The Wizard of Speed and Time

Just a bunch of things I think are interesting or funny.

Monday, September 26, 2005

All for intelligent design

The schools in Dover, PA have decided to take a ride with teaching intellegent design as an alternative to evolution. Click here for story. This of course has led to a lawsuit by those who don't want this taught in school.

My question, how long does it take to teach intellegent design? Can't the whole theory be said in 30 seconds. "Gee, the universe is really, really complex. It must have been put together by some higher power." But if you really want to extend the conversation, end the prior statement with "all praise to Allah."

A moment in the cone of silence

Today, Don Adams died. Click here for story.

Sunday, September 25, 2005

October 28, guy's night.

I'm putting together a guys night. No wives, no kids. Beer and poker. My house.

The next day, brewing a pilsner.

Thank god, looters didn't steal the poles.

Well, New Orleans is starting to get back into the swing of things. Strippers are back to work in the French Quarter. Click here for story.

The best part of the article is where the proprietor of the club suggests that this is a public service. I'm just glad that the strippers are doing their part for the morale of the workers and reducing their prices while show many others are gouging.

Venial Sin in the bottle

This afternoon, I bottled the Venial Sin Mild. Got fifty bottles out of it. Tastes great, quite filling.

Good times in Wild Rose

On Saturday, packed up the whole family and went to a party in Wild Rose, Wisconsin. Left Berwyn at 6:20 in the morning and didn't get back until 11:30 at night. We went to Amelia's godparents house for a cookout and bonfire.

The Candra's had more food than could possilby be eaten by the number of people that they invited, which is impressive considering they had about 40 people show up. And much of the food was homemade including some wonderful sauerkraut and brats.

Everyone had a great time, the people were cool, the hot tub was nice, and the dogs were good. Since we were the first to arrive, Nick and I had a chance to play with the dogs. We threw them baseballs which they chased with great abandon.

The Candra's have two sons, one a sophomore in High School and the other a sophomore in college. They each had about 5 friends come to the party. Nick became their mascot. They started a game of football, which Nick joined in. The big kids were great with Nick, they let him score and tackle them. Nick was in Heaven.

Sadly we had a lot a thing to do back in Berwyn or we would have stayed the night. But I'm sure next time we will stay for breakfast. In all a great, relaxing and thoughly enjoyable day.

Friday, September 23, 2005

Celticfest

Last year, I took Nick to Celticfest and he had a ball. So this year we decided to take the whole family. This would also give Sarah a chance to see Millennium Park. And again we had a great time. The music was good, the people were friendly, the weather was perfect. Nick again enjoyed the kids area (which was not particularly celtic, with the possible exception of a portable mini golf course).

Some highlights:

We saw a duck obstacle course. What is this? Well it's a course that a sheepdog herds a group of ducks around. If you remember the final scene in the movie Babe, only with ducks instead of sheep. Interesting and funny as hell.

Cool band called Different Drums of Ireland, Click here for their website. Lively, fun and thoroughly enjoyable.

Discovered I could buy a kilt for $400.00. Took a pass.

Nick played in the water at Millennium Park's Crown Fountain. That's the one with the changing faces.

Sarah took some neat pictures at the Bean.

Great day.

Last Weekend

Big and busy weekend, took Nick to Mom's for a sleepover so that I could run my church's blood drive and Sarah can do some shopping. Of course this meant that I would have to drive up north during the heaviest part of rush hour. So I put a movie in the DVD and we got Burger King for dinner. I love my new minivan. Once we got to mom's Nick and Tony disappeared downstairs while Dad asked me to move some furniture around.

On Saturday, the fall blooddrive went well. Got 41 donors in the door, collecting 33 units. Not to shabby. And I only felt lightheaded for twenty minutes. Went to pick up Nick and had dinner with the whole family.

Sunday was just as hectic. After the second service, I had to chair the last meeting of an Ad Hoc committee which had to come up with a recommendation for our parsonage. That took about an hour. And after that we went to celticfest in Grant Park. I'll put that stuff in a different post.

Monday, September 12, 2005

A rose by any other name...

Well I decided to name the beers from last week's brew. The Porter will be Cardinal Sin Porter and the small beer will be Venial Sin Mild.

Saturday, September 10, 2005

Seven hours, ten gallons, countless stairs

Today I brewed an experiment I found in Zymergy. I made a porter with an oversized malt bill. This allowed me to make a small beer from the same grain. Thus I have ten gallons of beer in carboys in the brewery. But it also meant two brews on the same day. And since they were all grain brews, I had to do everything from scratch.

Considering that all my equipment is in the basement, my water and prep is in the kitchen and the brew happens outside. And every move is up and/or down stairs. My legs are exhusted.

But on the plus side, I should have the small beer done on October 8 and the porter should be done on October 29. I expect to have a party on the 29th.

His first option wasn't much better

A man, a very lonely man, was arrested in Edinburgh for making love to a traffic cone. Click here for story. According to the story, what he really wanted to share his love with was a pair of shoes.

Wednesday, September 07, 2005

This ones for Tony, but since he won't get it, don't tell him.

Put the lotion in the basket Charlie Brown.

Once you buy a minivan you must sign up for soccer, it's in the contract

Well, it's true. Within three days of purchasing the Montana, we signed Nick up for soccer. It seems that the Rec District has a league for kids as young as Nick. So, we signed him up after asking him if he wanted to do it. As he jumped up on the couch and shouted that he wanted to play soccer, I assume that he really wants to do it.

So I had to do and buy a soccer ball. Its a good thing I called Penny. She told me to get a size three ball. I didn't even know there were different sizes. And I realized that not only had I never owned soccer equipment, I don't recall ever playing a soccer game. And now my son is signed up to play every Friday or Saturday.

Monday, September 05, 2005

Well my daughter wouldn't have Barbie buy liquor for Ken, she'd make it.

In a startling discovery, a Dartmouth University study uncovered data which seems to indicate that children, ages 2 through 6, in clinical settings will imitate their parents when they are instructed to have their dolls make purchases. Click here for story. The study found that when children see their parents drink and smoke, they will assume that this behavior is normal and acceptable.

The study also discovered that if a kid had seen movies with adult content, a term not defined in the story (but it seems to be movies rated PG13 or R), then that child was more likely to have Ken buy Barbie booze. What kind of parent is letting their 2 to 6 year old kids watch R rated movies?

Barbie needs a stiff drink after readingthis article.

Can the AARP card be far behind.

Since Sarah is adding another kid to her daycare business, if bacame necessary to trade in the Malibu and buy a vehicle which could seat her, a five year old, a three year old, a two year old, a ten month old and a seven month old. Yes we went and bought a minivan.
A Pontiac Montana to be specific. This is a picture of us coming home from the park today.

First Day at School

Nick started kindergarten on Thursday. Here he is lined up to go in for his first day.

He really likes school and was more excited than I expected. On Wednesday we went to meet his teacher. He wanted to leave an hour before we had to go, and then he asked if we could go every five minutes thereafter.