The Gift that Keeps on Giving!

My wonderful wife gave me a gift for Christmas this year that keeps on giving! It's a TrueBrew Gold home brewing kit!! I know!! So, after I read a ton more and scape together a little cash to buy ingredients I'll hopefully be brewing some tasty stouts and porters. Then when the weather warms pales and wheats... mmmm...
So the kit comes with a 7 gal food grade bucket with a hole in the top for a airlock and a hole near the bottom for a valve, a glass 6.5 gal carboy for second fermentation, a siphon hose with bottling valve, a brush for bottle cleaning, a hydrometer, an adhesive thermometer to stick to the carboy, an airlock and stopper, a bottle caper, cleaning solution and a beginners book to home brewing. So wish me luck and stay tuned to see what comes out of all this...

Calling for Snow...

So they are calling for up to 6 inches which I think we could get if it stays like this. These are the biggest snow flakes I've ever seen!

Finally!!!

For the first time since Molly and I have been married we finally got a decent internet connection! (I'll wait for the whistling and the applause to go down...) Don't get me wrong, we had internet in Charlotte, but it was less than fun walking around the house with the laptop looking for a single bar so that you can check your e-mail. However, this internet connectivity had it's bumps along the way... I called up the company we decided to go with just over two weeks ago and signed up for their DSL connection with no contracts for what I think was a pretty good price, $30 per first six months then up to $40 after that. After about 4-5 days later our modem showed up on our doorstep a letter stating to not hook it up until the internet was turned on, which was going to be that night (Wed) at 5pm. I plugged it in and waded through the instructions of what to do when. I didn't get very far when it was apparent that we had no signal. Hmm, I called our landlord Tom (who is great) and told him that our phone jack in the house had some cut wires and I think that might be the reason. He came out and checked everything out with an electrician and they said that there was a disconnect somewhere outside. Back on the phone with the internet people and made an appointment for the tech to come out on Monday between 8-12am b/c Molly was off that morning. Long story short they never showed up. Called them back on Monday evening and made an appointment for Tues. Never showed. Called them back and made an appointment for Wednesday. You guessed it! Called back again and the lady told me that they did come out on Tues but didn't find anything wrong outside. (I kept asking what happened to Monday or Wednesday and got no answer. So I made ANOTHER appointment for Thursday. The tech guy called me and said that it was disconnected in the box on the pole outside! I said "THAT WHAT I TOLD THEM!" So I have no idea what the guy who supposedly came out on Tuesday did but he certainly didn't check outside on the pole like what was suggested. Oh well that my rant about this whole thing. I'm glad that we have internet now but good grief!

1 Year Later

A few days ago Molly and I had our one year anniversary! Some of you may remember our wedding cake and how none of it was left nor did we really relish the idea of keeping some of it in our freezer just to pull it out in a year and say... Do we really want to eat this?! We thought of this while on our honeymoon in Camden, Maine and one day while we were perusing the merchandise in a adult beverage store it hit us!! We'll just get some beer and hang on to it and have that on our one year anniversary instead of frost bitten dried out cake! We purchased a beer that was local (Portland, Maine) this is what it said on the bottle;

"Perfect as an aperitif or to toast a special occasion, our golden colored tripel reserve has a complex fruit and spice aroma. Complemented by a full palate with suggestions of honey. A long, warm and soothing finish follows. Allagash Tripel is well suited to cellaring, and will continue to mature in the bottle and improve with age."
CHEERS!

The Not so New Wheels

So earlier this week I bought a truck to get me to and from work for a while. It's a '69 F-100 4x4 and it's not in super great shape but it runs and drives and will hopefully go through the snow pretty well. It has a little rust behind the front wheels and a tiny bit in the floor of the bed but other than that it's ok. Several dents here and there but hey, that what these old farm trucks were about. I don't think it's in good enough shape to keep long term so the plan is to drive it this winter and then look around for another cheap one with a little better body. We'll see what happens. As far as this one goes it's getting power brakes, a new windshield and stock steel wheels and hopefully stock bumper.
(I'll also be peeling off the Lynard Skynard sticker off the rear window!)

It's Official!

This past May, not long after I was laid off, my father-in-law told me to check out a restoration shop in Iowa because they were looking to hire an engine machinist. Well about three weeks ago they called me and wanted me to come out and have a sort of working interview. So I flew to Sioux City, IA and worked for three days. The shop is very nice and the caliber of cars coming in and going out of the shop is really amazing. After I returned to NC I got an email offering me the job! So...in a little less than two weeks Molly and I are headed to Northwest Iowa to start the next phase of our lives together. Being married just under a year and looking back, it looks kinda crazy! You're not supposed to get laid off five months after you get married then move more than twenty hours away to a place that can have wind-chills down to -60 degrees! I know that we will be fine and that God will sustain us but it's still makes me a little nervous. However, everyone I have met out there is exceedingly nice and I'm sure we will fall into place quickly. Now for those of you interested this is a link to the place I'll be working and this is a link to where in the world Sioux City Iowa is.

Charlotte Oktoberfest!!!

We had planned to go to the 12th annual Charlotte Oktoberfest for a while now but when the time comes to buy tickets we figured our money could be better spent elsewhere. Thank goodness for Molly's friend Amber and her husband Ralph!!! Ralph works for Abita Beer and received a certain amount of tickets and Amber hooked Molly and I up to get in free and we even got free food out of the deal! What a great day.
So the Charlotte Oktoberfest has about 350 beers to try and the give you a free 5oz tasting glass to help with the duties.
We tried about 8 different beers each and I think our favorite by far was brewed by a local home brewer out of Winston-Salem, NC. It was called "Hop Island Breakfast in Bed Stout" It was an oatmeal espresso stout. SO GOOD!

We were given these yellow wrist bands and that got us in for free along with free lunch, snacks and water.

There was definately no shortage of people. we looked on the website and they had sold out of tickets for a while. It's amazing how beer brings people together!

Next time we are going to have to score one of these pretzel necklaces, they were everywhere!

Thanks again Amber and Ralph!