EdipisReks1

John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band. Going through the takes. It’s… amazing. 24/192 on Apple Music.

We’re gonna need a bigger boat.

I mean, this is who I always wanted to look like. I can fairly well approximate that, but I don’t have the hat. I can’t pull off a trilby. Also I’m just me and not an icon.

Just an interesting aside; the last letter Ellison sent to Heather’s mentor was not successfully delivered. It was in the late-60s, and Alan was a doctoral student having just finished his dissertation who lived in NYC and constantly was moving. Well, that letter was found, somehow (delivered to an old address with no forwarding, I suppose, but I have no idea how one would even begin to track that down), because it’s in The Selected Letters of Ralph Ellison, and Alan read it for the first time in that book. In twenty-fucking-nineteen. He obviously never responded to that letter (every correspondence has a final note; I will remember several of my own final received notes for the rest of my life, often final because my correspondent became deceased before I could respond), and that must have been a moment with a lot of mixed and powerful emotions. I can only assume they talked and met many times after (Ellison dying in the 90s, and American Lit being a fairly small field), but my understanding is that the letter certainly wasn’t brought up. Life is funny. Also I want that watch!!

An interesting article! I’m three (or is it two? I never know how to count these things, which suggests one shouldn’t trust my p-value calculations)* degrees from Ralph Ellison (my partner’s mentor was mentored by Ellison). He had the model precisely one before my Pre-Moon, a 1968 145.012 vs 1969 145.022, which is what I would have preferred even without it being Ralph Ellison’s! https://www.watchonista.com/articles/history/epic-tale-proving-provenance-ralph-ellisons-speedmaster *I guess three; I’ve met Jake Gyllenhaal, as I will tell anybody whom I think vaguely will listen (he and I are precisely the same height in dress shoes; I checked and he was very polite), and I’m one degree from him, so three follows logically in this case.

If I’m in NC for longer than two weeks I typically take my NAIM MuSo2, which is quite large, but this is a trip where I am having to make decisions; the Tiguan really doesn’t have that much room even with the roof bag, and the cats take up a lot of room. There also may not be kitchen counter space. And see, this is why I started only driving other people’s cars around Mid-Ohio!

That’s a good point: I haven’t seen one in person (though the delivery has been updated to tomorrow apparently!), so I don’t know how heavy it is, or how large the box is. Also, because I’m traveling with all these stupid Christmas gifts I’m going to be more space constrained than usual…

Packing up for my trip to Greensboro next week (I do this gradually so as to not let the cats know anything is about to happen). Not as fancy as Dan’s set-up, but I like it. Now the question is: do I pack the Niche, if it arrives in time, or do I pack a/the hand grinder(s): you know; the things I bought specifically for this use case (we all know the answer: I’ll pack all of them, if possible).

This is not a surprise, re: Ode with SSP. It is very, very good for filter, but just doesn’t have the specificity for espresso. Good thing my Niche shipped.

That is the cheap one! Made a decent macchiato, but ground too fine. The Ode is just not suited to the task.

Trying to figure out why one of these was $50 and the other was $10, other than “Jacob is a gullible dipshit with a credit card:” The Subminimal is a little nicer, but it ain’t 5x nicer. 2.35x nicer, tops. The anodized finish on both is, as far as I can tell (and I used a loupe) absolutely identical.

Yemenia pour-over. 16:1 210F 3:30 draw. This is a fascinating coffee. Delicious. Thank you Covered_Ears!

I have no idea what she is like now, and I agree she isn’t a great singer. I think that relationship was abusive, but it was consensual (and I think pretty much only went one way, abuse wise). I don’t know what the word for that is, but if you find out let me know! It’s one I would use. Did not actually get fish fucking in The Shape of Water. Honestly I think GDT looked at the Abe Sapien costume and thought “I’d fuck that; I should make a movie about that.” The version I have had scenes in Russian with no subtitles. I don’t know if that is in purpose, but the two main characters couldn’t speak, so maybe? I’m aware that I’m talking about a movie from several years ago, but I’m in my backlog.

IMS makes espresso baskets. The Flair 58 has a standard sized portafilter, so you can use commercial parts. I choose IMS over VST due to cost and availability. A precision basket will be better than most of what is shipped with machines (Flair has a perfectly good basket, but it’s not precision). Makes a difference on extraction evenness. I’ve attached comparison pics. The IMS precision competition basket has a significantly different shape and is more free-flowing; also has very precise holes (hence “precision.” :)). Difference is not subtle.

The Shape of Water. I haven’t seen it before. I’ve been promised fish fucking. I had better get fish fucking. I mean, I watched it. I’m an obsessive Beatles fan. Have the Let It Be set here (didn’t even have to pay for it*). I think Yoko comes off as a perfectly nice person who happened to fall in love with the most famous person in the world. There were no villains. Not even the cops who tried to shut down Rooftop. Edit; auto correct error. *they probably meant to send it to somebody else.

Let’s see how you are talking after 5 years of weekends; we’ll have an idea of how the espresso is going by then.

Dunhill joined me for a movie, last night, after I turned on the space heater. Coraline, if anybody was interested (Field of Dreams, which I had never seen, was first. It was delightful, but Dunhill didn’t join for that). It wasn’t Bossa Nova, so Silver couldn’t be bothered. She loves Bossa Nova (especially when it’s a Stan Getz video; good taste) and ignores almost anything else. She stares intently and keeps perfect time with her ears (this is not a joke) to Bossa Nova music. I have video evidence.

I don’t understand how anybody complains that the Bellman doesn’t have enough steam pressure: it will produce as much pressure as you are brave enough to produce. It’s built about as tough as my Fissler pressure cooker, and the safety valve is… liberal, so I bet it’ll produce more pressure than I’m brave enough for, and I don’t have much of a fear impulse. I BARELY opened the valve for the vortex, and then slightly more for the stretch. I would have oat milk all over my kitchen if I had opened it all the way. I could have steamed several more drinks, with it off heat. No problem.

Still don’t have the Flair 58 dialed in (still going too coarse; getting turbos, though less so now), but I have the Bellman figured out. I could have done latte, but of course I don’t do latte art. The smug smiley face doesn’t count as latte art. Not terrible. Not bad for the second time I’ve used the Flair and the third time I have used the Bellman.

4 was too fine. But it’s a perfectly nice cup of washed Finca Los Andes. Just the basic Hoffman recipe. I find his basic recipes to be good starting points. Precisely zero bitterness, though. Not really any stronger than my standard V60 method, I would say. Chocolatey, nice brightness (this was a medium-light roast, water was 210F). Coats the back of the tongue nicely. It was certainly easy. I can see why my old roommate stole it from me 15 years ago. 13.75/250 would probably fill the mug, and is what I would do next time, and at a 5 on the SSP multipurpose (I grind rather fine for pour over, and this really wanted something closer to my pour over than espresso, based on the puck being a bit wet).

Why do I feel slightly intimidated? I’ve used one of these many times! I guess because the last time I used one I was buying pre-ground coffee. I do indeed have zero idea of where to grind on the Ode with SSP. I do espresso at 1.75 or so; pour-over is somewhere around 7. I guess start at 4? I suppose that is more than “zero idea.”

Good coffee day for Jacob. Sample of Yemenia from friendly and generous colleague arrived. AeroPress (I haven’t had one in years, since a roommate stole it) arrived. Niche Zero shipped. Zutto for Heather arrived. Funny enough, I have not had coffee today.

Marc, that isn’t an oboe. I specifically said “oboe.”

Niche has shipped! I’m very excited.

Holy shit fuck this movie is amazing.