Poems

Recently commissioned to write a limerick for Christmas gift tags to accompany bottles of homemade Swedish glögg. Here is the result...

Only sissies will say they like mead,
And wine snobs do follow thy lead,
But glögg is a drink,
For real men who think,
They can drink with the best like a Swede!

...and a completely unrelated Haiku

It is dangerous,
to let the mind go astray,
and know not the path.

Worms In My Ears II

He hadn't noticed before. He examined them closely, the earphones at his work computer. There was a noticeable, and as evidenced by this post, a notable difference between the two. The left one, the one he exclusively used, was significantly more worn from use. The right seemed brand new. After a moment's contemplation, he optimistically hoped that the insides of his ears did not reflect this same sentiment...maybe he should switch things up for a change.

She Says

This is [not] the most important thing you will ever read:
Once upon a time...a woman had something to say, a statement. The words started flowing from her fingers, keystrokes of letters, words, phrases; and her mind, standing idly by, watched with a mixture of fascination and confusion. It was as if her soul had been welling up inside of her and was finally spilling over, taking shape, transfiguring before her eyes and she could do nothing, did not want to do anything but to let it go. It was scary and comforting, lost and found, ugly and beautiful, all facets of the same entity. And when she was done, in the final moment, it was brought to life with her last breath. She would be no more, but those words would live, and in that, her spirit would remain perpetually, eternally, forever.

Baseballs

Someone is obsessed with the new camera...

Self Portrait 2

Self Portrait

Irony

When the soap dispenser at the sink is the filthiest, most infectious looking thing in the room, what's a guy to do?

Haiku

A haiku...

Kayak

Just floating along,
I contemplate to myself,
Why don't I paddle?

Kaydee Ella

There is nothing more commanding of the entire spectrum of human emotion than to have a child. Except maybe for having two.

Happy Halloween

I and Love and You

Best song I've heard in awhile...

Love this song.

A Little Fall

The Siren

Every Monday the siren sounds at 12:00PM. At that exact time, I am usually on my way to the car for lunch. In that moment, there is nothing more impending, nothing quite as imminent as the fear that the sound of that siren makes. As I fumble for my keys, I get this distinct, crippling feeling that one of two things is about to happen: either a commencing nuclear strike or a shambling zombie outbreak. Regardless of the event, both make me walk just a little bit faster.

Homebrew News

Just an update on the latest homebrew: I opened the first of the Pale Ale that I made in September and did a blind taste test a couple of weeks ago with it and a commercial Pale Ale. I had three judges, myself included, and of the three on the panel, each preferred beer number one which I am excited to say was mine. I haven't tried it since. I've been waiting to have it as "new baby celebration" beer, and since it was only a half-batch, I wanted to save all I could. I'm hoping it continues to get better and hits it's peak in a week or two. That will be perfect timing.

Also, I have an oatmeal stout that I brewed about a month ago. I have since transferred it into the secondary and added some bourbon soaked oak chips. It tasted pretty good before the oak, so here's hoping I didn't ruin anything through experimentation. If it all turns out alright, I'll be opening the first of those at Christmas. That's all for the fall brewing season. We'll have to see how busy I get coming up this winter for any more. Cheers!

Fresh Air

Allow me to reiterate a former sentiment: there is little worse for enjoying a nice early autumn afternoon than to inhale the cigarette smoke from the car two places in front of you at the stoplight. Note: not only are you destroying your own lungs with a cocktail of toxic smoke and poisonous tar, but you're infringing on my right to breathe fresh air as well. Roll up your window and choke on it...jerk.