A to B through Z

Got some old pepsi kegs on the Cape this weekend. Ann wanted to be a part of the picture and is also a massive dork. RAIN BOOTS!!!!!!11!!!!?1!!!! Lovingly, Bryan

So Ann's up here now, and she eats at a man's time like a theoretical puppy eats at an Asian girl's heartstrings. Not that that's a bad thing, unless you happen to be a diehard blog enthusiast. In a funny twist of fate, after writing those first two sentences I got side tracked making smoothies. Like I said, not a bad thing. Now I have a smoothie, so that's nice. The Brewery My dream brewery is nearly complete, and I was able to brew up 5 gallons of pale ale and 1.5 gallons of what I'm calling a "German IPA." If you're familiar with Sierra Nevada's famous pale ale, the former beer is a clone while the later is an interesting inversion of their classic recipe. After making the first batch by the book, you would typically throw out the remaining grain and usually lose some of the sugars or as I call them "pre-alcohol." This time, I circulated some more water through the grains to pick up this sugar and had about enough to make a ...

So after all the frantic tourist-ing I went through while my parents were here this week, it felt good to kick back and relax on a sunday afternoon. Oh and the jug of beer didn't hurt either. I have some more pictures and interesting stories, but it's beer time. Driving to the airport at 5:30 am + 64 oz of beer makes for some epic napping. Also, I've been trying to figure out how I feel about Perry's big "Prayer-a-Palooza" today. After much deliberation and 64 oz of beer, here's all I've got: lol. Insightful, no? Bryan

No clever introduction. My mom called me a foodie the other day, and I've been mulling over whether or not she may be on to something. Why I'll never be a foodie A. I refuse to take pictures at restaurants/bars/etc. I'm the kind of person who hates cameras. Now, I like being able to look back at pictures (especially of myself) as much as the next (arrogant) guy, but there's something very intrusive and unwelcome about pulling out a camera. Nothing sucks the air out of a room like flash photography. It forces an immediate self-awareness and reflection on a moment that previously had been unburdened by thoughts of future consequences. Coincidentally, this is also how I feel about cell phones omnipresence. Which is an odd opinion for a young tech-savvy guy to have, I understand. I remember when Ann and I first started dating, it took me many frustrating months to break her* of constantly  texting during dinner. Maybe my notoriously bad phone skills are a pendul...

Time for some more pics! Its gorgeous here in the summer, and I'm also cheap so my commute is a 20 minute walk from my house to MIT. Unfortunate exercise aside, it's actually quite a pleasant walk. While I try to vary my route on the way back home, this is the path I generally stumble down in the not-so-early morning. Flower shop and random bits of street.  Super awesome pie shop and fire station mural.  One of many random old towers that Cambridge/Somerville seems to love.  Hipster bar Lord Hobo, and a physical store for Edible Arrangements (wtf?)  Bus that I should have been riding on if I wasn't so damn green .  One of many slick biotech firm buildings. So slick.  Trees! McGovern Brain Research building. Stata Center. So. Much. Whimsy. Whimsy, etc. Cancer research center, and my building in the background.  Stairs stairs stairs. Reading room, no pipes allowed.  My corner of the lab, and my sexy index finger. A virtual tour, fun f...

Times is tough. Luckily there's Craigslist, the online bazaar of free crap and creepy perverts. Let's focus on the former, and leave a broader discussions involving online ethics, sexuality, and your creepy uncle Carl for another day. Look at what people fleeing the Northeast have left for me! Commence the free! The sweet orange chair was a gift from the landlord and I am already very attached to it. The AC unit in the window was one of two, and is much appreciated since we actually broke 100 degrees this weekend. The fridge in the closet may be my most favorite, as my brewery can now expand into lager fermentation. Sexy teal chairs, which I actually had to pay $10 for but you can't win them all. The desk, the small bookcase peeking out on the left, and the five growlers were totally free though. So. There's. That. Other odds and ends. Some books, a really old board game, and an even older electric pencil sharpener. That wicked mahdern end table and the american...

Blogs are hard. Or maybe I'm just bad at them. Either way, instead of going with the traditional "sorry I haven't kept up with this damn thing" post I'm going to tack a slightly different tack. Deal with it, I owe you people nothing. Well now that that's out of the way let's chat. Boston is awesome, although I spend most of my time North of the Charles River in Cambridge and Somerville. These are Boston's younger, hipper, and better educated cousins. I can enjoy everything the area has to offer, while constantly being surrounded by people who are smarter than me and don't talk in bizarre "Southie" accents. Although, I must admit, listening to my neighbors argue in northeastern faux-english most nights as I fall asleep is truly a treat. There's a lot to do and even more to see, which makes describing the last three weeks (!) all the more difficult. In part due to my own laziness, I've cobbled together a list of pros/cons of...

Welcome world, to the bleeding edge of technology. I come to you from the distant future, all the way from the year 2000. This here is a web log or "blog" for short. What a wild world we live in... Okay I'll stop being obnoxious now, but seriously, welcome! This is going to be a place for me to air out my complicated inner workings, and extol the virtues of my various interests. I have a lot of distractions in my life, from manly hobbies like homebrewing and backcountry camping to more domestic fare like cooking or rearranging furniture obsessively. One day I'll be posting brew updates the next day you might have to hear about a berry farm in New Hampshire that has changed my life forever. It will also be something of a chronicle of my explorations of a new city and a new life after college. In any case, it should be a fun ride. NOTE: The adventures that will follow are in no way a desperate attempt to get people to come visit me in Boston. No plane tickets should ...