Way back in January I wrote about getting my road bike tuned up for the season. Shortly after that we got a huge snowstorm that delayed my plans, and then I started riding my fixed gear bike instead.
As a result my good geared road bike sat about halfway put together for almost 2 months. At the end of March though I finished my mash tun project and while I was in a project mood tackled the road bike too.
I set up my work stand at the top of the driveway and cleaned and greased everything that still needed it. I reinstalled the cranks and put the new chain on. I finished adjusting the brakes, adjusted the derailers, and bent the front derailer cage slightly to accommodate the slightly shorter spindle in the new bottom bracket. That bend probably only put it back where it should have been in the first place and it works better than ever.
After all the mechanical bits were ready I spent an hour or so nicely wrapping the bars in bright yellow tape, and then finished the tape off with tightly wrapped twine. It looks great.
I’ve been on two decent rides since, and it’s smoother than ever. Eventually I may do some more work on it, such as installing a new drivetrain and new wheels, but for now my trusty Trek is ready for another year or two.
It’s Saturday afternoon and I’m in the office. That’s very unusual, despite what you may have been told.
My group moved last week from a space on the west side of the building to a space on the east side. It’s your standard cubicle space, with one major exception: the cubes are right up against the windows. Not only that, but I am in the corner and so have two walls of windows behind me.
This change has completely transformed my space. I may not have an office with a door, but I have no foot traffic and a lot of natural light. I think I’m going to like it over here. In fact to be honest this is now a more comfortable workspace than anything I have at home, and I could see myself using it more often because of that.
I just wish I could open the windows.
When I moved over here on Friday I took all my files with me, and it got me wondering how many of them were even useful any more, and how many were completely out of date and no longer work keeping around. I don’t use my file cabinets much, and I couldn’t tell you with certainty what was and wasn’t filed. I tend to default to more of a “piles of paper on the desk” mode and then occasional document cleanup when those piles get out of hand.
Because most of my work is on the computer paper tends to be an intermediate product: something to review, mark up, and comment on but later to be incorporated back into drawings or documents on the computer. That means that as long as I capture my comments the actual data and drawings are already stored and filed either on my laptop or on the file server, and the paper is unnecessary.
That’s why I’m sitting at my desk with the window blinds wide open, an excellent cup of coffee next to me, and a stack of manila folders full of paper. So far I’ve only needed a few of the documents in the files I have reviewed, and all of those have simply been scanned to PDF and archived in the project folders. The rest have either been useless (in which case, why did I file them?) or printouts of reports I already have in PDF form and which are no longer necessary to keep on paper.
The other day I pulled out my old Coleman cooler, which hasn’t been used since I went to Burning Man in 2006. After talking with some brewing friends I decided to use it as a mash tun. Coolers, both round and rectangular, are popular for mash tuns because they are inexpensive, easy to build, and well insulated, so they allow you to maintain temperature for an hour-long mash without having to continually apply heat.
At first I wasn’t sure what size the cooler was, so I poured water in from 5 gallon pail. At 10 gallons the water level was right at the first break in the cooler wall, and at 15 gallons it was nearly up to the next step in the wall. Clearly this is a 70 quart cooler. The photo below shows approximately 15 gallons of water in the cooler.
I emptied the cooler and came up with approximate measurements.
Length: 24 inches
Depth: 10 inches
Height: 12.5 inches to seal (highest step in the wall)
I removed the drain plug inexpertly with a pair of pliers and the hole measured approximately a 3/4 inches in diameter. I also inserted a short dowel I had laying around to check whether I needed to make any height adjustments to get the a copper manifold to lay flush at the bottom. Luckily it looked like the height of the hole was perfect.
There are several ways to create a good grain bed and allow the sweet wort out but leave all the grain and husks in the tun. These include mesh screens, false bottoms, braided steel lines, and copper manifolds. They all work in approximately the same way, but based on my measurements, the shape of the cooler, and the recommendations of my friend John, I decided to build a copper manifold.
Construction
After work on Friday I drove down to Home Depot to buy supplies. I bought 10 feet of 1/2 inch type M copper pipe (typical household pipe) and a bunch of 1/2 inch fittings. A parts list for the curious is enclosed.
10 feet of 1/2 inch copper
4 elbows
5 tees
1 female 1/2 inch MIP to sweat fitting adapter
1 1 inch long 1/2 inch MIP brass nipple (almost too short)
1 pack of #15 O-rings
1 gigantic washer
1 1/2 inch ball valve
1 1/2 inch MIP to 3/8 inch barb adapter
10 feet of braided nylon hose.
I only actually need about 1-2 feet of the hose, but it came in 10 foot sections and I figured additional hose might come in handy. I had to make a second trip because my initial parts list had a 2 inch long brass nipple, and that proved to be much too long. I also picked up a hacksaw on my second way through. In hindsight a proper pipe cutter would have been better.
I got the valve assembled into the cooler on Friday night, and got all the copper pipe cut to the right lengths. A test fit showed everything was expected to work perfectly.
On Saturday morning I started working again. I washed all the copper parts in PBW, and scrubbed off the glue that held the UPC tags on the fittings. After rinsing and drying, I reassembled the manifold and crimped each connection lightly with a pair of pliers. It holds together well but can still be disassembled. This thing is supposed to leak so there was no point in soldering anything.
I decided to cut the slits in the manifold using my knockoff Dremel and standard Dremel cutting wheels. Eye protection is critical for these things, people. The wheels have a bad tendency to shatter without notice. I lost 4 or 5 cutting wheels to breakage, and wore several more down to mere nubs. It took a while but I think the Dremel was the right tool for this. A hacksaw would have been a lot more physical labor.
After I finished cutting the slits I used a small grinding tool to grind the burrs off of each slit, and then a nylon brush wheel to clean up after. There was still a lot of copper dust inside the manifold. I shook as much out as I could, and tried to rinse it out by forcing water through it with a hose.
Testing
After that I assembled the whole tun and did some checks. I filled the cooler with about 15 gallons of hot tap water (and concluded that it really might be over-large). I added PBW to wash the tub interior. I then took the temperature and closed the lid for an hour.
During this time the outside of the cooler never got warm to the touch except at the narrow point where the valve attaches. The valve did not leak. The temperature at the start was a hair under 122. The temperature after an hour was a hair under 120. This seems pretty good to me, and I’m excited to try it out tomorrow when I brew.
We’re a few days into spring now, and it really and truly feels like spring already. It seems like we went from almost winter to full on warm weather in only a week. I’m certainly not complaining though. I’ve been thoroughly enjoying this weather.
It almost feels like coming out of hibernation.
I went out for a walk this morning in only a T-shirt[1]; the first time this year. It was still cool but with the sun shining on me it felt warm. That particular solar gift is one of my favorite things about living in Denver. After getting breakfast and groceries and doing some reading on the patio I went back out again on my fixed gear bike for a medium length bike ride. It was actually warm by then.
I didn’t do anything fancy, just headed up the path towards the city. I turned around at Cherry Creek Mall, making for a total ride of about 22 miles. There were lots and lots of people out today. Many more than previous weekends. It’s great when people start getting outside.
After my ride I had a beer and fired up the grill for a burger. One nice reward for such an active, outdoors day is that I can burn enough calories to actually allow myself a big, wonderful burger without causing trouble with my weight loss plan.
On that topic, things seem to be going fairly well. Of course they aren’t going as perfectly smoothly as I could hope, but that is almost entirely a result of me being human, not a robot. I can’t always avoid temptation, and I can’t always say no. I spent two or three weeks stuck at around 228 before that number started inching its way back down over the past 2 days[2].
But the general trend has been almost entirely downwards since January, and I already notice a big difference in how I look and feel compared to where I was even a month or two ago. I’m still pretty overweight but a shirt I couldn’t wear in mid January now fits me well, and I’ve taken another notch in on my belt. I remember how all this felt back in 2008 when I did it before, and it is pretty much the same. The feeling is absolutely great when you can stick with your plan and the weight starts coming off.
I think my biggest challenge will be pushing past that 200 mark. Last time I got there the weight loss seemed to really slow down and everything seemed to get harder. I looked and felt great but I couldn’t get those last 20 pounds out of the way to reach my goal of 180. This time I have to keep pushing with the diet long past that 200 mark. I might have to adjust my calorie intake way down again just to keep it going. It’s really hard to say.
Also difficult will be maintaining the loss. The last time I got down below 200 I stopped actively tracking what I ate and did and made the foolish assumption that I “got it” now and could manage myself without tracking. Maybe I will get there someday, but the slow 2 year climb back up above 230 showed how wrong I was about that.
I may be stuck with tracking what I eat and how active I am for a long time. That’s a price I’m willing to pay if I can be fit and healthy though.
— Steve
Yes I had pants on. Stop being so literal. I was wearing this lovely pixel art Iowa shirt from United Pixelworkers along with a pair of Levi’s jeans. And shoes, even.↩︎
If you have any interest in following my fitness and weight loss progress, I recommend following my specialty Fit Steve twitter feed.↩︎
I stopped by the Apple Store this afternoon because I had decided to buy a smart cover for my new iPad. I looked around and spent a while trying to figure out whether I preferred the leather or the polyurethane cover, and eventually settled on the leather cover in navy blue. I looked around again, wondering who would sell it to me. It’s always hard to find an free Apple Store rep, especially on a Saturday when the store is really busy.
Then I decided to follow the advice posted on the shelf itself: use the Apple Store app on my iPhone to pay instead. “It’s the fastest way,” it claimed.
So I pulled out my iPhone, and I opened up the Apple Store app. It knew immediately where I was, at the Park Meadows mall, and gave me options to buy right from the app. I scanned the barcode on the $70 smart cover, and the app asked me if I wanted to buy it right there. I hit the buy button and all that it asked for was my Apple password and the four digit pin code on my American Express. I entered both, and that was it.
The Apple Store app gave me a receipt, electronically of course, and I got an email receipt as well. After that I wasn’t sure what to do. I guessed that I was done and could just leave the store, but it did feel weird. So I walked toward the entrance, smart cover my left hand and phone in my right. I had the receipt pulled up on my phone just in case.
I walked right by the Apple guy by the door, and right by the cop standing just outside. And that was that; I was the owner of an iPad smart cover. I paid for it of course, but it still felt like I was shoplifting.
So I guess that the Apple Store app works pretty well for buying small items that are on the shelf at the store. It feels strange, and you wonder how much stuff just walks away. Still, it saved me a lot of time versus having to find an Apple Store rep when they were busy selling to people less tech savvy than me. A net win, I guess.
I spent most of last week in Michigan, doing some siting of wind turbines for a relatively large project that is developing quickly. We were fortunate and had excellent weather (but soggy unmaintained roads) when we were there.
When we left the state a couple of days later though, it was cold and snow flurries were in the air. That was all cared for in a joyful arrival in Denver to a sunny day in the upper 50s, and a weekend that hit the 60s at times.
How do you live a simpler life? How do you keep a mountain of stuff from burying you?
I’ll tell you: I have no idea.
I spent part of the afternoon listening to Merlin Mann talk with Dan Benjamin about getting rid of stuff that doesn’t bring you pleasure or utility. And of course he’s right and it is something I’ve thought about for years. Literally. I make grand plans and I get a little ways, and then I give up.
But of course, you can’t get anywhere if you don’t try.
So here I am taking a few first steps. I threw away a few small useless things that have been sitting for years. I threw out a half dozen phone cords (yes seriously) and a few old USB cables. Several of the cables had never even been removed from the package.
So do I keep up with small moves, or do I start the big moves Dan and Merlin mentioned. Do I buy a bunch of contractor bags and start just tossing things, or do I slowly pare things down? I don’t know. But I have a problem.
I replaced two old suitcases late last year, but I still have the old ones. I have several battery chargers that I don’t need or use any more. I have a laptop charger for a laptop that is long since dead.
I have a laptop that is long since dead. I have half a dozen naked hard drives. I have two 1U servers in bubble wrap in the garage. I have four bicycles but only two I ride. I have a bicycle helmet I replaced 4 years ago. I have darkroom equipment I haven’t used since I moved to Denver. I have two old cameras that don’t work, and half a dozen that do work but I haven’t run film through in 2 or 3 years.
And all of this is not even remotely close to a complete list.
I doubt I’ll ever live a minimalist life, but I’d love to pare things down.
For such a short winter it feels never-ending. Once every week or two we get a day that hints at a spring to come, and then vanishes. Low of 20. High of 40. Every day. Then it snows.
Have I grown weak since moving to Denver or is it that to me a good winter feels right, but a lingering almost-winter drags on?
Whatever it is, I’m looking forward to spring, and making plans to enjoy it. I want to throw the windows wide and let a breeze warm the house through the day and cool it through the night. I want to take my bike out for a long ride and not get chilled when I stop for a rest. I want to put on all my gear and ride my motorcycle west over the passes and through the small mountain towns. I want to sit and watch the sun set in Daniels Park while I read a book and nurse a beer. I want to go for a walk in the evening.
This list is hardly complete, and I won’t waste both your time and mine by actually linking to them. I don’t really care to know what the differences between any of these are.
But you have to wonder if these manufacturers have learned anything at all from Apple’s success with the iPhone and a simplified product line.
The following is archived for posterity from an email Ben sent us today.
nono you guys have this all wrong. =( is for unhappy/sad.
=| is gameface. which over the years has developed several different meanings that depend on context. but it is typically used for backhanded insults, dry sarcasm, intentionally ambiguous statements, obvious understatements, and to designate shame/apprehension or obvious bait.
for example:
‘ben, you are a really fast runner. keeps you away from the girls =|’ (backhanded insult)
‘ross you suck =|’ (dry sarcasm-ish)
‘goalie seems important =\’ (understatement)
‘i have not biked to work since i bought the new car =\’ (shame)
‘mitt romney is not all that much different from obama =|’ (bait)
can’t think of a good one for ambiguity, but it usually was a form of bait bitd.
