The Broad Street Pump has moved to a more appropriate URL:
http://pumponbroadstreet.blogspot.com
Head on over to continue receiving the very best in mediocre and sporadic blogging.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Moving Day...
The Broad Street Pump has moved to a more appropriate URL:
http://pumponbroadstreet.blogspot.com
Head on over to continue receiving the very best in mediocre and sporadic blogging.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
The Broad Street Pump: Now Serving Beer!
Yes, that's right, the Broad Street Pump is back in action for the first time since 1854... only this time rather than serving up cholera-tainted water, it will be spewing forth amateur brew concocted in west Berkeley. With the help of my esteemed colleagues, brewmasters Rob and Paul, I am formally announcing the informal creation of not one, but two, lines of homebrew - straight from our over-sized storage closet.... Red Star Brewing and Constitution Beer Works
Why create two different brands of beer simultaneously? Because we're clever businessmen, that's why. With the political climate in this country being what it is, there's no better to way to make a profit than by blatantly marketing to the ardent supporters of the liberal left and the conservative right. No self-respecting tea-partier wants to be caught dead drinking the same brew as some deadbeat, Muslim-sympathizing socialist; and why should the educated elite have to suffer the same swill as those creationist simpletons?
No, if this country is going to be properly divided the lines must be drawn. The time for common ground and putting our differences aside is over. We can no longer share the same simple pleasures; they must be branded and marketed in a diametrically opposed fashion. We here at Red Star Brewing and Constitution Beer Works are happy to provide this long-overdue service to a nation of individuals that have too often been forced to commiserate with their polar opposites over the same delicious adult beverage. Enough is enough.
So tape off your half of the room you share with that yokel freshman, show your neighbor how easily his Prius can be destroyed by an F-350, and crack open a fresh beer far, far away from anyone who disagrees with you about anything.
Why create two different brands of beer simultaneously? Because we're clever businessmen, that's why. With the political climate in this country being what it is, there's no better to way to make a profit than by blatantly marketing to the ardent supporters of the liberal left and the conservative right. No self-respecting tea-partier wants to be caught dead drinking the same brew as some deadbeat, Muslim-sympathizing socialist; and why should the educated elite have to suffer the same swill as those creationist simpletons?
No, if this country is going to be properly divided the lines must be drawn. The time for common ground and putting our differences aside is over. We can no longer share the same simple pleasures; they must be branded and marketed in a diametrically opposed fashion. We here at Red Star Brewing and Constitution Beer Works are happy to provide this long-overdue service to a nation of individuals that have too often been forced to commiserate with their polar opposites over the same delicious adult beverage. Enough is enough.
So tape off your half of the room you share with that yokel freshman, show your neighbor how easily his Prius can be destroyed by an F-350, and crack open a fresh beer far, far away from anyone who disagrees with you about anything.
Monday, August 16, 2010
Found: One Slightly-Used Blog
We all lose things. I lose pens and lighters like its my job. I'm used to losing things, searching frantically for them for about 3 minutes, giving up, and having them return to me weeks later. I recently found a lost item while putting on a rarely-worn pair of shoes and noticing that it was, in fact, preventing my toes from reaching their destination. Moral of the story: check your shoes.
Despite being a pro at losing and recovery process, I was worried for most of this summer. For the first time I actually lost an intangible item, though I suppose if you want to count thoughts, ideas, and focus in that category then I lose intangibles all the time. I happened to misplace by blog back in June, shortly after my most recent (and utterly lame) post. My blogging had declined as last semester wore on and I'm fairly certain that my blog had simply set out to find greener pastures. At first I was hurt; I thought I had been a good provider for my blog... feeding it text, adding pictures, and providing it with ample visitors (albeit, all from my IP address). Apparently I was wrong.
I have, however, been given a second chance. My blog has come back to me and we're ready to give it another shot. I have an entire summer (and even some of last spring) to make up for.
At the moment The Woolsey Street Digest has been in a bit of an identity crisis: I no longer live on Woolsey Street. Should I have seen this coming? Probably. So what to do? Change the name but keep the same URL? Get a new blog altogether? Not change a thing? These are the life-altering decisions that I've been contemplating. I've chosen to take the incremental approach: New name, same address. I wouldn't want to confuse my readership that now numbers in the 0.005's... a migration might be in store later on.
So what's with the new name? The Broad Street Pump refers to the cholera outbreak that occurred in London in 1854. The outbreak was eventually controlled when John Snow removed the handle of the Broad Street water pump, which he had identified as the source of outbreak via its contaminated water. Along with the significant fact that Snow was the first to link cholera with contaminated water, the case study is also one of the more seminal pieces of epidemiologic investigation, and an inspiration to public health nerds such as myself.
I aspire to no such greatness with this blog. It will remain a cesspit filled with my scattered thoughts, half-hearted ambitions, and occasional ill-informed rants. Some things will never change.
Despite being a pro at losing and recovery process, I was worried for most of this summer. For the first time I actually lost an intangible item, though I suppose if you want to count thoughts, ideas, and focus in that category then I lose intangibles all the time. I happened to misplace by blog back in June, shortly after my most recent (and utterly lame) post. My blogging had declined as last semester wore on and I'm fairly certain that my blog had simply set out to find greener pastures. At first I was hurt; I thought I had been a good provider for my blog... feeding it text, adding pictures, and providing it with ample visitors (albeit, all from my IP address). Apparently I was wrong.
I have, however, been given a second chance. My blog has come back to me and we're ready to give it another shot. I have an entire summer (and even some of last spring) to make up for.
At the moment The Woolsey Street Digest has been in a bit of an identity crisis: I no longer live on Woolsey Street. Should I have seen this coming? Probably. So what to do? Change the name but keep the same URL? Get a new blog altogether? Not change a thing? These are the life-altering decisions that I've been contemplating. I've chosen to take the incremental approach: New name, same address. I wouldn't want to confuse my readership that now numbers in the 0.005's... a migration might be in store later on.
So what's with the new name? The Broad Street Pump refers to the cholera outbreak that occurred in London in 1854. The outbreak was eventually controlled when John Snow removed the handle of the Broad Street water pump, which he had identified as the source of outbreak via its contaminated water. Along with the significant fact that Snow was the first to link cholera with contaminated water, the case study is also one of the more seminal pieces of epidemiologic investigation, and an inspiration to public health nerds such as myself.
I aspire to no such greatness with this blog. It will remain a cesspit filled with my scattered thoughts, half-hearted ambitions, and occasional ill-informed rants. Some things will never change.
Friday, June 4, 2010
Dear Eduardo: The Food Entry
Dear Eduardo,
I bet you'd just about given up hope of me writing to you again, huh? I'm sorry to have ignored you and the blog which you so meticulously maintain for so long; I've been busy to say the least. There are so many new developments and I don't have time to discuss them all now (I'm busy after all!), but rest assured I'll find some time over this coming weekend to regal you tales of West Coast happenings such as Bay to Breakers Freedom Day, Celtics in the NBA finals, three new roommates, field epidemiology training, kickball in the park, The National at the Fox Theater, and of course my trip home to Rhode Island (I guess that's more of an East Coast happening).
Anyways... this entry will be short and delicious, since its devoted to food. Why food? Two reasons:
So I've spent the past few days doing my best to consume five pounds of pulled pork without getting sick of it or because of it. Some of my solutions: pulled pork sandwiches with cabbage (duh), pulled pork omelette with cheddar and red onion, pulled pork and cabbage on polenta patties, and finally tonight pulled pork soft tacos with shredded NY extra-sharp cheddar, peach mango salsa, chopped bacon bits and of course, shredded red cabbage. Stick that with a limited-release Lagunitas 'Undercover Investigator Shut-Down Ale' that weighs in at 9.75% ABV and you've got yourself a solid Friday night dinner. Here is a picture of said meal before I conquered it in less than 10 minutes...
I bet you'd just about given up hope of me writing to you again, huh? I'm sorry to have ignored you and the blog which you so meticulously maintain for so long; I've been busy to say the least. There are so many new developments and I don't have time to discuss them all now (I'm busy after all!), but rest assured I'll find some time over this coming weekend to regal you tales of West Coast happenings such as Bay to Breakers Freedom Day, Celtics in the NBA finals, three new roommates, field epidemiology training, kickball in the park, The National at the Fox Theater, and of course my trip home to Rhode Island (I guess that's more of an East Coast happening).
Anyways... this entry will be short and delicious, since its devoted to food. Why food? Two reasons:
- Now that school is done for the summer, I suddenly find myself with time on my hands. I've been filling this 4th-dimensional gap by cooking more often. I've really missed it.
- I saw this story on NPR's website today and was filled with feelings of nostalgia, homesick-ness and hunger. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127481915
So I've spent the past few days doing my best to consume five pounds of pulled pork without getting sick of it or because of it. Some of my solutions: pulled pork sandwiches with cabbage (duh), pulled pork omelette with cheddar and red onion, pulled pork and cabbage on polenta patties, and finally tonight pulled pork soft tacos with shredded NY extra-sharp cheddar, peach mango salsa, chopped bacon bits and of course, shredded red cabbage. Stick that with a limited-release Lagunitas 'Undercover Investigator Shut-Down Ale' that weighs in at 9.75% ABV and you've got yourself a solid Friday night dinner. Here is a picture of said meal before I conquered it in less than 10 minutes...
Until next time...
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
This Guy is a Rock Star
I saw Tallest Man on Earth play this past Sunday night at The Independent in San Francisco. Hands down the best $12 I've spent in a long, long time (and I buy a lot of really good beer). I'm not critical enough, nor do I have a good enough ear for the more technical aspects of music to write any sort of real review... but I found one from the show I saw here that might suffice. Maybe.
What I will say is that if you ever have a chance to see this guy perform you'd better grab that opportunity by the proverbial balls and not let go. Not only does he know the guitar better than the vast majority of performers I've seen, in addition to his effortless voice, but the man has stage presence too; a perfect blend of humility and confidence that lends itself perfectly to his music.
How he produces such full sound from a single guitar is beyond me. At one point Robbie commented that he simply had to have another track playing in the background (I forget which particular song). Almost immediately, as if to say "oh dear boy, do not underestimate me" he threw in an abrupt pause before continuing the song, just enough to show that yes indeed, it was all him and his guitar.
You can check tour dates and sample a few tracks on his myspace page. I'd recommend making use of GrooveShark to listen to both his albums (Shallow Grave and The Wild Hunt) until you realize he's good enough to deserve you actually dropping a few dollars on his albums.
Postscript: I'll actually finish my post on Coachella in next couple of days and maybe even make a few more. Deadlines for my research and infectious disease finals have been haunting my life for the past few weeks.
And if you're going to be homeless, do it here.
What I will say is that if you ever have a chance to see this guy perform you'd better grab that opportunity by the proverbial balls and not let go. Not only does he know the guitar better than the vast majority of performers I've seen, in addition to his effortless voice, but the man has stage presence too; a perfect blend of humility and confidence that lends itself perfectly to his music.
How he produces such full sound from a single guitar is beyond me. At one point Robbie commented that he simply had to have another track playing in the background (I forget which particular song). Almost immediately, as if to say "oh dear boy, do not underestimate me" he threw in an abrupt pause before continuing the song, just enough to show that yes indeed, it was all him and his guitar.
You can check tour dates and sample a few tracks on his myspace page. I'd recommend making use of GrooveShark to listen to both his albums (Shallow Grave and The Wild Hunt) until you realize he's good enough to deserve you actually dropping a few dollars on his albums.
Postscript: I'll actually finish my post on Coachella in next couple of days and maybe even make a few more. Deadlines for my research and infectious disease finals have been haunting my life for the past few weeks.
And if you're going to be homeless, do it here.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
News Flash...
I'm a nerd and a dork...
Nucleotide sequences from Staph saprophiticus in one gChat window, the Gandalf/Batman debate in the other...
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Coachella 2010: Condoms & Coccidiomycosis
Dear Eduardo,
I owe you a plethora of apologies for not keeping you updated on the goings-on of yours truly, April, it would suffice to say, as been a rather busy month. I've got lots to tell you, but this entry will be reserved for telling the tale of Coachella 2010. I'll update you about the rest in my next post, which likely turn out to be a bulleted list lacking any semblance of literary worth. Just you wait and see...
Onward!
As my last post informed you our trip to the Coachella Music & Arts Festival was dual-purpose... checking out some sweet live music and distributing 10,000 free condoms to the dirty, sweaty, drunken masses to that they'd keep their herpes to themselves. I'd like to report that we were successful in those endeavors... as well as many more.
It all began with Gail and I bailing on our infectious disease lab by late morning Thursday so that Megha could pick us up in a timely fashion and our journey to southern California could commence. Of course, we couldn't just drive right to Indio, CA (the site of Coachella), first we had to stop at Megha's parent's house in Malibu to swap her Mini Cooper for their minivan, as well as pick up the two giant boxes filled with condoms that they so graciously allowed to be shipped to their home. After that we'd be picking up Megha's friend Ron (and the object of my new bromance) at LAX, stopping in Pasadena, and finally heading east to Indio. Having left Berkeley at roughly noon, we arrived at the entrance to Coachella at 2am. This what we found...
That would be the 2-hour wait we found. A field full of cars being searched by overtired Marine volunteers and Coachella staff. We made the most of it by hiding our hard liquor and other unmentionables in the compartment that the minivan seat folds into under the floor and passing out condoms to all the people waiting in or on their cars. We may have also had a few beers. By 5am we had been searched, checked in, and found our campsite. We had our tents pitched by dawn and proceeded to get oh... about 1.5 hours of sleep. We awoke to this...
Beautiful sight, no? Well it was hot. Coachella is essentially the desert. I've yet to mention that in addition to the four of us in Megha's ride, we met the other half of our crew right before entering the festival (Divya, Scott, Baran, and Mary). So after cooling off with some morning High Lifes and getting our bleary-eyed selves together we embarked on the trek across the festival grounds to the entrance to the concert area. Though it took an inhuman amount of stamina on hardly any sleep, we spent from roughly 2pm until 1am checking out the following lineup.
I owe you a plethora of apologies for not keeping you updated on the goings-on of yours truly, April, it would suffice to say, as been a rather busy month. I've got lots to tell you, but this entry will be reserved for telling the tale of Coachella 2010. I'll update you about the rest in my next post, which likely turn out to be a bulleted list lacking any semblance of literary worth. Just you wait and see...
Onward!
As my last post informed you our trip to the Coachella Music & Arts Festival was dual-purpose... checking out some sweet live music and distributing 10,000 free condoms to the dirty, sweaty, drunken masses to that they'd keep their herpes to themselves. I'd like to report that we were successful in those endeavors... as well as many more.
It all began with Gail and I bailing on our infectious disease lab by late morning Thursday so that Megha could pick us up in a timely fashion and our journey to southern California could commence. Of course, we couldn't just drive right to Indio, CA (the site of Coachella), first we had to stop at Megha's parent's house in Malibu to swap her Mini Cooper for their minivan, as well as pick up the two giant boxes filled with condoms that they so graciously allowed to be shipped to their home. After that we'd be picking up Megha's friend Ron (and the object of my new bromance) at LAX, stopping in Pasadena, and finally heading east to Indio. Having left Berkeley at roughly noon, we arrived at the entrance to Coachella at 2am. This what we found...
That would be the 2-hour wait we found. A field full of cars being searched by overtired Marine volunteers and Coachella staff. We made the most of it by hiding our hard liquor and other unmentionables in the compartment that the minivan seat folds into under the floor and passing out condoms to all the people waiting in or on their cars. We may have also had a few beers. By 5am we had been searched, checked in, and found our campsite. We had our tents pitched by dawn and proceeded to get oh... about 1.5 hours of sleep. We awoke to this...
Beautiful sight, no? Well it was hot. Coachella is essentially the desert. I've yet to mention that in addition to the four of us in Megha's ride, we met the other half of our crew right before entering the festival (Divya, Scott, Baran, and Mary). So after cooling off with some morning High Lifes and getting our bleary-eyed selves together we embarked on the trek across the festival grounds to the entrance to the concert area. Though it took an inhuman amount of stamina on hardly any sleep, we spent from roughly 2pm until 1am checking out the following lineup.
- Deer Tick; Rhode Island natives who gave Divya and I a shout-out for yelling about Providence. They rocked harder than I expected, one of the best acts I saw all weekend.
- The Avett Brothers; a fantastic follow-up to Deer Tick.
- She & Him; god I want to slap Zoe Daschanel. As Robbie put, she's obnoxiously adorable.
- Passion Pit; who played a stellar set right at sunset. Very awesome.
- Vampire Weekend; sounded great, but their show wasn't anything out of the ordinary.
- Jay-Z; Friday's headliner who did not disappoint. Even dragged Beyonce out for a final track, but left a lot of people disappointed since the buzz for the two weeks prior was that Dre would be making an appearance during his show. At this point in the night my memories are clouded and it all seemed surreal.
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