Going beyond transition

Day 105: Whiskey Aging… DONE!

Posted on April 18, 2014 by Linus Posted in Life .

The final good stuff!

So after nearly 3 and a half months it’s done! I ended up with a bottle and a half of sweet, dark whiskey. It’s amazingly easy to do. At this point, I’m going to let the remaining alcohol evaporate and then refill the barrel with raw agave and fresh blueberries as an experiment. I may even mix in a little Glenmorganie as a starter to the white dog whiskey that I’ll be using.

With luck I may have it ready for my work’s next offsite and share it, along with some good cigars, with some dear friends. 🙂

Aging Whiskey (day 7)

Posted on January 10, 2014 by Linus Posted in Daily life .

So, I poured a small splash of the whiskey from the barrel to sample it. Definitely has a nice sweet aroma to it (faint but there). It almost makes me think of those clear, warm days surrounded by purple honeysuckle flowers.

The colour of the whiskey is almost a really light white wine right now. I tried to take pictures but they came out showing the whiskey nearly clear. I suspect that next week there will be more colour to show from all this.

As for the taste, it’s still somewhat of plain whiskey but some hints of smokey-ness and sweetness are popping through. It will be really interesting to see how things will differ when I get to the end of whole process.

Aging Whiskey (day 0)

Posted on January 3, 2014 by Linus Posted in Daily life, recipes .

The start of a new whiskey?

So today, after let the small barrel swell with hot water for the last 4 days, I finally could put the “white dog” whiskey in. Now for those unaware, “white dog” whiskey is a kind of unaged whiskey. Think of it as a raw whiskey, almost a moonshine kind of alcohol. The aging process in a barrel will infuse the various flavours that the barrel gives off. For example, one of my favourite whiskeys (really hard to get outside of Nova Scotia) is Glen Breton’s Ice Whiskey, which is aged in ice wine barrels.

Since my barrel is a simple small oak barrel and has limited flavours to what the oak offers, I decided to try a bit of an experiment. The water I used to swell the barrel (this has the effect of making the wood increase in size, ensuring no leaks or “bleed” or alcohol through the wood) was also mixed with raw agave. And as part of the aging process, I had to add additional water — which also had more agave in it. It’ll be interesting to see what comes out of the barrel in a couple of months.

Most larger barrel aging process (for the 53 gallon drums) takes months to years to age adequately. This smaller process will likely take 6-8 weeks and I’ll lose about 30% (or more!) of the raw whiskey to evaporation (aka “the Angel’s share”). Since we live in a very arid area, this will primarily be water which could mean a higher than normal alcohol content for the whiskey when all is said and done.

Either way, this will be an interesting exercise.

Small House Idea

Posted on December 30, 2013 by Linus Posted in Dreams, Life .

Initial Idea

So I discovered this online app called Floorplanner.com. It’s a free site that helps you to do up designs and floorplans. There are paid versions for this (I got the $15 per year version as it’ll suit my needs for mucking about without a huge cost, particularly the exporting of designs). I was trying to describe, last night, my ideas to K and couldn’t quite get it across. I think this helps.

The way I have it laid out in this design, the bedroom is basically on the same level as the kitchen, just raised on a paritial floor. The other option would be to move the bed into a loft with a small staircase to the top (there would be storage in the staircase for things like books, shoes, etc.). It would be something like Tumbleweed Tiny House’s Whidbey Design (although I’d add extra square footage to the bathroom and kitchen. And would remove the 1st floor bedroom, giving that space to the Great Room and add in the staircase.

One of the things I’d like to do is actually build this sucker. K and I discussed it last night and when we get closer to making this a reality (it’s about 3+ years away), we’ll take a couple of workshops on building small houses. Tumbleweed offers these around the US and in Canada. I like the idea since it means it’s done at our pace (I’d probably do a whack of PTO in a row to get the bulk of the house ready). I’m still debating whether to have a basement or not. I’m thinking it may be worthwhile for cold storage of important things like toilet paper, paper towels, potatoes, carrots (other root veggies), wine, etc. You know. The necessities. 😉

I still think it’s doable. We’re still “downsizing”. We currently fill, very well, 800 sq feet. We basically need to halve that. Most of our “stuff” is books. I’m currently purging those in favour of shelf space and to reduce my current shelving units. And seriously considering getting additional Kindles (one for fiction, one for Computer books, one for philosophy/buddhism, etc.) It’s my one big complaint about the Kindle Paperwhite — very limited space for books (only up to about 1000). Keep in mind, I’ve had upwards of 3000+ books at times (!!!!). There are certain books that I’m keeping hard copies of (my mom’s music book, her handwritten book of poetry, etc.) but the ones I’ve read already and won’t re-read again (I rarely do this) or technical books that are more for reference make no sense to have hard copies. The traveling I do make it hard to use printed copies and lug them with.

As I continue to Walden (Henry David Thoreau), I’m reminded of this quote:

If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with success unexpected in common hours.

Tiny steps still move us forward (long post)

Posted on December 7, 2013 by Linus Posted in Daily life, Life, Traveling/Work .

Well.. not THAT busy.

So, life has been busy of late. Not stupid busy like last year (last year I flew over 90,000 miles in the continental US/Canada; this year only I’ll clock only about 65,000) but still busy. I suppose it’s a bit of a mid-life crisis (although I could have sworn I had one of those about 15-20 years ago) but I’ve been re-evaluating where I want to be and settle down at. Right now I have 3 main areas: Edmonton (Alberta); GTA/Ottawa (Ontario); Halifax (Nova Scotia). There are pros and cons to each (most pros are related to family/friends that are in those areas). I also have to consider that ultimate “What-if I lost my job” and what opportunities would exist. This is one of the bigger cons for the Halifax area with weather being the 2nd thing (I can handle only so much rain and gray skies). But then there’s the ocean and the sound and smells that come with the Atlantic (very different from the Pacific). And, of course, being closer to family in both Nova Scotia and New Brunswick as well as getting back to my Acadian roots.

Continue reading →

Forever in memory

Posted on July 13, 2013 by Linus Posted in Buddhism, Life .

Today I look to Thich Nhat Hanh for advice on grief. He once said:

I hold my face in my two hands.
No, I am not crying.
I hold my face in my two hands
to keep the loneliness warm –
two hands protecting,
two hands nourishing,
two hands preventing
my soul from leaving
me in anger.

It’s been 21 years since my mom’s death and I found sanctuary in dealing with it in thought and meditation. Today seems harder than other years (I don’t know why; perhaps part of me is letting my attachment to my successes get the better of me, especially since she never recognized them when she was alive and she cannot do so now). Either way, Thich’s poem reminds me that death is part of life, even when it was a violent one).

So where have I been..

Posted on December 26, 2012 by Linus Posted in Daily life, Life .

Well, I’ve been here but I’ve been swamped. Not that it’s an excuse or anything but it’s been a bit of a reality. Things are starting to slow down. It’s funny how in this position I was supposed to be “on platform” (that is, teaching in front of customers) about 35% of my time. Between the teaching (50%) and other stuff I’ve been doing a lot beyond that. It’s part of why I feel so exhausted the last few months and I’ve started now to try to adjust this a bit. One of the things that has been taking up a bit of time is a book. Not a novel (although I still have the desire to do that) but rather a technical one. I can’t quite talk about all the details of it but I will say that I have a whole new respect for those who write books, especially novels. With a novel you have to think up all the content and imagine it. With a technical book, like the one I’m doing, I can easily pull a variety of info from a variety of sources (e.g., existing documents or actual product use) and don’t have to really create material. I have to “translate” from dry to something exciting and understandable. But holy shit! It’s hard.

I think my biggest challenge is focus. I can certainly talk about the product in question but focusing it into a topic that makes sense based on the proposal I gave the publisher is a lot more challenging than I thought it would be. I’m still working on some chapters and have to redo some of the screenshots but focus is still something I need to work on.

Ya. It was that busy. I did well over 93,000 airmiles this year.

That’s not a typo.

93K in one year in just the US and Canada. I didn’t even go across the water, in either direction.

If I had gone home (home in the sense of back to New Brunswick to spend the holidays), I would have hit the highest level of American Airlines elite status. As much as I missed family, I’m very exhausted. It’s nice to visit cities but the challenge I run into is that I often have work to do after I do whatever has me visiting that city (e.g., teaching a class, meetings, etc.). So my day goes from a 5am to 5pm to a 5am to a 10pm. And then add on additional work on the weekends.

I found one way to address some stress and that was with an app I got from the Apple Store: Simply Being (the developer website is here: http://www.meditationoasis.com/ ). It’s a meditation app that helps you meditate. I use it to help me relax before going to sleep and helps me sleep deeper because it helps me rid my mind of all my thoughts and worries of the day.

As I had mentioned earlier, I’ve been spending part of the year writing. And I’ve learned how difficult that is. There are so many distractions out there in the world. I suspect that part of it is my mind trying to sort through how to put the material down. Once I get going, I’m good and usually can a fair amount done. But then life interferes. Thankfully, I’m getting close to the end of the core writing and will have some last bits to finish up on. I think if I get asked again to do a book, I will say no or limit myself to doing a chapter or two rather than the whole thing (especially as a soloist).

And on that note, back to the grind.

A milestone

Posted on July 28, 2012 by admin Posted in transition .

You know, I had thought my transition, physically, had reached all that I can. Until today.

I went snorkeling (as much as I could given the winds and current) without a shirt. No one stopped me, questioned me or looked at me funny.

Good thing I didn’t wear the Brazilian speedo thong (think Homer Simpson in Brazil) =o

I’m working on coming back…

Posted on July 22, 2012 by Linus Posted in Daily life .

Watch this space! More to come..

You opened the fridge! Gushy food, right? Right?! RIGHT?!?!

Rumors of My Demise are Greatly Exaggarated

Posted on September 26, 2011 by Linus Posted in fitness, Life, transition, vegan stuff .

Life have been extremely busy of late. From about the end of July to now I’ve been doing 60-80 hour weeks. My paycheck loves it but I’m starting to wear a bit. I knew it was going to be like this and it will likely continue to the end of the year. In a lot of ways, this is great! It means I’ll be happily employed for a while yet (and to be honest, I don’t expect that to change but with the economy as it’s going, anything is possible). In other news K got a job (finally!) in her field. After nearly a year and half (with over 1,000 applications and only 2 interviews) she got a call back for a temp position in the VA. I suspect that she’ll be there longer than the 2-3 months they initially said it would be (they keep giving her more cases) so that’s good. Even better, she’s really happy about all that.

On a lark yesterday, we went to the Open House that the place next door was showing. It was perfect! 3 bedroom (or rather 1 bedroom, 2 offices or 1 bedroom, 1 office and maybe 1 nursery?), had a nice backyard (for the puglettes), a 2nd floor large balcony, granite counter tops, new appliances and a center aisle kitchen workspace. The biggest downside was lack of A/C. And that’s a deal breaker in L.A. Although where we live is actually very temperate there can be weeks where it gets regularly above 100F. The other downside was price: $600K. We could do it but I’m hesitant until the green card is done. And once we’re confident that K’s job is perm, I think we’ll look into it. I don’t know that $600K is achievable. I’ve always thought that $250-300K would be more appropriate but who knows? With rates so low it may be a good time for us to lock into a long term mortgage. One of my long term dreams was to have a house. Not for financial reasons but for permanence and to settle down.

Needless to say, the house next door definitely fit into what we were dreaming of as a house. It would need a little work (and some major heavy duty cleaning! I could tell where they tried to hide it) but it’s something that could easily be done. More importantly, is that we’d be able to stay in a community that we like and we could get to know more of it.
In other news, apparently the Health Insurance company is claiming that my surgery isn’t coverable (even though their own policy says that it can). I think they deliberately make it hard to obtain coverage. So to help me with this I enabled help from CKlife.org to get through the red tape of health insurance. I think one of the biggest challenges in the US (that I’ve faced) is the overwhelming amount of red tape that everything has, from taxes to health care. The fact that, as an intelligent adult, I need help to navigate all this crap is incredible. I suppose that is how one keeps a large population at work — by tracking things via paperwork (and it’s mostly paperwork; it’s surprising how many do not have good online account systems). But I still find it all frustrating. I am still recovering to a degree and have decided to postpone my planned trip from Vancouver, B.C. to Los Angeles next year to the year after. So it’s now a goal of 2013 rather than 2012.

That should give me enough time to get back into shape (other than round) and get back to fully vegan. I’ve been gradually moving back to it. Watching and reading about the whys reminded me why I so much did it in the past. Sometimes we need that before we can get back to where we were. At this point, I’ve gotten to about 95% vegan with some vegetarian meals here and there (I’m trying to empty the fridge of stuff without having to toss it). I was also considering a gym membership with maybe a trainer (it’s a UFC gym) but perhaps what I need is just the trainer bit. I don’t think I need a gym since my body is weight enough and if I do the exercises right, I can use that. I just need to figure out where in my schedule I should put this. It may be a matter of scheduling 30-60 min a day just so I can have that time to do exercise. I am, at least, walking the dogs early in the morning before work starts. I may need to get up a little earlier to do the weight stuff and then do the dog walk afterwards. Hrmm…