What did you do today? 2016 version

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Just finished first day (of three) judging beers at the Great American Beer Festival in Denver. There are 264 of us judges here this year, and we'll judge over 7,300 beers by Friday afternoon. The festival opens to the public Thursday evening, and the awards will be announced Saturday.

It's an amazing logistical challenge, and I'm always impressed at the folks who run it. I've been doing this for 15 years now and the explosive growth in entries (as well as the number of breweries that enter) has been jaw dropping.
 
braumeister said:
Just finished first day (of three) judging beers at the Great American Beer Festival in Denver. There are 264 of us judges here this year, and we'll judge over 7,300 beers by Friday afternoon.
Click to expand...

Have plenty of aspirin on hand. That's gonna be one heck of a hangover....:LOL:
 
Walt34 said:
Have plenty of aspirin on hand. That's gonna be one heck of a hangover....:LOL:
Click to expand...

You'd be surprised. I judged 56 beers today and consumed less than 20 ounces total. With enough experience you only need a tiny taste to tell you all about the beer.
 
braumeister said:
You'd be surprised. I judged 56 beers today and consumed less than 20 ounces total. With enough experience you only need a tiny taste to tell you all about the beer.
Click to expand...

I figured it was more akin to a wine tasting than a beer fest but I couldn't resist the post.
 
Got up on the roof and blew out the rain gutters. Then I removed one rotor and 6 antennas, 2 directv, 1 FM, 1 scanner and 2 communications. Adding a couple of omni directional FM antennas on short masts.

Didn't want the winter storms blowing a big antenna into 16 grand worth of solar panels - :)
 
braumeister said:
You'd be surprised. I judged 56 beers today and consumed less than 20 ounces total. With enough experience you only need a tiny taste to tell you all about the beer.
Click to expand...

56 in one day is a lot of judging! How many flights? But sounds like you (out of necessity!) keep things moving. I've been a steward at some comps where the judges can take forever to decide on their top three in a flight - like everyone else has taken their lunch break, and they are still debating, or still sitting there with 5 unopened bottles. Get on with it!

Less than 1/2 oz each sample, yes that must take some practice, I always feel like I need a good mouthful to get the full experience. Can feel it if you get the strong ales or barley wines...

-ERD50
 
All the judges here are seasoned professionals, so we can get the job done quickly. Since there are so many entries, and some categories are enormous (think IPAs), there are multiple rounds for all categories. This morning I did all three rounds for one category (multiple tables all feeding into the later rounds), so I actually tasted some of those entries more than once. This afternoon I did the first round for two other categories. It's complicated but it works well.
 
Pilots & Paws

We flew a P & P mission today for 3 dogs. A Dachshund and Jack Russel Terrier from a local shelter and a Chihuahua from Long Beach. We flew them to Paso Robles to meet another pilot who took them up to the Bay Area.
 
After a week of itching and scratching, realized that when I launched my new inflatable kayak at the lake shoreline, I was bitten not only by fire ants (immediate pain) but by chiggers (no immediate pain, but increasing itching for days or weeks). :facepalm: Hydrocortisone cream helps a bit but still very annoying.

Worse, I'm going to a wedding Saturday afternoon and realized that my ankles are not presentable in this condition, so I'll have to wear (perish the thought) pantyhose! :mad: I've managed to avoid wearing them except in the dead of winter for several years. One of the many benefits of ER. :D
 
Man, I get unhappy when I have to wear shoes. I've got significant flip-flop tan lines on my feet.
 
MBAustin said:
After a week of itching and scratching, realized that when I launched my new inflatable kayak at the lake shoreline, I was bitten not only by fire ants (immediate pain) but by chiggers (no immediate pain, but increasing itching for days or weeks). :facepalm: Hydrocortisone cream helps a bit but still very annoying.



Worse, I'm going to a wedding Saturday afternoon and realized that my ankles are not presentable in this condition, so I'll have to wear (perish the thought) pantyhose! :mad: I've managed to avoid wearing them except in the dead of winter for several years. One of the many benefits of ER. :D
Click to expand...


Pants suit. Works for Hillary and Kristen Stewart!


Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum
 
We had our first real snow for the season this morning. No wind and big flakes made a very pretty snow. Probably about 1.5 inches. Its all gone now. Supposed to warm up for the rest of the week. Back to shoveling dirt, etc.
 
Did some regularly scheduled maintenance on my Civic (oil change, transmission fluid, air filters, rotate tires, etc.). 232k miles and still going strong. I'm hoping to hit 300k about 2-1/2 years from now.
 
Sanding and staining and painting.
 
We watched the Blue Angels perform over the SF Bay from the top of a hill in the U.C. Berkeley Gardens. It is not the closest viewing spot but we've watched them before so didn't want to battle the traffic in the city today for a closer view. It was a bit hot for October but otherwise a nice, sunny day. We took a tour around the gardens afterward and then in the evening we went to see a community theater play.
 
Got my "Dear John" letter from Humana, breaking up with me. They're still very anxious to offer Medicare coverage to DW, so it's not like they're leaving or anything. Just choosing DW over me. I feel like I came in second in a two-person popularity contest. :LOL:

The mail yesterday also brought a Christmas flyer ad. It's mid-October and the leaves are still green and on the trees. Is Columbus day the new start of the holiday season? I sure hope not.
 
Mixed up a new batch of Castile soap and put it in molds (old cigar boxes lined with plastic wrap). I'll un-mold and cut it on Tuesday. Then it will dry in the garage for about the next six months until our current batch gets used up.
 
Got up on the roof again and wired the 2 new (small) FM antennas.
 
Ran my first (and likely last) full marathon today. just under 4 hours.
Half marathons from now on, mainly because the training is easier.


Its been an interesting journey, from losing 40 lbs a couple years ago, and having such bad knees that a long walk hurt. Thanks to this forum for the concept 2 rowing reviews. Put on about 500,000 meters to get in shape, and my legs strengthened enough to be able to run.
 
Hearty congratulations, naggz!
Running a marathon, including "one and done" is a major life achievement and you can take great pride in it.

I did my first one at the age of 58, and was enough of a glutton for punishment that I did two more. The next two were at progressively slower paces, and I finally gave up after my third. Half marathons are more fun anyway!
 
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