Lupe and Cady are the two women who run the office and coordinate many of the logistics at Siebel. Lupe's been at Siebel for 14 years and Cady, on and off, for nine, though now she's full time there as well. Lupe was the first person I spoke with at Siebel back in August when I called and made a desperate plea to get the final spot in the course. Hers was also the welcoming voice on the message that told me I had been accepted off the waiting list. Cady dutifully reminds us to wear name tags, makes us coffee in the morning, and returns our quizzes. She has the thankless job of collating our course binders each week. And, in a show of ludicrous commitment, she ran across the street to Goose Island one Thursday afternoon through the rain to deliver the final page of a study guide that one of the other students in the class had typed up. (The copier had gotten jammed during the first printing, and she fixed that too.) Cady joined us on our tours of Goose Island and during our German bier tasting as well. When we actually put together a class gift for Siebel, I'm going to push hard that we do something to honor them. In the meantime, they can also take credit for inspiring a lesser, though not unimportant, class gift that Fall 09 is leaving for Siebel.
In their time here, Lupe and Cady have seen plenty of brewers come through and so, it was with some definitiveness and experience that they proclaimed, "Oh yeah, most guys gain 15 to 25 pounds during the course." The responses from people were mixed--a little bit of resignation, a little bit of fear, a little bit of incredulity. But sure enough, their prophecy has proven true, and everyone (myself included) has fallen victim to the waist-expanding impact of free beers in our upstairs stube, Chicago's Italian beef, and sitting in a classroom all day, every weekday. Personally, I've tried to stave off the weight with long runs along the lake, and that's proved successful 90% of the time, which is really to say that my level of activity is better than nothing.
Enter Ryan Frank and a brilliant idea. Ryan is the class charmer--warm, nerdy (about beer), generally humble, extroverted, and always (always) willing to go out after class. For those of you who might understand, he's a little bit Geoff Barrows, a little Cooper Sanford, a lot of Eric Meizlish circa 2001 and a dash of Laura Yale, which is to say, a he's willing to join in on any crackpot plan you can think up. All in all, a great guy to have in class and spend time with.
Anyhow, Ryan returned from lunch yesterday afternoon with a twelve dollar basketball that he had picked up during our hour off. It was time to start doing more than standing around and talking during our breaks and after class, he had decided. So by lunchtime today, nine of us found ourselves playing four-on-four on the basketball court next to school. For some, it was the most cardiovascular exercise they'd had since arriving in September ("My throat is still burning," Andrew Hood said after we had finished our game at lunch and been back in class for an hour). There was also a Goodwill Games element in the play, as many of the Mexican brewers from Grupo Modelo joined together on a team. We also found out that Patrick Zanello, our Brazillian brewer, is making a good faith effort to join the national team in time for the 2016 Olympics in case his brewpub in Rio doesn't pan out.
Balls bounced over the far fence under the L lines and across the fence near school through traffic on Clybourn, and brewers leaped fences (or attempted to) with a mid-day vigor hitherto unseen. My shooting percentage finished near 10%, and the rest of the brew squad was only a little further ahead (It did take us 25+ minutes to score six baskets, combined.) But, at day's end, people were so excited to get a little more exercise, that Team USA played Team Mexico one more round before the late afternoon light blurred the basket, all crepuscular-like.
I don't know that this counts as the calorie-burning pushandpull that we need to offset weeks of brew school, but it's sufficient escapism. Plus, the bold "Siebel Fall Class 09" label on the ball means that we'll bequeath at least a little to those future brewers who show up in Chicago next February. (Prime outdoor basketball season, I believe.) Until we gift more to Lupe and Cady, it will suffice.
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