Adorable Marmot Picture of the Day

Wally's Belgian Trippel

Having made several batches of my signature beer -- Wally's Pale Ale -- it is now time to branch out to other styles of beer. Since many of the tastiest beers are of the Belgian ale varieties and Trippels being the apex of such expression, that's what I chose as my next batch.


For my first time, I'm cheating a little bit by using a kit from Williams Brewing. The contents can be seen above. A large bag of liquid malt extract, two medium sized bags of candy sugar, two small bags of hops (bittering and flavoring) and a bloated bag of yeast. Let's brew!


Hops, bittering on the left, flavoring on the right.


It's been cold at the Wallagio, so I soaked the bag of malt in some hot water to loosen it.


The malt is fully dissolved. Time to hop.


Just about done.


Strained hops -- which is also the name of my Slobberbone cover band.


Mission accomplished.

It should be drinkable in 6 weeks. But for the full effect, it might not be ready until late spring.

For the beer nerds out there, I would have noted the starting specific gravity, but I forgot to measure it. Shit, it's just beer. It'll be done when it's done and the fucker stops bubbling.

Adorable Marmot Picture of the Day

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Hulu Voodoo Review: Babylon 5 -- The Gathering (Pilot)

I was there at the dawn of the third age of mankind.

It began in the Earth year 2257 with the founding of the last of the Babylon stations, located deep in neutral space.

It was a port of call for refugees, smugglers, businessmen, diplomats and travelers from a hundred worlds.

It could be a dangerous place. But we accepted the risck because Babylon 5 was our last, best hope for peace.

Under the leadership of its final commander, Babylon 5 was a dream given form. A dream of a galaxy without war. Where species from different worlds could live side by side in mutual respect. A dream that was in danger as never before by the arrival of one man on a mission of destruction.

Babylon 5 was the last of the Babylon stations.

This is its story.

-- Ambasador Londo Mollari (Centauri Republic)

As much as I love this show, I have to admit, this pilot is a mess. The story made little sense at the time of my first viewing and makes even less sense after seeing how the entire story unfolded.

The main plot is essentially a detective story where the good guys try to figure out the who's and why's of a failed assassination attempt on the newly installed Vorlon ambassador. The pilot, as pilots do, is also supposed to introduce us to our characters and set up the series. Here it fails as well. All but two human characters (Commander Sinclair and Security Chief Garibaldi) fail to make the regular series. And the setup to the series at first seems like a slight character moment that slows down an already painfully slow pilot.

This pilot, as with the rest of the series, was painfully underfunded. The production values are woefully weak, although they do improve a bit by the second season. Fortunately, such silliness as muppet/puppet aliens were quickly abandoned for the series. And the wooden acting of the humans would continue to plague most of the first season. But, as I told my friends 15 years ago when the series first aired, if you can fight through abortion of the pilot and the rough edges of the first season, you will be in for a genuine TVLand (not the cable network) treat.

So, if you do chose to watch, feel free to get to know the aliens:

• Ambassador Delenn (Mira Furlan aka Danielle Russeau of Lost) of the spiritual Minbari race who 10 years earlier, while at war with Earth, surrendered just hours before reaching Earth.
• Ambassador Molari of the decadent Centauri Republic. Think Rome under Caligula for these guys.
  
• Ambassador G'Kar of the Narn Regime. Think Klingons without honor. Well, maybe more Cardassian than Klingon. Yes, I'm a nerd.
• Ambassador Kosh of the Vorlons. Hidden inside his protective (supposedly) encounter suit. Virtually nothing is known of him/her or the Vorlons.

It was hard to find a scene I liked, but for me this is the most interesting given what I know that is to come:

• 0 Breasts
• Countless Beasts
• Minbari-fu
• Shapeshifter-fu
• Academy award nomination for Jerry Doyle for his Bruce Willis impersonation back when Bruce Willis was semi-relevant.
  

C-

King Wally says check it out, only if you dare.


Watch the whole thing, if you dare, here:

2009: Week 0

2009 started off just about as poorly as a year can start off -- in bed, asleep with a cold. Although it was refreshing to wake up on Jan 1 a) not hungover and b) not with a wet pair of pants around my ankles. Ah sweet shot luge, you are a harsh mistress.

But as poorly as the week started, it ended on a considerable high of fine dining with visits to two of my all-time favorite restaurants Piranha (the new one in South Arlington to be properly reviewed soon) and Morton's (not to be reviewed soon, cause you don't need to review awesome).

Key Stats

• 2 - Garbage bags filled with old clothes to be taken to Goodwill
• 3 - Times I finished in the money in a single table Sit-And-Go poker tournament.
• 69 - Miles biked thanks to the unseasonably warm weather
• Dozens and Dozens - Times I wondered why the hell we didn't have any Winter League games scheduled this weekend especially since it was so unseasonably warm.
  

The New York Football Giants Secret Weapon for the Playoffs

Lazy Sunday

It appears Alex has a cold as well.

Click to enjoy the enlarged snotty goodness.

The Summer of Steve: 2009

The holidays have taken their toll on blogging.

Luckily, the new year is a time of reflection and resolution. So I have come up with a number of new features that will both add blog postings, but, more importantly, add to the blogger's betterment. After all, that's what this blog is really about -- forcing me to do quasi-interesting things and reporting on them.

These new features are:

1. Steve's Dusty Bookshelf -- anyone who has visited the Wallagio will have noticed the dusty bookshelf next to the Jumbotron. And while I have read most of the books on the shelf, there is a regrettably large number of books that have been housed on this shelf for far too long. So, I have selected 12 books that have been the bane of my literary existence for some time. First up will be will be 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl by Daniel Pinchbeck. Since it's about the coming end days, I need to read it sooner rather than later.
2. Eating Lower Greenville -- there are still a lot of places down there (La Casita, Daddy Jack's Chowder House) that I've yet to step into. So, I will be starting at the lowest of lowest Greenville and work my way up. First up is Dallas Tortilla and Tamale Company. Yes, Trent, that is Greenville and not Munger.
3. Wally's Week in Review -- Regrettably, there are things that are not completely blogwworth, but contain blogworthy items. This weekly feature appearing each Sunday should remedy some of my life events that don't make the blog.
4. Hulu Voodoo Review -- There's a lot of great stuff on Hulu. One item in particular is Babylon 5. Since many of you gentle readers enjoy Lost and/or Battlestar Galactica, well this is the show that started the concept of serialized SciFi. Hey, when Hulu gets The Wire, I'll go over each episode. But until that happens you're stuck with Babylon 5.
5. More of the Same -- I pledge to increase the number of movie, DVD, restaurant, book and recipe reviews beyond the above items. My goal is to have at least one of each each month. I'm also planning more day-trips and other events that force me to use my new camera. Hopefully work will send me to more exotic places as well.
   

So there you have it, good clean reader. My Five Step Plan to make 2009 the best year yet for the Summer of Steve.

YIKES!

clipped from www.9news.com Texas pilot uses county road for emergency landing VIEW SLIDESHOW LOVELAND - John Stewart was nearing the end of his flight from Dallas to Loveland when his engine idled. "Coming probably about five to eight miles south of the airport and all of the sudden the engine, my T210, just went to idle," Stewart said. Stewart, who's been flying for 13 years, immediately went into emergency mode after getting no response from his second tank.

What?!?! No Bumble Bee Man???

The Onion Says What We All Think

clipped from www.theonion.com Even CEO Can't Figure Out How RadioShack Still In Business FORT WORTH, TX—Despite having been on the job for nine months, RadioShack CEO Julian Day said Monday that he still has "no idea" how the home electronics store manages to stay open. "There must be some sort of business model that enables this company to make money, but I'll be damned if I know what it is," Day said. "You wouldn't think that people still buy enough strobe lights and extension cords to support an entire nationwide chain, but I guess they must, or I wouldn't have this desk to sit behind all day."