Homebrew Me

The last time I checked it was 2012 and I don't really understand why this debate(along with many others) is still going on.  I see two people who love each other and that really is all I am concerned about.  I grew up being taught that all people are equal. It is certainly a relief to me that the proposed amendment to the Minnesota state constitution was shot down on election day.  I was also happy to see that the states of Maine, Maryland, and Washington who legalized gay marriage on election day as well. However only nine states in the US have legalized gay marriage.  While the results of the ballot measures this election was exciting, but there is still a long way to go.  I would like to throw my own thoughts about marriage into the fray. First I would like to note that many of the arguments against gay marriage revolve around the ideas of gay marriage "harming" the children, "destroying" the sacredness of marriage, and gay sex is immoral.  I would l

Hello everyone!  Time for a long awaited (I hope at least) return of track Tuesday.  This week I would like to bring your attention to the song entitled " Seven Devils " by Florence and the Machine. Two side notes before I go onto the review of the song.  First The short film that a young producer Adam Cronstedt   made to accompany this song is extremely well done and it enhances the mood the song already produces.  According to the blurb this is the first film Adam has directed, I would say it is definitely a well polished piece of work.  Go watch the video right now! Next this song was featured in one of the trailers for the second season for the Game of Thrones television show on HBO, this show is amazing and if you have not seen the show or read the books (A Song of Ice and Fire Series) by George R. R. Martin I highly suggest taking a look at them. Alright, now onto business this track is strangely eerie with a nice beat.  The song certainly sets up a heavy atmosphe

Alright everybody!  I have an important announcement for you.  Your fellow human beings will judge you for your decisions throughout your life.  They will judge you for the cloths you wear, the music you listen to, even the friends you keep.  What can you do about this blatant judgment about your life? You can turn and smile or flip them a finger if you so wish; however never let another human beings judgement affect how you act or your outlook on life (unless your outlook is particularly grim, then maybe ignore that last sentence).  Be the person you want to be no matter what anyone says. You want to listen to loud rock music and read philosophy at meal times, good for you continue on with your life.  You want to wear a suit to class everyday speaking in an awesome Russian accent while drinking vodka like a boss, that is your prerogative.   Do not be preoccupied with conforming to anybodies standards especially the standards of our society, we all know those are pretty mess

The newest James Bond movie has a great intro song sung by Adele entitled "Skyfall" of course.  Here is a good remix by Clark Kent and Oscar Daniel that I enjoy.  This is not a party song, it is more of a pre-party background music tune.   Give it a listen and enjoy the rest of your Saturday.

Okay, I realize that some (or perhaps all) of you will read that a couple times and think milk liquor sounds disgusting.  It does not have to be!  The recipe (found on the website  The Kitchn ) looked interesting so I thought I would attempt to make this. When finished the liquor has a sweet taste to it and has an almost dandelion yellow hue to it.  The short version of this recipe is as follows: 2 cups of vodka 2 cups of brown sugar 2 cups of 2% milk (whatever your type of milk is most likely fine, I had this in my fridge) 0.5 lemon (peel included) Mix all of the ingredients into a container and let sit in a cool and dark place, shaking it once a day for ten days.  After a few days the milk will start to curdle and separate from the mixture with the help of the citrus.  After ten days the product will be ready for straining. I used cheese cloth this time around (when I made the banana rum earlier this year I found that coffee filters are a huge pain) and strained the mixtur

Just as a friendly reminder for all the American readers out there.  Go to the polls! and vote.  I don't care who you vote for just exercise your right and give your opinion!

Hey everyone.  I am just here to let everyone know the blog is not dead.  I am just really busy. However it is Friday and I wanted to leave everyone a track to add to their playlists tonight.  The artist is Bassnectar an artist sadly, I have yet to see in concert.  The track is entitled Hologram , and it is amazing.  Crank it and enjoy your weekend everyone!

Welcome to another edition of Track Tuesday!  This week brings another electro-remix that rocks. Entitled " Titan " By Clockwork and remixed by Coyote Kisses.  The song has a good electro-beat and definitely falls under the category of sick remix.  If you have not heard of Coyote Kisses before check this song out as well " Binary Suns " Crank it, and enjoy the rest of your Tuesday evening!

I am not sure where all of you live but in Wisconsin the Earth is turning and fall is on its way, and that means it is apple pie season!  If you have never had apple pie before then you have been missing out.  Here is the recipe that I use when I make this wonderful drink. This recipe will yield approximately 20-22 liters of apple pie (depending on evaporation and all that good physics stuff).  You can split this up into however many servings you desire. Required materials: Four gallons of apple cider (the real stuff, which requires refrigeration) Two gallons of apple juice Three and a half liters of 190 proof alcohol (Everclear was great when they made 190) Eight cups of brown sugar Twelve cinnamon sticks Apples (Type/quantity of your choosing) Honey Step 1: Combine the apple cider, apple juice, brown sugar and heat until mixture boils on medium heat (If you are like me and own extremely small pots you may have to do this in batches). Step 1a:

This week brings us to a great track by Diplo entitled " About That Life ."  The track is very chill but it is also very trippy especially if you are watching the music video accompanying the song.  Every time I listen to this song I feel that I should be living in the 60's as a hippie or something.  However it is a great chill song to do homework/work to, so go listen and download it to maximize your trippy music exposure for the day.

Have you ever looked up into space and wondered just how big the universe actually is?  If the answer is no I encourage you to do so.  Some easy things to learn that will help you in your navigation of the night sky is your directions.  The easiest way to do this is by finding the big dipper. The big dipper is a circumpolar constellation, meaning that it never sets in our night sky.  The dipper is a bright easy to see constellation. Look for the bowl and handle. The next thing to find is the north star; take the front two stars of the big dipper and go until you run into the end of the little dippers handle.  That star is polaris also known as the North Star. If you were to extend the Earth's north pole into space it would run into Polaris.  Now you can observe the path of the stars over the course of an evening.  You will notice stars rise in the the East and set in the West, now that you have located your directions it will be easier to find many other intere

Hi everyone, This evening I would like to share a track with you that I have recently stumbled across that I like a lot.  It is a remix of the absolutely sick song " Too Close " by Alex Clare.  The remix was done by the group Cazettes , the song adds a great piano riff to the song and tweaks some of the lines to create a great electro-remix of the original song.  Download the remix, add to your party list, and enjoy.  Have a good rest of your weekend everyone.

Hello there everyone.  I am still intending on updating this blog; however it is getting hard to do so with the amount of homework I have right now.  I will of course try to keep this blog as updated as possible. Well today the Vice President of the United States came to Eau Claire to give a speech today.  I was very excited to hear of the visit and promptly snagged a ticket and almost instantly decided to skip my classes today (they were all during the event).  I mean who knows if I will ever have another chance to do this again. Blurry picture of VP Joe Biden in Zorn Arena The speech took place in Zorn building on the UWEC campus.  The line to get into the building was extremely long but props to the organizers for getting everyone into the building in a timely manner.  I could not believe how much security was present; I know it was for the VP Joe Biden but there were lots of cops, and secret service everywhere. Zorn was quite packed this morning Biden's speec

Welcome back to another wonderful Thursday!  This week I attempt to make banana rum for science (Okay...because I wanted to).  I found this recipe on  Serious Eats , recipe was straightforward and easy to perform.  I only strayed from the recipe in the initial infusion of banana flavor with one extra day of infusing  (I blame school for that one!)  I will let you click the link for the recipe seeing as it is their invention and I just want more people to see it. Workstation Now to the reflections section!  I found the recipe easy to prepare and make, I substituted regular white sugar into the recipe.  I did however have some minor issues with the straining section of the process.  The bananas were partially dissolved in the rum so I strained it many many times.  I substituted coffee filters for the cheese cloth as I already had some.  I ended up using three large plastic cups, two funnels, and a mesh strainer to remove all of the fruit in a timely (not really) manner. Ban

This weeks track Tuesday brings us to the the fantastic track entitled " Your Galaxy " by Speaker of the house featuring GoldAN.  This track is an upbeat electro hit that I cannot stop listening to.  Listen and Enjoy!

It is hard to believe, but tomorrow I will officially be a senior in college.  This realization has not completely sunk in yet.  However I was thinking today about who I am and what I stand for right now.  Four years ago I was a much different person than I am today. This is not a bad thing at all, for the changes were good ones.  Interestingly enough the changes in life which make the largest ripple are often the smallest choices which are seemingly made in an instant.  I am so grateful for all of the experiences both good and bad I have had in the previous four years.  These experiences have led me to be the man I am today; I wouldn't have it any other way. I would like to take a moment to say to those of you facing new experiences and choices in their everyday lives to capitalize on the opportunity and take the chance and see where a new road can lead you too.  One thing I have noticed in the short time I have been alive so far is the choices we make can take us to extremely

This blogging thing has gotten away from me these last few weeks.  So tonight I will give you many tracks and some of my thoughts as an offering. The first track is a cover of a Neil Diamond song "Solitary Man."  My favorite cover is by Johnny Cash .  Johnny Cash was an American singer and songwriter who didn't stick to one genre of music.  He composed many songs within Rock and Roll, Country, Blues, and many others.  While most people remember him as a country star it should be noted he was also inducted into the rock and roll hall of fame as well as the gospel hall of fame.  For those of you who have not had much exposure to the "Man in Black" I recommend listening to the album The Legend of Johnny Cash ; this has many of his biggest hits for those who would like to hear a wide variety of what Cash has to offer. The next track I would like to highlight is " Everyday is Exactly the Same " by Nine Inch Nails ( abbreviated NIN).  This track is j

As I mentioned so long ago in my previous post I attended Gen Con this year.  This was my third year to the convention; meaning I finally knew what to expect while I was there.  First of all car rides that take ten+ hours are just terrible no matter what fun people you travel with.  We were on the road by 6 AM, and the day was spent driving and just general shenanigans in the vehicle on the way there. The hotel we stayed at was only a few blocks away from the convention center (plus there!), we had a short walk to the convention and could come and go as we pleased.  The convention itself was full of lots of events and games to demo.  Also for those who are not really familiar with the convention many people choose to cosplay as their favorite characters from various forms of media.  I yet again realized that I fail at taking sufficient pictures of many events ( i.e. I forget I own a camera phone...). The convention lasts for four days and literally thousands of people will show up

Okay, I realize I have been a terrible blogger lately.  This is my first post in a little over a week; however it will be the first of the weekly (maybe) drink review.  Here I will try a new drink and tell you my experience and method of preparation.  I will drink so you don't have to!    This weeks drink is: The Caruso I stumbled upon this drink and rather enjoy the cool mint taste at the end of a sip. The Caruso, it's green so it is legitimate. First of all it is green and it actually has a pleasant taste.  So now that I have you all convinced to partake, here are the materials you require: Cocktail Shaker - a bar essential (I own three for those of you wondering) Jigger - measurement tool, typically measures out 1 and 1.5 fluid ounces Ice- chilled drinks are a necessity Glass of some sort -  I like Martini glasses (An old-fashioned martini is my vice what can I say) Gin -  what ever brand/quality you desire Dry Vermouth - you could try it with sweet if you

As the title suggests, I have left the fine state of wisconsin! It took us around ten hours of road time to get to get to the city.  The itinerary for this trip is Gencon.  For those of you who don't know, Gencon is a gaming convention of boardgames, rpgs, cardgames, and art. I will try to keep everyone updated with cool things from the convention

It is time for another dose of Track Tuesday!  This week brings with it a bass-filled track by Terravita.  The track is entitled metROIDS and is filled with awesome samples from the video game series Metroid. metROIDS Terravita hales from Boston in the United States.  The trio have released 26 tracks on Soundcloud so far with the majority of them as free downloads.  Make sure to check out the rest of their tracks on their Soundcloud page.  Until next time keep the speakers cranked and the music blasting!

Today I want to give a little shout out to JanSport.  Their products are constructed to last through what ever you throw at it.  I have had the same backpack going on eleven years now!  I originally received my backpack when I was in fifth grade, and it has survived the beatings I put it through (getting shoved in a locker for seven years, numerous vacations, college shenanigans, etc.).  I really enjoy the backpack I own, and I have grown somewhat attached to the thing since I was given it all those years ago.  As crazy as it sounds I do not really want a different one; thankfully JanSport has a lifetime warranty on their products! Near the end of last April the bottom on my backpack started ripping out.  I was dismayed to see this; first because I was not quite done with school for the year and secondly because I was perfectly happy with my current backpack.  I contacted the company and they instructed me to ship the backpack to them.  They would either fix it or give me a new one

Just a heads up to everyone, the Perseid Meteor shower which can be seen through much of August will be peaking this weekend! (August 11-12).  If you are observing in the right conditions you could see up to sixty meteors an hour. How do you observe this meteor shower?  Make sure you head out to a location with very little light pollution.  Out in the country is by far the best place for that sort of thing; however a large city park with few streetlights would be the next best option for the city dweller.  The best time to start looking for meteors will be around midnight, if you can you should be looking towards the eastern horizon about halfway up the sky. The meteors will seem to be originating from the constellation of Perseus.  An easy way to find Perseus is to look for the Milky Way in the sky, then locate the large W shaped constellation (Cassiopeia) and look north of that constellation.  Perseus is a harder constellation to see because of his abstract shape however he resem

Welcome to another edition of Track Tuesday! This weeks edition features a track mashup of Swedish House Mafia and Avicii remixed by Jakob Liedholm entitled Don't Worry Child, You Won't Fade into Darkness. Swedish House Mafia was a Swedish electronica group, who have recently announced their current tour will be their last. The group was composed of three DJ's Axwell, Steve Angello, and Sebastian Ingrosso, each DJ was well-known before they joined together to form SHM (a favorite track of mine is called Greyhound ). Avicii is another Swedish DJ who is relatively new to the scene.  That being said he has already dropped some insane hits (notably Levels in 2011). The mashup track itself is a great fusion of two big tracks, and sounds like it could have been an original production track.  This track can be used to pump up a party with its fast moving lines and decent bass.  Make sure you give the track a listen and stay tuned for the next Track Tuesday!

Hopefully you all have heard that the newest rover sent to Mars by NASA has landed safe and sound.  This is an awesome moment and hopefully the start of a long and successful mission!  I for one am extremely excited to see what the rover can find.  The rover touched down in the Gale crater near the equator. Now the rover will begin its examination of the martian soil looking for evidence of martian life in the past or even the present.  The rover was in development for about ten years before landing.  I sadly missed the live landing but I did watch the recording of the control room and watched the frame by frame on NASA TV.  It is good to see that some government funding is being spent for a good purpose. Lets raise a glass to the people who made this mission possible and succeeded in landing the one ton rover right on target! Curiosity Descent (YouTube) Image of Curiosities descent NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona Taken by  NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter all credit

As you could probably guess that child was me.  In first grade my I had a teacher named Mrs. Eisele and Mr. Gidjere (a college student doing his student teaching at the time).  Mr. G is I have no doubt responsible for my deep interest in the sciences.  I had always been interested in a science of some sort he however gave me some encouragement.  He always tried to get me to look at a lot of different science books to see what interested me the most.  I was particularly obsessed with paleontology at the time (Jurassic Park had been released only a few years before).  I soon became interested in space as well, I had no perspective of the vastness of space(I could tell you that Saturn was the most BA Planet out there) but it was something which would stick with me all the way up to at least this morning.   Ever since that moment I have known I was going to grow up to be a scientist.   In high school I took as many science classes as I could trying to find the one I wanted to pursue a

I came to realize in my high school years I needed a place to do my homework.  This need translated mostly to the kitchen table or maybe the computer desk if I needed to do research.  My first years of college I was issued a desk in the dorm I lived in.  When the time finally came to moving out on my own, I had to make a decision.  What type of work space would I want to have? This type of question might seem simple enough.  I certainly thought so at the time, not much later I realized it was not such a simple question.  For me I was tired of the desks with all of the crap and shelving added.  I wanted a simple desk, a minimalist desk so to speak.   Example of a desk which drives me crazy I searched everywhere in the stores and online with no success.  All I could find were terrible desks which would drive me crazy.  I had one final hope with my search: IKEA.  First of all let me say IKEA is a really interesting store (if you go make sure you buy some Swedish meatballs fro

Welcome to the first edition of Track Tuesday!  I will post a new track that I: recently discovered rediscovered (I.E.  I totally forgot about it and am now rocking out to this song like I am a 12 year-old again, see below) generally think it is awesome These may be from any genre of music, it will all depend on what my mood is on any given Tuesday. Today's track is: From Out of Nowhere - Apocalyptica I had a huge obsession with Apocalyptica when I was in middle school/early high school.  I used to listen to them all the time.  When I did my homework (if I did do it at that age), while I played video games  Starcraft, even while I mowed the lawn.  It was a completely new sound to me, and I could not get enough of it. Apocalyptica for those who don't know is a band from Finland who use cellos to create music within many of the subgenres of rock and metal.  The song above is probably my favorite of all of their music however as a bonus I really like

Curiosity Rover. Image from JPL/NASA. An exciting time is soon approaching.  The latest rover mission from NASA Curiosity will arrive at the red planet on August 6th 2012.  Curiosity is a mobile laboratory and is also much larger (5x massive) than the previous rovers (Spirit and Opportunity, launched in 2003).  It will be equipped with 10 science instruments in order to analyze the soil, and the atmosphere of Mars.  Curiosity will be searching for evidence of the habitability of Mars in the past.  I am excited for the landing and the start of the ground mission! Want to watch the landing live? NASA JPL Live (landing is scheduled for 1:31 AM EDT 08/06/2012) NASA TV UStream Sources: JPL Curiosity Website Mission Brief

I currently work for the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, and I feel it is necessary to point out a safety tip or two for people who drive through construction zones.  I read earlier last week in the news that people travelling through the highway 65 project are moving or stealing the markers that are used to direct traffic at the work site.  I can not stress enough how incredibly dangerous and stupid that is.  The markers are there to improve safety on the job site and to direct traffic.  If something is moved it could cause injury or death.  If you see anybody doing this do as the article says and report them to the police. Also, a few weeks back I went up to Superior to do road survey.  My main job was to walk along the road and measure the lengths of the painted lines all up the highway.  There were several occasions where I was alongside the road with proper signage to broadcast my presence yet people would not change lanes and ended up driving two feet away from me at 7

Picture from the book listing on Amazon. I just finished reading this book.  I must say I was unable to put this book down, Like all of the other McDevitt books I have read have been addicting.  This might be due to the fact of Science Fiction == crack for my brain.  I could be exposed to it night and day and still want more.  Brief synopsis below. I am getting side-tracked now.   Firebird is the sixth book in the Alex Benedict series, the main characters being Alex Benedict and Chase Kolpath.  Benedict is a wealthy antiquities dealer who attempts to locate long lost relics and frequently solves some mysteries while more questions arise.  In Firebird  a famous physicist known for his off the wall theories about multiverses and alternate realities disappears.  Forty-one years later his estate and possessions are to be sold.  Benedict becomes involved in order to sell the artifacts and becomes interested in the disappearance.  He and Chase begin the search for answers and the tr

In June I had a chance to go to Las Vegas for the first time.  I wasn't really sure what to expect as I had never been so far west before.  The first thing I noticed getting off the plane was how hot it was there.  It was 105 degrees when I arrived.  I have since learned to enjoy the dry heat of that part of the country. The first day was spent mostly inside the hotel as I was adjusting poorly to the heat.  At night however it was time to wander the strip.  I saw the Sirens of Treasure Island show that night.  It was very interesting to watch the skit.  It involved a lost pirate who found himself in the company of some very beautiful women who had a fight to pick with his pirate crew.  There was a little bit of acrobatics but nothing too intricate, still I recommend seeing it once. The next day we went out to see the Hoover Dam.  We rented a 2012 Mustang convertible to drive there.  I must tell you that I really want to purchase a Mustang now that I have driven one around.  Th

Some of you may not know, but I love electronic music.  A few of my friends disagreed however, my friend Kate especially so.  I told Kate I would convert her into an electronic music fan from across the Atlantic.  I posted a new electronic song or remix to her Facebook wall everyday for 134 days, I was successful enough to where she doesn't dislike it anymore.  I will count that as a win in my book.  My list of songs has been sitting around since she returned from Spain, I decided it would be a good list for anybody who is not familiar with electronic music to anyone who enjoys electronic music.  Make sure to crank your speakers and enjoy. Here is the link to the PDF: Crash Course in Electronic Music Or if you would rather read it off this blog here it is:

I was looking at my alcohol selection last month and I realized it would be much cheaper if I could make my own liquor like coffee liquor and such.  I decided to give it a go and with a little trip to the local grocery store I had all of the ingredients I required.  The recipe advised that I let the finished product sit for a month but I feel a month of infusing was long enough.  For my first attempt I am satisfied, next time however I am going to tweak the recipe a bit and see if I can balance the flavors more.   Here is the recipe if anyone is interested in a little experiment. 2 cups water 4 cups sugar 1/4 cup instant coffee 2 cups of vodka 1 vanilla bean Coffee filters (to strain the grounds out of the final product) Boil the water and sugar, when boiling add the coffee and remove from heat.  When cooled add the vodka and the vanilla bean store this in a half-gallon bottle.  Age until you are satisfied with the flavor.  I had an empty wine bottle laying around which m

Hello, Right now there is not much to this blog.  Hopefully later this will be full of lots of interesting posts and pictures.  Until then enjoy this first post!  As a bonus here is a picture from my vacation to the city of Sin: Las Vegas in June.