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Brandons New House
April 23, 2009 02:20:02 PM
     I can hardly believe it, but my brother, who is 3 years younger than me, just bought a house with his girlfriend. Granted it's a duplex and it's only ~10 miles from where he was living, it's still pretty exciting. I was honestly starting to think I'd never see the day he would move out of dad's and now he's not only moving out, he's buying his own house! Good job Brandon! It sort of makes me feel like I'm falling behind. Oh well, I technically don't even want to start thinking about it till I figure out where Khine and I want to end up and I get these damn college loans under control.

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Stuff between Xmas and April
April 08, 2009 08:25:46 PM
     Wow, has it really been 4 months since I wrote? Damn, when work is long and stressful the days just roll by. Anyway, not much happened between x-mas and now that wasn't at least logged in my photo section. So I just thought I'd mention some things so I can google them for future reference later if needed:
     1) End of January, Emmy and Irene visit us on their way to Texas.
     2) March 9th, Khine and I drove to Memphis for her Citizenship Test, she passed!
     3) March 11th, Khine and I celebrated our 3 year anniversary.
     4) Saturday Khine accompanies me to the junkyard, her first time, very exciting.
     5) The Best vehicle to get the power seat motors from is a 1996 Ford Explorer. All 4 seat bolts are easily accessible.

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Christmas 2008
January 01, 2009 10:47:03 PM
     Wow! What a Christmas Break! There was so much to do, so many people to see, and so little time to do it. Khine and I flew back to York for 10 days over the x-mas break. I actually had more days off of work than that, but we stayed in York for the days we had off in common.
     Any way, As soon as we arrived on Saturday, we started off the trip with sort of a groupie reunion at the Kurzik's house, unfortunately I don't have any pics from that :-( but it was pretty fun, almost everyone showed up, all except Don and Shane. Khine finally got to meet all the others in my HS groupie.
     On Sunday mom had professional family portraits made. On Monday we hung out with Don to do some last minute xmas shopping. Tuesday morning Khine and I ate breakfast at the Yorktown Hotel's Off Center Grille for breakfast since mom gave us a $25 gift card, then we visited Grandpa, then we were off to the Lancaster Brewing Company.
     Christmas eve we did some more last min shopping, went to Grandma's for dinner, Mt Pisgah for the night service, then to bed at moms so we'd wake up xmas day at her house. Christmas day we did the gift thing at moms, Brandon and Megan dropped by, we ate, went to dads to do the gift thing there, then went to Nina's.
     Friday we went back to moms to hang out and help clean, then Khine and I had a double date to DC with Andrew and his g/f Janet. Almost as soon as we got there, Khine and I grabbed a cab in attempts to find this Malaysian / Singaporean restaurant she found a few months ago that was really good. Then we went to the State Radio Concert, drove home with a detour through Baltimore, then to the Round the Clock Dinner for omelets and cappuccino.
     On Saturday Rob (from my fraternity) drove down to visit. We drove around York, visited my old neighborhood, went bowling at Lion Bowl, there was another trip to the Lancaster Brewing Company, and finally a trip to the Glad Crab bar to watch Tiff's dad's band play.
     Sunday I went to the movies with Dad and Grandpa for a 3 generation outing to see, The Day the Earth Stood Still. That was pretty good, it actually stayed closer to the original film than I thought it would. Later I went to Andrew’s just to hang out. We ended up having a pretty sweet jam session. I mean, there is no one down here I can really just let loose and play with, so that was really fun, I’ll really miss that.
     Finally Monday morning, the last day, I visited Grandma, packed up, shipped all the new stuff at the UPS store, then dad took Khine and I back to the Harrisburg Airport. And just like that, the whole trip was over. Oh well, it was great times, It was really great seeing everyone again. Until Next Year!

         CHECK OUT ALL THE PICS HERE!!!

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Low Gas Prices?
November 12, 2008 12:46:44 AM
     Gas is down to $1.99, how can this be!? I can't hardly believe it, I mean, I haven't seen it cost that much since high school. It was about $4 this summer and now it's half that, unbelievable. But just because it's more affordable again doesn't mean we should all go out and get that SUV you've been wanting. We still need to get away from fossil fuels. I can't stress that enough. Just because these prices are low doesn't mean that it's ok to stick with gas. This is just the calm before the storm. Watch, prices will be astronomical this upcoming summer and shortages will breakout all over again. It's the man lowering us into a false sense of security, high prices then low prices, it's the fishing method, keeping us in check by letting us think that gas prices could always go back down again, but still keeping us fully dependent on foreign oil. God I need an electric car...

         

DATE: November 12, 2008 09:23:26 AM     NAME: Adrien
COMMENT: I hope that we'll keep moving forward in the direction of fossil-less fuels and renewables. It's the only way to go if we want sustainable energy in the next 50 years, but we all know that. This gas thing is crazy indeed! What really happened was the estimators were wrong. Dead wrong. Now who is to know if they were honestly wrong or had someone twisting their arms. What's crazy is they will STILL make a record profit off of all of this. The price of the barrel is down MORE then half ($155 to 60$) and prices have gone down LESS then half ($4.00 to $2.30). I'm tkaing national averages here. Although great for us, I hope we realize they might top their own world record on profits again. If you recall it was $40 billion some time last year. That's why I laugh when I see their commercials for $20 million investment into renewable. Sounds like a lot to us, but that's half a percent of just their pure profits....what a joke!! Anyway that's my rant and I'll keep riding my bike and using public transport in Chicago as much as I can until we (you and I) finally build our electric cars.

DATE: November 13, 2008 09:28:37 AM     NAME: DK
COMMENT: Man, when you give the actual percentage of profits contributed towards alternative fuel research, it really does put things into perspective. But I guess it makes sense, they are not in the business of putting themselves out of business, thats why I think it's so important for the non-evil companies to step up and really put forth a real effort. And I really respect the self made millionaire-inventors who are using their own money to develop renewable energy sources. Not sure if I trust T Boon yet, but there are a few who actually are trying to make a difference.

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3 Bedroom Apartment
November 12, 2008 12:27:15 AM
     I moved out of my townhouse in Smyrna and am now living in the woods closer to Nashville, and yup, Khine and I are now living together! The new place is a 3 bedroom flat on the second floor of our building. It's farther from my work, but it's about half way between my work and her work at Vanderbilt so it works out great. Finally we won't have to dive 50 miles round trip to see each other. The new place is actually a little smaller than the townhouse, but this time I used the master bedroom as my work shop, so my lab space is much larger than before. We each took one of the secondary bedrooms for our own retreat.
     Now even though it's smaller, the rent is higher. This is due to our being in such a nice area, not to mention, we are a lot closer to Nashville now. Also, since we are living together we can split all the living costs. It's prety much a win-win situation.

     Check out the Pictures HERE!

DATE: November 12, 2008 06:56:53 PM     NAME: Kev
COMMENT: master bedroom as your workshop!? now now... didnt you know bringing work into your bedroom is not a good thing? :) it disrupts a certain mood :p

DATE: November 13, 2008 12:11:08 AM     NAME: dk
COMMENT: haha, nice! luckily this room is for electronics and research only.

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Def Leppard
October 29, 2008 10:53:37 PM
     It was just another routine trip to the airport. I was on my way to St. Louis for work at an IBM data center. I was standing in line at the ticket counter when I noticed a group of guys in a different ticket line who were all obviously in some sort of band. They all had long hair, tons of tattoos, some serious jewelery, and lots of leather. It was then I should have taken a picture, they were all together and not far from me, but we were still in Nashville, I just figured they were just some no-bodies in some garage band traveling around to different bars trying to make ends meet. WRONG!
     I went on with my business, later, after just getting through security, one of them was right behind me. I finally said to him, 'So I've gotta ask, what band are you guys with?' He looks at me and real casually says, 'Ah, we're Def Leppard'. .....I was expecting a name I had never heard before, so when I heard this my jaw dropped. I tried to regain my composure and keep calm, I mean, I didnt want to appear to be another one of the many idiots they probably deal with every day trying to get autographs and pictures and what not. So finally after coming to copes with what I had received as my answer, I decided to play it cool and just talk on a normal level.
     We talked about what they were doing in Nashville, how they liked it, where they were off to next, etc. And I must say, even though I only got to talk with 2 of them, they were really nice guys. I was expecting to be snobbed off or something, but they were totally layed back and chill.
     So anyways, I found that they just filmed an episode of CMT Crossroads and were now on their way to Detroit to open for a Detroit Pistons Hockey Game. After parting ways, I just couldnt help myself, I just had to get some sort of picture for evidence. They were all scattered once they were in the terminal so it was harder to pick them out, but I managed to get a few distant shots. Oh well, as long as I know I met them.


              

DATE: November 21, 2008 03:38:22 PM     NAME: km
COMMENT: You got some pics of them? I didn't know you did. It's great that you did get a few =)

DATE: November 24, 2008 09:16:21 AM     NAME: Shane
COMMENT: Pistons happen to be the basketball team. ;)

DATE: November 24, 2008 10:42:37 AM     NAME: dk
COMMENT: haha, good eye! yep, I meant the Red Wings.

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Moving Up
October 29, 2008 10:03:03 PM
     Looks like all my work related traveling is finally paying off. The other week I was at a holiday inn express for more work in Detroit. 3 nights in a row something kept waking me up around 3am. Finally I had enough of it so I went to the front desk and asked if I could have another room in a different part of the building. I think she noticed my priority club membership was just upgraded to Platinum because the room I got was freaken amazing. After packing up all my things and carting it all over to the new room, I opened the door, and what I saw just shocked me. There was a jacuzzi under a roman style roof in the middle of the room! Not in the bathroom, in the room itself! I was like, no way! I was planning on going straight to bed, but after seeing that, I had to give it a try.
     Now that my card has finally reached the Platinum status, I should be able to get a free room upgrade every time, I'll have to give it a try.


               Here are some pics from the Room:

                 

DATE: November 12, 2008 06:53:57 PM     NAME: Kev
COMMENT: WTF!!! is it a company card? Or company paid room but you get points on own personal card? DAMNNN MAN! I NEED THAT CARD!

DATE: November 13, 2008 12:07:07 AM     NAME: dk
COMMENT: No, the Priority Club is just like an airline's frequent flyer miles, only for hotels. These trips are for work so they are all company paid for, but yup, I keep all the points! It's like that for my car rentals and frequent flyer miles too. I already have several days worth of free car rentals, free nights at hotels, and thousands of air-miles. It's a pretty sweet deal.

DATE: November 21, 2008 03:39:25 PM     NAME: km
COMMENT: Were you naked in the tub, Danny? =P

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Observatory
September 17, 2008 08:18:58 PM
     I finally got around to doing something I've been meaning to do for a long time. I thought I completely lost the oportunity when we moved Khine out of Charlottesville, but thanks to her resourcefulness, we were given another chance! So Friday evening we went to an actual observatory. There was one at UVa, but like I said, we never got around to going. The one here is called the Dyer Observatory and it belongs to Vanderbilt. It's quite far from the campus in Nashville, which is why I never thought Vandy had one, but the location is pretty necessary due to all the light pollution near the city. This place is on a tall hill top in the middle of the woods in Brentwood, a very nice location.
     I tell you what, nothing brings out your inner scientist like a visit to an observatory. I mean for me, it was like a kid in a candy store! There were tables set up with models of the ISS, mars rovers, rocket prototypes, and no shortage of experts there talking about the stuff. There are 3 telescopes, 2 smaller refracting telescopes, and one big catadioptric telescope. The 2 smaller ones were aimed at Jupiter and the moon. The larger one was aimed at a binary star system (I can't remember which one).
     I have to admit, when Khine first suggested this event for Friday night, at first I was actually reluctant to accept. I thought it would probably turn out to be a tiny old place run by some grad students who couldn't care less. But I was all wrong, It was well maintained and there were plenty of older knowledable very friendly staff.
     Oh yeah, later in the evening, when the people started thinning out a bit, I got to see them rotate the dome and aim the largest scope at the moon. OMG it was freaken nuts! The magnification was so intense that you couldnt even see the moon's curvature! Every little crater, valley, shadow, and detail so brilliant, so crisp. If only the moonlanding site faced Earth, I feel like this thing would be able to see all the stuff we left there. Good times!


Here are some pics from the Observatory:

              

DATE: September 17, 2008 10:28:24 PM     NAME: km
COMMENT: I thought it was really cool too. Man, for me, the moon was the best part of it all. I thought the binary stars would be cooler but they were just tiny colored dots. Oh yeah, we forgot to set up your telescope. And you totally stole that first picture from a website =P

DATE: September 17, 2008 10:56:18 PM     NAME: DK
COMMENT: Yeah, it doesn't seem to matter how big the telescope is, stars always look like little dots. The only diff is now you could see that it was actually 2 dots, not one. We'll get my telescope set up sometime, don't think there's any good place at this apt complex to do it though, too many lights. And that first picture, notice it's the only one I didn't water mark.

DATE: September 18, 2008 06:11:02 PM     NAME: andrew
COMMENT: good to see the beard is making a comeback. did you really use flash photography in an observatory? and you call yourself a scientist.... tisk tisk mr. krill

DATE: September 18, 2008 06:43:01 PM     NAME: DK
COMMENT: aw, that's harsh. I really didn't want to, but since the crowed was gone, the one guy kept insisting that I use the flash. Believe me, I hate the flash, it washes everything out and takes away the natural lighting of the scene. So don't worry, I may have only taken 2 pictures the whole night with it on.

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Exploding Blackberry Beer
July 07, 2008 11:22:31 PM
     Batch number 5 may not turn out to be a batch at all. Only 36 hours into the primary fermentation and there was an explosion!
     So Khine has been wanting to pick fruit for a while and we had no big plans for the 4th of July so we finally went. We went to 2 orchards and picked peaches and blackberries. I was also thinking of brewing over the 4th weekend, so I thought this would be perfect! We can pick extra berries and I'll brew a blackberry hefe-weizen.
     I was all psyched, I was ready to make the best beer ever made. I bought a glass carboy for secondary fermentation, expensive yeast specifically for wheat beers, and 1.5 lbs of hand picked blackberries from a farm over 40 miles away!
     On brewing day, everything was normal. The wort boiled evenly, no big boil overs, Khine pureed the berries, and we bucketed just like any other time. The only thing I thought was odd was that it took a little longer for the bubbling to start. Well, that obviously wasn't going to be the problem. I go to work the next day, and when I come home....BAM! There was beer all over my dinning room. Apparently once the yeast took off, it TOOK OFF! The reaction must have gotten so violent that the foam rose all the way to the top of the bucket. It somehow managed to clog the air lock bubler, and pressure started rising. With no where for the C02 to go, the lid blew off.
     The lid was at least 10 feet from the bucket, the thermometer landed in the kitchen, the airlock was completely filled with hardened dead yeast and berry skins. There was beer on the walls, the ceiling, and the carpet. As soon as I saw this, my first reaction was DEAR GOD! So I lept at the lid and put it back on the bucket very first thing. I then cleaned out the airlock and stuck that back in. It wasn't until I started cleaning up that I realized I should be photographing this, this is why the lid and lock are back on in the picture below.
     I don't know how long the lid was off. I slept over at Khine's Sunday night, went straight to work in the morning, and didn't see this till Monday evening. If it was off too long it is more and more likely I will suffer an infection, but if it was only for a little while maybe the beer is still ok? There was still 3/4 of the beer left in the bucket and we spent a lot of time and effort on this batch, so I hope it's still alright.
     Let this be a warning. When adding fruit, which has tons of fermentable sugars, and a super yeast, which reacts more dramatically, stick around! Watch your stuff! And don't use a regular airlock, use a blow off tube or something that wont clog so easily.



These are the berry picking pictures:

               Berry Picking Pictures HERE



These are the brewing pictures and explosion:

              

DATE: July 08, 2008 08:14:06 AM     NAME: km
COMMENT: I have a good feeling it'll still be good. Cheer up, k? =) And this gives a very good reason to try it again soon.

DATE: November 13, 2008 12:09:50 AM     NAME: dk
COMMENT: it turned out ok, a little on the tart side.

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Prep for Bonnaroo
June 09, 2008 09:34:57 AM
     Ok, there's only a few days until Bonnaroo! Since I have an awful memory, it would deff be in my best interest to start packing early, or at least assemble a list. You other guys going might want to consider this stuff too, and if I forgot anything, let me know.

Stuff

- Ticket!!
- band schedule
- guitar!
- Sun Glasses
- Sun Tan Lotion
- fedora (to keep the sun off neck and face)(plus its cool :-)
- at least one change of cloths
- sandles
- cooler filled with ice and homebrew(hidden at bottom since they are glass)
- water bottles
- multi-tool
- trash bags
- zip locked bags of toilette paper (apparently they run out a lot)
- some cash (for food and stuff)
- Umbrella
- fold up chair
- sleeping bag \ pillow
- mini fan
- flash lights
- radio / walkman (in case there are any info broadcasts)
- cheap camera
- gps (for me to find car since I won't be around it)
- fully charged cell phone (to find each other in crowds)


Schedule

Wednesday: 8a-4p Work; ~7-8p The York Convoy arrives?
Thursday: 5a Yorkers depart; 7a-3p Work; 4p drive down; 8p Arrive, find Andrew
Friday, Saturday: Funz0rs
Sunday: 8p find car, pack up, drive home
Monday: 8a fly out to Chicago

DATE: June 09, 2008 10:48:02 AM     NAME: Adam B
COMMENT: Here are a few things that I would add to the list:

Tent (I think you just forgot this in your list, pretty essential)
Extra socks in case it rains (it doesn't look like its gonna rain but when it does it gets real muddy there)
Tarps to build a shade ceiling (you will be so much more comforatable hanging out at your campsite with some shade)
Duct tape (many different uses, mostly to construct your shade ceiling)
Lots of alcohol (you'll probably run out and its expensive to buy beer/liquor there)
Batteries for everything (I don't know how many fests i've been to where I didn't bring batteries for something)
Bug Spray
Camel Pack (If you have one they are awesome for carrying water around)
Extra shoes

If I think of anything else I'll add to this list.
3 more DAYS!!!

DATE: June 09, 2008 10:51:02 AM     NAME: Shane
COMMENT: I've never been, but if it is like a rural area or a big farm in nowhere..will they have cell signal? Might wanna grab some small/cheap walkies or something.

I would also buy a box or two of like granola bars. They are a small compact snack for when food prices are too high or you just want a nibble until you make it back to camp. They are also pretty easily hideable if you aren't allowed food in certain parts.

Take two Bic lighters. Always need fire and back up fire.

Take a guitar tuner. oh but you have perfect pitch. grr.

Given that fact that Philadelphia public schools are closed today because it is too hot, I 100% expect you to be drenched in sweat no matter what. So take a hat or something to keep the sun off your face. Plus don't desert people where hat stuff to for some good reason?

A tent? or is someone else on that duty?

have fun, dan!

DATE: June 09, 2008 02:06:47 PM     NAME: km
COMMENT: Wow..that's so much..

DATE: June 09, 2008 05:06:04 PM     NAME: Andrew
COMMENT: Yeah, dude, tent should be #1 on your list unless you're building a lean-to shelter :) Last year I didn't experience any kind of toilet paper shortage, though, and this year there's supposed to be 20,000 less people at Bonnaroo, so I don't think you'll have to worry. If you gotta go #2, make sure to do it within the 1st or 2nd day of the festival, cause the portapotties get progessively nastier as the party continues. Oh, and tent stakes are a must, because the wind will toss your tent 200 feet in the air. The Bonnaroo staff will provide you with trash bags (they even give you a green colored one to put your recyclables in!) Last year, I had a mini power inverter for a cigarette lighter which came in handy for charging up my cell phone. Cell phone service was very good last year, no problems at all. Last year I bought walkie talkies and we never even used them once, so I would just say stick to the cell. Umbrella might be a pain in the ass, I'd say get a poncho.... they're a lot easier to dance with.... or just don't be a pussy about falling H2O and make like a hippy. MUD PIT!!! Shane's got a good idea about granola bars, good healthy snacks. I'll be bringing ingredients to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. They will give you a more comprehensive band schedule when you get there, too, so you don't really need to worry about the shitty printable one on the website. The thing that I was most grateful for last year though was my extra pair of shoes. I thought that I was only going to wear sandals and rough it all weekend, but after the 2nd day my feet were so f-ing sore from all the walking and dancing, my backup pair of shoes were my savior. Something I'm going to bring this year that I didn't take last year is a Super Soaker or a spray bottle. It is so hot out, it can get pretty miserable trekking from stage to stage. People are so grateful to get squirted with water, you will make so many great friends by spraying them in their faces (and on their jumblies! wink wink).

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Micro Hydro
May 30, 2008 09:31:34 AM
     I've been looking more and more into this whole idea of self sustainability and the use of alternative power. I already know that I'll use wind and solar power, I even made mention of the use of water for a small hydro electric power house, but I never really looked too much into that one, I mean, I knew it would be nice but I never really thought about how I'd go about implementing it. As an inventor (sort of) I use a lot of power, so the more sources the better, and it looks like hydro would undoubtedly be my biggest energy provider. It's more constant and provides greater output, so I started looking into how I can do it efficiently.
     After watching some more documentaries, reading lots of articles about how past designs have been executed, and factoring in my own power needs and construction abilities, I came up with this initial design concept:


              

    I figure all the parts needed to do this could be obtained fairly easily and construction shouldn't be longer than a month or so. I honestly think the most difficult part of this whole project would actually be finding a good location. Now I don't necessarily need a waterfall, but the key here is finding an area of the stream that pools, like a fishing hole. Then building the powerhouse downstream from there, and to obtain enough pressure for the turbines, there has to be an elevation change of at least 50 feet. And since most streams tend to run along level ground, the pipes could run thousands of feet before achieving this head height.
    It seems like a lot of other micro hydro projects done by other people only use 1 generator. If I'm going to take the time to build a whole hydro plant, you better bet your britches I'm going to incorporate more than just 1. I will try to use at least 5! And for cost savings, SUV or luxury car alternators can be used in place of expensive permanent magnet generators (which also require external governors, the alternators have built in regulators that automatically adjust the field strength to maintain voltage). The only downfall being that even the most powerful alternator can only produce about 2800 Watts while some gens could hit 8k. But this is why I will use 5 :-)

DATE: June 01, 2008 08:20:18 PM     NAME: km
COMMENT: The idea's pretty cool! And you could use more than 5, can't you? =)

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Too Short!
May 01, 2008 08:50:33 PM
     In preparation for Bonnaroo, I decided not to get a hair cut of shave for over 8 months. The hair thing was working out fine, but because I got to see Khine several times during that period the beard didn't fare so well. That grows back quickly though.
     Today I made a mistake. I thought I'd go to the barber to get cleaned up just a little bit. My hair would not stay out of my eyes. Well instead of taking just a weee off the top, he took a bunch of the top! Granted I think this was the best place I've been to yet down here, he even trimmed my beard a bit, but I didn't want a short cut yet. Oh well, like I said, its a good cut so I guess I can't complain. But he turned me into a Conservative!!! Bleh!

           

     Here's the before and after shot. The Hippy me was taken just 2 days ago. There I am, just drinking my huge ass stein of beer, not hurtin anybody, just listenin to the Beatles music playing in the background. Then BAM! This other picture is from today, crazy a?

DATE: May 01, 2008 08:58:52 PM     NAME: km
COMMENT: WOW! Huge difference, Danny! You look so yummy, hee.

DATE: May 04, 2008 10:21:42 PM     NAME: andrew
COMMENT: I agree- you do look yummy. In a douche-bag sorta way. p.s. you gotta check out the B'rooers tent at Bonnaroo. It's full of beersss!

DATE: May 05, 2008 06:39:22 AM     NAME: DK
COMMENT: wow, such kind words

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Khines New Job; Dream Home
April 21, 2008 10:26:50 PM
     Only 3 days after her interviews for a research lab position at Vanderbilt, Khine received word that she got the job! YAY she's moving to Nashville! She'll start work at the beginning of June a few weeks after graduation. I can't wait!
     So all this excitement and the many talks about finding a new place to live got me thinking more and more about the home I'd like to retire in some day.... my DreamHome. I mean I've had plenty of thoughts and ideas about it before, but now I finally put some thought into it and sketched a basic property layout on paper.

              


     And here it is, the Krill Homestead. It encompasses facilities for all my areas of interest, provides a humble living space, a shelter from both war uprisings and zombie apocalypses, and most importantly, it can function off grid! So in the event of a catastrophic economic and government failure we can be completely self sufficient.
     Sure I'm just dreaming right now, and sure it seems a little ambitious, but you know what!? Really I'm not so sure it is! I think this is totally with in my grasp. Just wait and see. Some day I'm totally going to build this place from scratch! That would be my ultimate project! GO GREEN! Vote NADER!


DATE: April 21, 2008 11:28:42 PM     NAME: km
COMMENT: YAYYYYYY!! And wow, Danny, that is one cool-looking house there. You're building a town with just one house. That is so cool.

DATE: April 29, 2008 08:11:38 PM     NAME: Andrew
COMMENT: I can't help but notice that your house layout resembles that of the Meyer's Rd farmhouse. Feeling nostalgic?
Here's a link you should check out. It's a documentary about building a self-sustainable home. Made by the guy who does Survivor Man.

DATE: April 30, 2008 08:30:08 PM     NAME: dk
COMMENT: haha, I can't believe you picked that up, but yeah, I was thinking of that old house when beginning this layout. And that link, spectacular! That is exactly what I'm shooting for, only thing though, I wouldn't begin such an undertaking with kids and a career, I don't plan on implementing this until early retirement.

DATE: May 01, 2008 08:59:33 PM     NAME: km
COMMENT: Love the link, Andrew!

DATE: November 12, 2008 06:54:58 PM     NAME: Kev
COMMENT: you building a power plant? or a home... :D

DATE: November 13, 2008 09:34:15 AM     NAME: dk
COMMENT: haha, well if I plan to live off grid and have a huge work shop, I'm going to need lots of power, and historically, all these renewable energy sources are only small power contributors and because of weather, unpredictable. So I'll need plenty of redundancy to ensure a constant flow.

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Under Attack!?
April 18, 2008 10:50:22 PM
     It was last Friday around noon, I had just landed in Nashville from a week long trip in NYC. As I was leaving the airport I noticed signs and announcements to be careful driving in rural areas as there was lots of flooding from the heavy rains while I was gone. My drive back to Smyrna was pretty normal, until I got to with in 2 miles of my house. The road I live on was closed just 2 miles from my house and had traffic redirected to an alternate route. I was so close to home, but now I was stuck in endless traffic jams going completely out of the way to get home. I had seen the golf course flooded a little bit before I left, so I figured that the road closure was due to a flooded out section or something.
     So I was just sitting there in my car, stop go stop go, stuck in traffic minding my own business. Suddenly, ROOOOAAARRR! To my left in the direction of the blocked off road section, 4 long winged objects shoot straight up out from the ground, do a vertical 270deg loop, and storm straight for the east coast! I was like, OMG! Flooding my arse! They are launching hidden rockets! I knew the Smyrna Airport was in that blocked off section of road, and It also just occurred to me that there is a military base there. I am witnessing an ICBM WMD launch, OMG OMG, I have to call someone! I have to get home to see the news, WE ARE AT WAR! I was seriously freaking out, I mean I had never seen anything like this before, I mean these things were huge, faster than anything I've ever seen, and literally louder than thunder!
     After trying to snap off a few pics, I called Khine to tell her what I had just seen. It was about a min later, the objects were heading back in this direction. They broke apart and starting circling around. At first I questioned my own sanity, but then I started to re-question what I was really seeing here. Missiles would not be flying around like this, and as they got closer to me, I was able to get a better look at them. At this point things finally started to make more sense. I quickly discovered that these were actually fighter jets, they even got so close that I was able to identify them as F-18s. A few more moments later I remembered seeing an airplane ride infront of a near by restaurant for advertising an air show! OOOOOOOHHHHHH, I said to myself in a sigh of great relief. We're not under attack! There's an air show at the airport this weekend! PHEW!
     Before figuring all that out, I truly honestly thought some serious sheeit was going down. For a moment I actually experienced a fear that I never felt before, I mean I hadn't even felt that frightened since I was a little kid!
     Any ways, it turned out to be an awesome show, I was even able to see almost all the air performances from my front door step. At times it almost felt like the 1940s when those prop planes were flying over. Below are some of the pics I managed to get.



                             
                             

DATE: April 21, 2008 10:04:00 PM     NAME: km
COMMENT: I absolutely looove the first picture. It is so professional.

DATE: May 04, 2008 10:12:15 PM     NAME: Andrew
COMMENT: "For a moment I actually experienced a fear that I never felt before, I mean I hadn't even felt that frightened since I was a little kid! " Really.... Didnt you just graduate from Virginia Tech? And you happened to pick April 16th to write this blog entry.....? I mean, seriously...

DATE: May 05, 2008 06:37:48 AM     NAME: DK
COMMENT: Yeah, but that was a whole different kinda fear, I didnt have any idea what was going on until the cops ran by and told us to lock our selves in. I don't think I personally was too scared mostly because it was in a different building and since I didnt see anything. With this I saw something crazy right away and my mind was drawing conclusions instantly. For me, the events at VT on that date conjure disappointment, disparage, and disrespect for the gun-man.

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Beer Batch 3 Part 1
February 10, 2008 08:15:26 PM
     For batch number 3, I thought I'd try brewing something from my other favorite beer family, wheat beers! So this time I am going for a Hefeweizen.
     As far as following the recipe, this is actually a little easier than making the pale ale in batch 2. Because there are no dry grains involved with the wort, there is no need to monitor the temperature so carefully, in fact, this one came be taken to a full boil right from the beginning.
     As far as the body, instead of dry grains, this batch used a second can of malt extract. This is done because the end result of a wheat beer's body should be more creamy rather than sharp and crispy (for lack of better words). The malt extract is a thick caramel like fluid created from the mixing, condensing, and heating of a variety of grains which ultimately provides the wort with flavor, body, and the sugars needed for fermentation.
     My deviations from the recipe this time included the addition of dextrose, and a few dashes of yeast nutrients. So just before I was done the boil, I added about 12oz of pure dextrose (a 100% fermentable sugar) . This was more of an experiment, but I wanted to see if I could raise the final alcohol content by about 0.75% Since there are no preservatives added to home brew, the only thing giving it any shelf life at all (since it is basically liquid bread) is the alcohol. By increasing the alcohol content, and maintaing the proper ratio between body and alcohol, you can increase the shelf life of the beer, and still have a great taste.
     The yeast nutrients are sort of like steroids for yeast. It enhances the yeast's ability to ferment. Since I added extra sugars this time, and I intend to leave the primary fermenter undisturbed for 2 whole weeks, and the yeast packet has been sitting on my shelf for 2 months, I wanted to ensure that the yeast will remain healthy for the duration of the process.


                        

                        

DATE: February 10, 2008 09:47:40 PM     NAME: km
COMMENT: OOOooo..MORE alcohol! =D Everything looks so great, Mountain Man =P

DATE: February 15, 2008 01:30:40 AM     NAME: andy
COMMENT: who took the pics of you? self timer?

DATE: February 15, 2008 10:28:25 PM     NAME: dk
COMMENT: yup, self timer, and some of these shots are hard to take with out someone there helping out.

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