Winter Blah and general update

Is anyone done with winter yet? It looks like we are in for another bout of the white stuff tonight and tomorrow to the tune of 2-5"! Nothing to do but work, go home and drink beer and play with the kids. Unfortunately, I am trying to cut back on my beer consumption a bit due to the never ending teeter-tater of my weight loss effort. Looks like I'm back at square one and back at it again trying to lose that 30 pound or so. Nothing like the metabolic issues of middle age.

Last Saturday, Shawn made his first reconciliation. Of course he was extremely stressed about talking to the priest but he was all smiles once he was done. I think he said "that was the easiest thing ever" and "he only gave me one Our Father!" We ended up renting a Wii that evening and of course Shawn pretty much was lost for the rest of the weekend.

On the homebrew front, I kegged a double IPA two weekends ago and it is really good but extremely strong. If the calculations are correct the A.B.V. ended up in the 7% range. Todd came over this past Friday and got hammered on one homebrew, a margarita and a Sierra Nevada in the span of about 2 hours. Three drinks and it was off to la la land for Todd. I will be kegging a second batch this Saturday. This beer is also an IPA but it's all hopped up with Simcoe hops. I think that Simcoe are my favorite at this point in time.

This weekend we are having a small Superbowl gathering at the house with Jill, Todd, Jill's parents and Lisa's parents. I hate the Steelers, as any good Cleveland raised person should, so go Cardinals! And the following weekend will be Katelyn's birthday party. I can't believe that Katie Bug is actually turning 2!

I started this post yesterday and the weatherman was right this time. We got dumped on but not as bad as they did to our East and South. It looks like we got about 3 inches by 6 am and another 3-4 has fell since then. I thought it would be a good idea to blow the driveway before I left for work so I did but when I finally left the house after a shower, it looks like I didn't touch the drive at all. Crazy Midwest weather! Of course Shawn and Lisa are at home on a snow day and I'm sitting here in a half empty office blogging. Is there no justice in the world?

I've also been playing around with widgets and services on the blog lately. Not sure how or if they even work but that's what happens when you're bored at work.

On a more serious note, my mom got engaged over the Christmas holiday. I haven't posted about it because I wasn't sure how I felt about it. Matter of fact, I still don't know how I truly feel. Not that Ron is a bad guy. During the couple of times I've met Ron, he seems decent enough and he also seems to treat my mom pretty well but I just can't get over the fact that mom is supposed to be with Dad. Of course I know that isn't possible anymore but it's just a mental issue with me that I am doing my very best to deal with. I guess my issue also stems from the fact that no one is really good enough for my mom in my mind. I'll work though it. I guess the bottom line is that if Mom is happy, I am happy for her. So Mom, if you're still reading from time to time, if I didn't say it before Congratulations. I'm happy for you if you're happy.

Enough about that. Have fun digging out of this storm. I know I'll be having a blast!

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Minus 7 degrees out my office window at 2pm!

Here's a video from the Beer-Nerd! Day 2 of fermentation of a 5 gallon batch of Simcoe hopped IPA.

Just a quick post with a picture of me in my new glasses. They really are out of the box for me but I think they're growing on Lisa and the kids. Probably would have helped if I picked them out with my contact lenses in my eyes.

Well, my retinas seem to be okay for the moment. I was told that I would more than likely have a detachment or a tear eventually due to the severity of my nearsightedness but for the moment I only have some pretty significant lattice in both eyes which is an area that the retina is held into place a bit stronger than it should (like super glue) and is a prime area for tearing. I also have an area where the vitreous jell is thicker than in others that will cause me bi-annual trips to make sure it stays the same size. I guess the thicker jell can cause issues with retina detachments. Other than that and being reassured that I am color blind, all seems to be good for now with my eyes.

Tonight I am attending a prayer service to prepare for Shawn's first celebration of Reconciliation. I'm sure Shawn is looking forward to that.....not!

I racked my beer that's brewing last night and according to Bro-in-law Brad, the alcohol by volume at the present time is 6.4%. I did sample the flat beer and you can definitely tell that it's going to be a nice strong and well balanced beer. I'm having issues with the first batch in my kegerator. I think I have a nice slug of hops or sediment in the lines that's causing the beer to flow very slowly. Once I kill this keg, I will give all the lines and the keg dip tube a good cleaning.

My brother Mike came in for a visit this past weekend which was nice. We really didn't do all that much but it was a nice visit. We did make it to a couple of brew pubs and enjoyed a few but didn't over do it this time.Uncle Mike, Dad, Shawn and Kate