« Dexter Ave N., in Seattle | Main | Michael de Jong and his bike promotion »
November 7, 2005
brewin' and chillin' 
I was glad to call it a day on Friday. I caught up with Sweetie, had a nice meal, and generally started to let go of the pain of the day.
Saturday was Teach a Friend Home Brewing Day. If you were here in Portland and didn't hear about it, well, no surprise there as there appeared to be zilch for advertising. Sweetie heard about it on the BrewCrew mailing list, and so it was that we were sitting in his truck at 8:20 in front of Steinbart's, with no signs of life anywhere around us.
Twenty minutes later, the first other homebrew enthusiasts arrived, and maybe 15 minutes later, the first of what seemed to be a half-dozen homebrewers who were doing demos.
At that point, it was clear, but chilly. We all laughed about the pouring rain that had been predicted... until it arrived an hour and a half later.
Anyways. We hung out watching several guys extract brewing, one doing an Imperial Red, the other a Classic Bitter. There were also some all grain brew demo as well as mini-mashes, but to be honest, I know so very little about this that I wanted to stick with the starter method. The guy who was making the Red did most of the talking (and I believe is the current BrewCrew president), and he was quite entertaining.
Meanwhile, it was a party atmosphere. Someone was grilling sausages, and there were pretzels and tortilla chips and bean dip and salsa, and people were passing around their homebrews to try. Every single thing we tried was excellent! First, an Oktoberfest, then a Porter, a Belgian Golden...
I was freezing, but I was trying to be a good sport, as I'm interested in this, and Sweetie is super-interested in this. My mind kept returning to the thought that my life would be better if I were wearing more woolens. Layer upon layer of handknits. But once someone complained about being cold, I was all over that. We stopped into Steinbart's (the store) and it was a zoo—everyone and their brother measuring and grinding grains, choosing hops, looking at kits, looking at malt and yeast. So we got out of there quickly.
We hauled our friends to Muddy's for breakfast, and then across the street to the Rebuilding Center, since they hadn't seen it since the new addition was added. My question is: the new addition is open at the top—so aren't they worried about birds? I guess not.
Okay, this is where the story gets really dull. I can't seem to get warm. I laid down for a while, couldn't get warm. So I laid on the couch with the dog and the cats and several of my mom's quilts and tons of layers on, and I still couldn't get warm. Every now and again, I would suddenly be HOT, and I'd have to pile off all my covers and layers and animals, and then immediately, I'd be freezing again.
The whole idea of crossing the room to get a book, or some yarn, or whatever, was way too much for me to even consider. And then Sunday morning, I woke up with an insanely sore neck. Turning my head hurts. The dog inadvertantly biffs me in the nose and I'm in agonizing pain. Etc.
I thought this couldn't get any worse but it actually has. How can my damn neck hurt anymore than it did, really?
Posted at November 7, 2005
Comments
Hope you feel better! I have a bumper sticker which reads "Beer is my life and I will teach you how to brew it." It's a really fun hobby.
Posted by: neca at November 7, 2005 12:17 PM
I hope you feel better soon!
Thanks for the reminder to brew ASAP; I talked about doing it all summer, but never got around to it. It is a fun hobby.
Posted by: Tricia at November 8, 2005 5:26 PM