Magnesium!

75′ of Magnesium Ribbon, purchased via eBay
(Click for more Magnesium photos…)

The coil of magnesium I mentioned a little while back showed up today. It’s just as I expected. And yes, I’ve already burned a small piece of it. I’d forgotten just how brightly that stuff burns.

Today has been pretty busy thus far, too. First I mostly finished up the blueberry cider (photo gallery retired), transferring it from the fermenter to the carboy for aging. Before making this transfer I pressed the remaining juice from the berries using a Italian fruit press a friend loaned to me. It worked very well, leaving a bowl of pressed, almost-tasteless, raisin-looking blueberries in its wake.

I’ve got pretty high hopes for this cider. Compared to the plain cider + honey I made a few weeks earlier it has an amazingly deep purpleish color, and its taste is just great. Sort of a tart apple/berry mixture with a hint of alcohol taste. With another month of aging and carbonation I think it could end up being a really nice beverage.

When I pulled the lid on the fermenter I got to see something which looks more like dirty socks floating in the brew. Those are actually natural cotton sacks which I put the berries into (well, most, I accidently dropped a few) to make collecting them for later pressing easier. It seems that most of the yeast grew while attached to them as well, as there wasn’t really much left in the bottom of the fermenter.

Also, here is a picture of Danielle, taken by looking in the wrong end of a pair of binoculars while she stood at the other side.

Now, I think I’ll go acquire some Thai food, or something of a similar nature. Tomorrow will be spent troubleshooting the Casio SK-1 MIDI Mod I assembled today and am having issues with. And doing laundry. And maybe finishing up some things with the webserver. I’m not sure where the problems with the SK-1 thing lies yet, but I haven’t tried much troubleshooting either. Anyway, yes. Food.