Archives: July 2015

Pipeworks Coffee Break Abduction

Cellared 2013.11.17 650ml

Drank 2015.07.30

Pipeworks Coffee Break Abduction

By now, I can taste that aged Pipeworks stouts all have a similar taste. This one had a touch of coffee but it absolutely had that surprisingly distinctive Pipeworks taste. I need to try one of these fresh one day for comparison. I can’t tell if that is the base taste or if this is the aging or oxidization.

One odd thing was that this was a lighter brown than I would have suspected. The mouthfeel is great still. And the alcohol is imperceptible. It is quite sweet and quite good. Quite good but not necessarily outstanding. I can’t wait for Pipeworks stout cans.

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New Gallery

I’ve used Gallery2 since possibly late 2006. Definitely since 2007. My installation was never upgraded to the very last release. I didn’t think it was necessary and upgrades are a pain.

My Gallery2 release blew up October 2014 while I was traveling in New Orleans. That last release might have helped. It occurred during an OS upgrade by my web host. Everything else came through OK. Not Gallery2. I tried to fix it but was not able to.

I decided to move to a totally different platform since Gallery3 was no longer being developed. It seems that the shift toward social media sites for things like pictures has removed all interest in development for these types of web applications. I find this sad but I am one of the few people not interested in social media.

I picked WordPress since I was very familiar with it and knew I could put together a platform for hosting my pictures. I found a theme that had a similar color scheme as Carbon had for Gallery2: dark gray and gray.The only thing about the theme I found problematic is the custom menu requires mouseover to expand and the pages widget does not have a tree structure.

I’ve wanted to have a gallery that used the Highslide lightbox since 2008 when I first saw it. I absolutely love this lightbox. I’ve seen nothing since that has similar features.

One concern with WordPress as a gallery is that it was not built for the task. A great many features standard across most gallery applications are just not available. One of these is directory management. I prefer to organize my photos in a very hierarchical manner. I want them organized on the webpage this way. I want the files organized this way. I was able to solve the file locations issue only partially. On the backend, WordPress still organizes the files by upload date but in the admin interface, I found a plugin called WP Media Folder that lets me organize them logically. I use TablePress to manually create thumbnails that link to pages for organizing the structure to the visitor. It is very manual and a pain in the ass but I get the results I want.

I wanted an easy way for the most recent pictures I’ve uploaded to be seen and found the Easy Image Display plugin. It puts the last arbitrary number of uploaded images in a widget or post.

I looked for a gallery plugin for WordPress to handle the gallery specific functions but never found one I liked. It turns out the built in gallery fits my needs well enough. I can get a single column at the right “thumbnail” size with click to expand from Highslide. My goal has always been to allow my visitors to scroll very quickly through the pictures and only click the ones they have any interest in. A feature I was not able to implement is EXIF data. This is only of interest to other photographers but really who else might visit an actual web gallery of a photographer.

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Cheap router and upgrades

I bought a cheap router for $20 shipped (2 actually, one for my parents’ house). It supports DD-WRT and I did load it on. It has dual band support and AC support. I configured it to be an access point. I do want better throughput since I find myself moving photos from the ultrabook to the primary storage.

The router is a Trendnet TEW-811DRU. It runs very hot. I’m underclocking it by 20% and it still runs hot. I’ve taken the thing apart and plan on replacing the 2 heatsinks with larger ones and will use thermal paste. Right now the transmission rate is miserable. Worse than first generation WiFi. I suspect heat is the problem.

If I can get the thing running stable, I want to also mod it further with external antennas replacing the tiny little internal ones it has now.

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I need to find replacements for both heatsinks. The big one is 1 1/2 inches by 1 1/2 inches. The small one is 1 3/16 inches by 3/4 inch. There are antenna kits on Amazon from between 7 to 13 dollars.

Update 2015.08.12

I put in replacement heatsinks from some old video cards. Added thermal paste. And only could get them mounted with twisty ties.

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It ran nicely with the cover off. Connectivity was much more stable.

The replacement pigtails and antennas came. I drilled 2 1/4″ holes and got the antennas in place. It ran OK in initial testing.

A few days of use turned up some substantial problems. With the cover on, it runs WAY too hot. The heatsink might be extracting heat from the chip but it isn’t getting dissipated. It is just getting trapped inside the case. Temperatures are in the 70s. Celsius. Open the case gets the temperature to a more reasonable level.

But the connectivity, while mostly stable, drops down every so often. Not good for streaming TV. The application complains about low bandwidth and stops playback. Speeds are quite good and I am getting good 5GHz connectivity and range. But stability is either a heat issue or firmware issue.

I want to try getting more ventilation for the case and maybe a USB powered fan.

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Sous Vide – 2nd try

I am planning pork chops for my second attempt. I should use thick cut ones and I’ve found them at Mariano’s but for this attempt, I am using whatever Costco has. I plan on them being medium rare.

I can’t find my vacuum device so this attempt might not fire. But I will look more.

140 degrees
2 hours
Salt, pepper, olive oil marinade

Towel dry
Sear
Serve

Update 2 / 2015.08.01: Cooking it now. The chops wound up being decently thick. I’m kind of excited.

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Update 3 / 2015.08.12

After patting down the chops and throwing them on a not too hot grill, this is the result.

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The seasoning was good. Right amount. The result was good. Juicy.

Next time I do pork chops, I want them even juicier though. I will try at a lower temperature. And I think better pork would help but I am not there yet. This is surely mass produced and fatless pork. I want to eventually try something like Berkshire pork.

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Pipeworks Game of Jones

Cellared 2013.10.20 650ml

Drank 2015.07.13

Pipeworks Game of Jones

First time having Game of Jones. Interesting. Sweet but not straight sweet. Might be vanilla but I can’t quite taste that it is vanilla. No perceived alcohol. Slightly… tart? But I don’t think tart is right and it is not at all unpleasant. Very good in fact. Deliciously sweet. Not at all the usual roasty RIS flavor but still very stout and very good.

Rich mouthfeel but also light. I really felt the alcohol in this. But I didn’t taste it one bit. I think I would prefer a slightly roastier and bitter beer but it is quite good. My mouth is left with sweet tasty goodness after every sip. Coats my mouth.

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Great Divide Old Ruffian 2013

Cellared 2013.11.17 650ml

Drank 2015.07.07

Great Divide Old Ruffian

First time having this. It comes in 4 packs now. I’d buy more if it were less expensive. But Bell’s was much cheaper and I still have a case of Bigfoot. This one was bottled December 2012.

It is good. Bitter but not hoppy. No perceived alcohol. Very smooth. I wonder if it is this good fresh. I will eventually find out. There is very good balance between the bitterness and the sweetness. Enjoying this a lot but don’t have any more cellared. It doesn’t beat cheap Third Coast Old Ale, though.

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