Had a great time at the OBF in Portland tonight, especially good since the mugs and tokens we got were free. (Yay for free stuff from vendors.)

Everything I tried was reasonably good, and some were amazing. (Brewery in parens.)

• Haywire Hefeweizen (Pyramid Breweries) - Good brew, lacked citrus that I normally associate with Widmer's Hef.


• Alaskan White Ale (Alaskan Brewing Co) - This was really good, very clean, and a lot of flavor to it.


• Old Man River Oatmeal Stout (Riverport Brewing Co) - By far my favorite dark beer I tried, clean, not heavily bitter.


• Razberry Wheat (Cascade Brewing) - Flat out amazing beverage! Clean, fruity, and a wonderful pink color. A+++++ WOULD DRINK AGAIN


• Eat a Bale o' Hops IPA (Rock Bottom Brewery) - Eh, OK, not bad for an IPA, which I'm not that terribly into.


• KGB Russian Imperial Stout (Widmer Brothers Brewing Co) - Not bad, but my least favorite dark that I tried.


• Overcast Espresso Stout (Oakshire Brewing) - You could taste the coffee in it, but not quite as smooth as I'd have liked.


• Wheatfish Wheat Lager (Great Northern Brewing Co) - Clean, light, refreshing, like a lager should be, nice note to end the night on.

Ironically Jon was wearing a George Fox shirt whilst hoisting brews, and actually got three or four comments on it. I should have thought ahead and worn one too, just for the awesome factor. One of the best parts was when at random times a deafening cheer would just run through the entire area, with brewskies held aloft.

Definitely more crowded than I'd have preferred, though, my co-worker that went on Thursday probably had it right.

Voodoo Doughnuts made a wonderful end to the night, bacon maple bar, and a bunch of other random ones. Someone next to me even bought their most famous shaped one. Good times.

So I'm going to do it - starting February 25, Peter will be a vegan.

I know, WTF moment of the century, how can the man who's absolutely addicted to cheese and milk give up animal products? And better yet, why would someone do such a thing?

1. Environmental impact animal production in and of itself isn't inherently terrible for the planet, but the factory farming system we use to grow our meat takes a huge toll for what it produces.


2. I eat tons of animal products, I'm not sure I can point to a meal in the past weeks where I haven't included it as a part, but curtailing my activities for a bit will hopefully lessen the impact of those on my diet.


3. I eat too much processed crap. Not that this is inherently non-vegan, mind you, but fast food is very much tied to meat products, and going vegan will force me to eat more whole veggies and grains.

I was originally going to just find a time to try this out for a few weeks, but a friend of mine suggested I try it for Lent. A starting and ending time seems like a great thing for a test period: 6 weeks starting on 2/25/09.

Plus, I'll still get to keep some of my vices (Mountain Dew, Top Ramen) so it won't be all bleak.

I'm still dubious that I can actually like stuff like soy milk, seitan, or TVP, but we shall see. I'll at least be able to try them and see what I think.

*gulp* this is gonna be rough.

William Shatner sings Lucy in the sky with diamonds.

Everything is just right about this video.

These yearbook photos of politicians are amazing. I had previously thought it impossible for Blagojevich to have more hair than he does right now...

Check out this incredible photo essay on knife crafting in Japan.

That's craftsmanship, I bet those things are incredible to cook with.

In case any of ya'll haven't heard, the GFU Women's Basketbll team is 22-0 - undefeated thus far this year.

They're ranked #4 in the nation among division III schools, have won their conference, and are 3 wins from a perfect season.

I think I'm gonna have to go see the two home games next weekend, an undefeated season in anything is crazy tough.

Rejection letter from Disney in 1938. The irony is thick with the witch next to the signature.

Heavy metal kazoos, how brilliant.

This is amazing video that someone put together using the models from World of Warcraft, and some incredible animation skills.

I'm going to embed it in here, but I'd definitely recommend going to the site and watching it in HD. Stunningly good.


The Craft of War: BLIND from percula on Vimeo.

Interesting little quiz, apparently I'm 51.2% addicted to films. (Thank goodness I've seen all those Hitchcock, Buster Keaton, and Charlie Chaplin movies.)

http://plutor.org/filmaddict/?f=dmipvt9l

Beat me, I dares ya.