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Alex's Blog. - Page 4

post #151 of 179
8/6/09 at 2:54pm
I feel for you, Alex. I contracted Valley Fever after the Northridge earthquake in 1998, and my fever topped out at 105. My mom actually had me lay in a bathtub full of cold water and ice cubes to keep the fever down.

Glad you're better now.

I wonder if this is going around right now? I was at a friend's last Saturday and his sister was going through the same thing. I had to go home early because they finally decided to take her to the ER.
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post #152 of 179
8/6/09 at 3:00pm
Dearest Alex: Thank you for not dying.

In all seriousness, that sounds terrifying. I hate high fevers.
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post #153 of 179
8/8/09 at 4:24am
Jebus dude, that's freaky as fuck, especially when it's so bad your brain won't even let you vege in front of a movie. You're thinking frustratedly, "Fuck, I'm wasting this fever not watching movies!" and it only compounds the torment.
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post #154 of 179
8/8/09 at 8:44pm
Thread Starter 
Seriously, at least the silver lining to getting sick is just laying down watching movies and playing games, right? I was deprived even of that. Spent most of my time staring off at my dvd collection and either wishing I could watch some of them again or wondering why the hell I owned others.

Thanks guys. My fever finally seems to have dwindled away today... I've still got congestion and am popping pills but am tons better. Just a shitty week, is all.
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post #155 of 179
8/8/09 at 9:05pm
Really hope that you start feeling better, Alex. Glad to hear that the fever's broken. Sucks that you couldn't even "enjoy" being sick by playing games and watching movies. When I had walking Pneumonia in January, I was laid up like I had never been before, but I was still able to get up and pop another movie in.
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post #156 of 179
10/14/09 at 11:24am
Thread Starter 
Case anyone's wondering where I've been- http://chud.com/articles/blogs/2080/...-Vacation.html

Writing this from a boathouse with wifi. Kinda love this place.
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post #157 of 179
11/30/09 at 5:42pm
Thread Starter 
You have all failed me! Why did I not know about Darkplace sooner? http://chud.com/articles/blogs/2176/...Darkplace.html
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post #158 of 179
12/1/09 at 12:53am
That's priceless. Kudos!
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post #159 of 179
1/20/10 at 2:30pm
Thread Starter 
I'm brewing my own beer! Hope to document this on the blog over the next few weeks. http://chud.com/articles/blogs/2311/Homebrewing.html
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post #160 of 179
1/20/10 at 2:34pm
I don't know if it's a collective consciousness thing or what, but I'm heading out with my brewing friend this week to go to an equipment shop to do the exact same thing.
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post #161 of 179
1/20/10 at 2:38pm
Thread Starter 
Hah, awesome. Any idea what kind of beer you're going to try first?

I'm stockpiling bottles as we speak- I think I'm going with 22 ouncers, because I've got about a half dozen already in my house from last weekend..
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post #162 of 179
1/20/10 at 2:44pm
Right now I'm in the dark, so I'm going to rely on my friend's expertise. My father-in-law is a Danish brewmaster/beerophile who's obsessed with pilsners, and that's rubbed off on me over the years quite a bit, so I might try my hand at that.

I'm not really a snob. The only beers that make me really bristle these days are adjuncts. And Guinness.
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post #163 of 179
1/20/10 at 2:53pm
Oh, and Land Shark. I can't take two swigs of that swill without getting a splitting headache.

Anyway, I'll be watching this space with great interest...
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post #164 of 179
1/20/10 at 6:24pm
A local DJ talked about his brewing experience on the radio a few months back. I don't remember any tips, b/c I don't have a brewer, but apparently it's easy for things to go terribly wrong. He and his friends agreed that his first batch tasted like firecracker smoke.

Good luck!
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post #165 of 179
1/21/10 at 2:54am
Thread Starter 
Hopefully my first one won't taste too terrible, as it's all rationed out in a neat little kit, but I can probably find some way to make it bad. Don't know how great this particular style is, anyway. But I'll figure it out eventually.

Tomorrow I head out to buy a gigantic boiling pot, which I don't have yet, and then hopefully I'll get it started.
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post #166 of 179
1/21/10 at 9:54am
I've been brewing on and off for years. The key thing to remember is that everything has to be done correctly, or you wait 5 weeks to find out that you screwed up. Some helpful hints:

1) Clean and sterlize the shit out of everything.

2) Biggest mistake I've made is pitching the yeast when the beer is too warm (> 80 degrees F), so let the stuff cool off before you toss that in.

2) Boiling malt and grain smells good, but over powering. Done inside, you'll get to enjoy it for a couple of days.

3) I recommend recasking to a glass carboy after the main fermentation dies down (using a siphoner). It really clears the beer up, and will kick off another day or so round of the yeast tearing through the beer, so will up your alcohol content a bit too.

5) If you've got a 5 gallon kit, expect to need around 45-50 12 oz bottles. I've reused them frequently, but buying a few sets of those big ones with the reusable rubber stoppers has been awfully nice.

Good luck.
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post #167 of 179
1/21/10 at 12:47pm
Thread Starter 
Unfortunately this kit didn't come with a carboy, so I think for my first try I'm just going to try it with the one fermentation. I keep hearing that you get a cloudier beer with a more yeasty taste, but I'll figure it out. And yeah, this kit says it'll make 53 bottles, but I think I'm going to just grab 22s to make it a little easier. I definitely want to get some flip-tops though, it does seem like a good idea for storing them and for ease of use.

Thanks for the advice, it's appreciated!

Also- trying to pick names for a brew- http://chud.com/articles/blogs/2316/...ng-a-name.html
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post #168 of 179
1/21/10 at 12:51pm
Cthulhu Light
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post #169 of 179
9/30/10 at 5:23am
Thread Starter 
Oh yeah, I've got a blog! One day I'll write about the five or six beers I've made since that last entry, with differing success (although my latest one is, according to a friend of mine, "Like Jesus giving my liver a high five") but I keep forgetting to keep on top of this.

In any case, one thing that irked me recently, about an otherwise cool moment (a blurb of mine used in a trailer!)

http://chud.com/articles/blogs/2942/...-The-Dead.html
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post #170 of 179
10/7/10 at 5:15pm
It's been four days since I started fermenting my ale wort (just a typical starter kit in a 6-gallon fermenter), and the airlock isn't going nuts like it was during the first two days. It burps every thirty seconds or so. Everything I've read tells me that fermentation should last around a week, but I'm worried my yeast is fucked. What do you think, Alex?
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post #171 of 179
10/8/10 at 8:43am
I'll chime in and say that's generally ok. It should hit hard and fast the first couple days and gradually slow down, and once every 30 seconds is actually still fairly active.

Just make sure it's completely flat before you even think about bottling, unless you want a bunch of broken bottles and a messy floor.
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post #172 of 179
10/8/10 at 11:12am
Thanks. I'll just hang tight for another four or five days and hope for the best. The stuff coming out of the airlock smells really good, which I'm hoping is a positive sign.
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post #173 of 179
10/14/10 at 5:51am
Thread Starter 
Probably should subscribe to this thread, missed these, and Surge's reappearance! You should be fine with that batch Trevor, don't worry. Like Surge said, the first two days is when the most action takes place. As long as it's still burping, the yeast is still working. You're always going to be more nervous about the first batch but just try and let it go and don't worry about it too much. How's it looking now, anyway?

My latest beer is a Chocolate Milk Stout, gotta bottle it when I get a chance. Then I've got to pick up a pumpkin, cause I'm going to make a spicy pumpkin ale.

Speaking of beer- http://chud.com/articles/blogs/2986/...Eric-Bana.html
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post #174 of 179
10/14/10 at 9:48am
On the subject of brewing and it being fall, you might want to give a hard apple cider a try, since it's basically no effort. You just need 5 gallons of apple cider from any cider mill (store if your desperate but make sure it has zero preservatives). Just heat up all 5 gallons ( you can do it in stages), but not up to boiling as that ruins it's composition, and toss in 2 pounds of honey and 2 pounds of brown sugar. Grab some cider yeast (White Labs liquid cider yeast works fantastic) and toss it into a bucket with an air lock. As soon as it's done fermenting, bottle it up (no priming sugar) and you're good to go. Just refridgerator whatever bottles you want to drink for at least 36 hours beforehand, as that clears it up.


It good hot or cold, and women seem to dig it.
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post #175 of 179
10/14/10 at 9:50am
It looks ok, actually. I'm going to let it ferment for another two weeks before I bottle. I'm getting a lot of conflicting advice about second stage fermentation, but since I don't have a carboy yet, I'm just going to let it sit in my primary and go straight into my bottling bucket from there.
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post #176 of 179
10/29/10 at 6:25am
Thread Starter 
A great "Become Depressed by Humanity!" double feature.
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post #177 of 179
11/24/10 at 6:03am
Thread Starter 
Just got off a Joe Lansdale kick and got done reading a very good biography of Jamie Lee Curtis, so Matthew Reilly was just what I needed- http://chud.com/articles/blogs/3071/...-of-print.html
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post #178 of 179
11/24/10 at 6:44am
I knew about the Tiffany one but I have to say, the redneck one sounds much more interesting.
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post #179 of 179
1/18/11 at 2:06am
Thread Starter 

Didn't link my last two, so here goes-

 

The Last Pee-Wee Herman Show- http://www.chud.com/28541/the-last-pee-wee-herman-show/

 

Moving Image- Weekend One- http://www.chud.com/31274/moving-image-weekend-one/

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