Throwing Fuji

...I like long stories so bare with me...
I used to drive a ratty old S-10 Blazer. Just about anyone reading this blog is probably familiar with lil' Blue; it was my first car. On my way home, after visiting Michian Tech, driving through Michigans Upper Peninsula, my Blazer spun a rod bearing. It was -5 F at the time and it was supposed to drop to -25 F ( not including wind chill) overnight. It was already close to 3PM and I was still 6 hours from home. Lucky for me, the car ran another 50 miles before throwing the rod through the side of the block. I was lucky because I was in actuality 50 miles from anything resembling civilization.
I crossed the bridge into St. Ignace and the Blazer died. The nice people in St. Ignace let me get a hotel room even though I had no ID and no credit card. The heater had stopped working 40 miles out,so I was really cold. I spent a hour of the 5 hours waiting for my Dad defrosting in the shower. It was a terrible experience and not one I ever wished to repeat.
Since that time I've had more than my share of unexplicable car problems since then. Recently, I lost a head gasket on my Subaru. The 'ru had been running so, I thought I had fixed the problem. Yup, everything seemed to be in order and the car had been running great for 3 weeks. So, the plan was to head to the UP for Christmas.
The day before the trip I changed the oil, flushed to coolant and added Subaru's special additive that's supposed to prevent gasket problems in the future. Afterwords, the car seemed to run even better. Even still, it was cold on the 22nd, much colder than it had been in the preceding weeks when I had spent so many hours fixing the aforementioned problem.
As I was preparing the car, reflecting on the coming drive up to the Keewenaw, a song came on the radio. The first single off Live's "Throwing Copper", I knew it well. You see there's no radio in the UP and on that fatefull trip all those years ago I brought along only one CD. Live's "Throwing Copper". I have not listened to the CD since and thanks to radio playlisting it is rarely heard, save special segments on the 90's. I should have recognized this as an omen.
Before we were to get off on Highway 10 off US 131 we were cut-off by a logging truck (heading north oddly) and decided to continue on into Cadillac. The change in plans required stretching the Subaru's muscle a bit, resulting in a downshift and a corresponding leap on the tach. It never touched the redlin;it might as well have. A pinging, that I initially blamed on a heatshield started welling up from the engine. By the time we reached the next exit the engine was not interested in running.....it was all of 12 degrees outside, the snow picked up. Our dog in the backseat showed no interest, probably because she was tranquilized.
Thankfully in this day and age everyone has cell phones. I called my parents and they came to swap vehicles. We made it up to the UP for Christmas Eve. Only after some further adventures.
My Dad managed to find a trailer in Cadillac and towed the 'ru home where it returned to it's perch in the pole barn.

I've just ordered a Japanses Domestic Market Long Block to drop into the Subaru. So, I'll be working out in the pole barn for another week. Thanks be to old man winter, it's supposed to be 40 degrees tomorrow. Let's hope the weather keeps up over the next week.

Fuji by the way stands for Fuji Heavy Industries, they are better know in the U.S. as Subaru.

These deer are relatively tame and can be hand-fed if you're in the right place at the right time. It's odd to see deer in the UP, they usually hold up in the swamps. We considered ourselves lucky. 

Winter Wonderland: 

Tavern on the green. The U of M golf course that is. The beer was provided by the Library brew pub. Good place to eat if a little overpriced. The beer has improved since they opened but still leaves something to be desired. Why is this picture (from the GVSU/MTU football game) circa November relevant? It's been rumored the Library is up for sale at $1.4 million. Now, I know that home prices in Houghton are a bit out of hand, but $1.4 mil? I'd be digging real deep into their books if I was on the buying end of that offer.  

A pic of me brewing what I hope will be my first lager. Picture shows my home built wort cooler and thermometer.  

Fed to boost interest rates to stabilize dollar

I'm certainly jumping to conclusions here but this news just reinforces my thought that the real reason the fed continues to raise rates is not because the economy is doing well. The real reason the fed continues to raise interest rates is to make the dollar more attractive to investors. The dollar continues to decline because of our trade deficit and will continue to do so unless the rate of savings or the rate of foreign investment goes up. Of course, we could also boost exports but I don't see that as all that likely. After all, what would we export?
Fed Chairman Lacker out of N.C. had these thoughts:

"Even if inflation remains low and constant, as we would like, we may still need to move the Fed funds rate fairly often," Lacker said."

"Lacker said that higher rates may be delayed if businesses seek to absorb the higher labor costs by reducing their profits."

"He noted that the Fed monetary policy is also capable of preventing the weaker dollar from boosting inflation.

"Monetary policy is capable of preventing oil price increases, or changes in the foreign exchange value of the dollar for that matter, from showing through to the underlying inflation rate," he said.

Lacker said consumer spending should continue to expand "at something near the strong pace we have been seeing." Worries about the low savings rate "should be taken with a grain of salt" because they omit capital gains on household assets."

Oh, so people are just spending their capital gains? I guess I need me some capital gains to spend.

More than one challenger to U.S. Hegemony

When most of us think of challenges to U.S. power in the world, most think of the EU or China. There seems to be no mention of the plans to unify the Gulf states. As stated here:

"The Gulf monarchies, whose combined GDP stood at 385.4 billion dollars in 2003 and is expected to reach 421.5 billion dollars this year, plan to establish a monetary union in 2005, a common market in 2007 and a single currency by the start of 2010."

...this is the first I've heard of it at least. How does this effect U.S. plans in Iraq. Obviously Iraq is not a Gulf monarchy, but would the group expand to include other Gulf states? This also may put to rest the fears that OPEC may move to the Euro for valuing oil. It seems more likely now that OPEC will start to divest it's dollar holdings into multiple currencies over the next 5 years. Still, the value of oil would no longer be pegged to the dollar.

Firefox

To all and any possibly reading this site. If you haven't already, check out firefox by clicking the link on the sidebar. I've been using Mozilla since some of the first builds came up, Firefox is not only an improvement, but it's smaller than quicker than either IE or Moz. I might also suggest checking out the plug-ins off the mozdev site. In particular take a look at gesture-based browsing. I have no idea how I ever lived without that feature.

Engine Brew

I've managed to complete the great-fuji engine project. As of this writing the engine has been re-assembled, installed. About 500 miles logged thus far and generating a $1500 cost save. A portion of the proceeds has been donated to charity.

As far as brewing is concerned. The cider I made has been bottled, some as wine the rest in the traditional bottle-conditioning manner. A small amount was put aside for a non-carbonated sample; I tried it out last week. So far, I'm concerned about some off-flavors that may be a result of second yeast pitch, the relatively high fermentation temperature and the "adds". I used cinamon, clove, nutmeg, honey and allspice in the "wort". Unfortunately, I think these items settled out for the mostpart and didn't add a lot in the way of flavor. It is possible that an extened conditioning stint will rid the cider of the off-flavors but it's hard to say for sure. I may open a bottle tonight and check, but I may have to wait until summer to roll it out for general consumption. New Years is still the goal, so I'll have to play it by ear.

My lager seems to be going great. Temperatures have fallen here in the mid-west bring the carboy temp down to the middle of the lager-temperature band. Given the yeast profile, I should have been there all along. This is my first lager though so expectations are low. Other good news, I might be grabbing my parents old fridge. A new fridge upstairs means our current firdge can move to the basement, allowing me to lager year round.

Mad Mad brewing

Despite all the time I've been spending on my engine project (see below) I've managed to squeeze in some time for homebrewing. I currently have two brew projects, the first is a cider. It's the first cider I've done and it did not start well. The fermentation stuck so I made a starter with another vial of yeast and some yeast nutrient. This worked well, too well in fact, I popped the airlock off the carboy. Good fun though, but man did it stink.
Thanksgiving weekend provided some time for additionaly brewing. In my rush to order parts for the Subaru, I forgot to expedite them;they arrived the Monday after Thanksgiving. In any case, like I said time for brewing.
As the entire mid-west is no doubt aware, we got hit with a nice snow storm on the Wednesday preceding Thanksgiving. The weather wasn't the best for driving, but it passes for good lagering weather. Of course, I had to drive to the homebrew shop 12 miles away to get supplies. I've never done a lager and the lager yeast available at the brew shop was limited. There was one vial of Oktoberfest/Marzen yeast left. Oktoberfests tend to be my favorite. So, I bought the yeast despite the "good until" date being six months passed. "Just make a starter, $3.00", the box told me. Sure, starters are always a good idea.
I made the starter, nothing. I added more wort and some energizer: not much., but there was yeast on the bottom. You see as an ale brewer I'm used to seeing a quick fermentation, this isn't the case with lagers, they are slower. Slower, right. That does actually mean it will take longer. I don't know what sort of irrationality made me believe I would see something within a day. Well, long story-short, I brewed and pitched my starter, nothing for a couple of days. Then, yesterday, krausen, beautiful krausen.

Patience. homebrewing is teaching me what 28 years have not taught so well. Apathy, angst? Yes. Patience? Not so much. Here's to growing into middle-age. Ahh, The sound of settling.