Homebrew Me

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