I am back

Hey guys, sorry for the long delay there. Things have been wicked crazy, with the wedding last month, and then running off to florida for a week or so, and then coming back and immediately getting a new house, and moving, and evil raccoons... damn evil raccoons, with their opposable thumbs, and their washing of their food before they eat it... make me so angry.

Anyway. I am back. IZTAD isn't really turning out like i hoped it would. I have been trying to make it something fun, but it's just not in me to organize things right now, especially beyond my own organizational handicapped life. And now that there are two of us, and not just one, specifically, my beautiful wife, thing's are definitely changing.

Anyway, I am still trying to start a band though, figure it would be a good peripheral project, along with my brewing activities. You join my band, you get free beer. how's that.

Zombie March, Sacramento

So, I was recently told that there would be a march on November 4th, in Sac. I am planning on going. Here is more info per commenter on the Robert Downey Jr. Post.

Scientists warn the public that there will be a zombie infestation at 2pm on Sunday November 4th.

Biochemical conditions in the Sacramento River have created a perfect environment for the spread of "moldychlorians" - resulting in an outbreak of zombies. Perfectly normal people (that's you) will turn into blood-covered, brain-sucking fiends at exactly 2pm, November 4th in the green field at the NWC of Front St and I St in Old Town Sacramento. Zombie Control specialists will broadcast a special radio frequency to confuse their prey-seeking senses, but tests have proven that duct tape placed in an X on a person's torso can deflect these waves and cause a zombie attack. The zombies are predicted to follow a path from Old Town Sacramento, through the Downtown Mall and down the K Street Mall to the Crest Theater.

You can find more info here:
http://www.zombiewalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1004

That is all for now. =)

The Wheel of Ka

Ka. Ka is the driving force of this world, and all connecting worlds. It is not entirely sentient, yet it makes the heavy choices in this world. An entire country, an entire world, could be wiped out, because of a thorn thrust into Ka's wheel. When ka wants you to turn right, you'll turn right. because ka is the wheel that moves this world, and those that rage against ka are going to be crushed under its rim.

When you take time to stop, and think, and you realize, that everything around you could be gone in the blink of an eye, it feels like there is nothing that you can do. In all honesty, there isn't. If something epic happened, we would all die, and be part of the ether once again. Now. Part 1 in an ongoing series of what to do incase of things apart from zombies. The Wheel of Ka.

keep in mind that these are very basic, and are only intended to be ideas, and not instructions. You want instructions, start contributing to the wiki.

Nuclear activity. bombs, missiles, etc.
Easy fix: Get a cabin in the woods, away from any major cities. Keep it well stocked, and make sure there is a well and/or a creek, or a lake nearby for water purification. The only thing you would have to worry about is nuclear fallout being blown over, depending on how close you were to different blast centers, air currents, and whatnot.

Unfortunately the U.S.A. has come to the point where most mountain ranges are still within 200 miles of cities that are vulnerable to attacks. Fix? Move to Canada. Instead of nuclear winter, you just get winter. and moose. and wolverines. cute, cute wolverines.

Next: Meteor strikes.

Primary Fermentation

So, fun things are happening. Have happened.

Saturday night I had a learning session in my kitchen. Turning my house into a home brewery. I started a small 3 gallon batch of amber/pale ale using some malt syrups and cascade hops.

Everything went pretty smoothly for the first time, until I got to pouring the wort into the fermenter. I siphoned the wort from the kettle into the bucket, popped the lid on, filled the airlock to the line with water, and pushed it into the hole. Here's where all hell broke loose. The rubber washer that holds the airlock in the drilled hole pops out, and falls into the murk. Now, thinking, "hey its rubber, it should float..." I take the lid back off and stir with my oversized spoon for a second, moving the foam out of the way so I could see the washer.

But noooooo... it had to sink didn't it. So, I sat and thought for a sec. AHA! I can siphon over to my emergency fermenters, which are really just cheap plastic "Mr. Beer" fermenter "kegs." And so, after the "Mr. Beer kegs" have been filled with the wort, I nabbed the rubber washer out of the silt at the bottom of the bucket with my tongs, (sterilized of course.) And i put it back on the lid.

Now to do it right. I re-siphoned the wort back into the fermenter bucket, and carefully put the airlock back through the washer which had been placed back in the drilled hole. Placed the lid back on, and put it in a dark corner of my living room, where the temperature maintains a solid 80F. Sterilized all my equipment, drank a shot of Gin, and went to bed.

All together, the whole process took about 6 hours for me to do. Which was, step one, boiling all the water, due to our tap is half well water, half calcium. Step two, sterilizing all the equipment outside in a 15 gallon rubbermaid storage bin using Iodophor, (a combination of iodine and some sorta phosphor.) and bout 14 gallons of water. Step three, cool the water I am going to use, skim off the floating stuff, and seperate it; 1.5 gal into the fermenter bucket, and 2 gallons into the kettle for the wort. From there it was just, boiling water, adding malt syrups and hops, cooking for 1 hours at a rolling boil. After that hour, cooling the wort in the bathtub to 75F. And then to the process described above regarding the siphoning of the wort into the fermenter.

Hooray for fun!

The rest of the weekend, Marissa and I went and did the Gift Registry at Target, got a Copper Firepit which was on clearance, and took a stray dog to the Humane Society. That is an entirely different story. Which I shall grace you with.

Sunday morning, I wake up to the dog wanting out. Ok, I open the door and he runs out to the gate and starts yipping and whining. I peek my head out the door as I was still in sleeping clothes (next to nothing), and I see the head of a scruffy lookin terrier on the other side of the gate. Throw on some pants, and head out there to check out what's going on.

Turns out a stray dog had been hanging out in the yard outside the gate, and Sampson had attracted his attention. Well, we brought him into the yard so that he wouldn't wander off and get run over in the busy street. He had no tags, so I tried to call animal control, but they are closed on the weekends. Imagine that, a police division closed, on the weekend. What if a cougar gets loose in downtown Chico, what are they going to do? "Oh, sorry, were closed til monday. Get back to us at 9am monday morning and we'll see what we can do." Yeah, real smart there.

Anyway, I posted a "found" ad on chico's craigslist site, and waited for a few hours. No response, except for a privately funded shelter in Bangor, which is about 45 minutes south, offering to take him and hold him til an owner is found. Uhm, no thx, not in the mood to drive to the boonies for a stray dog. So we took him to the Butte Humane Society, and they thanked us for bringing him in.

Cruised around there a little bit, found a couple cool dogs that we wished we could have, and left to go do the gift registry.

How's that for a fun weekend? Beer, Stray Dogs, Firepits, and Bangor!

Also, if you read this far, I am still looking for a drummer that can do double bass.

Dethalbum

Need I say more?

What happens when millions of raving fans demand the music from Dethklok Metalocalypse? A full album of brand spanking new songs. Thats what. A few new songs, and some from the show, like Murmaider. Beautifully re-written and composed. Fansong, Awaken Mustakrakish, Thunderhorse, Briefcase full of Guts, Birthday Dethday, Dethharmonic. Frak. Yes.

If you don't know what I am talking about, you can go here.
http://www.adultswim.com/shows/metal/

They have full episodes posted up there for your viewing pleasure, as well as other things.

Last year, a couple friends and I were talking about starting our own metal band. We came up with the name "Wild Turkey Overdrive," but I think somewhere down the line we changed it to something else. Anyway, it never really happened, although we did write some pretty interesting songs, enough to fill at least one album. When we wrote, we wrote at work. Small notepads, passed back and forth, quickly filled up with some of the strangest lyrics that have been read in a long time.

Here's a taste for ya. Remember, these writings are © T, Sean, and Shaun.

Taxidermy (pending)
(written by T, Sean, and Shaun)

Kill yourself with a bag of rocks
TWICE

Turn your pets into stuffed animals
TWICE

Taxidermy! Suicide! Taxidermy!
Something on your arm (oh shit!!!)
Get it off! Get it off!

Black Widow Spiders in your pants
WHY GOD?!?!

Rabid Dogs outside my car
WHYYYYYY?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?11!1! Eleventy One

Launch a Hamster to the moon
So he can meet the Space Baboon

Some of them are better than that, organized, with proper poetry... "tablature" i guess you could say. ie:
a)
b)
c)
b)

Etc.

You know though, I would still be down for starting a metal band. I got a great guitarist, and I have some killer vocals. If you can play bass, or drums, or both at the same time, shoot me off an email and let me know. I would love to hear from you.

Also, as a side note, sorry I haven't posted up in the last week n half. I got really sick and ended up bedridden and barely coherent for a week, and lost track of things. I am back though, and I will keep up with the blog.

Stay out of the Water

Water is one of the most dangerous area's you can approach and/or enter, when dealing with a Zombie outbreak. Deep water is OK, if you are planning on staying in a boat, just beware of the floaters. Never enter Water, not even to retreive a sack full of gold and jewels.

Zombie's may have been human's at one point, but they are no longer, nor will they ever be again. They do not breath air, so being underwater will not affect them at all, except to maybe help further decay through becoming waterlogged, and waterborn bacteria's that will help speed up the decomposition process.

Dark waters- Lakes, Rivers, muddy Creeks, Streams- are the most dangerous of all aquatic areas. It is hard, if not impossible to see below the surface, even if you know how deep it is, do not enter, go near, or enter a boat in those waters, as one errant Zombie hand is all it takes to capsize a boat and bring you down to the bottom to become food for the undead.

The best defense against an underwater Zombie is to wait for it to come back on land.

=) Have a great day!