Monthly Archive for April, 2013

Beer Is Good – Sierra Nevada 2013 Bigfoot Ale

Published on April 28, 2013 in Food and Review by taro. 2 Comments

Had to go on the ride, not a big fan the last time I tried this. Pours a cloudy dark amber, fairly strong head that goes away fast. Strong bitter of hops, and aroma, but not as floral as I’d expected. A pretty strong mouthfeel. Bitter persists for a long time. Not an easy drinking beer, or barley wine as the label says. We’ll see how it goes as it warms up, since taking sips seems to be the way I can take this. Surprisingly don’t detect the alcohol too much, but it does pack punch. I wish it had more roasted and nuttiness, but I’m actually not hating it this time. Could it be a mood thing? It’s not my favorite either though.

2.5 out of 4 squirrel stomping monkeys.

When it Rains it Pours

Published on April 28, 2013 in rant by taro. 1 Comment

Forgot to post about this last week. Fire trucks went up the street and sure enough HFD1 was back out at the crater. This time saw them hovering here and drop something to the ground crew before they went and got the basket deployed.

Continue reading ‘When it Rains it Pours’

Mounto

Published on April 28, 2013 in car by taro. 1 Comment

Yes Mr. Pessimistic, now something else down the line started going. With the solid motor mount I did get better response and my times at the race were back up near the top. I did again get the engine light and some driveability issues. Back home checked things out. The code was O2 sensor and starter signal so today I took a look. Changed out the O2, its placement was kind of close to the drive shaft and I kinda bent the wire a little one of the times I messing with the shafts. I also looked at the engine mount. The welded up mount itself was fine. The bolts holding bracket on the transaxle however had come loose. Tightened those up, hopefully they’ll hold. We’ll see next race, I just have to  stop hitting so many cones!

Anime Briefs – More Spring ’13

Published on April 24, 2013 in anime, Culture and Review by taro. Closed

Continuing the briefs on the new crop of anime, there is some amusement to be had this season.

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Harinezumi no Koi

Published on April 23, 2013 in Culture, rant and SUAR by risu. Closed

Is ELT aiming for a comeback?  Another of their tracks has made the Oricon rankings.  Again, Mochida’s voice is an octave above her traditional range back when they were big.  This latest “retro” track would be right at home in a 1980’s Miyazaki film.

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Anime Briefs – Spring ’13

Published on April 18, 2013 in anime, Culture and Review by taro. Closed

The spring anime season is underway, with many shows streaming on their second episodes already so here’s some initial thoughts on them, roughly in the order they showed up. There seems to be a glut of giant robots this time around, whee. There have been a couple quite entertaining shows too though.

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NVH, More is Better, Right?

Published on April 14, 2013 in car by taro. 4 Comments

OK, so you  saw my engine mount woes. I’ve had various good suggestions, fabricating a mount that uses some known leaf shackle size was a good one. But with the next event a week away and me being lazy, I decided to hack something up with what I could find to solve this problem. I could have bought some more window weld and filled the mount with goop, but I knew that wouldn’t last one event. So heck, I’ll fill it with steel! Now if I had the tools, this could have been done in an hour or so. Instead I scavenged other engine mount brackets and had at it with angle grinder and cut-off disc. Continue reading ‘NVH, More is Better, Right?’

Breaking the Dry Spell

Published on April 14, 2013 in rant and Uncategorized by taro. Closed

Heard the HFD truck go up the street, had to think, could it be? It’s actually been a long time, but sure enough a couple minutes later heard the whine of HFD 1 flying in. The last time they came by was about a month ago at night but they flew past us. They were actually at Kamiloiki Park. my guess was either Mariners of Yoga Twins trail.

Anyway, today it was back to Koko Crater just before lunch.

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Beer Is Good – Widmer Columbia Common Spring Ale

Published on April 13, 2013 in Food and Review by taro. Closed

Pours a medium amber, small head that dissipates quickly. Crisp and fairly dry flavor, moderate bitter that stays throughout and keeps a fairly astringent feel in mouth that lingers. A pretty good food beer. On it’s own, while nothing objectionable, it doesn’t have a whole lot of complexity to make it interesting.

2.5 out of 4 common monkeys.

Kamasu

Published on April 13, 2013 in Food by taro. Closed

Nijiya is not cheap, but every once in a while they get something interesting. About a month ago got a good size 3 lb nabeta that my visiting sister and nephew got to try. Today found this piece of kamasu, or barracuda. I’ve never had it but heard it’s good eating so couldn’t pass it up. Salted and fired up some coals to cook it up. A moderately firm mild tasting white meat fish, good stuff.