Monday, February 07, 2005
Seventh Graders, Microphones, Lent & Beer
Dealing with 7th graders on 5 hours of sleep isn't a lot of fun. I can handle on 7th grader at a time pretty well, it's when I'm saddled with 20 or so in a classroom situation that I start to run into problems. Still, they generally know right from wrong so if they're doing something they're not supposed to be doing it's pretty easy to convince them to stop that activity and get back to what they should be doing. Some will resist even though they know what they're doing is wrong. Those are the discipline problems and they're no fun to deal with. You'll have a couple of those in any given day with any age of student. Sometimes you can deal with it in class, sometimes you just send them out of the room. There's "Time Out" available, so there's help if you need it.
I should have brought my microphone to school today. It's got a weird crackling thing when I turn the pot while plugged directly into the board while playing at church. I think it's a problem with the set up there as it doesn't happen at the open mics I play at or when I'm plugged into a DI (Direct Input) box at the church. It sounds like an impedence mismatch to me, since it works fine when I'm coming out of an XLR cable. The mic is a 1/4" plug, but is pumping out mic level. There's probably an impedence setting on the board at church that I'll have to check on. In the meantime, the pot on that mic shouldn't crackle, so a cleaning is probably in order. Dad says he has some cleaner that we can try out on it.
Lent starts on Wednesday, and while I'm not the most pious person in the world, last year I decided to give up beer for lent. It was a very rewarding decision in a number of ways, not all of them having to do with religion. I, of course, put my own spin on it. I brewed a batch of beer, and left it in the bottle until Easter. I had tried to make an Oatmeal Stout, though it didn't have the right color and the flavor wasn't quite right. I don't think I roasted my oats properly. In any case, I've decided to try it again, but this year I'll use a tried and true recipe, my flagship brew, Red Ass Ale. I like the idea of brewing something with that name for a quasi-religious reason. And drinking it for the first time on Easter only makes it that much more humorous to me. I like to think God has a sense of humor. If he doesn't, I'm surely destined for eternal damnation. Being Lutheran, I find it quite satisfying that Martin Luther enjoyed a good brew from time to time. He was a German, for heaven's sake, his religion never would have taken off in Germany if he didn't drink beer. If beer was OK with Luther, I'm pretty sure it's OK with God. The name thing is a little different, but the label cleary shows a donkey that is red, hence the Red Ass part of the name. Since it uses a top fermenting yeast, and is fermented at relatively high temps, it's an Ale.
So on the way home today I need to pick up 6 lbs. of Amber malt syrup, 2 oz. of Cascade hops and the appropriate yeast. I don't remember the White Labs numerical designation, but the Wyeast designation is 1056. Why do I remember stuff like that, I haven't used Wyeast in 6 or 7 years! I've got the specialty grains at home from previous brewing. It was a small amount of roasted barley (primarily for color) and 1 lb. of Crystal malt. I'm not sure if I have a whole pound, but I'll use up what I've got.
Ooh! And I also need to pick up a guitar string or two! Well, the brewing supplies are more important......
BOJ
I should have brought my microphone to school today. It's got a weird crackling thing when I turn the pot while plugged directly into the board while playing at church. I think it's a problem with the set up there as it doesn't happen at the open mics I play at or when I'm plugged into a DI (Direct Input) box at the church. It sounds like an impedence mismatch to me, since it works fine when I'm coming out of an XLR cable. The mic is a 1/4" plug, but is pumping out mic level. There's probably an impedence setting on the board at church that I'll have to check on. In the meantime, the pot on that mic shouldn't crackle, so a cleaning is probably in order. Dad says he has some cleaner that we can try out on it.
Lent starts on Wednesday, and while I'm not the most pious person in the world, last year I decided to give up beer for lent. It was a very rewarding decision in a number of ways, not all of them having to do with religion. I, of course, put my own spin on it. I brewed a batch of beer, and left it in the bottle until Easter. I had tried to make an Oatmeal Stout, though it didn't have the right color and the flavor wasn't quite right. I don't think I roasted my oats properly. In any case, I've decided to try it again, but this year I'll use a tried and true recipe, my flagship brew, Red Ass Ale. I like the idea of brewing something with that name for a quasi-religious reason. And drinking it for the first time on Easter only makes it that much more humorous to me. I like to think God has a sense of humor. If he doesn't, I'm surely destined for eternal damnation. Being Lutheran, I find it quite satisfying that Martin Luther enjoyed a good brew from time to time. He was a German, for heaven's sake, his religion never would have taken off in Germany if he didn't drink beer. If beer was OK with Luther, I'm pretty sure it's OK with God. The name thing is a little different, but the label cleary shows a donkey that is red, hence the Red Ass part of the name. Since it uses a top fermenting yeast, and is fermented at relatively high temps, it's an Ale.
So on the way home today I need to pick up 6 lbs. of Amber malt syrup, 2 oz. of Cascade hops and the appropriate yeast. I don't remember the White Labs numerical designation, but the Wyeast designation is 1056. Why do I remember stuff like that, I haven't used Wyeast in 6 or 7 years! I've got the specialty grains at home from previous brewing. It was a small amount of roasted barley (primarily for color) and 1 lb. of Crystal malt. I'm not sure if I have a whole pound, but I'll use up what I've got.
Ooh! And I also need to pick up a guitar string or two! Well, the brewing supplies are more important......
BOJ
# posted by Blind Orange Julius @ 10:47 AM 
