Up for bid now: One year of college tuition!

College tuition is up for grabs on ebay and includes room and board fees. One lucky student will pay a lot less for tuition than his or her fellow students.

Tuition at Oklahoma Wesleyan University usually runs about $23,000, but after two days on the auction block the bidding wa already up to $15,850.

Although the college wants to help a student afford their college tuition they are also hoping to create a nice little buzz for themselves and hopefully other colleges will jump on the band wagon and follow suit.

Anyone can bid on the auction, either for themselves or someone else, but all entrance requirements must be meet still.

I wish all the people bidding good luck with this one and I hope a needy and deserving student wins and not someone from a weathly family who has plenty of money for tuition.

Yesterday's Plastic Surgery Appointment

Yesterday I had an appointment at Park Avenue Plastic Surgery in Winter Park. The outcome is that the surgeon recommended not doing the surgeries for the stomach muscles and the hernia together because of the length of the surgery and also because of some procedure they do when they fic the hernia were they expand (bloat out) the area in order to lariscopically place the mesh and fix the hernia. After that he would have had to do the tummy tuck and he said it doesn't work as well after they bloat out the area and also I guess with them messing with the area in gerenal before he has to do his part. So I am taking his advice.

I scheduled the hernia surgery for February 19th and now have to quit smoking. I have no idea how I am going to do it...and lets just go ahead and assume without help or support of anyone.
Yeah, okay I have some bitterness going on today if you hadn't noticed. Maybe I woke up on the wrong side of the bed or maybe its just how I normally feel and am just good at hiding it.

Whatever! It you don't like my attitude then don't read! It's that simple. And no I don't expect my phone to ring and for anyone to call me and ask me what's wrong or what my problem is so don't bother cause I am not expecting anything different than what I usually get from family and friends. And that's all I have to say about that! Yes, that is a quote from Forest Gump. As always I manage to have humor about everything.

Wine Making Experiment Update

Wine Making Experiment #1 Day 3 - 7:45pm

I am going to try to check up on what is going on with the wine while Tyler is chattering non-stop in the background. Hard to think straight.

Last night and this morning I continued adding warm water into the tub to keep the fermentation going strong. I couple help but take a taste and I was astonished at how strong it was already. I took just one little sip and got a buzz. Anyway, I decided that even though fermentation was still going I was going to take a sample to my mother and father. They like it and also said that it was very strong. It seems that making 1 gallon versus 6 gallons it is easier to get it fermented to a good strong wine quicker.

Tonight after getting home I added more hot water to the tub. Bubbles were still coming out of the air lock though even before I added the hot water. Great! I sooooo can't wait until it is done. The sample I gave my parents was very cloudy of course, but I have the campden tablets and will add a half of one when it's time to clear the wine a little. But I don't want to add a whole tablet cause I don't want to take a chance that it will effect the taste.

I am very glad that I decided to add more sugar cause at this point it is not very sweet, so the sugar is almost all gone and I might even have to add more.

So far so good! This experiment is coming out very good so far.

Wine Making Experiment #1 Day 4 - 7:00am

I've been up since, well I am not even sure, maybe 5:30am. I added hot water to the tub. Before I added it I didn't see any activity coming from the air lock, but after I added the hot water the bubbling began again. I don't want to rack the wine before the fermentation has stopped, however I am going to taste test the wine again.

I will keep you posted.

Wine Making Experiment #1 Day 4 - 7:30am

I tasted the wine and it was very strong. I racked it and added a half of a campden tablet. I had to rack it back into the plastic 6 gallon container after washing it out and sterilizing it, but that's okay cause I really didn't want to have to use the glass carboy. I am always worried I will drop it and break it. It's not heavy when empty but weighs a ton when its full. The only problem is that I can't start another wine until this one is complete or I get the pug to be able to use the carboy and rack this wine into the carboy

Wine Making Experiment #1 Day 2 - 6:00pm

I just went into the bathroom to check on my wine. Ohhhhh, it smells soooooo good in there. I could stay in there all day just breathing in that good smelling wine. Earlier while I was putting the fermentation air lock in place and adding the enzymes and pectic I of course was so curious I had to take a taste. Taste very good and I can alreayd taste the alcohol. Quick, right? And that is with using the old bread yeast, so I can't wait to do this same experiment with the wine yeast to compare the differences. I added another cup of sugar also.
So, just before typing this I boiled some water to put in the plastic tub the container (the 6 gallon container I now have the wine in). After pouring in the water I noticed that the lid looked pupped out. I also noticed that the fermentation lock was bubbling. Great signs of course. I pushed down on the lid and a lot of bubbles came out the fermentation lock. Great sign that the fact the container is not filled that doesn't not seem to be hampering the fermentation. I will go back and check on it again in a half hour to see the results of the warm water in the tub.
One note. I realized there is one more thing I needed from the Homebrew Store. A plastic plug that goes in the top of the glass carboy I have that the fermentation lock then sit in. That means that if I don't have it when I am read to rack the wine I will just rack it into the carboy, clean out the 6 gallon container and rack it back into that. Not a big deal! Only difference is that in the 6 gallon buck container you can't see your wine like in the glass carboy. But with a 3 year old around this is probably for the best.

Home from the brew store...

So I went to the brew store to get the few items I needed. I spent six dollars and change and got the fermentation lock, another pack of wine yeast (for future use), enzyme, and yeast nutrient. I asked again about the high alcohol producing yeast. This time he told me that he did have turbo boost and that is the one I wanted to try but he only sold it in large packs which cost $6 each. I know why he is doing that. He really doesn't want to sell that stuff because its only real use and purpose is to make real alcohol like rum and vodka and stuff which is not only illegal to sell but to make even. I can always order it online, which I will do one day so that I can at least try it. That's all I want to do is try it for myself and see what it produces. Anyway, that's alright though cause for right now I want something that tastes great versus being super strong. Turns out I did need the pectic if I wanted to break down the fruit so that the wine won't be cloudy. So I will add a drop of that. And the nutrient I will add to help the yeast.
I don't think I added enough sugar. I needed about 2 lbs of sugar so I may have to add more.

Back to the homebrew store...

Okay, I am pissed. First of all I went to check on the gallon jug in the bath tub and as soon as I open the door I was hit in the face with an odor that was a combination of sweet peaches and wine. The only problem is that it was so active that the stuff had started coming out of the hole on the top. Lesson number 1, lets NOT do this in a gallon jug container with just a hose coming out of it. Mess will happen and you will start losing your stuff...the good stuff.
So I got out my 6 gallon container that came in the wine kit and started the process of sterilizing everything. This isn't easy in a small bathroom with a 3 year old wanting to touch all the new stuff he hasn't seen before that seems really neat to him. So I had to child proof to keep him out of the bathroom. Done. I finished sterlizing everything within about 15 minutes and realized I can't find the air lock. Shit. Where could it be. Who knows I haven't seen it in like 4 years now that I think of it. So, I can't do this without it. Well, I can but don't want to cause I want to ensure everything is just perfect so nothing can go wrong. I will have to go back across town to the home brew store to buy a new one. Oh well, while I am over there I will get some high alcohol producing yeast and some nutrients and enzyme stuff so the trip won't be a waste.
I may have to start over if I have ruin the mixture which I have transfered over into the 6 gallon container (which by the way has a cool spicket on it I just love).
The most inportant thing found out by this experiment so far is that putting the container in warm water really works good and really helps the fermantation process.
I know this sounds like a lot of work and trouble but its not. Its kinda fun actually. AND my bathroom smells great!

Wine Making Experiment #1 Day 2

Last night before going to bed I checked on the mixture. I could see that the yeast was active and working. Very cool. Since it has been cool this morning I of course wanted to empty the water that was in the tub from last night that had cooled. I boiled some water and put it in after first putting in some warm water from the tap. Lots of bubbles immidiately started rising to the top inside the jug. Of course even though I said I was going to let this do its thang for seven days I am still watching for when the yeast becomes inactive. At that point I could do a yeast starter and re-start the fermentation. I'll make that decision when the time comes which will depend on how long that takes.

So far so good though.