Author: Matt (Page 19 of 23)

I have added a new feature to Mistycastle. You can now subscribe to the site. This means that you will receive an email notifying you whenever a new post is made to the site.

I think this will be helpful if you want to stay abreast of what’s going on here but keep forgetting to look.

Over on the right side you will see a new “Subscribe:” section. Just enter your email address in the box and click on the Sign Me Up button. You will then need to check your mailbox for the “confirmation” message. Click on the link inside the message to confirm your desire to subscribe. That’s all there is to it.

WhooHooo! Completed my last final exam today. This marks the end of the Fall term and I’m happy it’s finished. Anyone want to buy some ridiculously overpriced used textbooks? I am simply in awe of the prices they get for textbooks these days. The last one I bought was priced at just over $100. And it was a skinny little thing too.

It seems the comment spammers have finally found my website. I’ve started getting a few trying to advertise their online gambling sites. Just what the heck is “comment spam” and how did it become such a huge nuisance? Basically, spammers have been using blogs to help boost their standings in Google searches by posting massive numbers of comments that include links to their pornography sites, scams and get-rich-quick sites. If your site is linked by a top-ranked site or blog, then Google will often raise your site’s ranking — at least that’s the thinking of spammers.

Fortunately, there are a few tactics that can be used to reduce (but probably not eliminate) this problem. If it becomes unmanagable I will have to turn the commenting function off.

Ronda and I decided we needed to get out and get some of that mountain air again. The forecast was calling for upper 50’s and clear skies so off we went for another hike down Gold Camp Road. Abby had to tag along as usual.

Some of the road was 100% snow covered but most of it was clear. The stream coming down from St Mary’s Falls was pleasant sight. The surface had frozen over in most parts but there were a few holes here and there where the water was gurgling along. I had forgotten what a funny noise water makes as it runs along under the ice.

We stopped for awhile in our little “rest area” and soaked up some sunshine and snacked on some trail food. We then pressed on to see if we could find the second tunnel but had to give it up as the ‘ol legs were starting to complain. We’ve not been out for awhile and it showed.

All in all, a very refreshing experience.

Wow… the wind is really howling tonight. It seems to do that here from time to time, gusting up to 50 mph or so. I suspect it is the transition from mountains to prairie that causes it. Makes it hard to sleep at night sometimes.

I finally picked a winner in my espresso wars. I am keeping the Gaggia. It will be a better machine for me in the long run and it has the matching grinder and stand. I listed the Estro Vapore on Ebay last night and had sold it by morning. Got all my money back on that deal.

No news on the job scenario. I hope to hear something by the end of the week.

Finished up one of my term projects, one more to go and then final exams. I am looking forward to the Christmas break.

Well, it’s been an interesting week. The crush of catching up on those few homework assignments that never quite got done, term projects due next week, and thinking about final exams. At least it will be all done in another week or ten days. For this semester anyway.

The espresso trials have been somewhat disappointing. I am astonished at how difficult it is to be successful at this seemingly simple task. There is a remarkable variation in the quality of the espresso shots from very minor adjustments in the grind of the beans to how much you compact the coffee (tamp). The temperature of the water and preheating the portafilter also seem to play into it. Then to top it off the beans themselves add another variable into the mix.

Even if I had been successful at pulling a good espresso shot there is still another art to master… steaming the milk. Which does not, I have discovered, mean boiling the milk with steam. The trick (according to those in the know) is to surf the tip of the steam wand just below the surface of the milk thus creating a splendid micro-foam. Sounds easier than it is. Mostly I have managed to simply make hot milk with some silly-looking dishwater bubbles on top. Last night I actually turned out a halfway decent latte. I think I may have finally caught on to the surfing trick.

Now if I can just figure out the right combination of grinder settings, tamping pressure, etc. I might be able to whip out a decent espresso drink on-demand. Hope blooms eternal!

I also had another job interview this week. A friend of mine called me up and said his company was putting out a “call for resumes”. I sent him my resume which he forwarded on. Rather surprisingly I got a call later that morning and found myself sitting in an interview at 4pm that same afternoon. First time I’ve had anything move that fast since I’ve been here.

The interview went well. They are interested in me and I am interested in them. It’s a smaller company (as far as defense contractors go) but I really liked what I saw. They are working on some interesting projects with the US Army component (ARSTRAT) to US Strategic Command, Air Force Space Command, and also with US Northern Command. I enjoyed the people I met and it looks like a good opportunity. The company is Decisive Analytics Corp. I would be working in the Strategic and Operational Solutions Division. I should know sometime next week how this will all work out.

The espresso thing has not been without it’s challenges. Nevertheless, I am winning. The first machine to arrive was the Estro Vapore. It came from a “technical” company in California. They told me it was working but I think they meant to say “it was working when we put in the storage cabinet a few years ago”. I had to disassemble quite a bit of it and give it a thorough cleaning but that is somewhat expected when buying a used kitchen appliance.

It did not come with any instructions but I was able to figure out how to make it go. So far I have made a half dozen shots of espresso and steamed some milk too. I would rate the espresso shots around a 3 or 4 out of 10, ie. pretty nasty. I decided I had better go up to the local coffee shop and have them pull me a shot off their machine so I had some idea of what I am striving for. I definitely have a ways to go!

The second machine, a Gaggia Coffee, got delayed in shipping and just arrived yesterday. It is actually the better of the two (theoretically). It too was pretty grungy. I cleaned it up then tried to run some water through it. I got about a half a cup of water pumped through it and the pump quit! Arrghghhh! Whats up with this? The pump runs but nothing comes out.

Back to the Internet and research on the coffeegeek forums. Hmmm…. it seems that some people have successfully taken their pump apart, cleaned it, and restored it to operational condition. So, today I did that too and it worked! Whoohooo! In fact it is pumping all kinds of “yuck” out of the brew head. I had to take the shower head out and let it pour straight out. To help it along I ran some lemon juice through it and then went up to the local Starbucks and bummed a cleaning tablet from them. I think I now have most all the gunk out of it and will soon try a shot.