fbpx

Anthony W. Eichenlaub

They’re Tracking My Every Move

by

20140303-111322.jpg

Every year I sign up for a healthy living rebate at work. I record when I exercise or what I eat and at some point I get an extra pile of money. It’s a pretty good deal for me, but I can’t say it’s actually impacted my level of activity.

This year there is a new program which a person can sign up for instead of getting the money. They send a Fitbit for free. I wear the device at all times and presumably at some point I earn points and get rewarded. I’m hoping for little bits of cheese.

I like the program. I’m not thrilled about the Fitbit.

So here are my thoughts on the FitBit Flex:

Read more

Root Beer: The Eichenlaub Special, Dark

by

It’s always best to have a brewing buddy around. Your buddy can keep you from

My brewing helper and the mess we made
My brewing helper and the mess we made

getting bored, think of new ideas to tweak your brew, and help you double check measurements.

Gabe is my new brewing buddy. We ran out of root beer a couple weeks ago and he helped me brew up a new batch. It might be a while before I teach him how to brew a stiff IPA, but for root beer this kid is the best.

We use the kitchen scale for all of our measurements. Once everything is in a big bowl we dump it into hot but not boiling water and stir it until it’s dissolved. Then I put the mixture into the five gallon keg and fill the rest of the way with water. Once carbonated it makes a pretty decent root beer and a seriously excellent root beer float.

Here are the ingredients for the latest brew:

Read more

The Hobby Schedule

by

My schedule feels busy.

Gabe just being cool.

Unlike summer, winter has me working five whole days in a row pretty much every week. Insane, right? What’s more, I’ve been training for that half marathon. Running four times a week at three to five miles per run is taking up a pretty solid chunk of my time. It only grows from here until May.

Then there’s the boys’ schedules. Isaac is in tennis, getting better at it and enjoying it. Gabe is in a dance and tumble class, though he admits that the tumble half is really the better part. Twice a week I find myself sitting at the Rochester Athletic Club waiting for a class to finish. Often, I write during this time, but it’s a small piece of writing time and there are plenty of distractions.

Mondays and Wednesdays I write during my lunch break. Soon, Wednesdays will be consumed by the running schedule.

Read more

Dear Vincent

by

Dear Vincent van Gogh,

You insufferable hack.starrynight

I have recently, to the misery of my entire Christmas vacation, completed a study of one of your works. The work, entitled The Starry Night, was one of the most needlessly complex and tediously horrid pieces I have ever had the displeasure to work with. Following are my complaints:

Read more

My New Friend, BookBub

by

20131111-122632.jpg

Progress on the book continues. It has a title now. It is Justice in an Age of Metal and Men. My editor is tearing it apart, with promises of a nicely written book report at the end of the week. While I look forward to that I’m doing a little marketing research.

You see, people don’t just magically discover books as soon as they’re dropped into Amazon. People need to be told about new books. Usually.

So, the question is: How do people discover books?

In the process of my research I’ve discovered a new way to discover books, and I am quite happy with it.

Read more

On My Way to Half Awesome

by

There is no doubt in my mind that marathon runners are awesome.

The physical stamina and mental determination needed to accomplish such a thing easily qualify a person as very seriously awesome. Even the slowest marathon runners gain a sort of amazing glow in the eyes of lesser men such as myself.

I don’t believe I will ever run a marathon.

Read more