Tuesday morning in a cheap hotel

I've been in Marietta, GA since last Thursday. We're here because Angela is having Duodenal Switch surgery tomorrow. This afternoon we'll go to the hospital to have her IV line put in.

My dog was having some issues last week, so I asked the vet to check him out while they were boarding him. They did an ultrasound this morning and his prostate is greatly enlarged, and there's some constriction of his urethra. They are going to do a biopsy.

They are going to call me back later with the results. I have a feeling I may not have a dog by the time I get home.

Atlanta

We're in Atlanta -- ok, no, we're in Kennesaw -- preparing for Angela's weight loss surgery which will take place on Wednesday. Yesterday we visited the home brew store over in Alpharetta. I bought all the ingredients for my next batch of beer, and I also bought a temperature controller. The next batch is going to be a number of firsts for me:

1. My first true lager - hence the new temp controller.
2. My first use of specialty grains. I'm going to steep them this time, rather than attempt a true mash.
3. My first beer not made from a Mr. Beer kit.

Tonight we're going to eat at Copeland's, which is as close to real cajun food as I've been in a while.

Snow day

It's snowing! It's been a couple of years since we had a good snow day here in Durham. It was very tempting to stay home, but as our HR department reminded us in an email yesterday, "Due to the nature of our business all of our employees are considered essential and are encouraged to make every effort to get to work during inclement weather." I didn't want to waste a PTO day, so here I am in the office.

Getting here was a bit of an adventure. First, someone in a big Ford SUV lost it on Hope Valley Road:
She was coming out of the neighborhood across from our apartment complex, and hit the gas a little too hard. She swerved to the right, over-corrected, and ended up in the ditch. I don't think her 4WD is going to get her out of there, either.

When I saw this happen, I almost decided to go back home. But then I realized that the road was really in pretty good shape, and she just screwed up. so I crossed my fingers in hopes that no one else would screw up, or at least that I would see them in time to avoid getting in their way.

Then there was this:
It's a little blurry because I was driving when I snapped the picture, and I was more "focused" on driving than on photography. I really feel sorry for the poor bastard on the bicycle. I hope he makes it ok to wherever he is headed. The driver of the Toyota, on the other hand... Right after I took this picture, she decided it was too scary to try to pass the bicycle. So for the next couple of miles we drove behind him at seven miles per hour.

But I did finally make it to work, and on time, too. It's mighty quiet around here.

Homebrew: Batch #2, Irish Red Ale

I just started batch #2, which is sort of a leap of faith as I haven't tasted batch #1 yet.

For this batch I wanted to make an Irish Red Ale, my favorite beer style. I ordered the Mr. Beer recipe but also ordered a pouch of liquid ale yeast.

I made a couple of changes to the recipe, though. The Mr. Beer recipe says it has a color of 9 and IBU of 14. The BJCP style guidlines suggest a color of 9-18 and IBU 17-28.

So instead of following the normal Mr. Beer procedure, I started with two gallons of water in a big kettle. I added the can of Pale Export UME and brought it to a boil. Then I put in 1/3 of the packet of US Goldings hops that came with the kit -- 5 grams, to be exact. I boiled it for an hour.

When it came off the heat, I added the rest of the hops (12 grams) and the can of Englishman's Nut Brown Ale extract. Then put the pot in the kitchen sink, which I had filled with ice, and cooled it down to 75 degrees. I put it into the Mr. Beer keg, added the liquid yeast (which I had activated earlier today), and added water (previously boiled to sterilize it) to the 8.5 quart mark.

I'm hoping that boiling that small amount of hops will add enough bitterness to make this brew more "to style." Qbrew says this should be around 24 IBU.

Mmm, beer!

One of my favorite gifts this past Christmas was a Mr. Beer home brewing kit. I realize that the true homebrewing aficionados will scoff, but I'm really having fun with it. I live in a tiny apartment, and brewing this little two-gallon batches is just so easy. And it looks better in the dining room than a carboy or a five-gallon bucket.

I've just bottled my first batch and I'm looking forward to sampling it. And I've ordered the ingredients for my next batch. I'm going to brew up an Irish Red style beer and enter it in a competition.

Sshhh, don't tell the guys down at the beer club that my brew came from one of these: