!!!
December 8, 2004
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Well, guess what I did today? Yep, the second batch of beer…
So, yep. It’s sitting there waiting to start fermenting. If everything goes as planned, this will be kegged right around New Year’s Eve. Yay!
Category moved from livejournal
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ISS Vertical Shoulder Bag
December 8, 2004
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Check out this bag. It’s a rather nice laptop bag with a piece of Soyez parachute (from the April, 2004 mission) sewn into the front flap. Really nice looking, I think. Only ~US$95, too.
Happy Hippo
December 6, 2004
[Cross posted to
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Well, I just finished up both photographing and eating an excellent piece of candy. When I was in Frankenmuth, MI on the Saturday after Thanksgiving (in the US), I picked up a rather unique piece of candy, Kinder‘s absolutely wonderful tasting Happy Hippo.
Individually wrapped in a typically Kinder orange, white, and blue wrapper, this US$0.99 (at a gift shop) really catches your eye. Opening the package, one first notices the extreme cuteness of the product, with it’s amazingly shaped cookie shell, covered along the bottom half with chocolate crumbles.
It isn’t until one bites the nose off (or, I guess you could start with the arse), that you first taste, and then see the amazing creamy milk and hazelnut filling. Both layers melt on the tounge, with the creamy milk dissolving first, leaving a slightly thicker hazelnut glaze sliding the tastebuds, wrapping your entire mouth in a rich, furry blanket-like comfort.
I find that while this candy measures in at a smallish four inches long, it packs a mighty bite. The three segment body is best eaten in a number of bites, as the chocolate-caked bottom and wonderfully creamy center make even the smallest of nibbles a satisfying experience. In fact, the first time I ate one of these I was in the car on the way home from Frankenmuth, sipping a wonderful cup of coffee, and thinking I needed something sweet to much on. Reaching into the bag, I grabbed the first Happy Hippo candy purchased that day, and worked my way through it in approximately 10 minutes, taking six or eight bites to do so.
So, in the end, this wonderful candy definitely receives a big thumbs up from me. Unfortunately, having done away with my second (and last) Mr. Happy Hippo, I’m going to have to wait until I can find some for sale in a slightly closer shop.
Oh, that day I also acquired a Kinder bueno which I’ll review a bit later… I’ve had my share of chocolate for the night, and that bar is almost four times as large.
It’s done! (Almost…)
November 29, 2004
[Crossposted to
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Thanks to everyone in
With an OG of 1.043 and a FG of 1.012, my calculations put it at right about 4.15% ABV.
It’s now sitting back in the bathtub, (hopefully) carbonating, and waiting for me to sample it in one week.
If anyone would like to poke through the pictures I took at various times throughout the process, they can all be found here. I’ve also got the notes I kept throughout the process here. I think that next time I’ll ensure that I have enough ice on hand, averting a run to the party store in order to cool the wort (it was still cooled to 70°F within 35 minutes), and use a 6.5 gallon carboy for my primary fermenter.
Oh, and next time I’ll be brewing the California Style Imperial Pale Ale kit mentioned at the top of this page.
Frankenmuth, MI
November 27, 2004
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Well, in a fit of boredom, I decided to head to Frankenmuth by myself today. In case you don’t know, Frankenmuth is a rather interesting German-settled town in central Michigan. It has a really kitschy/campy feel to it, and it’s always decorated for Christmas. Almost as if it’s a storybook Christmas town. I ended up wandering around the town for a bit, poking my head in a few places, and getting a few bits of candy and bread.
While I didn’t make a stop at Bronner’s (which is literally the world’s largest christmas store), I did see a good bit of stuff, including an arcade full of all sorts of old games, which happens to be closing for good tomorrow.
So, if you want to check out the pictures, I’ve got them all uploaded and captioned here. Enjoy. :)
Now I think I’m going to head to Luna… Well, maybe in a few minutes.
Video Updates
November 24, 2004
Hey everybody… Due to a whole bunch of linking to a video on my site by complete strangers (normally I don’t mind this, but it’s used almost 5GB this month alone) and a desire to clean things up, I’ve moved all the videos that had been found in http://www.nuxx.net/files to http://www.nuxx.net/files/videos. So, if for some reason you are looking for something and it seems to have been moved, that’s where it was moved to. :)
Help!
November 23, 2004
I’ve got an idea, and I’m curious if anyone can throw an opinion about it my way.
First off, I have a Kodak DC4800, but it’s getting a bit long in the tooth. I want a new camera, a Nikon D70, but I can’t afford it yet.
So, here’s what I’m thinking of doing…
I should be able to get a Nikon Coolpix 3200 and matching case for ~$158. Rechargable AA batteries for it will run about about $25 with charger, and 512MB of UltraII SD memory $65.99. That makes it about $250 for a new, smaller camera with about the same capabilities as my current one.
The current one should sell for about $125 on eBay, making it all a difference of about $125 for the new camera. This will provide something much smaller and considerably lighter than my current camera, with plenty of memory. Unfortunately the zoom and resolution of this camera is the same as the old one…
Then, sometime next year after saving up a bit, the D75 could be a possibility. This way I’d eventually have a small, more knock-around camera, and a better one for more serious photography.
How does this sound? Does anyone have any suggestions or better ideas?
Thanks!
Picture Update
November 23, 2004
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I spent a bit of time last night scanning in still more negatives. The photo above is from the collection of photos taken when I went to England in 1995 with the L’Anse Creuse High School North Wind Ensamble. We toured around bits of southern England, London, Portsmouth, and a number of other places. These photos are fairly randomly taken bits of that trip. If you are flipping through them from start to finish, be aware that the photos towards the end of the collection are more interesting.
While I’m still being frustrated by discoloration caused by rolling at the ends of strips of negatives in all the photos, I also went ahead and scanned in a number of photos which were taken on my last day of high school. This was my carrying a camera around, snapping photos randomly, showing various people doing various things.
So, that’s it for now. Hopefully tonight I’ll get even more scanned in, maybe a Washington DC trip in 1994 with Civil Air Patrol, some of friends from 1996/1997, Undernet’s #industrial people, etc.
We’ll see how it goes. :)
Links Again:
· England with LCN Wind Ensamble (May 1995)
· Last Day of High School
Ketchikan, Alaska in 1996
November 22, 2004
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I know I posted a bit about this before. However, something I’ve wanted complete for eight years is finally done. I’ve just completed uploading all of the photos that I know to have from the times in 1996 when I visited Ketchikan, Alaska. This was a rather interesting trip made under a number of circumstances (which I won’t get into here). Suffice to say, it was a very memorable and life-changing time for me.
That said, all the photos I know to have are now available, complete with captions. The 158 photos are available for viewing here: http://www.nuxx.net/gallery/alaska_1996
These were batch scanned on an Epson Perfection 3170, then run through a simple Auto Level / Auto Color / Auto Contrast routine in Photoshop. While they aren’t ideal, they do look pretty good, much better than the original prints. I’d imagine that individual images could be cleaned up further if need be.
Please, feel free to look through them, and if you can make corrections to any of the captions, let me know. As these photos were all taken over eight years ago, my memory is a bit fuzzy as to names. However, events and other details are fairly crisp.
If everything goes as planned, I’m hoping to add more photos to the gallery this week, including a trip I took to Washington DC with Civil Air Patrol in (I believe) 1994, England in 1995, many photos I took of people from (I)ndustry BBS, photos from when I was in high school, and a few of some people from Undernet’s #industry.
Beer – Part Deux!
November 20, 2004
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Well, about five and a half days have passed since I brewed up my first batch of beer. As the bubbling has slowed to about four per minute, I figured it was time to get the beer off the trub (the yeast and gunk at the bottom of the fermenter) and into a secondary fermenter to allow it to batch age.
So, that’s what I did, and there’s pictures of it available. To see them, either click here or on the photo above. I’ve also uploaded my current brewing notes in case anyone is interested in reading them.
Some of the notable pictures include:
· I’m impressed by the clarity of the beer thus far.
· The trub – the stuff lingering in the bottom of the fermenter.
· The fermenter, sanitized and ready to go.
· It’s likely to batch age like this for the next two weeks.
Oh, and if anyone here who also brews beer sees anything that I’m doing wrong or can provide me with any pointers, I’d greatly appreciate them.
Thanks!