personal – Page 2 – Tim Vandergrift

July 15, 2014

Summertime, and the Livin’ is Busy

I’ve had a busy couple of weeks: between staying ahead of my garden and keeping up with writing projects and clients I haven’t had a lot of free time.

home garden — The Patio–not just decor, this garden supplies herbs to my kitchen.

Fortunately I’ve got a break: I’m flying off on an exciting big city adventure! Toronto here I come. Well, GTA, here I come . . . I like Toronto, but in 20 years of travelling there several times a year, I think I’ve only actually spent a total of four days in the city, so it still seems like a strange place to me, but business is business and travelling for pleasure never seems to take me to the exotic places in my own country.

On the other hand, all this will be waiting for me when I return!

community garden — Raspberries, currants, apples, potatoes, basil, tomatoes, artichokes, beets, turnips, zucchini, squash, beans, broccoli, carrots, lettuces, cabbages, horseradish, celeriac . . . et cetera

I’ve got some cool new stuff in the pipeline: I’m shooting video, but while I’m great in front of the camera, I’m not as competent behind it. I hope I’ll have something better than a blooper reel next week.

I’m also bent on getting some all-grain brewing done. One of my current projects is to get my full brewing setup back on-line, and it’s happening. I’m drilling holes in pots, connecting mash screens and generally planning stuff up–wait until you see my new grain grinder (one of the video topics to come).

Beyond that, as always I’ve got a million words to write and many other promises to keep. Hurray for self-employment, my boss never lets up on me!

Whoops! Time to pack, and I’ve got to water the gardens before I leave.

May 18, 2014

Heading for a State of Grace

“Hawaii is not a state of mind, but a state of grace.” – Paul Theroux

Maui--wow-ee! — Who can take a place this beautiful seriously?

And thats where I’m headed. I’m working on my sixth decade, and despite relative proximity (can’t get much closer to Hawaii and still live in Canada) I’ve never visited the islands. It’s been a cold winter and a terrifically interesting year so far, and I need a break from shivering and hustling.

Sadly I had rotator cuff surgery last week and that means no snorkeling. Quelle dommage! But I’ll muddle through with the help of beaches, waterfalls, musubi, poke, pork and probably a wee tot of rum. Or two.

I’ll be hitting the ground running when I get back. First I’ll be teaching a homebrewing class at Beyond the Grape in Port Moody (want to learn how to do your first brew with grains, hops and extract? Call Michael or click here and get hooked up!)

Tiny little glass, hmmph! — Smile and the whole world smiles with you. Drink, and you won’t care.

Right after that it’s the Winemaker Magazine 2014 conference June 5-7th in Virginia. I’ll be teaching a boot camp seminar that will include the use of advanced equipment (vacuum bottle fillers! Home laboratories! Super-secret ingredients!) and top-level techniques for making your best wine ever! I’ve never taught anyone this stuff before, so the folks who attend are going to have secret knowledge!

It’s shaping up to be a busy year. I’m looking forward to it!

May 13, 2014May 13, 2014

On the Road

Jeez, this makes my head look huge — I’m in a sling right now, so Mr. Stick-figure is a lot more mobile than I am.

I’m travelling this week, and hope to bring home some really exciting news . . . watch this space.

While I’m still here, have you checked out my blog at Winemaker Magazine? Cool update on a story I did for them in 2006–Crying In Your Glass.

May 8, 2014May 8, 2014

Things Happen

Face it, you read it in Farnsworth's voice, didn't you? — Yes, very good news

I have a zillion things going on right now, and it’s making me very happy indeed. I’m not a chap for sitting quietly and waiting for events to unfold. That way lies madness for me. Luckily, the unfolding, she comes. First, after a relatively short wait, I got a spot of shoulder surgery that I really needed. I first injured my right shoulder back in the mid 1990’s, competing as a powerlifter.

The older I get, the better I used to be. — 600-3/4 lb squat. Yes, I did a full squat (hip below knee joint)

The sport was very good to me, teaching me discipline, persistence, and the rewards of focusing on really big goals. The trade-off was, that high goals come with costs and I had three knee surgeries (which turned out well) but finally hurt my shoulder badly enough that I had to stop competing back in 2005. At the time I looked into surgery, but since I was considered extremely high-functioning (“It hurts when I bench-press more than 315 lb.” “Well, don’t do that.”) my best choice was to put off surgery until the techniques got better. Fast-forward a decade and they have. Last fall I went in for an assessment and day before yesterday they knitted me new set of rotator cuffs.

It was all moosh in there. — Black and white is better. Colour is pretty gruesome.

I had full ruptures of all my rotator cuff muscles, a torn biceps tendon, bone spurs and the head of my humerus apparently looked like a used golf ball. But all better! Other than being in a sling for two months, I’m pretty dang happy, and the prognosis is that I’m going to actually be able to return to training. Competitive powerlifting? Well, wouldn’t that be a trip . . . but we’ll see. I’ll just be glad to be able to reach for things on low shelves without having my arm flop out of the socket.

Next good thing is the upcoming Winemaker Magazine conference! I’m terrifically excited this year, since I’m doing a boot camp! It’s an intensive course for winemakers who want to learn the secret secrets that I’ve never shared with anyone before. As the industry’s technical guy for 22 years I was never able to really let loose with the good stuff for consumers. Now, sky’s the limit! I hope you’re going, and I hope I’ll see you there.

I’ve also got a couple of irons in the fire right now that are really exciting, product development-wise, plus something I’m terrifically pleased about. I hope to be able to let everyone know more very soon! Keep watching this blog, as I won’t be hiding any lights under bushels!