Geistbear Musing

The End. But seriously, I am seeing increasingly a number of beer writers attribute an event to their political leanings and less of honest observation and investigation. Bud Light is of course the biggest example of the last year but frankly I see it in other topics regularly. Media drives us all too often to divide and hate one another. Beer is a uniter, a social lubricant, the last thing people want to do at the end of a long day is bring politics into their Happy Hour. While I can name names I’d rather hope we can raise the level of beer discourse. To harken back to the words of Sam Calagione the industry used to be “99% asshole free” and I will grant you that is no longer the case, but the best approach to me is to at least pretend it still applies to brewing and beer writing. PS - This rant is a bit of taking Stan’s homework assignment to heart. Cheers, enjoy the rest of the weekend and support your local brewery.

Old platform for Geistbear beer blog was dropped due to service issues. So I will redirect geistbear.com here for now. I was looking through internet archive and realized it's about 10 years to the day when I entered the beer industry professionally. Since then my writing has dropped off considerably, but I miss it. I miss posting musings and the conversations here, the short form tweets and faceposts carry too much arrogance, self rightousness, and seriousness. So let's see if this can bring backs some funny, so light hearted cheer, and a bit of optimism of what the beer industry could be. It's been a rough year plus and we could all use some fun.

Bear Droppings has long since been dead, but if you want to see what I am doing these days check out, Geistbear.com . It's not much at the moment, but I'll have a new look and content in the future, thanks for stopping by.

Thanks to the Accordion Guy I am playing with Blogware as the new host for Bear Droppings , or whatever the new name I decide. Frankly so far I like it, it has post titles, categories, RSS support, and a number of feautres I have been looking for so look over there for future posts. I'll keep this site up for a bit while I transfer and people move their blogrolls but that will be the new home. Or very soon www.geistbear.org will go there as well.

Very astute article by Mark Cuban on the state of modern media.

Did my civic duty and voted today, a big stir in Flagstaff. The city wants a bond for land that isn't for sale. The owner had tried to sell the land a while back twice to the city that he decided hell with it and decided to keep the land. As Renee would say "aren't local issues so cute."

Poetry Wednesday The Enkindled Spring This spring as it comes bursts up in bonfires green, Wild puffing of emerald trees, and flame-filled bushes, Thorn-blossom lifting in wreaths of smoke between Where the wood fumes up and the watery, flickering rushes. I am amazed at this spring, this conflagration Of green fires lit on the soil of the earth, this blaze Of growing, and sparks that puff in wild gyration, Faces of people streaming across my gaze. And I, what fountain of fire am I among This leaping combustion of spring? My spirit is tossed About like a shadow buffeted in the throng Of flames, a shadow that’s gone astray, and is lost. - D.H. Lawrence

I was one of the last of my friends to get a cell phone. In DC I was generally too connected at work and home. I didn't mind when people couldn't get a hold of me, I had voice mail at home and work and even a pager for a bit, govt funded, but a cell was just a bit too connected for me. One friend in particular made light of my lack of a cell phone in '98-99 when he introduced me to a friend " This is my friend Tom, he really doesn't have a cell phone ", not unlike you might say " This is BillyJoe he doesn't have indoor plumbing ." When I returned to Arizona last year I decided I needed one to have some form of phone at the cabin and in event of emergency on the trips between Phoenix and Northern AZ. A cell fit the bill because it was easy to carry and didn't lead to having multiple phone bills. A year later that phone is dying and I looking at getting a replacement phone. The old one worked well in Sedona, but mediocre everywhere else...

XM Radio My office has installed the XM Radio system, the satellite system radio you pay $10 a month. I was pretty skeptical of the companies' premise, but liked the idea I could get a chance to listen to what it was like without paying for it. Having listened for a month I am pretty impressed. They have a wide array of rock and other stations, including a series of decade stations that play every one from the 40s to the 90s. My favorite station is probably Lucy a sassy channel that has smartalec station announcements and plays a good mix of New Wave-Alternative music from 80s through today. I think what surprised me the most was the 70s and 90s channels. I listened to radio throughout the 90s and only know about 40% or less of what they play and enjoy about 10-15%. In contrast the 70s channel I have know about 90% of the songs they play and enjoyed about 40-50%. Hey it was the age of Disco Overall if you are living in an area with poor radio station variety. Than...

Weekend Wrapup Still working out the network card issue a neighbor has brought one over but someone needs to install it, I suppose that may be me. Worked overtime last week so I was a bit tired Friday, which staying up late playing a video game on roommate's computer and then getting up early Saturday for a golf tourney for work didn't help any I am sure. I should post details on that at suckatgolf.com . Otherwise the weekend was filled with resting, cleaning, and unpacking. Now for lunch and then off to the job. Fun no?

New internet cable so everything is good right? No. There was the network issue of getting two routers to work together, supposedly resolved but my desktop still ain't online. Neighbor thinks it may be hardware issue, considering it was working fine 30 miles down the road I am not convinced. I do remain open to the idea, because while there was no trama during the move and everything looked fine on visual inspection it's Windows so you never know. To a certain brother get the Mac desktop reloaded with OS 9 and up here ASAP, along with my Mac laptop and wifi card. I'll get it fixed locally I can't wait anymore.

Odd week, my room's hand wired net cable has sprung a leak and spilling packets all over the floor. Luckily it's not much of a mess, but the downside is I have no net access until the weekend when I can go and buy a 50-75ft Ethernet cable. We are still sorting out configuring the wifi router, but it works well enough on my roommate's laptop so I can type this post. Work goes well I had my three month review today. I admit considering I had another job review about this time last year and it resulted in unemployement I was a touch nervous for the meeting. But it went real well, everyone was pleased with my progress so no worries on that end. Otherwise all is well. The pup is adapting to the new home and enjoys the constant stream of play fights with the other dog. The unpacking continues on and will be completed by the first snowfall of Fall, which knowing Flagstaff could be next week. ;-)

Home for a quiet weekend, I wanted to go to San Francisco with friends but between finances, exhaustion from the move last weekend, and the dog I decided it would be best to stay here. Rest, relax, and get the house in order. I wish I could have gone, but there will be other trips.

The list of folks taking Iraq 'Food for Oil' bribes just keeps getting longer.

It's good to be home. I constantly hear trains passing through town, I don't know when I first loved to hear the sound. I suspect it was when I was as a child in Ohio, the Akron area had a fair share of trains, It may be associated with the time when my parents traveled West to check out Arizona to live. I stayed at my Grandparents' house while my parents were looking for our new home. The window was open in my bedroom and the vivd memories of the trains' sound is one of the long last things from that trip. Regardless I have always enjoyed the sound and now as I hear a train rumbing down the hill and into downtown Flagstaff, with the horns sounding all I can do is smile.

My supervisor had a great comment tonight... When you worked in politics, you had to wear a suit everyday. Now you wear a suit everday too, a bunnysuit .

With the dramatically shorter distance I am starting to ride my bike to commute, I can use the exercise and with gas prices it will save money. Yesterday's ride home went well great view of the stars and I had properly layered so I didn't much notice the cold. The ride to work was a bit of a struggle between the hills, 7000ft elevation, and me being out of shape it was a tough ride. It will get better I know in the next few weeks, but it was a rough start.

More on the UN bribery with oil scandal. A little more seriously if there is truth in these allegations, as a supporter of the ideal of the UN, the body must act quickly with reforms and better financial oversight. Without those reforms I suspect the UN could be looking for a new home and the US withdrawal in the next ten years. Members of Congress are often not fans of the UN to begin with and a story like this would only give them more ammunition. Further followup on the issue

Back online, my service provider a few days ago discountinued service, but considering I cancelled it at the end of March I can't complain. I am mostly moved up to Flagstaff, hurrah. A whole lot miles the last few days hauling my stuff up the mountain, many thanks to my brther, Michael, and Jeff on the help. Very tired, but back online tomorrow the unpacking begins.

Looks like the move will happen, finally. :-) Just have to have the dogs meet and assuming it goes well I move Saturday. I can't wait.