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Rants! & Raves! 5.9
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Here it is, Rants! & Raves!, your weekly chance to sound off about the week past. Remember the rules:
1. A Rave! is something that happened during the past week that you’re pleased about and is signified by the word “Rave!” and/or an appropriately peppy emoticon.
2 A Rant! is something that happened during the past week that you’re ticked about and is signified by the word “Rant!” and/or an appropriately grumpy emoticon.
3. You may Rant! about something a person said, did or wrote, but you may not Rant! about generally disliking a person.
Have fun!
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Don’t blame racism
We’re on our way to Colonial Williamsburg for several days.
I loved Colonial Williamsburg, Chas. Enjoy!
Rave: I got a lot of free art stuff yesterday! Very fun. But, I paid for my two favorite things: a 00 and a 0 Filbert brush.
Also, I’m going to China to help a friend pick up the little girl she and her husband adopted!
(Somebody please pray that the flight/travel can be easy. It’s SUCH a loooong flight. I get SOOO fidgety!)
Rave: we’re on our way to Pensacola Beach for couple of days.
Rant: I’ve tried three times to go to Williamsburg and something else always comes up every time we plan a trip.
Rave: One of those something else’s that came up was my son who is really excited about the beach.
I got stuck in an elevator in Williamsburg. Obviously not the colonial part. It was at the Patrick Henry Hotel. What surprised me was how fast it gets hot in an elevator.
Rave - my wife graduates tonight with a master’s in counseling!
Congrats to your wife AND you, Derek! Are you having a special celebration?
Rave! I can get seminary field credits for some Bible-study teaching I’m doing at my church!
Rant! All of our Chinese exchange students are going home to China this weekend. We will really miss them!
Rave: Three trusted Christ, two were baptized! Praise God!
Oh, Chas, I’m envious. Williamsburg is one of my favorite places!
Congrats to Derek’s wife on her masters.
Rave: Tomorrow I get to open and throw back the first edition of Graceland’s home brew. With the winnings from my family’s NCAA tournament pool, I purchased a beer making kit. I went with a basic American wheat for the first 5 gallons. I’ve been surprised at the amount of effort, but the 3 week process is almost o’er. Hooray!
Rave: Tomorrow I also get started on the 2nd edition of Graceland’s home brew.
Rant: Have to wait another few weeks for that one. Not sure if I’m patient enough for this hobby.
Rant: We lost our daycare for our daughter.
Rant: My husband needs his wisdom teeth out, and it will cost us around $1000.
Rave: We have dental insurance that at least pays some of the expense!
Rave: I am really enjoying my new work schedule - Mondays off and shorter hours most other days. The paycheck may not be so great, but I love the extra time with my family.
Rave:
I joined a new gym in hopes of continuing the exercise I started at the Osteopath’s gym.
Rant:
When I finished the program 3 weeks ago, I was promised a visit at this new gym by a member of the Osteopath’s staff to help me adapt my exercise routine to the new machines. When I found the new gym this week, I called the Osteopath’s office only to be told that they discontinued that service 2 weeks ago.
Rave:
They say they will honor the promise despite having discontinued the service.
Rant:
They still haven’t called me and set up an appointment yet.
Rave: Our son finished his master’s yesterday as well! So congratulations both to him and Derek’s wife! A long and worthy project.
Rave: It is worth it, Graceland!! I have six cases of homebrew in the basement; We drink about 2-3 a week and usually DW and I will split one. I have a Blackberry Canadian lager that is great. Also Fat Tire and Alaskan Amber Clonebrews that are doing very well.
Rant: If we die tonight, the kids would think we were alchoholics, but they would have a great party.
Rant: Something went wrong with the Maple Brown Ale. It just is not getting better as fast as it should. I need to repeat the “mantra”–”relax and have a homebrew” more. MBA is DW’s favorite so I guess I will have to do it over.
Rant: I will not throw it away. I am too proud! My motto- “I never met a beer I couldn’t drink!”
I need to repeat the “mantra”–”relax and have a homebrew” more.
MTCON,
You forgot to insert the “Don’t worry” into the mantra. What a good mantra it is.
Relax, Don’t worry, and have a homebrew. Ahhh…
Rant: My girls softball team is 0-2.
Rave: It’s an awesome group of girls who are really learning the game, learning to be a team, and enjoying the competition. We are the youngest team in the league and if they keep improving, we will be formidable next season.
Rant: No downtown parking, so I had to park far away in a rough neighborhood for a late night event last night.
Rave: All of the people on the street that I interacted with on my long walk to the event were nicer and more friendly than the people I dealt with inside.
Rave: Commuted to work on bike 3 days this week. Saved some money, and all the fresh air and heart-pumping put me in a great mood when I got to work, and a great mood when I arrived home.
Chas - Even though it’s not too far away, I haven’t been to Williamsburg since DD graduated from W&M in 2004. **Sigh** I miss all the shops on DOG street.
Derek - Congratulations to you and your wife!!
MTCON - Congratulations to you and Grandma on your son’s completion of grad school. I look fdorward to that day for my son as well.
Rave - My son is coming home from grad school for a month and a half.
Rave - Drill’s posts.
Graceland-My mistake!! I shall cease worrying this very moment! It will get better with age, I just know it!
Ahhh!
Rave: Our son, the one with the Master’s is also a master brewer! He recently set up a Kegerator.
Rant: We will not be able to try it out for many months because they are too far away!!
Rave: If the weather holds, I’ll play golf for the first time since last August when I was forced to take a break from such activities.
Rave: My daughter gets her RN pin tonight and her BSN tomorrow!
Enjoy your weekend, y’all!
Rave: perfect weather . . .
Rant: . . . for driving 3 1/2 hours (I hate driving) . . .
Rave: . . . to a writers conference . . .
Rant: . . . once I wasted a lot of time yesterday trying desperately to find someone to care for my dog for 24 hours, but . . .
Rave . . . I’ll also see a college friend (whose wedding I was in) I haven’t seen for about ten years, and her four or five children born since then (most of them anyway, one died at two
in a tragic accident) . . .
Rave . . . and when I get back, next week I have three radio/newspaper interviews (based on my second book).
Also, a decision may be made about my third book today (if the committee accepts it, it has to be approved by management, but I think with this book that’s a formality–I imagine I’ll know either way by the middle of next week). At this point I rather expect a no, but for complicated reasons, even a no would be good news–I just want an answer either way, and had expected to know all the way back in February.
Rave: Still not smoking since right before Christmas
Rant: Have now gained 40 pounds since Christmas too.
Rave: Good to hear that home Brew Beers are good and my thought that spending all the time and money to produce skunky beer was wrong
Rant: Have to lose 40 pounds before I can have a Guinness or Home Brew.
Rant: Always thought Williamsburg was just another tourist trap.
Rave: Won’t paass right by the turnoff to Williamsburg on I-64 the next time driving back from the beach.
Congrats to the degree earners above - well done!
Someone please tell me a good home brew kit to start with. Maybe I can get a batch ready to celebrate losing weight - as a personal reward!
Huge rant: The lawnmower WILL NOT START AND I AM VERY NEAR AT THE BREAKING POINT!
Huge rave: The lawnmower repair advisor suggested a Bud Lite. I told him I would just Relax, quit worrying , and have a Home Brew!! Ahhhh!! I feel much better, now. I will just take the lawnmower to the advisor and let him fix it. It just barely started greening up here anyway. It would have been a waste of gas to mow it yet.
Llama-Get Charlie Papazian’s “The New Complete Joy of Homebrewing” and it will give good advice and great recipes. It will tell you what equipment to get for the basic brew kit.
I suggest you reward yourself with a Guiness or HB for every few pounds lost. Why torture yourself. Rewards for small victories make for more small victories. Rewards for impossible tasks make for no rewards and a grumpy fat guy. I would bet Mrs. Llama and Baby Llama, whose fleece is white as snow, would prefer the former.
Llama,
I bought mine at a local home brewing store. Depending on the size of your town, you might have one too. There are plenty of places online to look. Here’s one:
Midwest Homebrewing
My kit cost about $100, but didn’t have to pay shipping and got one with the glass carboy, which is more expensive. You can get a basic one for around $60-70.
A kit will generally include everything you need to brew the beer, but ingredients for each batch and reusable bottles are an additional cost.
I will echo MTCON’s comments above about Papazian’s book. It is changing my life! A friend recommended that I buy it and read it before doing anything. I was impatient–bought the kit, started the first batch, and have been reading the book while the first batch brews.
I am realizing now that I should have done a few minor things differently, but hey, I’m going to just relax, not worry, and have a homebrew!
Llama - Accept your own advice from a while back & back away from the feedbag.
Graceland, How was the first taste?
MTCON, it was good. Probably the experience of it was better than the actual beer. The flavor was good, but was a bit watered down. Very comparable to a Blue Moon. I’m curious to see how it might change over the coming weeks.
The second batch is burping while I type. Looking forward to it. An English nut brown ale.