Dabblings & Diatribes
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Monday, July 14, 2008
Overheard in Atlanta
From my balcony I observe some interesting things. Sure, the view is amazing. Looking down at the streets you can see the bums wandering around, sauntering back and forth in bitter rage. At night you can hear them singing, fighting, and snoring?
Right now they're yelling. I'm sitting out here, and a young punk is causing a riot. Six are within sight, mostly older men. By the volume of their voices and the swagger in their walk I'd say two of themare wildly intoxicated. The young guy has a packpack on; he slurs rapidly and walks withan artificial limp; the "street-hardened thug walk." He doesn't belong out here.
My friend Mitch is usually down there, but I know he's nowhere around. He wouldn't get mixed up with those guys anyhow. But if he were around I'd know right away; I'd be able to hear him. Mitch is the neighborhood street performer. On the corner of Ponce and Peachtree he plays the trumpet until late into the night. The yelling has ceased; now only the cars are audible. An occasional horn, siren, the wind.
Mitch plays dutifully, skipping rapidly from tune to tune. He'll never plays a song as it was written - each time he plays it a little different. Mitch will tell you that he just plays whats on his heart, which means changing the rendition. But I suspect he'd have trouble playing a peice perfectly - without changing a few notes. But who cares if he hits every note? He plays with a lively vivacity of soul that is encouraging, and entertaing.
Even talking to Mitch is enjoyable. If you walk by and say hi, he'll play anything you like. He'll never point or look at his money jar. But instead he talks about the music. He rarely talks about his situation; though I've been able to draw it out a few times. He loves the music - he could probably teach a class on jazz, or the blues...
Right now they're yelling. I'm sitting out here, and a young punk is causing a riot. Six are within sight, mostly older men. By the volume of their voices and the swagger in their walk I'd say two of themare wildly intoxicated. The young guy has a packpack on; he slurs rapidly and walks withan artificial limp; the "street-hardened thug walk." He doesn't belong out here.
My friend Mitch is usually down there, but I know he's nowhere around. He wouldn't get mixed up with those guys anyhow. But if he were around I'd know right away; I'd be able to hear him. Mitch is the neighborhood street performer. On the corner of Ponce and Peachtree he plays the trumpet until late into the night. The yelling has ceased; now only the cars are audible. An occasional horn, siren, the wind.
Mitch plays dutifully, skipping rapidly from tune to tune. He'll never plays a song as it was written - each time he plays it a little different. Mitch will tell you that he just plays whats on his heart, which means changing the rendition. But I suspect he'd have trouble playing a peice perfectly - without changing a few notes. But who cares if he hits every note? He plays with a lively vivacity of soul that is encouraging, and entertaing.
Even talking to Mitch is enjoyable. If you walk by and say hi, he'll play anything you like. He'll never point or look at his money jar. But instead he talks about the music. He rarely talks about his situation; though I've been able to draw it out a few times. He loves the music - he could probably teach a class on jazz, or the blues...
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Summer 2008 - Cooking
Today marks the 2nd consecutive anniversary of my "Learn to Cook" program. A mostly autodicatic curriculum, the program has consisted thus-far of two dishes. The strategy is simple; Sunday evening is the designated cooking night, and the meal will be used throughout the week for lunch and dinner, and heartily enjoyed until my budding tastes can no longer bear the sight of that food. Well, that's partially it. More reasonably, the idea is simply to cook food that will last me throughout the week. The first week was a pasta dish with shrimp, found here. It turned out surperb, though I'd like to have coated it with some parmeson cheese. The pasta was accompanied by french bread and a white wine - Francis Coppola Chardonnay to be precise. The meal was amazing and the pasta (which included a lb of shrimp) lasted an entire week - yes, nearly 7 meals, with some to spare. The downside was the cost, which amounted to nearly $35, wine excluded.
Today my wallet took another beating; this time for a shot at The Pioneer Woman's famed Lasagna. The trip to Publix set me back nearly $50, but keep in mind that I'm living in a new place this summer and as far and ingredients go I was starting from scratch. This included $6 for olive oil, $7 worth of ground chuck and sausage, $10 worth of cheese, and who knows what else. Yet, 3 hours and one meal later, I can testify that the expenses were gratified by the first bite. Mmmm! Delicious. The lasagna was better than I knew constructively possible - and I cooked it!!!
Tomorrow I may just take my lunch to work, again. And the next day? Why not!
Speaking of tomorrow - I'm scheming to make french toast, but this time with a jam/cream cheese filling. It's a strategy revealed over the weekend on a GPB cooking show. We'll see how it goes....
Today my wallet took another beating; this time for a shot at The Pioneer Woman's famed Lasagna. The trip to Publix set me back nearly $50, but keep in mind that I'm living in a new place this summer and as far and ingredients go I was starting from scratch. This included $6 for olive oil, $7 worth of ground chuck and sausage, $10 worth of cheese, and who knows what else. Yet, 3 hours and one meal later, I can testify that the expenses were gratified by the first bite. Mmmm! Delicious. The lasagna was better than I knew constructively possible - and I cooked it!!!
Tomorrow I may just take my lunch to work, again. And the next day? Why not!
Speaking of tomorrow - I'm scheming to make french toast, but this time with a jam/cream cheese filling. It's a strategy revealed over the weekend on a GPB cooking show. We'll see how it goes....
Summer 2008 - Reading
What's on the bookshelf this summer?
GMAT review guides excluded, my summer reading endeavors probably began as I stumbled across Ivan Panin's Lectures on Russian Literature. He traces through Puskin, Gogol, Turgenev, and Tolstoy - comparing each to English contemporaries and documenting their fascinating progression of style. Thus came the obligatory trip to a trendy little used book store, where the acclaimed works of all but Pushkin were acquired.
But convenience found me digressing from these to a more intimate peice, one accessible on my Treo - I managed to put Adobe Acrobat on my phone, and randomly choose to loadJane Eyre. Since that day almost a month ago, I've read half the book during the commute to and from work - and at other sudden intervals throughout the day. I've become even quite adept at reading while walking.
But as this weekend proved lonely, I resolved to accelerate my progress and purchased the softbound book just two days ago. This allows me to highlight what I term "enjoyable phraseology." Charlotte Bronte has a way with words that anything from my limited reading experience has fails to parallel.
To excerpt on highlighted section - the emotion is amusing - Eliza's diatribe against Georgiana: "Georgiana, a more vain and absurd animal than you was certainly never allowed to cumber the earth. You had no right to be born; for you make no use of life. Instead of living for, in, and with yourself, as a reasonable being ought, you seek only to fasten your feebleness on some other person's strenght; if no one can be found willing to burden her or himself with such a fat, weak, puffy, useless thing, you cry out that you are ill-treated, neglected, miseralbe. Then, too, existence for you must be a scene of continual change and excitement, or else the world is a dungeon; you must be admired, you must be courted, you must be flattered - you must have music, dancing, and society - or you languish, you die away..."
To which the reply from Georgiana eventually comes, "Eliza, you might have spared yourself the trouble of delivering that tirade."
GMAT review guides excluded, my summer reading endeavors probably began as I stumbled across Ivan Panin's Lectures on Russian Literature. He traces through Puskin, Gogol, Turgenev, and Tolstoy - comparing each to English contemporaries and documenting their fascinating progression of style. Thus came the obligatory trip to a trendy little used book store, where the acclaimed works of all but Pushkin were acquired.
But convenience found me digressing from these to a more intimate peice, one accessible on my Treo - I managed to put Adobe Acrobat on my phone, and randomly choose to loadJane Eyre. Since that day almost a month ago, I've read half the book during the commute to and from work - and at other sudden intervals throughout the day. I've become even quite adept at reading while walking.
But as this weekend proved lonely, I resolved to accelerate my progress and purchased the softbound book just two days ago. This allows me to highlight what I term "enjoyable phraseology." Charlotte Bronte has a way with words that anything from my limited reading experience has fails to parallel.
To excerpt on highlighted section - the emotion is amusing - Eliza's diatribe against Georgiana: "Georgiana, a more vain and absurd animal than you was certainly never allowed to cumber the earth. You had no right to be born; for you make no use of life. Instead of living for, in, and with yourself, as a reasonable being ought, you seek only to fasten your feebleness on some other person's strenght; if no one can be found willing to burden her or himself with such a fat, weak, puffy, useless thing, you cry out that you are ill-treated, neglected, miseralbe. Then, too, existence for you must be a scene of continual change and excitement, or else the world is a dungeon; you must be admired, you must be courted, you must be flattered - you must have music, dancing, and society - or you languish, you die away..."
To which the reply from Georgiana eventually comes, "Eliza, you might have spared yourself the trouble of delivering that tirade."
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Long distant, alas I return...
Such an enchanting little playlist that I'm running though; it begins with Sigur Ros, transitions to Explosions, and then The Album Leaf.
I'm 70 pages deep into Ivan Panin's "Lectures on Russian Literature," and he blows my mind. He's exhaustingly cerebral and thoroughly analytical, but its a fascinating piece.
This is a refreshing break from my typical readings - the literary escapade was prompted by an essay in the Times, "It's Not You, It's Your Books."
I'm 70 pages deep into Ivan Panin's "Lectures on Russian Literature," and he blows my mind. He's exhaustingly cerebral and thoroughly analytical, but its a fascinating piece.
This is a refreshing break from my typical readings - the literary escapade was prompted by an essay in the Times, "It's Not You, It's Your Books."
Saturday, May 3, 2008
and for the scrutinizing...
"Hillary has big chunky thighs as well, that has to be considered"
So thats an excerpt from a conversation I witnessed in a scrabble room, at Scrabulous, waiting for my game to start. I will refrain from comment. [BTW my login is Sciolist, feel free to challenge me.] Speaking of Scrabble, I found an anagram puzzle game you can download free. Its excellent; each letter combo has at least one potential bingo. More on that later. Back to work - adjusting for risks and WACC.
So thats an excerpt from a conversation I witnessed in a scrabble room, at Scrabulous, waiting for my game to start. I will refrain from comment. [BTW my login is Sciolist, feel free to challenge me.] Speaking of Scrabble, I found an anagram puzzle game you can download free. Its excellent; each letter combo has at least one potential bingo. More on that later. Back to work - adjusting for risks and WACC.
Where ya Bean?
I've discovered that there are 3 primary metrics for describing coffee: Body, Acidity, and Roast. This is good news, except that I haven't been able to discern variations in these qualities, yet. My taste buds are now on high-alert. My Ethiopian beans are claimed to have high acidity, moderate roast and body. Eh, I'm not much a fan of anything "acidic," so I'm eager to try a Sumatra brew. Sumatra Mandheling features low acidity, medium roast, and a heavier body. That sounds like what I would enjoy. According to RareCoffee.com, its full bodied with strong, earthy tones and a smooth cream finish." Ooh yea!
I've decided that somewhere out there exists the perfect beans! How many drinks will it take for me to find that perfectly compatible coffee blend? Whew. It seems my work here has only begun.
Ethiopian Yirgacheffe (2)
Today I brewed my newly acquired, Ethiopian Yirgacheffe coffee beans. It's enjoyable; heavy bodied with very complex flavor. "This Ethiopian variety exhibits tones of tea rose and coffee blossom giving it a floral taste." I purchased a pound but only had half of it ground. Saving the beans to be ground later so I can preserve the freshness; I'm also contemplating employing the french press convention, which will require a slightly different grind.
The advice was "try the cheap beans BEFORE the Starbucks this time--appreciation factor will thus be enhanced rather than diminished." This strategy, as opposed to my previous experience - buying Verona Bold grinds and then stooping to Folgers; the cheaper and infinitely inferior alternative. Right, so I'm afraid its far too late for the appreciation factor to kick in now.
And I've had two cups already today :)
The advice was "try the cheap beans BEFORE the Starbucks this time--appreciation factor will thus be enhanced rather than diminished." This strategy, as opposed to my previous experience - buying Verona Bold grinds and then stooping to Folgers; the cheaper and infinitely inferior alternative. Right, so I'm afraid its far too late for the appreciation factor to kick in now.
And I've had two cups already today :)
Friday, May 2, 2008
Ethiopian Yirgacheffe
Not having a car is less miserable than one might imagine. At least in Athens. Today I biked to my favorite coffee shop, Cups Coffee, and studied there a bit before proceeding to my home meeting...ON MY BIKE!!!!
Yes, that was gratifying. Its dangerous, especially riding after sunset. To an alarming extent, I enjoy the thrill of it biking 25mph (a speeding radar sign thing clocked me today), but risks are offset by the fact that I'm being environmentally-conscious; such a deep concern to me.
Today I caved and bought the Ethiopian Yirgacheffe, named I believe after the city where it comes from. It was expensive, and chosen at random. Not all coffee tastes the same, but I don't have the experience to differentiate. So its basically pointless to try to evaluate my tastes when my experience in this world of fresh coffee is so limited. Tomorrow at 5:30am though...we'll find out what it means to drink coffee. And it should be good, since the status quo for the last 2 weeks has been Folgers. I'm about ready to dump that crap in the trash - its bland and if there is such a thing as synthetic coffee grinds...they embody it. Well I'm off. Waking up early requires you go to bed before 2am, a plan I'm at risk of compromising. Cheerio!
Yes, that was gratifying. Its dangerous, especially riding after sunset. To an alarming extent, I enjoy the thrill of it biking 25mph (a speeding radar sign thing clocked me today), but risks are offset by the fact that I'm being environmentally-conscious; such a deep concern to me.
Today I caved and bought the Ethiopian Yirgacheffe, named I believe after the city where it comes from. It was expensive, and chosen at random. Not all coffee tastes the same, but I don't have the experience to differentiate. So its basically pointless to try to evaluate my tastes when my experience in this world of fresh coffee is so limited. Tomorrow at 5:30am though...we'll find out what it means to drink coffee. And it should be good, since the status quo for the last 2 weeks has been Folgers. I'm about ready to dump that crap in the trash - its bland and if there is such a thing as synthetic coffee grinds...they embody it. Well I'm off. Waking up early requires you go to bed before 2am, a plan I'm at risk of compromising. Cheerio!
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