Beer Dorkery

First things first: the Belmost Stakes was a disappointing race. We had South Bend friends over and we were eating Chinese at the time and I think they were confused when I forgot what time is was and bolted for the TV, afraid that I missed it. Actually, the most exciting thing that I've seen come out of the race was the recently released zoomed in photo of one of Big Brown's shoes dangling off his hoof near the beginning of the race. Anyway...

While childcaring to my wit's end, I've managed to do some enjoyable things. Recently I finished updating my list of all the beer bottles I own, handily done on the pool table in the basement with my laptop. The official count is now 237 bottles, which comes after some paring down that was done before and after we moved. That number only includes empty bottles, and there are some full ones waiting to join the collection after their liquid has been enjoyed. Also, that doesn't count all the Kentucky Breakfast Stout bottles, as I've kept all of those - I have 5 empty and 7 full KBSers. Topping the list, I have 28 bottles from Bell's, 23 from Sam Adams, 17 from Founders, and 13 each from Leinenkugel and New Holland. I especially enjoy collecting seasonal bottles - I have lots of Octoberfest beers, for example - and I put those out on the ledge above the basement stairs at appropriate times (dork city, yes, I know). Currently I have my summer beers out, along with 9 from Victory. The Founders bottles and most of my bombers (big 22oz bottles) are on permanent display. In that vein, if you drink any summer, winter, pumpkin, Christmas, or Octoberfest beers, I'll happily take the empty bottle off your hands. Back to childcaring...

Yay for the Red Wings

Once the Red Wings made the Stanley Cup Finals, I decided to watch all the games. I had to go to Mom & Dad's for the first two, since they were on the goofy cable channel Versus. The first two games were blowouts by the Wings, Pittsburgh took the third game, and Detroit won the fourth (barely), so the Stanley Cup (the coolest trophy in all of sports) was on hand for game 5 in Detroit. Jake, who refused to go to sleep, watched some of it with me, pleasantly cuddled in my lap, and was clearly the inspiration for the beginning of the Wings' comeback from down 2-0. After Jake was asleep they took a 3-2 lead, and the excitement was building as they held Pittsburgh off. Eventually the Penguins pulled their goalie, and a couple nice bounces could have given Detroit an easier empty-net goal, but instead the Penguins scored with 34 seconds left to tie it. It was incredibly frustrating to watch. The game finally ended in TRIPLE overtime, after they had played almost 50 extra minutes (a non-overtime game is 60), with the Penguins winning, despite many near-goals by Detroit. Overtime hockey is very tense, because the first team to score wins, and if Detroit had scored it would have been a Stanley-Cup-winning-goal. I was drained, and instead of going to bed at 11, it was nearly 1am, so I was whipped the next day. At least they start the games reasonably on time, just after 8pm, unlike the NBA - they aren't starting their finals games for another hour. Fortunately, the Wings won game 6, but in Pittsburgh, so they did get to skate around with the 35-pound trophy. It would have been more fun to watch if they had won in Detroit, but a game 7 would have been even more nerve-wracking.

And I'm sort of excited for the Belmont Stakes this Saturday - thanks, Kentucky relatives!

Coolest Field Trip Ever

This morning Abby's preschool went on a field trip, as they frequently do. It was also the official celebration of Abby's birthday, since school won't be in session during her birthday in July. Anyway, I joined them and drove a few kids to the airport to visit the hangar where the Alticor (formerly Amway) Corporation keeps their planes. The kids might enjoy the pumpkin patch or the Critter Barn more, but for me it was the greatest ever. We got to see the gigantic hangar complex, which can hold around 10 jets (and a helicopter) and then toured the interior of some super-fancy jets, a gazillion times nicer than anything I've ever flown in. The kids got to sit in the pilot's seat and test out the leather seats in back. These are the jets that the Alticor bigwigs and their families (Devos's and Van Andel's, I presume) use to fly all over the world. Very, very, very cool.

Schooooooools...OUT...FOR...SUMMER!

Ack! A month went by. Well, another year ended at Ferris, and I was too far down on the rotation list to get any summer teaching assignments. That's a good chunk of change that we won't get, but with the depressing gas prices I don't really mind NOT driving up to Big Rapids. So, I'll just be in GR for the most part, trying not to spend too much money, mowing the lawn, teaching Annika to ride a bike, and doing a few mathematical things that I've been hoping to do.

At the end of April I attended the math meeting that the Michigan section of the Mathematical Association of America holds each year. This year I contributed a 20-minute talk on dividing squares and rectangles with into smaller squares, and the highlight was showing off the quilt Mom made using one particular pattern that divides a square into 21 smaller squares, no two of which are the same size. The quilt was a big hit. We had talked about showing it at the Tulip Time quilt show in Holland, but I needed it for my talk during the show. Maybe next year. Amazingly, I don't have a picture of the quilt.

Until next month...(hopefully not)...

A Roaring Start

The official prediction by Sports Illustrated is that the Tigers will beat the Cubs in the World Series next fall. The Tigers have indeed put together an incredible lineup, something I never could have imagined a few years ago, and they have some pretty decent pitching. ESPN amassed separate predictions from around 20 of its writers, and nearly all of them have the Tigers in the playoffs, and either the Yankees or the Red Sox out (that hasn't happened in awhile). So, the season started Monday, and the Tigers went and got swept by the Royals this week in a three-game series in Detroit. The Kansas City Royals! Yuck.

Adventures in Minor Car Repair

I am not gifted at car repair. I mostly prefer cars to do their job and then sit in the garage (and only speak when spoken to). As a result, Lisa's dad is usually involved when things go wrong with our car. On Friday my car started to make a loud rattle underneath, and this weekend we stopped by Lisa's folks to take a peek at it. I actually found the rattling part after a quick inspection, and after Lisa's dad found a hose clamp in the basement, we managed to tighten up a loose piece of the exhaust and essentially fix the problem. In between those steps is where I "helped."

To get under the car Lisa's dad got out his ramps and we went to drive the front wheels up them. In the past Lisa's dad has usually done this, but I decided to just do it, since I was at the wheel already. So, as I've tried in the past, I used both the brakes and the engine simultaneously, crept up the ramp, reached the top, and then proceeded to shoot completely over the ramps. When you do this, the car drops over the far edge of the ramps, lands loudly upon them, and with the wheels still spinning some, keeps going. For a moment I had visions of plowing into all sorts of things at the back of the garage. During this time, the ramps, which are being crushed by the car into the cement of the garage floor, were dragged along with a deafening grating sound.

Fortunately, the car stopped relatively quickly, we easily jacked it up to release the ramps, and I successfully made it up on a second try. The ramps do have some dents on top where the frame of my car landed on them, but they appear to still be entirely functional (phew!). So, anyway, yay for incompetency in car repair.

KBS Day

Of course, KBS stands for Kentucky Breakfast Stout. Friday night, as planned, Nick, Dad, Kevin and I went to Founders, but only after we fed ourselves at Yesterdog (Kevin's first time). It was busy, but we got a table, each had a couple delicious beers, and munched on some peanuts. Later that night, after rejoining the ladies, some of us watched Indiana Jones & the Temple of Doom (on VHS!) to get ready for the fourth Indy movie in May.

On Saturday, Nick and I headed back, after the 11am start time for the sale of this year's batch of KBS, the beer currently rated as the 6th best beer in the world by BeerAdvocate.com (Nick and I are both members). It wasn't very busy and we both ordered some KBS and sat down to enjoy it. We each got the official KBS goblet to take home, too. In the end, we bought a case (24 bottles) of it to split:



I have yet to try one of my bottles, but the sampling we had at Founders was as glorious as ever. At $4.75 a bottle, it's expensive (I'll let you do the math for a case of it), but that's equivalent to a $20 bottle of wine, which some people don't blink an eye at. Either way, it'll be a while before I spend big money on beer again.