Pulling Hard

Well today was the first of my two day bartending course at the Belgian Beer Cafe in Eureka Tower...

Today we did part one of Responsible Serving of Alcohol, Cleanliness and all that other OH&S stuff. But by far the best part of today was pulling beers (not pouring). The Belgian Beer Cafe has, well, all Belgian beer (funny that) and it was all specially imported. A place like this you don't go to get pissed at, you go to try an assortment of different beers and to enjoy the fine atmosphere. This explains why the cheapest beer on tap was $5.50 a glass... The more expensive ones were around $12... But I tell you, they were fantastic!

But we had to work for our beers, and pulling them isn't an easy process:

• Take order,
• Select appropriate coasters to match order (each drink takes a corresponding coaster),
• Select individual glasses (again, special branded glasses for each different brand of beer),
• Clean glass (yes, I know it was on a rack with clean ones, but this time we're POLISHING it),
• Rinse,
• Chill glass (using a really cool spray-ma-bob-thingo),
• Run the tap off (so that the beer comes out non-frothy),
• (Here's the tricky bit) Tilt glass to 80° and place under tap (it's still running...),
• Continue to run until beer is just about to spill over the edge, then in one fluid movement,
  Straighten and lower the glass, placing it on the counter, shutting off the tap abruptly when it is full.
• Logically, the head will continue to form and overflow is expected. Hence, cut the top to produce the desired half-moon from the head.
• Then, dip the glass into your rinsing water to remove the beer from the sides,
• Finally, serve to the customer by placing on the coaster prepared earlier.

Sound hard? No? You've obviously never tried it... Should I add in that the entire process has to be done with the branding facing the customer at all times, plus that you can only touch the glass with two fingers, on the stem of the glass, and cannot move them at all... Does that make it harder? Yeah? That's good...

So after pulling eight beers of different species, I had a taste test and enjoyed them all...

I'm looking forward to next week, where I continue to pull beers. I'll also get to taste test wines (not spirits unfortunately, the stuff they have on the wall is VERY expensive) and get to make a few coffees. Finally, at the end of next week, I'll come out with a couple of certificates, a skill in pulling and pouring, and the knowledge of when to legally (vs. when to socially) stop our resident Panda from drinking.

Skid Marks

Did the Skilled Drivers Course a few weekends ago... Lots and lots of fun.

About half the people there were there on court orders, the other half had had serious accidents and wanted to learn to be safer drivers. Everyone, including me, was there for the 10% discount.

The morning consisted of some theory (but you didn't have to take notes) of accidents and how they occurred, how they could have been prevented and other contributing factors. We discovered accidents could be narrowed down to one or more of three things:

• Driving too fast;
• Following the car ahead too closely;
• Lack in concentration.

For those of you who are going to try and kick up a fuss and claim something like alcohol ain't there, that falls under concentration...

Also catching up on news, school is speeding along, and now that we should have finished the coursework, we are doing our trial exams.

Setting up the exam tables was quite fun... Until I woke up the next morning and felt my shoulders.

Exams completed to date: 2 of 5.

• English, where we had to write four essays. I did: Part 1, Citizen Kane (I can tell stories!); Part 2, Inheritance (Toilet paper...); Analysis of language (I did quite well I thought); and a Point of View (where I got really pissy with sporting people as a whole... It was worth it...).
• Methods CAS Tech Active. I found this far easier than I thought I would, which is a good sign...

I might as well explain my trial exam policy... I believe the whole purpose of trial exams is NOT to study your ass off, so that you can find out what you don't know. That way, when you get them back, you know what you need to study in the coming weeks and you don't repeat yourself by studying the wrong things. You can focus in on the areas that require work...

I will study for one exam though, Electronics. We've already been given the exam we'll be tested on next week and it's now a race to see who can memorize the most correct answers... If you want to see how EASY this exam is, check out the box down the bottom... Really really easy...

Now I'm at school again on the weekend, doing this aerobics thing. They took a break for lunch, where I assumed I would get more CD's to play, as I had run out...

They tried to start again without me having any CD's... Boy, was that ever cut short. I felt sorry for the girl that was on stage waiting for people to provide me with a stack of CD's to play. I felt sorry for myself, having an entire audience stare at me waiting for me to do something. I just stood there...

And as I wrote that sentence a CD I was supposed to play wasn't there... Nothing I can do, someone ran up and provided me with the CD for that one, as well as the next one (which was also missing). Thanks to whomever you were, with your spindle full of matching CD's...

So I'm stuck here till late tonight (finish about 10:30, but running an hour or so late) watching all these fake-tanned, underage (ie. Too young for ANYONE who reads this blog, even you Matt), barbie dolls prance about in their tight fitting, almost non-existent leotards to music that has been mixed really badly... Anyone watched "Little Miss Sunshine?" This reminds me of that...

Scientific Journal?

Aim: To investigate the change in acceleration, speed and other driving practices after adding a full tank of petrol to my car.

Hypothesis: The car will feel heavier, have a slower acceleration in standard driving situations, have a greater acceleration when rolling freely down hills, have a higher responsiveness to the clutch and make James happy when he looks at the gauge.

Materials:

• Car, preferably mine;
• Money, preferably yours;
• Fuel Docket, makes it cheaper;
• Road, with or without traffic;
• Dead weight named Alastair.

Method:

• Drive car until almost empty of petrol, get a 'feel' for it.
• Visit petrol station, park next to empty unleaded pump.
• Swear continuously while trying to remove the petrol cap (It's a bitch, ain't it?).
• Fill up tank.
• Pay for petrol.
• Replace cap.
• Drive the car out of petrol station.
• Run car through a number of scenarios to test its 'feel' compared to before the tank was filled with petrol.
• Stop driving like an idiot and go home
  

Results:

• Car is distinctly heaver.
• Engine revolutions are far lower than before.
• Car is harder to accelerate.
  

Conclusion: The car is feels heavier due to the quantity of petrol filled in the car. Because petrol is slightly less dense than water, and I filled the car with 41 litres, I expect that the car has had 40 kilograms added to the weight of the car. It should be noted that in pre-testing the car had 80 kg of weight added to it yet no noted weight gain could be felt. This could be because Alastair sits in the front passenger seat, where the petrol resides at the very rear of the car. As the car is a front wheel drive, the car would have to be doing a greater amount of pulling to the petrol than to Alastair, who resides almost on top of the engine (he has long legs). This means that the car is pushing Alastair, where it is pulling the petrol. This is why a greater weight could be felt with the added petrol.

Adding petrol is a contributing factor for acceleration from a stopped position in two separate ways. The car was also noticed to have a far lower engine revolution with the added petrol. While an explanation for this is not known, it makes the car much more likely to stall when accelerating away from a stopped position. Also, the added weight of the petrol will slow the cars acceleration. This acceleration is the most noticeable difference in the movement of the car.

On a downward slope, the car is much faster to accelerate when the clutch is placed in (the equivalent of placing a car on wheels, with no engine). This is obviously due to the added weight of the car, as the same experience can be duplicated by adding my dead weight (Alastair).

It should be noted that my hypothesis was completely correct, except for it's higher responsiveness to the clutch. The car is clearly more possessed when filled with petrol, this could be because all the dinosaurs don't like being in liquid form. Due to these observations, it is clear that the car uses less petrol when it has a full tank, mainly due to the lower engine revolutions. It is also clear, that I prefer a full tank of petrol.

People are welcome to duplicate this experiment by filling my car with petrol; I will gladly accept all the petrol you want to give me to continue gathering results for this ongoing experiment. Government funding will also be accepted.

EDIT: Al ain't as fat as I first thought he was... All you potential partners should know he's actually 75kg...