randomness

just a few things on my mind...

having a great dinner and a few rounds of quality microbrews with a close friend is simply awesome. i suggest you all try the same.

leaving unsealed hydrometer samples of uncarbonated beer in the fridge for 2 days completely destroys their taste. it's too bad...i was looking forward to comparing my mint chocolate stout after the addition of more mint, chocolate, and vanilla to the original. by the taste of the modified version, there's too much vanilla...damn...i sure hope it mellows out, or else i'll have to call it a "black and white cookie stout". mmm...black and white cookies...

as few of you who are reading this blog know, i used to live for snowboarding. it was my life. i started in 6th grade. in the winter, i rode as often as possible. in the summer, all i did was watch snowboarding videos and dream of the first snowfall. as the autumn approached, there was always that first day when you step outside, and something feels different. the air feels unseasonably frigid and exacting...you inhale...it gently stings your nostrils...you can taste winter on its way. it was this moment that i lived for. then as college (and partying) settled into my life, snowboarding took a backseat...no longer did i have access to the mountains, being in dead-center pennsylvania. for the last two years, i didn't even snowboard once. finally that's all over. i got my first taste of that virgin powder on monday at jay peak, and what a breathtaking thing it was. i was surprised how easily i got back into my rhythm...i was linking turns almost as well as i used to. while my finesse was not as defined as it was, i can feel it coming back...and it feels good.

having lost my free cable due to a relatively self-inflicted announcement of my free cable to the cable company, i'm surprised how little i miss it. while i do miss the seinfeld reruns, i own (or have downloaded) every episode, so i'm pretty set there. it has freed me from my dependence on it, so for that, i'm pretty grateful that i was dumb enough to fall into the trap that set off the bells and whistles at the company. i'm not sure that i'm being super productive with the extra time, but at least i'm not sitting like a mindless test animal staring at a bunch of drama queens stuck on an island (though i'll take reruns of gilligan's island anytime).

people need to stop using the term "as a matter of fact". "do you sell weatherproof folding chairs?" "as a matter of fact we do!"...what does that mean? was he gonna lie to me? would it be any different if he said "we do!"...would i be suspicious because i didn't know whether he was speaking about a matter of fact or fiction? let's look in another context..."so, doc, do i have cancer?" "as a matter of fact, you do!"...is it just me or does that just sound very, very wrong? as a matter of fact it does.