Blogging about the other stuff

It's been a while since I've blogged about my life outside TV and video games, so it's time for some updates on other topics. For your reading pleasure, this post starts with the light stuff and slowly builds to the not-so-light stuff.

Brewing

Other than this introductory post, I rarely talk about brewing on this blog, instead posting Facebook statuses every Saturday about what was brewed on that day. At one point, I was thinking about using this blog to keep a journal of homebrewing activities, but instead I've been relying entirely on BeerSmith Brewing Software for that purpose. And that works quite well.

It's been nearly one year since the first all-grain batch, Centennial Blonde Ale on April 4, so I figured that this was a good time to note some of our more interesting brewing achievements and factoids from the past year of all-grain brewing.

Number of all-grain beers brewed: 32
Approximate total volume: 575 L
Mass of grain used: 156.2 kg
Most popular base malt: 2-Row Pale Malt (89.6 kg)
Most popular adjunct: Crystal Malt 40L (6.3 kg)
Mass of hops used: 2.3 kg
Most popular hops: Cascade (444 g)

Average competition result: 29 / 50
Best competition result: 37.5 / 50 for Scott's Stout 2
Worst competition result: 24.5 / 50 for a supposedly infected Biere de Garde

Personal picks for best beers so far:
1. Scott's Stout 2, brewed 2009/12/05
2. 122 American Pale Ale, brewed 2009/12/30
3. BrewDog Punk IPA Clone, brewed 2009/01/23
4. Scottish Ale, brewed 2010/01/16
5. Matrimonial Ale 2, brewed 2009/11/14

I have very high hopes for a few of our more recent brews, including the Vanilla Porter, Scott's Stout 3, Matrimonial Ale 4, and last week's awesome Imperial Stout.

Shaping Up?

No, not yet.

Pets

There has been a change to the population of my animal playhouse. New tally: 1 human, 1 dog, 3 cats.

Squeak has moved to Calgary to live under the capable care of my ex-wife, a former unofficial veterinary assistant. Basically, Squeak has now been put in a nursing home.

I have done test runs with letting Furlicity roam upstairs in Squeak's old domain, but I can't commit to letting that demon cat roam unsupervised just yet.

Monies

With a full six months of post-separation data compiled in my budget spreadsheet, I can now assess the financial benefits of living alone. The only benefit I can see to living alone is financial, so how much of a benefit is it really?

The first area where I expected to see significant cost savings was my utilities. My ex-wife worked out of the home, and often at night, which had obvious implications on power and gas usage. Comparing the last six months to the same six months of the previous year, my utility savings (usage, not dollars) were as follows: power, 30%; gas, 20%; water, 34%. So, in summary, there were utility savings, but certainly not enough to be considered much of a benefit.

It is worth noting that the water savings would have been in the 50% range easily, if not for homebrewing. In the month of September, prior to the start of brewing at my house, my water usage was 55% lower than the previous year. I have only that one data point, but I strongly suspect that pattern would have continued. Water usage being half with half as many people in the house makes perfect sense.

The gas data is the most surprising to me. I have kept my house significantly cooler (a couple degrees) on average this entire winter, including dropping the temperature threshold while I was out of the house, something I was unable to do last year, but the savings were still rather minimal. I haven't adjusted for weather differences between this winter and the last, so maybe that would help account for the disappointing results.

The area that should see the biggest financial benefit is the following of a budget and the paying down of debt. With only myself to worry about and blame, I am definitely better able to control overall household spending. I had to deal with numerous separation expenses in September and October of 2009, plus I definitely (justifiably) indulged myself with some major purchases for myself in those months, so I didn't see any benefits in this area until November. I have monthly financial obligations to my ex-wife that take a large chunk out of the household spending, but even including that chunk, my overall household spending is down 23% on average so far. I fully expect that percentage to increase as this year continues. Even with a newly revised, much more forgivable, easy to follow budget, I am solidly on pace to be debt free (you may recall from an earlier post that I do not consider my mortgage to be debt) in the first quarter of 2012.

Dating

In response to some recent self-discovery (an epiphany of sorts), I have pulled all of my online dating profiles and am in the process of reassessing what I am looking for in a relationship. "Physically fit, atheist geek girl without kids" (to paraphrase my profile) doesn't quite cover it anymore.

An idea was implanted in my brain a few months back as a result of some innocuous reading, but the gears only really started spinning a few weeks ago. I can't remember if there was a specific event that got those gears spinning, but it definitely involved more reading, and I quickly realized that there was a lot of truth in this idea. It explained a lot of things that had for a long while defied/demanded explanation. I have discussed this idea with the only person I can have this type of discussion with (my ex-wife) and have been convinced to let the gears keep spinning a while longer before writing something I might regret on this blog.

No, I'm not gay. Not that there would be anything wrong with that.

No, I don't have some weird fetish. Not that there would be anything wrong with that, either, although I certainly wouldn't talk about that on this blog.

For me, this was a profound realization that caused me to reevaluate my entire adult life. For you, you would probably just not understand nor care.

Summer

My summer staycation is scheduled for June 11th through 27th. This will be a time of great joy (two weeks away from work!) and... uh... awkwardness? Not only do I have a fucking 15-year high school reunion six fucking days before what would have been a fucking 5-year wedding anniversary, but my ex-brother-in-law is getting married the week before that, and I am quite possibly attending both events, apparently because I am a fucking idiot.

This is the worst possible year for a high school reunion--goddamn! I never thought I'd say these words: I wish we would have had a 10-year high school reunion. 2005 would have been the perfect year for a high school reunion. I was as happy as I will ever be, everything was going well, and I could have walked into that reunion with my head held high. 2010? Gah. The obvious question of why attend is tough to answer. Because I'm curious about my fellow grads? Because it might be interesting to see some of my old friends again? Because I can't come up with a good excuse not to?

Compared to the high school reunion, the wedding of my ex-brother-in-law might actually be fun. At least the drinks will be cheap at that party. It will certainly be awkward at first to see and talk to my ex-family-in-law for the first time since the separation (other than my ex-mother-in-law, whom I've seen and talked to a few times), but since my ex and I are still friendly, that awkwardness might fade. Seeing as there was always awkwardness between her family and I, as there is typically awkwardness with me and any group of new people, it actually might not be too much different from every other family gathering. It's mostly different because instead of being part of the family, I am now just one of the friends.