Toeing the Line

Brew Number 17: Needle Chocolate Stout

2006-07-22T17:29:00.000+10:00

Brew Number 16: ANZAC Amber Ale

2006-07-22T17:28:00.000+10:00

Brew Number 15: Simpsons Donkey IPA

2006-07-22T17:21:00.000+10:00

Brew Number 14: Hayes Creek Pilsner

2006-07-22T16:49:00.000+10:00

Play Rugby Kids!

2006-05-26T09:12:00.000+10:00

I love this game.

2006-05-19T08:41:00.001+10:00

This site is a good source of ideas for beer labels.

Chocolate Stout Time

2006-05-18T13:20:00.000+10:00

Brew Weekend Coming Up! I'm putting down a Lindt Chocolate Stout based on the following couple of recipes. I'll decide on the day how I'll finalise it all.

PoMo's Chocolate Wheaton Stout".

Mini mash:
1Kg wheat malt (or however much I have left - for thick head and grain
character)
100g cara aroma (350EBC)
200g Caramunich III (for a toffee taste and creamy mouthfeel)
500g Pale Ale malt (just to use up old stock)

In the boil:
Mini Mash sweet wort (above)
500g of DME
15g Tettnanger (as it's all I have except for Saaz) 40 mins
At flame out I'll add 200g of dark compounded cooking chocolate.
Might add some (100g or so) brown sugar too.

In the fermenter:
Above plus 1.7Kg can of Coopers Stout.

I'm not going to be using the Coopers Stout, but I am only doing a partial mash. I'll be using Irish Ale Yeast (WPL004). Aroung 100 to 150g of Lindt Dark Dark Chocolate will be thrown in about 15 minutes from flame out as well.

I'll be bottling this bastard, as I want it for the cold winter nights so I dont have to go outside to the tap.

Pure Fucking GOLD!

2006-05-10T19:02:00.000+10:00

Beer Labels

2006-04-30T20:45:00.000+10:00

During the week I was poking around site on my lunch break and stumbled across the deadset genius work of AHB member Franko who has the ability to create some of the best beer labels I've seen from nothing (more and more). Combine that with the couple of sites posted in this thread and I was quite inspired.

As I had a bit of time on my hands today, I decided to dust off the old photoshop and give a couple of labels a burl. I created a basic desgin based on Franko's Pilsner label and adjusted it so that I can simply add details as needed. I put a bit more into the ANZAC Amber Ale, as I didn't want that to be as light-hearted. Anyway, behold...

Hayes Creek Pilsener:

Simpsons Donkey IPA:

ANZAC Amber Ale:

Work has a rip snorter of a colour printer, so it'll get a workout tommorrow.

ESB Fresh Wort Kits

2006-04-27T12:57:00.000+10:00

I seem to be going through my stocks of beer quicker that I seem to be brewing them. Whilst I rarely run out, the beer I am forced to put on tap is a little green and unmatured. I've got a great house, as in each room, there is a trapdoor that opens up a space underneath the floorboards. In winter the temperature down there is a fairly constant 8 to 10Â°C so I can take advantage of at least some degree of cold conditioning.

In order to get my levels of beer up, I have fallen back on a couple of extract brews, one of which is the fresh Amber Ale Wort from ESB. It is just a dilution with 5 liters of water and throw in a good quality yeast.

The other good thing about these worts is that they come in what is essentially a fifteen litre fermenter. A perfect size for splitting a brew into two batches for the addition of fruit or fancy beers I want to try. Therefore, I've been keeping an eye out for recipes. I picked up one on AHB today which seems to be the type of thing I'm looking for.

Other options are a couple of Stouts and Porters. Sweet, Sweet Porter.....

Mum! I Want a Light Sabre*!

2006-04-27T12:54:00.000+10:00

This is good

Found on VideoSift

*Is it light sabre, light-sabre or lightsabre?

Sometimes the Intarweb sucks arse...

2006-04-25T18:50:00.000+10:00

When I get home from work each day, one of the site I love to go to and have a good hearty chuckle with is The Spin Starts Here. I constantly find myself sitting at my computer giggling away like a retarded chimp.

It seems that some complete fucktard has been threatening the baby of one of the contributors, Caz, who has decided to remove herself from the site. This sucks. To the person out in the blogosphere threatening a FUCKING CHILD because of a couple of comments made on a blog I have this to say...

FUCK YOU, NUMBNUT and may you cop many a painful kick in the cods.

That is all.

Recipes for Next Brew

2006-04-18T18:32:00.000+10:00

I', trying to decide what to brew this weekend. I need to get some stocks up, so I can get some beer conditions for longer than I currently am. I want to have it sitting in the keg for at least six weeks prior to tapping, as opposed to the two weeks it currently is.

Anyhoo, these are the recipies I'm looking at to brew this weekend.

Indian Pale Ale (mikem108) - Haven't brewed an IPA yet.
Heffewiezen - I might brew this in a couple of weeks when the temperature has dropped at bit and I can let it sit.
Ordinary Bitter (warrenlw63). Currently have an ESB on tap that I'm quite fond of.
Docs Oatmeal Stout - this might go better in the bottle.

Theres also a Weisen I've got a recipe for. Too many choices!

Brew 13: Skunk Fart Pale Ale

2006-04-14T09:08:00.000+10:00

My first all grain brew. Brewed for St Patricks Day 2006. Consumed heartily by members of the Guinness Club, with little effect the following day.

Recipe and Actuals. Both are PDF's.

Brew 12: Crested Butte ESB

2006-04-14T09:06:00.000+10:00

Another Coutnry brewer Wetpack to build up the Stocks. Actually came out really, really nice. Very clear, good head - a good evening drinking beer.

Recipe and Actuals. Both are PDF's.

Brew 11: Turret Peaks Pilsner

2006-04-14T08:55:00.000+10:00

Nice Summer Drop for the hot afternoons. Needs longer cold conditioning under the house. Got better in the fridge as time went on.

Recipe and Actuals. Both are PDF's

The Sao Paulo Experience

2006-04-14T08:41:00.000+10:00

Here are the photos from my Brazilian trip. The photos themselves really aren't anything special (I'm not a good photographer).

Say Hello to Gilbert

2006-04-06T13:03:00.000+10:00

I've finally got meself a Gilbert! Moist!

I'm Back, Yet Slack

2006-04-06T13:02:00.000+10:00

I have returned to the promised land. I promise I'll have you all round for the slideshow. I'm currently trying to digest an entire cow.

Bom Dia from Sao Paulo

2006-03-24T21:05:00.000+11:00

I am currently in Brazil doing some Analytical work for my company. I arrived on Wednesday 22nd (after leaving Australia on the 22nd and travelling halfway across the world - time zones confude me) and was completely and utterly stuffed.

I left Sydney and flew to Auckland. Auckland International Airport - ha! From Auckland was the long haul to Santiago, followed by a three hour hop across South America from Santiago to Sao Paulo.

I started work yesterday and the people here rock. They have my entire week planned in terms of social enagements and things to do. And joy and joys, on Saturday I'm of to watrch Corinthians vs Palmeiras. Very much looking forward to that, although the locals have told me not to try the local meat pie and the game. Seems that it contains a high proportion of Dr Amy Jones.

I am also absolutely stuffed. Seriouslt, they eat so much food here. I woke up this morning and was still full from dinner last night. The food here is good though. Last night I had sun-dried meats and other South-American salads. We are saving the Churrascaria for later on next week. I'll require time to distend my stomach.

Highlight of the trip so far. The flight from Santiago to Sao Paulo. You fly out of Santiago and cross the Andes. Sweet Mother of Christ! The plane is flying at 30,000 feet and yet you are looking straight across at mountains. When you look down you can almost touch what looks like some of the most arid country on earth. There is not a tree in sight for hundreds of kilometers. It is seriously one of the most impressive things I have seen in a long time. I guess in Australia we just have no concept of altitude.

More posts and pictures to come.

OMG!!! OMG!!1!

2006-03-20T12:56:00.000+11:00

Interesting Day Yesterday.

First hit-out for the might Under 12 Drummoyne Dirty Reds of which yours truly is the coach. They had a trail game up against Lindfield RUFC, who were incredibly well-drilled. We need to spend a bit more time on using the forward pack to clear the ball from the ruck and getting it to the open backs much faster. There is a long season ahead though.

In the afternoon, as we were on our way to play tennis with friends, who should I run into at the bottle shop. OMG OMG GUY SEBASTIAN. And yes, his mug is just as freakishly strange in real life as it looks on the telly. I think it has something to do with the flatness of his nose...

I'm feeling slightly aroused...

2006-03-02T08:50:00.000+11:00

This has to be one of the best home brewing set-ups I thinks I've ever seen. The guys got a friggin video camera in his conditiong fridge.

There is also a great poster there for download with all the home brewing formulas you will ever need, conversion factors, density of grains, optimal mash temperatures...

When I eventually own a house, my shed will look like this.

Although I will also have a router... And a band saw... Oh and a reciprocating saw...

Some notes for all University Shakespeare productions

2006-02-27T12:57:00.000+11:00

294. I will never instruct Romeo and Juliet to "die faster, people didn't come here to see you two die."

313. I will not use a basketball in a sack for Macbeth's severed head. If I absolutely must do so, I will let out enough air from the ruddy ball so that it does not bounce when it hits the stage, and I will anoint the stupid sack with stage blood to make it look a little more convincing.

320. Make sure the actor cast as Juliet can actually pronounce the letter R correctly. Please, for the love of God.

321. Any actors should be forbidden from calling anyone "Dude". This also applies to minor characters.

326. I will not costume Henry V in Star Trek uniforms.

Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.

What to do, What to do...

2006-02-20T19:47:00.000+11:00

Alright, a little help here people.

The Backstory...
The Wife and I met while we were working in a Restaurant together. I was the Chef and she was the Barista. A match made in heaven. It was a pretty good place to work and we made alot of friends there. Unfortunately we don't keep in contact with most of them as much as we should. We do however keep all the names and numbers in our mobile phone just incase. One of the perks of modern life.

The Current Situation...
The Wife looked at her phone last week and noticed she had a missed call and message from one of our better friends from the restaurant. We hadn't heard from her in about 7 to 8 months and the message was to say hi and to return her call. The Wife thought she must be calling for a catch up and returned the call.

In fact the call wasn't to catch up. The call was to see if she and her boyfriend could come around and pitch their business idea to us later this week. There wasn't even a "Hi, how ya doing?". Having said that, we aren't even actually sure what the whole thing is about. The Wife was so stunned during the conversation (and being the incredibly nice person that she is) she agreed.

Anyway, I'm pretty pissed off about it. Not only do I have to miss the new episodes of the Simpsons and Futurama to listen to some lame pitch from a dick straight from Universtiy who I've never even met in some retarded attempt to goad us into joining some dodgy pyramid scheme so obvious they won't even report about it on a Current Affair, I have to actually pretend to be nice. I think it's pretty fucked to ring someone up and pretending to want to catch up with them but have another reason up the sleeve.

The Solution...
So what should I do? Help me out here people.

2006-02-17T23:15:00.000+11:00

SCOOP!

Kenya Cricket: IHSAN Sports To Sponsor Kenyan Cricket. Kenya has a Kenyan Scoop!!1 OMG WFT!1!

IT LIVES!!!!!

2006-02-12T16:48:00.000+11:00

The Kegerator is finally up and running. It actually has been up and running for about a month, and I've already polished a keg off, but I've been lazy to get off my fat arse and post all the pictures. Anyway here she is!

The first beer through was the Inagural Pour Amber Ale. It's a James Squire Amber Ale clone and was pretty damn close. I did a side by side tasting, and the Inagural Pour was a slightly maltier flavour and a bit too thick in the mouth. Not a bad first amber ale though. The maltiness was reflected in the low IBU (21 - BJCP Amber Ales are 25 to 40+).

Back to the kegerator. As the fridge was only a small bar fridge, I didn't want to put the tap through the door, so I built a mini bar that could slip over the top of the fridge. I built a simple frame for the top of the fridge, and attached floorboard to the top of the frame to make the "bar". The tap was attached to a removable post (in case I want to add another tap later on), that the beer line from the fridge could run up the back of.

This is the frame set up on top of the fridge prior to fixing it all together.

The frame was screwed together and set with glue. I really need to get some wood clamps though. This was tough to keep square without them.

Setting all the boards onto the frame. The boards are then surrounded by another "frame" that allowed the whole piece to lock in to the top of the fridge.

The tap post was built by framing a pine plank with the some wood as the floorboards. This wasn't my original plan, but it was the way it had to be done.

The hole for the tap and the sunken bolts for attaching the tap post to the bar. The tap post was attached simply by screwing nuts onto the bolts. These are both well hidden behind the post.

The finished and sanded bar and tap post prior to staining.

The whole setup was stained with a Jarrah stain. No particular reason. I had some left over from when the Wife and I did out bedside tables and tall boy and I was trying to keep costs down. Looks alright though. As the whole setup was going to be outside, I put a couple of coats of a UV and water protector on before the final laquer coat. These pics are just before the final laquering.

And Finally the finished setup! Hurrah!

All the photos are here.

2006-02-08T18:35:00.000+11:00

I'm currently starting to get all the gear together for my first all-grain brew. I'm posting this as a collection of links that I'm going to use to help me get through the first one (and second through eighth one).

Pauls All Grain Brewing Guide
Jayse Skunk Fart Ale
John Palmer's - How to Brew
Brewiki
Illustrated Guide Number 2

I'll add more as I find them.

Great Scott!

2006-02-08T18:28:00.000+11:00

I haven't seen Brokeback Mountain yet, but if it's anything like Brokeback to the Future it should be GREAT!

(via Jess)

Brew Number 9: Peacock American Pale Ale

2006-02-06T22:38:00.000+11:00

Christ! Two in a row.

Another CWB Wetpack, I was planning to take away on summer holidays, but got lazy and didn't have time. According to the country brewer this is meant to be a Little Creatures Pale Ale clone, but I found it a bit too heavy. Still a pretty good extract beer though. I'm currently building a mash tun and plan on moving to all grain brews pretty soon.

Peacock APA Recipie (Guesswork)
Peacock APA Actuals

(again, both of the above are PDFs)

Pictures to follow.

Brew Number 8: Weminuche Summer Ale

2006-02-06T22:25:00.000+11:00

Have finally decided to get around to posting about my latest brews. Weminuche Summer Ale was made from a CWB Summer Wheat Wetpack, so the ingredients are more guesswork than anyting else. Not a bad drop for summer actually. I'll post pictures soon (promise).

Estimated Recipe
Brew Actuals

(both of the above are PDF's)

2006-01-31T21:37:00.000+11:00

I finally found the search bar within Blogger at the top of the page and typed in Home Brewing. Got a couple of sites that look like preety good reads.

Laughing Ass Brewing
Needle Wheat Brewing
East Coast Brewing

Kenya Cricket

2006-01-28T11:55:00.000+11:00

Kenya has started a website over at Kenya cricket and has subsequently written more in three weeks than I have in six months. Freak. If you're interested in how much Kenya lost there last game by, this is the place to find out. I'm sure Kenya Cricket will also fill us in on all the stats showing how even though they lost (again) this time they lost by a much smaller margin that Zimbabwe. Excellent.

Back to the Grind

2006-01-28T11:23:00.000+11:00

On Wednesday we returned from our long awaited summer holiday to Hyams Beach. Its a tiny little village inside Jervis Bay on the NSW South Coast with the whitest sand in the world and a reputation for shark sightings. Fantastic spot.

We stayed in a tiny little one bedroom cottage on the beach and they rocked. The weather was crap for the first three days, fantastic for the next four days and crap for the last two. Apart from that everything was great (except for the part where our car had the window smashed so some wanker could steal $4.20 in loose change).

We basically relaxed by playing tennis, scrabble, swimming, snorkelling and actually being more energetic than we are while we are working. A couple of the pictures we took are here.

However, the fun has to come to an end sometime so on Monday both the wife and I return to our menial and unrewarding labours. Life is hard people.

2006-01-10T13:10:00.000+11:00

FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!

Some notable clashes:
Vodka Martini vs Gin Martini: A fucking atrocity.
New South Wales vs Queensland: Perfect One Day, Arse Kicked the Next
Web-Goddess vs Toeing the Line: Close call, but I ROCK!
My Wife vs Pamela Anderson: Nice Work Darlin'

2005-12-29T19:22:00.000+11:00

Happy Days Indeed. Personally I'd bring the Redback and the James Squire Amber Ale to the BBQ and finish up with the Porter at home before bed.

2005-12-29T19:05:00.000+11:00

Have joined The Martini Club in search of The Perfect Martini. Unobtainable perhaps?

2005-12-28T08:55:00.000+11:00

Quite an end to the Christmas break!

The Wife, Mary, Rob and I were heading back from a boating trip at Palm Beach with friend yesterday when we were involved in a pretty nasty accident.

A woman tried to turn right when she had the green light across our lanes, without realising that we had green lights as well. As a result she smashed straight into a Holden Statesmen travelling at about 60km, and then into us travelling at about the same speed. We probably came out it the best. The womans car and the Holden were completely written off. Utterly, utterly fucked. Rob's car will require extensive work on the front (axle completely buggered, wheel gone). We aren't sure if the engine mounts were affected. The car was under a year old as well.

The people in the Statesmen were an elderly couple who were pretty badly knocked around. We had to get a few blokes to help get them out of the car as it was smoking a little bit as well. Ambulances took them off to hospital where I think they kept them overnight. The woman driving seemed okay, but she started drinking alot of water soon after the accident. The cops then gave her a breathalyzer FOUR times and which said she was over the limit. They then used another one which gave her as under. Not sure what the effect of drinking about two litres of water prior to a breath test will do. She didn't insurance on her car either(CTP only), so I guess thats karma for you.

The girls were pretty shaken up, and I've got an aching set of bruised ribs today, but everyone else seemed to be okay.

A big shout out to Dee, Steve, Pauline and Tony who left the pub without finishing their meals to come and check on us and drive us home. Cheers guys.

Anyway, everything is okay. Mary and Rob will be without a car for a while, but it could have been much, much worse.

Message for the Kids: Drink and Drive and I'll personally come around and beat your tiny little heads in...

MERRY CHRISTMAS MY MINIONS!

2005-12-25T09:47:00.000+11:00

2005-12-15T09:08:00.000+11:00

Good brewing post at Metafilter to check out.

The Weather Ousides Delightful!

2005-12-13T13:19:00.000+11:00

Christmas Tree: Check! (My first live one)

Pretty Lights: Check! (Oooh Purty)

Homemade Kegerator: MOTHERFORKING ON ITS WAY! Yeeeehaaaaw!

Here Comes the Rain

2005-12-02T19:37:00.000+11:00

Check out the radar image from the storm about to hit Sydney. Storms a brewin...

Courtesty BOM Radar

Its just begun...

P(Angry, Confused) = 1

2005-11-25T19:33:00.000+11:00

My brother has been getting confused with time zones and calling me at all hours of the night to ask me questions about card probability. He has been having poker nights with mates in Aspen and want to know the following:

If four cards are placed face down on a table, what is the probability of two of them being hearts?

Originally we though it could have been dependent on the order in which they were turned, i.e. 1 at a time would amount to: P(2H) = 1/4 + 13/51 + 13/50 etc.; while all at once would be P(2H) = 1/4 + 1/4 = 1/2. The answer of a half was what we went with. After thinking about it this didn't make sense. For example, if the question was asked:

If four cards are placed face down on a table, what is the probability of FOUR of them being hearts?

By following the logic above, the probability would be P(4H) = 1/4 + 1/4 + 1/4 + 1/4 = 1. Therefore, the head will explode in a puff of logic.

Therefore, TO GOOGLE ANSWERS! and the return of the old combinations and permutations from high school. Below for your perusal (Shaun) are what I believe to be the results of a few combinations. They are likely to be wrong, so feel free to correct me (Snook). I've given the method by which I worked the first two out as well. Okay...

If 5 Cards are dealt face down on the table, what is the probability of ONE of these being a heart

In a 52 card deck there are 52C5 possible combinations for a five card deck.
52C5 = (52!)/(5!.47!) = 2,598,960 possible hands

Of the 5 cards dealt, from the 13 hearts in the pack, there are 13C1 possible combinations of a hand with 1 heart
13C1 = (13!)/(1!.12!) = 13

If only one card can be a heart, the other cards in the hand have to be something else. Therefore from 39 possible non-hearts to draw the 4 cards from, there are 39C4 possible combinations.
39C4 = (39!)/(4!.35!) = 82,251

Therefore, the number of possible 1 heart, 4 other card combinations (1H, 4O) is 13 x 82251 = 1,069,263

Therefore P(1H,4O) = 1069263/2598960

P(1H,4O) = 41%

Make Sense? Lets try 2 hearts.

If 5 Cards are dealt face down on the table, what is the probability of TWO of these being a heart

Number of possible five card combinations = 2,598,960

Number of 5 Card combinations containing 2 hearts is 13C2
13C2 = (13!)/(2!.11!) = 78

Number of 5 Card combinations containing 3 other cards is 39C3
39C3 = (39!)/(3!.36!) = 9139

Therefore, the number of possible 2H, 3O combinations = 78 x 9139 = 712842

Therfore P(2H, 3O) = 712842,2598960
P(2H, 3O) = 27%

Other Combinations:

P(0H, 5O) = 575757/2598960 = 22%

P (1H, 4O) = 1069263/2598960 = 41%

P (2H, 3O) = 712842 / 2598960 = 27%

P (3H, 2O) = 211926 / 2598960 = 8%

P (4H, 1O) = 27885 / 2598960 = 1%

P(5H) = 1287 / 2598960 = 0.05%

Please note. I am often full of shit and may be wrong. Doesn't happen often, but it has been known to

Galileos at the Observatory

2005-11-21T22:41:00.000+11:00

The Wife and I recently celebrated her 27th Birthday at Galileos at the Observatory Hotel. We've often wandered past on our way down to the Lord Nelson for drinks and wondered what it we be like to be sitting in those comfy, antique chairs. Courtesy of the Entertainment Book, off we went.

We started with a Martini at the Globe Bar as we were a little early and didn't want to rush. There were only around four people in the restaurant the entire night, so as they wern't busy we went for the degustation menu. Not that we normally wouldn't, but when it's quiet, the kitchen will normally have more time to put into the food.

Appetiser was a Egg Cocotte - a smooth egg custard with foie gras and creamed truffles. The truffles were very strong, but it got the juices flowing.

Next up was a platter of Tasmanian Oyster with Roe, a Veal Carpaccio which tasted exactly like a packet of Kettle Smoked Ham Chips, and a piece of Big Eyed Tuna wrapped in Prosciutto with a Pureed tomato sauce. The Tuna was the worst of the night, the Oyster one of the best. The tomato sauce had fennel infused through it and completley overpowered everything else.

Following this was a serving of beetroot noodles with a fish broth and a citrus paste. Think soba noodles - cold, but not unpleasant. The citrus paste was a milder type of wasabi. It didn't have the nasal kick that the wasabi does. I liked this one, but the wife wasn't a huge fan. She's had bad run ins with Soba Noodles in the past.

We took a bit of a breather for a while before we started our meat and fish courses. The fish came first, an encrusted ocean trout served with a japanese root vegetable that I'll be buggered if I can remember. This one was The Wifes favourite. The meat was a Grade 5 marble Wagyu Beef, in a veal jus reduction. Top notch - the beef reminded me of an nice al dente gnocchi - firm, but as tender as anything. We had the beef with a glass of a nice cab sav that I can't remember the name of.

After another breather, we took on the desserts. The first was a mango sorbet with a chocolate truffle in a coco-pop cream sauce (I'm kidding about the coco-pops - texture apparently). The second was a selection of gelatos - pistachio, hazelnut and coffee. We though they came in the wrong order. The sorbet should have come first followed by the gelato and the chocolate truffle, but it worked anyway.

At this stage we undid the belts, and prepared to fall asleep in our chairs, but the waiter woke us up and served us a complimentary plate of petit fours with our coffee. The late was decorated with "Happy Birthday Steph". Smooth Mr Japanese Chef.

At the end of it all we could barely walk out. Four hours of eating and drinking and a hefty hunk out of the credit card, but it was worth every cent. The best spot I've been to in a long while.

Get behind him!

2005-11-14T18:35:00.000+11:00

Happy Birthday to My Darling Wife

2005-11-14T18:29:00.000+11:00

27 Today! And not looking a day over 30!

p.s. shes the one in the green

Melboure Cup Tips

2005-11-01T13:22:00.000+11:00

Tips for the Cup:

1. Railings (7)
2. Maykbe Diva (1)
3. Mr Celebrity (23)

Both Railings and Maykbe Diva are paying well ($6.50 and $4.20), and Mr Celebrity is a nice outsider ($16.00) who would be good for a placing.

Giddy Up!

2005-10-29T17:01:00.000+10:00

Why Queensland should be fenced off and burnt

Can anyone translate?

Stone House Wheat Beer (Brew No. 7)

2005-10-23T16:42:00.000+10:00

Started: 13th August 2005
Bottled: 3rd September 2005

Brewing Notes:
Ingredients:
1.7kg Wals Wheat Malt Extract
1kg Morgans Wheat Mealt Concentrate
500g Crystal grain
12g Hersbrucker Hops (4.2% A.A.)
6g Yeast

Yeast pitched at 22C
Hops added as finishing hops

Initial S.G.: 1.042
Final S.G.: 1.016
% Alc.: 4.4% v/v

Bottling Notes:
Priming problems again. Required reopening and addition of more priming sugar.

Tasting Notes:
Slightly fishy smell, but doesn't overpower the beer.
Malty flavour is slightly stonger than the hoping flavour. Could use more bittering hops next time or addition of some as bittering hops
Cloudy beer, but clarity is alright for a wheat.
Good carbonation after initial priming problems.

Good spring beer.

2005-10-20T15:13:00.000+10:00

Please! Please! Please Let it be true!

Thou shalt not score!

2005-10-19T13:35:00.000+10:00

In an effort to stem the proliferation of fatwas issues by nutbag muftis, the Saudi government is trying a new tack. Emphasing the stupid, idiotic and frivolous ones. Here for you perusal is a fatwa forbidding playing football (European) by the Saudi Newspaper Al Watan.

A few of the best bits:

2. International terminology that heretics and polytheists use, like "foul," "penalty," "corner," "goal," "out" and others, should be abandoned and not said. Whoever says them should be punished, reprimanded and ejected from the game. He should be publicly told, "You have imitated the heretics and polytheists and this is forbidden."

3. Do not call "foul" and stop the game if someone falls and sprains a hand or foot or the ball touches his hand, and do not give a yellow or red card to whoever was responsible for the injury or tackle. Instead, it should be adjudicated according to Sharia rulings concerning broken bones and injuries. The injured player should exercise his Sharia rights according to the Koran and you must bear witness with him that so-and-so hurt him on purpose.

6. Do not play in two halves. Rather play in one half or three halves in order to completely differentiate yourselves from the heretics, the polytheists, the corrupted and the disobedient.

12. If you finish playing soccer, do not talk about your game and say, "We were better than the opponent," or "So-and-so plays well" and so on. Instead be concerned with your bodies and their strength and muscles, and say, "We played only to drill in running, attacking and retreating, and to prepare for jihad in the name of God on high."

13. You should spit in the face of whoever puts the ball between the posts or uprights and then runs in order to get his friends to follow him and hug him like players in America or France do, and you should punish and reprimand him, for what is the relationship between celebrating, hugging and kissing and the sports that you are practicing?

This would be great on the Rugby field.

Ref: Hands off the ball Number 8. Off it! Off it! French Number 10. Hands out of the eyes. Hands out of the eyes!...Tweet!!!!! Right penalty. Eye-gouged guy, time to enforce Sharia Law. What will you take?

Eye-Gouged Opposition Player: What can I get for an eye-gouge?

Ref: I'll let you have a kick in the nuts, punch to the solar plexus, attempt at a dead leg, or a penalty try. Sorry, I mean a mullah baldhallah.

EGOP: Any chance of a quick squirrel grip? If I take the penalty try, I'll probably get spat on, and most of those French bastards have Hep A.

Ref: I'd have to go upstairs. It'll take too long.

EGOP: Alright I'll take the dead leg.

Ref: Dead Leg it is then. Come 'ere Francois. Play on!

Via Metafilter

ASD

2005-10-14T13:02:00.000+10:00

Go and read about the Squirelly at Defective Yeti . The Wife has had a lot of experience dealing with autistic children, and this really got her worked up. It’s hard to read, as everyone has been watching this kid grow up over the internet, and so you feel as if you have at least a small sense of belonging.

Where the hell have you been?

2005-10-14T12:59:00.000+10:00

Where the hell have you been?

I’ve been on Holidays! Hurrah!

The Wife and I have been staying up at Narabeen house sitting and looking after the lovable Millie the Jack Russell.

Steph’s Sister’s family jet-setted off to the United States and we were lucky enough to get a lovely beach house (sort of) to stay in. It was a 15 minute walk to Narabeen beach (on the Northern Beaches of Sydney for those not in the know) where we spent quite a bit of time.

I worked for the first week, and drove in to work each day which wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, before taking the rest of the time off and relaxing in the sun, playing a few games of golf and generally just taking it easy.

We ate beautifully. We made sure that we bought really good, fresh ingredients and I had a few reciepes that take a bit of time, but I had been wanting for a while to try out. Perfect opportunity.

Two Weekends of great sport were spent with quite a few beers and lots of seafood on the BBQ. The Swans game was spent with Mary and Rob, and an assortment of oysters, skewered garlic prawns, octopus, fresh calamari and marinated Atlantic salmon and washed down with James Squires Amber Ale. Beeeeaaautttiful!

Anyway, I’m back at work now, but we have another big weekend coming up with Mary and Rob’s wedding on tomorrow. The wife is the only bridesmaid so she has taken the day off, for an extended period of pampering with her sister. Some people can never get enough…

2005-09-27T17:34:00.000+10:00

HAPPY BIRHTDAY WHINGY YANK BOY!

My Brother turns 26 today...Cheers!

2005-09-27T17:33:00.000+10:00

Donald Rumsfeld is giving the president his daily briefing. He
concludes by saying:

"Yesterday, 3 Brazilian soldiers were killed in an accident'
"OH NO!" the President exclaims. "That's terrible!"
His staff sits stunned at this display of emotion, nervously watching
as the president sits, head in hands.
Finally, the President looks up and asks..........

''How many is a Brazillion ??!'

Enough.

2005-09-27T08:08:00.000+10:00

This shit has got to stop. There has been quite a bit of talk about RPS on both radio and TV lately with $35,000 to be won on Nova in Sydney, but RPS-15 and RPS-25 is JUST FUCKING RIDICULOUS!

Call me a purist, but the whole beauty of RPS is its simplicity. Allow me to demonstrate:

Rock beats Scissors. Paper beats Rock. Scissors beats Paper. The End.

Easy isn't it people. Bringing a bloody Dragon, Devil, Bowl and Cockroach(!?) is just fucking dumb. In addition the name RPS is an abbreviation of ROCK PAPER SCISSORS, not Rock, Gun, Lightning, Fire, Snake, Human, Tree, etc. etc. ad bloody nauseum.

And as a sidenote, anyone who uses Dynamite or Water in an RPS showdown should be ritually disembowelled with a ball point pen. That's just idiotic.

We deal with the big issues on Toeing the Line.

I Am A Lazy Mongrel

2005-09-25T08:01:00.000+10:00

Even though its been a week since we've actually been to Steve and Kate's Wedding, I've only just got the photos off my camera and uploaded them to Flickr.

Congratulations to Kate and Steve. We had a great time and it was fantastic to have weekend away with friends. Even it has ferkin' cold and actually snowed on the Saturday morning (a sight at which I was very excited at I must admit). Cooking a BBQ breakfast in the snow is a new experience however.

The Bollywood party was fantastic with everyone getting in the spirit. Kris has posted some of her pictures over at her site as well. I went as a Telstra help desk employee. Heres my identification...

Sultry No?

AVAST YE SCURVY DOGS. BRING ME A CAKE!

2005-09-20T18:19:00.000+10:00

Arr! Joys of joys. It's International Talk like a Pirate Day! Arr.

And it just so happens to fall on my Birrrthday. So send me some gold, wenches and rum ye motherless sons of dogs.

ARRRR!

2005-09-14T23:09:00.000+10:00

For those attending Steve and Kates Bollywood Party on Saturday night - Constructing the Perfect Turban.

Things that have interested/amused/raised my eyesbrows lately

2005-09-12T20:06:00.000+10:00

A computer made from Lego. Sweeet.

Hoegarden Wit Clone Recipe

Tassie Mercury Tells it like is for the Victorians

John Howards view of Brogergate

Todays PVP. Heh. Chet Awesome-Laser.

iTunes 5. I've downloaded and installed it, but have yet to really play with it.

Noooo! It can't be happening. We going to lose the Ashes.

Happy Birthday Tricky Ricky

2005-09-09T07:46:00.000+10:00

It's Tricky Ricky's Birthday !

I'm under strict instructions from the wife not to reveal the offending age. Instead here's a picture of him on my wedding day.

Happy Birthday Dad. I'll have a couple of James Squires Full Strength Original Ales for you this afternoon.

Charlie and the Backward Pants

2005-09-08T13:06:00.000+10:00

The Wife often comes home with some great stories from school, and yesterday she didn't disappoint.

There is a young lad by the name of Charlie in one of the infants classes at her school who can often be a real little bastard, throwing books, pencil cases and the like across the room at other kids, screaming his small head off in class and generally just being a little prick. Yesterday was Charlies turn at their equivalent of "Show and Tell", and he popped up and delivered his presentation.

During the course of the presentation, the teacher of the class noticed that not only were Charlies shoes on the wrong feet, his pants were on back the front. As she normally bears the brunt of Charlies tantrums, she had a hearty little chuckle to herself and told Charlie that his speech was so good she wanted him to present it to one of the other teachers. This of course was a cunning excuse to give the other teacher her own hearty chuckle at the expense of Charlie. But, alas, this teacher wasn't in her classroom and the recess bell had gone. "It doesn't matter Charlie", the teacher said, "Out you go to play", and sent little Charlie off to run around the playground in his wrong footed shoes and back the front pants, looking like a right little unit.

Kids can be so cruel, but teachers can downright evil.

Hoo Roo Brogers

2005-08-29T21:45:00.000+10:00

Farewell to the biggest winger in Australian Politics. Toodles. Don't let the door frame collide with your massive freak head on the way out the back door.

The funniest thing about today is the response that has been seen. The outrage doesn't seem to be centred around the fact that he called Helena Carr a "mail order bride" or groped a couple of reporters. It's the fact that he can't remember doing it after only six beers. Fucking Unaustralian alright!

Although if I was Bob Carr, and someone had a go at my wife like that I would deadset rip them a new arsehole in every media outlet that would let me. TRUTH BE DAMNED!

"Ah yes. I remember when Brogers first joined parliment in 1996 as the Junior Snivelling Little Shit and Member for Knob Gobbling. etc. etc."

Although I must say the line "Featherweight of mediocrity" gives me flashbacks to the years of Keating.

The Age has a great summary of Australian bloogers reaction, with one of my favorite reads, Jess, featuring quite prominently.

Some other great comments from around the blogosphere:

"The really shameful part is the J-Bro lost it after just six beers in three hours. Australians just won’t accept that kind of lightweight mediocrity in a leader"

"the difference between Bob Hawke and John Brogden is that Bob was the kind of guy you'd like to buy a beer for, where as John Brogden is the kind of guy who would like to stab in the face with a broken beer glass"

"Broggers manages in true blue style to completely arse it all up after a few shandies in a style that made Mark Latham look like Delta Goodrem"

Not about Brogden but still funny
"The word on the street is that Bob is repulsed at the mere mention of bearded clam, yet salivates when contemplating a good old romping of the swords"

Ta Ta Dickwad!

Sick Bastard Soup

2005-08-29T20:26:00.000+10:00

My darling wife came home with a massive bout of the flu today. She is normally a pretty good patient, so after dosing her up on Lucozade, Glucose and other assorted drugs, I decided to make my old Sick Bastard Soup. Sick Bastard Soup wasthe moniker given to the Chicken Soup I used to make when cheffing a David Jones. Always went down well in the middle of winter.

Please don't be distracted by the fact that it is called "Chicken Soup". This meal is purely a vehicle to introduce dangerous and potentially lethal amounts of garlic into your system.

INGREDIENTS:
2 Small Whole Chickens
4L Water
2 Onions
Shitloads of Garlic (Some Roasted, Some Raw)
Salt
Pepper
Chilli Powder
Soy Sauce
Olive Oil

DIRECTIONS:
Place the 2 chickens in a steamer and steam until cooked, making sure you keep all the juices that drop down into the water. Put the chickens aside to cool. When they are cool, strip and shred all the meat from the bones. But the bones back into the water from the steamer and make stock (I'm not going to go into it here).

Finely dice the onions and crush about 4 or 5 cloves of garlic. Cook in a bit of butter for about a minute and then add about 2 - 2.5L of your chicken stock that should have a nice strong chicken smell and taste. Bring to a simmer.

In a heavy (that's HEAVY) based pan add a small amount of water and the shredded chicken. When the water is simmering, add a couple of splashes of soy sauce, a small amount of chilli powder, salt, pepper and fresh rosemary. Simmer for a couple of minutes until its nice and fragrant, then throw the whole lot into the pot and simmer for about half and hour.

While the soup is simmering away, crush some roasted garlic in a mortar and pestle with some salt and pepper and a spash of olive oil. Grind into a smooth paste and trasfer to a bowl. Add some more olive oil and whisk to make a nice emulsification.

Serve up the soup with a sprinkle of shallots and a dollop of oil on top.

Also effective when fighting vampires or other assorted armies of the night.

2005-08-18T09:01:00.000+10:00

Easternblot.net. A good science based blog to add to the sidebar.

2005-08-12T13:11:00.000+10:00

This ones for Dad. He always had a few of the Curly Baseball Quandries books lying around the house when I was younger. I was surprised to see that I still could call most of the plays, even though I haven't played in about eight years.

I used to umpire at least one game a week when my family played. The entire Saturday would be spent at the grounds. When we were playing under 16's it would start at 8:30am, a few of us would be called up to play the under 18's game each week at 10:30, followed by a seniors game in B or C grade in the afternoon and an umpiring gig. I always slept well on Saturday nights.

2005-08-08T19:08:00.000+10:00

I spent part of my lunchtime today checking out the status of the Space Shuttle and while I think that the whole situation has been beaten up by the media who would just blow their collective loads over another disaster, I did stumble upon this.

I don't agree with all the points put forward (especially in regards to safety with which I believe NASA to be overly obsessed with), alot of the article is well researched and thought out.

In particular:

The idea that the ISS only exists to keep the Shuttle running and the Shuttle is only kept in service because the ISS needs it.

The redundant systems originally put in place due to Air Force requirements that were never followed through but remain on the shuttle, and;

The amount of completely useless science that is done on board. A friggin' Space Rose? Who gives a toss.

Having said that, I also differ slightly with Maciej in his views on manned space flight. My belief is that irrespective of the cost its something we nee to keep doing, just as we need to keep going ahead with the unmanned probes. I think humanity needs projects like space flight to keep us thinking big. Eventually we're going to have to leave this rock and its comforting to know that we are making at least some sort of a start.

2005-08-08T19:02:00.000+10:00

We recently bought an LG DVD Recorder to replace our 5 year old LG DVD Player which had recently bit the dust. The hard drive recorders on the market are still a bit out of our price range and don't yet include digital tuners in this coutry, so we had to settle for a DVD Recorder which we were pretty happy with. The only problem was the LG wouldn't record. Anything. It would just stop after 5 minutes, or go into loops trying to initialise a disc and need to have the plug pulled out at the wall to get the disc out.

We took it back on Saturday and managed to get a $800 Sony DVD Recorder for $450. We are very happy now. Tri-Nations on DVD. Excellent.

In conclusion, LG Bad. Sony Better.

Tri Nations: Game Two

2005-08-07T19:27:00.000+10:00

I recorded the Game on our new Recorder and watched it this morning.

Overall I was slightly dissapointed with the game. I was expecting alot more from New Zealand, and ended up annoyed with them. They should have won by a a try or two, but the entire NZ back line seemed almoust claustrophobic (?), and dare I say it, scared to run. Only towards the end of the game when Rokocoko came on did they seem to let loose and run a little.

South Africa - I beginning to hate the bastards. They play more like England with each passing game. Their forwards were impressive with Matfield again having a great game, althought they should have dominated the scrum alot more than they did considering the pack sizes.

My main gripe with the jaapies is that they can't score tries. Their points, so far in the Tri-Nations, have come from the boot of Pretorius or Percy Montogmery. The tries thay have scored have stemmed directly from opposition mistakes. They'll have to change this if they plan to win away from home.

Kill Bill Icons

2005-08-01T21:13:00.000+10:00

I loved Kill Bill. It was just want of those cool movies that left me wanting a really expensive pair of cowboy boots. Thats why these icons are so damn unreal. I've currently got the blood spatterd hard drive gracing my desktop as does Mr Truffle.

Back in the Game

2005-07-27T18:05:00.000+10:00

Good to see the Space Program is back up and running again. Even if the Shuttle is only going to be around till 2010 (although I can see it hanging around till at least 2015).

There seems to be too much of an emphasis on risk reduction. thats why I think we'll see the Chinese on Mars before the Americans. They are more willing to take and accept the risks that come with space flight. If something happens and the astronaut dies, so be it. They atronaut knew what they were doing was risky and accepted it. The yanks seem to believe that any risk is unacceptable.

Sure minimise the risk, but you'll never be able to remove it completely. Its part of life.

Anyway. Go Discovery!

Space Picures are fucking cool

Duuuuuudddeee!

2005-07-27T17:59:00.000+10:00

Idiot.

delete delete delete

2005-07-25T12:29:00.000+10:00

Gah! Blogger keeps deleting my posts when I publish them. I lost the two posts below and I'm going to have to remember what I wrote. I think its got something to do with posting from Safari.

Irish Red Ale

2005-07-23T12:12:00.000+10:00

Possum Magic!

2005-07-14T08:43:00.000+10:00

Stone House Sweet Stout

2005-07-10T12:42:00.000+10:00

Brew Number 4: Stone House Sweet Stout

Started: 7th April 2005
Bottled: 28th April 2004

Brewing Notes:
Ingredients:
3kg Light Dry Malt
500g 60L Crystal Malt
500g Black Roasted Grain
45g Ringwood Hop Pellets (9.9% alpha)
11.5g Safale S-04 Yeast

Yeast pitched at 25C

Initial S.G.: 1.060
Final S.G.: 1.015
% Alc. 6.1%

Bottling Notes:
As mentioned here, bulk priming problem due to wrong sugar. Reopened bottles and added priming sugar. Bottles then recapped

Tasting Notes:
Nice dark chocolate flavour and very full beer. Could possibly be slightly reduced, but not by much. Poor head initially, but developed well after another 2-3 weeks. Retention could be a bit better. Nicely hopped. Not overly bitter but with a nice aroma. Great winter beer.

Straight from Shelobs Lair

2005-07-06T13:08:00.000+10:00

After returning home from a particularly hard day in the lab yesterday, I was removing my bag from the passenger side door. As I was reaching I felt a sensation on the back of may hand that was holding the door open. Imagine my surprise when I looked down as saw this...

" alt="Shelob 1" />

Crawling across my hand. After recovering from the initial shock, I took the time to remove it from where it was living in the car door, lest it frighten the wife while she is driving. Cool huh!

" alt="Shelob 3" />

2005-06-30T12:57:00.000+10:00

293kg! No not the average weight of American six year old, but the size of largest freshwater fish ever found. A Mekong Giant Catfish the size of a grizzly bear

And unlike Rex Hunt, they ate the bastard, much to the consternation of the local hippies.

Local environmentalists and government officials tried to negotiate the release of the fish so it could continue its spawning migration in the far north of Thailand but the adult male died and was eaten in a remote village

Budget My Great Hairy Arse!

2005-06-29T19:18:00.000+10:00

What a veritable shit of a day.

We found out today that the Wife had her wallet stolen from inside her bag, which was inside her drawer, inside her classroom, inside the friggin' school. Two other teachers had stuff stolen as well, one having $5000 run up on her credit card. They think it was an adult who just walked straight into the school. She went directly to the classrooms as if she knew exactly where she was going, so she wasn't challenged at all. Now we have to cancel all the credit cards etc., but the Wife is upset at losing her new Oroton Wallet which she loves.

On top of that we returned the rental car we have had for the past three days while the Lancer was being repaired and got royally and utterly screwed. DONT EVER USE FUCKING BUDGET CAR RENTAL! We booked over the internet to take advantage of their $99 for three days, which was perfect for us. We decided to get the $22/day excess reduction, so that brough the total to $165. We have since been billed for $208. The extra costs are:

$4.36/Day Recovery Free. This is in case the car breaks down and need to be towed. What The Fuck. That should be part of the cost of doing a fucking rental business. Include it in the cost of renting the fucking car, dont add it on at the end.

11.0% Fee Airport Tax. Thats for another post. Macquaire Bank are a pack bastards. In short, because we picked the car up from the airport, we had to pay 11% for the privelege. Of course, the $99 deal means that it has to be picked up from the airport, so again, INLCUDE IT IN THE FUCKING PRICE.

3% Tax/Administration. Doesn't include GST. Go and get rooted. Part of the cost of running a business as far as I'm concerned.

10% GST. Fine, thats Howards fault.

I'm so incredibly pissed over this, mainly as they dont include it in their quoted price and it screws up any budget you have. After paying out over $2000 for the car last month, and another $500 to have it fixed up this week, and to have budgeted for the lower amount can really make you suffer. I know its only fifty odd bucks, but it quickly adds up.

Shit of a day.

2005-06-29T08:25:00.000+10:00

Kris mentioned that Google Maps now includes 'Straya, so I had a bit of a search for our place and my parents place up north. I'm a bit confused as to why they don't have the close up images of Sydney City. Is it some sort of security thing. I would have thought that it would be one of the more phtoographed areas.

I'm also trying to track down where my brother lives in Aspen. Shaun, contact me and give me your address so that I can watch where you go.

The Top 10 Ways to Destory the Earth

2005-06-28T13:06:00.000+10:00

Current Earth Destuction Status
Number of times the Earth has been destroyed: 0
Number of plans currently in progress with the final aim of bringing about the Earth's destruction: 0
Number of scientific experiments currently underway with the potential to bring about the Earth's destruction: 0

To make the list, the method by which the earth can be destroyed must actually work, acoording to current scientific understanding. Theoretical science at it's blackest. It reminds me of that Santa thing that did the rounds about a decade ago that showed that if Santa actually travelled at the speed required to visit all the good kids in the world in one night, then the heat generated through friction would destroy him, the reindeers and all the presents on board, plus create a devasting fireball and sonic boom destroying everyone and everything in its wake. Cool.

Ooohhh Purty

2005-06-27T13:28:00.000+10:00

Due to a weekend of dismal, miserable, very unAustralian weather, I finally got around to redoing the template for this site. It took me pretty much all day Saturday as I'm pretty crap with understanding CSS etc, but I'm pretty happy with it. If you notice any problems let me know.

Update: I've just noticed that weathercam is kaput. I'll have to get around to registering it and making sure it doesn't go off when the computer sleeps.

Immortalia

2005-06-24T18:22:00.000+10:00

Immortalia: A website dedicated to bawdy songs, dirty ditties and rude rhymes.
Even contains mp3s of old recordings of rugby singers. Required reading for Guinness Club Founding Members.

Measurement of Track and Field Records

2005-06-20T13:56:00.000+10:00

Categories: Sport

I'm Declaring Shenanigans

2005-06-20T13:32:00.000+10:00

Interesting detailed comment on Metafilter about the shambolic F1 stuff up at Indianaoplis on the weekend

Crap Everywhere

2005-06-20T08:09:00.000+10:00

Crap: Sharks 16 Roosters 10

Double Crap: Australia slump against Bangladesh

Save Me Jebus!!!: Pietersen powers England home

Southern Hemisphere Six Nations

2005-06-17T12:48:00.000+10:00

Pacific Rugby is the key to the Future.Agreed. Get the focus away from Asia and throw some cash into Samoan, Fijian and Tongan Rugby. These guys play some of the best running rugby you'll see, and if they had more of a chance to play together they'd be a real threat at the next world cup.

Ideal Scenario: Scrap the Tri-Nations and have a Southern Hemisphere Six Nations Competition involving Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Argentina, Uruguay and a Combined Pacific Islands. It gives the second tier teams much more of an oppurtunity to play against the top tier nations, increases rugby's standing the the smaller countries and would be fantastic to watch. You could even have a game between the Northern and Southern Hemisphere Champions.

The IRB needs to make a more of an effort with the second tier nations. Develop what is already there before tackling any new markets.

Anamorphic Illusions on the Pathway

2005-06-16T08:41:00.000+10:00

Julian Beever is a guy who draws some of the most incredible pavement art I've ever seen. They use this sort of thing on football fields now so that the field paintings stand out for the cameras.

Hail to Bacchus

2005-06-14T19:01:00.000+10:00

We have just returned from spending a very enjoyable long weekend in the Hunter Valley. Unbeknownst to us, the Queens Birthday long weekend is when all the wineries release their new vintages. So we got to try some vey nice wines and bring some home at very cheap prices. We stayed in a little cabin out on Tuckers Lane (up close to Branxton for those who know the area) which had a gas fire, hot water and plenty of space, which is all you really need.

On Saturday we pulled the bikes out of the car and began riding down Broke Rd from Pigges Peak Winery. By the time we reached Mistltoe Winery 350m down the road it had started raining. We had to pull the bikes apart again, stick in the boot and continue on by car. Also visited Serenela and Oakdale Wineries where we grabbed a couple of cases of good quaffers.

After the wineries we hit Harrigans Pub for numerous pints of Guinness and to watch the Australia vs Samoa and NZ Maori vs British and Irish Lions Tests. More on those at another time. AT Harrigans we met a really nice couple from Wollongong, Greg and Virginia, who ended up coming back to our place for a BBQ and, not surprisingly, more wine.

Sunday started off as a really lazy morning with Rob trying (and failing) at a Suduko puzzle for about 2.5 hours. We took off at around 1pm to Petersons and Briars Ridge. These were two wineries we knew we wanted to visit. Loved them both to death. We tooke alot of photos at Petersons as it has the top position in the Hunter. Best wine of the trip was the Petersons Muscat which the guy behind the tasting counter brought out for us, although at $60 a pop it was a bit out of our price range. Also visited the Lavender Farm and took some pics while the girls (and Rob) got a lavender hand wash. Rounded out the day with a huge lamb massaman and played 500 well into the night.

Rob and I were up early to play a round of golf at Branxton on Sunday, but could not see a bloody thing because of the mist. We teeed off at around 7:30am with visibility at around 15m. It didn't improve for the first nine holes, so we decided to go around again, and ended up having a much better round.

Headed back to Sydney with far too much grog in the car, but very content after a great weekend.

Bring me back some quality Vodka

2005-06-08T21:40:00.000+10:00

Safe Travels to my Mum and Dad who have headed off on their biannual overseas trip. I recieved their itinerary for their trip and was gobsmacked with the number of places they're headed to over the next ten weeks. They are starting in Denver & Aspen visiting my brother Shaun, and his loverly bird Bryanna, before heading of to Ne Orleans, Washington, New York, Frankfurt and Rome and then they begin their motor home trip around Scandinavia and Russia. Bastards. They have already started rubbing it in by sending me photos fom their mobile.

The first is Mum at waiting at the Airport, and the second is Dad at the Denver Colorados vs Chicago White Sox game in Denver.

Keep in touch, you mongrels, stay safe and bring me back at least 2 litres of high quality vodka.

Heh heh heh

2005-06-06T18:52:00.000+10:00

Brilliant!

2005-06-05T14:09:00.000+10:00

The All Guinness Diet and remember..."Opening Time is Guinness Time"

Hello Sailor

2005-06-03T19:50:00.000+10:00

I was hoping it wouldn't happen, but it appears the Waratahs have signed Wendell "No-one Wants To Play With Me" Sailor. The Reds don't want him, the Force don't want him, the ACT definitely don't want him and we don't need him. So why the hell did we end up with him.

I didn't think Braith Anasta would have been the greatest five-eighth in the world, but at least we need someone in that position. Yet do we really need another winger? On one side we've got Lote who is currently one of the best wingers in the world, and on the other we have Hewat who, despite not having the greatest final, has just come of one of the best debut seasons in the history of Super 12. On top of that we have got a pretty good bench as well. Why did we need to signed a washed-up, overpaid leauge player who, and lets be frank here, nobody really likes. I mean sure, Lote says he likes him, but thats just Lote being a good bloke and feeling sorry for the ugly bugger. I was at the Waratahs vs Reds game recently when ol' Dell decides it would be a smart move to push one of the home side in the back after being tackled. He then had the entire NSW side on his back whilst the Queensland players stood around and called him a dickhead.

Hopefully the only reasons the 'Tahs signed him is due to the fact that his gigantic arse will be able to keep a larger section of the bench warm for the players who are actually going to get a run. That, and the fact that he was going cheap... real cheap.

Easter Eggs in Episode III

2005-06-03T13:10:00.000+10:00

With so much detail to take in while watching Episode III, its no wonder that you just miss the little things. Such as this little gem.

It the Millenium Falcon!According to George;

this is the infamous hunk-of-junk before it came into the ownership of either Lando Calrissian or Han Solo

More Episode II Easter Eggs here.

Via Kottke.

Good Lord. They look like a set of world clocks!

2005-06-02T13:14:00.000+10:00

My brother used to be pretty good road cyclist. Every afternoon he would head off and ride around the North Coast countryside for a while with his shaved legs and shiny lycra attracting local wildlife. Normally, by the time he got back I would be at my desk studying or something.

It's a good thing I didn't see him come in most of the time either, as the bike shorts he owned were either pink and a yellowy-bluish type of colour (and, as I used to say when he would run around in his tight PINK bike shorts...GAAAY). I think I would have been severly traumatised, had I witnessed THIS. This is why if you must inflict bike shorts upon the general populace, for GOD SAKES JIM ! make them black ones.

You Would Make a Valuable Asset to the Dark Side

2005-05-31T19:05:00.000+10:00

It's 20 questions with heavy breathing.

Containing such memorable lines as:

"You're mind is closed to the force"
"You are giving me a headache"

and the best of the lot

"I suggest you surrender"

whilst shaking and strangling my browser window with the Force

The Honourable Member for the Sith, Darth Vader, couldn't even guess a cactus. I suppose it's because, in his own words;

"(I) am as powerful as the Emperor has foreseen"

Make Anakin whine like the little bitch that he is.

(via metafilter)

Not Enough Time

2005-05-29T19:34:00.000+10:00

Disappointed, but not disheartened.

Myself, the Wife and a few friends disappeared up to the Woolwich Pier Hotel last night to watch the Super 12 Final. Unfortunately the Waratahs went down to the Cursaders 35 to 25. We just ran out of time. If the game had gone on for another 10 minutes, the result could have been very different.

I thought the Waratahs kicking game was one of the biggest problems. They couldn’t get it to where they wanted it, too many kicks and Peter Hewat kicking donkeys out down the sidelines. Peter Hewat persistence with the little chip kicks smacked of someone who was out for personal glory rather than a win. At times I just wanted to scream at him to stop being a typical back and take it to ground to let the forward pack back him up. As expected, the Crusaders scored off mistakes. We knew they were going to be able to do it and we were punished for it.

All in all though, it was one of the best years for NSW Rugby. The entire squad played as hard as I’ve ever seen them and it all looks good for next year. We are going to miss the likes of Cannon, MacKay and in particular, Grey, but I think the acquisition of Sam Norton-Knight is a good one. The likes of Rocky Elsom, Morgan Tirinui and Phil Waugh are going to around for a long time yet, and this can’t be a bad thing.

It doesn’t hurt to lose one either as it only makes you more hungry for revenge.

Bring on the Super 14!

Stone House Stout

2005-05-28T14:26:00.000+10:00

It appears as if the Stone House Stout is finally starting to come around. I've been worried about his beer as it was the first brew after having to discard the previous two Pale Ales due to a bacterial infection. I've got a new secondary fermenter which I think was where the problem was. The recipe was as follows:

3kg Liquid Malt Extract
500g (60L) Crystal Malt Grain
500g Black Roasted Grain
45g Ringwood Hops (9% alpha acid) added as bittering hops
Safale S-04 Yeast

The bottling caused a problem as well as I stupidly bulk primed with corn syrup instead of corn sugar. This meant pretty much zero carbonation after three weeks, although the taste was great. I opened all the bottles up and added dextrose monohydrate and recapped. After another three weeks in the bottle the carbonation levels are much better.

Tasting Notes and Pictures to follow.

First Post

2005-05-27T13:12:00.000+10:00

Only three words (technically two and a bit) are required for my first post...

GO THE TAHS!

Thank You

How should we respond to the proposal?
	Listen politely and then give them all our money.
	Listen politely but decline stating the reasons for the declination.
	Listen politely and then shoot holes through his entire presentation, pointing out obvious flaws and making him feel very small and worthless.
	Listen politely then politely inform him to FUCK OFF!
	Politely request that the girlfriend remove The Wifes number from her phone...and the FUCK OFF!
	Politely describe to them how the way they have gone about this violates the laws and friendship.
	Turn off all the lights and hide under the coffee table.

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