An update of sorts

This morning's coffee is an odd blend of Peruvian (of which there was not enough to make a whole cup) and Costa Rican (which is a very underrated country for coffee). Paired with one of the many world class pastries from Pistachia Vera, I'm off to a good start on a late winter Sunday.

It's been a long wait for spring. There are going to be a few more days of fits and starts this week, but it looks like the sub zero temperatures that highlighted this miserable Central Ohio winter have gone away for another year. This is not a guarantee, if it's five below on April 2nd, do not come here and blame me. I've already been yelled at one time too many for missing things this week.

My son's caregiver of the last two summers has agreed to come back. This is very good news as they have a familiar rapport. She's really good with him and well worth her salary. The peace of mind this gives all of us is profound. This enables my wife and I to be able to take a vacation to Scotland in June. Not going to be able to catch any soccer matches as the season is over but I'm very interested in seeing how late the sun goes down since we are there on the solstice, and my birthday. I'm thinking these three months are going to go as quickly as the first three months have gone. It's the Ides of March already!

Thinking of playing around with form poetry for awhile. Maybe there's some writing discipline (which has been missing for a long time now) in crafting work that way. Maybe I'll get back to work with a template instead of a prompt. It really cannot get any worse that is has been. A couple of hot new pieces at my Dayton feature in May will go a long way to boost my ego a bit.

I might be hate watching The Fall. I like the acting, and it's great to see Gillian Anderson in a meaty role. It's a damn shame the scripts are so cliched and predictable. If I can call a plot twist, there's something wrong. I did not mind The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. There were too many uncomfortable racist jokes though. I did not like the main character, but the casting of the rest of the ensemble (Carol Kane is wonderful) and cameos were excellent. It's supposed to be renewed. I wish programmers could get into the mind set that too much of something is not necessarily the best idea and know when to end a series on a high note then stop. I'm mostly talking about Broadchurch here! It's all about the money though, I'm not that stupid. If there's a profit to be made there will be people riding that horse until it drops, then using every part for sustenance until it's completely vanished. Such is the world. Thanks for reading.

No room for cream, but thanks

I'm not on the I Hate Corporate Coffee bandwagon. Do I try to support my local coffee shops? Absolutely. I get my beans from Stauf's and think One Line has the finest cup in the city. Did I like Starbucks' business practices when they were opening shops across from many independent coffee shops in town back in the nineties? Not really, no. But I did not go to them.

That said the Starbucks I go to has very friendly and dedicated staff. When I work early weekend mornings, I frequent one close to my workplace for coffee and a bagel. The people who work there are amazingly cheerful and efficient for being at work at 6:30 on a Sunday. Certainly more perky than I can ever aspire to be, even at mid-day. So I salute the people at the Starbucks on Olentangy River Road.

This morning the store's music was playing this song. Grim subject matter, but energy providing.

I can't commit

Been an odd week to get back into the flow of things. Things blew up naturally and unnaturally and we're doing what we can to remain intact here.

Am I a bad person for not listening to that Brad Paisley/L.L. Cool J. duet? Or am I the only one who has not clicked on a listen to the latest from Daft Punk?

My wife is a good person, she's shopping for others on Record Store Day. Heck, I even asked if she'd pick something up for me if she came across it. Am I too old to be waiting in line with dudes with beards? My son is here this weekend. Yes, that's my excuse. Did break out the vinyl on Thursday night for awhile, and cleaned up the Back Room a little bit so it's functional.

Switching from French Press to pour over coffee, maybe I'm more of a hipster than I want to be?

Meeting with the woman who is most likely going to be my son's caretaker this summer. Neither his mother or I thought he liked day camp last year, and neither she nor I did either. This girl's a student at the university and worked with his teacher as an aide, so she comes recommended and she knows my son.



Things I did not do in Scotland this time that I want to do something about next time: attend another open mic, see a concert, Kelvingrove, back to the Horseshoe, Cathkin Park, Partick Thistle, who may be in the top league next season!

Coffee and Pictures

Last year My Scottish Wife got me a French Press for Christmas. I took to it well and use it mostly on the weekend. Found out which type of coffee I like and try new types frequently. I try to have a couple of different ones around and buy it already ground in small amounts, about a quarter of a pound at a time, to keep it relatively fresh.

For Christmas this year she got me a Burr Grinder. Used it over the weekend. It's quite loud but works very well. Now I can buy beans, keep them a little longer and have supposedly fresher and better tasting coffee when I want it. Maybe I'll increase the varieties in the house to three.

Took a bunch of pictures last year. Inspired by another blogger, who did something similar last year, I decided to keep a file of 'best of' pictures as I downloaded them. By the end of the year I had enough to put together a slideshow in near chronological order, added a song from my favorite album of the year and voila, instant youtube sensation. Or not. Did not really go anywhere exciting, but there are some amusing pictures in there - and not just of me and my kid!

Enjoy.

Bad weather, good day off randomness

I'm drinking a Brazilian coffee I bought at Stauf's. This stuff is a lot darker than I expected, and quite delicious.

Yes, Grover Norquist, patron saint of the tea party, just said Romney lost because Obama called him a poopy-head.

It's not even high school anymore, this is first grade playground stuff now. Norquist would get slayed in a dozens round.

The check engine light keeps coming on in my car while I'm running errands. Finally unscrewed a dashboard panel and connected two wires to allow the car's computer to give me the code of what is wrong. Turns out, a valve is not operating properly. Not a major cause the car to blow up valve, so we are free to move about the county.

Skyfall is one of the better Bond films. Go see it. He drinks a lot of McCallan.

After a glorious weekend here, the weather has turned sad and rainy. We have the day off today. Thank you Veterans.

Got a couple of errands to run after we go for breakfast

That's perfect on this cold, dim, December morning

My son had the day off school today so it was my turn to look after him. I had a bunch of errands to run and I wanted to get them done early.

A couple of years ago I filled out an immigration form wrong and had to overnight an envelope to the UK ($42), the clerk at the Main Post Office was amazing as she helped a panicking me get the paperwork done to get it there in time. I had a thank you package to mail out this morning and expected a line at the Post Office. To my surprise, there was none and the same clerk got my package out to its destination.



Errand two was to get myself a coffee and bagel I went to Colin's Coffee. I do not get up here much, it's out of the way, but I really like the atmosphere. The owner and I follow each other on Twitter so I finally got to introduce myself. He said hello to my son, I explained why he does not converse. Colin asked if he could get him a book, and went to the bookshelf and got a couple of books for my son to look through.

This is the type of service and treatment I do not usually get at Stauf's. There you get your beverage in an assembly line that is as bitter as the coffee can be there. Have to get to Colin's Coffee more, it's worth the time.

Errand three was to the Schottenstein Center for OSU Hockey tickets. Got a pair for Friday night against Miami. Should be a great game. While at the arena we stopped to look at one of Archie Griffin's Heisman's. Someone's kid was not impressed.



A quick trip to the library and we got home before 11AM. Cold and miserable out there.

Tonight at Writers' Block Poetry is the Grand Slam for the Women of the World Poetry Slam. No fake feminists here, all eight of the contenders have got the motts, but only one of them is going to represent WB at the WoW finals in Denver. Starts at eight at Kafe Kerouac.