November 22, 2009
The Land of Real Beer
A couple of weeks ago, a brewery opened up in Pullman. When I first moved to this town, I would argue that what it really needed was a Brewery. I had not yet learned an important fact: all retail on the Palouse sucks.
The beer isn't terrible, it's just formulaic. It's hard to be so critical of a brand new brewery, but I did get a chance to talk with the owners. Neither of them are 'into' beer. They just thought a brewery would be a good business. Jeff admitted that he doesn't homebrew as a hobby and never did. Linda struggled to pour a good glass, and had the kegs set to 20psi (far too high for pouring beer unless you like a glass full of head). It felt odd. I've only brewed four batches of homemade beer and felt like I had a better mastery of the craft.
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| Rogue Smoke Ale and a wood-fired pizza |
Nate and I decided to head to Portland, which is home to somewhere around 35 breweries. Portland knows it beer, and has convenient public transportation all over the downtown area for tourists to stumble around on. Every brewery has the standards, sure, but most also have 20 or so 'whacky' beers on tap. We had a six mile run in the morning and were starved by the time we hit our first brewery (not to mention drunk after our first beer). I sort of wish that this area had the population to sustain such activities...
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Further back...
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Previous Trips...
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Hiking Mount Whitney, 2007 
Spring Break in West Virginia, 2005
New Year's in Paris, 2003-2004
Coming to America, 2003
Protesting in Berlin, 2003
Prague Bier-Tour, 2002
Dresden, 2002
Recent Reading
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Close to the Machine
Ellen Ullman is one of those authors that somehow avoided my radar. Until now...
Close to the Machine is less a book than a collection of loosely related personal anecdotes from Ellen's time as a very rare thing -- a successful female bisexual independent computer programming consultant.
In the course of her work and relationship life, she learns hard lessons about programming, running a business, being lonely, and loving the wrong people. I found it particularly poignant being a crypto-nerd with difficult times in relationships and a more-or-less NDA'd, secret work life.
This book is a must-read for anyone into running their own business, programming, or anyone dating a person that is a business-a-holic or programmer.
Rated 
by reid
on November 23, 2009
by reid
on November 23, 2009
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The Long Trip Home
I had the joy of dining with the author in Florida. We went to a little Brazilian BBQ where he spoke with our waitstaff in (what I can only assume was) flawless Portugese.
Brian Wyllie spent 1969-1971 living in Brazil working for the Peace Corps. His recent book outlines his trip back to the United States via Bolivia, Peru, and the Carribean chain, by way of bus, train, and sailboat. The format comes spattered with observations from the modern day, and makes me think, "this must be what John McPhee's journal looks like."
The trip sounded like a fantastic one, but I was left wanting more detail...where did the gun (being snuck through customs in a variety of places, no doubt) come from? And how did Geneve's hair smell? Alas, we'll have to wait for another book to find the answers.
Rated 
by reid
on April 16, 2009
by reid
on April 16, 2009
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The Curve of Binding Energy
John McPhee follows famous physicist Ted Taylor in this piece that was -- and probably still -- ahead of its time.
Originally published in 1973, McPhee outlined the coming security and environmental issues surrounding the plutonium enrichment processes. For the most part, though, McPhee invites the reader to draw his or her own conclusions, although he does point out the ease with which any number of people could obtain the material (though not necessarily the manufacturing prowess) to make an atomic weapon.
The question still sits in my mind after reading -- are we being too paranoid, or not paranoid enough?
Rated by reid
on October 01, 2007
by reid
on October 01, 2007