Coffee Snob

I'm pretty much a self-professed coffee snob -- not so much a connoisseur but rather I know what I like and what I don't like. Which isn't to say I don't drink the swell, because I do. I have the world's cheapest self-brew espresso maker in my office and I occasionally get desperate enough to use it. That's about as low as I go. I won't drink the office coffee made with metallic-flavored water and dried out grounds. For a while I was only Italian Coffee Maker at home but it got old and I found that it was never enough for the neighbors when they stopped by. So I got smarter, older and lazier and have since moved to only French Press. As much as I enjoy a solid cup of home brew, it's never the same as a good espresso at the local Kean coffee, at my brother's house (he's a lifelong aspiring Barista) or even the delicious espresso shot I had at an Italian gas station in the summer of 2008.

Last week I was in the Pacific Northwest, home of the 24-hr coffee drive-thru on every street corner. You have to love the ambition. You'd think people living in gray rain would want to sleep more, not stay awake to watch the rain. But perhaps it's more a matter of requiring something to pep oneself up during those long winters. Either way, I do appreciate the culture and have mixed feelings upon every visit. On the one hand, I'm jealous of all those great locations for a solid cup'a'Joe. On the other hand, I'd be dead broke because I'd probably stop everyday, twice a day.

Anyway, to my point, I had a cup of "coffee" so interesting while visiting Bellingham, WA this past week that I had to blog about it. Dee Dee and I went to Lettered Streets Coffee House which used to be Toad Mountain Coffee House. Their specialty drink immediately caught my eye. It consisted of a spiced tea blend, brewed and then reduced down to a concentrate. Then they add cream and a shot of espresso and serve in a lovely Italian Cappuccino mug. Fantastic. The creme had hints of cardamom, probably from the spice blend. But as I got into the cup it was a light, frothy blend of brew that I can't even describe. The bottom of the cup became more like a latte. My guess is that a natural separation occurs and the tea aspects float to the top while the espresso moves toward the bottom. Either way, it was fantastic. I don't recall what they called it but I'm sure Dee Dee will comment on this blog entry with the name.

As fanatical as some folks are, I've never quite seen anything like this, so enjoy your "normalcy". This makes insistence on cold-brewed iced coffee made from burr-ground hand-picked free-trade organic beans look childish.

How to Brew a Good Cup of Coffee from Ben Helfen on Vimeo.

Surprised Kitty

Tangerine does this but not this quickly. Cracks me up.

Gary's speech on Healthcare

For those who don't know I've been in Toastmasters for 2 years and recently I developed a speech that had excellent reviews. As such I gave it as a test speech at a contest and subsequently was invited to another Toastmasters club to give it a 3rd time. They captured it on video. Maybe it's meaningful to someone out there in the blog-o-sphere.

Hitler finds out no camera in iPod touch

Admittedly, I'm an Apple fan-boy. I have owned and used a Macintosh since 1986 and have no intention of changing platforms. I wait with baited breath while Mr. Jobs takes the stage and announces products. I schedule time on my calendar at work to make sure I know what is coming, what was real and what was rumor. So perhaps that's why this strikes me as hilariously funny. Warning: you won't find this the least bit humorous if you aren't a follower of Apple rumors. But if you are, you'll piss your pants laughing.

Kitten vs Polydactyl Lion

How to open a banana

My co-worker David turned me onto a blog that a friend of his writes. The selling point to me was the "How to Open a Banana" video. As a self-declared monkey (hey, at least I admit it) who loves bananas, this is absolute genius.

Tele-Sheep

D'Plane (crash), D'Plane (crash)

In March of 2009 I notated on this very blog that planes were falling out of the sky faster than the descent of Bernard Madoff's net worth. I sketched out the crashes on 1/15, 2/12, 2/25, 3/22 and 3/23. Unfortunately for all of us, the trend has NOT stopped. So much so that a second post is needed. Without further adieu:

6/29/09 - Yemeni plane crash kills 150+
6/1/09 - Air France crash from Rio to Paris kills 220+
5/20/09 - Indonesia plane crash kills nearly 100

Now then, I have no real point here. I just traveled on no less than 6 flights from west coast to middle-USA (CO/TX) to east coast and back with little to speak of except expensive water and indigestion. However it's disconcerting that these giant planes (nearly all Airbus planes I will note) just fall out of the sky. The average is MORE THAN ONE PER MONTH. I leave for 4 flights on Thursday. Someone feed the kitties if they plummet, ok?

Paranoid yet?

Tech World is Repeating Itself

Maybe it's because I've now been in the tech world for several decades (at least in terms of tracing information on a DAILY basis, reading trade publications and now internet publications, etc.)... but I'm seeing a pattern here. Read the following excerpt from T-Mobile.nl relating to the new iPhone:

"600 MHz is notably faster than the current iPhone and iPod Touch which run at 412 MHz and 532 MHz, respectively. Until now, the 2nd Generation iPod Touch has been the fastest device in the lineup by a good margin. Meanwhile, the previous generation models where also limited to 128 MB of RAM, so the new device offers twice as much which could be a welcome change to developers."

Hmm... does this sound to anyone JUST LIKE the late 90's? Pentium III processors had the exact same specs and yet those seem to be in the distant past now. It's not that the technology is the same. Far from it. It's 100-1000x smaller, more energy efficient and fits into a handheld device now! It produces visual effects beyond what could have been imagined 10 years ago. But the pattern is there. Life is completely repeating itself. That means I am both old AND wise (the latter only because I recognized the trend to be nearly identical to 10 years ago!). I suppose it's no different than the claim that came decades before and continually resurfaced. The same claim that still comes up here in my workplace: the "paperless" office is coming. Yah, right.

DC Store is live!

6 months of hard work. The Sr. VP of Retail, Nicholas, brought to my attention today that I've been launching sites non-stop for 2.5 years as of today. Holy Christ.


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