Mistaken Experience

I love Waffles

This is from my trip to 21st. street espresso, in Pittsburgh PA. It was a really great shop, I had a good time there. Luke, the owner, was super nice, and had serious, well trained baristas. When I saw this sign, I knew this was my kind of place. If I own a coffee shop, I want it to be basically espresso, with waffles on the side. No sandwiches, probably no soup, no 20 ounce latte. Espresso, perhaps some coffee, and waffles. This would be a good time to talk about what kind of shop I’d like to run, as I would love to run my own shop. I would either want to roast my own, or get the best espresso I possibly could. I want a Synesso, 3 or 4 groups please. I don’t know what kind of grinders I want, but these change often enough that I don’t need to worry about that yet. Capps are capps, no mountain of foam, just a solid wet capp. Espresso will be pulled just under 2 ounces, Synesso 18 gram basket, probably not overdosed too much. No soda, juice perhaps. Tea is a challange. I’ll probably serve tea of some kind, but perhaps not of the calibre of the coffee I wish to serve. I don’t want a huge space, but I want there to be room for seating. At least a dozen seats, comfy ones I hope. Decor would be simple, not over the top. I don’t want this place to be a hipster hangout, I want a coffee shop. When you walk in, you should know that you’re in a shop that is fairly simple, and one that pulls really good shots. I want things fairly transparent, I don’t want you to have to wonder what we’re about. Its about the coffee. Not just my hands in the coffee, but all the hands that have touched it.

Question: What kinds of things do you honestly look for when you walk into a coffee shop? What attracts you to them? What would you want to see in a good coffee shop?  Please comment

Yay, my website works again! Thanks Jamie!

So, where have I been for the last…. 6 months, maybe longer? A lot of my time has been spent working, or fencing. A lot more of my time has been spent with someone who means a whole lot to me. Where do I start? So theres this girl I know… I met her fencing, a long time ago. I’ve probably seen her around for 3 or 4 years at least. Yeah, shes pretty, lets get that out of the way. Shes a lot of things. So anyway, theres this girl, Ariella. She kinda turned my life around a bit.

So Ariella and me really got our start on facebook. Facebook was just a bit of a trifle for me at the time. Something to kill a bit of free time. I would friend the people I knew from fencing, and that was about it. One day I got this friend request from this girl I knew named Ariella Coombs. I only knew a little bit about her. I knew she was from somewhere in Maine, that she fenced foil, that she had a brother who fenced, that she had really really pretty hair and eyes, and that I liked her. Okay, I wasn’t quite head over heels for her, but she was always really nice to me. To me, it didn’t mean so much that she was pretty. Lots of girls are pretty, some more than others. Not many girls were nice, especially to me. It meant something special when someone was willing to be my friend, to not judge me by my looks, or how I dressed or anything. So then we’re friends on facebook. We start writing on eachothers walls. This becomes a regular thing until I spend each day waiting to see if shes written something for me. Its not long before we start talking on aim. Oh those were the days. We would just talk about nothing, all night long. I spent most days just waiting to see if her name would pop online. I would get butterflies in my stomach when I she would send me an IM. I had a friend. This came at a time when my best friend had completly halted talking to me (which we wont get into, for a lot of reasons… (Ahem…)). She was always so sweet to me. She really seemed to care about how I was doing, wanted to know how my weekends had been. At this point, I really like this girl. I’m not completely sure about her, but I really like her. Push came to shove on Easter sunday. I asked her out, and she said yes. Its been a long road since then, we’ve had hiccups, sure, but here we are. Thats where it all started.

So, enough about how we ended up here, you all know that now. I only see her once or twice a week, which can be really hard. Shes currently going through her first year of college, which has its challanges, but I couldn’t be more proud of her. Theres a lot going on, for both of us, but she still takes time out of her schedule for me, and that means a lot. This isn’t just a fling, and shes not just another girl. Likewise, I don’t feel like just another guy, I’m not just the flavor of the week or flowers and free dinner. What we have is a real relationship. We’re actually really bad, we’re like a romantic comedy drama nightmare. We’re horridly sappy, me especially (I’m a hopeless romantic, whatever). When she isn’t feeling good, I just want to go cuddle up with her under some blankets and tell her how its all going to be better soon. When I’m sad or upset she’ll do everything she can to try and make me feel better, no matter what it takes. She tells me she loves me, she hugs me and loves me, and just makes everything else dissapear when I’m with her. When shes in my arms, there is nothing wrong in the world, nothing could be more right and me and her and that moment. She is so beautiful, far more than my words could do justice to. Shes kind and thoughtful, outgoing and friendly, shes always there to listen when you have a problem and so eager to help. Shes the best friend I’ve ever had, and better than anyone could ever hope for. She means everything to me. I love her so much, I don’t know where I would be without her. She just gives me so much hope that there is good in the world, that life is worth living. She is the one person who has always made me feel like I deserved to be happy, that I was worth friendship. She’s allowed for me to see all the great thing I have in my life, and I’m so glad that shes one of them. I never want this feeling to go away.

I love you Ariella Coombs.

I was pretty pleased with this one.

I’m getting a bit better at this.

I don’t think clobered is a real word, but a certain little sister decided to smack me in the face… with a huge plug…

Remind me that I was going to cup the new Ethiopian natural Sidamo reserve tomorrow, make notes, and write about it here.  Also….  I’m going to try and update on other things? Really, I’m going to try.

Once I overheard little sister saying how silly it was when people said that life is short, because its the longest thing that we’ll ever do.
Life, is the longest thing that we may stick around for, but its not the longest thing we ever do.  Part of growing up is finding ways of doing things that will last long after we’re gone.  To be part of something bigger than ones self.  To be part of something that will make a difference more than our presence.  And to say that life is short…  Well, little sister, there is something to be said for loving someone so much that all the time we have here on earth is not long enough.  One day you’ll find a boy that will show you love that will move others, that will last longer than you and me.  Its an incredible thing, that anything can be removed from time itself.  Learn, little sister, to find inspiration from everyday things.  See the beauty in everyday life.  Learn like you will live forever, and live like you will die tomorrow.  Do good things, forgive your friends, see the great things all around you, and don’t be scared of love.

And do not forget that you will always have your big brother.

So, I haven’t updated in a while.  Why?  I guess I haven’t had a whole lot to say.  Since captain webmaster has updated wordpress (by my request mind you) I haven’t been able to upload pictures.  Why would this ever mean that I would be more hesitant to post for you?  Well, every time I pour a really nice latte, draw you some ugly picture with awful proportions, or find a picture of myself on the internets that makes a fool out of me, I can’t post it for you.  I found a temporary fix for such a thing with…..  Flickr.  I’ll just toss the picture in from there, because I can still totally do that.  Whats this mean for you?  Most consitant posting maybe?  Probably not, but we can hope.  How are things?  Things are well, thanks for asking.  Whats new?  Not very much at all, working hard.  Any projects on the horizon?  Its going to be a fun summer, thats all I’ve got to say!  Stay tuned pweeese.

~Me

I has them

This is just a random rosetta I did at the Bonhoeffer’s barista Jam.  I’m not super proud of it, but I had such a good time, and they were such awesome hosts that I thought I had to post something.  More latte art is on the way if this stupid video ever uploads ><

It DID upload, it just took a long time!
Bad Rosetta