579
09/12/08




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Coffee review

I got busy and never wrote my coffee review... until now. I tried both the light and dark roast, brewed both at home in a Mr. Coffee and also at work in our Keurig machine. I bought a My K-Cup so that I could use my own grinds with the Keurig machine. It works pretty well, though it totally kills the convenience factor of the Keurig.

Anyway, both bags of ground coffee smelled heavenly. I was glad to discover that I didn't burn the beans. Then signature "coffee smell" was right on. The dark roast tastes strong, and needed some sugar and creamer. The light roast was what a light roast should be and was just what I was hoping for. I'm not going to attempt to name fruits, woods, or nuts that I detect in the flavor, mostly because I think that's all nonsense anyway :-)

The bottom line is the coffees came out great and that home roasting in a frying pan over a gas stove is certainly a viable way to get good- to great-tasting coffee. Try it today! :-D

Comments
  • You wouldn't say your light roast has a full-bodied flavor, a mild acidity and a fruity nose?

    I'd been considering roasting my own beans; I worry I'll burn down the barn though. It does taste much better when you have freshly roasted and ground beans, doesn't it?
       Posted by Joey on 09/12/08

578
09/06/08




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Coffee Roasting at Home

Roasting your own coffee beans is fun. You start by purchasing green (raw) coffee beans from either a specialty coffee store or somewhere on the internet. They are usually about half the price of roasted coffee you'd find in a grocery store. I ordered three types of green coffee beans from Sweet Maria's. Raw coffee beans smell gross and are very hard. It's a wonder anyone ever figured out how to get sweet caffeinated bliss out of them.

I used a propane camping stove and a frying pan. The process takes about 15 minutes. I had to constantly move the beans around to prevent scorching. I used a wooden spoon to move them around and I shook the frying pan too. The beans get tan, then brown, then they all crack once. Then they continue to darken and then crack a second time. Then it's up to you how dark to let them get. They eventually secrete oil when they get nice and dark.

When they were done, I removed them from the pan immediately and tossed them around in a strainer to remove the chaff and to let them cool as quickly as possible.

I did a light roast with the Costa Rican beans. I let the second batch (Rwandan beans) get dark and shiny.

After they sit for about 24 hours I'll grind some beans, brew it, and enjoy!

Comments
  • I have always wanted to try this. I am a bit of a coffee snob. I read a few webpages through the years that recommended a air popper popcorn machine to roast beans also.
       Posted by Scott on 09/07/08

  • Scott, you should definitely try it some time. I read that a frying pan is certainly not the best way to do it because they roast unevenly. I tried to put aside my sophisticated coffee palate in the interest of having some fun roasting the beans any way I could. I'll report on the taste later today probably :)
       Posted by DonnySpi on 09/07/08

  • Looking forward to your taste review.
       Posted by Scott on 09/07/08

  • interesting. Looking forward to your review.
       Posted by nils on 09/08/08

577
08/17/08




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Hershey Park in the Dark

I took my camera and tripod over to Hershey Park last night and snapped some long exposure photos of the rides at night. The ones that came out the best were of the Ferris Wheel, Falcon, and that one ride with the swings. Some people thought I worked there and some of the security people took an interest in what I was doing. I'd rather not have had the extra attention, but whatev. I finally made a Flickr account, so you can see my pics there.

Comments
  • Nice pics. The Flying Falcon one is great I always have my tripod in my truck. I find too many times I'm limited in what shots I can take doing hand-held. And I've always hated the attention you get when you have a camera in a public place. Kinda inhibits the creative process think. I've always wondered how other photographers seem to have their cameras out everywhere and never get bothered by people. Maybe they do and it just doesn't bother them as much.
       Posted by Joey on 08/17/08

576
08/14/08




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Recovery From Bad BIOS Update

I was having some bad problems with my new computer I built so I decided to upgrade the BIOS after reading about the errors I was getting. I downloaded the BIOS image and flashed it, but I flashed it incorrectly because I didn't read the documentation first :-). The computer wouldn't POST anymore -- it just beeped at me and showed nothing on the screen. I thought I just bricked my brand new motherboard.

I researched more and found that AMI, the manufacturer of my BIOS, knows that there are people like me who don't read documentation before messing with their computers. (I should note that I have upgraded firmware on our production NAS disk array at work with no problems. I only read documentation when my job depends on it.) Anyway, AMI BIOSes have a built-in recovery mechanism. All I had to do was put a copy of the new BIOS image on a floppy and boot the messed up computer. The BIOS detects that it's corrupt (bad checksum or something) and then looks for a file called AMIBIOS.ROM from the floppy. I reprograms itself and then the computer continues to boot normally. I tried it and it worked perfectly! The hardest part was finding a floppy disk. I was so pumped that it worked.

Comments
  • What's a floppy disk? Just kidding.
       Posted by Scott on 08/14/08

  • Most computers don't have floppies anymore. Do they not have an alternative? (And I don't mean go buy a floppy drive.) :-)

    Anyway, my Dad lost a PC like this once. I step into BIOS updates now with fear and trembling! My recent Mac and ThinkPad BIOS updates went really well recently. They basically handle it for you, a surprise to me. I didn't see anything but windows restarting in the entire process after I approved it.
       Posted by Josiah on 08/14/08

  • Honestly though. Floppy?? At least off the chance to boot from USB.

    I am glad it worked out for you. Keep it real.
       Posted by Nathan Powell on 08/14/08

575
08/08/08




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Don't Talk to the Cops

One of my favorite shows that I watched as a teenager was Homicide: Life on the Street. The best part of the show was the interrogations that would take place in "the box," a small yellow-bricked room where some of the best dialog ever written for television was said. Time after time the detectives on the show would get confession after confession out of their suspects. Even if a full confession wasn't attained, the suspect would usually say just enough to build a good case. The cops always wanted the suspects to talk and confess for two reasons: to avoid a lengthy and expensive trial and to close cases. They cared about little else, which is why one should never waive his or her Miranda rights and never talk to the police about anything without a lawyer even if you are innocent. That one took a while to fully understand. Why wouldn't one want to talk to the police even if he or she is innocent? Strange things happen at trials. Lawyers are tricky and juries believe crazy stuff. Even if you say 9 true statements and one false one in your alibi, you can be painted in a bad light. Also, there are so many laws on the books these days that you can't be certain you haven't violated one of them. You may accidentally implicate yourself in a secondary crime even if the police are talking to you about a different crime altogether. All this may sound a bit paranoid, but there is no reason to talk to the police without a lawyer. The fifth amendment was created for the guilty and the innocent, so use it!

I recently came across a terrific video on YouTube explaining what I just said, though much better (and much faster so listen carefully). The video is in two parts. The first is by Prof. James Duane of the Regent University School of Law and the second part is by an actual police officer.

Feel free to comment :)

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