A Little of This, A Little of That.

G'day mates! How are ya? Has this winter (or summer) been treating you nicely? Lemme know, eh?

I'm hoping that everyone is now happy again now that I'm posting regularly again --fingers, toes, eyes, legs, ankle, arms all crossed in the hope that I can keep it up!

Don't expect any rhyme nor reason from my posts, one day you may see me running around an alien spaceship, the next you may see an embarrassed koala! Why the flighty-ness? It's not that I don't have a short attention span, it's just that I get ummmmm, side-tracked (yeah, that's it!) more often than knot and then a few days go by as I try to finish up (start!) a post that was a great idea at the time and befour I know it; a month has gone by-BYE!

Well (and that's a deep subject), NO MORE! I'll post whatever darned thing comes to my mind and type whatever darned stuff spews itself through my fingertips, onto my keyboard, onto your screen, into your eyeballs, then the spewed stuff finally comes to rest in some back-corner, unused area of your memory.

I hope you don't mind.

And no, I had absolutely NO IDEA I was going to type what I have typed thus far, I just let the fingers spew forth whatever they phelt like spewing forth.

*screeeeeeeeech* Insert sound of brakes

Changing gears now.

Many of you may or may not be aware that I'm going to have to travel to the US for a coupla weeks near the end of May. The reason is quite obvious as it involves Arlington National Cemetary. I will unfortunately NOT be able to work in a visit to Alaska (seriously grumbling about that), in fact it'll be an East Coast only trip with the exception of an airport or two.

I do not plan on cutting my hair (still no gray and approaching 50!!!!). Haven't cut it since late 1998 so why ruin a good thing, eh? I am not planning on shaving my long goatee (ok, it has a couple of gray strands) which is rapidly becoming a cross betwixt a long Van Dyke type and a short Manchu type. I also have long sideburns.

And to make sure that I'm fairly noticable, I will be bringing and wearing my tie-dye shirt collection!

Ain't they purdy?



Oh, and I'll be wearing one of several pairs of crocs routinely and wearing a black, roo-skin, acubra-style Aussie hat.

And a camera around my neck at pretty much all times. Yes, I'll be the weird tourist from Oz! Anybody gotta problem wit dat?

I have been continuing to play with and learn Vue 10. Great program! Loves it, I does! Check this out mates:


Here it is much more bigger sized:


Pretty good eh? All from scratch from Yours Truly! Vue also renders much faster than Bryce, this only took 6 hours to renders and talk about realistic plants!

Next up, dave makes a lame joke.

I am about to make a joke that may be a major embarrassment to me. So much so that I may go hide my head in shame rather like this:


The joke is a visual one. It's from one of my own pictures too!

You know how some people (not naming names mind you) tend to see phallic symbols everywhere? Yes, it's true some people do, not sure why.

Well, thinking along that "type" of line... What does this next picture remind you of?


I know, I'm a bad, evil, vile person and you don't need to tell me where I'm going cus I already know the way.

Ok, joke's over.

Those of you who know me in real life know that I have a knack for resting. And sleeping. Stay tuned for next time as I tell you ALL about my embarrassing history of sleeping and resting in what *some* people might think are inappropriate places!

Love blogging of the ultra hot chili beer tasting! *updated*

I am just about to crack the top of the brew now!

update 12 01 PM It's very well pressurized.


update 1204 pm cracked the top. Huge hiss. Smell of chilis instantly permeated the room!


update 1205 pm Carefully pouring. Very fizzy. No head though. STRONG smell of chili!


update 1206 pm the lager has a very reddish tinge to it.

update 1208 pm first taste! hair tingles. eyes water. tongue shrivels. warmth better than a shot of whiskey wpreads throughout my gut.


update 1210 pm *beeeeeeelllllchhhhhh* Holy crap that's strong stuff! Anyone wanna come down and visit to taste some of my homebrewed chili beers?

update 1212 pm 3 sips and my scalp has the serious chili sweats going on. Wifey-Poo says just a whiff of it hurts her sinuses.


update 1214 pm Just took a large swig of it. I *think* I may be getting used to it. Gotta remember this when it's hot weather. What a great way it'd be to cool off.


update 1217 pm Ok, finished with the first 10 ounce glass... only 20 more ounces to go! Ooooo, tummy just love sit, NOT! Wifey-Poo says that if I make myself sick then she ain't cleaning it up (this time).


update 1219 pm Mmmmmm, nice, warm, tingly feeling in my tummy now. Good brew!


update 1221 pm Did you know that birds do not have receptors that react to capsaicin the way mammals do? Just another way the chili plants spread their seeds; bird poop!


update 1224 pm Everytime I take a swig of the brew, my nose tingles. Gee, wonder why? And just why does it seem so warm in here today?

update 1226 pm For some reason my nose is running. Quick, enter it in a race!


update 1228 pm Why is there a lot of pressure in my ears and why do sounds seem muffled all of a suddn?


update 1230 pm *belch* Ahhh, a tsp of sour cream soothed the boiling cauldron that is my tummy.


update 1234 pm I am now 2/3 of the way through the 750 mil bottle of F*CK*NGLY H*T chili beer.

update 1235 pm Just poured the last third. bubbles are continously rising from the dark depths of the glass.


update 1238 pm Is it any surprise to you that afte Santa visited me down under that THIS happened?


update 1243 pm Why is my face feeling puffy? Was it something I drank?


update 1245 pm Holy CRAP! The last few dregs (them cloudy bits of honebrew) are disgustlingly HOOTTTT!



updat4 1246 pm It's a good thing my tonsils were removed when I was young, otherwise they'd be seared now! And I'm feeling oooooooh so warm and tingly inside!


update4 1248 pm *blech* Ahhhh, me feels much better now.



update 1250 pm One tiny amount left in the glass... it smells like haz-mat. Fortunately, it doesn't taste like haz-mat.


update 1255 pm Done AND done! I certainly don't envy my lower intestine tomorrow morning.

I certainly hope you've enjoyed reading this, I know I enjoyed (sorta) drinking it.


update 108 pm My god... It's full of stars...

Countdown... *updated*

24 minutes and counting till I crack open the last of my chili beers and consume it.

Update: 21 minutes to go. I SWEAR I've seen the chili jiggle and shack in that last bottle...

http://alaskandavedownunder.blogspot.com/2010/07/in-exactly-19-hours-from-right-now.html

Update @ 11:45 am 15 mins to go. Bottle feels good and pressurised. Chili is wriggling nicely. Should be very very potent. I'll keep you posted, no worries.

update @ 11:52 am The scoville heat unit of the chilli I used is around 100,000. It was fresh and I pierced it before adding to the homebrew bottle for it's secondary fermentation. That was 7 months ago.


udate @ 1157 am. No one else in the house seems to give a damn. BIL is facebooking, MIL is watching Richard Dean Anderson as MacGyver, the cat is asleep, and Wifey-Poo is writing. Just me and the chillis, I guess.

In exactly 19 hours from RIGHT NOW...

... local Adelaide time, I will be live tweeting and live blogging an event.

Remember this teaser from last post?

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Next up: A teaser.

This coming Friday, July 30th, at noon local Adelaide time I will be live tweeting and live blogging an event. For those of you who have no idea about international time zones, I'll give you some handy times.

If you are in Alaska, the event will occur at 6:30 PM, Thursday July 29th.

If you are on the US East coast, the event time will be 10:30 PM, Thursday July 29th.

If you are in France, it'll be 4:30 AM, Friday July 30th.

If you are in Sydney, check in at noon-thirty on the 30th, no worries.

Beer will be involved. And maybe yoghurt. Probably a toilet.

The event should last no longer than 30 minutes. 45 max.

Any guesses?

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Before I let you know what the Event is I need to tell you that we have a new neighbor. And she's young, nubile and very hot lookin'! So don't tell Wifey-Poo, ok?

The other day she gave me one of those over-the-shoulder-come-hither looks that I'm sure all you cranky old guys are used to getting from young girls. Or is it just me?

Fortunately, I had the camera with me at the time!

Here she is, me new girlyfriend!




Well, I guess Wifey-Poo doesn't have anything to be worried about after all.

Next up: What is The Event!

It involves beer, of course. Specifically, homebrew. More specifically, a homebrew that was made 7 and 1/2 months ago!

Remember this post from mid december 2009?

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Variety is the Spice of Life


Yes, it is. Why would you want to do the same boring, mundane thing every single day and then on the weekends do the same boring, mundane thing that you've done every weekend for the last 20 years?

Do something different! Change something! Spice up your life!

Heck, if I'd been content to drive the same truck every day, punch the same clock, receive a really good paycheck with awesome benefits, ride the bike on the same roads/trails as the previous 1231 weekends, teach the same stuff four times a week in the evenings; well, gosh.

I certainly wouldn't be in Australia if I wanted to do the same thing day in and day out.

And I certainly wouldn't have an outdoor pool. I hear they aren't too common up in Fairbanks for some reason.

And I certainly would still be working!

You owe it to yourself to TRY SOMETHING NEW!

Variety is the SPICE of life. And if you don't like spices in your life then you are probably only popular at a Star Trek Trivial Pursuit convention. Jus' sayin'.

Speaking of spices... I happened upon a couple of really nice chilli peppers the other day.

I have tentatively identified them as a sub-species of Capsicum annuum. I do believe they are the cayenne variety.

These puppies are 20 times hotter than a jalapeno and 10 times hotter than tabasco sauce. However, they are only 1/5th the hotness of the thai peppers I grow (got 9 really awesome thai chilli plants this year). But hey, they are still good.

Lookie here if'ns ya don't beeleave me:




To do what I planned to do with them (GET YOUR MIND OUT OF THE GUTTER!), I first needed to snip the stems.

BTW, Mundial kitchen shears are da bomb! Hand crafted in Madrid, doncha know.


And I also needed to pierce them full of holes:






You'll notice I don't wear rubber gloves when handling chillis. It's cus I'm not a wuss. Besides, I've got so many callouses from, ah, um, er, other activities that I don't have to worry about and juice stinging.

But what am I planning on doing with these chillis? Weeeeeeelllllllllll, since you asked...

This is a 750 ml bottle ready for BEER! 750 mls is twice the size of wussie US beers, BTW. These are BIG chillis!

They barely even fit!




One with, one without.

Soon to be both "with".

And after a nice lager has been added to do it's secondary fermentation in the bottle




I'll let you know how they taste in about a week from now.

Hey, take a chance! Ya never know!

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Yes, I have ONE, count it twice, ONE of the chilli beers left. And that beer has been soaking up all the chili heat goodness for a long time now! In fact, just the other day I say the chili twitch and the bottle moved.

Tomorrow at noon I will be opening it and consuming it. And I will tell you all about it LIVE as it happens!

So tune in exactly 19 hours from RIGHT NOW to this blog and to my tweeter account! I'll be updating every few minutes so just click the refresh button to get the latest.

Hallucinations?

Sickness?

Giddiness?

Transcendental experiences?

Finding out if there's an afterlife?

Who knows what'll happen!

Just be here. Friday. July 30th. Noon. Adelaide, South Oz time.