Beers-a-Plenty

My adventures in homebrewing continue to impress (me, anyway). Last weekend Joe and I decided to brew a Hogaarden-esque summer white beer. But before I talk about that, let me backtrack for just a second. A month or so ago Joe decided he wanted to brew a Belgian Abbey. This was quite experimental for us as the recipe called for all kinds of ingredients we had never used before such as honey, belgian candy, and corriander. We were quite nervous about the whole ordeal, but in the end the beer came out wonderful - one of our bests, in fact. So, when we decided to forge ahead into the realm of summer whites it didn't phase us that the recipe called for rice hulls, flaked oats, and other grains that needed to be mashed*. Things were going quite well...until we made a simple calculational mistake and added over twice the amount of sugar we had wanted. This is a BIG problem, as the beer would then turn out with a much higher alchohol content and sweetness. To remedy this, we doubled everything we could double (corriander, orange zest, wheat extract) and left the rest up to the gods of homebrew. The mashing process had been completed at that point so we couldn't double the rice hulls or the flaked oats. So really it's no longer a summer white but now two summer off-whites. And yet, I have faith they'll turn out to be quite satisfactory.

Why do I have such confidence? Well, mainly because the oatmeal stout that we brewed a few months back here at the Nolan's is magnificent. Our stouts just keep getting better and better; if these keeps up we'll have to open up our own brewery. Our signature beers will of course be Redbeard's Pumpkin Ale and Sneak's Coffee Stout; the house beers will be the Oatmeal Stout and the Belgian Abbey.

Look out Leopold Bro's.

* Mashing is painfully slow process by which all sugars are drawn from the grains and included in the beer for the yeast to feed on. Normall we practice extract brewing which eliminates the need for mashing grains.

They ain't from Washington or Michigan, no no!

Here are three discoveries that made my day today:

Mac mini

iPod shuffle

tgs8

"...keep on...keep truckin, ya know? Ok, good stuff..."

Made for pure enjoyment.

Well, I finally saw Moulin Rouge!, and though I did enjoy it I'm not entirely sure it is, as mhogan5 (see pg 4) might say, better than Jesus. While on the movie topic, though, here are the currently running movies that are still outstanding on my list to see:

The Incredibles

Sideways

Ocean's Twelve

Closer

Spanglish

The Life Aquatic

It's quite a list, I know, and I really should get started whittling it down. I think tomorrow I'll see what the fine theatre(s?) of Walla Walla has(have?) to offer. If it's playing I'll start with Spanglish.

That's it from this end on a snowy Sunday. Yesterday I worked for 12 hours so I plan on spending much of today reading/napping/watching tv in my room. Oh yeah, and enjoying the cool refreshing taste of Almaden. Happy Sunday.

Wine Country

Here I am at the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin on a brisk Washington Saturday morning. I've been here since last Sunday and things have been going as well as can be expected considering the circumstances*. The town is actually pretty quaint; it has a population of about 26 thousand, but it has nearly 60 wineries in the area. Of course since I am sitting here it's easy to surmize that I have yet to sample the fruits of the vine, but tomorrow and/or Monday should have some fun tastings in store for me. I just hope the weather holds up.

Here's an intersting tidbit from the newspaper world: all newspapers smell the same! I mean the actual buildings...they smell the same. I think it must be the ink. It only took visits to two papers to figure this out; I suppose the fact that the physical paper always smells the same should've been my first clue.

The hotel I'm staying at is sweet, though though they are holding out on putting a fridge in my room. Consequently I've been eating a lot of subway. Sometimes twice a day. Look out Jared, there's a new kid in town!

Alright, back to work for this guy, but more soon, I promise.

* I had two-and-a-half days to prepare for this site, and though they had months to prepare for me, it appears they used that time to pursue other ventures.

Ketchup contains natural mellowing agents.

These are the good years,
Out here in the sticks.
Winter is coming,
The weatherman predicts.
Life is flowing,
Like ketchup on trail mix.

Ketchup, for the good times.

~Prairie Home Companion

Pantone 292

Well, another restless night here in Michigan. One of these days I'm gonna have to go back to work, and these late nights will probably have to stop. I just can't sleep, so instead I listen to the magnetic fields on repeat.

Wi' nae  wee bairn ye'll me beget
Untwinkle, little ee
My ainly pang'll be regret
A maiden I will dee

But I'll turn into a nightingale
My song will warm thy heart
Well I'll turn into a threshing machine
and tear thy bird apart...
But I'll turn into a vampire
and kiss you on the neck
Well I'll turn into a siller cross
and send thee back to Heck...
But I'll turn into a hydrogen bomb
and atomize the air
Well I'll turn into a cockroach
and you'll see if I care...
But I'll turn into a supernova
and burn up everything
Well I'll turn into a black little hole
and you'll turn into string...
But I'll turn into God Himself
and then you'll come to me
Well I will not believe in you
and then where will you be...
My ainly pang'll be regret
A maiden I will dee

Video Killed The Customer Service Star

This Tuesday I had a most depressing experience at my local Best Buy. On Monday I ordered four dvd's for store pickup. On Tuesday afternoon Richard and I headed over to the store with the purchase order receipt to pick them up and purchase a flash memory card for Richard's new camera. Upon walking into the store I was directed to the customer service desk to pick up my order; the same customer service desk to which all item-returns are directed. Obviously, this time of year, the line was long. My first reaction was that there had to be a better way to facilitate in-store pickups; why, why did I have to stand in this line? I immediately began thinking of all the ways that I would've done things differently, and I came up with at least a few alternatives that I deemed much much better.

But this was not the biggest problem, which was the lack of staffing behind the customer service desk. For all these people with their returns and their pickups, there was one ambling employee taking his time with the customers. This was infuriating, not only to me but to everyone else in line who stood watching as many as six employees man the computer help desk with four people in line there.

Meanwhile, Richard had shopped for his flash card, brought it over to me to show me the price, got in line, purchase it, and returned. I had moved about ten feet. After another twenty minutes or so I made it to the front of the line. My conversation with the customer service rep went something like this:"

"Hi. How are you today?"
"Not very good, actually."
"..."
"I have a question for you."
"Yes?"
"I'm having trouble understanding what the point of ordering online for store pickup is if you have to wait in this line. Can you explain that to me?"
"Well, you have to understand that this is our busiest time of the year."
"I understand. But this desk is very understaffed..."
"I completely agree."
"...and I realize that is not your fault, but my brother has already shopped the store, checked out, and is now waiting on me. That is ridiculous."
"I completely agree."
"Yes, and like I said I realize this is not your fault, and I would love to speak to your manager about this."
"I'll get him right away."

So, a few minutes later the manager on duty walked over without introducing himself. Our conversation went something like this:

"Are you the manager?"
"Yes."
"I just wanted to let you know how unacceptable this customer service desk is..."
"Okay."
"...and basically the problem is that it is severely understaffed for this crowd, etc..."

I proceeded to tell him the same stuff, pointing out that the situation was unacceptable to me. But here's the part that really burned me up later on: his response was, "Okay. Thanks." and he walked away. At the time I was too stunned to say anything, but as I said, looking back on the way he handled things infuriates me. My mood would have been placated by a gift certificate or a discount, but only insofar as it would have been a gesture that he cared about me as a customer. What I really wanted was his sincere apology for the fact that I had a bad experience and his assurance that measures would be taken so that others would not have such an experience. And then, of course, I would expect that he follow through with his assurances.

I will never shop at that Best Buy store again. I will probably hesitate to shop at Best Buy at all. And in my little idealistic head it seems like such a travesty that customer service no longer has a place in much of the business world. As a consumer, I feel obliged to speak up when my expectations are not met. I have been tempted on a few occasions to make a few phone calls or write a few letters to Best Buy and the Better Business Bureau, but so far my laziness, like the laziness of most consumers out there, has allowed the man to win. I mean, it's not like the owner of Best Buy reads this silly little blog.

One thing's for sure, I won't be writing any letters today; I'm tired of typing and I must go to Spoon's place for gumbo and football.

Oh, and by the way, Happy New Year,
Mike