582
10/29/08




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Back at it

I have decided to keep on blogging. I will write when I can and when I feel motivated. I have always enjoyed writing about unusual things rather than blathering on about daily life. When I come across something worth sharing, I'll blog about it. I'll continue my blog by sharing the writings of Tom Chiarella, a writer for Esquire Magazine. I read a few of his columns today and was very impressed. If you have time, check out the following articles. They are thought provoking and may just change your life a little:

Good stuff in those articles. Definitely worth a read and re-read.

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    581
    10/21/08




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    The end?

    After 5 years of blogging, I am considering stopping. I haven't had the motivation to write much and Facebook has sort of substituted for blogging. I am still kicking the idea around of formally closing my blog, but am not quite sure yet.

    Comments
    • Don't do it!

      Nah, I use Facebook, it is about one billion times better than MySpace, but the applications are mostly dumb. Thankfully I avoid most of them. Is it just me or shouldn't MySpace be dead already, it is so bad.

      I take it you mean just the blog and you will keep the website, otherwise you will be back. Having your own domain to play around with is something a tech minded person will migrate back to. I love all my domains, and I love having a blog that I feel is much more accessible to the random visit than Facebook is. To me, Facebook is more of my micro blog of what I am up to between friends and family. I suppose it depends on how you use it though.
         Posted by Scott on 10/21/08

    • I for one welcome the end of this blog! Nothing good can come from speaking your mind. In fact, people should get beat up for stating their beliefs.
         Posted by Nathan mind. Powell on 10/24/08

    • I decided to keep blogging. And your comment is very ironic Nate haha :)
         Posted by DonnySpi on 10/25/08

    580
    09/18/08




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    Uno!

    I know it's kind of hard to tell, but this photo was taken at work :-). We normally play Uno at lunch so we were asked to have our picture taken for some kind of presentation.

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      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

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