David's Blog

Just Yesterday I purchased not one, but two tins of coffee to use in the small espresso percolator I picked up in Naples this past summer. I remember seeing it as I was carousing various small shops in windy back roads throughout the city. I had seen a few in fact they were common in various stores I had visited throughout my two week stay. Finally committed to buying one. It is a commitment to buy something while in a different country, especially with the extra costs airlines add to luggage these days. The initial cost of a dozen small trinkets can skyrocket if you have to put them in a separate bag on your way home. Of course, I love coffee. I knew I would miss that part of Italian culture, good coffee. This particular percolator, as I mentioned was very common place, that is, in a culture that loves coffee, in quality, not quantity. It may be easier to buy a single cup machine here in the US, where you just stick the cup under the machine and it pumps out a hot cup. You know, the ones that come with prepackaged single serving coffee pouches. There is something missing there. It may be easier to get your coffee that way, but there is something lost in automation. Adding more grinds to your brew on a morning you just cant seem to get going, or seeing a new type of bean, or seasonal blend and trying it on the fly. Those are the pleasurable changes to ones monotonous life.

I bought the biggest percolator of the three varieties the small shop held. It brewed about a cup of espresso at a time, and I loved puring the dark liquid out of the spout labeled “Love Espresso”. This was one of my favorite belongings, and today my clumsiness destroyed it. As I was working on a craft project, repainting my mailbox, I had put the percolator on the stove top to brew. Distracted by a phone call I left the defenseless artifact alone and forgotten. As I chatted away the water boiled out and left the metal contraption to take all of the heat. The plastic parts were the first to go. The handle melted off, and the little heart shaped window on the top dissolved into the burning cup that had held so many great cups of coffee. Even after the plastic was gone the metal continued to bear the unrelenting brunt of the heat from the ceramic element. All the while I am outside talking on the phone. By the time I smelled the trouble it was too late. The bottom of the percolator was burned and the coffee that had been trapped inside was reduced to its most compact carbon form. There was nothing left to salvage, the once glorious and proud, yet simple, espresso machine had melted. Until I make it back to Italy I will have to make my coffee the American way, and mourn my small machine, and how it loved espresso as much as I do.

Think twice before you slap a bulky case on that new iPhone 4s. I never actually considered it. I despise cases, mostly their bulk, and the fact that if you want to add an accessory to your phone you will either have to take it out of its case, or pay a ridiculous amount of money for a case that will give you a single accessory function. I want my phone to be as versatile as I need it to be.

I updated to my iPhone 4s because of its camera. I love it, it is everything you need in your pocket. The iPhone makes photography fun. These accessories, designed to fit a caseless iphone, are bound to spruce it up: Read more »

I want to learn how to code an iOS app, but learning from the ground up without guided instruction is almost impossible. The hack way to do it is to reverse engineer the language. Instead of learning the language as you build something, learn the language as you tear something down. This form of learning is a bit more time consuming but obviously less costly than paying for class after class. I can skip the tedium of prerequisites and jump right into what I want to do… Read more »

After my a regular rant on the ISP Windstream’s monopoly and terrible service, I had a meandering thought of the community getting together to develop a coop of internet service. A lot like some of the power companies have done in the past.

Following thought: I wonder how much it would cost to establish a privately owned wireless broadband membership corporation

I found the answer ($43.5M) on The blog of Bryson Payne, the CIO at North Georgia College & State University, and an executive of the North Georgia Network. Not only did the community have the same thought a long time ago they have already established North Georgia Network which is already poised to bring a 100gb/s fiber optic line throughout North Georgia. I am very excited to see the realization of this network. I wonder if the integration of Trailwave will reverse the flow of traffic on the 400 and 515.

The emperor who was full of himself, wanting the best clothes was eventually embarrassed in a parade wearing no clothes. When it comes to your iPhone: naked is better. I’ve always had a suspicion of cases for phones. They cost so much and do so little. The do not protect your phone from scratches, instead they are known to scratch your phone. Theoretically cases prevent the screen from breaking. They probably do, in most circumstances but not all of them. Read more »