Hello? Is anybody in there?

That's me knocking on the side of my head as I wonder what the hell I've been doing for the last month and a half. Sorry about the non-posting. I've been somewhat unmotivated to post with work, house and holidays all crashing in at once. It won't happen again, that I can assure you.

Now that things at the house are starting to get into shape, I've been getting antsy to brew in the capital of home brewing, Portland. I have a great opportunity here. So many outlets from which to draw information and experience, and my own house where I can set up a whole area devoted to brewing. Kind of a brewing workshop if you will. Mad scientist at work....HA-HA-HA!!!!

I've started doing some preliminary searching for resources in the area. Here are but a few that I've looked into thus far:

Oregon Brew Crew - A home-brewing club here in Oregon devoted to the "advancement of home brewing and beer appreciation". Sounds like my kind of club. I'm thinking about joining it, but need to look further into whether the $25 annual membership fee is justified. Seems pretty cool at first glance though.

The Beer Recipator - A collection of a million different beer recipes thoroughly organized into several categories.

And for anyone interested in the joining Lisa and me for some beer tasting this year, here's the schedule for the various beer festivals in Portland:

Spring Beer and Wine Fest - March 25-26, 2005
Portland International Beer Festival - July 8-10, 2005
Oregon Brewer's Festival - July 28-31, 2005
Holiday Ale Festival - December 2-4, 2005

Anyone thinking of coming up for these events, or anything else for that matter, is more than welcome to stay at our place while in town.