A brief moment in stereo time, March 2009 part III

Conrad Johnson Sonographe SG-3. The 1" delrin platter and nice bearing make this an awesome suspended turntable.

Thorens TD 160 with Mayware Formula IV arm. Arm is actually disconnected in this picture.

A good view of my mess

Iso-stress conditions under an elliptical tip

Fall postview.

October, yay.
A presidential election between a geriatric, a nutcake, an inspirational story, and a rail commuter.
Adrian spent four nerve racking days weaning while C caught some Nevada sun. She came back for the worst of it though. He's doing much better, getting and staying asleep. He's also getting adept at taking records out of their sleeves. I've asked C to try and get some of the nice record storage boxes from our brother in law. They'll get packed up and put away until I get my very own hifi room. I'll most likely be packing up the turntable as well. That means it'll be strictly digital around here. Hopefully I can get a decent optical dac to go with this mac. At least it seems to play music without crashing.

speaking of mac crash. i initiated my third hardrive in this lemon. thank steve, you're advertising scheme has tricked me into a computer that's worse than any pc i've ever owed. i'm a mac. thursday is backup day.

ps. mac users should be using silverkeeper. great program, and has saved my lemon flavored tush.

TEETH/diarrhea/WEENING

so, as my first twice in one day blog, i'm going to just say that today has been pretty tough.

a-drain is going through a rough patch here, and the wife and i are at our wits end. she's got him sleeping in her beco carrier right now, but he wakes up if she stops walking. he's got extremely light (like the walls of an apartments) diarrhea, his eye teeth coming in, and we've been doing the weening thing for the past week.

yeah. it's been a long day. probably going to be a long night as well.

coffee of the sunday

type: guatamala finca la florencia 100% bourbon.
roast: fluidized bed 80 s after first crack. (city +)
brew: french press

and?

Dry Fragrance: A little on the mild side, subtle flowers? 4.0
Wet Aroma: Smells like good coffee 3.9
Brightness/Acidity: ZING! 9.1
Flavor Depth: Tons of spice. Is that mint? 9.0
Body/Movement: A little on the thin side. 2.8
Finish/Aftertaste: A happy goodbye. 9.1
+50
-------
87.9

sweetmarias.com score: 87.3

by popular demand: the mess

So, this is where the magic happens. I just mentioned last week that I love coffee. As I write this I'm enjoying a Honduras Organic Maracala -Cocosam Coop via the aeropress that I got as a present. The aeropress makes a great (and strong) cup of coffee. The Honduran is decent... certainly not the best I've ever had, it's far too light and bright. The fluidized bed roaster certainly doesn't help, even at darker roasts it seems to attach a lightness to most coffees.

The roaster is a freshroast plus 8:

From coffee

Which sets nestled in by the la pavoni grinder:

From coffee

(I'm working on getting a baratza. No need for anything more than that as I don't really do espresso)

These two machines comprise the 'lower level', as we rise in elevation we see the nesco and the frech press. This is the french press I keep at home. I also have a bodum 'kenya' that I keep at work with the aeropress:

From coffee

As we pan out we see the giant mess that is my coffee corner.

From coffee

A brief rundown here:
The table itself is made from a randomly extra cabinet door that was behind our fridge. The legs were purchased for $5 each from retro petes in St. Paul. The shade was sewn by my wife. It's a cute take on 1950's life. My favorite is the child in the backseat asking "are we there yet". It reminds me so much of adrian. The little white plastic thing next to the grinder is my scale. 75g batches, oh yeah. The small canning jars are a great way to keep the coffee from excess oxygen after roasting.
The mess is mine. I'm not much for wiping up any stray grounds, and when they get wet they seem to magically stain the table.

Coffee

Thus far I've blogged about my job, my family, and my obsession with audio equipment. I haven't really talked about coffee. Why would I talk about coffee? I might mention the closet and drawers full of unroasted green coffee... probably in the neighborhood of 60 lbs. I might also mention that the coffee area in our kitchen is a mess of chaff and grounds, with the homemade table it rests on a mosaic of brown stains.

Instead I'll focus on how amazing it is to wake up and press a button on my grinder, producing scents that makes folgers smell like poop (cus it is). I brew my fresh ground coffee in the newco ocs system (stainless), and drink from the marimekko (keisanrinkruunu) cups my wife gave to me for our (twas our second) anniversary.

I can close my eyes, and while Adrian eats his cheerios, I live in a magical land were bright floral flavors and lingering apple aftertastes are the stuff of realty.

Todays drink: La Manita Tarrazu, distributed by No Quarter Coffee to the GCBC.

this afternoon I'll be enjoying a Honduran courtesy of Sweet Marias.

Do you understand? No matter what else is going on, at least the coffee can be good.

In the lab.

Another night in the lab. It's strange trying to balance fatherhood and graduate school. I see quite a few women that seem to do ok, but I only know (personally) one other male who managed it. I wish I was home, helping with the chores, playing with Adrian, and chatting with my wife... but I'm not. I feel like I'm disappointing C & A by not being there, but I'm also expected to be here.

Anyhow, today's mood would be conflicted.