I have been lucky enough to not be affected by the economic downturn. The company I work for has kept me busy for almost 5 years. That said, I got laid off on Friday. It's a temporary thing, should only last for three weeks. I was worried at first because we have gotten used to having two incomes and with me out of work, our lifestyle would have to change. But the more I thought about it, what with side jobs and EDD to help, money would probably not be much of an issue. And the best part is that I get three weeks with my little native.

Veronica is growing up so fast, talking up a storm and getting so tall. Her schedule won't change much but on days when, say, her grandparents take her to Kindergym, I will now. That means I will get to see her live and in person in situations that I have only seen in videos up until now.

She is also becoming more and more independent. She knows she can do it by herself and she lets us know. These next three weeks will be great and I cannot wait for the adventures we will have

V is for vegetabe

We had our 18 month appointment (I know, she's 19 months old) and the stats suggest my daughter is turning into a string bean (save her noggin). Doctor G wasn't really concerned that V bug isn't talking all that much, she certainly heard the word no enough at the appointment. But she says if words don't start exploding out of her by two years that we should be concerned and might need to do speech therapy. Well it's as if V didn't want any of that, it seems like an explosion has started. She most certainly says no and dada and mama. But now she also says more, duck, up, down, water, and phone. The words are coming, she's just choosing her own pace to let them out.

It's amazing to me what kids will do when left to their own devices. We hung out with our friends last Saturday. Their were three kids running wild in the house doing what they do while the adults got to hang and party and play Rockband. There was sharing, and not sharing. There was laughing, and crying. All in all a good time was had. Cannot wait to get them together again.

What does February sun bring?

I love that in February after some serious rain days and stormy crazy weather, we have a sunny almost 70˚ day. The fog is rolling in but we got our sun.

Wow, it's been a while since I've checked in with everyone. Hopefully you didn't miss me too much ;->. I wanted to start a topic on here about brewing. I've been really lucky to have some time to brew a few batches of beer at home. I'm also really lucky to have a wife that is cool with the process. I have some new equipment that I am going to put to the test tomorrow with a batch of pilsner. Right after that I am going to do a redux on the British pub ale that was my second beer and so far my favorite.

It started three years ago when I got a Mr. Beer homebrew kit for Christmas. It was an awesome intro into what has become a labor of love. My pale ale from that kit turned out to be kind of cidery at first but then actually matured into something quite drinkable. I put the kit on the shelf for some reason and have never touched it since. A couple friends of mine started brewing beer with a real homebrew kit and that got me interested in trying it for myself. I tried Tom's stout and was instantly hooked. What a beer, complex flavors and aromas, and it was made at home. Then I tried Ben's IPA (possibly my favorite style) and I had to get my own.

So I bought the kit from my local shop. Always support local business but especially when it comes to brewing supplies. You are 99% of the time getting much fresher ingredients than you would online. My first recipe was an IPA and it turned out really well. As a young beer it was really mellow but at the same time full of flavor and utterly drinkable. As it got older (3+ weeks in the bottle) it got more hoppy and bitter. Exactly how I like my women... I mean...

Now I'm really hooked. I can make beer that tastes like a good micro brewery produced it at a fraction of the cost. Granted, the wait is sometimes really hard, but my goal is to just have a constant stream of it, like right now I've got a case of California Common (Anchor Steam clone) aging in the closet and with a Pilsner tomorrow and hopefully my English pub ale right after the new year, we should be good to go and have a variety to choose from.

Of the five batches I have brewed, only one has turned out bad. It was an oversight on my part, I didn't sanitize the bottles well enough, and therefore the batch was just dirty. Ironically it's the only recipe I didn't get from my local shop. I think the best thing to do with recipes is tweak and play with ones from the shop. I hope to have notes on all these brews soon

I'd like an order of State...with some Church on the side please

I really don't like to get into political conversations. I have my beliefs I stick to them. I don't need to have a deep conversation with someone about them, especially with someone who feels the same way. So this blog is dedicated to you conservative Christians who are trying to amend our fine state's constitution with a doctrine of hate and discrimination. 

What I remember about history class is that our founding fathers fled King George's England because of religious persecution. They came here with the notion of religious freedom and this became a central value in the shaping of our great country... separation of church and state. So if church and state are supposed to stay separate, why would we want to pass Prop 8. All this would do was make our Constitution read more like Commandments (even though I can't find in the bible where it says gay people should be discriminated against).

So to all you right wing zealots who claim, only after 9/11 mind you, that not flying an American flag is un-American (how many of you were flying a flag before), this is why I avoid political shit, it gets me all riled up and breaking off on tangents. My final point is, a Yes on 8 vote is un-American and hate is just wrong. Vote No on 8.

Radio Show blues

So the morning show on Live 105 AH (after Howard) was actually pretty good. I liked the chemistry they had and the non topic topics they would talk about. They started out as the morning music co-op, which didn't work at all. They tried that for less than a year I think. They then moved on to just a standard run of the mill morning show. Three hosts and two hang arounds. But then something curious happened, they changed the name to the Woody Show basically saying that the other four are now hang arounds. Woody started out fresh, it was good to hear someone new. As soon as it became "his" show the hate started. I know, this is kind of a "wah" blog, but this guy gets paid to put on a show in the city he so loathes and doesn't hide that fact on air. The last straw was when he became Bill O'Reilly Jr. and said he would love to see SF bombed...on air he said this shit. His mantra is "Turn us off if you don't like us". It seems as though he doesn't practice what he preaches. You don't like this city? Then leave.

Isn't it a buyers market?

Not in San Francisco it isn't. 

So I got a text message from Katie while I was at work the other day. It said, "There's a house for sale down the street". I replied "Wanna buy it?". She replied "I don't know but we should definitely call". I was joking around and thought she was too. I was wrong. So I called Katie on my lunch and she told me it was a "For Sale by Owner" property that was being offered as a Lease to Own. Sounded interesting enough, like having an open end lease on a car. So I was now on the proverbial hook.

I drove by the house on my way home, it is 6 doors from ours, to take a look at what our new house would look like. It was cute, had a garage, and no gate on the front door. I was assuming it was 3/2 which would be an upgrade from our 2/1. So I called the next day and talked to one of the owners to set up a time to come and see the place and ask about it. When he told me the price I nearly laughed. I thought this was a buyers market, but $810,000 in San Fran is considered a deal to some. Not to us. We have it pretty good where we are at. We got in before the sub prime crash so our rent is reasonable for the space we have, which includes our own laundry, a backyard, storage. And moving, even 6 doors down, with a two month old would be a chore and a half