My First Brew

After many years sampling the delectible range of beers supplied by my good friend Pinko, he finally convinced me to give it a go. Early one Sunday morning we strolled down to Kmart to pick up some beer ingredints before ambling over to Rimsy's house to pick up his disused brew kit. $14.50 later I had the equivalent of 2.5 cases of beer fermenting in my room.

Here I am sealing the deal with Rimsy.

Here is the brew just after I set it up

The Brew kit snug as a rug. In order to keep my room from smelling too much I keep all my windows open. Hence I have to insulate the kit for it to continue efficiently brewing. Here I am checking the hydrometer reading two days in. All seems to be going well (yes, those are chemistry textbooks my camera is resting on. Apt isn't it!).

In three weeks time I'll be having a tasting party. Hope you're all excited!

Comics that are actually satirical

I know its few and far between but every now and then a comic hits that perfect spot...

Thanks Jen for getting me onto the Piled Higher and Deeper comic

Fenner Sport reaches a new high

I have lived at Fenner for six years. This is my seventh. In that time I have seen our sporting team slowly evolve as the core group of athletes varies from year to year. Over the last four years Fenner pride has been saved solely on the strength of our female performances who have consistantly placed first or second in sports such as cricket, softball, soccer, volleyball, netball and touch football, whilst the male squad has languised in last and second last.

Fenner's female cricket team - a force not to be messed with

This year, like every year, we began with high hopes. For once again our male hockey squad looked sensational. Unfortunately 2008 was like every other year. After defeating last years second place we became complacent and choked - finishing a measly third. Our other strong team was Inward Bound. For the first time in years Fenner Hall held a team with (incredibly) high prospects - only to have the sport cancelled. It looked like another year of dangling at the bottom of the sporting ladder. Then IT happened.

Two cricket teams set out to prove the critics wrong. Huge scores - including a massive 177 off 15 overs (guys) and a run chase that took two overs (girls) - ensured that Daly Road (where all the other ANU residences are) knew we meant business. Of course what most teams didn't realise that the Fenner guys never once played our full strength team, even in the finals. Come the end of the season and both guys and girls were in the finals against Johns XXIII...

Al Gough, our fearless leader prepares to face the John's attack

The guys played first and the toss was the only thing we lost (Johns are well known for their tossing ability). Things looked a little dire to begin with, with Fenner dropping catches in every area of the field, but a great runout and a few blistering overs from Auro Ghosh left John's with just under 120 runs after 20 overs.

Fenner cheer squad help the umpire signal another four!

Fenner moved into bat with Dr Malcolm (Dr Death) Green prescibing all sorts of pain to the John's bowlers. He had just finished a blistering 99 run haul in our previous game and continued the trend in the finals.

Megan Beven, the sport president of Fenner runs water to Dr Death, after another over of sending balls to the morgue.

Big man Aaron stepped up next hitting boundaries like Haydon in the World Cup, to the extent that the usually loud and obnoxius Johns crowd went home early. The greatest moment however was the sheer silliness of John's mid off - who moved himself to silly midoff when our very small fifth batter stepped in. Its a Fenner secret that Auro, despite his small stature is the hardest hitter and biggest swinger of Fenner. Oh we prayed for a cut shot to the face. Auro and our indomitable captain finished the job with two overs to spare. It was the first game of cricket John's had lost in three years.

A photo to be treasured forever. The John's crowd leaves in disgust - unable to bear the humiliation of losing to Fenner.

The girl's cricket final was a week later. Fenner shaped up to field and although boundries were hit their never say die attitude, coupled with Michelle Ions pace bowling, kept a constant fall of wickets. Leaving John's with a low(ish) total of around 70 from 1o overs.

Michelle Ions leads the Fenner attack with blistering pace and unrivelled accuracy

In walked our openers Tracey (Boof) Bouffler and Laura Clarke. Togther these two girls scored steadily, looking as calm as you like. At no stage did they seem stressed by the bowlers. Suddenly an amazing hook shot by Tracey down to fine leg fell straight down the throat of a fielder. All was well as Tracey's place was taken by promising young batter Georgia, plus change of over brought Laura to face. She was bowled a shitty ball, Laura steps back to make some room and swings with a Ricky Pontingesque pull shoot. Bottom Edge, middle stump!

Tragedy strikes! Laura sees a juicy ball. Unfortunately it turned out to be over ripe!

It was the beginning of the end. Our following batters, distraught at the loss of two wickets in two balls lost their aggresive batting style. The unsure backfoot play saw the girls end 20 runs short of their target. However this left Fenner with a first and second in the cricket. Very tidy indeed.

Fenner celebrates a John's wicket. Will we see more of these successful huddles in the months to come?

Where does this lead us, Fenner Hall is now second in the overall sports shield after term one. Term two brings about our new look Rugby team with hopes and a top two finish, our solid softball team coached by yours truly (we've come second four years in a row - this is our year). Road Relay with more runners than we have spots and basketball. Can we keep our second rung place? Are we able to close the 14 point gap with John's. We will know in June...

The things prophets get up to...

Whilst perusing one of favourite websites, cracked.com, I came across one of their stories.

It describes what they consider to be the 9 most bad arse verses in the bible.

Check it out http://www.cracked.com/article_15699_9-most-badass-bible-verses.html

Cycling Scientists

Two entrepreneurs from my science circus team have just put together their own unique travelling science show.

Their plan is to travel 3000km from Townsville to the tip of Cape York on their bicycles conducting science shows and workshops.

Cycling Scientists Chris and Danene (photo stolen from their website)

Whilst spending seven months meandering up the coast of Queensland these crazy cats plan to visit over 60 schools, teaching the lucky students all about energy.

Their idea originated about three quarters of the way through 2007, and they have spent the last six months writing proposals, plans and ideas so that they could find sponsorship and funding for the expedition. So far they have received enough to purchase bikes, props and a mad website http://www.cyclingscientists.com/. Its sounds like too much fun. Good luck guys. Keep the photos coming and you blog updated!

On a side note Chris and Danene, the two circus freaks turned cycling scientists, were the impetus behind our 970km bike ride from Questacon, Canberra to Fedaration Square, Melboune.

Deuter Rat Race

About a month ago I was lucky enough to be invited by some Questacon friends to compete in a 12 hour Rat Race. A Rat Race is a funny thing. Its a bit like a metrogaine - there are a variety of checkpoints around town and you have a time limit (12 hours) to get to as many as possible. Each of the checkpoints are worth a different amount of points and you can do them in any order. You are also allowed - and it is the preferred method of transport - to ride bikes between checkpoints. My downfall is that my bike is worth less than my helmet. (I apologise, these phots came from the website - I didn't have time to take photos)

Orienteering through Mt Ainslie

The difference between a Rat Race and a metrogaine is that in a metrogaine when you get to a checkpoint you get your points straight away. In a Rat Race you have to perform some sort of -usually silly - activity.

Iron gut Comp: Combine any four ingredients that start with the letters g, b, w, r, or s. We used fruit, it was super tasty

It took up a whole Saturday but was immensly fun. We started by doing an orienteering course through Mount Ainslie where my in depth knowledge of the area made the map nearly obsolete. We then went to town to purchase ingredients for the iron gut competition before heading to the Gym for an hour long session worth 100 points.

An hour long session at the Gym. Every Class was booked out. We managed to sneak into the stretching class

Following that we made our north, visiting checkpoints were we had to prepare food for a salsa, play a word game called take two, climb at Mitchell's Indoor mountain climbing centre among other fun actvities.

Take Two at a Cafe in Watson

Following that we took our bikes to the dirt tracks and bike orienteering section in the Bruce Nature Reserve. Here it became glaringly apparent how dilapitated and cheap my bike is. I crashed at least six times, punctured my tube once, and crushed my groin more times than I care to remember. Beaten and bruised I wobbled out of the course with my team mates laughing at me. To recover we went to prune some plants for 80 points.

The mountain bike challenge proved how inadequete my bike really is. I never looked like this guy in the photo. First replace the smile with a look of abject terror...

Pruning plants gave me some time to recuperate
Next on the agenda was kiaking around lake Burley Griffin. Once we got into a rhythm it was quite relaxing, but my chest and arms received a workout not to be matched (until Fenner rugby 2008 no doubt). This was followed by another oreinteering course through the ANU - every checkpoint was a crossword clue and you receive points by filling in a crossword. Luckily for our team I've been a worked as Security at ANU for four years and know the campus back to front. I'm also a crossword enthusiast. As such we had one of the highest scores for this challenge.

Kiaking was hard at first, but gets easier as you settle into a rhythm

We returned 11 hours and 43 minutes later with 1905 points - a respectable 15th place. It was a great day and fun to out with some Questacon people again.

Inward Bound 2008, postponed or gone forever?

Inward Bound, ANU's premier intercollege event is on the brink of extinction. An event I await with bated breath every year. I spend months training in advance, exploring the outer reaches of Canberra with nought but my running shoes and water. On the years when ex-ressies are scarce I would participate in the local orienteering to touch up my navigation skills.

Al Gough co-nav of the Div 4 team, takes a bearing on a Mock Dropoff

2008 was no exception. For weeks I trained our 39 strong team of crazy nuts willing to put thier lives at risk for college pride. A week before the event just after I announce the strongest team Fenner has seen since 2004 ANU rears its ugly head and stamps its foot all over our fun. 'Its to dangerous,' they say. 'Someone could get hurt.'

DIv 4 and Div 7 attempt to locate their drop off position and prepation for their run back to Fenner

Pfft, people get hurt every week playing League and no one complains. Only one runner has gone to hospital from Inward Bound in the last four years (extreme dehydration led to kidney failure).

Luckily a new date has been set for September. But once again the sport committee will have to jumb through fiery hoops of death to get the event running and save a tradition as old as ANU itself.

Div4 and Div 7 debrief after their mock dropoff. Fenner's Div one team prepares for their 20km training now all teams have returned safe and sound at 11:30pm

All is not lost. I have managed to locate some events of similar terrain and distance to keep me busy in the interim. The North Face 100 is held in the Blue Mountains, the Trailwalker will find a spot in my calendaer as usual, and I also managed to find the Gold Coast 100 - the Australian Nationals.

With IB postponed I finally get to relax my self imposed no drinking policy. A brew and a few mates is all the solace I need. Careful though, training for the North Face starts next week.

A much shorter event - Road Relay - that consists of 1500m and 3000m legs has also been moved forward to term 2. Can our IB team turn ultra distance running to sprint? Only time will tell...