It's the most wonderful time of the year....

Football season is officially here.[1] Most of the college football schedule kicked off today, and I couldn't be happier.

I refuse to recognize the four game preseason that the NFL runs. Seriously, 4 games of meaningless football? So, thanks to the "unpaid" college boys, the football season started today.

More importantly for me on a personal level, my Nebraska Cornhuskers pounded a hapless opponent from who-knows-where as is their tradition. Things have been tough in recent years for my team in red, but at this time of year, there is always the hope that this is the year things will improve. This year is no different. This is the year things get back on track.


For my other team (the Minnesota Gophers)[2], after winning today, they are guaranteed to have the same or better record than last year. Yup, it's hard to do worse than 1-11. So, on that front, things are looking up.


[1] For any international readers, I'm referring to 'American football' not 'football.'
[2] it's my 'other' team due mostly to geography. I've never been a big Gopher football fan, but they are the only show in town at the major collegiate level, so....

Maybe kegging my own beer isn't such a good idea

If you recall, I recently acquired all of the items necessary to keg my own beer. This was one of the best days in my brewing world ever. I immediately kegged a bitter I had on hand in a secondary. I force carbonated it, and two days later I was drinking beer from a tap. Awesome!!!!

Maybe not so awesome.

The thing about drinking beer from a tap is that it is easy to lose track of how much one has consumed. The following is a cautionary tale.

Last week a colleague and fellow homebrewer came over to drink tap beer and discuss the upcoming academic year. She is one whose opinion I greatly respect so I like to bounce ideas off of her. My wife went to bed around 11 PM and my friend and I talked until 2:30 AM. That was great, but we drank homebrewed beer on tap the whole time. She left and I went to bed unaware of how much beer I had actually consumed. With tap beer, there are no empty bottles around to tally.

In the morning, I realized how much I had consumed. Too much. Way too much.

I like to drink beer, but I do not like getting drunk. Sure, I've been there before. There was a time in my life when that wasn't a problem. But now, I have no desire to drink to inebriation. I like to drink things that taste good.

Well, after the night of not paying attention to how easily the tap beer flowed, I paid a big price. I spent the entire day on the couch feeling like complete crap and being really pissed off at myself for such a frat boy mistake. I slept a lot as my liver worked overtime.

A few days later (I still felt icky), I had some other friends over. I gave them some of the beer. Unsolicited, they all claimed the beer was very strong. That may be the case, but it is still no defense for me getting totally destroyed.

So, my friends, if you ever keg your beer, pay attention to how much you drink. Don't top off your glass until it is empty and make a mental tally of how much you've had. Unless, or course, you don't mind spending the day in bed or on the couch. If so, do whatever you want, but don't say I didn't warn you.

The year begins

So, Milkshake asked me to tell a little about the start of the school year here at my institution.

That is a great idea. Here it is:

OK, it's not supposed to be this stressful, and it usually isn't. However, the summer for me has been loaded with (as I have alluded to before) the Great Crap related to an impending accreditation review for my school. That's a bit of a big deal if you are in the business of higher education. And, it's an even bigger deal for me because I'm in charge (partially) of getting everything ready. I am really ready for summer vacation fall break winter break.


OK, I'm feeling better. This is very therepeutic tharepeutic theraputic therepuetic STUPID F-ING SPELL CHECK!!! JUST TELL HOW THE F*CK TO SPELL THERAPEUTIC BEFORE I BREAK YOUR FREAKIN SILICON!!!!!

OK, sorry, I'm better now. really. honestly.
So, how does the school year start at my school?

Students move into dorms on Saturday (yesterday).
Girls spend that night figuring out which tank tops to wear during the week.
Boys spend the night trying convince dorm mates that they where the shit in high school.
Matriculation service on Sunday afternoon followed by a campus picnic.
Girls wearing tank tops meet boys who think they were the shit in high school.
Monday is orientation day. All first years report for two hours of blah, blah, blah very useful information.
After that I meet my new advisees, all of whom are probably delusional pre-meds. Oh well, a bit of Organic Chemistry should take care of that.
The rest of the day is spent by me prepping for classes.
On Tuesday, classes officially begin. Lives start to change, for better or for worse.

OK, through most of this post I have been a bit cynical, but that last sentence is true. I've been heavily involved with non-teaching activities related to academic policy during the summer. Right now, I just want to teach. I realize accreditation is important, but (here comes the cynicism again) so much of it comes down to budget. Yes, a school needs to financially stay afloat, but we get paid crap to do what we love to do and what we love to do is why the school is here. This is a place of learning and not just teaching. It's not just about the bottom line.

I am very excited to see my returning students and to meet the new ones. I can't wait to help them learn new things. I can't wait to help them see how cool the molecular level is. I can't wait to torture them with Organic nomenclature teach them about carbon.

I love teaching and I love my job. There are still sooooooooo many non-teaching things that must be done that detract from the teaching, but I still love to go to work.

Thanks Dr. Phil. I feel much better.

Fewer changes than I anticipated

I was going to change the format of this blog, but based on a few comments and the fact that it really did look like crap, I'm back to the old format... sort of. I've tweaked a few things and will continue to make a few changes.
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Here's my dream computer:

More changes

Since I changed how I store my beer from bottles to kegs, I thought I'd change the look of my blog.

Maybe I'll post something interesting too, like something about the proteins that make up the head on a beer (lipid binding proteins, that is) or some of the things related to the solubility of CO2 in beer.

Who knows. Stay tuned.

Finally, my brew world is complete

On this day, Monday August 18, 2008, I kegged my beer for the very first time.

I am, in a word, giddy. At the moment, I am force-carbonating it.

Yesterday, I dismantled and thoroughly cleaned my Cornelius keg. Today I spent about 4 hours trying to figure out the gas connections. Nothing matched up and I had to improvise. Regardless, it works. The keg held 10 psi for 4 hours, so I siphoned my bitter into it. I put it under 20 psi of CO2 and will shake and chill the keg a few times to help dissolve the CO2. Hopefully, by tomorrow or Wednesday, I will be drinking beer from my very own tap.

This is a new chapter in my life.

Distractions, disappointment and delirium

There have been a lot of crazy things going on in my life lately. Here's a list.

Distractions

The school year is about to start and I have a lot of things to do before the season starts. The last thing I need are distractions, but I've been overwhelmed with distractions that I cannot ignore. The big one is the Olympics. I've been glued to the tube watching the every-four-year spectacle. I can't turn it off. Obviously the coverage here in the United States has covered mostly the USA, but I've found myself watching boxing matches between Zimbabwe and The Dominican Republic.

In addition, a new academic building is being built near my building on our campus. They've been at it for almost a month. I find myself watching them dig for 20-30 minutes at a time. There is something about a big huge excavator digging tons of dirt out of the ground that I can't turn away from. I can't get any work done in my office because I just can't help but watch the construction site.

Disappointment

After much dreaming I finally got a spare refrigerator with which I was going to make some lager beers (or more accurately: I was going to lager some beer). I was so excited. Really, really excited. I moved it from my parents house. Long story short, it doesn't work. It is old and probably didn't survive the move. I'm very sad about this.

Delirium

Shortly after the spare refrigerator sadness, some really amazing things fell into place. They have to do with kegging my beer. First, I got a hold of two Cornelius Kegs (see the picture). These are regularly used by homebrewers to keg beer. A friend of mine independently offered some tubes and connections need to dispense the beer. Then, another friend decided to get rid of his kegerator!!!! He is going to give it to me complete with CO2 container. All of that would create a complete system needed to keg my beer. I am delirious.

I am also in the early stages of building a bar in my basement. These things will fit very nicely.

If I can avoid all of these distractions, I should a full bar in my basement that dispenses homebrewed beer.

Now, does anyone want a broken fridge?




Update: The kegerator is in my garage. OMG, I'm GIDDY!!!!