that's right. He surfed the Tsunami!
Ahola
December 2004 Archives
Here's a new perspective on Christmas for you. I'd bet money that the majority of you don't appreciate whatever you found under your tree as much as the soldier Iraq who got 30 minutes on the phone with his family.
Freedom isn't free.
Aloha
We went to the Christmas Eve service at Santa Cruz Bible last night. The service was really good. We even had some outstanding, traditional, a capella numbers from the choir. They did a great job.
Through most of the service I couldn't help but think about the fact that there are some 200,000 military service members who will not be home for Christmas this year. Most of them are helping other countries, Iraqi and Afganistan and others, get to a place where the people there also have the freedoms that we take for granted.
At some point on Christmas day almost all of those 200,000 will stand a watch, work a shift, pull guard duty, or go out on a patrol. They will have to work to remember that it is a special day, different from other days. And there will also be a moment or two when each of those service members will remember painfully that it is a special day. It is a special day that they will not be able to enjoy. Some will cry a few tears, some will get angry, some will tell jokes. And then will come the hero part. They will shake it off and carry on with their duties.
In the time I served in OIF, I was struck by the dedication and focus of the military service members I met and got to know. Each one had a reason that they would rather be back home. A fiance, a new born child, an aging parent. Each one put their personal wants and wishes aside to do the job that they had signed up for. It's a damn tough job.
To the men and women currently on duty in Operation Iraqi Freedom, Merry Christmas. And thanks.
Aloha
We ordered a Cona D size coffee brewer. It came yesterday. Today, I was determined to make coffee with it. First, I discovered that my wife has been serving me Folgers coffee for the past month or so. I've been trying to be nice wondering why my wife's usually wonderful coffee was tasting so bad. Being the good husband that I am I drank the coffee every morning without complaint. This got me in trouble with my beautiful wife. She complained that I was not providing any feedback. Apparently she made a number of changes in the way she made coffee but I never said anything. She never asked for feedback...
Anyway, we ordered a Rancilio Rocky doserless grinder and a Cona D size coffee brewer. We got a Rancilio Rocky grinder with a doser, a Cona D size coffee brewer, and a small bag of whole bean coffee. The grinder has to go back. The Cona uses a denatured alcohol lamp. So, I needed to buy denatured alcohol. Where would you go to find denatured alcohol? Yeah, I didn't either.
I started at Long's Drug store, they have everything right. No. They don't have denatured alcohol. I also needed to buy good coffee and have it ground since I couldn't use my new grinder. I checked Nob Hill for good coffee. They had a lot of flavor coffees, blech, dark roast, Italian roast and decaf. The frustration, at this point was rising. Screw it. Folgers isn't that bad. No wait, yes it is.
Off to Orchard Supply and Hardware (OSH). What the hell is denatured alcohol, anyway? OSH has denatured alcohol in the paint section. Apparently, in addition to being useful as a heating fuel, denatured alcohol works well as a cleaning solvent. Great. Now, where's the coffee?
I drove over to Coffeetopia to buy some good coffee. Picked up a pound of Full City roast (no idea what kind of beans were used), had them grind it for me, medium grind. Is it coffee yet? By now I was fairly nuts. It's 10:30 and I haven't had my morning coffee yet.
Back home I assemble the various items and start reviewing the instructions. I won't bore you with the details here. The Cona instruction sheet is only a page long and every thing you need to know is there. Watching the coffee brew in a Cona is fun. It is a little slow if you don't preheat the water sufficiently but you can actually see the water getting hot. The vacuum process is a lot of fun to watch.
The real kicker though is the coffee. Wow!
Aloha
There are so many things I would like to be talking about here. Many of them cannot be discussed here because this is a public forum. It would be impudent. I am hoping that there will be significant changes to talk about in the new year.
aloha
