My Kid Can't be THAT Old

Today my oldest daughter is 22. I feel kind of old. Maybe I should dye my hair again. But she has it together more than I did at 22. I think. Actually, she was born when I was 22. So, she does have it together better than I. She has a decent job that she actually went to school to learn to do. She enjoys it as much as one can enjoy a job. She's getting married to a good guy in June and they are buying a house with no help from her old man. That is nice. There were many, many times I wondered if she would turn out ok. Many times struggling with homework that I thought, "is this kid ever going to get it?" But I told her that she was going to do great things and that she was special. Now, she is smart, independent, and she has good common sense. I couldn't be more proud of the way she has turned out.

Bedtime

Putting 11 year old Ozzy Jr to bed:
"So, what is under your pillow?"
"A flashlight and a nerf pistol."
"Give it to me."
"What am I going to do if the house is broken into? How will I protect myself against the bad guys?"

Chicago Followup

So, that salesman from the brewery equipment company DID send me an email with a quote. Hes misspelled my name. SHITBIRD.

Chicago

Overall, the trip to Chicago was great. The food, the people and the beer were for the most part amazing. I am now officially starting my second blog about the brewer at http://maydaybrewery.blogspot.com/. So, here at ozzfest, I'll just write the nonbrewery stuff.

Jack, my host in Chicago has begun hosting "house concerts." He invites musicians into his residence to play and then invites friends over to listen to them. While we were there he had two gentleman that played Irish folk music. They could really jam.

I also met Frank who was staying there at Jack's and would be attending the same brewery class that I was. Frank (left in this photo, Jack is on the right) is a fellow beer and heavy metal music lover all the way from San Pablo, Brazil. Frank plans to open a brewpub in the financial district there.

Of course, the last night in Chicago there has to be some beer consumed and some good clean fun. So I climbed on a statue in Lincoln Square to get my photo taken. I didn't get arrested and I learned that Abe was one tall dude.

The New Way to Sell...piss off potential customers

I'm staying at the same place in Chicago that I did back in November. That is in Lincoln Square off the Brown line. So far, the Siebel class has not disappointed. I was especially impressed with Doug and Tracy Hurst of Metropolitan Brewery. I hope to visit their brewery tomorrow. They are a package brewery doing only lagers.
Wednesday we talked to Matt at his place - Half Acre Brewery. They are kicking total butt, projecting 3,500 barrels of in their fist full year of production.
So, in planning this trip I found an equipment dealer in town and decided to try to meet with them sometime. I emailed Allied Beverage Company, and this guy named Allan S. Dikty replies and says he'd be glad to meet with me. Originally I planned to extend my trip to meet with him, but that didn't work out, so I just called on Monday and he agreed to meet Tues after class. I think, awesome, I can talk concepts, configurations used vs new equipment, quality of different brands, pricing etc. Well, I Allan was a portly fellow with black hair parted on the side that had a habit of pushing his wire framed glasses several times a minute. We sit at the bar at the Goose Island Brewery and order a beer. I briefly (maybe 2 minutes) told him what we wanted to do and what I thought we might need. This cat then commences to lecture me on the fact that I need to be getting face time with managers of bars and asking them if they would be interested in selling my beer. He went on and on about how this wasn't a beer brewing business, it was a beer selling business and that most breweries failed because the management didn't realize this or were under capitalized. He droned ON and ON with this lecture about how he knew every aspect of brewing and what he thought I needed to do to be successful. All of this was presented in what I thought was a most condescending way. He said he would be happy to get me the spec sheets on some equipment, but I shouldn't be wasting my time on that because I needed to be measuring the market by using my "shoe leather" and I had better get ready for a bunch of rejection, and there was no way I was going to be profitable in less than a 15 bbl brew house, blah, blah, blah.
Needless to say, the more this fat bastard talked the hotter I got. The last straw came when he said, "ya, we could sit here and discuss equipment that you would need for step decoction mashing and hopbacks, but that isn't what you need to be thinking about."
I had enough. I was thinking this guy must think I am stupid and broke because I am from Nashville and I have a moustache. I let him know that I never mentioned decoction mashing or hopbacks and I thought they were gimmics. I told him he didn't know me and had no business prejudging me and I didn't appreciate his tone or the way he talked to me. I then proceeded to tell him my qualifications in business, how much money I made, how many houses I owned etc. He back tracked and got nice. I finished my beer and thanked him and left. Still fuming. I'm pretty sure I will not be buying any equipment from Allied Beverage Company. It has been more than 24 hours, I haven't gotten those spec sheets that Allan promised. surprise.

Finally Finished

After more than a year, going faithfully every month to see Brandon Hanna my backpiece is finished. My half sleeve/chest panel represents protecting my kids. My daughters represented by the sun and moon. My mother's husband always called them "Sunshine" (Ashlee) and "Moonshine" (Kelsey), and my son Wyatt represented by St Basil's Cathedral because we adopted him from Russia. Since Wyatt is more prominently displayed on my chest and the girls would be leaving home soon, Brandon and I came up with the idea of showing the struggles the girls would have as they went out into the "real world." I wanted an army of bad guys, Brandon thought an "evil spider" would be better. We compromised and had the girls fighting the "evil octopus."

We started talking about this tattoo when the girls were 18 and 19. We took photos of them holding swords to get the physiology right on the piece. Then, there was the question that you have to ask them..."How big do you want your boobs to be?" The question HAS to be asked. I called them each individually. I called Ashlee first, her respons, "bigger than Kelsey's." Ooook. I called Kelsey, "Well, what did Ashlee say? I'll say 'big' but not porn star 'big'." Alrighty then. I asked for it.

This year my girls will turn 21 and 22. Ashlee is getting married in June and Kelsey will graduate with a degree in biology next year and hopes to get into PA school. They have a long way to go, but they are doing better against the "evil octopus" than I did at their age.

As for my next tattoo. I have no ideas for the first time in years. I like being tattooed, but I really don't enjoy getting tattoed. I'll wait a few years before I do anything else.