Brewcaster

I used to do this for hours while eating gummy worms

2008-07-03T15:28:00.001-07:00

Beach Party!

2008-06-29T17:06:00.001-07:00

I used to be a lot cooler

2008-06-27T18:01:00.000-07:00

Below is a 48 minute video of one of the best Ester Drang concerts I was able to be a part of. You can see Melissa(my wife) standing near me watching. We had only been dating for about 3 months at the time. This was also early in my brief time with Ester Drang. I miss those guys, and those tunes.

Ester Drang - Live March 3rd 2001 from Brian Brewer on Vimeo.

Tougher then Hell

2008-06-21T09:31:00.000-07:00

So I made it back from Las Vegas last night. I always look forward to coming home no matter where I go or what I am doing, but this time was especially looked forward to. Las Vegas is a place I don't look forward to visiting again. I am glad I got the opportunity to see it, but 12 hours would have been enough. Did I mention that it was about 110 degrees everyday?

I saw enough fanny packs to hold me over for awhile. I was expecting Vegas to be this "crazy" decadent, free for all. It really seemed to be a pretty tame place. Kind of like Disneyland for adults. Overpriced, over-hyped, tourist trap. Wait, I actually like Disneyland, but I think you get the idea.

I did have "some" fun. We(my co-workers) had a good time a couple of nights. I think I liked the older Freemont street area the most. I did learn how to gamble a little, I made 10 bucks on 21 and got out. It made me too tense. I did play a hell of a lot of penny slots, it killed time pretty well.

So glad to be back in cloudy 75 degree weather. There are pictures and videos up above, click around for more. Thanks for reading.

Best part of Vegas so far

2008-06-18T11:50:00.000-07:00

David Pogue gave the keynote address this morning to the conference I am attending:

David Pogue - Song for nerds from Brian Brewer on Vimeo.

Definitely the best part of Vegas so far, minus the lady cackling as loud as possible nearby. She looks to be trashed, it is not even noon yet.

Switching to Vimeo

2008-06-14T12:16:00.000-07:00

I am tired of the terrible compression YouTube uses. Unfortunately, I didn't save the raw videos after uploading to YouTube. So, we will start fresh. Sound good?

5 Reasons Obama will beat McCain

2008-06-14T08:48:00.000-07:00

5 Reasons Obama will beat McCain

This one is my favorite. McCain had admitted recently that he is completely computer illiterate, he depends on his wife to run it for him. wow.

That's what I am talking about

2008-06-13T10:01:00.001-07:00

OBAMA!!!

Sick Day

2008-06-10T16:12:00.001-07:00

Sick Day, originally uploaded by Brewcaster.

Wasn't feeling well today, so I had to call in sick. Daisy supported the idea.

My First Flat

2008-06-09T17:55:00.001-07:00

My First Flat, originally uploaded by Brewcaster.

Caused by this little jerk. Can anyone identify what the heck that is? Where it is from? And if they can multiply?

Ride bikes with Obama

2008-06-06T14:15:00.000-07:00

Anyone have $2300 they can give me for this?

+10 Internet Cred

2008-06-06T11:03:00.000-07:00

I made it to Wikipedia*, but not for me alone.

*I am not really a sitar player. True I played the sitar at one Ester Drang show, but I mainly played an electric guitar with them. And a lot of smoke and mirrors. (sold the sitar for the move)

Soaked

2008-06-03T11:14:00.001-07:00

So the water resistant shell I have is no longer cutting it. I showed up to work drenched from the waist up. Must buy a new one. Any suggestions? I don't want to spend a stupid amount either...

Melissa and I found a new love. Bar biking. Bar hopping on bike, brilliant.

Twitter and I don't hang out anymore

2008-06-01T15:04:00.000-07:00

I deleted my Twitter account a few months ago. I can say it has been one of the best decisions I have made for myself. For those of you who don't know what Twitter is, you will, or someone close to you will make it known to you.

Twitter became what some might call an obsession. As you follow more and more people, you must devote more and more time reading what mostly works out to be tripe and/or self serving advertising. I always had the nagging feeling when I tried not to keep up with it, "What if I miss out on something important?!?!?" Never happened.

I am curious about some of the folks I followed on there. They wrote tons of Tweets, and seemed to read each and every one sent to them. These are people with day jobs, spouses, kids etc. Does their family just accept seeing them stare at their PDA or cellphone every 5 minutes? My friend Julian pointed out that people seem to use it as a public IM system. That is insane. IM is meant to be private, and I have systems for using IM already.

Those crazy kids and their new-fangled technology fads.*

Before Twitter, I thought the term internet addiction was a buzzword myth; I was wrong.

*Shout out to John C. Dvorak

Tipping Point?

2008-05-26T19:04:00.000-07:00

According to this CNN article, Americans have reached the point of no return for gas prices. I think it is a shame that it really takes prices getting this high for our country to re-visit when and why they drive. I also understand and feel bad for those that HAVE to drive for their jobs or other reasons because of lack of alternatives in their city.

Now that gas costs more than a comfortable amount, we can look to the future of transportation. Will cities like my previous home (Oklahoma City) start getting serious about public transit? Will these cities start to see the adverse effects of suburban sprawl? Will people get over their privacy bubble and start car-pooling? Will those that can, start biking or walking to work?

I have to reflect on how fortunate Melissa and I are to live in a city that has what could possibly be called the best public transit system in America. On top of that we also live in a city that refused to allow sprawl, which ends up making our city completely "bikeable". We have our youth and health, so we do our part by cycling as much as possible to get to work, hang out with friends, etc. When we can't, or refuse to, we can take train or bus. Last resort is the car in the driveway. Everyday that passes makes me hate starting that engine more and more. We are down to driving once or twice a week now.

I don't say this all to sound braggish; I point it out to give others hope and influence. It is time for our cities to change. It is time for our citizens to change. They didn't listen when we called it global warming, but at least they listen now as driving leaves you broke.

I think it is time for our generation's "New Deal". We worry about our jobs in a global economy, we worry about our countries dependency on foreign oil. FDR would have a fix for this. Create Government programs/jobs to re-purpose America's infrastructure. America cannot stay this way and expect it to work. Much like the industrial revolution, it is time for an environmental revolution in America. We excel in the science and technology that may just save us as the world is forced to change.

Do I sound like a crazy hippie?

Obama in yo face

2008-05-19T09:57:00.001-07:00

This had to be my favorite part of Barack Obama's speech yesterday. As he says it, I look up and see stop and go bike traffic on Hawthorne bridge. I estimate over 1000 bicycles were locked to the fence along the waterfront. I love this city, and I love what the future of America looks like under Obama's leadership. Quick clip, take a listen:

75,000 People!

2008-05-18T17:00:00.001-07:00

75,000 People!, originally uploaded by Brewcaster.

Standing in the middle of 75,000 people to watch our future president speak. I teared up a few times.

Weekend of Awesome

2008-05-17T10:25:00.000-07:00

Besides summer deciding to start here in Portland all of a sudden, this weekend is jam-packed with Brewer entertainment. Last night we went and saw Quasi play at Hawthorne Theater. My wife and I always have a great time at Quasi shows. This is a band we both listened to a lot in college. Glad they are still at it. I must say though, Hawthorne Theater gets a big two thumbs down as far as venues go.

Today (Saturday) we will be out getting our bikes tuned up, maybe a little dog park action, who knows?

Sunday will have us at the downtown Waterfront to listen to Barack Obama give a speech! Very excited. I think the Decemberists are playing the rally as well, so I will be sure to bring a leather bound first edition of something respectable.

Sunday evening the wife and I will be enjoying what looks like a great comedy show.

And then we gotta go back to work :(

New Bike Upgrade

2008-05-15T11:15:00.001-07:00

New Bike Upgrade, originally uploaded by Brewcaster.

I added a price per gallon meter on my bike to track the price of fuel to run the bike.

Junior Brown coming to Oregon Zoo!

2008-05-10T21:18:00.001-07:00

Only ten bones! This guy is super ridiculous awesome live. Cannot wait for this show.

Buy tickets now, and thank me later.

This is how the Brewer's roll.

2008-05-10T09:50:00.001-07:00

This is how the Brewer's roll., originally uploaded by Brewcaster.

Drop out!

2008-05-10T08:28:00.000-07:00

This makes me want to punch my screen:

In other news, my legs are sore but it is getting to the point where I hate getting into the car on weekends. I want to bike everywhere.

I wrote a little blog post on Trimetiquette about bikes on the Max, it is stirring up a good dialog, join in here if you can.

Enjoy yourself.

Shiny and new

2008-05-03T11:06:00.000-07:00

Ok, maybe not shiny. But I went ahead and updated the template for this site. Why not? So if you are reading via RSS, come by and check it out. Also, I got rid of the intro page thing. This site is 1 page only!

High Five Portland!

2008-04-29T08:31:00.000-07:00

Taken from http://bikeportland.org:

"The League of American Bicyclists will officially announce later today that Portland has become the first major city in America to be designated as a Platinum-level Bicycle Friendly Community. (The only other city to have reached the Platinum level is Davis, California with a population of 63,000.)"

Even after 10 months of living in this city, I am still being amazed and changed with this city. My wife and I are getting way into biking around the city vs. driving or trimet. But rest assured that we are the good kind of bikers. The ones that actually obey the rules given to bikers and cars alike. HIGH FIVE! (smack)

Riding to work with the love of my life.

2008-04-18T09:08:00.001-07:00

Riding to work with the love of my life., originally uploaded by Brewcaster.

BLURRY!