…But their hardware makes it so difficult. After one day in the office, our Rock Band guitar strummer stopped strumming, which is a fairly significant failure. We immediately ordered the express replacement. 8 days later, our replacement guitar arrived. I still don’t really like the strummer, but at least this one works.

And today:

Now we’ve got a broken drum pedal. I wouldn’t characterize our usage as anything out of the ordinary. Honestly, we haven’t even invested very many hours at all into the drums, and I’d say that the time we’ve put in has been pretty low-key on the ‘enthusiasm’ scale.

All in all – it’s pretty disappointing. Considering how frequently the exact hardware probelms we’ve seen have reported, it’s clear that this stuff was rushed out the door without sufficient testing. I’m personally looking forward to the aftermarket Rock Band peripherals that I’m sure are just around the corner. Once there’s a kick-drum pad for Rock Band that I can just mount in front of a standard bass drum pedal, I’m so there.

From the looks of things, my first batch of Joe’s Ancient Orange Mead (as well as my first batch of Brock’s Ancient Orange Cyser) is ready! It’s nice and clear and even the oranges have sunk to the bottom. I’m letting them settle for a day before I siphon them out and bottle them up.

Behold!

The mead is on the left and the cyser (effectively identical, but made with slightly less honey and apple cider instead of water) is on the right.

I currently have five batches of fermenting beverages happily bubbling away in various dark corners of my house. Currently fermenting:

• Overhead Pale Ale (5 gallons)
• Oak Porter (5 gallons)
• Holiday Spiced Hard Cider (5 gallons)
• Ancient Orange Mead (1 gallon)
• Ancient Orange Cyser (1 gallon)

In addition to all that, there is also a 5 gallon batch of Belgian spiced Wit on tap in the kegerator. 22 gallons of alcohol (or potential alcohol) is a new high-water mark for me, but I don’t really have any concerns about being able to go through it all. The beers are largely earmarked for some CrossFit festivities to take place at the end of the month, the spiced hard cider will likely find its way into various gift-baskets come Christmas, and the 2 gallons of mead are reserved for some future D&D adventure night (I know it reeks of desperate, oily, neck-bearded, mouth-breathing, ren-faire nerdliness… Sue me.) Lucky for me, I have friends that care about me so deeply that they’re willing to help me drink my homebrew.

Last night, Denise and I had dinner at The Herbfarm with our friends Rob and Joanna, who had been married for all of 6 or 7 hours at the time. Dinners at The Herbfarm are themed, and the night’s theme was ‘A Mycologist’s Dream.’ As such, each course over the 5 hour experience prominently featured at least one of the many local mushrooms currently in season.

As expected, the dinner was delicious and the experience was enjoyed immensely by all of us. The service is truly exceptional and I would definitely recommend The Herbfarm.

One thing I didn’t expect from the evening was the level of representation from the local game-making community. Chris Taylor from Gas Powered Games was there, as were a cadre of folks from Valve. Both companies have recent releases to celebrate, and they apparently wanted to celebrate in style.

I’ve dedicated the last two weekends to brewing up a few new batches of beer. The first batch I brewed up was a special request (my first!) I created the recipe from scratch, but it’s a pseudo-traditional German Pale Ale with a hopping schedule requested by Mark Rippetoe. Mark is the author of the books Starting Strength and Practical Programming; he’s a highly regarded strength coach and a nearly constant reference in the CrossFit community. He also harbors a well-known passion for good beer, famously having stated that he “regards American Corporate Beer and the people who prefer it as a serious cultural problem, much worse than homelessness and poverty.”

I’ve not yet met the man face-to-face, but it would be hard to imagine what could make me not like the guy. In any event, I’ll get the chance to find out soon enough, as he’s going to be visiting CrossFit Eastside at the end of October to head up a barbell certification class. When Michael and Carrie from the gym asked whether or not he’d be interested in a ’special brew’ for the cert, he replied “A pale ale. Hallertau hops to finish. Saaz to bitter.”

That level of specificity is beyond run-of-the-mill beer snobs. It would take quite a bit of Saaz to bitter a batch of beer (being a relatively low Alpha-Acid hops variety, Saaz is more generally used to finish), but it was definitely something worth doing! After developing a recipe that I thought would work, my next goal was to come up with a fitting label:

I think it works… One of the core lifts that Mark coaches is the Overhead Press. It’s a lift that seems to have fallen out of favor in many communities since the advent of the Bench Press (which allows moving considerably more weight. ) CrossFit folks can’t get enough of the Overhead Press because, despite the fact that the weight is lighter, it is more technically demanding and helps build truly functional strength.

The metaphor I’m working with is this: MillBudCoors drinkers are the Bench Pressers of the beer world. They’ve lost sight of the subtlety that beer is capable of and have opted to drink a brew that does little for them besides allow them to drink a lot of it. Those that choose to go Overhead choose a beer that, while similar upon first glance to MillBudCoors, gives them a much fuller experience – a beer that challenges them.

Maybe I’ve oversold it a bit, but there you go. In any event, here’s a look at the brew just before it went into the fermenter.

I also brewed up a mildly hoppy (Perle bittering and Tettnang finishing) Porter that I think will turn out nicely. Both batches are happily bubbling away in my bathtub at home!

Next weekend I hope to find time to start a batch or two of hard cider. I found an excellent local resource for fresh cider. Lee Minea of Minea Farms in Woodinville is going to press some fresh Washington Apples directly into my carboy! You can’t get any fresher than that!

I just got back from a trip to Cannon Beach, Oregon. Denise and I found a dog-friendly place that let us bring Indy along and headed out for a few days of R&R. Normally, I’m not the type to fuss too much about where I vactation. As long as I can just lay back and relax, it’s all pretty much the same to me. That being said, it’s hard to deny the appeal of having this view from your room:

click to enlarge

There’s just something about listening to the ocean at night that cuts through the world. It’s something primal and instinctive. You can’t help but submit to its soothing power. I’m sure this won’t be our last vacation to Cannon Beach.

CrossFit has kicked my ass on more than a few occasions, but last night was definitely a new experience for me. We definitely run from time to time there, but running in CrossFit is typically a high speed and low/medium distance affair. Every now and again, they’ll throw a 5K run at us, but that’s generally where it tops out. Last night when Michael said “Do you guys want to try something we’ve never done before,” I don’t think many people expected to be running 10K.

Fast forward one hour and five seconds later to find me crossing the finish line, covered in sweat and suffering from an irritating, if not bloody bout of runner’s nipple (CrossFitters don’t jog – they run). As I walked around trying to shake off my post-run jelly-leg syndrome, I was surprised at how fatigued and tight my calves felt. Let’s just say that the drive home was one of the few times where I really wished that my vehicle had an automatic transmission. But I made it home and I figured that after a little massage, a nice hot soak, and some sleep I’d be right as rain.

Now fast forward to the next morning as I turn off my alarm and begin my AM pilgrimage to the bathroom. This journey is pure muscle-memory at this point and is generally executed without any assistance from the conscious mind, which is a good thing since my conscious mind isn’t usually around to help out anyhow. But this morning was different. My legs swung out, my feet hit the ground, I stood up. It was at this point that things diverged from the plan. Instead of taking my first step, there was this ugly, stumbling, foot-dragging lurch that nearly ended in a faceplant into my dog’s dog bed. Apparently, my calves had decided to take the morning off, because they were stubbornly refusing to move, and when they did move they unleashed a wave of discomfort that made me briefly consider how the day would go if I just walked on my hands everywhere (If only I had the ability).

With a little willpower, I can approximate a human gait now, but if I don’t focus I slip into a ridiculous stiff-legged simian strut that I’m sure will be oh-so-humorous when I head back to the gym tonight. I’m really looking forward to it. No… really.