Well, way back when, Jetse de Vries (who, I’m pleased to see, makes me feel much better about my own lack of posting here — he hasn’t updated since summer!) announced he would be putting together a short-story collection titled Shine, featuring optimistic near-future SF. Of course, I immediately began working on something, and what do you know? When I met him this summer, he told me that he was taking the story I submitted to him. Between that and the bearhug he gave me on first meeting, Jetse made quite an impression on me, and it was a very …
Category: GENERAL
Café au Stout
Brewed up another batch tonight, this one a nice coffee stout. Specific gravity ended up at 1.040 right after I mixed the wort with the water. May have actually put too much water in, not sure — the bucket I do primary ferments in now has a more-than-23-liter capacity, so I may be in for a surprise with the carboy. If that happens, I think I’ll keep the remainder in my second bucket, even though it’s usually best to dump it. (I’ll steep it in even more coffee and see what comes of it; if it fails, well, it was …
More on Beer-Making
Note, the title of this post could also be read as, “Moron Beer Making”… This weekend, I’ve already moved my wheat beer into secondary fermentation, but I’m also going to start primary fermentation for a second batch, which is — da-da-da-Daaaaaaaaaaa! — Coffee Stout! That is, a nice dark rich Stout with a hint of coffee flavoring. Just, you know, a hint. This is not the bizarre concoction I had one night out with a bunch of people organized by Roboseyo, at some little restaurant, where they made “coffee beer” by putting coffee into a glass of beer. That was …
Charlatans and Wheat Beer
No, no, this is not a rant about Charlatans. During a Youtube music swap session on chat, I ran across a track by The Charlatans which I came to know in a strange way: my mom bought the cassette tape at a garage sale and gave it to me. I basically responded with, “Huh?” The cover featured an image of a bunch of bananas. It said “Charlatans UK” — the “UK” was because some band in the States had the same name, or so someone told me years later when I was working in a music store. “I bought it …
Fermenting!
The wheat beer I boiled up with a ton of nice spray malt extract and a tin of wheat beer syrup has finally started fermenting noticeably, after about 20 hours of sitting and doing nothing in the primary fermenter. Whew, is all I can say. I was worried that one was going nowhere! It’s true, what they say: don’t freak out if it doesn’t do anything right away. It’s not necessarily a bad sign. Tomorrow or Friday, I’ll be boiling up a pumpkin barley wine. After that, I’ll need more malt extract but that’s the least of my problems — …
Soon to Return to Perhaps More Programming than of Late
But not tonight. It’s my last night in St. Louis, and I’ll be catching a plane tomorrow. My cat-nap this afternoon means I’ll probably only sleep four hours tonight, but that’s cool. I need to get to the airport early anyway. Here’s hoping I get an emergency exit seat on the plane back to Korea. If not, I think I’m gonna lose it… My paper was fine, just too short a time to present enough of it; but I met some neat people and ate some good food. I think next time I’ll probably apply to a conference somewhere I’d …
나비 and Shower Heads: Should I Just Ask A Korean?
A few questions occurred to me today. I don’t know whether anyone who reads this blog will know the answer, but I’m going to post them anyway.If nobody seems to know, I’ll go ahead and Ask a Korean, and see if that guy can come up with any sensible answer… but first, I’ll post here. The first thing I’m wondering about is the cat name “나비.” (For those of you not living here in Korea, the stereotype name for a cat is 나비. The Korean word for butterfly is the same.) I’m wondering: Is the name actually butterfly, or just …
Brewin’ Up a Sturm
So I mentioned a LONG time ago that I’d been inspired by the Homebrew Korea blog, and had begun home-brewing beer. The first batch I finished for the end of last semester, and handed out bottles to a bunch of people before leaving for my summer trip. (And if you have any of my bottles, I’d like ’em back! Those swing-top bottles aren’t cheap, folks!) My first attempt was a stout which was pretty alright, though not very foamy and not very strong: It turned out okay, but there was something a little off. Not contaminated off, just, not as …
Happy Worldwide Dungeons and Dragons Game Day
It’s today, and while I no longer play, it’s worth noting or celebrating if you like.
Didn’t Do Hallowe’en This Year
Free Hallowe’en PDF at GUD — stories from the first four issues. (Available for now.) Plus some other stuff too… Didn’t do Hallowe’en this year, beyond watching Inglourious Basterds. Stuff to say about it, which meshes pretty well with what I have to say about another SF film, District 9. SF? Why yes, Inglourious Basterds is an alternate history, after all. Need one make a spoiler alert at this point? Well, wait, I’ll save it for when I actually post about that. Today, however, I must send in my paper, plus it’s beer-makin’ day. So… more on both those films …