They don't need blood?

If you are a regular reader of my blog, you probably know that I give blood about as often as I am allowed. My church runs a blood drive basically every 8 weeks, and I almost always go.

Today I got a voice mail message saying that my next appointment has been canceled, and if I would like to be scheduled for Abiding Hope's next drive in June, I could call back and they would gladly schedule me. I just went online to schedule the appointment for June. But then, I thought, "Well, I could probably go somewhere else ... I wonder if they can schedule me on the 25th for a different location."

So, I called the Bonfils Blood center and asked the nice lady if I could give elsewhere on the 25th. She asked me where I live and once she looked something up, told me, sure, I could come to the Bonfils facility in Highlands Ranch. Cool, I have to drive about 20 minutes instead of 10, but that is not bad at all. She scheduled me. I'm all set. Just have to remember to drink plenty of water ... blah blah blah etc...

I asked her if she knew why the church drive had been canceled, but she told me she is just in the call center and does not know.

I think that Bonfils is canceling blood drives because they do not need as much blood. The reason I think that is because CHFA (my current client) has periodic blood drives and canceled their last one. CHFA told their people that Bonfils asked to cancel because the blood supply is up and the demand is down. This is due to a reduction in elective surgeries. Can you guess why there are less elective surgeries? There are less elective sugeries because of the crappy economy. So, I guess besides gas prices being down, another plus to no one feeling confident to spend money is that the blood supply is up.

If you give blood or really pay attention at all, you know that blood centers are ALWAYs asking for people to give blood. The blood supply is always lower than they would like. But not now. At least, not now in the Denver Metro Area.

"So, if they don't need your blood", you may ask, "why are you giving blood?"

Well, my somewhat odd feelings (bordering on an obsession really) on giving blood are pretty well documented in this blog, so if you want details, you can search on "blood" and maybe get a pretty good idea. Really, it comes down to the fact that I like giving blood. Obviously, if Bonfils did not want my blood at all, they would not have accepted my "walk-in" appointment, so I do not think it is a matter of they won't be able to use my blood. I figure they have calculated their walk-in traffic is enough for now and they probably still want some people to come in. CHFA did explain that certain types were still needed and that was why some of the CHFA employees were getting phone calls. My O+ blood type is pretty common (I think it is the most common), so they do not care about me so much I'm sure, but like I said, if they decide they don't want my blood they can give me a call and tell me.

Anyway... it is just interesting to me that for the first time I can remember, a blood center is actually trying to reduce their donations.

I'm Sorry

If I see you as a parent with your child on a leash, I am automatically going to consider you a worse parent than me. I'm sorry. I know I am basing a harsh conclusion on a very limited set of data. I do not care how crowded it is or how many children you have. As soon as I see the kid on the leash, I smirk. I feel sorry for the kid and I mentally judge the adult holding the leash as cruel or incompetent or both. Yes, I know it is condescending and somewhat prejudiced emotional reaction. It is pretty arrogant for me to make that conclusion, but I cannot help it. The conclusion to which I will jump is that you are somewhat inferior as a parent.

So, I was in the library tonight picking up a book for my wife when a family of 4 walked in. A boy who was probably not quite 3, a girl who looked to be about 5, a dad and a mom. The boy was on a leash held by his mom. And as soon as they came in, the boy started screaming. Screaming may be a little of an exaggeration, but we were in a library and he was loudly expressing displeasure.

Now, ok we all understand that I just admitted a prejudice against parents who have their children on leashes. But in a jeffco public library? Really? And lets just forget the leash. Two parents two kids. One of the kids is crying. TAKE THE KID OUT OF THE LIBRARY. I don't like leashes but, I have an absolute PET PEEVE when it comes to parents who let their kids be disruptive in public places. I would not allow either of my kids to be one tenth as disruptive in a restaurant or a grocery store let alone a library. If something similar happened to me, the quiet child would go with Tracy and the disruptive child would be outside standing with his nose against a tree or a wall until he calmed down. He would then apologize to me and then we would go back in and apologize to his mom and the librarian or he would return to his timeout.

These parents handled things a bit differently. The dad went to a computer and told his wife to take the boy back to look at Thomas things. I did not stick around much longer so I do not know if that worked.

I do understand that in certain circumstances it can be difficult to keep a child civilized in public. But quite frankly, this situation should have been very easily controlled.

Beer Tasting

We visited Henderson, NV for Tyler's spring break this year. I brought four of my Sheppy Brews along with me and the night before we left, Tracy's cousin and his wife joined us at Grammy and Papa Lou's house. I broke out the 4 beers and gave everyone a little taste of each of the four beers:

• Classic American Blonde Ale
• 1776 Ale
• Eric's Red
• Maple Brown

Overall, I was pleased with the reception of the beer. Everyone was very nice with their praise without over-doing it so that it felt pretty sincere.

As it is the lightest, we tasted Classic American Blonde Ale first. It was the favorite of the group. Grammy and Lisa are not really beer drinkers and Jerry and Papa Lou prefer light beers, so it is not a surprise that they would prefer my lightest beer. But, I do have to admit that it is a good beer, and based on this response and positive comments from my sister-in-law before, I am going to make sure I brew this again and that I keep this beer in stock. Unfortunately, this was my last bottle, so I will have to make more soonish.

The second beer we tried was the second lightest, 1776 Ale. 1776 Ale is a very hoppy amber ale. The liberty hops give the beer an almost pine like taste and I think is very similar to New Belgium's Mighty Arrow. 1776 was not as well-liked, but did not seem to be disliked. This was simply a case of the style not being what the group was used to. To be honest, I also have to be in the right mood to drink this beer.

The third beer was my Eric's Red, which is my favorite brew so far. This is a deep amber / almost (but not quite) red beer. You can taste hops on this one, but they are not nearly as strong as 1776. This is a more malty beer. The 2-week conditioning period was not done yet, but it was close enough that I figured it was ready to taste. So, it should be even better when I try it next. I think I will try to keep this beer in stock. My tasting group liked this one very much as well.

Maple Brown is my darkest beer so far, and the last one we tasted. It was a major disappointment to me and clearly the least favorite of the group. Unfortunately, there is a definite alcohol taste to this beer, which overpowers the malt. I was unable to taste the maple at all. I am surprised I disliked it so much because I thought it tasted pretty good when I bottled it. I will let it condition a bit more and continue to try it, but I do not think I will brew another maple beer again for a long time.

It was fun having this little tasting party. Everyone was very kind with their comments. Jerry said he would be my sales guy when I was ready to go commercial with my micro-brewery. Of course, I do not really have any plans to go commercial, but it is fun to think about it.

I am glad people beside me seem to like my beer.

Valley of Fire

On Tuesday, we loaded ourselves in Grammy's and Papa Lou's Durango and headed out to the Valley of Fire Nevada State Park. I have to say it was really cool. There were lots of red rock formations, some of which we were allowed to climb on. We saw 4000 year old petroglyphs. It was pretty awesome. We even got to do a geocache on the way to the park and drop off a travel bug we picked up on our last geocache in Colorado. This one is an alligator that comes all the way from Florida. I do not know if this poor guy will like the Nevada desert!

This is a picture of some of the 4000 year old petroglyphs.

This is a picture of the CO Shepards among the Nevada Red Rocks.

Connor taking care of Grammy while the rest of us go on a hike.

The rest of the hikers (Papa Lou is the one behind the camera)

In Vegas

It is Tyler's spring break.

He got an extended break when we got a snow storm Thursday which closed school two days. Thursday was Tyler's first snow day ever. Friday was his second. That is sort of amazing considering we live in a place like Denver as opposed to a place like Nevada (for example).

We went to Las Vegas for Tyler's spring break. Well, Henderson, NV actually, but we can see the strip from the place that we are staying. My wife's mom and dad live here in the desert. I cannot imagine living here. I hate the summer in the desert and don't really like the fact that you don't really have a winter here. Actually, I think I am one of the few people in the world who probably would not visit Vegas (unless I had relatives living here and/or my wife made me come). It just is not someplace that excites me that much.

But the kids really like visiting their grandparents. And the weather this time of year is ok.

We drove this year. Utah has some interesting scenery and we have not taken our mini-van on a long road trip yet. Plus, I was sort of hoping we would get one of our huge snow storm and not have to go. We got a huge snow storm, but not big enough to stop the trip. Oh well.

On the ride out, we stopped at one of those Utah viewing areas and Tyler found this little lizard running around across the rocks. Tyler did a good job picking the guy out considering how well he was camouflaged.

Anyway, we are having fun in Nevada. Today, we are going to Valley of Fire State Park. It looks pretty interesting. Maybe I'll post some more pictures after we go.

Poor Irish

Lodo bars are packed with green clothed people today.

It being Tuesday and the fact that there is no way that many companies give St. Pat's day as a holiday leads me to believe that all these Irish people are unemployed.

Poor Irish forced to sit around all day drinking beers.

March

Here it is March already. I am not sure what happened to the winter. It seems we have had many more 50+ days than not this year. Hopefully we will get some snow in March and April.

Tyler's birthday is coming up. His party is this Saturday and the actual birthday is on the 10th. He is getting so big! His last basketball game for the season was this past Saturday. He is a head taller than most of the kids. He is at least 3 inches taller than the second tallest kid in the 5-6 year old basketball program. My baby is growing up.

I think I am obsessed with home brewing. I wake up thinking about beer. I spend hours reading about brewing on the Internet or books from the library. I bottled my Maple beer on Saturday and started some raspberry beer Sunday morning before anyone was up. I do not even like raspberry beer! Last Friday I made a trip to my Local Home Brew Shop and bought some DME. I am now looking at refrigerators everywhere I go because I need more storage space for conditioning my brews. I think about buying more equipment all the time. Where does this all stop?

Yesterday, I went on a bike ride with a facebook friend whom I knew in high school and whom I have not seen in over 20 years. He is in a wheelchair now and he took me hand cycling. Downhill was a blast. Uphill was torture. All in all, I had fun. It was a great workout and I hope to get out with him some more. Hopefully he doesn't get sick of me slowing him down! If I get to the point where I am respectable, my arms and shoulders will probably be just huge.

Anyway, that maple beer I bottled was really good when I sampled it before bottling. I might taste it along with my 1776 ale on St. Pattrick's day. This coming weekend I will bottle Eric's Red. I think I may even give it a try on the 17th, even though that will be a real short conditioning period. I need to decide what to brew next. My plan for the raspberry beer is to try it with Tracy on Mother's Day. That is such a long time to wait, so we might have to break down before then. I really hope Tracy likes it because I do not know if I would be able to finish 2 gallons of fruit beer.

I need that bigger refrigerator!

Thanks for the obsession, Tera.

Recovery

My dear friend, Dianna Degette, "D" as I affectionately call her, sent me an email today. Not only is she my dear friend, but my also my representative in the House of Representatives. I like her much better than my senators because she emails me once and awhile to let me know how she is doing and (more importantly?) what she is doing .

Today's email was more about Mr. Obama's address to Congress a few days ago. She is "inspired by his wisdom and confidence that he has for the future of our nation". I did not watch the address. She probably knows that and just wanted to fill me in.

D also invited me to check out recovery.gov so that I am able to monitor where the money is going to be spent for the The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Isn't that sweet of her? She knew I was a little skeptical as to how that money would be spent, and looking out for me, she passed along a web address for me. This is why she is my dear friend; she is always looking out for my interests.

Honestly, one of the things I like about what Mr. Obama says is that he is going to add some transparency and accountability to the executive branch of the government. I really like the idea behind http://www.recovery.gov . I think it is a great idea, and I will probably look at it a lot. It is a good step towards his goal. It is a tiny step, and I have doubts as to just how much Mr. Obama will be able to restore confidence in the integrity of any politian, but at least he is taking steps toward that end. Yes, I did not vote for Mr. Obama and do not agree with lots of what he stands for, but I do like the idea behind the website. I have not had time to look through it, so at this point, it is just the idea I am excited about. I do not know how usful the content will be, but I am optimistic.

I am less optimistic about our ability to pay off this huge amount of money we are spending, but what the heck do I care? There is a new website out there. I do not know how much of the bill goes for creating and upkeep of the site. I figure that is in "other". I hope it is not all of other. 8 billion is a lot for a website.

In case you care (and don't want to look yourself) here is a breakdown:

Category	Amount ($ Billions)
*Tax Relief	$288
*State and Local Fiscal Relief	$144
Infrastructure and science	$111
Protecting the Vulnerable	$81
Health Care	$59
Education and Training	$53
Energy	$43
Other	$8

* Tax Relief - includes $15 B for Infrastructure and Science, $61 B for Protecting the Vulnerable, $25 B for Education and Training and $22 B for Energy, so total funds are $126 B for Infrastructure and Science, $142 B for Protecting the Vulnerable, $78 B for Education and Training, and $65 B for Energy.

*State and Local Fiscal Relief - Prevents state and local cuts to health and education programs and state and local tax increases.

By the way, D also invited me to add her as a friend on Facebook. Isn't that cool?

And... Colorado also has a recovery page: http://www.colorado.gov/recovery/

Lent

I took the boys to the church last night for a Fat Tuesday pancake dinner so, I guess that means Lent starts today.

Sometimes I give something up for Lent. Sometimes I don't. I do not ever remember it being something Lutherans necessarily did as I was growing up. It was one of those catholic things. It is very possible that it just was not something we did as a family or maybe it was just not something I did. But, nonetheless, I never really gave anything up for Lent until I was an adult, and then it was never that big of a deal.

In fact until just yesterday, I never heard that the Sundays during Lent are not part of the time that you have to give something up. Apparently, Sundays are "mini-Easters" and you can do whatever you want on those Sundays.... as long as it does not violate the keeping the Sabbath Holy and other pesky commandments like not murdering or coveting etc... To me, that makes things infinitely easier. I'm not sure it is really that much of a sacrifice if you can indulge once a week. I guess it depends on what you are giving up.

I may be giving up coffee, since I am already not drinking coffee this week (because I am giving blood Saturday) and I might as well just continue. I guess.

I could give up drinking beer. I am in the middle of brewing a few batches, so it would be inconvenient to have to wait the extra time to sample them, but I could do it. It might even be better ... one more reason to wait for the conditioning to be done.

I may try to fast for Lent. After all, it is not like I will starve to death if I can eat on Sundays. On second thought, though, maybe that one is a bad idea.

My sister is giving up the internet for Lent. That will not work for me. I literally need the internet to do my jobs. I cannot work just on Sundays. I did consider giving up facebook for Lent, and I have been on facebook today, so I could do that. But something that trivial would be pointless.

Anyway, chances are, I will not give up anything for Lent. If I do, it will be something trivial like coffee or beer. Probably not beer. I need to give my 1776 ale a taste pretty soon.

No School

Tyler did not have school today (Tuesday). Some sort of teacher-in-service day. He got off Friday and Monday (Presidents Day) too.

Monday and Fridays are easy because Tracy works part time, three day weeks and has Fridays and Mondays off. Tuesdays are another story, though. We could put Tyler in La Petite (Connor's preschool and Tyler's before / after school care) for the day. But, I hate doing that. It just does not seem fair to have a day off and have to spend it in "school".

So, I try to not work on days when Tyler is off school and Tracy has to work.

Today, I figured I would have to at least be available for my client, though. So, I gave the boys the choice to stay home with me or going to La Petite. I told them that I would have to work most of the day and that if they chose to stay at home I expected them to play nicely together and be able to let me work.

I was extremely pleased with their ability to work together to come up with activities to keep themselves busy. They did every one of their puzzles together. They also played a lot with their Marble Run game. They made a real good one.

It is not true

I don't get "brain freezes". I never have. Personally, I do not think they actually exist. The whole concept of a "brain freeze" is just one big conspiracy. Apparently people decided to claim that if they eat something cold too fast, it causes a quick, sharp pain to the head. It does not happen to me, so the only thing I can conclude is that brain freezes don't actually exist and for some reason hundreds if not thousands of people are lying to me when they describe the phenomenon. Why would the world "at large" go to such a huge extent to perpetrate such a myth aimed primarily (as far as I can tell) at me? I do not know. If you claim to get brain freezes, why do you do it? NOTE: I have been told that only 1 in 3 people actually get "brain freezes" and that I am not that unusual for never having one. I swear I have never actually had someone say "me neither" when I mention that I do not get brain freezes. My sample size is not HUGE, but it is big enough that if 1 in 3 were actually the number, I would have come across a few people who have never gotten them. More proof that the whole thing is a big hoax.

I also doubt that such a thing as "heart burn" exists. Well, actually, let me qualify that. My wife described a sensation she called heart burn when she was pregnant and I do not think she was making that up. I do think a pregnant woman can get an unpleasant feeling due to large creatures growing and moving around in a space usually taken up mostly by internal organs. Something has to give in that sort of situation, and I can see moving digestive organs causing burning sensations all over the place. I do believe that pregnant woman feel all kinds of unpleasant things, and I do believe one of those feelings can be heart burn. But, I myself have never had heart burn, so I think that it is a myth that it can occur without some sort of major anomaly going on in the body such as a growing and kicking child or a pig swallowed whole or perhaps an alien parasite getting ready to burst out (like in Alien). Anyone who does not have something extraordinary going on inside must be lying when they claim heart burn.

I do not believe people can trip over untied shoelaces. Again, it has never happened to me, so it must be impossible. Do, however, always make sure your shoelaces stay tied when riding a bike. They can get tangled in the peddles, and that can get dangerous.

I do not believe people can get addicted to coffee or any form of caffeine.

Cutting onions never makes me cry, so obviously they don't have that power like people say.

I do not think cigarettes are as impossible to give up as people say. Of course, having never even tried a cigarette, I have no basis for that disbelief. Forget I said that.

The saying "lefty-loosey, righty-tighty" is a complete myth. When you turn something in a circle you are turning left, right, up, down and in all 360 degrees at once depending on what point on the outside of the circle you are talking about.

I do not think anyone out there actually likes Survivor or American Idol or any other of these "reality T.V." shows that have shown up on the airwaves over the past several years. I would not be surprised if a huge part of the problem with the economy is that networks play more and more of these shows despite the fact that no one actually likes them. Because no one likes them, no one pays attention to the advertisements and so they buy nothing. Thus, companies do not sell their products. People get laid off. People without jobs have extra time on their hands and have to watch the reality shows (it seems like very little else is on) and so, the downward spiral self-perpetuates.

I have a similar feeling for Soap Operas. At least the soaps do not come on in prime time.

If Obama wants to make a difference based on television, I do not think he should extend the digital T.V. conversion. Instead, I think he should ban reality shows and soap operas. I wonder if T.V. executives would be able to fill the time with something worthwhile or if they are going to have to come up with something even worse. Doesn't matter. Obama should make them shut off programming if they cannot come up with something worthwhile.

Anyway.... if you are indeed someone who perpetuates these myths. Please stop. Especially the "lefty-loosey, righty-tighty" myth. I hate that one.

Happy Birthday

It is my birthday today. I played hooky from work.

After I dropped the boys off at school, I stopped at a car wash and gave the mini-van a badly needed cleaning.

Then, I went back home and signed onto my computer to check things at CHFA (my current client). Nothing needed my attention, so I let them know I would be out for the day. I worded it "I'm going to save you some money today" rather than saying "I'm going to blow off work today." I think my way goes over a little better.

After sending the email, I headed out to the health club. Wednesday night is my night to go to Bally, and I knew that with gifts and cake and stuff chances were high that I would not get to go tonight. I worked out for about two hours, burning over 2,000 calories on a couple different cardio machines and lifted weights for about half an hour. It is hard to get in good workouts like this now-a-days, and it was a great feeling to get one in today.

After the workout, I went home again. I checked things at CHFA again. And loaded GPS coordinates into my GPS unit and headed off to Mt. Falcon park. It was such a beautiful day for a hike. I got to a couple of geo-caches, but just getting out was wonderful. I spent a little over 4 hours in the park. I hiked about 8 hours and spend a decent amount of time just sitting and looking at the wonderful views from the top of Mt. Falcon and listening to nature.

Now, I am home. The kids and their mom just arrived. They are wrapping gifts I think. I even get some cake tonight. I'm such a lucky guy.

Happy Birthday to Me.

Snow Sculptures

Happy Belated Groundhog's Day. Hope you got all your shopping done ahead of time and were not too stressed out with all the last-minute things that had to be done.

This past Sunday (Superbowl Sunday), we headed up to Breckenridge, CO to look at the 2009 Budweiser International Snow Sculpture Championships. It has been a long time since we have gone and in fact Connor has never been. The snow sculptures are always really cool and did not disappoint this year. It is amazing what people are able to created out of these huge blocks of snow.

And the weather was just perfect. We got a little "I'm cold" chants from the wipper-snappers, but considering how spoiled they are, not nearly as bad as I expected. We got lots of great pictures, and we all had fun, and we even got to go to Breckenridge Brewery where I got to try their Vanilla Porter, which I really enjoyed. If you ever get a chance to go up and see the snow sculptures, I highly recommend it.

We hit traffic on the way home and pretty much arrived for the Super Bowl. If you have been following my blog, (and chose to remember this bit of information) you know that I have been targeting Super Bowl Sunday as the day to taste my first home-brewed beer. It is amazing that I made it so long.

My first beer was a bit lighter than I would generally prefer, but I think it was a good first brew. Plus, it is the style Tracy prefers. It turned out really well. Tracy claimed she liked it too. It was a success! We still have some if you would like to come visit and try some.

And, yes, as I am just a huge geek, let me share with you a website I put together: http://beer.ericshepard.com . It is nothing real special, but if you would like to see what is going on with Sheppy Brews, you can come and see what I have brewing (literally and figuratively). There is even a handy-dandy calendar so you can see when you can taste the different styles of beer on a google calendar that I put together (http://beer.ericshepard.com/calendar.htm).

Anyway, it was a great Sunday for us. Hope yours was nice too.

Chi Cubs beat the odds

The Cubs have not won the world series in 100 years.

0 world series 100 years.

I believe that there are 30 teams in the league.

If you do a simple Binomial Distribution on 100 trials each with a 1/30 chance of success, you have a higher statistical chance of coming up with 1,2,3,4,5 and 6 successes over those 100 trials. Just by dumb, random luck, it would be easier for the Cubs to have won 6 world series (6.7%) championships than 0 (3.4%) in the past 100 years.

And, of course, there have not been 30 teams for most of that time. I do not want to go through the effort to calculate the actual odds, but winning 0 times in 100 years is even harder than my simple little calculation.

Don't worry, Cub Fans. By my calculation, it is nearly statistically impossible (odds are only about 1 in 1000) for the Cubs to make it to 2108 without winning one.

Of course, if any team can do it, it is the Cubs.

Stimulus?

Ok ... not to sound to "republican", but What the Hell? If the current administration wants to add honesty and integrity to government ... why not start by being honest with what the Stimulus bill actually is: an blatant attempt to fund a good chunk of the liberal agenda in one fell swoop.

How does any of this stimulate the economy???

• $335 million for education related to sexually transmitted diseases
• $650 million for coupons to help people make the switch to digital TV
• $50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts
• $150 million for the Smithsonian Institution
• $50 million for the National Cemetery Administration's monument and memorial repairs
• $800 million for Amtrak, the country's railroad system
• $2 billion for child-care subsidies
• $400 million for global warming research
• $100 million for reducing the danger of lead paint in homes
• $2.4 billion for carbon-capture demonstration projects
• $200 million for the U.S. Geological Survey to monitor earthquakes and volcanoes
• $650 million for the U.S. Forest Service to remove fish passage barriers, forest improvement and watershed enhancement projects
• $1.5 million for a National Institute of Health/Institute of Medicine report to Congress
• $50.6 million for services for older blind individuals
• $400 million for the Social Security Administration's new National Computer Center
• $325 million for Academic Achievement Awards
• $70 million for programs to help people quit smoking
• $75 million for a super-computer for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
  

I am not saying some of this is not worthy of consideration (although I am against the government paying for MOST of what is in there), but shoving it all into a bill which is meant as a Stimulus Package is downright dishonest. Every Obama supporter kept talking about this wonderful change that would occur. But, this is clearly politics as usual. Unfortunately, politics as usual is even more dangerous because checks and balances don't really exist with the Legistrative and Executive branches pretty much on the same page.

If this is how things are going down with the new administration, we are in for a long 4-8 years!


see http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Business/story?id=6757733&page=1

More Beer

I got my first shipment from Mr. Beer today. Actually, it is my second shipment, as my sister had the first one sent as a Christmas Gift. My first batch of beer has been carbonating for almost a week, which means it is almost ready to put in the fridge to condition. I'll probably try my first taste of it on Super Bowl Sunday, which will be three weeks since I started brewing the beer. People on the Mr. Beer discussion forum seem to agree that it is better to follow a 2 - 2 - 2 pattern. That means two weeks to ferment, two weeks to carbonate, and two weeks to condition. The forum entries say that is the minimum, and for higher fermentable sugars (more alcohol) you should ferment longer and usually condition longer. So, I am not following the wisdom of the masses, but I think it will be OK for my Classic American Blond Ale, which is very low in alcohol. I am following exactly what the instructions said to do for this one.

I will start following the 2 - 2 - 2 for my next batch. 6 weeks!!! Man, it takes patience to brew beer!

So, now that I got my first shipment, I am going to start brewing batch #2. I have decided to try a recipe from the Mr. Beer site called 1776 Ale. It is a hoppy, amber beer with a modest bitterness (IBU 11) and an alcohol by volume of 6%. My guess is it is going to be sort of similar to a Sam Adams Boston Lager or maybe a Breckenridge Brewery Avalanche, but I do not really know. The recipe includes the hopped malt extract "Cowboy Golden Lager", and a "Booster", both of which I already had from my original kit. It also calls for an unhopped malt extract "Mellow Amber" and some extra hops both of which were in my shipment.

My shipment also came with another hopped malt extract and unhopped extract for which I have a plan. I may or may not describe this brew on the blog once I start brewing it.

I really want to get it all going. I want to know how they all taste now. The hardest part of brewing your own beer is the waiting. Of course, right now, I do not even have enough bottles to bottle any more. By the time I am ready to bottle batch #2, I will though. Shipment #2 includes another set of the PET bottles , and of course more beer ingredients.

My Friend, D

My friend Diana DeGette, chief deputy whip of the house of representatives, sent me an email. I did not realize we were friends, but right there at the beginning of the email, she said it. Not only am I a friend, but I am a Dear Friend! Had I known we were so close, I might have voted for her. I want my friends to be successful. And, she is. Actually, she did not need my vote. My congressional district was not even close.

Diana, or D, as I so affectionately call her (did I mention that we are dear friends), told me that her priorities include:

• Embryonic stem cell research
• Enhancing and expanding the children's health care program to provide coverage to millions of low-income children who live daily without health care.
• National health care.
• Food Safety.
• Combating global warming.

I am a little surprised that D did not list first and foremost that her #1 priority did not have something to do with getting the U.S. economy on the right track or getting our over 1 trillion dollar budget deficit under control, or maybe something about helping to create high-paying jobs to replace the close to record number lost around the country last year. I guess that even though we are dear friends, we do not always agree on what is most important.

Quite frankly, the deficit scares the hell out of me. Getting the budget under control seems like it should be everyone's top priority. But, I am a simpleton, because I don't quite understand how it is that the country can exist at all in the financial state we are in. I do not even understand how any president can in good conscience even submit an unbalanced budget, let alone one that is over a trillion dollars over. If you cannot even start with the concept of more money coming in than goes out, how are you going to finish with anywhere close to blackl? And, if you have nothing to fall back on, how do you survive tough times?

I have a hard time comprehending 1 trillion dollars at all.... let alone the 11 trillion dollars of debt we currently have. Now, Obama is telling us the budget will be over by more than 1 trillion dollars for the next couple of years. How can this not be alarming? How can this not be every congress person's number 1 priority?

If you laid one dollar bills end to end, you could make a chain that stretches from earth to the moon and back again 200 times before you ran out of dollar bills! One trillion dollars would stretch nearly from the earth to the sun. It would take a military jet flying at the speed of sound, reeling out a roll of dollar bills behind it, 14 years before it reeled out one trillion dollar bills. You can probably do the math for 10 times that number (and then realize that the total is worse than that).

Personally, I have never held a debt greater than I could (if I absolutely had to) pay off if I needed to. A big part of that I owe to my parents who saved and gave me enough money for me to go to college. As it turned out, between scholarships and co-op jobs, I used very little of that money, so ever since I was on my own, I had a pretty large nest-egg. Plus, I've always saved as much as I could. My 401 and IRAs have always been fully funded and I have saved much more than just those vehicles. There have been times, early on after college where my budget was hard to balance and maybe I had to rely on the fact that I had savings for a month or two. But, that is one reason it is so important to save when you have an opportunity.

So, over the years there have been lots of possessions or services that technically I could have obtained that I did without because it was more important to me to be in a position where I could rely on my savings in the event that I ever needed to.

And then, we have the government. According to http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2008/summarytables.html , the federal government budgeted to spend almost 3 trillion dollars in 2008. The revenue was projected to be about 2.6 trillion. According to the news, the delta is even worse (much much worse), but even using those numbers, we are talking being over budget by a four hundred billion dollars. Mr. Obama tells us we will be something like 1.2 trillion dollars over for the next couple of years.

So, we have a budget that tells us we will be in debt, and then we are not even able to come anywhere close to following the budget. I probably do not need to point out that if I ran my household budget anywhere close to how the government runs its "household" that I would probably be living on the street. My wife would not like that very much. But, for some reason, the federal government is able to plug along without too much concern.

Again, I do not see how this is not the #1 priority for everyone in our federal government. But, stem cell research is important too I guess.

Cute

awwwww

Mr. Beer

Well, as I mentioned in a previous blog entry, I got a Mr. Beer home brewing kit for Christmas. Thanks again, Tera. Yesterday and today I spent some time on the web site. I was surprised to learn that Target carries Mr. Beer refills. That is nice to know. I guess Home-Brewing is pretty mainstream if you can get all you need at Target. I figured I would have to go to a special home-brewing store or order everything from the Mr. Beer web site.

Anyway, this morning, I started my first batch of beer. It was just one of the brew packs that came with the kit. Classic American Blond Ale. It is probably a nice start for a beginner. Thanks to the Mr. Beer packs, making the wort is extremely easy, and not really all that time consuming. At the moment, the brew is fermenting down in our basement.

As I look at the Mr. Beer website, I have all kinds of things I want to try. There are tons of different recipes on the website. I can experiment on my own with different flavors. There is a web page at the TommyKnocker brewery website that says to feel free to contact them for tips and recipe ideas on their beers, so of course eventually I'll want to try to recreate some of their beers. I just reserved a couple of books at the library that have recipes for popular beers. There are tons of things I want to do in my mini-micro-brewery.

But, I have to wait at least a week before I can even bottle my first batch. It is better to go longer, so I will probably let it ferment for at least 2 weeks. Then, carbonation takes at least another week. Again, I will probably want to let it go longer. Then, It will take me awhile to drink two gallons of beer. At the very soonest, it will probably be a month and a half before I can start my next batch. And, I was planning on just doing another standard batch on my second attempt. So, by the time I can start experimenting, it will be March or April; maybe even June. I want to get started RIGHT NOW.

This makes me think I need another kit or two. Obviously, it is premature to go that far. But, if I end up liking this as much as I think I will, at the very least, I need a second set or two of bottles . It also means I will have to think very carefully about what I will want to try. Each batch is at least a 2 week commitment before I even know what the beer will taste like, and that is too much time to waste on something that might not work out. Actually, everything I read makes me think that 4 weeks it really more realistic even for the simpler recipes and even more for more complicated ones.

Looking around on the Mr. Beer website and forums really gets me excited about this. I guess I have to be patient.

365 to 173

365 to 173.

Ok. It is official. Congress has counted the votes and I am finally willing to call Obama President-Elect. According to a map I looked at today, Obama was supposed to win 364 to 174, but it turns out the extra vote came from Nebraska, which as you know if you read my previous blogs on Electoral College (and chose to clutter your brain with this piece of information), Nebraska is one of the two states that actually has the system to split its votes. So, probably, the map of the November election results was simply too lazy to split out Nebraska's Obama vote.

It is apparently not typical that people were watching Internet news stories today to see the results. Most people figured that the presidential race was a done deal. Practically speaking, it was, but I was holding out hope that something unusual would happen. It probably would not be good for the country for 90 - some EC voters to switch over, but I was hoping for a little more excitement than one vote from Nebraska going to Obama... especially since that is what that voter was probably supposed to do. I am pretty sure this is the first time either Nebraska or Maine has actually split up their votes, so we do actually have something a bit unusual. I guess I'll have to take it.

By the way, Inauguration Day is Tuesday, January 20, 2009.

Vacation

I am sitting in our van with two sleeping kids outside of Sam's Club waiting for Tracy to finish buying groceries. We spent most of today in the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. The kids really enjoy spending time at the museum . We are members and really get our money's worth of the membership. We go alot.

Yesterday, we got home from visting my sister's family up in Hudson, WI. It was very cold up there for our visit. Denver's weather was in the 50s and 60s while we were up there. It was well below freezing in Wisconsin. We saw several below zero temperatures. It was nice to visit, though. It is so much to see our two boys with their cousins, and as always my sister and her husband did a great job planning activities and entertaining us.

We got back to a voice mail from a neighbor that our outdoor faucet had been leaking badly. They were able to get our water turned off which was certainly nice of them. We had to call a plumber to fix the problem. To get it replaced, he had to cut holes in our guest bedroom wall. But all in all the whole thing was relatively painless for us. It certainly could have been much worse.

-----later...

I have noticed that it is hard to recover from vacations. I am not a pioneer in this discovery. Everyone says the same thing.

-----later...

Generally, I get frustrated at the health club every Janurary because of all the extra people apparently making resolutions. Luckily they are always gone by mid- February. This year Bally does not seem nearly as crowded as usual so close after New Year, so this year the extra people do not bother me quite as much.

I never really understand new year resolutions. If you want to change something, why not start immediately? If it is not important enough to start before a certain day, it probably is not important enough to keep up. That is why most new year resolutions do not last far into February.

Tyler started basketball last night. He is almost a full head taller than the rest of the kids. He is tall for his age, but I think the rest of the kids in this immediate area are extremely tiny. Connor is closer in size to most of these kids than Tyler is.

Anyway, I meant to post this blog entry 5 days ago and I do not really feel like continuing on this any longer so I am going to send it.

The End.

Press Release

Denver, Colorado, (Jan. 6, 2009) -- Denver based Automated Event System Inc, DBA Auction & Event Solutions announced today that it has completed its merger with Auction Automations, LLC., creating an auction technology and services firm that will be better positioned to more effectively service the national non-profit industry. The company retains the Auction & Event Solutions name and continues to operate in Arizona, Colorado, Illinois and Texas.

"The merger combines one of the largest and most recognized non-profit service providers with one of the most innovative and successful technology providers, creating a new Auction & Event Solutions poised to pursue growth and provide a broader range of services to a national client base , said newly appointed AES President and Chief Executive Officer Michael Wood.

This merger combines two complementary firms to create a new company that is greater than the sum of its parts. Wood added, "Auction & Event Solutions has exceptional name recognition and with the addition of the Auction Automations technology, we can leverage the AES brand and maximize the traditional services offered by the company. Together, the new Auction & Event Solutions is a greater, stronger more dynamic company." Derry Roth, Managing Director of Auction Automations, LLC, said,

The merger provides Auction Automations with the opportunity to more quickly expand our services throughout the country. In fact, we already have a joint presence in Colorado, Illinois and Texas, and a business plan in place for controlled expansion in other states through the coming years. Most importantly, AES shares our stablished mission of providing service excellence. In the coming months, our clients will be meeting new managers and technical crews. However, many familiar Auction Automations staff will remain involved. "Jon Doehling, owner of Auction & Event Solutions Illinois, states,

This merger will help usher in a new age of charity fundraising through silent auctions, both here in Chicago and nationwide. Our clients are very excited about Auction Automations' wireless touch pad bidding technology and the possibilities it allows. By automating the auction, we can begin to eliminate the errors and frustration we are all so used to seeing at large scale fundraising events. We are about to change how non-profit professionals and auction participants view silent auctions. The future is now."

Ashley D. Weber, owner of Auction & Event Solutions Colorado, said, "Joining forces with Auction Automations allows AES to add and expand our existing technology solutions for our clients. The great new touch pad bidding, with the added support of AES staff and service creates an unparalleled technology and service package for silent and live auctions nationwide. While AES has been providing auction solutions for over 20 years in Colorado, we are now able to expand our offerings of services to clients in a way that was not possible before.

"The merger with Auction Automations is a transformational event in the 20-year history of AES. said Louis Murad, the Owner of Auction & Event Solutions Dallas, Ft. Worth. This is essentially the creation of a new company that is equipped to pursue both local and national growth in order to better serve our clients and the nonprofit communities throughout the United States."

About Auction & Event Solutions
Auction & Event Solutions is one of the largest and most respected non-profit event night services companies. AES offers the non-profit community technologies and services positioned to generate substantially more revenue from annual silent and live gala fundraising auctions. Comprehensive integrated solutions, including consulting, planning, event management, touch pad bidding, integration with Auctionpay® and Auction Source ®, and event night staff provide a turnkey source for the non-profit community.

For more information regarding Auction & Event Solutions and the merger, please visit www.AESAuctions.com.

Auction & Event Solutions HQ, LLC | 7950 South Lincoln Street Suite 106, Littleton Colorado 80122 | 866.360.2020

Thanks Tera

It is ridiculous how many gifts we got they year. Tyler alone was incredibly busy making his family tons of beautiful art work, all of which is wonderful and well appreciated. Connor worked very hard as well. You should see the beautiful necklace he made Mommy. In fact, you can... just look to the left. Not only is it beautiful, but when she is wearing it, we will never lose her. In case you cannot tell, those are beads and bells on it.

And, it just seems wrong that I was the one who got the most gifts, and every one of them was fantastic. I am really lucky. It probably should not be that the dad gets the best gifts, but I am not going to complain.

Remember the big box I mentioned my sister sent months ago? It was a home brewing kit. As you may or may not know, I like to drink micro-brew type beers, and am fascinated by the chemistry of the process. I cannot really think of a better gift for me. So, if you are reading this, Tera, thank you so much.

But, that is not all she got me. Oh no, that is not all. She also got me a cool marble run toy. She knows from last time we visited the Blauwkamps, how much I enjoy playing with it. Of course, she disguised the fact that it was for me by sending it to Tyler and Connor, and they do LOVE it. I mean, who would not enjoy something you can build up and run marbles down? But, quite frankly, everyone knows who loves it the most (me).




And, as I said every single one of my gifts this year is fantastically wonderful. But I have to say, Tera gets the prize for most coming through with perfect gifts (at least for me).

N.O.R.A.D.

Tyler and I have been tracking Santa most of the night at the NORAD Tracks Santa Site on the web.

One thing I never really thought about, but because Lt. Commander Something-or-Another mentioned that across Eastern Europe Santa does not make many stops tonight, it now clicks. Poor Santa actually has to make two trips. Of course, he makes the one tonight. And then for the Orthodox Christmas on January 6th, he has to make the trip again. I do not know if Norad tracks him for the Orthodox Christmas, but I do know there are people who celebrate the January date not only in Eastern Europe, but also all across the country.

It is amazing to me that Santa is able to make this trip once a year. But, the fact that he has to do it twice just blows my mind. There were several times tonight when Tyler and I were amazed about the ground Santa covered. He was way down in Southern South America, and then up in Canada. It was amazing. Crossing the Atlantic was a thing of beauty.

And now I find out that he does this again in about a week and a half.

I always was amazed. But now the big man has my complete awe and respect. Next time deadlines pile up ... just think what Santa can accomplish two nights a year.

More Pictures

Well...

I've been on FaceBook a little over 2 weeks. It is still sort of neat, but not nearly as addictive as it was 2 weeks ago. There are some people on it who are actually addicted. Those people scare me a little bit. But, for the most part they are harmless; I think.

Anyway, I posted some facebook pictures out there at this URL: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=4527&l=12811&id=1626836064

The boys just cuter and cuter every day.

Golden Geocaching

We have been holding on to the travel bug that we got just before Thanksgiving (see Boy's Day) a little bit longer than we wanted. As it was our first travel bug, it did not seem very polite to keep it in our house too long. We did some geocaching last weekend, but the ones we found were too small to hold the bug, so I figured we should try to get rid of it this weekend in another geocache.

I found a couple of good candidates on the geocaching site (http://www.geocaching.com) around Golden. Golden is a nice little drive for us, and is a nice little town in which to walk around. Plus, Tyler and Connor really like eating at the Capital Grill because they serve mini-ice cream with their kid's meals.

Anyway, the first geocache was one called "The Toy Box" in an open-space park just North of CO58. Actually, I never realized this little park was there. It appears to be a hot-spot for rock climbing, because all the people there (except us) were hiking up the trail with rock-climbing equipment strapped to their backs.

Tracy was the holder of the GPS unit and brought us up the trail in the wrong direction. Eventually she mentioned to me that the distance was going up rather than down, and we went all the way back to the parking lot and then the opposite direction. I guess she knows now how the directional arrow works. Maybe.

It was a nice sized cache full of good toys. It took the boys awhile to pick out what they wanted to take, and we left the travel bug there for someone else to take. I feel sort of guilty that I keep the bug for more than two weeks and it only traveled a couple miles. Oh well.

The second geocache was off a bike path down by the Golden Railroad Museum (which is another great thing about Golden). This time, Tracy brought us the right direction. It was called "Steps to Nowhere" and right where the GPS brought us were little steps going down ... basically into nothing.

It did not take us long to find the Foldgers Coffee Can full of more nice treasures. The boys traded a couple more nice little toys. We have to remember to add more toys to trade for next time.

After this geocache, we went to a little park a few blocks from "Downtown Golden" to park, and walked up the Clear Creek bike / walking path to Washington Avenue (which is basically the main street through down town Golden.) We walked to the Capital Grill and had ourselves a nice little lunch.

We walked back up the creek, and took the picture below in the middle of the creek. Then, we played in our favorite Golden playground.

If you blog it ...

Exciting news on the http://blog.ericshepard.com front!

Over the past couple days, I've gotten anonymous comments on some of my older blog entries.

A few days ago I got a comment on Falling Pennies (http://blog.ericshepard.com/2005/07/falling-pennies.html). Apparently, I helped some young lad with with Physics homework. Or maybe his homework was some sort of sociology paper on random idiots who blog. Regardless, I helped someone with his (or maybe her I guess) homework. What a nice feeling. Just my little contribution to youth education. I'll try to let everyone know when I get nominated for a Nobel Prize of some sort.

Today, I got a couple of comments on "Eat Pig" (http://blog.ericshepard.com/2005/08/eat-pig.html) and "Good Day to Die" (http://blog.ericshepard.com/2005/06/good-day-to-die.html). I think it was from the same guy. I don't think english is his first language and I think he practices the Islamic Faith.

I was pretty excited about seeing that I got a comment on the "Eat Pig" blog entry. I figured some brilliant religious scholar out there had a profound explanation for me as to why Christrians are allowed to eat ham and pork (or any other pig products). But unfortunately, I was disappointed. I think the comment was telling me to look in the Coran (I think he means Koran ... part of the reason I think English was not his first language) for an explanation as to why eating pig is banned. Unfortunately, I understand (pretty much) why eating pig was forbidden. My confusion has more to do with why the Christrian faith is allowed to disobey that particular commandment from the Bible. But, I must say it was nice to know my blog is not completely ignored from everyone besides my family members. I'm not sure why I care, but it makes me feel good that SOMEONE out in the big wide world reads what I write.

I did not really understand the comment on the "Good Day to Die" blog entry. Again, I think the point is probably that I need to read my Koran. Maybe someday I will do that. But, chances are not real high. I don't even read the Bible as much as a church-going-lutheran such as myself should. I should probably make more of an effort to read my own religion's book before I try to tackle the Koran.

And as if news about blogspot readers actually coming to and commenting on my blogs is not enough ... are you ready for this? Facebook members have been commenting on my last blog entry (http://blog.ericshepard.com/2008/12/blago.html). Sort of by accident, I have gotten my Facebook to subscribe and pull my blog into Facebook "Notes". I thought I was doing a one-time import of a blog entry which I was planning on just deleting, but it turns out that facebook pulls my blog on a regular interval (I am not sure what the interval is, but it is automatic and regular).

So, I have basically increased my potential regulars from family members and random stalkers to my 49 facebook friends! I'm going to leave it and see who else responds.

Yes, I am a geek. Sorry. But, as another facebook member told me recently "we are who we are".

By the way, I was going to beg for someone to let me borrow a friend to push me to the 50 friend plateu, but I see now that I now actually have 50 friends. It is great to have such validation.

It is disgusting what a geek I am.

Blago

I'm sitting on the train trying to come up with something brilliant to write about on my phone.

I have nothing.

I could rant about how bad Denver drivers handle snow. Not very original. I've done that before. Don't need to do it again.

No one cares about my difficulty with Tweedle Beetles. Besides there is really nothing new on that front.

Did you know that Siberian tigers eat bears? They do. Want to know how I know that? My son told me. He read a book about siberian tigers. The boy reads more books than anyone I know. He almost always has a book in the car and quite often asks us to be quiet or turn down the radio (or both). I now know more about penguins than I ever knew before thank to a book about Antartica that he has been reading in the mini van. Actually it is quite likely, most of what he tells me are facts that I knew at one time. It seems like you could fill several books with things I once knew but have since forgotten.

I am saddened by Rod Blagojevich's behavior. What an idiot. Most of the reaction I have heard on his arrest is amusement. There is certainly no shock. People are not even surprised. Unfortunately, the stereotype of the corrupt politician being a redundant phrase, seems true here. Oh well. I wonder who appoints a replacement for Mr. Obama now that there is no governor in Illinois. Probably the Lt. Governor.

Of course, until the 15th, Mr. Obama is not really the president elect, so it is still possible that his Senate seat might not be empty. It only takes 90-some democrats to vote against their state totals. Boy, wouldn't that make Rod look the fool?

Why do they have to keep it so hot on the light rail trains?

Facebook

Monday, I joined facebook because my sister-in-law "invited" me to be her facebook "friend". Of course, I've heard of facebook, but mostly figured it was mostly for immature teenagers. Well, it is not just for immature teenagers. Or at least, quite a few people from my graduating high school class seem to be using it, and the may be immature, but they are certainly not teenagers anymore.

If you are one of my facebook friends from high-school, I do not mean to say that you are immature. I am saying you might be immature. Don't be offended.

I have more than 20 facebook friends now. Most of these are the high-school classmates I mentioned above. Some of these friends are people I do not remember much or anything about, but I went ahead and added them when they requested me because I need all the friends I can get. I don't want to look too pathetic. Most of the rest are family members... at least one of which seems to be addicted to the thing. I am a bit addicted as well, but I can tell my addiction will pass with time.

A surprising number of my high-school classmates look exactly how I remember them looking in high-school. Or at least close enough that I would recognize them on the street. A disgusting number of them are health-nuts. They compete in iron man events and half marathons all the time (or at least a couple of times since they have been on face book). Tammy McCormick in particular is in better shape than she was in high-school. And, even a bunch of the ones who are not obvious health nuts do not look like they have added much weight to their frame. They all look better than I do.

If you are not on facebook, I am not sure how to describe it to you. It is a way to connect with people you have not seen in awhile. Basically, you put together a profile of yourself and go out finding "friends". To become a friend with someone, you have to request that they be your friend (or they have to request you be their friend). Your profile includes as much or as little information as you want to share with people. You can customize certain kinds of information to share with more people, but for the most part, only friends can really see anything subtantial about you.

Once you are a friend, you can post something on their "wall", which is like a public bulletine board, or you can send them a private message.

That is the basics, but that is not all, oh no that is not all. But, you almost have to be a member with facebook nuts as some of your friends to get a sense of what is going on. I am still not sure I understand a significant percentage of the whole experience.

I do suggest you give it a try. Its free. If you don't like it, you can always just quit. Be careful, though, it is easy to become adicted.

If you join (or are already a member), add me as a friend. I need all the friends I can get.

And even if you don't join, take a look at these photos: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=3214&l=8401c&id=1626836064 if you read this blog regularly, all two or three of us, you have probably seen some of them already. If nothing else, this facebook appears to be good at is sharing pictures.

Thanks

Here is what I am most thankful for.

Boys' Day

Tyler got off school yesterday, but it being a Wednesday, Tracy had to work. Being the lazy worker that I am, I decided to spend the days with the boys so Tyler would not have to spend his holiday in La Petite. We decided to have a "Boys' Day" in Golden. Most of our trips to Golden involve the Colorado Railroad Museum, but this time we decided to try a couple more Geocaches. (see my entry Geocache if you are wondering what geocaching is).

Our first stop was in the "Historical District", full of old historical looking houses. The geo-coordinates brought us to "Golden City Brewery", which as you can tell from the sign is Golden's 2nd Biggest Brewery. You probably know this, but in case not, the Coors Brewery is Golden's Biggest. This 2nd one is a distant 2nd. It is about the size of our house. I think it actually IS someone's house.

The cache had a bunch of stuff to trade. Tyler grabbed our first Travel Bug, so we are now in possession of troop1013 Little Buggie. Now, of course, Tyler wants to start a Travel Bug of his own. I think we will buy 4 and have a little contest to see which one moves the farthest. I think we are also going to have to set up a cache of our own. Gosh this is addictive.

After the Brewery, we walked down to Washington Avenue, the main road through downtown Golden, and across the bridge over Clear Creek.

We walked about half a mile to our next set of coordinates which brought us to a park with a pretty good sized pond. We were unable to find this cache. It looks like from the log, the last person here was unable to find it too. I hope Muggles did not get it! (Isn't it exciting... I am calling non-geocachers muggles already) It is listed as a micro-cache, so it is pretty small, so it might just be we missed it. I think the boys were itching to throw things into the pond and maybe hit the playground. So, that is what we ended up doing.

After the park, we walked down the Clear Creek bike path towards down town where we had lunch at the Capital Grill.

After lunch, the kids played down by the creek some more.

So, we had a good day before Thanksgiving.

Geocache

Do you know about geocaching? I know at least 33% of my blog regulars know about it. Apparently, my sister sent my wife something about it some time ago. Of course neither my wife nor my sister thought that telling me about it would be worthwhile. I guess it is ok because a co-worker told me about how he does it, and I signed up on http://www.geocaching.com/ a few months ago, but we have never taken the time to try one.... until this weekend.

So, Saturday morning, I thought I would look around some of our usual weekend haunts for easy geocaches. After awhile, I found a couple of them in Idaho Springs. Beautiful. That gives me an excuse to take the family to TommyKnocker Brewery.

So, really, if you have kids and need an activity to do with them on a nice weekend day, two or three geocaches is a great idea. Whoever came up with this idea is a genius. Basically, a geocache is a treasure hunt. You need a GPS receiver. The web site is just full of GPS coordinates of little hidden containers all over the place. Your job is to go to the GPS coordinates and find the treasure.

We parked about 1/10 the of a mile from our first geocache. The GPS took us to a gas station in Idaho Springs. I felt a little self-conscious searching around the place, but it did not take long at all to find the geo-cache container. It had a few toys in it. On the advice of my co-worker we had made sure we brought little knick-knack type toys to leave in place of a couple of the toys in the container. So, Tyler got himself a little toy ostrich and Connor picked out a Rocky Mountain National Park pencil.


We took a picture of Tyler with a "travel bug", which is a special prize which is meant to be moved and tracked from Geocache to Geocache. As this was our first one ever, we decided we did not want the responsibility of recording this little thing, so we left it. If we ever come across another, we will probably take it and move it to the next one.

As we were walking back to our mini-van, a lady I think was an owner of the gas station asked us "did you find it?" Apparently, I did not have to feel self-conscious about looking around her establishment.

The coordinates of the second one took us to the parking lot we always use when we are visiting our favorite Idaho Springs establishments. Finding this one was a bit more of a challenge. The first one was out in the open. This one was under a smaller rock which was under the rock Tyler and Connor are sitting on in the photo below. The container was too small to hold anything other than the log book and a pencil.

So, our first two geo-caches were successes. And, more important than finding the treasures, now we have a pretty activity to do just about anytime we want.

It was too early for lunch, so we drove up into the surrounding mountains for a little hike and family photos. Here are a couple of the pictures we took up there:



So, if you have a GPS receiver and need something to do sometime, go out to http://www.geocaching.com/ and get yourself a few coordinates. It is absolutely a fun activity, especially for families with kids like ours.