Messin’ with Texas

• Wow. Small world. I just net a married couple at the wine bar who knew my dating history, who my friends are and what i do for a living. #

Powered by Twitter Tools

• Lecture tonight on terrorism: the new world disorder #
• Playing paint ball today for jared's bachelor party. It is cold, very wet and very muddy. But a lot of fun! #

Powered by Twitter Tools

• Why is it that every time i have the day off, i end up spending 50 bucks on a board game i am probably not going to play? #
• I made swiss fondue for dinner. now my tummy hurts. It was totally worth it. what people at work will think when i eat fondue for lunch? #
• Busy week so far: got my soccer team squared away for the spring, bought a 26' sail boat and finally agreed on price for a house! #

Powered by Twitter Tools

While I was waiting for the embassy to open, I visited the botanical gardens of Quito. They were nice, except for the orchid house which was amazing!

• Score of the wedding: 119 bottles of whiskey and 180 bottles of champagne. And that does not count the other drinks #

Powered by Twitter Tools

• 6hours riding on a horse in the andes just around the tree line. Passed through a village with only dirt road access. My butt is so sore. #
• Right when i really need a computer it would seen quito has lost power. I an really having bad luck so far on this trip. #
• There always seems to be very long lines at the gas stations in quito. Electricity is back on. It was very chaotic with no traffic lights. #
• New passport: Embassy didn't open till 130 (said 8on the phone) It took 3hours barely leaving time to make it to immagration 4a new stamp #
• My room in banos has tons of space, lots of art, private porch opening to a garden, a fireplace and an awkward abundance of towels, for 22$ #
• And now banos has no electricity. Fortunately i checked out of my hotel minutes before it died. #
• Today: 3hour spa treatment (40$) and 3hour canyoning trip (30$). Tomorrow i will jump off a bridge and bike 60km down out of the mountains. #
• i changed hotels today. In the new hotel i forgot the key at the desk, forgot its name, and forgot where it was. Eventually i found it. #
• I jumped off a 100m bridge today with a climbing rope attached to me that swung me like a pendulum. Absolutely terrifying. #
• Tomorrow i will make an attempt to climb cotopaxi, the worlds second highest active volcano. It is +5000m. Wish me luck! #
• Didn't quite make it the full 60km to puyo today. We made it 20km because of the many stops we made to explore waterfalls and swim. Grea … #
• And once again no electricity… #
• Climb of cotopaxi ended at 5100m, 700 from the top. My guide said it was the worst weather he'd ever seen and wouldn't risk going further #
• Finally made it to guayaquil with roberto and his wife to be. Waiting for santiago to arrive from miami. Wedding is tomorrow at 9pm #

Powered by Twitter Tools

• New york city tonight. Stony brook tomorrow night, then off to ecuador for 13 days! #
• Just finished a gourmet meal at home of recipes from julia childs cook book. Good wine included. #
• First day in ecuador: bag stolen with passport and my far more valuable my journal (among other things). Worst part, i almost caught them. #
• Items lost: Passport, journal, chapstick, sunscreen, vest, shirt, int'l vaccine card, picture of my great grandfather & 2of my 3pens (ha!) #
• Bar for new year: girls room has a photo of afghan girl that was photo of the year. Mens room has a picture of eddie murphy in dr doolittle #
• The best place at new year in quito is coffee tree. Yes a coffee shop. It is the busiest place with people spilling onto the street dancing. #
• Today i reported my passport stolen and got a police report for the embassy. After i went to the equator monument (not worth the time) #
• 100 mangoes for 10 dollars in quito. On the coast it drops to around 5. The juice bars here must be making a killing! #
• 25 roses for one dollar. Apparently ecuador grows a lot of them. Consequently the girls here do not like them because they are a cheap gift #
• Guinea pig here comes deep fried skin teeth and whiskers still on it. I tried a piece. Tastes like chicken. #
• Vegetarians be careful when ordering food in a spanish spreajimg country. On the english menu, 'jam' was in fact meant to read 'ham' #

Powered by Twitter Tools

• I set up my 401k retirement plan yesterday. I feel so adult. #
• I nearly hit my breaking point for for the amount of racist ignorance i can tolerate in one day today. I can't wait until vacation! #
• The health care reform bill passed! I got verbally beaten up every day at work by republicans on a witch hunt. #

Powered by Twitter Tools

I got dressed to go to a party and I looked at myself in the mirror and I thought to myself: “this outfit would go really well with a cowboy hat.” Well here is the picture of just that (trust me this was the best picture of the three we got before my camera died):

After fermenting for a week, Eli and I went back to the log cabin in the woods where his friend lives. Eli didn’t want to blow up his living space so he got a friend to let him store it at his place. I think the real reason was that if people where Eli lives saw him making moonshine, they would all want some. At his buddy’s place, we were very isolated.

A mash ready for distilling

I will let the pictures do the talking. We took a stainless steel pot, drilled some holes in it, put some copper tubing through it, a few c-clamps, some epoxy putty… and voila! Make shift still.

Eli and his makeshift still

Another shot of the contraption Eli concocted

So how did it go. Let’s just say Eli got frustrated enough that he is buying a big fancy expensive still so that he never has to go through what we went through again. His idea for a makeshift still failed miserably. Hot mash was sputtering out of the holes and out from underneath the lid. When ever you tried to tighten one c-clamp, it would deform the lid such that a new opening would appear. He tried covering it in duct tape which failed as well. It was a complete disaster. We even went and got the makeshift equipment he had used a month ago when he made moon shine. That failed to do anything as well.

Hopefully by the time I get back from my two week trip to Ecuador, Eli will have a proper still and we will be able to make some real moon shine.

On a side note, I was so excited about making the mash the previous weekend, I told a bunch of people about it and now Eli has a long list of people who are expecting jars of moonshine. He was a little annoyed, but when I told him it was because I couldn’t contain my excitement he forgave me.