The Cadi Corner: Staff Hobbies

When I was in 3rd grade our teacher held a show and tell day where all the kids in the class were supposed to bring in their hobby. Kids brought in baseball cards, comic books, or even worse, stamps. I hated this assignment but did learn an important lesson in faking it. I had no hobbies. I had gymnastics but that wasn’t a hobby that was my life, duh!

I ended up bringing in posters. I’m sure I just dug them from my closet, some forgotten remnant from a book fair splurge in ’91. I got some skeptical stares from a girl named Stacey who brought in her sticker collection, but who ever said stickers was a hobby? That girl probably ended up with a couple of babies and a butterfly tattoo.

I bring up hobbies because our production manager, Michael Domue has probably the coolest hobby ever. He brews his own beer. He’s brewing it right now as a matter of fact. The beers that he’s making will be part of our annual summertime celebration, Crabfest. Back in 2001 he and a few other Totem Pole staffers had a hankering for some crabs. So they bought a couple bushels and a few cases of Yuengling and boom, Crabfest was born. The next year he got the idea to make the beer himself and from one brew sprang another and another. Last year Crabfest celebrated it’s tenth year and 13 beers were brewed. What I’ve learned from watching him brew is that brewing beer is no walk in the park. It’s no stamp collecting. It is a discipline that involves a lot of heavy lifting. I don’t understand all the science that goes into it but from what I gather you have to drink lots of Yuengling, take your shirt off, and eat pizza. This generally goes on for about twelve hours. Then you wrap up by drinking even more beer and celebrating your accomplishments in manhood.

I’ve watched him do this for four years now and every year I get encouraged to find a hobby of my own. For now, people watching will have to do. Speaking of people watching, come watch some of Neil Simon’s kookiest characters in 45 Seconds from Broadway. Directed by son of Caledonia, John Putch. It’s lots of fun and only plays till Sunday so don’t miss it!