Aaaahhhh... Good coffee

I have a confession. I find German coffee and beer only OK. Well, let me clarify that. Most Germans own $2000 coffee machines, but they buy $2 coffee which they store open on a bright counter. And, while, Tschibo makes pretty good coffee, the Germans do something strange when they roast it, and it is all flat and bitter. And I feel that I have given it a good go. I have bought tons of brands. I have tried brewing in a coffee maker, I have tried it in my coffee press, and I usually brew into a thermal carafe with a cup top cone filter (where you just pour the hot water in by hand). It is all very mediocre.

Now on to German beer. I like beer. A lot. I have years and years of experience automating breweries. I have done taste tests with brewing departments to determine quality. I am not an expert at it, and I will be the first to admit that I can't sit and pitch the pros and cons of Yakima hops over blah blah hops or the best pitch rate for a nice pils, but I understand beer. I also know what I like. I like ale. Very hoppy IPA's really get me going. Germans don't do that. They have three types of beer: Pilsner, Export, Wheat. And they are good. But they aren't ales. And the differences between brewers really aren't that big. Enough to pick a favorite, but not enough to pass when it isn't available.

I have, however, found a workaround. There is a little brewery here called Vogelbraeu. I love their beer. They brew a few other varieties, and the quality of the ingredients makes it taste great. I don't go there very often (only a handful of times a year, maybe), but it is quite tasty.

Last summer, I stumbled on a coffee roaster. It is nice. He makes coffee like it is supposed to be made. He drastically varies the roast based on the beans he is roasting, and he knows his stuff. His prices are reasonable as well. I mean, it ain't cheap, but since it is a pain for me to get there, it isn't a frequent expense. I picked up a kilo of coffee yesterday. I got an Ethiopian (I believe) and another one. Since I can't read German hand writing, I don't really know what I got. The one that I think is an Ehtiopian is a sorta dark roast, but not too dark. It is nice and mellow, a little grassy (like every Ethiopian I have had) and quite drinkable. I got another one that is super dark roasted. Very oily. It is a little over roasted, but I like that taste, so it suits me.

I brewed up a carafe of each today. I won't be sleeping tonight, but man oh man is it worth it.

You can't polish a turd if'n yer fixin' to head home

We have been looking at automating our testing at work. Yeah, I know, blah blah blah work. Either way, what it comes down to is that our software doesn't always do what I want when you look at it as an automated testing platform. Today I was able to use the phrase "crap in crap out" and then follow it with "you can't polish a turd". All while speaking German. It was pretty amazing.

Well, you need to sun if you are going to be snow blind...

I went skiing for the first time on Saturday. I have a friend who skates. His son has traditional cross country skis. I borrowed a classic set from a colleague, tossed the boy in the back seat and headed into the mountains with them. It was about an hour drive. It was also raining. I had some sunglasses with me to help keep my eyes right. I left them in the car. Not a lot of snow blindness to be had in a steady drizzle.

We rented skis for the boy. A whopping €7. Trail fees were€5. Nice.

Vojta and his boy clipped in and took off. A and I had to fumble around with getting him clipped in (he had different bindings than I did). Then we scooted off. We did ok for the first 100 meters or so. Then we had to cross the bottom of a ski slope. I found my self sliding sideways down the slope. I got that fixed. Barely. Aiden lost it on the far side of the slope. It took me a few minutes to figure out how to get my skis around him and stay upright while lifting him onto his feet. We got across the slope next to that one, and we were golden. From there on, it was groomed cross country track. And downhill for a couple of kilometers. At the bottom we turned around. About 200 meters from the turn around, A decided he was done. That carried on for the next kilometers and involved me carrying his poles for a while and him walking and carrying his skis. That part only lasted about 15 feet. He put the skis back on at that point, and starting "jogging" like he should have been doing and did great. 800 meters from the end of the trial, he took his poles back (after being scolded for being surley and not listening to advice) and put it all together. He did great.

The verdict this morning was "...half boring, half ok. I want to try it again, but I want to ride those things instead." That would translate to, it was ok, but I want to try skiing downhill next time and then riding the lifts uphill.

Sarah hit a car today

Sarah is bad ass. When she sees cars coming, she hits that shit. Well, sometimes she locks up her brakes on an ice patch, and B in the trailer makes her fall, and then she slides under the back of the car. But then she gets up and manages to hold off freaking out until the driver leaves, and I answer the phone. After that, though, she gets B to Kindergarten and then paints a freaking wall at a friend's house before getting A from school at lunch time.

Punk as fuck.

She isn't even whining now that I am home.

Hey, Gramps...

I am an old man. Sneaky, but old. I went over to a Hungarian colleague's house for dinner with most of my team from work on Saturday. To make sure I wouldn't get destroyed, I made sure to drink a big bottle (750ml) of water on the way there. Sure enough, as soon as I show up, they offer me a couple of samples of some native schnapps. One was a peach and honey schnapps. It was pretty good. Really smooth thanks to the honey (I think). The other was a kräuter liquor (think Jägermeister). It was spicy. I then talked a little smack and made fun of some people and got myself into a little more trouble with a couple of more shots. What they hadn't seen, though, was me gunning another liter and a half of water in between to help thin everything out. We then sat down to eat some really good gulasch on boiled potatoes. It was awesome. I ate two huge helpings because a) it was damn tastey and b) because it was a good road block to me being drunk. I don't like that situation as much as I used to. Even more so now that I have two kids that like me to get up early. So I managed to do a pretty good job of looking like a jaded, experienced drinker while actually having not had nearly as much to drink over the last year as was previously the case.

I also fixed their kitchen faucet while dinner was cooking, and we were all standing in the kitchen drinking beers and BS-ing. Really. I get fidgety. It seemed to be a good way to use up some energy.

Then we went dancing. That is funny business. I really am not much of a dancer. I am way too emo. I tap my hand on my chest or my leg and nod my head when I go see a show. But by golly I danced Saturday. It's easy when you are in a club full of fools. As a rule, the average joe can't dance. At all.

I managed to get home without having done too much damage to myself. Outside of getting to bed really late, I was in good shape today. I also managed to survive that weird situation of hanging out and having fun with a bunch of people who work for me. I haven't tried that yet. And I am by no means that guy who makes sure people know who is the boss. I try to stay out of the way of their work until I have to get involved and approve a vacation or intervene with a personality problem or something. It worked, though. A good dose of humility and a willingness to try new things seemed to be the answer.

Who are you?

This is going to be short. Live with it.

After three months, I have decided to give this a go again. I don't know how it will turn out. I figure that the crappy weather outside and a desire to not be riding my bike on a trainer in the living room will help.

I have started playing my guitars again. I took a week off last week while the boy was on fall break. I picked a couple of songs that he likes to learn and went from there. He is really keen on For The Widows In Paradise, For The Fatherless In Ypsilanti by Sufjan Stevens.



He also came across a game online with Rock You Like a Hurricane by the Scorpions as the theme song. So I had to learn that as well. I am afraid I didn't go with the solo. I felt it was enough to crush out that rhythm and watch the kids run around singing along with me. That right there is why you have kids.

Freetime

We've been swimming at the local lake lately. Not the one with naked people this year. We found a better one with more beach, fewer naked old ladies, and lots of kid-friendly shallow water. Here are some pics.






The caravan coming back to shore.






Here's a shot of Aiden at the park near one of our favorite restaurants. He's in his usual water feature attire. Notice the sweet new haircut.