My Shit

So I've been working out like crazy since the new year. No, not a New Year's resolution, just a general goal of being less fat. I am actually back to the weight I was when I was at my heaviest at RHIT! I can't freaking stand it.

But working out isn't freaking working. Since I've started working out I've gained 10lbs! What the hell is going on? I've tried watching what I eat a little more than I had been, I've been running, and lift too. It doesn't seem to be working.

Agggh.

Four jobs I’ve had:

1. Farm Kid
2. Engineer
3. Projectionist
4. Student (hey, grad school pays!)

Four things I want to do before I die:

1. Work for a race team
2. Finish my Superbee
3. Own a Porsche
4. Write a book

Four things I say a lot:

1. “Go you stupid mother fucker”
2. “The gas is on the right you stupid ass bag”
3. “Get out of my fucking way you stupid ass pony bitch”
4. “Go. Go, go, go, go, go!”

Four of my favorite foods:

1. Beer
2. Vodka
3. Gin
4. Spaghetti

Four people I’d like to curse:

1. Anyone driving in front of me
2. Dan Gransinger (who has deleted his blog of hate now that he's running for public office)
3. Dub-ya
4. The ignorant group of civil engineers and city planners that designed the highway and public transportation system in this city. GA400 is a death trap, MARTA sucks ass, and if there's 1 ramp for any direction off or on the interstate there should be 4 (why confuse these already inept drivers?).

Four things I don’t trust:

1. Government
2. Insurance companies
3. Most people
4. Big business

Four people from history I’d like to meet:

1. The person that invented the IC engine
2. The person that thought it would be neat to put 3 2bbl carbs on an engine and call it a 6-pack
3. The person that discovered beer
4. Write Brothers

Four movies I watch over and over:

1. Clerks
2. Happy Gilmore
3. Good Will Hunting
4. Dukes of Hazard

Four people I’m tagging:
1. Not going to do this to anyone else

One nice thing about studying creativity is that I can go to a puppet show and call it research.

I promised these pictures several months ago. Luckily I work on my own schedule.


The trunk before I cleaned it up.


Notice the lexan covering the power distribution area. This is probably my favorite part of the entire thing. I brough in about 2ga cable, then used grounding strips from Home Depot to land it, tie in some capacitors, and then feed out the power to the amps.


After the clean up. Not perfect, but it only took a couple of hours. Now my stuff doesn't slide all of the trunk and look like total trash.

Bottling day was Thursday. I am very worried about the first beer. I really don't know if it fermented well. We used some extra sugar to try to get the alcohol content up, and that may not have been a good idea. We also put the yeast into the wort when the wort may have been too hot (may have caused the fermenting issue). And then the sugar for the bottle conditioning didn't mix well.

But it's all okay. We'll wait a couple of weeks for the stuff to bottle condition, and then try it out. Hopefully things went well. I've ordered some more stuff from Mr. Beer so that we don't have to use sugar. And now that I've been reading the information from How to Brew maybe the next batch will be better.

... is something that doesn't exist. I want a set of noise canceling, wireless headphones. Someone needs to make these, then give me a set.

It looks like China may have discovered America in 1421: very interesting.

My fantastic girlfriend got me a Mr. Beer brewing kit for Christmas. I've wanted to try my hand at making beer for a long time. I think this was a nice gentle step in that direction.

I can think of several faster ways to get beer: the grocery store, a bar, a restaurant, a liquor store, or a friend's house. But making it and watching it grow/brew has been kind of fun. We started a batch about a week ago. It is supposed to take about a week for the little yeast'ies to do their work. We still have floaters, and can leave the brew going for up to three weeks before bottling. I think I'll probably wait two or a little over two total.

One of the best kinds of bottles for home brew is a Grolsch flip top bottle because they can be used over and over again. The Mr. Beer makes two gallons of beer and, well, I didn't have 2 gallons worth of Grolsch bottles just sitting around waiting to be used for this purpose. So 16 bottles of Grolsch later, I now have the bottles I need.

Of course, once bottled, you have to wait at least a week before cracking the first one open. I'll likely wait closer to three. So, 2 weeks for brewing, 3 weeks for bottle conditioning, and now we are up to over a month waiting for beer! That's just crazy. I have enjoyed the process, but the anticipation is getting to me. Luckily, we live close to a good liquor store, restaurants, bars, and a downstairs neighbor that keeps hard liquor.

Finally getting feedback from my professors beyond just my grades. Things are going very well here. I am pretty excited now. A paper I turned in for a course is nearly good enough to be my first year paper (which isn't due until about this time next year) and is also a good start for my 2nd year paper. I am very excited.

Organizational Behavior and Strategy are often rolled into one department at most schools. Only some schools, such as Georgia Tech and Northwestern run them as totally different groups.

Today marks the first day of classes for the spring semester.

I did manage to get finished most of the things I had on my Christmas break schedule.

Now its time to hit the books hard again. This means less PS2, less reading things I like to read on the internet, and less watching TV, but still maintaining the correct amount of quality time with my girl.

Wish me luck.

Why would a guy like me, building a 70's muscle car with a 493ci engine topped off with dual 4bbl carbs, care about alternatives to gasoline?

• Don't want to rely on other's sources for our fuel forever
• The stuff will eventually run out and I want some left to run the Superbee
• Technology is cool
• More miles and fewer fillups means less stops on those long trips

Finally home. It feels like I was gone for a month. It is starting to look more and more like a Superbee exploded in my room. I like it.