Believe it or not, the title of this post is not a reference to the hordes of students who’ve been asking me to create a thesis for them for their Graduation Requirement Presentation. (Though it could have been. The last month or so has become a stream of one-on-one tutoring sessions for people who apparently were not trained in formulating a thesis and supporting arguments. Which… well, frankly, if you’re going to test people on a skill, you ought to be making sure they’re learning it first, or it seems unfair. And the real kicker is: the students need to …
Month: October 2010
Something to Munch On
I have an insane day ahead of me: last minute desperate students will be seeking advising throughout my afternoon break, since tomorrow’s the deadline for second applications for their Grad Presentation Proposal; I will be lucky if I fit lunch in fitting lunch in no matter what, but it will be a trial; midterm exam in my Public Speaking class tonight, in a room I’ll bet will not be properly heated for the event (because normally there’s no class there, and it’s in an older building) And I’m going to the office a half hour early, because… yep, someone “needs …
Machine of Death anthology hits #1 at Amazon
I mentioned my story “Improperly Prepared Blowfish” was included in the Machine of Death anthology. It was one of the first stories I ever sold, and the book is now out. In fact, yesterday the book was #1 on Amazon, because of “a clever bit of internet marketing that urged people to buy the book on October 26th.” That makes the book, a book in which one of my stories is included, a #1 Bestseller, folks. Wow. No thanks to me, obviously, since I was busy and behind on email and forgot to post about the Oct. 26th scheme — …
100% Brett Brewday: All Brett Night at the Amarillo
This is a SHaSY, which is a less catchy name for a beer than a SMaSH brew (Single Malt and Single Hop), but since I used a few different malts, I went with a Single Hop and Single Yeast. I’m fermenting with 100% Brettanomyces Clausenii, which is a nutsy yeast — it’s a dice roll with this thing, as far as my research suggests, though one can get great results. (Usually Brett is used as a secondary yeast, to get interesting effects because as an originally wild yeast it can ferment sugars that the various strains of Saccharomyces Cerevisae (“beer …
Sour (Mini-)Mash, Second Try
Whoops, wrote this yesterday but got busy, so I’m posting it now. The present tense… that’s yesterday afternoon’s present tense. The souring didn’t happen, and the thermos didn’t seem to hold in the heat enough, so I’m going to try warm up the mash again to 50, and then sit it on a hot pad. That means today I’ll brew the Abbey Dubbel, and tomorrow the all-Brett. UPDATE: Uh, what? I assumed it hadn’t soured, because it didn’t smell sour, but in fact, it was very nicely tart when I just tasted it. So, all-Brett is on for today, while …