My computer is completely messed up. It passed away in the middle of the night, so I don’t think it felt anything. I am writing on it currently, but all the colors are all messed up. Microsoft word is still relatively legible. Just gotta get by for the next two weeks until I can get back to Portland and try to make my brother fix it.

We just finished up our beer science weekend. What a wonderful experience. I was paid to lead hikes. There were a number of workshops that the participants had a chance to rotate through that taught about beer-making, home-brewing and all sorts of complicated things I didn’t understand. One of the workshops was a hike led by me. When I wasn’t hiking, I was helping one of the presenters pour beer for his taste-test and pushing next on his powerpoint presentation. His presentation was about what makes beer go bad, such as being overly oxidized, exposed to UV light, bacterial growth and things like that. It was pretty interesting from a biological and chemical stand-point. My hikes were pretty uneventful: I did the same thing four times, and had some interesting conversations. The folks who attended this workshop were very, very friendly and good-natured. Even though I knew nothing about beer-making, I felt included through their jokes and stories.

Everyone got tanked both nights. The brewery that co-sponsored this event brought one keg, but it got completely drained the first night (there was no miracle of the beer that lasted two nights). So the next day, one woman drove all the way back to the big city to pick up more beer and after her 7-hour journey, returned with a full keg and also a pony keg, both of which were not finished and both of which we subsequently get to keep!! They also showered us in gifts: a t-shirt, a 22-oz bottle of specialty beer, a tasting glass and a temporary tattoo for all. They also took the presenters and staff into the back room and gave us a private tasting of 10 or so of their delicious beers and also probably the best whiskey I’ve ever tasted. All as a thanks to US! I WAS ALREADY GETTING PAID AND ON TOP OF THAT, SO MUCH DELICIOUS BEER AND WHISKEY! It was sort of like the most wonderful thing ever. I then got out the gopher snake and brought him around to everyone so they could pet or hold him. We also brought out the bearded dragon and milk snake after having brought out the owl the night before. Turns out, when beer-makers get loaded up, they want to play with animals! Who knew? There was also a moderately interesting lecture and beer-tasting activity led by the keynote speaker, a professor of fermentology from the state university. He brought in some of his beer that they brew at the school. One of them was a stout brewed in whiskey barrels, so it still had a woody, whiskey flavor in addition to the rich, almost sweet stout flavor. Soooo good.

It was just so bizarre having kegs of delicious beer and beer-making stations set up in our teaching spaces. There are usually children and we don’t let them mention drugs, alcohol or other vulgarity. Today, we got to shake off the hangover and clean up after the mayhem. It took the better part of the morning. It will be sooo bad if it turns out I missed a beer bottle in one of the cabins normally used to house children. Sooo bad.

One week of maintenance, one week of clean-up and then I’m out of here. I don’t know what to think about all of this. I’m done teaching! Aah! Weird. It will be good to get back to Portland, but I'm certainly going to miss this lifestyle from time to time.

Listening to Pagliacci right now. Love it!