leaves him. Can’t believe it’s already been two weeks since new years (gets in car).

Later at the party after the first few sips of my Newcastle I could have kicked myself because Newcastle comes in CLEAR BOTTLES!!! UGH. And that is a prime example of the “Eli Condition”. I hope I’m not alone in my condition, but I wouldn’t be surprised if I was.

A New Year

Well it has been a busy holiday season. Unfortunately my inept camera skills have left me without any pictures to visually prove my busy times. So instead I will give you a quick synopsis of the last month. I worked more than I wanted to. I traveled many miles in sort periods of time. Visited the North Carolina family, did the family Christmas thing down there. Did not get enough time to see everyone I wanted to while they were in town visiting. Had a huge snow storm and a few follow-up storms that made for some fun wintertime driving, sledding, and other forms of fun. I spent six days without power at the house and now have the opportunity to restock my fridge and freezer. The Hokies won another bowl game and in the process silenced the UT bragging that I have been putting up with for the last five years or so. I’m going to coast on the high of that game till next fall, great win. I had a really fun new year’s eve. Went snowboarding, had the second biggest spill of my long snowboarding career and didn’t break any bones that I know of. And now I am going to bleed out the rest of my vacation days over the next 3 weeks before I loose them, so work will be a little easier. And I think that sums up most of everything I can think of off the top of my head.

Now let’s talk about this new year 2010. I have a feeling this is going to be a great year. I don’t know why, I just have a feeling in the back of my head that it’s going to be a good one. I feel like the last ten years I have just coasted through them and the next ten will be different (hopefully married, maybe a couple of kids, be a homeowner, and traveled to some really neat places). I don’t have any new year’s resolutions. I have never done those, mostly because I make new goals all year long not just only at the beginning of the year. But I do have a new goal that I think I will push for, and that’s to really enjoy life. I think when I have been doing “life” in the past my mind is normally elsewhere, so I’m only half there to enjoy whatever I am doing or experiencing. I’m going to try to change that. I don’t know how going to accomplish this just yet, but that is my most recent goal to fully engage the moment.

Lastly with all this cold weather I have been starting to long for those hot summer days being lazy on the lake or fishing in the river. I certainly have some more winter fun to “fully engage in”, but I can still long for long days, shorts, flip-flops, motorcycles rides, and swimming right?