Four Years

You can accomplish a great deal in four years.  The mighty Hoover Dam was completed in 4 years.  It was the world’s largest electric power producing facility and the world’s largest concrete structure when it was completed in 1935.  Another thing that has happened in 4 years is my current job (not that it is ending now).  I went from the bottom of the stack to a reasonably high position in my company over the span of 4 years.  I’ve worked a great deal to do it, but I can’t say that it is all by my hand.

Perhaps the most amazing thing that has happened over the last 4 years is my marriage.  Today, my wife and I celebrate 4 years.  It has been nothing short of wonderful.  We have two beautiful children, a great home, and family who love us.  I look forward to many more years of memories that I will cherish.

Look out world…

Here he comes

Spots of Light

I never thought I would be the type to wax philosophical on a blog, but here goes nothing…

Both today and yesterday I have felt that I am in a bit of a funk. Just not overly excited about work and probably not hiding it too well either. Perhaps it has to do with the fact that we are working with our offices in different continents, which translates to at least 15 or 20 emails waiting for me daily when I get to the office at 7am… Most of which require action on my part.

I was really feeling this way this morning when I got a call from Kim, who was about to drop off Josh at daycare before going to work. Talking to her and hearing Josh in the background really turned my day around in a way that I can’t really explain. In the fog of an under-excited work day, the thought of them shone through to me like brilliant spots of light.

Rachel Brew in the Bottle

Rachel the Weiss

For my inaugural post, I figured I may as well start with 2 things I love… My Family and Brewing Beer.

As close friends and relatives will know, Kim and I are about to have our second child. We’ve been very fortunate to have such a happy little boy for our first child. We’ve been spoiled by Joshua’s infectious laughter and winning smile, even if it only has about 8 teeth so far. We look forward to what is in store for us when Rachel arrives in 5 weeks.

The other thing that is fairly prominent in my life lately is brewing beer. I’ve been home brewing beer for about 5 months now and I’ve really enjoyed it thus far. There is something very rewarding about being able to pour a nice pint and know that this tall, cool beverage was made with my own two hands. Admittedly, I’m still on the novice track, using Malt Extracts with a few Steeping grains, but I can’t say I’ve been truly disappointed by any of my result other than the Stout that almost exploded.

The way these two tie together is that I wanted to do a brew to celebrate Rachel’s arrival, and with only 5 weeks to go, I needed to get started right away. I thought about the old rhyme about “sugar and spice and everything nice”, which got me thinking about a sweeter spiced beer that I thought would be appropriate for the summertime. The beer I decided to make was a Belgian Witbier, mostly due to the fact that a Witbier (White Beer) is a great summer beer. As an added bonus, the recipe I’ve chosen (Celis Wit clone from Beer Captured) has Orange Peel and Coriander Seed in it to give it a sweet/tart/spiced flavor that I’m hoping will really go well with the style. This beer is also considered a Weissbier (Wheat Beer), which is where I got the name.

Rachel the Weiss
Steeping Grains:
4 oz Flaked Wheat
4 oz Belgium Aromatic Malt

@ 60 minutes
4 lbs Pale LME
2.33 lbs Wheat DME
3/4 oz Willamette

@ 15 minutes
1/2 oz Willamette
3/4 oz Orange Peel
1 tsp Crushed Coriander Seed

@ 5 minutes

1/4 oz Cascade

@ 1 minutes
1/2 oz Orange Peel
1 tsp Crushed Coriander Seed

1 Smack Pack of Wyeast Belgian Witbier