ben.parmeter

I tend to post updates here on this blog in a flurry, when I have a free moment to steal away from the madness.  When I’m not working, I’m here at home, either working (sadly) or bouncing Claire or taking care of a random chore while Suzy bounces Claire.  Well, today, I grabbed a few moments to finish posting pictures from Christmas in Oregon in 2009.  Dang.  That only took a month.

 

Yes, yes, I know.  I’ve been busy, OK?  Forgive me?  Ok, thanks for letting me off the hook this time.  I managed to squeeze some blog time into weekend amongst bouncing with Claire, doing some home improvement, cleaning the house, and doing catch-up California Christmas.  At any rate, I’m still sorting through all of the Oregon photos.  But just to give you a taste, I’ve uploaded some photos into a gallery which I will categorize as mid-December, pre-Christmas photos.  As written about by my older(wiser) sister, the holidays were filled with “Awesome Times, and Awesome People”.  More about that later.  On to the photos…

 

I just had to share this adorable photo of Claire that Suzy took with her iPhone and I subsequently edited with my iPhone. So cute!

I’ve finally posted the video in all it’s glorious distorted choppiness.  And I kept the audio, because let’s face it, YouTube is just going to make me take down any copyrighted music content.   It’s embedded below, or you can go straight to the YouTube here.

Well, we were on a boat recently.  A really, really big one.  Suzy and I recently went on a super-cheap cruise from San Diego to Catalina.  This was indeed, our first official cruise, ever.  The old adage “you get what you pay for”, held true for us.  And while we were a bit underwhelmed by the experience, I would say I would definitely do it again.  But it would have to meet some more stringent cruise specifications.

Enjoy some of our pictures here in the gallery.

I’m on a boat.

Short post today.  I just wanted to share with you this fine Tuesday, a tid-bit of e-mail I received from RedBox.  I get these e-mails every Tuesday informing me of the new releases that are available at my local kiosk.  Today I noticed that Elmo is going green in “Sesame Street: Elmo Being Green”, which is a bit of copyright infringement on the Muppets in my opinion.  But more interestingly, according to RedBox, Elmo’s new flick is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association of America. Here’s what I saw…

Wow.  What could Elmo be doing get get so harshly rated by the MPAA?  I may have to rent this just to see what makes this so objectionable for the 12 and under crowd.  The way Elmo is grabbing the globe there, one might think he was “Loving the Earth” a bit too much.

I know, I’m a giant slacker, I’ve been in Japan for a week and I haven’t uploaded any posts or photos or anything. Sorry internet… here’s a little something.

Just twelve hours on a plane is all it takes for me to get to one of the most amazing cities in the world. This is my second trip to Japan and I have to say it is just an incredible place. Everyone here is so polite, serious and happy all at the same time. At least that is what it appears from the outside. Tokyo is squeaky clean. The city is immaculate, safe, and awe inspiring. I have no problem walking the streets late at night – and feel 100% safe at all times. It’s an odd feeling for me, coming from the US where in a big city like this you would need to be careful which streets you strayed to at night, lest you be robbed, raped or killed. But here, in Tokyo, there is a sense of complete safety. Perhaps I am being naïve, but thus far everyone I have talked to feels the same way.

Being basically stuck in the center of Tokyo, next to the Imperial Palace, we really see nothing but prosperity. With everything that we hear the states about the struggling economy in Japan we see no evidence of this at all in this bustling metropolis. Expensive cars, business men in suits, super high-end brands everywhere. Today we traveled outside of Tokyo proper and into the suburbs to visit a customer outside the city. From the windows of the train, I can see seedy underbelly that most travelers do not get to see. I saw people living in makeshift houses made out of blue tarps and scraps of wood and metal. It’s not rampant, just occasional and very noticeable. It’s evident that the economy actually has impacted this country. I’ve got to hand it to the people of Japan – they hide it well.

My visit is bitter sweet, because, I am indeed here on business and we are working 90% of the time. This makes it pretty difficult to get out and sight see during the day. Fortunately, we did have an entire day to do some touristy things on Monday because of the local holiday here. But since then it’s been work, and meals, and back to the hotel. And to make matters worse, I picked up one of the local viruses which started with a fitful night with a stuffy head and sore throat. It’s been lingering throughout the week. It’s been hard to get out of bed in the morning, get the suit and tie on and go to work. I’ve been muddling through, but I can’t help but to long for my own bed back in the states.

Yesterday, we visited a customer in Yamato. One of the engineers that we work with took a couple of us to a bar in Yokohama called Cheers which is basically a beer bar that carries a wide selection of European beers. After sampling a few good Belgian and German beers, we moved onto another more intimate and, to me, more fascinating place. Our host led us to what appeared to be a multi-story apartment building. However, on the third floor, after climbing a tiny stairwell, we discovered the Thrash Bar (I am not completely sure about that name, but it was something to do with Thrashing). The bar was literally, only 10 ft. deep by 25 feet long. Enough room for the physical bar, and eight bar stools. They carried a pretty nice selection of Japanese beers and strangely enough a wide selection of California beers. Behind the bar was a TV playing DVD’s of German Heavy Metal bands, and our extremely friendly bar-tender who had a very good grasp of English. What a great beer-soaked evening it was; new friends and great times. I’ll definitely do this again, if I ever get the chance.

As you read this, I’m likely on my way home or have already returned. I’ve posted to photos in the gallery, here.

Sayonara for now.

Yesterday, Suzy and I bottled the beer. Yes, after two weeks of waiting anxiously, we opened fermenter and siphoned off the delicious liquid into a another large bucket which we used to finally bottle the beer. This part of the process has had me very nervous for the past two weeks. With so many variables, there are lots of opportunities for something to go wrong with the process.

After carefully extracting the fermenter from the bathtub, in an effort not to stir up any of the yeast residue clinging to the sides of the bucket, I slowly transferred it into the kitchen where the bottling was to take place. I lifted the heavy bucket up onto the counter, accidentally slammed the base against the counter-top, I cursed myself for not being careful enough. Probably not a big deal, I told myself. I stood for a moment mentally preparing myself for potential catastrophic beer failure. Then I began to crack the lid open. As I did this, a wonderful smell arose from the container. A sweet aroma, a bouquet of distinctly fresh… beer. There was no mistaking it – the process had worked. The smell and appearance of the liquid proved this a success.

I quickly hooked up the siphon and began transferring the beer into the second bucket with the priming sugar. After siphoning the beer into the second bucket, I was able to attach the bottling wand to the hose and spigot and begin the bottling process. At this point, I decided to actually taste the beer. Understand that at this point, it has just been mixed with the priming sugar, is still warm and of course, flat. However, I needed to know if the flavor was right. And thus, I poured out a shot glass worth of the liquid and lifted it to my lips. I emptied the container into my mouth, let is slosh around a bit, testing the flavor and finally swallowed. Success. Sweet success. Literally – definitely could taste the priming sugar. But at this point, it was definitely, beer. And quite tasty I might add.

And so we spent about an hour bottling the stuff up and transferred it to the bathtub again (mostly in case any bottles decide to explode). The fermentation is still in process and that priming sugar should generate some great carbonation to give it just the right mouth-feel. In two weeks, I’ll have a very drinkable beer – I hope. Wish me luck.

 

The jig is up. I got the following note from YouTube today:

Video Disabled

A copyright owner has claimed it owns some or all of the audio content in your video What’s Inside: Continuous Spray Bottle. The audio content identified in your video is Crimewave by Crystal Castles vs. Health. We regret to inform you that your video has been blocked from playback due to a music rights issue.

Replace Your Audio with AudioSwap

Don’t worry, we have plenty of music available for your use. Please visit our AudioSwap library to learn how you can easily replace the audio in your video with any track from our growing library of fully licensed songs.

Other Options

If you think there’s been a mistake, or you have other questions, please visit the Copyright Notice page in your account.

Sincerely,
The YouTube Content Identification Team

It seems a big corporate recording company doesn’t like people using their copyrighted material in our personal YouTube videos. Even if those videos were only viewed a total of 50 times by probably only a handful of unique visitors. Well, big recording company, I’m sorry – truly. I should have gotten your permission first. I suppose there was some blatant copyright infringement here, but isn’t it good marketing in the end? Please, please don’t sue.

Oh well, I’ve swapped out the audio with some creative commons licensed music from NIN. All is right with the world again.

Well, I didn’t get a chance to write from the campsite. There was far too much “relaxing” going on for me to whip out the phone and tap-out a full post. However, I didn’t want to leave you hanging with nothing after I teased you with the possibility of pictures in my Friday post.

Let me preface the link with just how cool this spot is. Somehow by magic, we were able to obtain a group spot in the campground which is nearly unparalleled for it’s sheer size. We literally had multiple acres to ourselves, completely separate from the other campgrounds. We had our own bathrooms, charcoal grills, potable water taps, garbage and recycling, several fire rings, and just all around amazing nature around us. It’s just a short hike down to the sea shore (less than a mile), where you can check out the tide pools or just fly a kite (like Suzy and I did). We’re definitely going to have to organize a repeat trip to this place.

Click this link to go to the Salt Point gallery.