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Day 1 at Millipore is complete. I dig the job, and the atmosphere is great - lots of tomfoolery raucous behavior and craziness. It's the corporate America that I've only dreamt of. The starch shirt insurance company atmosphere was definitely not for me. I much prefer a workplace of which people remark, "I was out last night, some one insulted me and I thought up a nice comeback .... but then I realized that I can't say that, I'm not at work." I also learned that I may have done some boy scout stuff with my boss' best friend. It's a small world.....

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - Hmmm.... it was well acted, (although Jim Carey is evaluated in his own, lesser category)... Tom Wilkinson was brilliantly understated yet again. The Charlie Kaufman script was deliciously twisted, and in a similar thematic vein to Being John Malkovich. In fact the similarities between the films were striking, although not really plot related. If I were a film school student I could easily put together a paper about the Kaufman conception of the Mind and Identity exploring such things as memory, fantasy, marijuana use, love and sex..... Thankfully, I'm not a film student so the world will be spared.

About the phish album quizze..... my first thoughts were "What, I'm my least favorite album?" Then I remembered Lawn Boy. I can kind of see the connection - Nectar is esoteric, eclectic and almost weird for the sake of being weird. So am I.
posted by Ben at (0) comments 6:52 PM

 
The 11/15/95 Mike's Song is incredible. So dark, so dramatic - turning to triumph. I can not turn my ears away........ and it builds.....
posted by Ben at (0) comments 5:50 PM

 
You are A Picture of Nectar. You have a variety of
different tastes in things, and may prefer to
roam around dark alleys at night. You may have
some eccentricities, but you're the tough guy,
so nobody messes with you. You're also always
up for a good time, which is definitely a good
thing. Go buy this album now!


Which Phish Album are You?
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posted by Ben at (0) comments 10:02 PM

 
Winter melted into spring as temperatures pushed upwards to 70. Main Street Nashua was a sunny, slow moving Zapruder film. Golden in a hazy surreal nostalgia. A white car, maybe an Oldsmobile stood stopped and vacant, askew in the southbound lane and a crowd gathered in a crosswalk. Traffic slowed to the pace of the overexposed super eight. click click click. Diana Krall covered a Tom Waits tune, with too little whiskey on her breath and too much hope in her heart. Everything is built of dreams. It's a shame that they shatter so easily.

Young kids, maybe high school gathered d around wondering what they should do. A roll of brown paper towels lifted from a public restroom might stop the bleeding. Maybe. He couldn’t stand up. just a bleeding bald head attached to a soiled white t-shirt. He held a bandage firm.

Where was the ambulance? Where were the cops. A mother taking her infant for a stroll stood, carriage askew where the Brandt used to be. She was on her cell phone. Bright baby blues gazed at unexplained red.


Help must be on the way. The hospital is only two blocks away.... how long could it take. I didn't hear sirens until I was at least a block by, inching slowly through streetlight clogged arteries. It's rush hour, and the wrong blood is flowing.

Would we all look like a bum lying broken, bleeding on the pavement?

I guess I have the stomach for medicine, as I wasn't ill. The shock comforted me with numbness, and I drove on to buy fancy beer. Three 750s for $12.
posted by Ben at (0) comments 10:59 PM

 
Ever since my visit to Martha's this weekend.... My brain has been wrapped around the idea of coming up with creative beer names based upon the Lord of The Rings. Yes, it sounds a bit dory - but there's a fair amount of LotR sheik preventing it from being in the extreme.

Martha's currently has two LotR names on their board. The Weathertop Dopplebock and a soon to be tapped Baggins ESB (which I will pronounce Baggins Bitter). The dopplebock is a superior name, as it has rhythm and some deeper meaning. It's also a geeks name. As few casual fans will realize that weathertop is the name of the place where Frodo was stabbed by the Witch King. Those who do will think of the cool fog, and may associate it with spring, the season of the dopplebock. This hearty brew is designed to be warming and sustaining, possibly as a food substitute for fasting monks.

So here are some of my ideas - or at least ideas that I generate while thumbing through the people, places and things list in the back of return of the king.

Entmoot Gruit - This hopless, ancient brew would be slightly spiced, subtle, slow and linger.
Valinor Abbey Style Tripple- End the third age in style.
Riddermark Hop (an ipa) - Imagine the great fields of hops that could grow in Rohan. This pale ale would be robust, hearty, with a strong hopped intensity.

I'd really like to see a beer named after Mordor - but I'm not sure of a style that is sufficiently dark and evil. The brew should also have some peat notes - it'd be a dark scotch ale.... hmmmm...
posted by Ben at (0) comments 6:06 AM

 
My idle time before employment has left me to draw a simple conclusion. I have a beer problem. No, it's not borderline alcoholism or anything scary. In fact, I'm not sure if it is even really a problem. I seem to have a hobby which has expanded from being an appreciation of egalitarian, somewhat affordable, and almost always fresh beer - to a beer interest that includes vintages, varying recipes, and obscene hoppings. I'm hardwired into a serious beer collection now.... scheming to track down an elusive bottle of Stone's vertical 02.02.02 so that come glorious dauy in 2012 or 2013 I can appreciate the stone brewing company's magnum opus. A vertical tasting of epic proportions. 11 beers ranging in age from 1 to eleven. I envision my self buying cases of beer and aging some bottles while slowly chipping away at my reserves. Of course, now I'm simply purchasing enough for a completed sequence but i dream of a day whine I'll have a veritable beer cellar full of vintage barleywines, Belgian imports, imperial stouts, unibroue, and some very creative beers. Will this madness subside, ior will it bring me ever increasingly costly joy? $20 doesn't seem so bad for a second bottle of Chaotic Chemistry... to see how a summer will alter a beer that has already spent 3 years in bourbon barrels. Certainly, jasper’s deal on 3 750ml Unibroue's for $12 is reasonable.... Of course, I must pace myself and control my spendthrift urges.... the beer will wait. I must be patient... and track down the oldie, and grab the humdingers before they vanish.... madness. At least Unibroue is ubiquitous - although I want a bottle of Terrible..... hmmmmm..... It's la finde du monde...
posted by Ben at (0) comments 10:28 PM

 
Hurdle 1 is cleared. I landed a lengthy temp job at Millipore. The wage is a little low, but the experience and connections that I'll make will be worthwhile. I also realize that Millipore is being billed at least $10/hr more than I am receiving. It's not their fault.

Now I just need to kill my student loans. Man, I really hate money. Of course, I want more of it...
posted by Ben at (0) comments 9:41 PM

 
I've learned some neat stuff this morning. In an effort to lampoon my brother's constant banana-bread preparation, and his apparent estimation of his bread chef abilities I sought out to find a bread purity law. This task may seem a bit extreme, but if you've seen how he occupies the kitchen, employs far more equipment than necessary, and continually consults his recipe - you'd see that his baking is a sterile abomination. My brother is too good to mix his batter by hand until he adds fruit. He uses all-purpose flour, but strains it oh so finely. He;'s very anal about the recipe, which he's followed countless times. Its just obnocxious, and he thinks these breads are the greatest things in the world.

He probably thinks that he's even better than Kate because of the weak-old dry, frozen beer bread that I brought up once. It wasn't so good. But, as I learned today, it wasn't really bread. According to the Hlafclaenness Dom, the bread purity law, set forth in England in 1047 bread can only be comprised of fine flour, yeast, water, and salt. It's not even a crazy German law that he can claim to avoid by not being German (which is my Bavarian purity law loophole - sorry Kate, no fruit beers for you!). I can now call it banana cake.

I also learned that the original Bavarian Purity Law, the Reinheitsgebot, of 1516, was different than I had believed. It defines beer as having only three ingredients. Barley, Hops, and water. At the time, even the Germans were spontaneously fermenting beer. Their ignorance of airborne yeast was reflected in the original legislation, but that has since been altered and recently repealed so Germany could participate in EU free trade. The repeal is unfortunate, as it has allowed Interbrew, the Anheiser Busch of Europe to add adjuncts to major beers and ship the swill to the US under the guise of authenticity - as Europe is now subjected to the same corn born in it's Stella Artois and a number of other "quality" imports.

My official take on the BPL is that it is a good, simple guide. While I don’t see it as a rule for beer any deviations ought to be well thought out and justified by believing that the additions (or subtractions) improve the beer drinking experience. Cutting cost and shelf life are not excuses to deviate from the law. I tolerate wheat beers, as they tend to clearly identify themselves as inferior, and applaud the crazy Belgians for their delightful use of spices, fruit, sugars, and complex fermentations. They elevated beer from a science to an art.
posted by Ben at (1) comments 8:30 AM

 
I may be friday, but I'd want to go to Church.
posted by Ben at (0) comments 12:03 PM

 

You're a tall, slender angel of mercy. There's no
gap too narrow for you to fill and no mess too
terrible for you to clean up. And when the
situation is right, only you can make the
biggest play of all, the Tetris. What would
anyone do without you?


Which Tetris piece are you?
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posted by Ben at (0) comments 11:07 AM

 
Kate sent me a nature article about the questionable nature of municipalities trying to encourage the development of technological hubs. For an article fro Nature, it seemed rather light on detail and understanding but offered a basic and rational conclusion to cover up the fact that it's data was based upon an insufficient time span to accurately reflect the development of bioscience research zones.

Of course, I bnelieve that the public should be more skeptical of costly government programs. The citizens hsould be involved in the process, at the detail level, instead of with the buzz words and media mindlessness that pervades local and national politics. However, the flawed political reality is not a basis to criticize biotech initiatives, or those who support the,. While, i think that some initiatives, like CWRU's actions in Cleveland are misguided - I don't see their proponents as ignorant buffoons, intolerably blinded by ideals. I am not a democrat. I'm not threatened by opposing viewpoints, and appreciate the opportunity to undermine their cracking foundation.

My opposition to CWRU's biotech initiatives is not based upon statistical data that expending efforts to try to create a community will fail. I see the flaws as rooted in the concept that the way to develop a lucrative technology sector in a working class city is to focus on attracting one industry. While tax shelters and the like may cause insurance offices to move to Vermont, or elsewhere, they don't move thousand person industries. These big employment sectors develop from existing scientific cultures. The article made some interesting points about how Research Triangle Park started with one IBM facility. It's now a major computer and biotech center. It's built on a foundation of a strong academic community, with multiple high value institutions. The area’s educated cultural society provides a pleasant living environment. Once one company was settled, others came because they were able to relate to the people – not just the industry.

Unfortunately, such pleasant society is hard to come by in Cleveland. It's also not going to show up over night. The biotech party isn't looking to move into an abandoned warehouse and think either biotech or beer. They want more diversity.

CWRU and Cleveland should take efforts to foster the development of a vibrant city culture. First, the city must act to refocus efforts to draw industry and corporations within city limits. An I-271 corridor is not analogous to Boston's Route 128 if it is just a shell around a hollow core. Cleveland must revise its tax structure and improve infrastructure so that business build together and start forming a viable social community. Sprawling out into the farmlands may seem like an easy civil engineering solution, but it makes the city culture far to ephemeral to draw businesses from out of state. It won't make students want to live in the city. It's no fun to have to drive half an hour to do anything. Yet, that's how most CWRU students see Cleveland Life style.

The cIty needs to take action to advertise itself to the students. Res Life and housing make any effort to explore Cleveland seem hokey. However, the students seem easily brainwashed by free Chipotle Burritos. Local eateries, bars and clubs should be encouraged, through mild tax credits, to advertise to the students.

CWRU is on the right track by creating an incubator to nurture student biotech companies. This program should be expanded to encourage technical development from every major. Cleveland needs some computer start-ups, a fresh approach to Civil Engineering, as well as novel non-traditional chemical and mechanical engineering firms.

Culture and quality of life in a region are under appreciated factors that influence corporate development. As the nature article was trying to articulate, economic games can only carry the ball so far. Something else must be done. Unfortunately, constructive suggestions were omitted from the piece with a national audience. My three fans probably knew my opinion before they read this - so it was just a waste of space.
posted by Ben at (0) comments 10:41 PM

 
I recently learned that one of my advisors lost a parent. Given my distance, ignorance, and lack of wealth there is very little that I can do but send a card. A hollow hallmark machination too entwined with the charge of propriety to express genuine emotion or sympathy. If only there were a better way.
posted by Ben at (0) comments 10:14 PM

 
This made me want to cry.

Arc is a cool word. It should be applied only to giant ships, insane sound collages, and other artistic achievements that are at the height of creativity and artistry. The arc beer misses the concept of beer as a populist and artisinal beverage. It's a terrifying concept. Innovative beer dispensers are worth investigating, but should be related to providing a better beverage - not a showy drink. I support ideas like dogfish heads technique of dispensing beer through a device which is literally a hops absorber.
posted by Ben at (0) comments 1:32 PM

 
Mark's asleep on thumper, and Kate's out walking the cat. All is well in Brookline, and Boston is doing just fine. I'd like to think that I dream about ambitious, and interesting things in my idle time but more often than not I scan set lists and read about Beer, Breweries, or find some other hobby.

I'm quite glad that Mark decided to visit. I think that things have been going well. We went to the MIT Museum, and browsed through the Peabody Museum and Harvard's Museum of Natural History. MIT's is a small gallery with an interesting focus on robotics, holograms, and a bit about the history of the school. The kinetic sculptures were the highlight. They were whimsical and witty. I'm such a nerd, but it's the first time sculpture has made me chuckle. Good bless the nerds.

We also checked out a gallery of Urban Renewal photos shot in Italy. They were an interesting mix of industrial and residential, often contrasting the two environs. Neat stuff.

The HMNH's glass flowers exhibit was mind expanding. I couldn't conceive of crafting glass pieces of such exacting detail. They looked like real plants, and aside from the fragile nature could be taken as botanical specimens.

Dinner at Anam Cara was quite pleasant. They had Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA on tap. It was glorious nectar that was a perfect compliment to my sweet duck quesadilla. Mark enjoyed Young's Double Chocolate Stout, and the fried chicken while Kate ordered some CBC Triple Threat and the fish and chips. Anam Cara is a pleasant dining experience. The atmosphere and ambience are incredible.
posted by Ben at (0) comments 8:30 AM

 
Phonebook delivery is terrible. It's hard work, low paying, and incredibly time consuming. I have over 500 books to deliver on a crappy residential route. There's a lot of space between houses. I'll be getting up early tomorrow in hopes of finishing before I go to Boston, and avoiding some complications with my 48hour time limit.

I should have stayed in bed today and tried to continue my bizarre erotic dream about Carmella Soprano. That was at least mentally interesting. Why Carmella? If I'm going to risk the big guys wrath, I'd think that Meadow would be lower risk and higher reward. What was my subconscious thinking? Was it advertising for tonight’s Will and Grace with Edie Falco in a guest spot?

I’m looking forward to hanging out with Mark this weekend. That and seeing Kate and the Kitten.
posted by Ben at (0) comments 9:29 PM

 
Here's some quick job notes. I received a call back from the Redhook Brewery. The position isn't glorious, but it would give me some experience and is in an industry that is close to my heart.

I'll be delivering some phonebooks starting today. Fun Fun Fun.

Career Connections might have a gig for me in a Vitamin Warehouse.


posted by Ben at (0) comments 10:38 AM

 
The demons of procrastination ride salivating wolfhounds through the dusk, silhouette forest of my mind. The grim masters are silent, but the barks from the hounds are deafening. Its blue and black, like jagged paper - dimensionless in a soft moon glow.

The braggot is mead. That's all I know, sitting typing, hoping for some deep reality - some revelation, or just a simple change of tempo, perhaps a key shift. My music beckons seductively, offering the variations that I pine after. It's a summer day in an erotic bookstore, shaking my mind to a snowy march. No run, not today. The falling frost denies potential. The rebirth will wait. The season has not come for change. Hope is not beckoning with the coming east wind.

It's just another frosty pond day.
posted by Ben at (0) comments 9:38 PM

 
Just when I thought winter was over, a snowstorm hits and dusts the ground with joyous white. During Saturday's ascent f Eisenhower, I thought that I'd be seeing snow for the last time of the season. We set out from Crawford notch in rain. Steve and I were post-holing seemingly every other step during our lengthy ascent. Eventually the rain broke, and the clouds cleared. It looked as though we'd summit and have a bit of a view. Unfortunately, the increasing wind brought more clouds over the ridge and obscured our vision. The fact that Kate and I slipped all over the ice didn't help matters.

Friday night, Whalerider was on Oxygen. I thought it might be worth the embarrassment of watching that channel to see a movie that I'd heard some good things about from respectable people. I expected it to be a well intentioned, and generally enjoyable children’s movie like Holes. The heart wrenching tale of cultural decay and change gripped my like few films ever have. The movie was wrought with despair, yet never lost it's glimmer of hope. That little girl certainly earned her best actress nomination.

Yes, I realize that today is Monday, and that I've written little about current happenings. There's little exciting that I can say. I am routinely interrupting my writing to play a few licks on my unamplified electric bass guitar.
posted by Ben at (0) comments 10:08 PM

 
In order to help Google better index the glorious web, I'm giving out to satirical slut rock.

Bree Sharp is venomously sarcastic, and her "Cheap and Evil Girl" was my apartment's cd of the year. Note, I solely awarded this title, without consulting my roommate. It's not the best cd of the year, as it is somewhat older, but it seemed most appropriate.

Brownie Mary is a female fronted band from West Virginia via Pittsburgh. They used to platy Case every semester. After some line up changes, they're still making some interesting music. It isn't as satirical as Bree's work but it's still fun.
posted by Ben at (0) comments 2:55 PM

 
Its dull days of job hunting, like today that really make me want to take up professional brewing. I'm not sure where'd I'd get the capital to start my own brewery, but I figure that's the ticket. There's no point to being a brewer in a poor grossing pub.... That's not my dream. I'm an engineer. I want tanks and valves damnit! Let glycol flow from the ceiling! I've even started pricing out used equipment.... mmm $3,000 vessels..... Hopefully I can land something which is a more appropriate use of my skills.. Although, I would enjoy studying the kinetics of hopping to develop a complex brewing mode to craft the flavors of my beers.

Enough crazy talk.... my day was grounded by a call from Career Connections offering a 1 month gig doing clerical work for a college in Manchester. It would certainly beat my current desk job. It would also resolve my immediate financial difficulties.
posted by Ben at (0) comments 10:04 PM

 
Last night at about 3 am, I awoke to a clatter on my bureau and then the sound of a cat purring loudly above me. I've been trying to convince Rocky that he should sleep with me, but there is little space at the foot of my bed for a cat and my feet and even less beside me. The creative cat decided that the bunk above me was a good alternative. I can't say that I wasn't pleased at his thoughtfulness. Of course, at 5:45 I had to pay the piper as the cat wanted to go out... and lo and behold his friend/nemesis Midnight was already perched on the porch railing waiting for him.

Recent developments on mars are quite pleasing. The long theorized presence of pre0-historic Martian water has been confirmed, and I couldn't be happier. It's one step closer to the religious crisis of extraterrestrial life. I'm ok wit that though. It won't be so terrible, the bible can out it self with the "mormon clause" of Jesus preaching to other flocks. The Copernican worldview isn't embedded in scripture anyway. Buddhism will be fine. I imagine that other worlds can fit into the Hindu hierarchy without destabilizing India. Maybe it'll shed some light on that nuclear war in the Mahabharata. Fundamentalist Islam won't believe in extra terrestrial life and will go nuts. I doubt we'd be able to detect the change.

I also should note my disappointment with the continued spread of cities that are forcing the gay marriage issue by awarding licenses and performing the ceremony. Regardless of a persons viewpoint on the issue, I think its clear that this is something that needs to addressed in an open societal discussion not just by acts of civil disobedience that can not be properly addressed by officials that are crippled by Political correctness and a fear for their careers. How many times did Gandhi go to jail? Why shouldn't the gay marriage activists that are abusing their offices and defying state law?
posted by Ben at (0) comments 9:57 PM

 
Today there was a flurry of posts on the PKT message board that made me feel a bit more connected to some of my brothers. I miss those guys, and it was fun having a few discussions about beer and tunes. Admittedly, I'm a hard-core snob in both areas but I seem to be warming to some of the indie rock ideas. The Shins aren't a half bad band. I can't believe Molnar likened them to that lifeless behemoth Coldplay.

If only distance or circumstance would stop keeping us apart. Hopefully some job comes down the pipe. I'll need it or I'll be running into the red.... I would really like to get out to Cleveland and see them again. I said that I would, and I really hope to be able to stay true to my word.
posted by Ben at (0) comments 10:16 PM

 
"Okay, I'm going to stop fighting all of things that are wrong with religion and check it out.Because, all things I thought were wrong with religion, I still think that the same things are wrong. But religion is what man has done to create that. God is different from that." - Oteil Burbidge
posted by Ben at (0) comments 12:47 PM

 
I'm beginning to feel a tinge of normalcy.... My mind is focused on its distractions, and dreams. There is no significant progress towards my goal of employment, but I strive not to be troubled by that fact. There is work to be done.

Percy Hill - 2/27/04 - The Paradise Rock Club - Boston, MA

After All, Lap Of Luxury, 313, Spirit of Air, St. Lucelia, Shining On Creation >
Spirits in the Material World > Shining On Creation, Sunrise!, Door #5, Graceland, Tumz, Slave

E: Soggy Weather Skunk (just the 4), Beneath the Cover

I hadn't seen percy hill in more than three years, and this was an excellent show to reacquaint myself with New Hampshire's finest jamband. While I will say that I was initially skeptical of line up expansion. I figured Adam Terrel would just over power Joe Ferrel and assume a lead role, but I was pleasantly surprised to see that he took more of a rhythmic position with the occasional solo and freed Joe up to make an even more interesting contribution. The band's added percusion helped them keep energy in some of their slower material. It was just a very positive show. Note, the absence of glowing comments about the opener: Fuzz (formerly of Deep Banana Blackout). I actually heard a guy say that he thought the guitar player (Fuzz) was amazing. He must not have checked out UM a week earlier, and was certainly wowed by Percy Hill's twin guitar attack.

The Cambridge Brewing Company Brewers Dinner was excellent. The beers were great, the food excellent and the pairings tended to be synergistic. The weakest was the benevolence with the lamb and walnut gnocchi entree. Benevolence is too complex of a beer to really match anything. I couldn't think of a beer that would better match the food, but the entree did not equal the awesome magnitude of this limited run brew. The artichoke /cheese soup with the grand cru was excellent as the fruity beer and hearty soup had differing and complimentary flavors. I also enjoyed the hoppy winter ale with the proscuttio wrapped blue cheese stuffed figs. Kate's watermelon sashimi was also enjoyable. I forget it's beer pairing. The salads were adequate. I think that Kate's greens and goat cheese with the gruit was the better option to the wild rice salad and tall tale pale ale that I sampled. The desserts were interesting. One was a flourless chocolate cake served with the 2003 barleywine. The tart fruit sauce worked will with a hoppy bite in the barleywine. The other dessert was a creme brule served with a more mild 2002 barleywine which had aged to produce robust malt flavors with only a hint of hop sourness. It perfectly complemented the unadulterated sweetness of the dish.

Sunday, we saw miracle. The movie is better than I expected. Unfortunately, while I can acknowledge the efforts filmmakers took to capture the "crisis of confidence" that had befallen our nation in the 70s, I don?t think that I felt it as intensely as I would have liked. It's not crucial to enjoying the movie, but so many of the reviews that I read indicated that the film drew surprising power from evoking those memories. Perhaps my lack of such memories, with only thoughts of the shock of 9-11, softened that emotional blow.
posted by Ben at (0) comments 9:53 PM