So, my computer died a week ago. I'm typing this on a borrowed laptop that my friend almost never uses. Bless her. We need to work out the details of this custody thing (alternate weekends or something) but she's perfectly fine with my using this for as long as I need to until I figure out how to get myself a new computer of my own.
At least I'm not under deadline for anything...like when my logicboard died in the middle of November the first year I had Squirt (the old iBook, in case you didn't catch that) and I had five papers to write over the next four weeks.
It was the video card that died. To get it fixed would probably work out to about half of just getting a new MacBook and given that the old one was four years old and had seen me through the rough and tumble of university life, it seems better to let it go. Still, not all is lost. Right now, it's essentially just a large iPod charger. It turns out, I can log in and it'll update my iPod. But I can't see anything that I'm doing. And it won't connect to an external monitor, which is how I know that it's the video card and not just the screen.
So, at least I know that all my information is on there and retrievable at some point. It also means that I can use it as an external hard drive to back things up on after I get the new one. Not exactly practical but, again, not all is lost.
I named it Squirt when I first got it because it was so much smaller than the clamshell iBook that it was replacing. This morning I woke up with a name for the as yet purchased new one: Virgil. It will be my companion (not exactly my guide, but certainly trusty sidekick) as I'm figuring things out over the next little while. I don't know that I'm quite traveling through Hell right now, but it's at least some kind of Purgatory where I need to get my shit together and figure out what is the proper path for me to be on.
Hopefully, I'll have the new compute sooner rather than later, but I have to figure out how to pay for it. But I have more important things to figure out how to pay for, like new glasses and a new winter coat and new boots and heating oil and.... Yeah. You get the picture.
I could really use a Virgil about now to help point me on the right path though I have to remember, too, that Dante didn't get help straight away when he was lost. Yes, it came fairly quickly but he had a literary schedule to keep. He couldn't wander lost for 8 cantos. He had to get down to business.
Part of me has been puzzling recently about the coffee thing and about where, really, I'd be best to do it. I have the advantage here of being a big fish in a little pond. Still, as I've said before many a time, this pond is rather small for my liking and I don't have a need really to be #1. There's also part of me that feels like the ideals of 'third wave' coffee needs to be represented out here on the East Coast. This isn't me getting cold feet about the possibility of moving, more just a puzzling through my reasons for wanting to move and perhaps my path in coffee, if that is indeed where I'm meant to be. Add to that mix an idea that was pitched to me in outline form last night that would take a lot of work to bring together but that would potentially offer me an amazing experience in helping to set up and run a non-profit coffee endeavour that could focus much more on education than simply producing amazing coffee. Before my computer died, I'd been working on an essay about the vital importance of consumer education and trying to puzzle through how to balance consumer education with the need to make sure that you can get through a line to the door in 5ish minutes.
That essay is trapped on my computer right now, though I may soon start it from scratch since it was a bit of a mess anyway.
So, lots on my mind as of late, as always. Still plugging along, though, which is the important thing.
2006-10-19
Exciting Night
2006-10-17
Joy of joys
'This American Life', one of my favourite NPR shows is now available as a podcast. It's on usually when I'm at work on Sundays. Now I can listen to it at my leisure. Give it a looksee. It's fabulous.
The Omnivore's Dilemma
I've just finished reading The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan. When I started reading it a few weeks ago, I decided after only about 30 pages that it should be required reading for everyone in the country. Probably everyone who partakes of an industrialised food chain every day (which would include a lot of people).
The most basic, guiding question that Pollan takes for the book is 'What should we have for dinner?' It seems, as he points out, such a simple question. Indeed, eating food is perhaps the most basic thing that we humans have control over in order to continue to live. We don't have to worry about breathing but we do have to worry about what to put into our bodies in order to allow them to continue to function.
Pollan then tries to figure out what happened to make this such a difficult question to answer and he pins down the omnivore's dilemma, something that has plagued (or benefited, depending on how you look at it) our species since we became a species. When you can eat virtually anything, deciding what to eat can be a bit of a problem.
Yet, Pollan points out, for millennia, this never really was a problem. We relied on culture, on availability, on local climate to help dictate what we ought to eat and when. You want asparagus in January? Tough. Eat some beans. The modern industrialised food chain has warped availability and trumped locality so that we can, indeed, eat asparagus in January if we so choose. But at what cost? Are those dozen or so spears of asparagus really worth the jet fuel that flew them from South America to your grocery store?
Americans spend less on food than any other nation on the planet. Some might see this as the triumph of the American promise of equality and equal access. But remembering how basic food is to our existence, why, logically, should it be a good thing for food prices to fall continuously? 99¢ for a dozen eggs? What does that tell us about the quality of those eggs? Does the average person even have any idea where eggs come from or how they're produced anymore?
As I settled in at a bar one night with the book and a pint, I was chatting with the bartender who is always interested to find out what I'm reading (this is the same bar at which I did a lot of reading of the Divine Comedy this past Spring). She sort of recoiled when she saw what I was reading and said that I shouldn't read it, because it would turn me into a vegetarian. I told her that I was already essentially a vegetarian and she looked puzzled since I'd just ordered a steak quesidilla. Oddly enough, Pollan's section on vegetarianism and the ethics of eating animals has made me feel okay about when I do choose to eat meat and has given me some philosophical cud to chew (sticking with the food theme) about the topic.
If you click the link at the end of this post, it will take you to Pollan's website where you can read the introduction and the first chapter of the book. If that doesn't hook you then perhaps you're one of those people that Pollan suggests maybe shouldn't read the book. To quote the introduction,
To know from whence our food came used to be such a benign question as not even to merit thinking about it. Do you know where your morning pop-tart came from? It started as some kind of organic substance somewhere along the line. Or, to take a subject closer to my heart and my everyday, do you know where your morning cup of coffee came from?
As I sit here typing this, my cat is hunting. The cold weather has brought a few mice indoors to join us. Every now and then, she'll catch sign of one and be occupied for hours. It's not as if we starve her, but it's fascinating to see her instincts kick in like this. What happened to our instincts about food? Shouldn't we want to know where our food came from? The supermarket, though convenient, is not a farm. The vast majority of our food does not come from farms as we conceive them. Neither I nor Pollan quite argue that this is necessarily a good or bad thing. Still, it is a thing. And a thing worth noting at that.
Ultimately, I think that a book like this should remind us all that we're still animals. Despite our civilisation, we are actively connected to the rest of life on earth and everything we do, everything we eat—even Twinkies—affect the rest of the planet somehow.
Run, don't walk, to your local library, bookstore, or favourite online book seller and read this book.
You'd be stupid to remain ignorant of where your food comes from.
And, after you've read it, if everything begins to taste suspiciously of corn, don't say I didn't warn you.
The most basic, guiding question that Pollan takes for the book is 'What should we have for dinner?' It seems, as he points out, such a simple question. Indeed, eating food is perhaps the most basic thing that we humans have control over in order to continue to live. We don't have to worry about breathing but we do have to worry about what to put into our bodies in order to allow them to continue to function.
Pollan then tries to figure out what happened to make this such a difficult question to answer and he pins down the omnivore's dilemma, something that has plagued (or benefited, depending on how you look at it) our species since we became a species. When you can eat virtually anything, deciding what to eat can be a bit of a problem.
Yet, Pollan points out, for millennia, this never really was a problem. We relied on culture, on availability, on local climate to help dictate what we ought to eat and when. You want asparagus in January? Tough. Eat some beans. The modern industrialised food chain has warped availability and trumped locality so that we can, indeed, eat asparagus in January if we so choose. But at what cost? Are those dozen or so spears of asparagus really worth the jet fuel that flew them from South America to your grocery store?
Americans spend less on food than any other nation on the planet. Some might see this as the triumph of the American promise of equality and equal access. But remembering how basic food is to our existence, why, logically, should it be a good thing for food prices to fall continuously? 99¢ for a dozen eggs? What does that tell us about the quality of those eggs? Does the average person even have any idea where eggs come from or how they're produced anymore?
As I settled in at a bar one night with the book and a pint, I was chatting with the bartender who is always interested to find out what I'm reading (this is the same bar at which I did a lot of reading of the Divine Comedy this past Spring). She sort of recoiled when she saw what I was reading and said that I shouldn't read it, because it would turn me into a vegetarian. I told her that I was already essentially a vegetarian and she looked puzzled since I'd just ordered a steak quesidilla. Oddly enough, Pollan's section on vegetarianism and the ethics of eating animals has made me feel okay about when I do choose to eat meat and has given me some philosophical cud to chew (sticking with the food theme) about the topic.
If you click the link at the end of this post, it will take you to Pollan's website where you can read the introduction and the first chapter of the book. If that doesn't hook you then perhaps you're one of those people that Pollan suggests maybe shouldn't read the book. To quote the introduction,
'Eating is an agricultural act,' as Wendell Berry famously said. It is also an ecological act, and a political act, too. Though much has been done to obscure this simple fact, how and what we eat determines to a great extent the use we make of the world—and what is to become of it. To eat with a fuller consciousness of all that is at stake might sound like a burden, but in practice few things in life afford quite as much satisfaction. By comparison, the pleasures of eating industrially, which is to say eating in ignorance, are fleeting. Many people today seem perfectly content eating at the end of an industrial food chain, without a thought in the world: this book is probably not for them; there are things in it that will ruin their appetite. But in the end this is a book about the pleasures of eating, the kind of pleasures that are only deepened by knowing.
To know from whence our food came used to be such a benign question as not even to merit thinking about it. Do you know where your morning pop-tart came from? It started as some kind of organic substance somewhere along the line. Or, to take a subject closer to my heart and my everyday, do you know where your morning cup of coffee came from?
As I sit here typing this, my cat is hunting. The cold weather has brought a few mice indoors to join us. Every now and then, she'll catch sign of one and be occupied for hours. It's not as if we starve her, but it's fascinating to see her instincts kick in like this. What happened to our instincts about food? Shouldn't we want to know where our food came from? The supermarket, though convenient, is not a farm. The vast majority of our food does not come from farms as we conceive them. Neither I nor Pollan quite argue that this is necessarily a good or bad thing. Still, it is a thing. And a thing worth noting at that.
Ultimately, I think that a book like this should remind us all that we're still animals. Despite our civilisation, we are actively connected to the rest of life on earth and everything we do, everything we eat—even Twinkies—affect the rest of the planet somehow.
Run, don't walk, to your local library, bookstore, or favourite online book seller and read this book.
You'd be stupid to remain ignorant of where your food comes from.
And, after you've read it, if everything begins to taste suspiciously of corn, don't say I didn't warn you.
Dilemma
The Scissor Sisters are playing Sunday in Boston. Tickets are only $25.
This shouldn't even be a dilemma, right?
This shouldn't even be a dilemma, right?
2006-10-15
Slacking (as usual)...
...well, not really. Yes, I've not updated in over a week but I've been busy. I seriously thought about writing a post on the train back last weekend but was more content to allow my thoughts to free range through my mind rather than to commit them to either paper or screen.
And I'm not really going to say much about last weekend right now other than hanging out with my cousins was a lot of fun and seeing my mother could have been rather worse than it was. It could have been rather better, too, but I tried. And that has to count for something, right?
I've had a lot on my mind this past week about a lot of different things. I don't really have the time or the energy to delve into them right now but that's why I haven't posted: my thoughts are still free ranging. That and the fact that work has been fairly crazy...still. I actually got a day and a half in the office this past week (cut short by someone calling in sick and having to go cover a shift) and am scheduled for three days this week. Office work aside, though, the shop is still clipping along quite briskly. We haven't seen a slump in the increase in business that we've seen since the beginning of last month. Not that any of us are complaining, per se. All things considered, we're surviving quite well.
I don't think there's enough form to any of my thoughts to put them down here right now but we'll see how this coming week goes. If anything, I'll try to get a post together about last weekend. You know, to share the pain.
And I'm not really going to say much about last weekend right now other than hanging out with my cousins was a lot of fun and seeing my mother could have been rather worse than it was. It could have been rather better, too, but I tried. And that has to count for something, right?
I've had a lot on my mind this past week about a lot of different things. I don't really have the time or the energy to delve into them right now but that's why I haven't posted: my thoughts are still free ranging. That and the fact that work has been fairly crazy...still. I actually got a day and a half in the office this past week (cut short by someone calling in sick and having to go cover a shift) and am scheduled for three days this week. Office work aside, though, the shop is still clipping along quite briskly. We haven't seen a slump in the increase in business that we've seen since the beginning of last month. Not that any of us are complaining, per se. All things considered, we're surviving quite well.
I don't think there's enough form to any of my thoughts to put them down here right now but we'll see how this coming week goes. If anything, I'll try to get a post together about last weekend. You know, to share the pain.
2006-10-05
Dream
The scene: the house I grew up in.
The plot: I'm trying to leave, but there's a hit-man outside trying to kill me. My mother is there, very blasé about the whole thing. Somehow, it makes sense for me to make a run for the car (which is actually my father's truck) and try to get away. I woke up just as I was trying to make a run for the truck.
It had a very Godfather feel to it.
Anxiety about seeing my mother this weekend? Ya think?
The plot: I'm trying to leave, but there's a hit-man outside trying to kill me. My mother is there, very blasé about the whole thing. Somehow, it makes sense for me to make a run for the car (which is actually my father's truck) and try to get away. I woke up just as I was trying to make a run for the truck.
It had a very Godfather feel to it.
Anxiety about seeing my mother this weekend? Ya think?
2006-10-03
Why does the classical music on MPBN in the mornings suck so much?
Often, as of late, when I'm walking home I think of great blog topics. Things I really ought to sit down and write on if not here at least in my personal journal.
And then I don't.
Because I get home and sit down and am just utterly exhausted. Work has been crazy busy lately. We've had a definite upswing in business since the beginning of September and it's not just that students are back in town. Thankfully, it hasn't been too frustrating, just really busy. It's keeping us on our toes to be sure.
So, that's mostly the reason that I've not been posting much recently: I've just been damned tired. I'll try to keep better on top of it, though.
I'll have something to blog about later this weekend anyway: I'm going to see my mother on Saturday for the first time in almost a year. I offered an olive branch and it was accepted. I'm going to be in Massachusetts to babysit my cousins (a long way to go, yes, but I'm happy to do it) on Friday and Saturday until my grandparents take over Saturday afternoon, which is when I'll see my mother. It will be a very defined period of time since my train back to Maine leaves at 7pm. From the beginning, there will be a light at the end of the tunnel.
And then I don't.
Because I get home and sit down and am just utterly exhausted. Work has been crazy busy lately. We've had a definite upswing in business since the beginning of September and it's not just that students are back in town. Thankfully, it hasn't been too frustrating, just really busy. It's keeping us on our toes to be sure.
So, that's mostly the reason that I've not been posting much recently: I've just been damned tired. I'll try to keep better on top of it, though.
I'll have something to blog about later this weekend anyway: I'm going to see my mother on Saturday for the first time in almost a year. I offered an olive branch and it was accepted. I'm going to be in Massachusetts to babysit my cousins (a long way to go, yes, but I'm happy to do it) on Friday and Saturday until my grandparents take over Saturday afternoon, which is when I'll see my mother. It will be a very defined period of time since my train back to Maine leaves at 7pm. From the beginning, there will be a light at the end of the tunnel.
2006-09-26
Sono uno zio! (sort of)
I'm an uncle! (sort of)
My roommates back in Montreal had their baby! Yay! She's happy and healthy and as yet without a first name. Her middle name will be Alessina, thus satisfying the Italian side of the family. There's still the Irish side to satisfy. So, if anyone can think of some really rockin' Irish girls names, post them in the comments and I'll send them along. They have to be rockin', though, because this girl is going to be one cool lass if she's anything like her parents.
My roommates back in Montreal had their baby! Yay! She's happy and healthy and as yet without a first name. Her middle name will be Alessina, thus satisfying the Italian side of the family. There's still the Irish side to satisfy. So, if anyone can think of some really rockin' Irish girls names, post them in the comments and I'll send them along. They have to be rockin', though, because this girl is going to be one cool lass if she's anything like her parents.
2006-09-21
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
For the record, not only was the film fabulous and definitely worth seeing, it's perhaps the gayest thing I've ever seen. Gayer even than gay porn.
Whew
According to Google Earth, I biked 13 miles on Sunday. And I didn't die. And I didn't even hurt that much from doing it.
Go me!
Yeah, there's probably a bunch of other stuff I should update about right now, but I'm not going to. I'll just leave you all in suspense. I've got shit to do. Like go watch 'Les Parapluies de Cherbourg' which was due back yesterday. And drink coffee. And eat breakfast. And go to work, which has been rather blech this week. I have tomorrow off at least. Then working Saturday and off Sunday. Meh. I hate divided weekends. Saturday is a training day, at least, not a full shift. Though I do still have to go in to close the store that night.
Go me!
Yeah, there's probably a bunch of other stuff I should update about right now, but I'm not going to. I'll just leave you all in suspense. I've got shit to do. Like go watch 'Les Parapluies de Cherbourg' which was due back yesterday. And drink coffee. And eat breakfast. And go to work, which has been rather blech this week. I have tomorrow off at least. Then working Saturday and off Sunday. Meh. I hate divided weekends. Saturday is a training day, at least, not a full shift. Though I do still have to go in to close the store that night.
2006-09-12
Weekend Update
The yacht search on Friday was fun. Except for the whole getting up at 4 in the morning thing. My friend was a bit excited about getting up to where we were headed to find the yacht. I had suggested leaving at a more godly hour, like 8 or 9. Even 7 would have been okay. I managed the 5, but barely.
So, we left Portland at 5, me half asleep, he giddy with excitement (and only two hours of sleep) and drove up the coast for a little under two hours. We found the yacht fairly easily. It wasn't hard to spot in a rather small town with few sites to moor. Of course, we found it at about 7.30 and had no way to get out to it and, pretty clearly, no one was awake aboard (or, if they were, they certainly weren't on deck). We drove back into town and found some yummy breakfast and then headed back out to the yacht where we were greeted with signs of life on board (it was about 9.30 by now). We stood around on the dock and after a bit, someone happened by in a skiff who gave us a ride out.
There was the odd moment of introduction since they hadn't known we were coming and only vaguely knew that their friends had a friend who lived in Maine. But after it was sorted out how everyone knew everyone (me, I was just along for the adventure) we sat down and chatted and had coffee. The husband and wife who are sailing half way around the world (New Zealand to Europe via the Panama Canal) are quite lovely people, very interesting and full of stories to tell. They were gearing up to finish their provisioning and were scheduled to leave Sunday across the Atlantic, London-bound. We went back into town with them and all had lunch together before saying goodbye and good luck and heading back into Portland. I had the day off, but my friend had to work at 5.
Now, who is this crazy friend who has friends who have friends from New Zealand who are sailing half-way round the world? Ah, good question, by faithful blog-readers. He's a new friend. A new special friend, perhaps. It's all still very new and undetermined. But it's something with potential. I'll leave it at that for now, I think. I'm doing my best not to get too excited about it before it actually matures into something. We've only seen each other a couple of times but he asked me yesterday if I had plans yet for Hallowe'en. I told him I didn't think I did. So maybe now I do?
And here's the irony of it all: he also makes coffee for a living and has an interest in it approaching mine...he just happens to work for Starbucks.
So, we left Portland at 5, me half asleep, he giddy with excitement (and only two hours of sleep) and drove up the coast for a little under two hours. We found the yacht fairly easily. It wasn't hard to spot in a rather small town with few sites to moor. Of course, we found it at about 7.30 and had no way to get out to it and, pretty clearly, no one was awake aboard (or, if they were, they certainly weren't on deck). We drove back into town and found some yummy breakfast and then headed back out to the yacht where we were greeted with signs of life on board (it was about 9.30 by now). We stood around on the dock and after a bit, someone happened by in a skiff who gave us a ride out.
There was the odd moment of introduction since they hadn't known we were coming and only vaguely knew that their friends had a friend who lived in Maine. But after it was sorted out how everyone knew everyone (me, I was just along for the adventure) we sat down and chatted and had coffee. The husband and wife who are sailing half way around the world (New Zealand to Europe via the Panama Canal) are quite lovely people, very interesting and full of stories to tell. They were gearing up to finish their provisioning and were scheduled to leave Sunday across the Atlantic, London-bound. We went back into town with them and all had lunch together before saying goodbye and good luck and heading back into Portland. I had the day off, but my friend had to work at 5.
Now, who is this crazy friend who has friends who have friends from New Zealand who are sailing half-way round the world? Ah, good question, by faithful blog-readers. He's a new friend. A new special friend, perhaps. It's all still very new and undetermined. But it's something with potential. I'll leave it at that for now, I think. I'm doing my best not to get too excited about it before it actually matures into something. We've only seen each other a couple of times but he asked me yesterday if I had plans yet for Hallowe'en. I told him I didn't think I did. So maybe now I do?
And here's the irony of it all: he also makes coffee for a living and has an interest in it approaching mine...he just happens to work for Starbucks.
2006-09-08
What was I thinking?
I just agreed to leave in four and a half hours to drive up the coast to look for a yacht with some New Zealanders on board.
What was I thinking?
Never let me say my life is boring.
What was I thinking?
Never let me say my life is boring.
2006-09-05
2006-09-03
Gee, I wonder why...
No customers had complained or returned a doctored version, [a spokesman for HMV] said.
Self-described guerilla artist Banksy has replaced approximately 500 copies of Paris Hilton's debut album in stores across the UK with an album of his own with remixes with titles such as 'Why Am I Famous?', 'What Have I Done?' and 'What Am I For?'
2006-09-01
Sort of kind of almost moved in.
I've been in this apartment almost a year. The last apartment I was in long-term was for three years, and even there I still had stuff in boxes the day I moved out.
One of my major problems with all the stuff I have--and I do my best to cull my pack rat tendencies--is that I don't have drawers or shelves to put it on. I haven't had a proper desk since 2001 when I moved out of rez. Until now.
A friend of mine had a going-away party on Wednesday. Her going away makes me sad. However, I acquired her quite nice roll-top desk, which makes me happy. I think it's going finally to pull my room together and make it something more than a sleeping chamber filled with crap.
Forthwith, pictures...
This is facing the wall opposite the closet. The door leads out into the dining room and that little blue blob in the lower right corner is my bed. On the left, obviously, are my windows. Stylin' desk, eh? Already stacked with clutter. I haven't sorted anything into the drawers of the desk yet, so a lot of that clutter will disappear eventually. Hiding behind the open door is my dresser.
This is taken from the opposite corner. My bed. My closet. My poster of Caspar David Friedrich's 'Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog', something I bought before heading off to university. It seemed appropriate then and still seems to apply now. Also, between the window and closet, above the heater, a drawing of the corner of St-Laurent and Des Pins. A christmas gift last year. :-)
This is the boring side of the room. Just my Canadian flag, a plant, and a Russian icon of John the Baptist, which was a birthday gift (I had originally planned to have my birthday party on St-Jean because it was the Saturday before, which is why my friend bought me the icon, but then I never had the party so the original intent of the gift was kind of moot. It's still pretty nifty, though. I think it came with a certificate of authenticity about it being hand-painted. But I'm not sure. It was written in Russian.) Hopefully, I'll soon have a night stand so that my alarm clock doesn't have to live on the floor (those plugs in the outlet are for my alarm clock and my phone charger). Your coffee trivia for today: Jamaican coffee does not ship in burlap bags like coffee from everywhere else does. It ships in barrels. Full barrels and half barrels. Generally, we buy our Jamaican coffee by the half barrel. There's not reason to hang on to the barrels after we've emptied them of the beans so I'm hoping to score one soon. There's one at the roastery right now, actually, but our roaster wasn't sure if it had already been promised to one of our wholesale customers who has been wanting one for a while. If not, it's mine. Wee. It'll make a rocking night stand.
Hiding in the dining room in that picture is the bike that I've been test-riding for the past couple of days that I'm probably going to buy. The guy I'm buying it from is cool like that. It'll be so nice to have my own bike, I just have to get used to biking again. My legs haven't been to happy with me the past couple of days (have I ever mentioned that I live at the top of a not insignificant hill?) but I'll get used to it. I'm doing my best not to over-extend myself.
That's all for now. I'm going to go read a bit more of 'Heat' by Bill Buford, which I just got from the library yesterday and am quite enjoying. Almost a hundred pages in. An easy read but quite enjoyable. I think it's about time for a nap too, though, so I'm not sure how much reading I'll actually get done.
Oh, and have I mentioned how much I love farmers' markets? I bought THE BEST peaches Wednesday at the market. Honestly, probably the best peaches I've had in years. And they were grown in Maine of all places. Georgia ain't got nothing on these peaches.
One of my major problems with all the stuff I have--and I do my best to cull my pack rat tendencies--is that I don't have drawers or shelves to put it on. I haven't had a proper desk since 2001 when I moved out of rez. Until now.
A friend of mine had a going-away party on Wednesday. Her going away makes me sad. However, I acquired her quite nice roll-top desk, which makes me happy. I think it's going finally to pull my room together and make it something more than a sleeping chamber filled with crap.
Forthwith, pictures...
This is facing the wall opposite the closet. The door leads out into the dining room and that little blue blob in the lower right corner is my bed. On the left, obviously, are my windows. Stylin' desk, eh? Already stacked with clutter. I haven't sorted anything into the drawers of the desk yet, so a lot of that clutter will disappear eventually. Hiding behind the open door is my dresser.
This is taken from the opposite corner. My bed. My closet. My poster of Caspar David Friedrich's 'Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog', something I bought before heading off to university. It seemed appropriate then and still seems to apply now. Also, between the window and closet, above the heater, a drawing of the corner of St-Laurent and Des Pins. A christmas gift last year. :-)
This is the boring side of the room. Just my Canadian flag, a plant, and a Russian icon of John the Baptist, which was a birthday gift (I had originally planned to have my birthday party on St-Jean because it was the Saturday before, which is why my friend bought me the icon, but then I never had the party so the original intent of the gift was kind of moot. It's still pretty nifty, though. I think it came with a certificate of authenticity about it being hand-painted. But I'm not sure. It was written in Russian.) Hopefully, I'll soon have a night stand so that my alarm clock doesn't have to live on the floor (those plugs in the outlet are for my alarm clock and my phone charger). Your coffee trivia for today: Jamaican coffee does not ship in burlap bags like coffee from everywhere else does. It ships in barrels. Full barrels and half barrels. Generally, we buy our Jamaican coffee by the half barrel. There's not reason to hang on to the barrels after we've emptied them of the beans so I'm hoping to score one soon. There's one at the roastery right now, actually, but our roaster wasn't sure if it had already been promised to one of our wholesale customers who has been wanting one for a while. If not, it's mine. Wee. It'll make a rocking night stand.
Hiding in the dining room in that picture is the bike that I've been test-riding for the past couple of days that I'm probably going to buy. The guy I'm buying it from is cool like that. It'll be so nice to have my own bike, I just have to get used to biking again. My legs haven't been to happy with me the past couple of days (have I ever mentioned that I live at the top of a not insignificant hill?) but I'll get used to it. I'm doing my best not to over-extend myself.
That's all for now. I'm going to go read a bit more of 'Heat' by Bill Buford, which I just got from the library yesterday and am quite enjoying. Almost a hundred pages in. An easy read but quite enjoyable. I think it's about time for a nap too, though, so I'm not sure how much reading I'll actually get done.
Oh, and have I mentioned how much I love farmers' markets? I bought THE BEST peaches Wednesday at the market. Honestly, probably the best peaches I've had in years. And they were grown in Maine of all places. Georgia ain't got nothing on these peaches.
Isn't it ironic? Don't you think?
My McGill alumni email has a built-in spam filter and every couple of days I get an email of messages that it has quarantined as possible spam so I can make sure that nothing important has been flagged.
My mail program just flagged the quarantine message as potential spam.
My mail program just flagged the quarantine message as potential spam.
2006-08-30
'A blobby flame'
Ta-da!
I made a heart for a Japanese student yesterday and she giggled and said, 'Ooh! Pretty!'
I made a heart for a Japanese student yesterday and she giggled and said, 'Ooh! Pretty!'
2006-08-28
'A blobby flame'
They're playing the most obnoxious music at the café that I'm at right now that may or may not be Bjork.
Just thought I'd share.
Thank god for headphones and iTunes. Otherwise I'd have slit my wrists open twenty minutes ago.
I had a pretty good day in the office today. I did my usual Monday paperwork and then rewrote half of the espresso training manual. Also got to have a brief though informative talk with our roaster about our espresso blend as well as our espresso machines (we use fully manual lever machines: I didn't realise that all of the pressure was created by the rather large, spring-loaded piston. I had thought that the water from the boiler was also under some kind of pressure. But, no, just that large, spring-loaded piston is what creates the 9 bars of pressure necessary to make yummy 'spro.)
On our blend, he clarified some of the beans in it and what they contributed to the flavour profile. I mentioned to him that although I enjoyed our blend, I found it quite heavy in nut flavours. Nut, yes, but almond in particular he pointed out. And he suggested I try to look past the nut, too, because there ought to be some citrus notes in there. I didn't get the chance to pull myself any shots when I was at the shop later on because I'd already over-caffeneited myself for the day (as I tend to do when at the office) and I was more content to sip on some Yemen Mocca Sanani than hit the espresso. There's always tomorrow, though...
The art school shindig yesterday wasn't all that exciting. However, I made a sort of latte art yesterday when I made myself a cap before heading down to the event. I took a picture of it on my phone but I haven't yet transferred it to my computer so I can't post it here yet.
For the record, this is what I'm going for (and this is done only with free-pouring the milk, mind you...): click me...
And, other than that, nothing too new or exciting.
I'll try to post my attempt at latte art tomorrow. It's not a full rosetta. More like a blobby flame. But it's something. And I'm proud of it! :-D
Just thought I'd share.
Thank god for headphones and iTunes. Otherwise I'd have slit my wrists open twenty minutes ago.
I had a pretty good day in the office today. I did my usual Monday paperwork and then rewrote half of the espresso training manual. Also got to have a brief though informative talk with our roaster about our espresso blend as well as our espresso machines (we use fully manual lever machines: I didn't realise that all of the pressure was created by the rather large, spring-loaded piston. I had thought that the water from the boiler was also under some kind of pressure. But, no, just that large, spring-loaded piston is what creates the 9 bars of pressure necessary to make yummy 'spro.)
On our blend, he clarified some of the beans in it and what they contributed to the flavour profile. I mentioned to him that although I enjoyed our blend, I found it quite heavy in nut flavours. Nut, yes, but almond in particular he pointed out. And he suggested I try to look past the nut, too, because there ought to be some citrus notes in there. I didn't get the chance to pull myself any shots when I was at the shop later on because I'd already over-caffeneited myself for the day (as I tend to do when at the office) and I was more content to sip on some Yemen Mocca Sanani than hit the espresso. There's always tomorrow, though...
The art school shindig yesterday wasn't all that exciting. However, I made a sort of latte art yesterday when I made myself a cap before heading down to the event. I took a picture of it on my phone but I haven't yet transferred it to my computer so I can't post it here yet.
For the record, this is what I'm going for (and this is done only with free-pouring the milk, mind you...): click me...
And, other than that, nothing too new or exciting.
I'll try to post my attempt at latte art tomorrow. It's not a full rosetta. More like a blobby flame. But it's something. And I'm proud of it! :-D
2006-08-27
My Mind: An odd, odd place
I woke up this morning with Frank Sinatra's 'Almost Like Being In Love' stuck in my head. God only knows why. Trust me, I have no reason for it to be there.
I get to sit at a table this morning and hand out free travel mugs and coffee (as well as employment applications...hehe) to incoming art school students. I'm sure it'll be amusing if anything. I'm crossing my fingers for a hot grad student or two. You never know...
In other news, the weather has turned just to where I love it most: the late August cool down before September's Indian Summer. I really rather love fall. Winter I'm iffy on. I enjoy spring and, again, summer I'm iffy on. I don't do well with extreme heat--I don't think I could ever live in the South (I'm also not a big fan of conditioned air). Fall usually puts me in a good mood. It's always been back to school time, new beginnings, new things on the horizon. Last fall was a bit odd--my first fall that I wasn't going back to school--and I ended up doing a fair bit of soul searching. Not necessarily a bad thing.
This fall, though, comes after a summer of a lot of soul searching. I'm not sure I have many more depths to plumb right now so hopefully I can go into this fall with a fairly clearly head. We'll see.
I was at the bar last night enjoying a glass of wine and the ex showed up with some friends, only one of whom I knew. I ended up sitting down with them at a table for dessert. And it was okay. I was over-tired and not super social but it was still okay. I didn't freak out, I didn't want to run away, I didn't sit there and try to arrange in my head what it would be like if we were still together (okay, maybe I did a little, but that's okay, right? It was only a little...). Overall, it was quite a successful social interaction. I think I've finally gotten there. It only took six months. Incidentally, I've always noticed that it takes me about twice as long as I was in a relationship to get over the relationship, so this is about right. Anyone else have that same ratio or is it just me?
I'm off to caffeinate some art kids!
I get to sit at a table this morning and hand out free travel mugs and coffee (as well as employment applications...hehe) to incoming art school students. I'm sure it'll be amusing if anything. I'm crossing my fingers for a hot grad student or two. You never know...
In other news, the weather has turned just to where I love it most: the late August cool down before September's Indian Summer. I really rather love fall. Winter I'm iffy on. I enjoy spring and, again, summer I'm iffy on. I don't do well with extreme heat--I don't think I could ever live in the South (I'm also not a big fan of conditioned air). Fall usually puts me in a good mood. It's always been back to school time, new beginnings, new things on the horizon. Last fall was a bit odd--my first fall that I wasn't going back to school--and I ended up doing a fair bit of soul searching. Not necessarily a bad thing.
This fall, though, comes after a summer of a lot of soul searching. I'm not sure I have many more depths to plumb right now so hopefully I can go into this fall with a fairly clearly head. We'll see.
I was at the bar last night enjoying a glass of wine and the ex showed up with some friends, only one of whom I knew. I ended up sitting down with them at a table for dessert. And it was okay. I was over-tired and not super social but it was still okay. I didn't freak out, I didn't want to run away, I didn't sit there and try to arrange in my head what it would be like if we were still together (okay, maybe I did a little, but that's okay, right? It was only a little...). Overall, it was quite a successful social interaction. I think I've finally gotten there. It only took six months. Incidentally, I've always noticed that it takes me about twice as long as I was in a relationship to get over the relationship, so this is about right. Anyone else have that same ratio or is it just me?
I'm off to caffeinate some art kids!
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