catch up, again

How many times have I started a blog lately apologizing for not having posted in a while? I don't even want to count.

I've been quite busy the past month with the usual mix of travel, house work, and friend time but also engineering work. December is generally a very quiet month in the studio but this year has been different. November was dead but December was full with interesting sessions with Michael Bolton & Sarah Buxton/Jedd Hughes. I also got the opportunity to help a friend of mine finish out a little home studio/drum room in this basement. He's been doing a lot of the work himself but needed some more muscle to help hang drywall on the ceiling. He has really planned out the room and is putting up 2 separate layers of drywall with a floating stud system in between to help sound proof the room. Side note: He's also invented a new remote hi-hat that is taking over the drum world.

I really enjoyed helping hang the drywall and of course learned a lot in the process. Work is continuing in our upstairs room/nursery. I've finished cleaning the aged shellacked trim and have 3 coats of primer on the trim and door frame and have started priming the rest of the room. The old yellow paint is getting covered up and all my plaster work is getting a nice coat of white primer. Looks like we'll be picking out the new paint after we get back in town from the Atlanta Wholesale show. This project is going well but quite slowly.

Troy had his annual homebrew party this past wed. Beth wanted to stay home and get some work done so I headed over alone. The night temperature was in the 50s so I rode the crosscheck over. It was a perfect evening to be out on the bike and it felt extra good since I have not been out on my bike much lately. Troy brewed a special Pale Ale experiment where he made 4 batches of Pale Ale which are identical except for the hops used. He had these bottled in the fridge and also had a killer Vanilla Stout and English Bitter in the kegerator. Lots of the usual crew showed up: Sharp, Dan H, Doug, Ivan, Angela, Melanie, Holly and even JutRut made a special appearance. I didn't realize at first but it had been a while since I'd hung with the crew. It was nice to catch up with everyone and fun to meet some new friends like Melanie's brother. Of course the beer was great and Sharp was sharing some crazy news.

bike's where they belong: inside

Troy's Hop Project

Angela enjoying the tasty Vanilla Stout

Dan modeling his now-tame beard

The man (and woman) of the hour

I also had the opportunity to go to the Titans / Dolphins game with my father in law. The game was awesome, as the Titans played well for 3 out of the 4 quarters, almost losing it but sealing the game in overtime. The stadium has upped it's beer selection so Tad and I scored some Magic Hat #9 and also had some awesome turkey legs! I scored a picture of this great hat. . . probably the best use for a case of Miller Lite:

Christmas 2009 was another amazing Christmas. We spent the entire day at my in-laws and exchanged gifts and ate like Kings. Even Zero got in to the festivities:

can you see the disdain on his face?