Pints and Packets!

Blog

  • Morning Coffee Thoughts

    Today, as I ponder this monstrosity I’ve begun to build, I’m curious if the pages I’m creating are useful or interesting to anyone. I kind of went off on a password thing, and would like to cover more topics that are a bit more usable. There are many factors of security, and having all the pieces in place can still be bypassed by a mis-click on a website, email, text message, etc…

    As for brewing, and tools I’m hoping to add here, there are a couple formulas to calculate ABV, and I’d like to build a calculator on here for that. While there’s a bunch already around the web, having useful tools in one spot I think is important. One formula gets you a quick and easy result, another will provide better accuracy, especially for higher gravity brews, but is also more complex. You can also factor in temperature, which can affect the gravity measurement a bit, so having that value in there to adjust the reading will get you a bit more accuracy.

    A recipe tracking sheet would probably be useful also, so I’ll try and build something that people can download, perhaps even make it fillable and cache an online copy here under their account and make them sharable, if they would be open to making their brew-tinkering ideas public for others to try. I think that’s what I’ll work on next… I’ll see if there’s a way to build a page here like that. If I goof it up, or discover I can’t make that happen, I’ll obliterate the site and start over.

    Hopefully I’m not ending up deleting and rebuilding, but I’ve done that once so far and if that’s what needs to happen, I’ll at least back things up so I can rebuild the useful stuff.

    I have a friend that’s pretty good with building website stuff. Myself? meh…. I took some CSS and HTML classes, and I have poked around at this stuff before, though WP is quite easy to put something clean and simple together. If this goes nowhere, it won’t break my heart, but I know if I can build something interesting enough for enough people, maybe I can make a tiny dent in the web.

    So… Here I am… Let’s see what I can build…

  • Greetings, fans of beer and IT nerds!

    I’ve come to bring interesting discussions, random thoughts, perhaps lessons learned from past mistakes/successes in brewing and IT and maybe generate a place where IT folks and people that enjoy beer can congregate!

    What a strange mix, you might ask…

    Expect a strange mashup of sudsy discussions involving hops, barley, ales and lagers, turn a corner and find others who ran into the same server error you just stumbled on and perhaps they can help point the way to a solution.

    Who is this weird guy sitting at home typing this?

    My name is Joe, and I’ve only been in IT for about 12 years. I haven’t seen or done it all, but there are still many things I’d like to tackle and learn. Some days though, I’d rather just google my way through to survive the day, and while it’s likely I’ll pick something up, it helps to have some documentation in one place.

    Cutting through the fluff, if we can…

    This is kind of why I’m here. I’ve searched far and wide for some solutions and there just seems to be so many forums with endless discussions, reddit threads that go on for days, and maybe we IT folks just need a trusty wiki somewhere, off to the side, for those weird issues that you never heard of until it landed on your network and stumped you for a few days. Like a little website/notebook with tips, tricks, and horror stories alike. My hope is to build a site, categorizing the odd things people run into, sanitized of information involving your work environment of course, but some place that these weird situations can be pulled up and analyzed, without the page being half-filled with ads.

    AND BEER!

    I brew also, I mean it’s been a while, and I plan to again, but I’m getting around to it. When I am brewing though, I greatly enjoy the whole process, from purchasing the ingredients, whether it’s a kit or an experimental batch, planning and execution of brew day (much more enjoyable if you have a buddy to hang out with), bottling day, and all the samples and testing in between. It started with an episode of Good Eats! with Alton Brown that my wife recorded for me. I watched it so many times, taking notes, and searching the web to fill in the gaps before my dad and I picked up a kit to brew together. From that first blonde ale, there sprouted a hobby that has lasted years.

    Is this place for me?

    Hell yeah! If you’re interested in these subjects, or just driving by and looking for a quick brewing calculator because it’s bottling day and you want to know what to tell people when you hand them some bottles of your homebrew, such as “you might want to sip this one slow and keep it to 2 bottles…” or “this one might go down a bit too easy, so enjoy responsibly!”, or if you are hoping to share or just find a way to track your own recipes, welcome!

    Whether you’re here for 10 seconds or here to stay and chat, I’m just happy you came by!

    Brewing stuff I hope to add:
    • Brew day checklists
    • Recipes
    • Recipe tracking sheet for download
    • Simple step-by-step brewing instructions for extract, partial mash, and/or all-grain
      • Having the materials and instructions really helps the process run smoothly, and if you’re new to brewing, having that all in one spot is priceless!
    • More specific instructions for recipes that are more complex
      • While I usually brew more simple batches, some people like to nerd it up and get super complicated, and there’s reasons for that to be a good thing, but I want to also encourage beginners to get involved and not overwhelm them
    • Simple calculator for quick estimation of ABV potential, or outcome
    • Tips, hints, and how to avoid some major whoopsies that end up with needing to sacrifice a failed batch to the hop gods
    IT related stuff I hope to add:
    • Rare problems and solutions
      • A safe place where IT folks can exchange knowledge of the weird things they’ve encountered
    • Troubleshooting techniques and hints
      • We nerds need to be able to ask each other questions and share tips
    • Network and system security
      • There are a lot of dangers out there, and so many attack vectors, some folks out there might not know what areas we should focus on first, nor what to do with that system that we’re trying to secure
        • Not everyone is a developer or database engineer, and we need safe places to discuss this stuff
    • Small script sharing
      • Sometimes knowing how to get a bunch of stuff done quickly is key to pushing through a project, or if you need to automate a mundane task or something, sharing snippets and debugging help would be useful I think
    • Handling helpdesk tickets
      • One of the most basic things that we all should know, especially if someone’s new to IT, is how to work the helpdesk
      • Ticket notes tips, email etiquette, and general customer service with both clients as well as communication with other IT folks, inside or outside your organization
      • You might not know this, if you’re just starting out, but yes: IT professionals have to have some level of customer service to our way we operate. We’re going to have to help someone in their time of need, get them back up and running, and being a jerk doesn’t help. You want people to trust you to help them and make them feel heard when they have problems.

    Where do we go from here…

    So, that’s a tiny bit about me, and some ideas I would like to build here. This is an idea mostly, of a community, a resource, a safe place. Whether you’re in IT, into brewing, or just curious what the people into that stuff talk about, or if you want to add to the discussion because you have some urge to learn a little about a lot, hello world, and welcome to Pints and Packets!