Of beer and final days
August 1, 2007
I realize I write about beer a lot, and it’s an odd thing that beer plays such a role in my life, but hey, I like beer. There’s no other way around it. Not in the “let’s down a case and get blitzed” way (although that has happened on occasion, blitzed not being the end goal, mind you), but in the fascination that four ingredients can create such a variety of tastes and smells.
As a perfect example, the Oregon Microbrewer’s Festival was last weekend. This year it features 75 breweries and their respective crafts, and I can say with assurance that while some had less flavor than others, they were all distinct and original. Well, amongst those I tried, at least, and that was a good number. I first went with my Dad on Thursday at 3 when it wasn’t very crowded and we had a great time. He usually has to bail on me early to catch a bus home, but he planned ahead this year and left work early so that we’d have more time. Instead of a rushed 30 minutes or so, I managed to squeeze a whole hour out of his presence! Or maybe more, I don’t remember.
I also went with Hanne on Saturday right when the taps started pouring at noon, and that worked out well, too. As a word of advice to all potential beer tasters, beer tasting at lunchtime on an empty stomach, while sounding funny, is not recommended. Hanne and I were already feeling lightheaded before we caught the bus, so I bought us a couple of Clif Bars to tide us over, but that didn’t do much.
And so, 11 4 oz. amples for and 7 4 oz. samples for Hanne later, we rode the bus back to get some lunch and realized we were both quite inebriated. That’s a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon, yesirree. We ate our Thai food for lunch, then crashed for a nap that lasted us more than two hours. I woke up with the worse case of sleep amnesia I’ve had in ages. I couldn’t tell if it was AM or PM, and I had no memories of the brewfest or lunch for a minute or two.
Then we got to go to a party at Hanne’s coworker’s house. Nice to get out, but we were both feeling pretty sluggish, as you may imagine.
My third batch of beer is coming along just fine. Hanne and I went over to my Dad’s house on Sunday to move the batch into the secondary fermenter, and it seemed to be doing just fine. I’ll give it about 10 days in there, and then I’ll go over and bottle it next week while I’m on “vacation” from work. I may even start batch #4 while I’m there.
The best discovery, however, was when I drank a bottle of batch #2 Sunday night. I’d been concerned about batch #2’s taste (and aftertaste) because it was a bit…off. Not bad-off, but just…different. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that with just an extra week of aging, the off-ness had gone away and I was left with a much smoother beer. Excellent! That makes me much more confident about that batch. Of course, I’ll have to see how batch #3 is shaping up in about three weeks.
Today marks my third-to-last day at work, and things couldn’t be more frustrating. To begin with, my short-timer’s syndrome has progressed to the all-out apathetic stage. Work orders come in, and I’ll do the easy one, but the ones that require work or thought get..shall we say, “overlooked.” Not permanently, but just until I have the energy to deal with them. Not good, but it’s really tough to motivate myself to get things done with no follow-up period in my future.
It doesn’t help that I’m pretty sure management is quite frustrated with me right now for unrelated reasons. I took last Thursday and Friday off so that I could use up my floating holidays the firm gives all the employees, but I wasn’t pleased to discover they were only going to give me one of them. The other one, they told me, wasn’t going to become available to me until mid-November. I let it go when I discovered this on Friday, but I decided to press the issue today. I mean, what the hell? I only have two more days, I might as well try and squeeze every hour I’ve earned out of them.
After numerous back and forths with the Accounting Manager in which I asked for clarification of the policy since A) the office policy manual doesn’t reflect the position management is taking except through liberal interpretation, B) my pay stubs and time clock showed I had both floating holidays available, and C) I was told by the HR manager that I could use them both, I got a very snarky response. I wasn’t intending to be pushy, but the respone I got wasn’t very professional. I considered attaching the email to the one I sent the HR manager for ultimate clarification, but I didn’t want to create more trouble.
In the end, I just don’t buy the firm’s policy that the floating holidays are replacement for Presidents Day and Veteran’s Day, and that they can only be used after each respective holiday–meaning you only have two available post Veteran’s Day. My pay stubs said they were available and the policy manual says floating holidays can be taken “on another day of your choice.” After all, my pay stubs don’t reflect how much vacation time I will earn this year, it reflects how much I have to use. Seems like a no-brainer to me, but instead I seem to have unintentionally stirred up the bees nest.
Oh well.
There’s a going-away shindig planned for me on Friday after work, and I know of a number of people planning to go, so I know I’ll be missed. I know that a number of people who don’t drink won’t be going, but I got a number of of emails from people wishing me well. I already have my farewell email composed and ready to send (as opposed to the “I’m leaving in a couple of weeks” email I sent last week), so in the off-chance that the firm decides that my floating holiday muckraking isn’t worth the trouble of keeping me on for two more days, I can send the email and exit swiftly. I don’t really see that as a viable option, but I have to say, with what I know about the management of the firm I wouldn’t put it past them.
Tomorrow I’m having drinks, what else? with a Partner I’ve become friends with this year who wanted an off-the-record analysis of why I’m leaving. She’s a muckraker herself, and very vocal one at that. My intention has never been to point fingers at people and say “They fucked up!” or “It’s all their fault!” but on occasion, some things just have to be told. As I’ve told a number of people, it’s everyone’s job to bitch about the person above them to a certain extent, but at the end of the day you have to trust said person and respect the work they do despite any misgivings you might have.
So, I have some stories to tell this Partner. I like her, and I hope this isn’t the last time I see her.
Other than work, things are going pretty well. Hanne and I finished up seasons 5 and 2 of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Angel,” respectively, and we’re taking a break from the Buffyverse for a little while to recuperate. I started her on “Farscape” the other night as an interim solution, but I haven’t had to do much in the way of sales. It’s a genuinely interesting show, so it seems to have caught her attention for now. I know she’s jonesing to watch season 3 of “Veronica Mars,” too, but I haven’t been able to find the whole season in HD yet. I also “acquired” the show “Spaced” with the same director/creator/producer/cast as the films Shaun of the Dead and the absolutely brilliant Hot Fuzz, so I’m fairly certain that will be pretty funny.
This weekend Hanne’s Dad is coming into town with the express interest of goin to as many breweries as he can. That’s a daunting task since he’s only going to be in town for less than two days, but I’m sure we can squeeze things in. My plan for now is to take him to the Roots Brewery not far from Hanne’s apartment for sure, and Hanne and I are still deciding on other locales. After all, we have transportation to think about, and I’m the most likely candidate what with the fact that I own a car and Hanne doesn’t. Means I’ll have to take it easy on the beers at each location if a car is involved.
And there will be a car involved. Saturday night we’re likely headed to my Dad’s for steak and Walla Walla Sweet onion rings, so there will definitely be private transportation that evening. I thought that I’d take him by the ever-fabulous John’s Marketplace before dinner so we could pick out a bunch of beers to try, which ought to sate him somewhat. Definitely need more time for a brewery tour, though–two days isn’t nearly time enough, especially with the first evening being taken up by flight time and the second by a family dinner.
Or maybe…we could do the family dinner at a brewery. Hmmmm. <yoda>Thinking, I must do.</yoda>
Two more days at work. I think I can make it. I have to make it.
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