Oh, we'll drink, we'll drink, we'll drink

Many yummy beverages in the last few days, enough to merit a post of their own.

First off, for several months now I have enjoyed, and have recently brought others into the knowledge and love of, Lindemans Framboise Lambic. This is a raspberry beer from Belgium which is so red that I've seen people mistake it for wine. They carry it at the pub-with-wifi where I periodically go to get work done, and over the weekend I discovered that I can buy it at the grocery store. (I also discovered, upon finding it at the store, that the pub isn't marking it up all that much. At $11 for a 750ml bottle, I've had reasonably good wines that were cheaper. Yeep.) If you like fruit but think you don't like beer, try this beer; it has brought at least one avowed non-beer-drinker of my acquaintance to agree that beer is indeed living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.

Following the raspberry trend, at lunch today I picked up a bottle of Reed's Ginger Brew. I like ginger ale a lot, and I like really gingery ginger ale even better, and raspberry provides a lovely counterpoint to the spiciness. (17 grams of fresh ginger to the bottle.) It went down so well with the tandoori chicken I had that I went back to the store and picked up a four-pack. At over a buck a bottle it isn't really economical for frequent consumption, but perhaps it can be acquired more cheaply elsewhere on teh intarweb. (But probably not here.)

Also, since yoctohedron asked and because I suspect others might want to know -- my brewer friend who isn't madandrew informs me that yes, there is such a thing as alcoholic ginger beer. It is called Carib Shandy, and is in fact why he got interested in brewing in the first place. (He also informs me that soon he will be brewing up a new batch of mead, which brings back memories of being fourteen and trying to brew mead in Coke bottles. They exploded. This should surprise approximately no one. But, mmm, mead is good.)

[jobhunt] What I Want

I'm taking a page out of saoirse_kore's book, and rattling off a list of what I want out of a career, or rather, what I want out of the situation I'm trying to engineer, job- and life-wise.

I want a fusion of research and Real Coding. I want to come up with fantastic ideas in collaboration with other clever people, develop plans that make sense, and turn them into real working code that people will find useful in the real world.

I want breathing room to develop the work-related projects I come up with, and I want the projects I work on that I didn't come up with to be interesting, challenging, and good ideas that should be made. Too many people don't even understand what can be done, and an even smaller number of the ones who do understand the difference between what can be done and what should be done.

I want a job that I don't mind thinking about when I'm not at work, but which I don't have to think about when I'm not at work.

I want to sleep in till 10 and work at the times when I naturally do my best work (read: after dark).

I want to live within my means and put frightening amounts of money away, the way my brother did.

I want to cook more, and learn how to cook for one person and still enjoy it.

I want a kitchen that uses space wisely and doesn't skimp on counters or cabinets. I want a pantry, too, and an ice maker. Also a washer and dryer, though not in the kitchen.

I want a room with a futon and lots of pillows, and a little fridge full of sodas and beer, and recessed lighting on a variable switch, and a good sound system, and bookshelves clear to the ceiling, and no windows.

I want a different room with a table for my sewing machine, and another to put fabric on, and a tall slanted desk for drawing and calligraphy just underneath a big window that lets in lots of light.

I don't think I could afford a real piano in the living room, but I want at least a good electric one.

I want a garage with enough space for my car, my bike and my Vespa, and a big workbench or space to build one, and room to put up pegboards for hand tools and power tools. I want a table saw and really good lighting, both overhead and directional. And a really good oscilloscope.

I want a good place to put a secure gun safe.

I want to be near tall green growing things and I want to be near water. And I want to be less than an hour's drive from yoctohedron, just because, dammitall. And I want to be near a major airport with cheap flights to lots of places, because the rest of y'all matter too.