TGIF bbq

The Health and Safety department here at work had their end of year bbq. There was lots of food, burgers, hot dogs, pulled venison and ribs. I got a preview of the pulled venison at lunch, it pays to know the right people. I then opted to have the ribs since they were keeping the venison for themselves and they were really good. I think I ate a little too much but the food was great. They also had neon yellow 'lemonade'. They actually had to put a sign up on the 'lemonade' telling people it was margarita mix as a few people complained about the nasty lemonade. So the rest of the party we walked around telling EH&S how much we loved their 'lemonade'. I think I drank a little too much but the lemonade went down nice and smooth after the first one. I am glad that the weather held out this year. I was on campus last year for their bbq and it rained. I actually went back up to the lab and grabbed a rain coat before braving the bbq. The rain did come but it was near the end of the bbq, good timing.

I went to catch a movie down in Georgetown after the bbq. Good thing I don't fall asleep at the drop of a hat. I may have been a little drunk but at least I was able to follow the movie. I'll write something up on it later. I had a great time. I feel like I am settling in here in DC better than I was in Harvard. Maybe it is because I have been here longer, but I feel like I have more friends and more things to do now than I have ever had to do. Although RI still runs a close second.

Wet Exit

So it was bound to happen, I had to learn how to exit the kayak in case of a flip so I purposely flipped the kayak in calm water. I did end up spending about 5-10 minutes whining and procrastinating about it first. I didn't really care if I got wet, I just didn't want to be upside down underwater. I also kept thinking about all the things that can go wrong, and what if my life jacket pressed me against the hull. In the end, other than hitting my head on the paddle, there were no problems leaving the kayak. The problems came with trying to get all the water out of the kayak. It took three people to get the kayak out of the water onto their kayaks then tip all the water out. I was even able to get back into the kayak like I knew what I was doing. I did discover that my life jacket needs to be a little tighter as it came up a little higher than it should.

In preparation for TGIF, I loaded up the amber ale and birch beer into the car with two boxes of old school texts and drove them down to the school on my way to kayaking. It was easier to carry the two kegs at once than lug each one alone. Needless to say, after lugging heavy kegs, heavy boxes, then paddling like mad, my arms and shoulders are tired and a little sore. Even my wrists are tired and a little sore. I could use a massage, or a hot tub soak. I am supposed to go backpacking tomorrow but the turn out is rather low and I am not sure my shoulders would be happy with that. I will have to see how I am doing later.

TGIF

I went out last night with a few friends to a weekly Thursday night happy hour. I didn't know that many people in the group so I didn't stay long. Also, with the loud music, it was hard to talk to people. I did chat with my boyfriend. He was in the hospital after getting a love tap from a car. He was sore but otherwise physically fine. He was really pissed with the driver, the police had been useless and he was madder than hell when I called.

Today I hosted another TGIF homebrew happy hour and again not many people showed up. I am going to wait a few weeks before the next one. At that point the semester should be staring and there will be fresh faces. I will also but up some flyers and try to drum up more people. The more the merrier. The few of us brainstormed some ideas to improve on the event. Someone suggested talking about science but that was blown out of the water right away. This is more social than work. But the food idea is worth trying. I think cake and beer might work.

Although turn out was low for the TGIF, we stayed until 7:00 and I got home late. I have all my hiking stuff piled up and it is a matter of pulling out the frozen water bottle and packing tomorrow morning. I am sitting down and knitting more baby caps while watching more Stargate. I have modified the design of the pattern I am using and have made a watermelon coloured cap. It is so much cuter than the other caps I have made so far, so I am making more so I can sell them. I will have to post a good pic when I take one. Everyone at work really liked them.

TGIF, Yay!

A few people from work gathered together last night after work. I normally host Jounal Pub with my home brew but after that a few of us stayed together and went downtown to enjoy sake and sushi. I thought that was going to be it, but we actually continued on to Brickskeller's for specialty beers. It was quite a night. I don't think I got home until quite late. Thankfully I got a lift and didn't have to play bus roulette.

Brickskeller's is a great place. They have a beer list that reads like a book of fine print. They have a huge selection of beers, ciders and meads from around the world. It is a good place to try out a style as chances are they have several variations on that style. I tried a Cherry Lambic. It was okay, a little pricey, but I didn't realize how much past illness would affect my taste buds. It reminded me a little of cough syrup at first. The sourness of the Lambic style helped prevent a full blown cough syrup memory from emerging but that first swallow was interesting. I moved onto a Woodchuck Cider from England. Quite good, a little dry but very tasty.

This week has passed very slowly. I don't remember anything standing out this week. I go to work, I putz around then I go home and watch Stargate. I have a small pile of baby caps to show that I have done something. At least I have some kayaking to do this weekend and I think I will try to catch the Bruce Willis movie.

A Mighty Heart

The movie of the movie meetup this week was A Mighty Heart. I really didn't want to watch this movie because I wasn't interested in the subject matter, I didn't think it was a good role for Angelina Jolie and I didn't know the story it was based on. But, I wanted some company so I went to dinner with the group then caught the movie. I was disappointed in the movie mostly because the story meant nothing to me and I just couldn't get into it. It was a well done movie and Jolie was good but I just couldn't see her in the role of the wife. I would have been much happier watching Transformers or Die Hard as that seemed to be what my mood was up for, neither of which were playing at that particular theater. Another reason that contributed to my having to watch the chosen movie. It turned into a long night, the movie started quite late and it took me forever to bus home. I had also gone to a BBQ here on campus right after work then went out for supper with the meetup. I would have driven but the kayak was on the roof and I was afraid I would get any street parking if I got back so late.

Journal Pub

We had a real nice group of people show up this time. I decided I didn't like the fact that the mailing list was only sent to grad students while encouraging everyone to come. So since I managed to get my hands on the list, I sent out a mass mailing and told everyone who was interested that they had to opt into the list. That helped whittle down the 600 address list and also made sure that only people who are interested will continue receiving the email. I also sent the email out to the two major departments which should account for most of the people in the area. The turn out was good especially since there were other parties that day.

Today was the day I unveiled the Holy Moly IPA. This was a little too bitter for my tastes but everyone who tried it seemed to like it. It also turned out much darker than I expected, especially since IPA are supposed to be Pale. I will likely be bringing out the Jalepeno IPA next week as I noticed that one of the kegs was low and it will be ready. I will need to pick up another tap but that can wait. So I have to empty the last little bit from the keg into bottles then get the JIPA in and get the keg back down to the school. Since there is construction on my street with no day parking, this could be tricky if I don't want to loose my parking on a side street. Maybe I will just wait until the weekend.

Journal Pub

It used to be that every Friday was Journal Pub. Rather than getting together to discuss journals (ie journal club) the students and staff would get together Friday to just chat. For some reason the guy who was taking care of Journal Pub stopped doing it. At first, we just did one on our own with a few people in our lab, then a few more. Then I meet my boyfriend, but still no journal pub. So I contacted the guy who was setting them up and told him I had beer. Well that got a response. So we had a Journal Pub tonight with the homebrew. Everyone enoyed the beer very much. The surprise was that the few people who tried it, really liked the jalepeno beer. I had four different types of beer, a stout, a belgian ale, a maple brown and the spicy beer. The first three were in kegs while the last one was in bottles (I actually only brought in two bottles because a little goes a long way). Good thing I also brought the carbon dioxide tank in too as for some reason one of the kegs had lost pressure over the week. We also had drank enough to drop the pressure in one keg such that dispensing was slowing down. Can't have that now.

In the end the Journal Pub was a great success and I collected some money from the tip jar. This is a nice feature that was already in place but allowed me to get a few bucks for ingredients for the next batch and possibly that homebrew book I've had my eye on. So now it is time to plan the next batch. I am thinking of an IPA just for something fast and simple that has universal appeal. It also means that I can go from nothing to beer in about 2-3 weeks and keep the beer flowing. Then I can move on to a cranberry honey white, something that will be an amalgamation of two other recipes.

TGIF

There was no official TGIF this week but a few of us did go over to the Hoya bar on campus and had a good time. I stuck around with the guy in the lab next door and we stayed until the bar closed then left. He's really nice and brews beer too, but I am just not sure he is interested. I had a chance to try an amaretto sour, which was very good. I also had a shot of tequila, not quite so good but I guess you have to try things at least once or be more drunk when trying them. The buffalo wings were dangerously good and there were three people who ordered plates at different times, so there were always wings around to tempt. I think I blew my waist-line, I am going to have to watch that. All in all though I had a really good time. I am expecting the guy from the next lab over tomorrow to help with bottling beer. Should be fun.

TGIF and the weekend

There is a TGIF here at 5:00 that I have been trying to go to on a regular basis so I can get to know people in the building. There is only one person on this floor who talks to me when he passes by. I actually found out about the TGIF in two ways, the first way was when I saw a cart ladden with beer in ice buckets go by, so I just had to ask where the party was. Shortly after that, the guy in the lab next door told me about the TGIF. As so I now have something to do on Friday. I had a couple of beers at the TGIF and apparently that is about what it takes to get me a little drunk. But I did have an empty stomach. TGIF wrapped up around 7:00 and I stay until the end. I was then invited to hang out with the guy in the next lab and a few of his friends to go see Fighting Gravity play at a local bar. It was great. I like the music and the venue was nice too. Too bad I didn't think to brinig ear plugs. My ears hurt after that. We went for food afterwards. I didn't get back until about 2:30 in the morning and as usual I was awake at about 5:00 the morning. Oh well.

Saturday was another long day. I went to watch Eragon with the movei meetup and I had invited the guy to come along. Not that many people showed up for the movie but we did get a few people join up later for the food and drinks at a microbrewery in the same mall. They had a really nice red and I liked the brown too. I am thinking about what type of beer I would like to try making next. I want to get some beer going now that I have found most of my equipment. I am missing a few pieces but I am leaning towards doing the honey white and maybe the three pistols clone. Those were good beers. I am thinking of just making small one gallon batches. That way I only have about 9 bottles to deal with. Plus I figure if I don't like them or can't drink a large batch I can always bring them in for the TGIF. Grad students are a great way of pawning off food or drinks.

So today brings me into work so I can drop off all my plants. Although the light here is not full, at least they get watered. Other than that I have a gear report to write on the snowshoes and I thought I would try to write more on the novel. I am basically procrastinating on the Christmas shopping as the stores are so far away. And I don't know if there is parking lots or not. I have discovered that it isn't a good idea to move right before Christmas mostly because I really don't know where things are or how to easily get around. It would be nice to go to a New Years party but no invites or meetups have any posted. I might be to tired if I drive back that day then go to a party. Google maps claims it is a 10 hour trip and I will have the cat with me.

No snow but a party anyways

I'm really heartbroken over this, okay not really. I don't have the snowshoes I will be testing yet so getting snow or not doesn't matter too much. There was all of about 5 minutes of snow the other day. Just enough to see under the street lamp and get everything wet. It basically melted on contact with the warm ground. Washington DC is starting to remind me of Vancouver although it doesn't seem to rain as much here as I seem to remember out in BC.

Yesterday was the department holiday party which for some reason I keep wanting to call the halloween party. Same first letter, wrong month. Since the lab was going to be introduced and it was a good place to meet people, we all walked over to the party together then sat off by ourselves until we were introduced. After that a little mingling happened. The other lab people starting leaving until I noticed I was the only one from my group left. Then I saw one person I knew so I walked over and started chatting with him. Turns out he makes beer too, so we talked beer half the night. We stayed until the end and helped clean up then walked back to the labs then left. We ended up chatting until about 3 in the morning before we finally parted ways. I think I've make a friend. So I basically got about 5 hours of sleep since I woke up early as usual.

I'm off to a movie later this afternoon. I will post an impression later. The movie will be The Holiday.