just stuff

Stuff 1: I'm just finishing off a stubbie of the exploding batch 6, which was a Cascade Spicy Ghost. Can't say I recognise too much of the description, not surprising given the hit-or-miss methods on home brewing as I practice it, but it's OK. Whether any of the remaining 4 bots survive for any visitors is a moot point. I've got to bre another batch soon anyway for the arrival of the theory.

Stuff 2: We are teetering on the brink of going all home theatrish. Not in a big way as we're really not movie people, but a slightly bigger TV would be good and LCD screens are coming down in price rapidly. We eventually bought a DVD recorder/player a few months ago, but as all the DVDs we have bought are music concerts, the old hi-fi setup is lacking a bit. Well what it lacks is the ability to decode surround sound and any tracks with specific technology (such as Seven Bridges Road on Hell Freezes Over, which is recorded in DTS for some reason). My old gear is bottom end but mainly nice: Luxman amp and NAD CD. The speakers are shit Pioneers, bought in a hurry from Cashies when son was having a party and blew up my old KEFs that very afternoon. Although he and I have since replaced the tweeters and woofers with VIFA gear from Jaycar, they're still shit.

So, yesterday I'm out tootling around and I find myself near a good hi-fi place so in I go. Why is it that every time you audition Bose gear, they try to upsell you? Last time I was just about to buy some 301s to replace said shit Pioneers, but the salesman insisted we listen to the 501s first. Naturally there was no comparison. In the event we didn't buy on the day and then incurred some expense elsewhere that put speakers right off the agenda. Yesterday I said I was after entry level stuff but instead I got their top-of-the-line model: yeah, really nice but far more than we would ever consider spending.

Stuff 3: And finally, the female offspring arrived home this morning after several months globe-trotting: the States, Sweden, UK, Thailand and Cambodia. It's OK for some! And as she travels with extraordinary quantities of gear (I could barely lift the rucksack), and then there's the snowboard bag stuffed with...er, stuff. It's where the flexible interior combinations of the chariot come in handy: lift out the hatchback tray, swing the rear seat squabs forward, slip the headrests out and then drop the backs of the seat and away we go. Swallows furniture, boxes and large bags with ease.