Brett and Debbie

Church of the Flying Spagetti Monster

Andrew introduced me to a brand new religion called the "Church of the Flying Spagetti Monster" (Pastafarianism), it's a satirical view of the current growth of the Intelligent Design theory. It has been embraced by many scientists and is gaining popularity rapidly. There is a good article on Wired with an interview. Fun!

Strong Bad Cold ones Stout

I've tried the first "Strong Bad Stout" which I brewed back in August.
It's an Imperial Stout, which is a very thick, rich beer - I'm very
surprised how well this came out! I need to design a nice label for
it, so Adam will be impressed mostly.

And today I picked up my 15-Gal converted keg which I will be using
for a brew kettle with my outdoor propane burner. I'm really excited
about trying some all-grain batches with this new setup. The keg has a
thermometer, spigot, and a "false bottom" inside which lets me strain
while I pour out of it - this means I'll be able to use it as a
mashtun, lauter tun, and brew kettle! I'll hopefully post pictures on
my first all-grain batch.. if I don't get snowed out again.

all-grain brewday cancelled on account of..... snow & ice!

We just finished (!!) working on the living room & dining room walls
at 2am last night. To celebrate I was going to brew my first batch of
all-grain beer today. I had started to clean and prepare all the
important pieces, testing out my new propane burner and my borrowed
kettle and sparging vessel. I was planning on using a yard-sale 5-Gal
Gott cooler as my mashtun and was going to do the boil in the garage
(brr), where the propane burner arrangement is.

Then it hailed. Then snowed. Lots (for Portland). I was worried about
the hose from the house which supplies the water for my chiller
freezing when it occurred to me "This is insane". So I'm not brewing..
I'm drinking a beer instead!

I hope everyone else is warm, suddenly I'm extremely glad we had
insulation blown in the walls just in time for the coldest week I've
experienced in Portland!

Housework continues.. with pictures!

We're nearly done, but I thought it would be interesting to post some
pictures of us working on the house and what it's like to live in a
construction zone. Soon, we will actually, really, finally be done.
(I hope)

Great scuba photos

There are some amazing photos over at the scubadiving 2005 contest. I'm no diver, but this is incredible.

Ireland Trip Pictures posted

Finally I'm getting a temporary break from working on the house (the office is finished!) so I'm updating the Ireland pictures! My memory is starting to fade on where exactly all the pictures are from, but the experience is fresh in our memories.

You can look at the pictures here.

Hiking with Sadahiro

My friend Sadahiro from San Diego was here in Portland this weekend so we met for breakfast and went for a nice hike in the Gorge. We saw Multnomah falls (of course) and went for a hike at Horsetail falls, it was generally cold and rainy but at one point it hailed (!) on us for a few minutes. Ahh, Portland winters - but the waterfalls were all going full tilt and we had fun despite the weather. Now I just need to get back down to San Diego one of these days, when I get a break from work on the house.

You can see the rest of the pictures here.