Solitaire!

Two days worth of effort summed up in one little picture.

















Who says persistence doesn't pay off??? I don't know, but I agree with them.

DAVE

Tennet's

Here's a little riddle:

What happens when you turn out little 2 hectolitre brew-lab at school into a multi hundred-thousand hectolitre brewery like Tennet's Caledonian Brewery in Glasgow???

Gi-normous mash filters... ours at school holds 42 kg of mash, you can see it in the last post. These HUGE buggers (and bigger exist) both hole 18 tonnes of mash!

Gah! That's nuts! And guess what??? Only ONE guy runs this brew house at a time!







AND...


Fermenters so big you can park a highway coach inside them! Ha ha, these weren't their biggest but they were still huge. Don't remember their capacity but it's in the upper hundreds on hl.

Imagine one rupturing! You'd drown a yeasty death!

Gonna steal more pics from Amanda, if there's something I think you'd all be interestd in I'll post it foschizzle. :P

Bye bye for now!

Dave

School

No vikings yet...



But pics of our labs at school.

This is the brewing lab, works in up to 2hl batches. The big square thing in front is the mash filter, the tall white thing is the lauter tun, the two smaller vessels to the left of the lauter tun are the mash mixer and cereal cooker and the turquoise thing on the far left is the mashing unit with a mono pump below it. You can't see any of the fermenters in this photo but they're all just to the left of the photo.

Not a lot else to say about these unless you've got specific questions. Feel free to ask, I like explaining how it all works.
















This below is the distilling lab. We've got two stills, these are both pot stills made mostly of pyrex type glass (some copper in the stills). The copper you see, lots of it, doesn't actually contact the spirit inside. If it did the ratio of wash to copper would be incorrect. There are several copper rings that contact the spirit to replicate an appropriate spirit:copper ratio. Again, if you've got questions either post them below or get in touch with me however you usually would.




















Alrighty, I'm off for now.

Dave

Tomorrow Vikings Invade my Flat

Not Norwegian Vikings but Shetland Vikings, the deadlier of the two. Everybody knows that...

Tomorrow is Up Helly Aa, a Shetlander's favourite night of the year to get drunk and run around with HUGE torches, so, obviously the girls here are holding an Edinburger Up Helly Aa.

Sounds sweet to me.

Anyways, gonna be pics, we have a ship being built in our living room and lots of Shetland food a cooking in the kitchen. And I have to share my bed with that guy up above... scary thoughts racing through my head... like what if he rolls over???

Ooo, I also made muffins today using spent grains from the mash filter at school. I used the stuff as a partial substitue for flour. Guess what? The girls like them... me, I can't decide.

Hey, Lauren, THANK YOU SO MUCH for the cook book! There's now a copy of "Now We're Cookin'" in Scotland. ;) Lookin forward to Cam visiting this weekend too, gonna head on out to the Whisky Society to make sure he enjoys his first night in Edi!

Alrighty, I gotta write more, lots to do, lots to do... and all I can think about is... well two things, going back to see ya Sharon and all the work I have to do. Ha ha, not really work here, I enjoy almost everything, even writing reports. Ha ha, I visit Tennet's in Glasgow on Weds too!

Alright, I should go... but blogging is fun.

Have some lime:

Nice drink Scott!

Yum, yummy, yum yum. Lime. A fuck load of it. And vodka, beer, So Co, wine, lime, more beer... I liked it.

Ugh, going to be a little productive... won't be tomorrow!

Later.

Daryl the Fruit,

Swashbuckling Pirate.

PS. Gonna need pirate backup tomorrow.

And here are the promised pics ;)

Alrighty, I'm back, I've woke up and I've almost pushed my way through my little hang-over.

Oooo, just realized the Rome marathon starts/finishes at the Colosseum. Cooooolllllll.....

Anyways, the reason I'm back and blogging this fine morning is to post a couple pics from Israel. Damn good time, really had fun and can't wait to go back. Ok, ok, so... some pics.

This here is an Orthodox church, located right on the Sea of Galilee. We got there, the outside was full of gardens, all full of chickens, cats, peacocks and a sleepy dog. Oh yeah, there was a donkey somewhere too, you could here it making donkey sounds; anyways...

Ok so this is main "room" of the church, we got there during a small service of some kind and snuck into the back of the room to watch. Nice people, no one cared that we were obviously there to take pics. Really have to say that this place made me decide that Orthodox churches are cooler.

Ok, what else...

Here's the Western Wall or Wailing Wall, you choose the name you like... Cool place, never went up and touched it though, we stood back and watched the people there for a little while. Normally this place would have been crazy busy but we got there on an "off-day" I suppose.

The Old City of Jerusalem was cool, so much more there and in the rest of the city I'll have to go back and see. We went to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher (where the J-man was supposedly crucified, got a pic, see later), walked around the city walls, saw lots of cats, wandered through the souk (a bit smelly), oooooo, and I had my first Turkish coffee! I liked it, gonna see where I can get one here in Edinburgh. :)

You can't see it in this photo but right above the wall is the Dome of the Rock, a Muslim holy site, supposedly their 3rd holiest. It is very "golden" lets say, big dome, lots of gold. Shiny too. I've got it on my desktop at the moment.

So, moving on...

Here we have the very place (supposedly, according to an American tourist we asked) the many a Christian believes Jesus was crucified. Lots of art all over the walls, lots of silver, lots of shrines, very crowded compared to other parts of the church. This place was big, some of the downstairs parts were more like caves though. Surprisingly, for its size it's really hard to find! We walked by it and then got sent back to what seemed like a little alleyway full of shops. Never would have thought that a church of this size and significance would have been down this little alleyway.

Ok, hmmm, I also really liked Akko, going to put a pic from Akko up next. :) Ok, also really like the Golan Heights and the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) so I'll put a pic of the lake itself too.

Here comes Akko (Acre) is first place, followed by the Kinneret from the Golan Heights in

second...

I have so many pics from Akko, it was hard to choose a favourite, and they're all so different... Oh well you'll all have to see them next time I visit Canada. But... this is from the wall at Akko, looking in towards the Old City there. Big mosque, went there, me and Ariel (Sharon's friend, and a cool guy) were gonna go in for a peek but it was Friday... there was a service and well... we just didn't feel right popping in at that moment. But, Akko was great, went to the souk, had wicked hummus, saw all the Crusader ruins was great. I can talk about all this stuff for far too long so I'll cut myself off here.

Ok, last pic, the Kinneret aka the Sea of Galilee. As seen from the Golan Heights.

The view from up here were great, you could probably see north to Lebanon and then I think just about to Syria too. South of us was Jordan and to the west was the Sea of Galilee with Tiberias (the town in the pic) across the lake. Had a crazy lunch there in Tiberias. :) Sooo much food.

Beautiful weather, as you can see; didn't ever really have a bad day. Rained once I think... yeah, it did, but not even for long.

So in conclusion... ha ha ha, sounds like a poorly written lab report... I will go back there again. :) Not only was the place beautiful but Sharon's there; can't wait to go back and spend LOTS more time with ya Beautiful! :) Ok, well, I should get on with my day, lots to do!

Ooooo, just to show off before I go, my phone number in my made up

Engbrew words is: esef-sheva-sheva-shtiim-shesh-arba-arba-ehad-hamesh-shmone-hamesh.

Ok, I'm a nerd, I know it, and I really gotta go...

Later!

Dave

Gonna sweep out the cob webs!

Hello everyone, I'm not dead! I am in fact alive! I am also enjoying this fact... very much so!

I'm back from Haifa, had a wicked time, will post one or two pics tomorrow (going out in a couple min), I will also let every one know that I am now officially registered in the Maratona della Citta di Roma!

I am Atlete (not a typo) #3410. :) Look for that number to W-I-N!!!

Also, started my MSc research project, much excitement over that... also... began talking to profs concerning PhD work. :) Friggin sweet!!!

Ok, well seeing as I need to pee and I have to get ready for the lovely Caley Sample Room, I will leave you with my new found Hebrew vocabulary...

Et otsa te? - Would you like a tea? Ha ha ha, I know the numbers good now too.

Ok, gonna go, pints and friends await me down the road. :) Y'all have a great night ye hear!

Posting to you again tomorrow,

Dave "now safely returned to Scotland" Sopko

In London again...

Can't seem to stay here for very long, every time I get here I'm here for a few hours or, like today, for a night.


Should be lots and lots of pics for everyone once I eventually, way before I'll ever want to leave, get back from Haifa. Going to get to Jerusalem and out of Haifa to visit Sharon's kibbutz too! There'll be lots of pics everybody! Sooooo dying to get there and see you Sharon! Can't wait!


Well I hope everybody had a great New Year's Eve, me and Stu did but wouldn't ya know it, the events in Edinburgh got cancelled!!!! That's what happens when you try to hold outdoor concerts/a beer fest/fireworks when you got 60 mile an hour winds and crazy rain. Like I said, still had a good time, we got drunk with school buddies, went out to see if we could still get into the Hogmany part of town (see my pic!) and then just got drunk in pub and got the whoel upstairs singing with us. :)

Anyways, gotta get off the comp soon, got an hour of internet and I think it's up in a few min!

Here's the pic! Me and two of the coppers at the Hogmanay gate just off the Royal Mile.





Later! Have a great next week! I'll blog again!

Dave

PS, was seriously so great to see everyone at X-mas (friends, family and... hmm... pets?) :P

Later.

Dave

Holy Crap, been a long time since I did this!

Well hello there, I was never dead but this blog might have convinced someone I had been. :)

I'm finally back in Edinburgh, here with my brother Stu now. Gonna be doin the whole Hogmanay (New Year) thing here in Edinburgh. :)

So my trip into Canada just flew by, only there 7-8 days really so that's no surprise. It was fantastic to see everyone and I'll have to see even more people next time because I still didn't see everybody this trip. I've got a few pictures, but mostly of family stuff and the beach from Florida so there'll be a few pics in my next blog but nothing crazily exciting.

I'm off to Israel on the 7th, as anyone I saw back home now knows for sure. I'll be going to see Sharon, my girlfriend in Haifa. So... not many pics from the first part of the trip but I'm pretty sure I'll be snapping shots all over the place once I'm in Israel. Poor Sharon, she's gonna be living with me for the week, a temporarily insane paparazzi.

And here we are, just for fun, my favourite pic from Florida this X-mas.

Alrighty, you all take care,

Dave

If I were a South Park Charcter...

He he, I'd be a crazy-eyed, puffy-cheeked, toque-wearing, Rammstein fan who's also making it his life's goal to supply you with plenty of delicious alcoholic products. Actually, that's just me making my puffy-weirdo face. Do you know the one? If not check picco numero two down below somewhere.

All credit must be given to the appropriate artists, in this case all credit is to Annia! I love it. It captures my essence don't you think?

He he, well I was just talking to Jon, he's decided to make suits that double as life jackets (bulletproof too)and he's going to sell them to the Canadian Navy. Good luck Jon! We all believe in you! :P Ok, so he isn't actually quitting his job to make them, but we were talking about it, I swear! Have fun at the Christmas party dude, like I said, just don't fall in the ocean!

picco numero two:

Just take away the ugly beard and adda toque! Voila, you have the South Park me!

Ha ha ha, I'm ugly...

I look like some sort of mutant dog, maybe a pug!

Oh well, don't look like that anymore, probably for the best eh?

Hmmm, been studying for exams the last 2-3 days, been a change of pace, that's for sure. Haven't been running, been couped up inside for getting close to a week now too. Mind you I have ventured out, gotta avoid becoming a Howard Hughes wanna be.

Not any big plans between now and exams being over, obviously, but there might be a road trip to the highlands before I go home. Me and a couple guys've been talking about that, would be sweet, drive around the highlands, distillery to distillery for 3-4 days. Sweet. Drunkeness in small foreign places.

Hey, Stuart and Andrew, we should definately go to Orlando for a day or two at X-mas. I like that idea Stu. What do you guys think? It's either that or Monkey Jungle! And Monkey Jungle is evil.

Ooooo, keep posted, could be a big trip out of the UK coming early Jan. Exciting stuff... :)

X-mas, I'm home the 11th (like late at night, I'm gonna be messed up for a bit cuz of time zones) and I'll be in Oakville/Toronto/Guelph/wherever people are until the 17th. I leave on the 18th, probably can't do anything that day. But, I wanted to know, Diana, Rebecca, Karen, Tom, Andy, Craig, Colin, Lee and anyone else who wants to get drunk in Guelph, how does the 16th sound? That's a Friday.

Drunk, Guelph, but no throwing up in drawers and leaving it there for 5 days. Blah, done enough of that...

Ok, well I should realistically call/email people individually, I will, just gotta get off my ass and do it.

Oh, also, Will, Megan, Andrew, Andrew, Dave, Dwayne, Pat, Evan, Cam, Nick, Ross, what the hell are all of you up to these days? I kinda know what some of you are doing... what the heck are you up to between the 12th and the 17th?

And we're still on for the 17th Annia. I shall not double book. With my luck everyone'll be busy anyways! Ha ha ha.

Alrighty, this's been a nice break from studying... very nice actually...

Looking forward to seeing you all.

Later!

Dave (so close to home!) Muahahahahaha!

Ginger, the 6th Sopko

Spotted this photo in my collection, dammit she's a cute dog!















Looking forward to seeing her when I get home too. :)

Later!

Dave

Baby Swan Attack!!!

Look at this cheeky little bugger!!! He tried to eat my shoe!!! Almost chomped off a toe with it!

Ha ha, nah, was funny, on campus there's this "Loch", I'm getting Scottish, can you tell??? This loch is inhabited by a mean family of swans. Well they're mean when they're out of the water.

In the water they're like a pack of hungry Labradors, cute and looking for free food. Anyways, this little guy investigated my shoes. I suppose leather isn't something the palate of a swam is used to.

Hmmm, fell down the stairs this week, threw my computer into the air in the process. :) It took it like a trooper! Ummm, fell up the stairs last night too. Ha ha, that's always funny, falling up the stairs. How? Why? I dunno, just did, spilled some coffee. Good thing the carpets are beige! Just kidding, I cleaned up. I'm a tidy boy.

Alright, looking for a reprieve from reading comics. BTW, Stuart, I love "Gone With the Blastwave", read all of it tonight. :)

Ok, sleep. Then wake, then work on stuff. Then sleep. It's the circle of life! Screw you Disney, that ain't copyrighted!!! Can't sue me! :P

Ok, wow, I'm tired... this is all BS now, not an ounce of reality in anything I write now... ha ha, maybe I should just keep typing! That'd be funny, tomorrow morning I could read this and cringe! Maybe... maybe I won't. That's best, let reality back into the picture, forget about typing anything else, just go to bed... ahhhhhh......

Hmmm..... still considering whether to sleep or to type random crap to see how my brain misfired while I did it. Quite an interesting experiment. Meh, who cares.

Oh, gonna REALLY HONESTLY make Skittlebrau. Started planning the recipe this week. Mmmmm.... thank you Homer Simpson. You are a brilliant cartoon man.

Gah, the words, they just keep on coming... why!!!!! Don't want them to. Listening to Daft Punk: Homework:Oh Yeah, not their best song, I prefer Robot Rock. Sweet.

Hmmmmmm....... ok, time to stop. Didn't even type that much. Meh, nite y'all!!!!!

Dave

So... Term 1 - Done

Well, I made it through my classes. One terms worth anyways. I still have a few outstanding assignments and my exams but SWEET!!!! One of three down!

So anyways, not much happening here, been living the life of a top; I just spin round and round through my daily little cycle. :) Not complaining, not even close, I'd have to say I've found a little cycle here that suits me really damn well. :) :)

But, that aside, I cannot wait to get back home for Christmas. Hopefully some of ya will still be around; looking forward to seeing as many people as I can when I'm in Oakville.

This is a boring blog entry, not much to say, it was warm today, I ran for an hour. I tried shipping whisky to the US, apparently that's a NO NO. Oh well, rectal smuggling is apparently the way to go. Volunteers?

Hmmmm, really trying to write something exciting for this entry, it's very sub-par in the categories of "exciting" and "interesting"! Hmmmm, not getting any bright ideas.

Ok, out of the blue, here's a pic of my favourite constellation, the Pleiades:

Thank you NASA, you made this wicked picture. It looks great on my desktop!

Alrighty everyone, enjoy your last five days of November, hate the first day of December and then get on with enjoying the rest of the month.

Scratch the "hate the first day" thing. Enjoy that one too!

Looking forward to seeing you all when I get back to TO/Oakville.

Peace out! Ha ha, I just typed that, it sounds so stupid coming from me. Alrighty, take care, I'll be back to waste your time REAL soon. :)

Dave

Gotta love this forecast.

Gah! What?!?!? Out of Kyoto now??? What's happening to Canada?

God dammit! God damn Conservatives! Who voted for them??? Why would you do such a thing?!?!?

Backing out of Kyoto? Not up to the challenge? Bah! Stupid stupid people! I say way to go to France for calling our government a bunch of wankers!

Even if Guelph did turn me into a little tree hugger you have to admit that this is a bloody rediculous thing to do!

Dammit! Dave Gordon, go on, this is your chance! Help the Liberals get rid of these silly buggers!

Yikes, only the second time I've ever ranted about politics. The first time about Canadian politics at that! (The other time was the first Bush election.)

Alright, gonna go take a cold shower in the poo shower. Ha ha, poo's got a leaf in it now, left the window open to help with the smell and the poor thing fell into it overnight.

Ok, that's all. I've vented.

Later everybody,

Dave

Poooooo, in the shower!!! Ha ha ha, that is disgusting!!!

Ok, strike 2 against me and my flat mates. We've had no heat for three days and now there's poo coming up our shower drain. Ooooo, not looking so hot here right now.

I'm laughing about in right now, pretty fucking funny, I can shower at the gym. Oh, btw, the other shower's busted right now too. :) Ha ha, this is karma for something or other, it has to be.

I feel bad for Andrea, our landlord and flat mate, she's been trying to get the heat fixed and now this crap (literally) happens.

I'd take a pic but I think that'd be a bit out of taste. Mmmmm.... poo taste. Just kidding.

Alright, this has been fun but I gotta proof read my paper on the Order of Nutrient Uptake by Brewers' Yeast. Yay!

Oooo, just thought of this, our shower is like a poopsicle now! 8 Crazy Nights, anyone remember that???

Ok, later,

Dave

Heating 1 - Dave 0

I like cold weather, yes it is nice, even if it will never snow here. But when that cold weather invades your home, it sucks.

Heating here's been KO'd for two days now. Sleeping is fun, you're allowed to be warm then. I think I'm going to a cafe later to work on an essay, not so much fun here at home.

My bedroom is growing icicles now, here's a pic of it:


On second thought the title of this post is inappropriate. Judging by this picture, I'm perfectly happy in the cold, even in a bathing suit.

I think the title should be more like Dave 999 - Stupid Heating -999.

With the max score being 999.

Ok, enough. I actually have work to do!

Ooo, I think I have to give cred to Joe Mastroianni, National Science Foundation, for the pic. You're supposed to do that here if you take a pic from another website. This one's been butchered by me though.

Ok, ok, I have to do work, later!

I love Photoshop!

Dave

What I do when I'm bored...

Hey y'all, how are ya?

Well, been busy with school, like you've all been busy with work, school, bank robbing, vampirism or whatever it is you've all been up to too. :)

Well the hilight of this week would have been Thursday night. There was a night lecture given by two speakers. The first guy was alright, he talked about food safety and examples of it going wrong. One example, heard this from two people now, was about cobalt in beer.

No more cobalt in beer these days; not many people are fans of heavy metal beers.

Umm, second lecturer was head of Brewing Operations at Coors. The guy and his wife were both Guelph grads! How cool is that!

So after the lectures my bus stopped halfway home. Hooray! Part Route, didn't know where the stop was, assumed I'd get home on the bus. Nope.

Walked home, nothing interesting happend, I hoped something cool would happen. Not sure what, just'd hoped for it and, well, it never happened. :(

Ummm, I like posting pics, let me post a random one. One min...


I like this one. It's a dragon! Really you ask? Why yes, it's a magical dragon, sort of like Puff. Only thing here is this dragon doesn't get high, not anymore anyways. This dragon pees on the unsuspecting tourists who walk under him. Way to go Pee Pee the Dragon, you rock!

Ok, so I'm bored. Been working on a micro lab and there are lots more more things more exciting than that. Wanna know why Entereobacteriacaea fail to grow on citrate? No, you don't. I need to find out why. See?

Hmmm, how about a look into my life? Alright? Yeah? You wanna see? Really? No, you don't, trust me. What? Yeah? You really do? Ok, fine, here you go. Like it or not here's an exciting pic of where I spend 99% of my time at home. My computer and desk.

One min, I don't have a pic of that. Ok, gotta take one. So here's my pic of my desk and compy while I post this blog. Yay.

Ok, I'm getting tired of writing this entry, it's just a lot of nothing I'll regret having written later. Too late, I already regret it. Too much trouble to delete it. Oh well, sorry you wasted the last 3 min reading about not much of anything. Blah!

Slow night here in Tartan Country. Alright, you all take care hombres!

Dave

He he, home... :)

No more beard, no more soul patch, just skin. How weird.

It's gone, totally utterly disappeared!

Cut it off, was thinking of it last week, got talked out of wholesale destruction on Friday by the whisky tasting group, but alas I cut it off tonight. I'm sure you all care.

I've had hair on my chin for the last hmmm.... 7-8 years. Got used to it being there, expecially when the hair on the top of my head started getting cut shorter and shorter.

But hey, the times they are a changing, and well, this did too. Kinda liking it now; glad I got the final push to do it tonight.

Ok, anyways, my assignment that never would end ended, I designed a brewhouse. I feel like my design was kind of like swiss cheese, full of holes and smelly. I'm sure it was alright though.

Hmmm, what else is new... uh... Oh, I lost my gloves on Friday. I hope the bus people have them.

Uh, ok, random, but now here are some drunk pics from friday.















Whisky tasting - complete with beer to wash it down. Was too good to do that though.















Me, holding whisky and beer.















Amanda and Will - fellow Canadians.















Brendan - from Utah.
















Angry homeless person.

Ok, later, need to start working again. This blog gets addictively fun sometimes, hard to pull away. Maybe this is what being hooked on crack is like?!? Nah, probably not.

Ok, shit,

Later!

Dave

What's this mean??? I'm confused...

*.*What does this mean?*.*

*.*What did I do wrong?*.*

*.*What is e^(-pi*i)?*.*

- I can only answer the third. The answer is go talk to calculus professor extrordinaire Dr. Jack Weiner. Only the Guelph people might understand that. Oh well.

Computer logic illudes me, and 99.9999999% of the world population. That means 6 people on the face of the planet can understand computers like a computer understands itself. I bet all of those six live in an undiscovered tribe in Papua New Guniea too.

Ok, I'm rambling, probably going insane.

Later,

Dave