It's the brewing life for me. I dig this job. You gotta work a lot of hours; but you can work those hours whenever you want. I see why brewers typically start work very early in the morning. It takes about 9 hours to brew a batch of beer. Tack on another 3 hours if you want to do a double brew and fill up the fermenter.
Right now I am lounging in bed at 7 AM because all of our fermenters are full of beer that is still fermenting or barely attenuated. We won't be able to brew again for at least 11 days. There is plenty of maintenance cleaning to be done, but the faucets have been cleaned and we cleaned all the lines on Wednesday. (I can taste the difference in the beer). The brewmaster decided to have an easy Friday today. He can do that. As long as the serving vessels are not empty and the costs are not abnormally high, nobody messes with him. He sets his own hours.
I have been bringing home growlers of our beer, but growlers suck. I have worked the old craigslist magic and acquired an old refrigerator from some old lady in a retirement community. $50 for a working fridge that is still in current use in her kitchen. Scott is bringing his work trailer over tomorrow morning and we will go get this bad boy with the help of a full on appliance dolly we use for barrels at the brewery. I don't plan on breaking a sweat. My boss is going to supply all the tapping equipment for me. From now on, when we decide to empty a serving vessel a little bit early- that beer will go into a keg in my fridge. Hell yeah- it's the brewers life for me.
I am finally getting comfortable with operations at the brewery. That shit was pretty overwhelming at first. It's like a big boy erector set that uses giant hoses, clamps, gaskets, tees, elbows, valves and all sorts of other hardware. Everything centers around a huge hot water tank and a powerful pump. I can't tell you how confusing it all was for the first few days.
Brewing has been really fun this week. We made a bitter on Monday. It's called "extra bitter bitter", and it was the first non regular beer that I helped to make. It was also the first beer that has lots of hops in it. I think we used about 11 pounds of hops for a seven barrel batch. Yesterday we brewed a dopplebock. This was the first high gravity beer I've brewed. It made cleaning the mash tun much harder work. That was a lot of grain. The hopper below the mill actually filled up and the grain was spilling out of the test slot right below the gringers of the mill. We used as much grain as we possibly could. Lot's of specialty grain in that dopplebock. We used a lot of hops in that beer as well, but you won't notice with all that malt. The wort was amazingly sticky. I'm really excited about both of these beers.
I'm struggling to find books that I want to read in the Denver library. You see, Denver does not have the greatest collection of sailing books. In fact, there were only two books that I hadn't read. I bought a couple of cheap paperbacks from our local bookstore, but those books have been consumed long ago. I just read "into the wild". It was a cool book, but I want to read about sailing. Oh well, I guess I'll have to give in and read something else. I definitely can't afford to go online and buy sailing books. Did you know that I make minimum wage? Not for much longer. After another week, I'll be working about 24 hours a week at the brewery and earning the same paycheck.
I have a lead for another job. The guy who delivered some chemicals to the brewery was chatting with my boss and telling him about losing two employees. That would be perfect for me. I could walk in to his business and do anything he needs me to do without any training. I would be able to deliver chemicals to all the breweries in town and get to know the brewers. I will be getting his contact info today.
Only 1 week until the Great American Beer Festival. Tony, Mike and Kelly will all be visiting Denver for this glorious event. The largest beer festival in North America will elude us no longer. How to drink so many beers and remain upright? The boys will be attending 2 nights, but I fear that still won't be enough to taste all the beers that we'll want to sample. We'll see. With the one ounce tasters, we should be able to get through most of them.
Well I guess that I should get out of bed. I don't have to be at the brewery until 11 AM, but I got some things that I want to do this morning; like finish off my leftover mexican food from last night. Talk about your breakfast of champions. I fear no BM. Talk about a band name.....
Friday, October 3, 2008
Monday, September 15, 2008
Working Man
It's official. I have just completed my first shift as a brewer.
I am the assistant brewer at the Denver chophouse and brewery. It's a very nice restaraunt right smack towndown Denver; 1 block from Coors field. The brewery is located in the middle of the restaraunt and is glassed in on 3 sides. The brewers are visible to all.
The brewmaster is Kevin Marley. He brews 8 beers on site. 2 stouts, a red, a wheat, a pale ale and 3 lagers. That's right- 3 lagers. I was blown away by that. The fermenting tanks have centrally cooled glycol running around the lining, so temperature control is not a problem. The brewery is bigger than I thought it would be. There is a lot of capacity there. There is also a lot to be maintained.
Today I disassembled, cleaned and reassembled tap faucets for 2 hours. I did manage to gouge my hand with a screwdriver while trying to poke out a stubborn faucet part. Luckily the boss wasn't around, so I tracked down a first aid kit and bandaged myself up. It is a pretty nasty cut. I got a system down after the wounding and hauled ass through the last 8 taps. The brewery supplies 2 sepearate onsite bars with a total of 48 taps. The second place is a dueling piano bar called sing sing.
I spent the morning getting a very long and detailed tour of all parts of the brewery and beer system. I always figured that some outside company maintained the CO2 lines and beer line runs. Not so much. That shit is complicated- and will soon be my responsibility.
Kevin has never had a well trained assistant, so I agreed to get paid very little money in order to work with him full time for one month and get trained. After one month or so, my hours will go down, but my hourly wage will go way up. Hopefully I can pick up some shifts at other breweries at that point. This plan will allow Kevin to finally have an assistant that can handle any facet of the operation. It will free him of much responsibility, and I will hopefully get more responsibility than the average assistant. I am totally fired up about it.
It's actually nice to be working again, even if I am taking a large paycut from being unemployed. I don't like being unemployed. I was always feeling guilty about not being productive enough. I would rather go to work and be forced to be productive: then I can come home and be lazy with a clear conscious. Hell, I haven't updated this thing in 4 weeks while being unemployed, now I make an entry the first day after work. See!
I gotta go walk the dog. Heather will be home soon, and our landlord will be visiting us this afternoon. She is in town from Chicago and wants to drop by to meet us and check on her house. I can't wait to show her the stuff that she is too cheap to get fixed.
I am the assistant brewer at the Denver chophouse and brewery. It's a very nice restaraunt right smack towndown Denver; 1 block from Coors field. The brewery is located in the middle of the restaraunt and is glassed in on 3 sides. The brewers are visible to all.
The brewmaster is Kevin Marley. He brews 8 beers on site. 2 stouts, a red, a wheat, a pale ale and 3 lagers. That's right- 3 lagers. I was blown away by that. The fermenting tanks have centrally cooled glycol running around the lining, so temperature control is not a problem. The brewery is bigger than I thought it would be. There is a lot of capacity there. There is also a lot to be maintained.
Today I disassembled, cleaned and reassembled tap faucets for 2 hours. I did manage to gouge my hand with a screwdriver while trying to poke out a stubborn faucet part. Luckily the boss wasn't around, so I tracked down a first aid kit and bandaged myself up. It is a pretty nasty cut. I got a system down after the wounding and hauled ass through the last 8 taps. The brewery supplies 2 sepearate onsite bars with a total of 48 taps. The second place is a dueling piano bar called sing sing.
I spent the morning getting a very long and detailed tour of all parts of the brewery and beer system. I always figured that some outside company maintained the CO2 lines and beer line runs. Not so much. That shit is complicated- and will soon be my responsibility.
Kevin has never had a well trained assistant, so I agreed to get paid very little money in order to work with him full time for one month and get trained. After one month or so, my hours will go down, but my hourly wage will go way up. Hopefully I can pick up some shifts at other breweries at that point. This plan will allow Kevin to finally have an assistant that can handle any facet of the operation. It will free him of much responsibility, and I will hopefully get more responsibility than the average assistant. I am totally fired up about it.
It's actually nice to be working again, even if I am taking a large paycut from being unemployed. I don't like being unemployed. I was always feeling guilty about not being productive enough. I would rather go to work and be forced to be productive: then I can come home and be lazy with a clear conscious. Hell, I haven't updated this thing in 4 weeks while being unemployed, now I make an entry the first day after work. See!
I gotta go walk the dog. Heather will be home soon, and our landlord will be visiting us this afternoon. She is in town from Chicago and wants to drop by to meet us and check on her house. I can't wait to show her the stuff that she is too cheap to get fixed.
Monday, August 18, 2008
Welcome to Mile High
So much for the beer blog. I have tried no new beers since the last post.
I have, however, learned a whole lot about beer. I have decided to solicit Great Divide Brewing for a job. I'm aware that the odds of me being hired are quite slim, but I gotta try. I wanted to do some reading before writing my resume in order to make it sound like I know a lot about making beer. Great Divide (GD) is located smack downtown Denver. Easy bike ride from the duplex. GD knows how to make good beer. Typically they brew in a more traditional European style, but their beers are always high quality and some of them are quite big. Their Hercules double IPA is a huge beer, as are a couple of their other beers. When they want to brew west coast style, they do it well. Every year in the fall they bring in a huge shipment of fresh hops after the harvest season and brew up a pale ale using loads of fresh hops at the end of the boil, on the way to the fermenter as well as during fermenting (dry hopping). They know what they're doing and I want them to teach me. We'll see. My ass has to re-write my resume first.
Heather and I are settling into our new place nicely. The unpacking is finished. The one thing that we were desperately missing was a grill. I have been watching craigslist like a hawk, and this morning someone posted a basic weber kettle that was brand new in the box. Less than half the cost of new. I was all over that weber like a guy who really needs a grill.
Remember when you didn't know where you were going and you had to get diresctions from people? I ask for this guys adress and he asks where I am. I tell him, and then he starts giving me directions. I was like "hey grandpa, just give me your adress alright"? Google maps gives way clearer directions than some guy I don't know. Hell, I don't even use the directions. I just look at the map and write down whatever I think that I will forget. Of course, I am directionally gifted.
Got home and put together the kettle in a snap. There was a brief interuption when the maintenance man showed up to the duplex. Ya see, we have this slight problem. There's a hole in our garbage disposal. Neat, huh? We had the cabinet door open while cooking the other night to access the garbage when Heather flips on the garbage disposal and gets squirted in the leg. Oops. Come to find out, it leaks anytime the water backs up at all and pours out of the hole.
Then we got some rain this weekend. O.K.- we got a lot of rain this weekend. Turns out our skylight in the bathroom leaks. Drip drip drip into the tub is one thing, but drip drip drip on my head while I'm sittin' on the throne aint gonna work at all. I don't care how rarely it rains in Denver, that's gotta get fixed.
The maintenance guy was totally cool. We talked old houses and he made sure to let me know that he knows a lot more than me. That's fine. Know it alls like myself need to be put in our place from time to time. This dude was like a cowboy/hippie with a lazy eye. I don't know how else to explain it. Shoulder length red hair with earrings, but jeans with a denim shirt and a Chevy Tahoe. We hit it off instantly. I'm thinking about asking him out on a date.
The Dallas Cowboys played the Denver Broncos in a preseason matchup last Saturday at Mile High Stadium in Denver. Damn right I was there. Eric Engelbrecht, Scott Perkins and yours truly got together for some boozin' and grubbin' before the rain game 2008. It poured all weekend. Luckily it stopped in the afternoon on Saturday for a while. We didn't get rained on too bad until we were so drunk that we didn't care. I'm not even sure that I noticed.
Yates promised that he would hook us up with good tickets if we would wait till after kickoff, so we posted up at the hotel bar right next to the stadium. Kickoff, first drive for the Broncos, first drive for the Cowboys. Our faith was dwindling. We were wishing we would have scalped. Finally we went down to the stub hub room of the hotel and Eric went in to do a little Yandon Brates name dropping. About ten minutes later we were sitting 8th row on the 50 yard line. I never lost faith in Brandon- I swear. That man could charm the thong off a stripper. Better than you.
I haven't been out with guys like Eric and Scott in a while. We kinda got a little out of hand with the boozing. My condition Sunday would best be described as un-operational. Sometimes you gotta sacrifice a Sunday if you want memories like that. By that, I mean memories that you have to work for. You know, you're in the shower three days later and you remember why there was cream cheese in your shoe. Ah.... good times.
Well, the breadwinner is home from work, so I'm gonna go enjoy a happy hour beer and some snacks with the little lady.
I have, however, learned a whole lot about beer. I have decided to solicit Great Divide Brewing for a job. I'm aware that the odds of me being hired are quite slim, but I gotta try. I wanted to do some reading before writing my resume in order to make it sound like I know a lot about making beer. Great Divide (GD) is located smack downtown Denver. Easy bike ride from the duplex. GD knows how to make good beer. Typically they brew in a more traditional European style, but their beers are always high quality and some of them are quite big. Their Hercules double IPA is a huge beer, as are a couple of their other beers. When they want to brew west coast style, they do it well. Every year in the fall they bring in a huge shipment of fresh hops after the harvest season and brew up a pale ale using loads of fresh hops at the end of the boil, on the way to the fermenter as well as during fermenting (dry hopping). They know what they're doing and I want them to teach me. We'll see. My ass has to re-write my resume first.
Heather and I are settling into our new place nicely. The unpacking is finished. The one thing that we were desperately missing was a grill. I have been watching craigslist like a hawk, and this morning someone posted a basic weber kettle that was brand new in the box. Less than half the cost of new. I was all over that weber like a guy who really needs a grill.
Remember when you didn't know where you were going and you had to get diresctions from people? I ask for this guys adress and he asks where I am. I tell him, and then he starts giving me directions. I was like "hey grandpa, just give me your adress alright"? Google maps gives way clearer directions than some guy I don't know. Hell, I don't even use the directions. I just look at the map and write down whatever I think that I will forget. Of course, I am directionally gifted.
Got home and put together the kettle in a snap. There was a brief interuption when the maintenance man showed up to the duplex. Ya see, we have this slight problem. There's a hole in our garbage disposal. Neat, huh? We had the cabinet door open while cooking the other night to access the garbage when Heather flips on the garbage disposal and gets squirted in the leg. Oops. Come to find out, it leaks anytime the water backs up at all and pours out of the hole.
Then we got some rain this weekend. O.K.- we got a lot of rain this weekend. Turns out our skylight in the bathroom leaks. Drip drip drip into the tub is one thing, but drip drip drip on my head while I'm sittin' on the throne aint gonna work at all. I don't care how rarely it rains in Denver, that's gotta get fixed.
The maintenance guy was totally cool. We talked old houses and he made sure to let me know that he knows a lot more than me. That's fine. Know it alls like myself need to be put in our place from time to time. This dude was like a cowboy/hippie with a lazy eye. I don't know how else to explain it. Shoulder length red hair with earrings, but jeans with a denim shirt and a Chevy Tahoe. We hit it off instantly. I'm thinking about asking him out on a date.
The Dallas Cowboys played the Denver Broncos in a preseason matchup last Saturday at Mile High Stadium in Denver. Damn right I was there. Eric Engelbrecht, Scott Perkins and yours truly got together for some boozin' and grubbin' before the rain game 2008. It poured all weekend. Luckily it stopped in the afternoon on Saturday for a while. We didn't get rained on too bad until we were so drunk that we didn't care. I'm not even sure that I noticed.
Yates promised that he would hook us up with good tickets if we would wait till after kickoff, so we posted up at the hotel bar right next to the stadium. Kickoff, first drive for the Broncos, first drive for the Cowboys. Our faith was dwindling. We were wishing we would have scalped. Finally we went down to the stub hub room of the hotel and Eric went in to do a little Yandon Brates name dropping. About ten minutes later we were sitting 8th row on the 50 yard line. I never lost faith in Brandon- I swear. That man could charm the thong off a stripper. Better than you.
I haven't been out with guys like Eric and Scott in a while. We kinda got a little out of hand with the boozing. My condition Sunday would best be described as un-operational. Sometimes you gotta sacrifice a Sunday if you want memories like that. By that, I mean memories that you have to work for. You know, you're in the shower three days later and you remember why there was cream cheese in your shoe. Ah.... good times.
Well, the breadwinner is home from work, so I'm gonna go enjoy a happy hour beer and some snacks with the little lady.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
New Blog Purpose
Until I get a job, this is going to turn into a beer blog. Just what the blog world needs....
Today I had another fine brew from the folks at O'Dells brewing in Ft. Collins, CO. At least there's one good brewery in Ft. Collins. Seriously though, O'Dells is the shit. Clearly my favorite new discovery in the beer world. It's hard to put anyone ahead of Avery, but O'dells is gat dang good.
The stores in Denver get a larger variety of brews from Green Flash brewing in San Diego. I am enjoying a bomber of Imperial IPA as I write this. Wait........mmmmm that's good. Waiting for me at the liquor store down the street is a red ale from the flash, as well as a nut brown and a stout.
Denver distributors also boast a larger selection from Dogfish, Stone, Moylans, and of course Avery. The one brewery that I am already missing is Bear Republic. No more Red Rocket for me...... boo hoo. The beer guy at my local kick-ass liquor store tells me that Bear Republic was only available in bombers, and they didn't sell well at all. The distributor told him that Bear Republic was having problems with distribution. Bullshit. When I told him that Portland gets sixers of red rocket and racer 5, he was pissed.
You know what's funny? Well I do. Denver has every Bridgeport beer in sixers; even ESB. Portland stores don't even carry all the bridgeport stuff. I just assumed that they didn't bottle the ESB. Whatever- Bridgeport is low on the micro totem poll anyhow. Not as low as New Belgium.
Did somebody mention New Belgium? God I hate them much more now. Every place in Denver has god damn New Belgium. Me: "Hi there, what micros do you have? Server X: "Oh- we have all the New Belgium beers". What am I supposed to say? If I roll my eyes and then ask if they have any good micros- I sound like a beer snob/geek- which is so geeky. If I say nothing, then the server might think that I know so little about beer or my taste in beer is so unrefined that I actually like that crap.
Eric Engelbrecht just walked in- we're gonna take the dogs to the dog park I guess.
Happy drinkin
Today I had another fine brew from the folks at O'Dells brewing in Ft. Collins, CO. At least there's one good brewery in Ft. Collins. Seriously though, O'Dells is the shit. Clearly my favorite new discovery in the beer world. It's hard to put anyone ahead of Avery, but O'dells is gat dang good.
The stores in Denver get a larger variety of brews from Green Flash brewing in San Diego. I am enjoying a bomber of Imperial IPA as I write this. Wait........mmmmm that's good. Waiting for me at the liquor store down the street is a red ale from the flash, as well as a nut brown and a stout.
Denver distributors also boast a larger selection from Dogfish, Stone, Moylans, and of course Avery. The one brewery that I am already missing is Bear Republic. No more Red Rocket for me...... boo hoo. The beer guy at my local kick-ass liquor store tells me that Bear Republic was only available in bombers, and they didn't sell well at all. The distributor told him that Bear Republic was having problems with distribution. Bullshit. When I told him that Portland gets sixers of red rocket and racer 5, he was pissed.
You know what's funny? Well I do. Denver has every Bridgeport beer in sixers; even ESB. Portland stores don't even carry all the bridgeport stuff. I just assumed that they didn't bottle the ESB. Whatever- Bridgeport is low on the micro totem poll anyhow. Not as low as New Belgium.
Did somebody mention New Belgium? God I hate them much more now. Every place in Denver has god damn New Belgium. Me: "Hi there, what micros do you have? Server X: "Oh- we have all the New Belgium beers". What am I supposed to say? If I roll my eyes and then ask if they have any good micros- I sound like a beer snob/geek- which is so geeky. If I say nothing, then the server might think that I know so little about beer or my taste in beer is so unrefined that I actually like that crap.
Eric Engelbrecht just walked in- we're gonna take the dogs to the dog park I guess.
Happy drinkin
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Back Online
Life without the internets? In 2008? For me, this was the reality for a while.
I left Atlanta and drove to Arkansas. I have no fancy smartphone to access either the fancy new 3g nor the snail like edge mobile networks. I landed at my grandpas house which happens to be right exactly in the middle of nowhere, USA. He is old. There is no internet connection available.
I end up spending the majority of the trip in the White County Hospital, where there is no available internet connection. After speaking with countless very nice but very redneck people, I finally learned that one can pick up the wireless network from one area of the hospital. I rushed to the "canteen" only to find that while there is in fact a wireless network connection, there is no internet connection.
You may be saying to yourself "what a dumbass, why didn't he just go to a Starbucks"? Well, dumbass, you've obviously never been to Searcy, Arkansas. Starbucks aint everywhere yet.
Back to Atlanta and a quick posting from the Simon house before coming back to Denver and moving into my new duplex with no internet connection. Yes, my neighborhood has an abundance of coffee shops with wifi, but one would be required to get out of bed and go to said wifi hotspot.
After moving all of our crap into our new duplex last Saturday, (thanks for the help Jen and Steve) Scott Perkins made a visit to the new place. Pretty god dang good to see that guy. I look forward to much Skitt time this year. Anyhow- crashed hard Saturday night after much hard work and several well deserved Colorado microbrews.
I awoke Sunday to a bit of grogginess. I didn't last very long on the old dog walk before I was freakin spent. I came home and sat down complaining of general puniness. An hour later I was running roughly the same temperature as my car pulling a mountain pass.
Fever, muscle soreness and joint pain racked me for two days. Man I was out. I kept thinking of the two ticks that I pulled off of myself the previous week in Arkansas. Guess I should have gotten some temporary medical insurance. Doh!
I feel much better today, but still not 100%. At least the fever is gone. Feeling plenty good to go sample some more of that Colorado microbrew tonight.
Comcast showed up yesterday to finally hook up our internet. The tech ran all the cable and hooked up the modem, but he couldn't activate the service. Apparently the comcast software that activates new modems was down nationwide. No new internet for me yesterday.
Finally got hooked up today and spent the afternoon perusing craigslist for jobs. Man I don't wanna sell shit, drive truck or dispatch. Tell you what though; those are the good paying jobs that I am qualified for. Fuck it- I'm not gonna do it.
I'm gonna go find someone in Denver that makes really good beer. Then I'm gonna beg them to teach me how they do it. Yes, I will be their bitch: but I will not be selling shit, driving truck or dispatching. If I cannot find a brewpub that makes what I consider to be a high quality product, then I will solicit Avery for a job. It won't be a fun commute, but at least I wouldn't have to worry about traffic at the times they would likely have me start and finish my shift of doing all the gruntwork. If all these attempts fail, then maybe it's time to start looking at the retail end of things. Whatever it takes, beer industry- here I come. Eventually. It could take a while to sample all of these brewpubs you know.
I left Atlanta and drove to Arkansas. I have no fancy smartphone to access either the fancy new 3g nor the snail like edge mobile networks. I landed at my grandpas house which happens to be right exactly in the middle of nowhere, USA. He is old. There is no internet connection available.
I end up spending the majority of the trip in the White County Hospital, where there is no available internet connection. After speaking with countless very nice but very redneck people, I finally learned that one can pick up the wireless network from one area of the hospital. I rushed to the "canteen" only to find that while there is in fact a wireless network connection, there is no internet connection.
You may be saying to yourself "what a dumbass, why didn't he just go to a Starbucks"? Well, dumbass, you've obviously never been to Searcy, Arkansas. Starbucks aint everywhere yet.
Back to Atlanta and a quick posting from the Simon house before coming back to Denver and moving into my new duplex with no internet connection. Yes, my neighborhood has an abundance of coffee shops with wifi, but one would be required to get out of bed and go to said wifi hotspot.
After moving all of our crap into our new duplex last Saturday, (thanks for the help Jen and Steve) Scott Perkins made a visit to the new place. Pretty god dang good to see that guy. I look forward to much Skitt time this year. Anyhow- crashed hard Saturday night after much hard work and several well deserved Colorado microbrews.
I awoke Sunday to a bit of grogginess. I didn't last very long on the old dog walk before I was freakin spent. I came home and sat down complaining of general puniness. An hour later I was running roughly the same temperature as my car pulling a mountain pass.
Fever, muscle soreness and joint pain racked me for two days. Man I was out. I kept thinking of the two ticks that I pulled off of myself the previous week in Arkansas. Guess I should have gotten some temporary medical insurance. Doh!
I feel much better today, but still not 100%. At least the fever is gone. Feeling plenty good to go sample some more of that Colorado microbrew tonight.
Comcast showed up yesterday to finally hook up our internet. The tech ran all the cable and hooked up the modem, but he couldn't activate the service. Apparently the comcast software that activates new modems was down nationwide. No new internet for me yesterday.
Finally got hooked up today and spent the afternoon perusing craigslist for jobs. Man I don't wanna sell shit, drive truck or dispatch. Tell you what though; those are the good paying jobs that I am qualified for. Fuck it- I'm not gonna do it.
I'm gonna go find someone in Denver that makes really good beer. Then I'm gonna beg them to teach me how they do it. Yes, I will be their bitch: but I will not be selling shit, driving truck or dispatching. If I cannot find a brewpub that makes what I consider to be a high quality product, then I will solicit Avery for a job. It won't be a fun commute, but at least I wouldn't have to worry about traffic at the times they would likely have me start and finish my shift of doing all the gruntwork. If all these attempts fail, then maybe it's time to start looking at the retail end of things. Whatever it takes, beer industry- here I come. Eventually. It could take a while to sample all of these brewpubs you know.
Friday, August 1, 2008
This Land is My Land
10 States in 7 days. That includes a 2 day 3 night stop in Park City.
I went from coast to motherfukin coast.
Left the new home-base Denver and flew to the A-town where my pops scooped me up after a ride on the MARTA. Hit up El Azteca for loads of white cheese dip before heading over to Tony and Gia's for the night. Typical fun filled booze fueled evening at the Simon's.
Picked up pops on Thursday in the AM and started driving to Arkansas. Upon our arrival at Gramps house, we were informed by Grandpa that he has been experiencing chest pain and dizziness when he over exerts himself. Come to find out, over exert is being defined here as walking at a normal pace. Good thing he told us instead of a body mechanic.
We drug him to the physician kicking and screaming the next morning. He was given a heart monitor to wear and an appt. was made for the following Tuesday. The doc didn't see anything urgently wrong with him. This was Friday.
Saturday night we were calling an ambulance for an unrelated issue. Gramps landed in the critical care unit where they determined his non-heart problem to be no big deal. While we were sitting in the critical care room, me and pops informed the nurse of the heart problem. The nurse watched his heart monitor for a couple of minutes and was disturbed. He said (in a redneck accent) "well I'll be- I don't like this at all. He's throwing every type of arythmia in the textbook".
The nurse calls for a cardiologist on early Sunday morning. The heart doc arrives about noon on Sunday and examines Gramps for about 20 minutes before announcing that he is very concerned. Off to the cath lab for a look see inside the ticker. Major blockage in all but one opening. It was so bad that they called the surgeon in right then. They had to get all the people on his team in on a Sunday night. I wonder how many people had been drinking? They haul him in and do a quadruple bypass right then.
Gramps is doing pretty well I guess. How good can you feel 5 days after being opened up like a tin can. They saw right through that chest bone and peel ya open. They wire your chest shut when they're done, but there's just a bit of soreness going on there.
I drove back to Atlanta solo on Thursday while pops will be staying with Gramps for a week before catching a one way flight back home. Tony picked me up after I dropped off pop's car and we headed over to Charlie Mopps for a much needed beer. White County Arkansas is a dry county ya see. Back to the Simon's for a late night marathon Rock-Band session and a late morning into work for the Geester.
Tony and I are off to the Brick Store for some lunch. If you don't know- the Brick Store is the best pub in the USA. That's right- I haven't been to every pub in the USA, and you've never met any of the major gods. Faith.
I have developed a slightly dangerous driving habit. Boredom has led me to look for new viewpoints. I have started viewing oncoming cars by looking at the reflection from my sunglasses viewed via the rear view mirror. Think about it. Then try it.
Back to Denver tonight and moving into the new duplex tomorrow. My life moves fast. You probably couldn't keep up.
I went from coast to motherfukin coast.
Left the new home-base Denver and flew to the A-town where my pops scooped me up after a ride on the MARTA. Hit up El Azteca for loads of white cheese dip before heading over to Tony and Gia's for the night. Typical fun filled booze fueled evening at the Simon's.
Picked up pops on Thursday in the AM and started driving to Arkansas. Upon our arrival at Gramps house, we were informed by Grandpa that he has been experiencing chest pain and dizziness when he over exerts himself. Come to find out, over exert is being defined here as walking at a normal pace. Good thing he told us instead of a body mechanic.
We drug him to the physician kicking and screaming the next morning. He was given a heart monitor to wear and an appt. was made for the following Tuesday. The doc didn't see anything urgently wrong with him. This was Friday.
Saturday night we were calling an ambulance for an unrelated issue. Gramps landed in the critical care unit where they determined his non-heart problem to be no big deal. While we were sitting in the critical care room, me and pops informed the nurse of the heart problem. The nurse watched his heart monitor for a couple of minutes and was disturbed. He said (in a redneck accent) "well I'll be- I don't like this at all. He's throwing every type of arythmia in the textbook".
The nurse calls for a cardiologist on early Sunday morning. The heart doc arrives about noon on Sunday and examines Gramps for about 20 minutes before announcing that he is very concerned. Off to the cath lab for a look see inside the ticker. Major blockage in all but one opening. It was so bad that they called the surgeon in right then. They had to get all the people on his team in on a Sunday night. I wonder how many people had been drinking? They haul him in and do a quadruple bypass right then.
Gramps is doing pretty well I guess. How good can you feel 5 days after being opened up like a tin can. They saw right through that chest bone and peel ya open. They wire your chest shut when they're done, but there's just a bit of soreness going on there.
I drove back to Atlanta solo on Thursday while pops will be staying with Gramps for a week before catching a one way flight back home. Tony picked me up after I dropped off pop's car and we headed over to Charlie Mopps for a much needed beer. White County Arkansas is a dry county ya see. Back to the Simon's for a late night marathon Rock-Band session and a late morning into work for the Geester.
Tony and I are off to the Brick Store for some lunch. If you don't know- the Brick Store is the best pub in the USA. That's right- I haven't been to every pub in the USA, and you've never met any of the major gods. Faith.
I have developed a slightly dangerous driving habit. Boredom has led me to look for new viewpoints. I have started viewing oncoming cars by looking at the reflection from my sunglasses viewed via the rear view mirror. Think about it. Then try it.
Back to Denver tonight and moving into the new duplex tomorrow. My life moves fast. You probably couldn't keep up.
Monday, July 7, 2008
Very Mobile
So we have a tenant for our house. Signed contract and all that stuff. Their lease starts July 17th.
We have decided on a duplex in Denver. It's 8 houses down from Jen and Steve's house on the same street! It's a 2 bedroom on a corner lot, so the entrances to the units are on different streets. It also has a finished basement with a second full bath down there and a garage. It's a really nice place as far as finish work and kitchen/bath. We can't move in until August 1st, so we will be living with Jen and Steve for a couple of weeks.
We're VIP tenants. I would just call landlords and tell them about Heather and I over the phone and explain that Jen and Steve were viewing properties for us. The landlord always said something like this: "O.K. I will wait to hear from Jen and Steve before I show the house to anyone else." Every one of them offered us their houses. Damn it feels good to be an adult sometimes. I have to give some credit to Steve and Jen here: I would give them reason to believe we would be great tenants over the phone and then after they met Jen and Steve they were convinced that we were high class. I set em up, they knock em down.
We have 2 ABF moving cubes being dropped at our house on Monday the 14th. They are going to deliver them to the new place in Denver whenever we want. We prepaid for a months storage on them. These moving cubes are the only way to move! It turns out that they were cheaper than renting a truck and driving it ourselves. Once we decided to get a 2 bedroom place in Denver, we were going to take too much stuff to fit into a u-haul trailer behind the Jeep, so it was either cubes or truck.
We had our moving sale last weekend. Made $1,500. We only had 2 items over $50. One for $150 and one for $125. I made huge A frame signs to put on the busy streets. We had lots of traffic. It's amazing what hippies can carry on bicycles.
Our house is a disater area, but we're on track to get packed on time. It's a big house and we've been there for 10 years. Going through cabinets and drawers is a long process involving a whole lot of nostalgia. It's hard not to get lost in blissful memories of being young and fun. Now get back to work.
Another great thing about renting the house (besides the huge profits) is that we were forced to finally take care of all the house maintenance issues that we've been putting off for years. After every single item, I wondered which of us would be the first to say "why didn't we do this years ago"? The answer always involves the words Phil and lazy and/or fuckhead.
So we leave town on the morning of July 17th. Me driving the Jeep, Heather rolling the Lexus. We will be rocking walkie talkies that I stole from work. We will drive to Boise on Thursday and grab a hotel room for the night. We'll get up on Friday and drive to Park City, UT where we will spend the weekend with the Wageck family. We will get up Monday morning the 21st and drive from Park City to Denver. Easy as that.
I am hoping to take a flight to Atlanta later that week and hook up with Big Gar. We will drive to Arkansas and hangout with Old Man Phifer for a while before driving back to Atlanta.
Then I gotta get back to Denver and get a jobbie job. I'm thinking at this point that I'll try to get in with a brewer and learn how to really make beer. I know that I'll just be cleaning all the time, but I'll still get to learn. I dig brewers hours. Those cats work crazy early in the morning. And oh yeah- I kinda like beer too.
So that's that. Aint nothin to it but to do it.
We have decided on a duplex in Denver. It's 8 houses down from Jen and Steve's house on the same street! It's a 2 bedroom on a corner lot, so the entrances to the units are on different streets. It also has a finished basement with a second full bath down there and a garage. It's a really nice place as far as finish work and kitchen/bath. We can't move in until August 1st, so we will be living with Jen and Steve for a couple of weeks.
We're VIP tenants. I would just call landlords and tell them about Heather and I over the phone and explain that Jen and Steve were viewing properties for us. The landlord always said something like this: "O.K. I will wait to hear from Jen and Steve before I show the house to anyone else." Every one of them offered us their houses. Damn it feels good to be an adult sometimes. I have to give some credit to Steve and Jen here: I would give them reason to believe we would be great tenants over the phone and then after they met Jen and Steve they were convinced that we were high class. I set em up, they knock em down.
We have 2 ABF moving cubes being dropped at our house on Monday the 14th. They are going to deliver them to the new place in Denver whenever we want. We prepaid for a months storage on them. These moving cubes are the only way to move! It turns out that they were cheaper than renting a truck and driving it ourselves. Once we decided to get a 2 bedroom place in Denver, we were going to take too much stuff to fit into a u-haul trailer behind the Jeep, so it was either cubes or truck.
We had our moving sale last weekend. Made $1,500. We only had 2 items over $50. One for $150 and one for $125. I made huge A frame signs to put on the busy streets. We had lots of traffic. It's amazing what hippies can carry on bicycles.
Our house is a disater area, but we're on track to get packed on time. It's a big house and we've been there for 10 years. Going through cabinets and drawers is a long process involving a whole lot of nostalgia. It's hard not to get lost in blissful memories of being young and fun. Now get back to work.
Another great thing about renting the house (besides the huge profits) is that we were forced to finally take care of all the house maintenance issues that we've been putting off for years. After every single item, I wondered which of us would be the first to say "why didn't we do this years ago"? The answer always involves the words Phil and lazy and/or fuckhead.
So we leave town on the morning of July 17th. Me driving the Jeep, Heather rolling the Lexus. We will be rocking walkie talkies that I stole from work. We will drive to Boise on Thursday and grab a hotel room for the night. We'll get up on Friday and drive to Park City, UT where we will spend the weekend with the Wageck family. We will get up Monday morning the 21st and drive from Park City to Denver. Easy as that.
I am hoping to take a flight to Atlanta later that week and hook up with Big Gar. We will drive to Arkansas and hangout with Old Man Phifer for a while before driving back to Atlanta.
Then I gotta get back to Denver and get a jobbie job. I'm thinking at this point that I'll try to get in with a brewer and learn how to really make beer. I know that I'll just be cleaning all the time, but I'll still get to learn. I dig brewers hours. Those cats work crazy early in the morning. And oh yeah- I kinda like beer too.
So that's that. Aint nothin to it but to do it.
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