How to use my various sites?

Posted on September 5th, 2007 by GregPC.
Categories: Uncategorized, Books.

I have so many places to write that sometimes deciding what to write where results in my not writing as much as I’d like or knowing what should appear where. My main blog, Over the River, has long been my quasi professional outlet, my various humor blogs (written under different names and without links) have become popular and are growing. Earlier this year we launched a blog at work and that has created some confusion for me with OTR. And what about this one?

When I was brewing more often it was a good place to track each session. But the summer has been long and hot and I haven’t brewed in a few months. I think I’ll continue to write about brewing here and will pick up the pace on that as soon as I do (hopefully this weekend). The other think I’ve been planning on using this one for is books. Aside from beer, they’re on of my other favorite things and I read a lot.

So far this summer, I’ve read three books (well, more than that, but I can only think of three off the top of my head): The Lord or the Rings, Into the Land of Bones and The Accidental Time Machine. Now I’m reading River Town which I want to finish this week if possible. Sitting here in the office at the end of the day isn’t the time of place to go into these books but it was a time for giving some thought to this site. Perhaps tonight I will write more.

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It’s been a while and I am freezing

Posted on July 9th, 2007 by GregPC.
Categories: Environment.

Wow, I haven’t posted here in months and I feel bad.  That’s what happens though when I try to maintain too many blogs . . .  Aside from feeling bad, what I’m also feeling is cold.  It’s the middle of July and I’m freezing.  That just doesn’t make sense.

Why am I freezing?  Because of air conditioning.  The air flowing into my office must by in the 50s if I am lucky.  I’ve taken to wearing long sleeve shirts and have taped paper over the vent as well; but guess what?  I’m still cold.  And it isn’t just at the office.  Going out to dinner with Wendy and the kids, we end up freezing in restaurants every time.  It makes going out really unpleasant.  Stores do it too.  What is the obsession with denying the season?

The same thing happens with heat in the winter - to the point that I’m tempted to wear short sleeves to work to cope with the high temperature.  Given all of the concerns with climate, energy and the environment can we reconsider our use of heating a cooling?  Just a little?

It’s meant to me warm in the summer.  How about we all agree to set our thermostats to 70 degrees.  How much would we save to raise the temp by a few degrees?  I could certainly handle (and would frankly welcome) the change.

Likewise, it’s meant to be cold in the winter.  How about we lower thermostats to 62 and put on a sweater or something.  The use of heating and cooling is wasteful, uncomfortable and unnatural.  Do your part today and turn up that thermostat, turn down the AC and experience the summer.

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A poem about someone I’ve never met

Posted on May 12th, 2007 by GregPC.
Categories: Photography, Poems.

Tonight on Flickr
Following photos to comments to pools to new photos
I saw something wonderful:

DottieboBottie’s pictures
Hit me and amazed me; so clear and bright
And full of hope

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video

Posted on May 11th, 2007 by GregPC.
Categories: Uncategorized.

Video


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The Wonderful Dancing Finger lives to dance.� You could say that dancing is its raison d’etre (if you spoke French).� Here, the Finger dances to “Futebol” by Zuco 103.

 

 

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There’s a buzz in the air on opening day

Posted on April 10th, 2007 by GregPC.
Categories: local, Baseball.

And it’s coming from the no fewer than five planes pulling banners and two helicopters loitering over Kenmore Square and Fenway.  (No doubt there’ll be a blimp on hand before too long as well.)

Opening Day is a big deal here in Boston.  When I lived in SF (back in the Candlestick era) I don’t remember nearly the same hype, buzz or anticipation as we have here.  Here in the office, we’re having a late lunch brought in and we’ll be tuning in on big screens in the various conference rooms.

At my last company, we took the day off and spent it at a bar - having lunch, drinking and watching the game.  It was pretty good.

I’ve only been to Fenway for Opening Day once - back in 1997.  The guys from CNET invited me to join them.  We met at the Rat over in Kenmore (gone now) in the morning for drinks before heading to the game.  (We also stopped at a couple of other places en route and more post game if I recall correctly.)

I wish I could say that I remember the game but I don’t.  With the exception of the very first interleague game at Fenway - against the Phillys, which was won on a rainy night when Troy O’Leary was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded - most games tend to blur into a relaxing procession of innings.

Like most people here in Boston, I have perennially high hopes for the season - every season.  Opening Day is here, that means Spring is near and Summer just around the corner.

I can’t wait.

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Robert Fagles translation of the Aeneid

Posted on April 2nd, 2007 by GregPC.
Categories: Reading, Poems, Books.

I’m reading Robert Fagles translation of the Aeneid and can’t help wanting to tell people how great it is.  Whenever I do though, people raise an eyebrow and nod politely.  “Yes,” they seem to say, “I’m sure it is - if you’re in school.”  This is too bad because it’s a really good story and Fagles makes it easy and exciting to read.

People seem to forget that the classics got to be classics because they’ve been read and enjoyed by people for hundreds - or in this case, thousands - of years.  Unfortunately, what we’re usually presented with are outdated translations that make the texts not only inaccessible but also, in some cases, laughable.

Here’s a passage - the opening of Book Two - from the Aeneid taken from MIT’s Internet Classics Archive, as translated by John Dryden:

All were attentive to the godlike man,

When from his lofty couch he thus began:

“Great queen, what you command me to relate

Renews the sad remembrance of our fate:

An empire from its old foundations rent,

And ev’ry woe the Trojans underwent;

A peopled city made a desart place;

All that I saw, and part of which I was:

Not ev’n the hardest of our foes could hear,

Nor stern Ulysses tell without a tear.

And now the latter watch of wasting night,

And setting stars, to kindly rest invite;

But, since you take such int’rest in our woe,

And Troy’s disastrous end desire to know,

I will restrain my tears, and briefly tell

What in our last and fatal night befell.

The Internet Classics Archive | The Aeneid by Virgil

Now here’s the same passage from the Fagles translation:

Silence, All fell hushed, their eyes fixed on Aeneas now

as the founder of his people, high on a seat of honor,

set out on his story: “Sorrow, unspeakable sorrow,

my queen, you ask me to bring to life once more,

how the Greeks uprooted Troy in all her powers,

our kingdom mourned forever.  What horrors I saw,

a tragedy where I played a leading role myself.

Who could tell such things - not even a Myrmidon,

a Dolopian, or a comrade of iron-hearted Ulysses -

and still refrain from tears? And now, too

the dank night is sweeping down from the sky

and the setting stars incline our heads to sleep.

But if you long so deeply to know what we went through,

to hear, in brief, the last great agony of Troy,

much as I shudder at the memory of it all -

I shrank back in grief - I’ll try to tell it now . . .

The pace and prose of the Fagles version draws me in.  I’m constantly amazed by the story - its twists, its strength, its excitement.  What a pity it is that more people aren’t reading it.  Part of the problem, of course, is that sub par versions are forced on kids when they are young.  This can act as a vaccine, immunizing people against the wonder of these stories.

Do your self a favor and get a copy of this translation of the Aeneid.  At least sit in a bookstore and read Book Two (The Last Hours of Troy) and see if you don’t find yourself wanting to read more.

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Little things mean a lot

Posted on April 2nd, 2007 by GregPC.
Categories: Brewing, Beer.

Yesterday I kegged a batch of smoked scotch ale I made a couple of weeks ago. My plan was to use two five gallon Corny kegs and a little three gallon one. I’d been having trouble with a connector on one of my five gallon kegs so I was planning on buying a new valve if need be. As it happened, the two fives worked just fine but the three gallon just wouldn’t hold its seal. I was at Barleycorn and Dan and I took the thing apart and put it together more times than I can count. Nothing worked. Finally I looked at the o-ring at the top of the poppet valve. It was all dried and cracked - that was the problem: a tiny rubber ring less than the diameter of a pencil. There was nothing that could be done about it is I ended up bottled a couple of gallons instead (which was fine with me). I’ll need to go to Home Depot or something to see if I can’t find a little washer that will fit the bill.

The beer, by the way, turned out great.

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Gaming, yeah, I like that too

Posted on March 26th, 2007 by GregPC.
Categories: Technology, Gaming.

One of the things that I enjoy but haven’t written about is gaming.  When I was a kid my family had an early TO computer that used audio tape for storage.  We had a few games for that Q-bert was one, and there was some moon thing too I think.  A few of my friends had Atari too and that was all pretty cool.

I got the original Nintendo in 1986 or 87 (whatever year Zelda came out) and played it religiously for many years.  I started playing computer games in the early 90s and did that for a long time too.

In 2003 though, things began to change.  I was given an Xbox as part of a project at work.  It was a real hardship, but I had to play for a few hours every day and write a report on my impressions.  That experience - combined with the ongoing headache of upgrading my PC - led me to play more and more on the console and less and less on the PC.

This past December the Xbox finally gave up the ghost and it was replaced with an Xbox 360.  I’m not the only gamer in the house anymore and so share the system with my kids.  I still love it as much as ever and really enjoy playing with them, as well as with other people online.

This past Saturday night I had a rare and wonderful online experience.  I was looking for a coop game of Rainbow Six Vegas and fell in with three people that felt really comfortable to play with.  I’m 40 and am too old to take any of this very seriously but I don’t suck either.  The group I was playing with were doing well and having fun.  It was good and refreshing and a reminder of just how good a good game can be.

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Brew Day - 3/18/07

Posted on March 20th, 2007 by GregPC.
Categories: Brewing, Beer, local.

I went into Barleycorn on Sunday to keg and bottle the batch I made back on the 4th.  While I was there I decided to make another batch and chose a smoked Scottish ale.  The ordinary bitter turned out just great.  It’s a nice, simple everyday beer.   The only thing I’d change about it would be to increase the finishing hops a bit.

Kegging went very smoothly.  I filled two five gallon kegs and then 12 22 oz. bottles but still had more so I filled a half dozen or so 12 oz. bottles as well.  It was actually more beer than I’d expected from the batch and so I was quite happy with everything.

I’ve never made a Scottish ale before (though I’ve enjoyed quite a few) and am curious how this will turn out.  My choice was arbitrary but I have a rule that unless the first thing I see on a list or menu is something I specifically hate I stick with it.  Stupid?  Yes, but I’ve never been disappointed and it saves a lot of time in hemming and hawing.

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A Poem about Shovels

Posted on March 20th, 2007 by GregPC.
Categories: Poems.

Shovels are simple tools
Too often overlooked

People that don’t use shovels
Don’t give them a second thought

To people that depend on shovels
A good one means a lot

If you take the time to think about shovels
You’ll appreciate them more

A handle that’s strong and provides good leverage
A shaft that’s thick enough to get your hands around
A head that’s the right size and shape for the job
A blade that cuts through the soil easily

In their racks, against the wall at Home Depot
Shovels are mute

In your garage or shed, they’re a reminder
Of work done and to be done

But pick one up and hold it in your hands
Look at it closely and remember:

Every garden that has grown
Every grave that has been dug

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