Holy shit, it’s been awhile. I’m so sorry. Life in Denver has been crazy, yet still the same. Where do I begin? I got a new job at Kabletown. I am now a Media Management Technician 3. I got out of the Originations department because Kabletown has decided to revamp the whole group with new high tech automation technology which means less man power needed. I smelled a rat and jumped ship! Smart move on my part, if I do say so myself. Joe did the same thing. I hope he’s happy over in CDOC. Everyone on the team has been sweating bullets since the announcement. The management had promised us “..we expect little to no turnover with this adjustment..” blah blah blah. The Media Management Group handles any type of media that comes into the building, whether it be for Originations, VOD, independent clients etc… Regardless of what happens in Originations, my job is secure. Bolts! Unfortunately, I’ve been working overnights in the “coal mine” until I’m trained up.
Enough about work. No, haven’t been skating. Sorry.
In other news, let’s talk beer! I’ve been brewing beer at home since the beginning of last year after Jessica bought me a homebrew kit for Christmas. I’ve slowly ramped up and improved my system over the last year and have produced a handful of quality beers. One in particular was “Grant’s Belgian Wit” which is basically a Hoegaarden/White Rascal style beer. It turned out pretty good. I brought a few bottles down to my local brewery, Chain Reaction, and they loved it. Chain Reaction has a very small brew system which allows them to experiment with small batches every week. We agreed to run a small batch of my Belgian Wit recipe since they liked it so much and because I have become a “favorite regular” of their establishment. We agreed on a brew date which happened to be my birthday, April 7th! Several weeks passed and the beer was ready to be tapped!
They call me Skywalker because my last name is similar to Mark Hamill…Skywalker… you get it. Anyways, we brewed 11 gallons and it sold out in 3 days! I was very happy that it sold so quick, and was happy to hear that one customer in particular really liked it. The owner of High Plains Tap House in Littleton happened to stop by and had a couple pints, liked it so much that he demanded that Chain Reaction make more, a whole barrel’s worth, so he can pour it at his tap house! Skywalker Wit will live again, in the future. Stay tuned. In the meantime, I think my next home batch will be a “special reserve” of the original, Grant’s Belgian Wit.
My brother Scott and I headed down to Phoenix in mid March to catch a few Cubs games and to escape the brutal Colorado winter that kept on lingering. Phoenix was dope! I’d love to share pictures but my new Mac and my new phone aren’t connecting at the moment but I’ll share the highlights: The Cubs new stadium in Mesa is awesome! Our hotel in North Downtown was pretty sweet too! We had In-N-Out Burger first and foremost when we landed. Camel Back Mountain is a rough hike. Phoenix loves “West Coast IPA‘s.” Phoenix is dry, hot, old school, lovely, has stolen my heart. Phoenix is a lot like LA, and if you remember my post about my trip to LA/Burbank last summer, you’ll recognize a lot of similar notes. Due to the simmering, unchanging weather, Phoenix is flat, untouched, preserved, encapsulated. I felt like I was in the 1960’s. I wish I had brought nicer lounge clothes, show Don Draper some respect. And in the same way, it reminded me of my family. Our parents used to take my brother and I to Phoenix all the time when we were much, much younger. We have home movies to prove it. Phoenix equals nostalgia to me on so many levels, it’s really weird.
I felt like Scott and I had gone back in time. Nothing changes in Phoenix because there is nothing to tear it down. The city is like a snow-globe, but full of heat and sand, rather than drastically changing elements. I remember walking two blocks from our hotel to the local Safeway to buy beer and admiring the sidewalk. So smooth and original, untouched. One particular slab in particular had an imprint in it, “1963.” Beautiful, classic, romantic, always the same. Two blocks to the north, Scott and I noticed an empty lot that some local skaters had converted to a DIY skate spot, fucking awesome! If I’m ever “on the lam,” check Phoenix, I’ll probably be there.
Stubborn11 
0 Responses to “autumn leaves must fall”