So what’s been happening over in my world? Nothing major to speak of. Finally. Although there are all those little things that, in themselves, aren’t worthy of an entire post. That is what this post is for.

I’ve revved up the beer making a bit this month. I experimented by trying to make a light beer for Holly. The idea of course was to create a light calorie beer that tastes better than Bud Light, Coors Light or any of those other mass produced light beers (which come in at between 100 and 110 calories). I sat, buried in my beer books and magazines, and came up with a recipe for a light beer that comes in at a whopping 95 calories. I brewed it up and ran it through the whole process and bottled it a few weeks later. I poured it up and who knew? I succeeded. It tasted quite good. I shared it with some friend and had multiple comments stating that this was the best tasting light beer they ever had. Yay!

After brewing up a light american lager, I thought I’d balance things out a bit by making a premium american lager. Only I’d put a slight twist on it and added a bit of lilikoi. I just bottled it, and it should be ready to drink in about 2 weeks.

Next up I decided to brew a session beer. It’s an Irish Red. It’s currently sitting in the fermenter. With any luck I’ll have it finished up in time to bring on our trip to NY. I haven’t tasted it yet though, but it smelled delicious when I brewed it.

Which brings me to my next item. In a few weeks, we’ll be heading out to NY for my best friend’s wedding. I’m super excited for the trip. It’s going to be an amazing trip. The wedding is in a beautiful park in NYC and will be an amazing day. Prior to the wedding, me, the groom to be, and another 7 of our friends will be heading to Lake George for a few days for his bachelor party. I’ll get to go paint balling for the first time. That should be fun.

Moving backwards, Leif has started pre-school. He had his first day of school on August 5th. The school started the year off easing the kids into everything. His first day was only 2 hours long and I was allowed (and encouraged) to stay with him for the day. We had fun and I got to see what a day at pre-school was like. This past Thursday was the first day that I left Leif by himself at school. He cried and it broke my heart to leave. But he stopped crying shortly after I was out of sight and went on playing with the other kids. Today he was excited to go back to school. I signed him in and played with him for a few minutes while the rest of the class showed up. When it was time, I told him I was going to leave and that I’d be back shortly. He looked at me in a thoughtful way and replied, “Ok dad. Bye”. He walked off with his class and went to go play. He’s growing up so fast.

Between the move and not having a job, and Leif starting school, I’ve found myself with a lot more time on my hands. I’m searching for jobs pretty much daily. I’ve put an ad in the paper to sell our car. I’ve made lots of beer. I walk Leif to school and back. I’ve updated my website. I’ve found myself down at the beach a lot more often. It’s a 10 minute walk from our house and it’s been beautiful out. I’m thinking that a few times a week, I’ll drop Leif off and then spend an hour or so at the beach before heading home (Leif’s preschool is just past the beach). If I end up getting a surf board (which I am trying to do), I could even spend some time surfing while he’s at school. Wouldn’t that be something?

This past Saturday, Leif has turned 3. He is now a big boy going to school, talking in sentences, using the potty by himself, having opinions (usually strong ones), sleeping in his own bed, and all kinds of other big boy things. And to celebrate his big boyness, we had him a little birthday party at the park.

We invited a few of his friends over (I know right. He has friends too), and found ways to entertain them all. Starting with water balloons. There weren’t many of them and each kid got only about 6 balloons. Only one balloon out of the bunch actually exploded on a child. The rest either missed or bounced off and exploded on the ground. Totally lame as far as water sports go. Luckily I had Holly come and save the day with some pizzas out of the oven.

Shortly after, it was my turn to make a trip. Holly got the easy job of letting the kids have a whack at piñata Spongebob while I went to fetch the buttercream cake from the fridge. I grabbed what I needed and went back hoping to catch some of the action, but by the time I arrived, Spongebob had met his death and the kids were all trading innards. Delicious.

But now it’s cake and presents time. Yay! Leif was excited by this notion of course. What 3 year old doesn’t like cake and presents? So we proceeded. The cake was topped with chocolate cream icing and little Spongebob characters (as if life-size ones would fit). We sang happy birthday to the boy and he blew out his candles with enthusiasm.

Unfortunately, the kids were all into their cheap store bought piñata candy to fully appreciate the lilikoi butter cream chocolate cake that Holly made. Poor Holly was sad about that. But once the kids weren’t allowed to have cheap candy anymore, they all snarfed slice after slice of the yummy cake. Good kids.

Back to the presents. Leif tore open many presents, which he paused after each one to play with. This made for a longer present opening ceremony, but the other kids didn’t mind once he opened the strange flower water sprinkler Gavin picked for him. I quickly set up the sprinkler so that the kids can all run around and finally get that water-logged feeling they were hoping for with water balloons. Leif joined the sprinkler fun as well. He returned shortly to finish opening up his presents. Besides, he was getting shot heavily in the face which he wasn’t all that fond of.

Once all the major activities were over, we let the kids run wild. At this point it didn’t take too much on our part to entertain them. They had enough to keep them busy for a while. They played through the day until the sun threatened to disappear. That was when the cows stampeded to the roadside and started a thunderous mooing competition. This was our sign to wind down and pack up. We cleaned up all broken water balloons, dirty cups, candy wrappers, napkins, plates and bottles. We packed up all the leftover cake and supplies. We folded up and discarded the table cloth. We joked about all the gruesomely silly things we could do with the Spongebob carnage. Then we buried him good and proper.

Ok, not that good and proper. But we didn’t have a lot of time. The cows were shooing us away and we had to rush over to catch the sunset before it faded away.

Leif was very pleased with his birthday and all the presents he received. At the end of the day, the floor was sprawled with trucks, cars, planes, and little plastic Angry Birds, which he refused to stop launching at things as Holly “bathed” him with wet wipes. When all was said and done, Leif crawled into bed, teeth brushed and potty utilized, and was sang half a song by Holly before his eyes were closed and he was snoring.

Happy 3rd birthday kiddo.

The day has finally come. Today was Leif’s first day of school.

Granted, it was only 2 1/2 hours long, but that seemed to be just enough time for the boy. The first 1/2 hour or so was time for Leif to warm up to things. He clung to my leg and watched the other kids and teachers as they played with all the cool toys. There were wooden cars and trucks, plastic food, puzzles, little drums, books, blocks, and all kinds of other fun things.

After a short while, class started and they did a follow the leader thing to bring the kids around the classroom and show them the different areas. We ended at the sink and toilet area. We made all the kids wash their hands and then it was snack time. They had yogurt and crackers. I think Leif was a little to nervous and excited to care about food, but he ate a bit anyway.

When they were done eating, it was time to check out the playground outside. The kids all picked up avocados from tree in back on their way to the playground. It was like treasure hunting. Once they learned all the rules of the grounds, they were set free. This is where Leif started to open up and play freely with other kids and exploring without having to be near dad at every moment. He was intrigued by the slide. He really wanted to go down it, but the only way to get there was through a plastic tube (which was all full of rain water), or by walking over the little wiggly bridge. He didn’t want to get wet in the tunnel and was real weary of the shaky bridge. He finally decided that he would skip both and climb a small ledge at the end of the bridge. The other kids were tromping over the bridge yelling, “Watch out for the sharks! Uncle, you’re in the sharks! Watch out! Oh. I scared them away for you. You’re safe”. I thanked them and they were on their way. Leif followed behind and finally got his turn down the slide exclaiming “Yaaaaay! I did it!”. Such a great kid.

It started to drizzle at the point and it was time to head back inside. Leif was fitting right in with the other kids now. He skip/hopped back to the classroom where he was eager to wash his hands and get back into the toys. He was now much more open and free. He was clapping, sliding down slides, banging drums, and jumping for joy. It was quite a good first day of school.

This is one of those posts I wish so hard I didn’t have to write. Joshua Amir Nossoughi, died on Saturday, July 9th 2011. He was a great friend of mine and many others. I’ve known Josh for many many years. He was a wonderfully caring, talented, selfless person. My memories of him bounce through my mind and it makes me happy. He had such an air about him that everybody loved. You couldn’t help but to love him.

So many memories I have of Josh are based around his amazing talent on the piano. The man could play anything effortlessly. He would make things up to make you laugh by singing silly songs about the color of your hair or what he ate for breakfast. Or he could keep the atmosphere serene with some beautiful classical music. Whatever mood you were in, he had the ability to mimic it through the piano.

Josh was the person to hang out with. You never quite knew what was in store when you did so. You might end up trying to order Sassafras in a McDonald’s drive through, taking a random trip to go snow skiing, spending the day at the pool with frozen smoothies, visiting his sister and nieces, going to a diner, or whatever else presented itself. If there was fun to be had, he could find it. And if there wasn’t fun to be had, he would make it. That was who he was.

Josh had an amazingly huge heart. He never asked for a lot or wanted to have everything. Just the opposite. He would, without question offer whatever he had, be it food, clothes, money, time, or energy, to someone who needed it. And it didn’t stop there. He followed through with his generosity. If you needed a ride somewhere, he would give it. Then he would offer a ride back. If you needed money for a drink of water, he would make sure you had enough for a milk shake.

The past few years, I’ve not had the opportunity to be as close to him as I used to be, though, I’ve thought of him constantly. He has left a lasting impression on me, as I’m sure he has to so many others in his 33 years of life. He is not one to be forgotten. He will be remembered forever by his friends, his family, his wife and 3 sons, and anyone lucky enough to have met him. Joshua Amir Nossoughi, your name and memory will live on forever in everyone you touched. I love you.

All this job searching and unemployment stuff has got me thinking about beer. Not in the becoming-an-alcoholic kind of way, but more of a this-is-my-chance-to-sell-my-beer-legally kind of way. I’ve found a gov. program that assists starting businesses by offering business classes and business plan help and what not. I’ve been thinking about it for a while and wondered how I could manage with a full time job and a 1 year old. Now I have no job and my 1 year old is turning 3. So where does that leave me?

This is where I look for opinions and suggestions, advice and so on. If anyone has any experience or knows anyone with experience, I’d appreciate some guidance. Comments are open for anonymous posts if any lurkers wanna contribute.