Promises Made and Kept – To Others.

I am writing this because I promised Marielle I would. I am writing this because I promised Deb I would.

I’m writing this because I promised myself I would, and then I didn’t. Repeatedly. For months. And I still wouldn’t be, but Marielle and Deb aren’t me. Committing to them is, somehow, more imperative than committing to myself.

This, honestly, is how I’ve functioned for 90% of my life. Maybe more. Maybe a lot more. Commitments to others matter(ed) more, far more, than commitments to myself.

I have been trying to get motivated to update this here MetaCookbook for months. Even before I managed to publish Shafiqah’s wonderful beer origin story, and especially after. I had so many ideas after. I wanted to ask Liz and Russ and so many others.… Continue reading →

All of Me

This little blog has existed for almost seven years now. I’ll be honest, that kind of blows my mind. It’s had numerous lulls (most of 2011 comes to mind, as does one of my most recent posts), but I keep coming back to it and I keep going with it. There aren’t a lot of things in my life that I can say that about.

Lions and science in general, as referenced below. Beer? We’re not that far along yet, but I’m still entranced and I think we’re in it for the long haul. Bill? More than double that in time, at this point (if not romantically for about half of it).

I started this post almost two years ago. I’m not sure why or how it fell off my radar, but in looking through my drafts, I came upon it again.… Continue reading →

A Time for Everything

It’s a snow day here in Portland, Oregon. We got somewhere between six and nine inches of snow last night. Maybe even more, but given how bad I am at estimating sizes of things1, I won’t try harder to be sure.

It’s not the first snow day we’ve had, but somehow it feels more like a snow day than any other. Maybe it’s how damn much snow is out there, or maybe it’s how quiet it is inside. I’m not sure. Nor am I sure if I care to figure out the “why” rather than just experience things as they are. In this case, it’s a snow day kind of day. I have tea. I have an urge to write. My tea is in a new, fabulous mug from the fantastic Deb Cooperman, and it’s encouraging my tea-ing and writing.… Continue reading →

Some Photos From Last Week

So, I’ve been fairly quiet for a little over two weeks, not counting the post full of links I put up last. This is the result of two rather unrelated things. The first was having written a few posts that I asked others to look over, only to (correctly) hear back that they needed work. The other was that Bill had some surgery, and I’ve been looking after him and caffeinating and feeding him during his recovery.

I’ve been (and plan to continue) working toward having a buffer set up for just such occasions, but I’m not there yet. And, frankly, I don’t know if I would have had as much of a buffer as I would have needed just now. That’s life.

I’m nearly done with the posts that needed reworking, thankfully.… Continue reading →

Mundane. Yet Glorious

Last night, I went out for a beer release near a friend’s house. I knew she lived in the area, but had thought she didn’t like this bar, so I didn’t invite her to join me. This is despite the fact that, last night, I was in pretty dire need of companionship.

She realized I was there, came out anyway, shared french fries with me and laughed at me as I tried Malört (both kinds) for effectively the first time. I’m very glad she came out, both for the company and for making me think.

She asked me “What’s new?” And I replied, as I often do, “Nothing.”

Then, almost immediately, I had to say, “Wait, no, that’s not true. I’m going to Baltimore Beer Week next week.”… Continue reading →