Brewing the Belgian Strong

Cleb and I brewed this one (and another two) for Bradley's wedding.

Accoutrements.
Notice the large bag of aged Czech Saaz hops from the old Celis brewery, and the two bears of honey.

That Nalgene bottle contains Cleb's lunatic Belgian yeast culture.












During the boil we pulled long, ropey chunks of carmalized malt from the bottom of the kettle.








Wow. Look how high that hydrometer floats. Off the scale.



















A week later, Scout gives her winning one-legged smile at the carboy. The top popped off this one during fermentation.

My Baby Makes My Lunch

I eat breakfast and lunch at my desk. Somehow working at the Dot Bombs I got used to working straight through the day, and never shook it.

This is what I found in my Whole Foods lunch bag today:

- Flour tortilla with refrieds and cheese. At 9:25 am, this induces Pavlovian mouth scream.
- Orange Playtex sippy cup full of pomegranate juice, on the rocks.
- Sandwich bag of Saltines, with a snack bag of mozzarella slices snuggled within.
- Tupperware container of Zatarain's Rice and Beans, made with veggie crumbles. Salty, savory and comforting.
- Snack bag of mini carrots.
- Snack bag of grapes.
-Trail Mix bar.
- String cheese.
-Cold pack, with a paper towel wrapped around to absorb condensation, so as to not sog anything within.
-Banana.

Wow. If you don't already, I recommend doing the Sisyphean task necessary to attract (and keep happy) someone to take care of you like this.
Seriously - I win.

My New Favorites Jackie & Julie

I know I'm not the only one who thinks these two are funny.
(Clip contains strong language, adult situations and Carol Channing)

Need more? I do.

Contractually Obligatory LOLcat Entry

On how many geeked-up levels is this funny? Let me count the ways.



Ah, nontechnical Geekdom. I will never set you free.

In Lubbock, Natalie Maines May As Well Wear the Burqa

Natalie Maines got hooked up with the Dixie Chicks after their singer quit. I think her dad Lloyd asked them to try her out. Anyway, she was always precocious and hardheaded, and obviously hated in Lubbock (but loved by me) for it.

This debuted on Mad TV last October - I have no idea how I missed it. "C'mon, people - we can't help it if the little one has a big mouth!" Ahhhh!




For the actual, extraordinary vid of this Grammy-winning song, check their MySpace page (be sure to pause their audio player, then click the video "play" button on the left). Then read Oges' Natalie page. Then you're free.

Happy Father's Day

This is my Dad reading to Pipie. He's an awesome Dad. And Grandad.

Texas Secretary of State Resigns

Former car dealer and Texas Secretary of State Roger Williams announced his resignation.

The position is widely viewed as a springboard on the way to higher political offices. Our current US attorney general, Alberto "torture can be fun" Gonzales, was one of three Secretaries of State under then-guv Bush.

Williams' sole memorable act was to deny Carole Keeton Strayhorn calling herself by a name no one calls her by. The mother of former Bush Press Secretary Scott "PTSD" McClellan wanted the cute (but silly) right to insert "Grandma" in her name on the ballot, to better compete with Richard "Kinky" Friedman, in the last gubernatorial. Kinky generously offered her the use of the nickname "Asshole from El Paso," but she declined.

The reason Williams gave for resigning was to "pursue other opportunities."

Asked how many opportunities he was planning to pursue, he answered, "this many."


(Side note: The Roger Williams Dealership, of Weatherford, TX has the single most sloppily designed, migraine-inducing web site of any Texas car mart, including the word "Default" inserted in the title, and 33 exclamation points on the home page alone)

Charlyne Yi's Man on the Street

I haven't seen "Knocked Up" yet, but I will, if only for Charlyne Yi. As if I wouldn't see anything with Seth Rogan in it.

Oges, Rain, and the Gonzo Band Still Lost at Kerrville 2007

First time I ever went to the Kerrville Folk Music Festival and didn't get to hear any folk music. It threatened to rain during Trout Fishing in America, and then Dalis shut 'er down.

Since when they don't make Kerrville artists play straight through Texas lightning storms I don't know, but Oges and I went down to the Threadgill Theatre, and the only people playing there were two 20-yr-olds jamming Violent Femmes covers. Which was cool and all, but it wasn't no Bob Livingston and the Lost Gonzo Band, I tell you what, by God. Next time I see Empress Allen I'm giving her a piece of my mind.

But we had a good time. The campfire song swap at SingKerrnicity (where we camped by) was pretty awesome, with Steve Hopkins, Tom Prasada Rao, Cary Cooper, and others playing cover tunes ("covers under cover!" was the chant as the rain poured down).

Here's the Travel Blog:

Fredericksberg, TX, 70 miles west of Austin. We ate lunch at the brewery. Delicious food (w/disk-cut fried pickles, yeowum) and beer (including an amazing authentic German helles).

We walked around Main Street with our beers ("sidewalk consumption is legal").

20 minutes later (after a pre-fest Lone Star and Sam Adams run), we arrived.

Chris gets his wristband.

Perfect empty spot. Someone must've JUST left.

Hat? Check. Smile? Check.

Beer? Check.

Dude! It's NOT gonna rain!

That's SingKerrnicity at the top right.

Ahhh. Finally time to sit.



Then it got darker...

And darker (Trout Fishing's on stage down there)...

And darker...and they shut it down. Then it didn't rain until midnight.



Still, all in all, a pretty great time was had by all. Chris is an awesome camp buddy, and riding through the Texas Hill Country in his white V6 convertible was spectacular.

KERRVILLE, BABY! Dreams of Flying!

Oges and I are off to get all Kerrverted and go see Bob Livingston and the Lost Gonzo Band. To my cross-eyed amusement, their Wikipedia entry mentions tonight's concert!

"Fly! Fly! Be Free!"

Mark Fiore 'Toon - Catch It

I love Pelosi's looney smile, there.

In other news, Bush's Minister of Propaganda announced today that he's jumping the sinking White House ship. Dan Bartlett was 22 when he started working for Karl Rove's cadre of criminality here in Austin. Can't get more whole cloth than that. And even HE can't take it any more.