So at some point toward the end of last week (or maybe over the weekend) was the two year anniversary of the first post on this site. I knew that the occasion was at the end of July, but since I often am not aware of what the date is, a few days went by before I realized that I missed it. After that I was excited to look back at the post I did one year ago to see what has changed since then.
The answer is that quite a lot has changed while at the same time very little has been done toward the five goals I wrote in that post. I was slightly bummed at first, but as I thought about it there is not much that I would change.
Made some new friends
I mean how can I be at all upset that in the last year I landed a job at one of the top beer places to be found anywhere? They thankfully gave me a shot and started me out working a day or two a week and now I am there seemingly more than not and am working full time hours each week. I have had access to so many great beers, met numerous brewers and brewery reps, helped out some good people, streamlined operations a bit, and have really had a blast with it all.
My second home
So yes I have tweaked my grading system (a few times) as I set out to do last year and have to a lesser degree focused on beer and food pairing, though mostly on a personal level. I have not brewed in some time which is a big hindrance to evolving my methods and skills as I wanted to. Admittedly I do miss it and will get back to it at some point, but I cannot say exactly when with so many other things going on.
If only for the sake of writing it down (since I did it last year) I should mention the number of beers reviews on this site after another year has gone by. I am not into counting that high this morning to get an exact number, but I do know that there are well over 200 reviews on this site now and if I include the shorter evaluations (B Notes) the number is actually closer to 300. Not bad for something that started out as a beer journal for me.
Coming soon to a computer near you
Maybe I have not done guest posts for others (though I owe The Wife at least a few) and I have not stepped up with many more videos, but I have kind of combined the two into one. I had the opportunity to shoot a pilot for a beer based web show with a good friend (who happens to be my boss at Redlight) and am pretty excited to see what it looks like once the editing is done. Doing that is a big deal for me and makes up for falling short on those other things.
With the constant immersion in the world of beer now I actually feel that becoming a Certified Cicerone is an attainable goal sometime in the next year. There is no way I would have thought that way back when I did my first personal beer review.
Somewhere in there I decided it was also a good idea to start my own company and get my license to practice Architecture in New York State (on top of my Florida license) to be able to do some work with/for an old friend. Let’s just say that some weeks are pretty damn busy, but with how busy The Wife is with all of her projects I am just trying to keep up.
Many beers yet to enjoy
With all of my rambling and reminiscing done for today I can say that still, more than a year and a half later, I do not regret leaving my office life in the rear view. Cheers to that!
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