As you may have read I proposed a place that we could all come and have conversations outside of the biodiesel world.
We will start here and who knows, if this place gets enough business maybe the place will grow and relocate to a forum of it's own,
but until then...


Welcome to the Bio Brewer's Bar and Grill!!!

A great place to relax and have off topic conversation with your bio-brothers (and sisters).
Come in, belly up to the bar, and have a cold one. Every one is welcome. Park your problems at the door.
No fightin', cussin' or spittin' on the floor, or you get bounced outta here. This is a classy joint and we want to keep it that way.
This place is new so watch out for the wet paint.
There is a free juke box in the corner, a pool table, and unlimited seating.
The beverages are cold, the grill is hot, and for now I will be tending bar.
I am a drinkin' bartend so I have already popped the top on a long neck behind the bar waiting for the crowd to roll in.
You don't have to stay long if you don't have the time, but at least stop in and say Hi!!!
You never know who is going to walk through the door.

I know it's early, but can I order a beer?

Hi Mike,

Grand Opening you got going there! I'll have a shot of Jack on ice.

Hey, bar-keep, I'll take a draft Michelob and just sit down here at the end of the bar and keep to myself. I'll watch others come and go and listen in on their conversations.

What time does the fight start?

So two blondes walk into a bar...

You'd think one of them would have seen it...



Pour me an Irish Red!!

Hey this is great, already some patrons and a bar joke too. That's a beer,a Mich, a Jack on the rocks, and an Irish Red...does anyone want anything from the grill???

Barkeep, I'll have a fuzzy navel. Yes, I know it's a girly drink.

OK, the sky's the limit. Here we go into off topic land.

List your hobbies, here's a few of mine:

1. Woodworker, currently remodelling 100 year old farm house to r-50 superinsulation levels. Should be able to heat that baby with a candle when I'm done. You're silly if you don't do this when you remodel or build from scratch. Ask me how!

2. Metal worker. Have a lathe, drill press, small milling machine, home built foundry, stick welder, wire welder, Oxy-Ac. torch, plasma cutter, and all the other chattels and baggage that go with that. I think I'm going to get a little feature article on this hobby casting site in the next month or two:

http://www.myhomefoundry.com/ezine/47sept07ezine.html

3. Built amateur telescopes a while back. My last one was a 10" Dobsonian reflector. Now that I can see so much stuff on-line, I've given that up pretty much.

4. RC airplanes. Specifically electric sailplanes.

5. Guns and shooting, once my new shop is done, I'm going to build a few guns from scratch. That's completely legal in the US by the way so long as you never ever sell the gun. Here's a fun site if you want to learn how:

http://www.homegunsmith.com/cgi-bin/ib3/ikonboard.cgi

6. Organic gardening. You are what you eat. Why would you put poison on your food? By definition, herbicides, pesticides, fungicides etc are all poisons.

7. Alternative energy, like windmills and superinsulation, cogeneration and super-conservation, etc etc etc.

8. In my "spare" time, I'm an eye doctor.

OK, let's see what you're passionate about!

Finest regards,

troy

troy

Hey Mike.

Can I have a gin and tonic? The bar gin will be fine.

My hobbies include:
1) Organic gardening --- I agree with Troy; you are what you grow (eat).

2) Anything to do with an older Mercedes -- now that I drive one.

3) Low maintenance yard -- half my back yard is no longer mowed. The swimming pool, garden pond with long waterfall, flower beds, and other plantings took care of most of the back yard.

4) Purple Martins -- They don't eat mosquitoes, but they do eat Wasps. And I hate wasps.

5) Recycling -- If I bring a Harbor Freight sales brochure into the house, I better hide it; otherwise it will end up in the recycling bin.

6) Family --- I very much enjoy spending time with my family.

7) BioDiesel -- interferes with #6. I do like not paying for fuel at the pump.

In addition, I am an avid computer "chatter". My past life includes engineering/consulting work, remodeling homes, farming, modeling, traveling independent database consultant, Y2K expert, entertainment industry, acting, dancing, and things that often slip my mind, like how many of you know a beekeeper?

Now that my Irish Red is gone...how about a Smithwicks and a refill on my pretzels.

My other hobbies include;

1) My little 4x4 building and driving fetish.

2) Various other "junkyard engineering" projects (Waste Oil burner, building a trailer, potato guns, marginally controlled pyrotechnics to take to backyard campfires).
-been thinking about a way to make a flaming tennis ball launcher recently...

3) Musky fishing and the boat repairs and custom lure building that compliments that.

4) Deer hunting; Whitetails & Muleys; Bow and shotgun.

5) Hiking and seeking that rarely seen natural beauty just out of reach of most.
-But not a lot of this lately with my daughter too big for a backpack carrier, but too small to hike on her own, and my wife 6 months pregnant.

6) And lately, a major pastime has been seeking my first home.

Man, business is good. I want to take time to tell you about your new bartender but I have to go restock the bar and will be back later, (really I have 78 racks of ribs on the smoker and some bio I am reprocessing)

I'll be back...

Mike...

So this penguin is driving to the bar and his car quits, he just happens to coast into a car repair shop, the mechanic says "Leave it for an hour and I'll see what I can do" so the penguin walks across the street to an ice cream stand and has a vanilla cone, the little guy aint got any hands so he gets vanilla ice cream all over the front of his tux, then he walks back to the garage to check on his car, the mechanic looks up from under the hood and says "holy crap! Looks like you blew a seal!" The penguin looks down and says "Nah, that's just vanilla ice cream".

quote:

Originally posted by producer:
What time does the fight start?

Probably when Graydon rolls in......


I'll have a shot of tequila, please.

I will provide all the CiCi's Pizza you can eat. All you have to do is pay the shipping.

Hey Mike:

Looks like business is great and you're gonna need some help with the lawncare and landscaping. We can also blow off the parking lot and pick up the trash while we're at it. It won't cost you much. Bye the way what are you doing with your WVO? Can I put a couple of drums out back?

I'll just have a coke, gotta keep my wits running all that equipment you know.

Hobbies: include hunting deer and turkey, fishing, I used to make custom knives when I had time. Also customized a Swedish Mauser a few years back.

Used to work in the corporate world, been through a down sizeing and just last year restructured again. For now I'm cutting grass and waiting to see what I want to do next. Thought Bio production might be the answer, but there seem to be a lot of road blocks.

Ken

OK guys I'm back.
A little about me (your bartend)

Just turned 49 a coupla weeks back.
Two boys, 18 and 16. Still with my first wife, Katie.
We are a Restaurant family. My Grandfather started this business in 1950 and we have continued ever since. We have two family buffet Restaurants (please don't confuse us with those "budget" family buffet Restaurants, our food is MUCH better) We run a mid-sized banquet hall (3-400), have a KFC, and do about 20,000 meals off premise catering a year. We are still a family owned/managed business. Obviously we are immersed in our business. Actually, we literally live in it. My hobbies usually blur into the business one way or another. Biodiesel, for instance, got my interest from a desire to make fuel out of something we were paying someone to get rid of.

More of my hobbies/interests:

Barbecue
I consider myself somewhat of an expert. I am too busy doing it as part of our business to compete in barbecue contests but I make all my own sauces, rubs and marinates. Shoulder, Brisket, Ribs, Chops, Chicken, I do about everything. You ought to see my grill and my smoker!!!

Cooking

Why would anyone in the Restaurant Business want to go home and cook? Well my wife and I must be obsessed because when we do get a few moments off we end up cooking for us and our boys, go to friends house and cook for them or have people over. Home cooking is so different than restaurant cooking and much more relaxing, too (and you can drink yourself stupid while you cook at home)

Music

I am a "closet" guitar player; aging rock and roller. Been banging on the guitar since I was 15. I've got the Marshall Stack,
the pedals, four Stratocasters etc. I play Hendrix, Trower, 60's rock, Blues, stuff like that. Never was in a formal band because of working on weekends in the family business. (Ahhhh, the many sacrifices our family has made for this business)

SCUBA Diving

Been diving for about 20 years. Recreational diving only. Have about 200 dives under
my belt. In my earlier years Katie and I did a lot of wreck diving off Panama City Florida.
Dove the Keys, Cozumel, Cayman, Dominican Republic, and some fresh water sites that
I don't care to go back to. Haven't been diving lately. Our whole family dives and we can't afford to go as much since there are four to pay for instead of just Katie
and I.

Drinking

Can you believe I wrote that ??? Bet that got your attention!!!
Does that qualify as a hobby, pastime, or obsession? Well obsession would indicate a problem, so I will claim it as a pastime,
I do love a good cocktail at the end of the day. (of course my cocktails are in 22oz glasses) My wife and I drink cocktails after a long day and sit up and talk business 'till the wee hours of the morning. Now that's an obsession. Seagram's Seven and diet is my drink. I know I am a sissy whiskey drinker, but I make it up in volume.

Several other interests that I have given up since I have limited time. I used to brew beer. Haven't done that for several years. I have probably brewed 250 gallons or more in my life. I got pretty good at it too. I used to fish, fresh water pond fishing, mostly. My family used to have a boat in Florida and we used to deep water ocean fish, that was fun, but those are days gone by. Throwing knives, lawn care and landscaping, Scouting, are all things I have done in my life.

When I get time I would love to respond to some of the interests you guys have mentioned.

I would love to talk some more but I have customers to tend to.

Mike...

I guess I can chime in here and order myself a Shiner Bock. Couldn't hurt to ask for one here because in the real life I had to swear it off. Bock makes the gout go round!!!

1. Hobby is hunting and fishing.

2. Hobby is fishing and hunting.

Employment- Been a cop since I was a youngster and I am in the home stretch for retirement. At the most I have left is 8 years but probably sooner than that. Wahooooooooooooooooooooooo

As a side business I train hunting dogs to stay away from rattlesnakes. www.snakebreaker.com I also train retrievers but as a hobby only. I live in the sticks and I like it that way. Here is my life's work in the photo. I can't begin to tell you how close man and beast can be. I didn't know either till I picked up ole Bull as a pup. We have shared many God sent mornings in a duck blind together. Tomorrow is the start of another season and he is ready.

All_Pictures_1194.jpg (627 Kb, 65 downloads)

Hey Barkeep... Bass Ale please.

Anybody up for some 8 ball? I used to have my own table. But I don't play for money so don't even ask.

In addition to making bio, I'm real interested in alternate methods of generating energy. When I eventually retire, it'll be on enough acres to put up a small wind farm with some solar panels too. When all else fails, I'll fire up the generator which will, of course, burn BioD.

I'm currently setting up a 6/1 Listeroid with a 5kw gen head. It should be running in another week or 2. I originally tried a DC generator, but the 6/1 just wasn't strong enough to turn it to make enough power. I've got my eye on a Kubota 20hp diesel engine. That'll do the trick.

I have a aging battery bank that needs replacing. Too many projects and not enough money.

Hey Mike... how about some hot wings? 2 dozen HOT

My wife and I have had a commercial embroidery business for the last 12 years. It was never more than a part time venture. I think we're about done with it. This will be our last year.

I love to play golf, but don't have time to play.

My 13 yr old son is a baseball phanatic. I spell it that way cause we're Phillies phans. We know the guy in the Philly Phanatic mascot suit personally. His son and my son have played little league together. I have a 50' long batting cage in my back yard, complete with an electric pitching machine. We're really a baseball family. Every fall when the season is over, my wife and I look at each other and ask... "Now what are we going to do?" Incidently, the Phillies haven't made the playoffs since 1993.

My other interests are fishing and deer hunting. I've hunted in Wyoming a few times. I really love going after pronghorn antelope. What a challenge. They're the fastest animal on the N. American continent and they can see you coming a half mile away. Tasty buggers too.

23 years ago, I married my high school sweetheart and we're still together with 3 kids.

I guess that's about it. Mike.. I'll take another Bass. My turn to listen... and my wings are getting cold.

quote:

Originally posted by The Trouts:

quote:

Originally posted by producer:
What time does the fight start?

Probably when Graydon rolls in......


I'll have a shot of tequila, please.

ROTFLMAO!!!!!

I'll have a Beer! Make it a ROOT-Beer.
-Graydon

Hobbies (besides Biodiesel).

Cars
I like cars. I really, really, really like cars. (Duh!). Especially diesels though. I've grown up around a dad that bought old cars (if it didn't have a 100K on the odometer it "wasn't broken in yet..."). I learned to turn a wrench very young in life ("Son, hand me the 3/16" open box wrench...yes, use the stool to get to it...")

So, since as far back as I can remember I've had this fascination with anything with 4 wheels and an engine.

I was always dreaming up some new scheme to "power my bicycle" with a motor or create a go-cart. (made a powered go-cart out of a wagon and a rotary lawn mower once).

Electronics
If it had screws on it, I'd figure out a way to unscrew it & see what made it tick. As young as 3 years old I tore apart the vacuum cleaner, figured out what was wrong with it, fixed it & put it back together.

Motor Trend
I devour those things in a single setting. See the first hobby to see why.

Business
I have a business degree so doing anything business-related has always fascinated me. I watched this special last night on Wal-Mart & how big they'd become & all this stuff about them on CNBC. My wife got sick of it & headed upstairs. I sat on every word they said. Sure, love em or hate em, Wal-Mart is a great business case in running a successful business (as defined by business schools & capitalism). I also watched this really cool special on Warren Buffet the other day too. Man I like his style! Read The Millionaire Next Door & believed all of it & just really like business related stuff.

I've always been interested in that. I owned a couple other really small businesses as a kid & now Utah Biodiesel Supply is just the extension of that. Mix something I enjoy (business) with something else I enjoy (biodiesel) and it makes for a match made in heaven.

Computers
I remember writing BASIC programs on a TI-994a & loving it. I've done C, C++, Visual Basic, Cobol (damn I hate Cobol!), Java, PHP, ASP, a touch of CGI, a little PERL, Oracle, PL/SQL, and a bunch of other little programming languages. I also really enjoy creating databases. Oh yeah, and HTML. I can write that stuff in my sleep. <p>Hello World!</p> (for you HTML junkies out there)

I'm not quite your Computer Science geek, but I do enjoy setting up computers & business is a natural fit.

Hmmm...what else? Pretty much anything mechanical.

OK, Joke Time

Being that I'm a business major, I have a few for those that may appreciate a business related joke.

It's an accountant joke. Only one I know.

So this firm is hiring for a position and 3 people apply.
1) An Engineer
2) A Scientist
3) An Accountant

There's a lot of math to be done & it calls for stuff like that & all three of them are called in for an interview.

boss
Welcome to XYZ corporation. Our interview today is really simple. We only have one question for you
Engineer OK, I'm ready
boss What's 1 + 1.
Engineer Well, that depends....what are you adding? Is it electrons? Steel beams? Imaginary numbers?
boss No, no, no....just 1 + 1
Engineer Well, it could be a number of things....
boss Just answer the question. What's 1 + 1?
Engineer Well, I guess it's 2.
boss Ok, thank you. Don't call us, we'll call you.

bossWelcome....yada, yada, yada
scientist Thanks for this opportunity. I believe I have a lot to offer...and a bunch of other bs
boss We only have one question. What's 1 + 1?
Scientist Well, that depends on what you're adding. If it's chemical, it could be quite different. When you mix methanol and KOH together you get this sort of 1 + 1 = 3. And if you add methanol, catalyst, & oil, you get a bunch of things...
boss No no no, what's 1 + 1?
scientist Well, like I said, it could be a number of things, I mean is it 1.0000 + 1.0001?
boss Just what's 1 + 1?
Scientist Looking perplexed...well, I guess it's 2?
boss Sounds good, don't call us, we'll call you....

bossWelcome to xyz corp...blah, blah blah...
accountantThank you! I'm excited to see what I can offer
boss ..chit-chat, more BS, & then the question...what's 1 + 1?
accountant He gets this serious look on his face. Stands up, walks over to the blinds, & turns them down, looks to the left, then to the right, then comes back to the desk, leans over to the boss & whispers..................
"What do you want it to be?"
The accountant got the job.

ok, now on to an economics joke.
Three economists are out duck hunting.
A duck flies by.
One economist fires but shoots too high & misses.
The other economist fires, but shoots too low.
The third one starts jumping up & down & yelling "We got it! We got it!"
...you've gotta understand economics to get that one, but for those of you now laughing your butts off....yes, the joke is dead on.

ok, back to my ROOT beer I'll go...
-Graydon

Great joke Graydon.
Thanks to all who have participated so far. Lets keep this bar alive. Come in and join us for some chit chat from time to time.

I gotta restock the bar and mop the floors, it's close to quittin' time.

Tomorrow is dollar shots and the Budweiser Girls are making an appearance.

Good Nite...


Mike...