Why I love living in Minnesota

Today was the day. The day Spring done went and sprung here in God's country.

This morning the trees lining the river valley were brown. By the afternoon, there was an obvious green color covering the valley.

The sudden appearance of green is what makes Minnesota great. We endure harsh winters for this very day and the many that follow.

Now, if I can keep the freakin' rabbits away, we should get to enjoy a few nice tulips in a couple weeks.

The legend is true.

OMG, it does exist!!!

I just found my desk.

After I shred a pile of papers, I will have clean (in a very relative sense) desk.

A little math lesson for you

Where I am:

Where I will be in about 30 hours:

Here's the math (updated to actually be correct) :

83°F – (-23°F) = 105°F difference between the two locales.

After setting two record lows in 2010 (yeah, that's 2 out of 4 days) for my area, I'm ready for a break.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year everyone. I hope 2010 treats you well.

My family and I spent the night at a friends house. I drank some a pale ale that I designed and brewed with my friend. He had it on tap. It was delicious. Almost a bit too cascady (if that is possible).

Of all of the beer I drank during 2009, none of it compares to the beer that Al over at HopTalk drank. He finished 365 days of beer. During 2009 he drank 365 unique beers. Impressive and probably more of a burden than it seems.

Have a great 2010!!!

Oh, the weather outside is frightful

This is shaping up to be a Christmas to remember for us Midwesterners. After getting almost 8 inches of snow last night, the second wave has just started. We can expect to get 10-12 more inches by Saturday. I'm running out of places to put all of this snow. My driveway is bordered by a 3-4 foot wall of snow. The kids love it.

Thankfully, we have no travel plans, we have a pantry full of food, and I have plenty of beer. Unless our roof collapses from the weight of the snow, we will just hunker down and wait it out... while drinking beer. At least I will.

Merry Christmas everyone.

This blows

We are having a bit of a blizzard blow through our neck of the woods. The blizzard of aught-nine has descended upon us. Every school around here is closed.

I cleared the snow out my driveway using my grandpa's old snowblower. The thing is from the late 60's, it is big and it still works like a charm. There are zero safety features, but boy does it blow. The way my neighbor's house is aligned with mine causes the wind to blow all of his snow into a huge drift on my driveway. His whole front yard is nearly void of snow. It's all on my driveway. So, even though we only had about 8 inches of snow, I have a 3 foot drift across my driveway. Until this year, I was a one man shoveling crew. It would take me a few hours and several asthma attacks to clear it away. But, with this snowblower, I got rid of that thing in about 30 minutes with a lot less effort.

I made it to my office around noon. Since classes were cancelled, I'm getting a lot of things done since I don't have all of those pesky students bothering me.

A few reasons why I might be awesome

I brewed two batches of beer tonight. A pale ale and a pale ale.

I racked two beers to secondaries. An oatmeal stout and a doppel bock.

I cleaned and sanitized three carboys during the process.

I changed a poopy diaper.

I fed my kids*.

I put my kids to bed*.

I wrote a math quiz today.

I taught 4 classes and an organic lab.

I wrote a gen chem exam.

I got my kids to school...on time.

I graded homework.

I bought new jeans for the first time in 6 years (true story).

I bought salt for our water softener.

and

I got a flu shot. Seasonal, not H1N1. They won't give that to me, yet.

And I did this all before 10 PM. Now, I'm watching Scrubs on WGN and then I'm going to bed.

* with my wife's help.

Work is like work

Sorry for my silence around here. I've been distracted by a few things. First, now that school is in full swing, I actually have to work again. I've forgotten what it was like. That has kept me busy.

Secondly, I've been computerless for a couple days. My hard drive went screwy and directories and the matrix were all messed up. I'm back up to speed now, but still shaking from computer withdrawal.

I taught my students about the Mitsunobu reaction today. That's a great reaction.

Memorial Day and a movie review

Happy Memorial day to everyone. And I mean the real Memorial Day. Not the one that has come to mean the "official start to Summer" or the "let's grill" or the "let's stick it to the American consumer by jacking up gas prices" Memorial day. No, I'm talking about remembering the men and women who fought and died for my country.

To those who have served: Thank you.

Since I have your attention, I strongly suggest you watch the movie Taking Chance. From imdb.com:

Based on real-life events, Lt. Col. Michael Strobl, a volunteer military escort officer, accompanies the body of 19-year-old Marine Chance Phelps back to his hometown of Dubois, Wyoming

What made this movie remarkable for me is that the movie was not a vehicle to glamorize war or to vilify war. It could have easily become a propaganda film. The director very deftly crafted a movie that was much more than that.

This movie is about dignity and respect. Specifically, it dealt with what happens after a Marine dies in battle. From the moment a soldier falls until his or her body is laid to rest, the body is treated with the greatest amount of dignity, honor and respect as a part of protocol, but also, as the movie showed, as a spontaneous gesture by those who are thankful.

Happy Earth Day

In honor of Earth Day I decided to dispose of some old tires I was using as lawn decorations:
I also got rid of some old paint:
..and released some oil back into nature:

All in all, it was a pretty good Earth Day. What did you do?

A lifelong dream realized

I've always wanted an ant farm. Why? I have no idea. Maybe it has to do with watching a tireless animal spend its few remaining weeks pursuing a fruitless endeavor. I don't know.

A lifelong dream has finally come true. The combination of doing something sciency for my kids and having vast amounts of disposable income inspired me to finally purchase an ant farm. And this is not your daddy's ant farm. This is a space ant farm equipped with LED lights and everything.

Behold:
The 'sand' is a gel. It reminds me of agarose. I took delivery of 30±2 harvester ants this morning and added them to the farm. I expect crops by Fall.

Here's another pic with flash:

Now, back to my stout and Easter eggs.

Depressing

Ugh, we have a pond behind our house. It is covered with ice... again.

Will this winter never end?

Today, in an attempt to appease the gods of winter (who are all bastards, by the way) I shall sacrifice some grains to them by allowing some chosen yeast to eat their innards.

Behold, the Chosen Ones (by, 'Ones' I mean 'Billions'):
The gods better be pleased.


UPDATE: I just realize the picture I posted is essentially a yeast orgy as they reproduce by budding. I'm sorry if I offended anyone's delicate sensibilities with my pornographic picture.

HF is in what?

Today in Pennsylvania, a truck carrying hydrofluoric acid (HF) overturned. CNN.com had a story about it. As so often happens, the main stream media continues to display a certain degree of scientific illiteracy.

In the story the author wrote:

It also is an ingredient in high-octane gasoline, refrigerants, aluminum and light bulbs.

HF is indeed a nasty little molecule that demands a great deal of respect, but I can assure you, it is NOT an ingredient in gasoline, refrigerants, aluminum and light bulbs. HF is used in the manufacturing of these things, but it is not an ingredient. A subtle difference, but an important one. Even a quick Wikipedia search could have helped.

If you don't understand science, don't write AP stories related to science. That's why I don't write AP stories about poetry, cricket or knitting. I know what these things are, but I don't know enough to be accurate.

NOTE: I was going include a picture showing some HF accidents, but some of them were too gruesome. I didn't want to gross out any unsuspecting reader. Do your own search.

300? Took me long enough

This is my 300th post of my blogging career. My most humble blog has been chugging along for a little over two years now. I appreciate those of you who have posted comments over the years, even if it was just once or several times.

In my first post ever, I listed out some goals for me and this blog:

"I have set up this blog to give me a chance to #1: Record my homebrew recipes and batches (I'm terrible at keeping records about my brews). #2: Talk about some of the Chemistry associated with brewing that I find interesting (There are professionals that do this. I'm not one of them). #3: practice my tpying. #4: Talk about anything I like. In reality, #4 may become a bigger factor as things go on. I'm not looking to change the world or influence public opinion or control a general election, I just want to write some things."

I have done #1 OK, but not in the last 5 months. However, I started keeping a notebook and have done pretty good with that.

I have not pursued ideas for #2 as vigorously during the last 6 months. I'm going to try to do more of this again.

As far as #3 goes, my tpying still sucks.

I have definitely taken #4 and run with it. That is the default mode of operations for me.

So, for my 300th post, I want to say 'thank you' to those of you who have read and maybe even posted a comment or two, or many. I appreciate the blogging friendships I have made with many of you. They are, by their very nature, impersonal, but yet they are still very meaningful.

As an added bonus (and I'm taking this out of the That Blue Yak playbook), for the next 5 people that start following this blog, I will start following your blog.

Titletown

Minneapolis. The town that gave you Target, The Lakers, Flour, the '87 and '91 Twins and Prince now has something else to brag about.

They drink more Irish whiskey[1] than any other town in the world[2]. Take that Dublin pubs!!!!

22 bottles a day.

[1] specifically Jameson.
[2] at one specific location

Done and done

It's all done. As I sit here with an ice pack on my decommissioned babymakers, let me give you a brief recap of my experience.

I showed up at noon and took my single (1) xanax tablet. In the procedure room, the nurse describe how I was going to prep myself for surgery. She told be to scrub with the betadine and then she said, "tape your penis to your abdomen." I said, "you mean my chest? he he he he."

OK, that last exchange didn't happen, but it would have been funny if I had the betadine soaked balls to say it.

The doctor came in (along with the nurse and a resident) and started the procedure. A little numbing, a little cutting, a little pulling, a little cutting, a little cauterizing.

During the procedure we had a pretty good conversation going. I asked if I would be able to go to work on Monday. My doctor said, "Probably." I said, "Good, but I'm sure my Biochemistry students wouldn't mind if they did have lab." That's when the resident said, "Biochemistry!!! I hated Biochemistry. My teacher was a jerk etc...."

Remember, I was sprawled out on a table with my testicles fully exposed and she was armed with sharp things and I had just pulled suppressed memories of an evil biochemistry back into her consciousness. For a moment I was a bit scared. Thankfully, she was able to pull herself back into a professional demeanor and not stab a Mayo scissors into my scrotum.

Everything went well. I left feeling no pain. When my wife got me home I went right to bed and slept soundly until the stuff wore off.

I'm not in too much pain right now. It feels like I got punched in the balls which isn't fun, but at least it doesn't feel like I got stabbed in the wee wee. I expect things will be different tomorrow.

Fluff post of the week

I have some really cools pictures to post as soon as I get the chance. Hopefully, tonight.

Until then, check out this guy.

My favorite line: "An instructor from a local modeling agency judged the women on the way they looked, how they sang and how much alcohol they could hold, the Shanghai Daily said."

That's exactly how I picked my wife. Uncanny.

Brewing, the Doctor, and Netflix

I'm finally brewing tonight. My wife teaches at night and so I play Mr. Mom in the evenings. With 4 children, including 1 baby, it is very difficult to find the time to brew. Tonight I'm making a cream ale. I'm not sure how it is going to turn out. I've been distracted a lot tonight. I've finally reached that happy quiet time. The kids are in bed and my wort is 15 minutes into the boil. Time for a distraction.

I'm a Netflix whore. That's the only way I can describe it. I love Netflix. I especially love the fact that I can watch many movies online, and the only thing better than that is I can now watch them on my Mac!!!!!!

No, wait. Actually the only thing better than watching movies online on my Mac is that they have tons of episodes of Dr. Who available online. I used to watch Dr. Who all the time after school when I was in grade school. I loved it and still do. After years of not seeing it, I'm giddy with excitement that I can once again reacquaint myself with "The Doctor."... and of course, Leela.

Now, enough typing. Time to bounce around the universe and time.........


P.S. Tom Baker is my favorite Doctor.

Marshmallows in my head

The plague of black bubonic death has settled on my house. It wasn't that big of deal when everyone else in my family had it. That is... until I got it. I felt it coming on late Friday afternoon. By Friday night, I was one hurting unit, attempting to extract sympathy from every corner. I had a fitful night of sleep and in the morning, I felt like 8 2.5-inch nails had been pounded into my head with a ball peen hammer. I spent the day sprawled on the couch, accepting any and all pity and sympathetic overtures.

By Sunday, my head didn't hurt as much, but it started to feel like my head was filling with marshmallows. That's where I'm at today. I can't think clearly. My lectures today were terrible (I did warn my students). I could not think clearly enough to prepare a coherent lecture.

I'm going to go to bed early tonight, but not until I extract a little more sympathy... if there's any left.

Learning things...twice.

Have you ever learned something twice?

Have you ever learned something, forgot it, and learn about it later only to realize you already knew that?

Sometimes, it can be kind of embarrassing. Especially if you tell something you are convinced is true only to find out you knew better. That happened to me today.

At The Curious Wavefunction, Ashutosh posted about an article in the New York Times about radio signals and early stars. He identified a rather curious statement in the article:

Dust grows over time as stars manufacture heavy elements called metals, like carbon, silicon and oxygen, that make up dust and then spit them out into space.

I checked out the article and found the offending sentence and it offended my delicate chemistry teacher sensibilities. Carbon, silicon and oxygen are most decidedly NOT metals, nor are they "heavy elements."

I decided I had finally found my purpose on this planet and decided to send the author an email and personally advance his education. This is what I sent him:

Mr. Overbye,
In a recent article you wrote: "Dust grows over time as stars manufacture heavy elements called metals, like carbon, silicon and oxygen, that make up dust and then spit them out into space." Carbon, silicon and oxygen are most certainly NOT metals nor are they heavy elements.
Best wishes,
Eric Woller, Ph.D.

I added the Ph.D. part to make sure he knew I wasn't messing around. I felt good. I had taught some big shot NYT science correspondent some damn fine chemistry. He was nice enough to reply. This is what he sent me:

Astronomers refer to anything heavier than helium as metals.
Thanks for writing,
Dennis

That was when I slapped my forehead and realized...I knew that. I'm such an idiot.

While one can argue that labeling anything heavier than helium as a metal is silly, that's what astronomers and the like do. I knew that, but it didn't stop me from displaying some degree of ignorance.

So, I learned that little fact...again.