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

Dave’s Made in Scotland Biscotti

1 cup granulated sugar
3 eggs1/4 cup butter, melted
1 teaspoon aniseed, lightly crushed (I keep forgetting to buy this)
1 teaspoon orange or almond extract (both works well too)
2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cup whole unblanched almonds

Preheat oven to 350F or 175C.

Beat sugar and eggs together until creamy. Beat in melted butter, aniseed, and orange extract. Mix together flour and baking powder. Add to the batter and beat until well blended. Stir in the nuts. Place the dough in the refrigerator and chill for at least 1 hour. (The chilled dough can be kept refrigerated for up to 3 days.)

Shape the dough into a 9 x 6-inch oval 1 1/2 inches thick and place on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until firm and lightly browned. Remove the pan from the oven and cool slightly.

Transfer the dough to a cutting board and slice diagonally into 1/2-inch thick pieces. Arrange, cut side down, on the baking sheet and return to the oven. Bake an additional 15 minutes. Transfer the baked the biscotti to wire racks to cool.
Makes enough to last about 2 weeks.

Nothing much about this recipe is Scottish apart from the fact that I made them in Edinburgh.

If you like biscotti try this, if you don't oh well. If you don't know what biscotti is then expand your knowledge of cookie-like foods and make some!

Adios Amigos,

Scottish Pastry Chef, Dave Sopko

Me make biscotti! Me have Timmy's coffee!

Hey there, enjoying that extra hour are we?

Maybe you'll aren't yet, after all it is 7:30 am there right now and it is the Sunday after Halloween Saturday. Meh, either way, enjoy that extra hour in your own great way. ;)

So I made my second batch of biscotti, it turned out a little better then the first. I wonder if Lauren'd like this recipe for her cookbook in progress. I call it Scottish biscotti. Here's a look:


Look yummy don't they? I couldn't resist.

So how'd everybody's Halloween night go? Did you all go out last night or did you hang in and watch scary movies? I stayed in.

I'm heading out on Wednesday night, going to the Standing Order with some of the master's students. I figure I'll go out on Tuesday and pick up some lame costume before I go out. Oooo, any costume ideas?

Hey, guess what, I have something here that right now seems more valueable than gold. If the title of this post didn't give it away then I will now. I have four tins of Tim Horton's coffee! I know it doesn't taste exactly the same as the stuff at the store but it's even just sweet seeing in on the kitchen counter. Look:


Yes, I know, I'm a loser for taking pictures of biscotti and a tin of Canadian coffee but whatever, I was excited, I had fun :P

Well, I'm going to finish my cup of coffee, possibly read a little bit of news and then head to the gym. Beautiful day out here, 7C warmer than TO, at least according to my Google homepage. Hooray for the Gulf Stream!

Ok, have a great day everybody! Later.

Dave

Hello... DST tonight!

Hey there y'all,

DST tonight, enjoy that extra hour of zzzzzzz we'll all be getting. ;)

I was looking at my pics and thought this one was neat. It's the night sky from our bathroom window. You can see Arthur's Seat between the buildings (right below the moon).


Hey, Dwayne, is that place with the grass roof supposed to be in Inverness? That's what I figured the article said. I never saw it there but I did see the building on TV here once.

Anyways, I'm gonna go sleep.

Nite people,

Dave

Can you feel it???

Heya, welcome to my alternate reality.

Anyways, I was at a conference today for the ICBD, the International Centre for Brewing and Distilling.

The fella running the show was a guy who'd run Heineken's R&D dept. He said they once proposed putting Heineken pipelines into ppls houses. How cool'd that have been; hot, cold and Heineken!

Cool day, but tonight is one of those "my brain feels like it's gonna explode and I can't explain why" nights. Probly just cuz I didn't run today. Blarg.

Sup Diana. Thanks for the comment on my last post. ;) I encourage more posting, it makes me feel loved.

Anyways, back to trying to assume my way into designing a "feasible" brewhouse.

Nite, or good evening for the TO folks.

D&V{

Grrrrrrr..... I'm M-A-D!!!!!

Look at me, grrrrrrrrr, I'm angry!!!! Ha ha ha ha ha ha, I think I'm gonna pee...

















Why do I look pissed off??? I was enjoying myself up in the hills today.

Oh well, another one of life's little, or maybe big, mysteries.

Later, grrrrr.....

Dave

Another blog. Gotta relieve my blog-stipation.

Hey there, I realize I blog in bursts, kinda like a brief diarrhoea between bouts of constipation. Not that I'd know what that's like. :)

So I have more pics and stories to share and since it's Saturday morning I feel I have the time to write 'em all down (metaphorically, as I can't write on a web page, I type) here on my blog.

So, Piccie #1,

This is me, at Loch Ness. If you look at my feet closely you notice something. I find it interesting. I've achieved the arcane art of levitation! Dave Blaine, you can learn a thing or two from me, trust me.

Ok, enough bs, I was running along the lake, just came down a hill, probabaly around miles 8-9. It was raining; I was pissed that it was raining, and well it was generally just miserable at that point. Ah, another thing, March 18th, Rome. If you call yourself a friend then you'll be there.

Ok, I'll forgive you if you don't just fly to Rome for a day to probably miss me as I run by you trapped in a stampeding herd of Italians but, hey, it'd be nice.

Ok, piccie #2,

This was Wednesday night. Sorry the pic is crap but that happens. These six guys here are first year BSc brewing students, they all happen to be in dresses, some with added puke at this point, and they all happen to be joined at the wrist by zip-ties. Looks like a good time doesn't it?

It was a brewer's night out Weds and well nobody, mostly nobody, knew this was going to happen. We started off in some super-cheap pub called the Standing Order, like 1.50 for a pint. Pretty cheap. Anyways, we got the hell out of there, they don't play music and we apparently needed a place that wouldn't kick us out.

We left Standing Order and hit up this little place called the Rose St. Brewery. We were basically the whole bar while we were there. The littlest guy of the chain gang projectile vomited across the pub, a couple pint glasses smashed and it was a good time.

So, the third place, The Guildford Arms was actually puke free! Tried a couple new cask ales there, but other wise not much to report on.

Ok, well the last pub of the night was some place, don't remember what it was called. Anyways, that doesn't matter, all that matters is that this is where most of the first year guys ended their night. One guy, looking plenty green, was trying to find his hat and bobbing (that "I gotta puke" kind of bobbing) in his seat at the back of the bar. Well, we got him up and started heading for the door. We didn't move quick enough. He chucked right onto my hand and directly into my pint. Yummy, it was a pretty sickly bullseye.

Anyways, the rest of the night ended up being a tour of most of Edinburgh, all in search of food. Not too interesting. I saw people smashing rubbish bins, not that that's unusual.

Ok, I will actually shower now, I want to smell nice for the good people at ASDA.

Enjoy the day, hope it doesn't piss rain at home.

Dave

Look at this pic I found on my phone!

Andrew, my little brother, not Ball or Morgan or any other Andrew who might be reading this blog, remember this?

This was at that Timmy's on our adventure to get Mom a printer. Remember? I do.

Well Mom's been to Edinburgh and she's gone home already too. It was really nice to have some family here; being away from them made me realize how important they are.

Stu, I'm really looking forward to Hogmanay in Edinburgh. Gonna be a great time. X-mas in WPB is gonna be fun too, we gotta do some fireworks to piss off the cops and neighbours for old times sake.

Hmmm... I've never put pics of my flat on here, one sec, gonna go and upload one for all to see.

Here it is, it's pretty homey. I like falling asleep to the constant rumble of the buses and the acid smoke of the cars.

I really like it here. I'm looking forward to having people come visit, there's plenty of room as you can tell. :)

Ball and Dave, one of you might have to sleep outside when you visit. I hope you don't mind stray cats.

Ummm, I should head out. I need stuff, important things, like food.

You all have a good day. I'll post again.

DAVE

Drunk, drunk, drunk, ha ha ha....

Hey, fuckers...

Was brewing, got drunk, ha ha... went to a brewery across the street... got drunk...

Went to a bar, got more drunk... ha... ha... uh.... ha...

Came home... now I want to eat...

Not going to though, my milk's gone sour... :(

Ugh... so many... ...'s

Poo.

Nite

Dave

Londres

Hey y'all. I dunno who still reads this, maybe I'm just writing to myself now. Hmmm...

Oh well, I can practice my English here either way.

So I went to London this past Friday and got back to Edinburgh early this morning. I visited a friend of mine there, her name is Sharon, and the two of us had a great time. We went to the Natural History Museum and saw all kinds of dead and stuffed critters along with lots of rocks and a 1335 year old tree.

Camden town and Camden Lock are/is an amazing place to wander through and people watch. I have to say this place was more like Queen St. in TO but it goes on forever and well, it's just way cooler. If you get to London definately check this place out; best on a weekend.

Covent Garden was great, plenty of live performers there including a the singing handy man with his bubble making truck. Check the pic.

Now, being back in Edinburgh I went to my afternoon classes. I knew that tomorrow I'll be in the brewery until 5pm; but during my second class we learned that there'll be a tour and a buffet dinner (with free beer) across the street from my flat at the Caledonian Brewery tomorrow too. Sweet...

Take care people.

Bon soir,

Dave

OH, FUDGE, HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!! And too bad the Leafs lost... Damn those Habs.