I like the service for 3 reasons:

1) Easy access with little effort

2) Simple to learn and no frills design

3) Adequate compatibility for different publishing mediums (at least in my experience)

The fact that Buzz lives inside your gmail inbox is fantastic. After I’ve checked my emails, Buzz is just one click away. It’s just a matter of opening up the Buzz pane and you can quickly scroll over recent activity. A much simpler task than viewing your RSS reader. And just that one step more convenient than viewing your twitter account.

Another bonus is the simplistic design that Buzz has. No skins, themes, confusing colours. No multiple columns, boxes, side menus either. Now I’m not a facebook user but I have seen the interface, it’s actually part of the reason why I haven’t signed up. Just by looking at the facebook home page it speaks out to you: “EXCESS TIME CONSUMER” or “PROCRASTINATE HERE, YOU WON’T LEAVE IN HOURS”.

Buzz was quite easy to learn, much to do with the fact that it doesn’t do all that much. BUT THAT’S GOOD! Don’t turn it into a Drupal admin page.

The integration with social media publishing tools. I like the fact that youtube links automatically get embedded. I can share a photo from my picasa album, links to websites retrieves images from the site to display. I can send my blog posts and tumblr entries through. Buzz makes it easy to express myself and my interests. I like the fact that you can have “shorter than blog posts, longer than twitter entries”. In this case, it looks a bit like a stripped down version of tumblr, although I think Buzz is more fluid and connected with larger audiences. It’s an interaction rather than a viewing service.

Buzz’s Limitations

• Not so much limitations but things I would like to see.
• The possibility to log in without gmail. I can go to youtube.com and log in without being in gmail. Same goes for picasa, reader and calendar.
• Having the opportunity log in separately would be nice to have.
• Hide replies to a particular Buzz
• Hide people’s twitter streams, without having to block that person entirely. It would be nice to filter this so as to get that person’s more meaningful entries.
• A separate window for viewing a list of your followers. At the moment I have like 60 followers who I don’t know. I am checking there profile one by one but this takes time. Make it easy to view a list in one page and then be able to drop down a list of their recent activity in a fast sort of way.

I can’t think of any more limitations. I know some people are complaining that they don’t use gmail and feel left out. I’m sure they didn’t mind having to fill out forms when they signed onto facebook, myspace, linkedin, youtube etc. Get another email or google account and start exploring. Heaps of google users have more than one google account. Twitter made you sign up to use their service, you need to sign up to Buzz too.

I’m sure google will start to add more things to Buzz. I think they’ve thought this one out. It may seemed rushed to some but I think it came at a good time.

What else do users like about Buzz?

I’ve gotten to the stage where my posts have slowed down and I’ve less things to write about. The next hurdle will be whether I decide to open up completely and start blogging about my every day. There are certain things I’ve kept private about my online profile. This includes the schools I’ve attended, the places I have worked and personal contact information.

I think all bloggers need to draw a line as to where their online profile stops ans where their private life begins. I’m not necessarily afraid to disclose more information about myself but I don’t think it will contribute to anything, nor is it important. Another reason might be that not a lot is going on in my life and I don’t have interesting things to share.

My real reason as to why I don’t open up more is because once I share information, I can’t then un-publish it. There is a chance that excess information about me might work against my favour. At this stage my main concern is what impression I’ll be giving my future employers. At the moment what I’ve posted is quite adequate and non-controversial. By sharing more personal history and opinions, could I be disadvantaging myself? Would I be considered trust worthy If I am too willing to share information? Many, if not all organisations today place a high regard to confidentiality and privacy. Could I convince a potential employer that I am trustworthy if I start publishing my life occurrences on a daily basis?

Just writing this makes me want to log into Linked-In and limit the information that appears on my public profile.

So there it is, my thoughts on privacy for people with online profiles.

The big exception to this issue is the group of Social Media Entrepreneurs who dedicate their careers to becoming professional bloggers. The rules are the opposite for this group as opening up and creating relationships is fundamental to their success. Sharing your life and appearing likeable/approachable/normal is important.

So what do you think about maintaining a blog and maintaining privacy too?

Below, a list of the basic equipment needed.
1) An espresso Machine
2) A grinder
3) Milk Pitcher (jug)
4) Thermometer (for milk)
5) Cups
6) Portafilter
7) Coffee beans
Water (filtered water preferred)
9) Milk (full cream gets best resutls)

Coffee equipment

PART I

Here we prepare the espresso, which is the essence and base for any coffee drink whether it’s machiatto, cappucino, flat white or cafe latte. Some espresso machines have a hot water spout. This can be used to pre-heat the cups before brewing the espresso to ensure that you get a hot drink without having to over-heat or even burn the milk. As you will see in Part II, I prefer to remove the milk around ten degrees under the norm for cafes as I think you get more sweetness, the only setback is that the end drink will be cooler than expected.

Turn on the espresso machine to warm up and pre-heat the cups by filling them with pre-boiled water.

Pre heat cups with boiling water

Grind the coffee directly into the basket of the portafilter.

Grind on demand straight into portafilter

Tamp the coffee grinds to create a flat surface.

using the coffee tamp

Top up with more ground coffee.

at the grinder again

Tamp again and ensure  the rim of the basket is clean and free of excess coffee grounds.

ready for the machine

Position the portafilter into the grouphead and slide to the right of the arrow indicator.

Ensure the portafilter is locked in correctly

Empty the water-filled cups and place under the coffee spouts.

cups ready for the brewing process

Now turn the machine on and watch attentively as the coffee is extracted to see whether it was a hit or a miss result.

first few seconds of extraction

Resistance in the pour and visible crema is a good sign.

when magic happens

Stop the extraction once you have about 30mL of coffee in the cups.

about a shot of coffee is enough only the crema is visible

Place cups on warming plate located on top of the machine.

resting the cups on the warming plate

Empty out brewed coffee remains into the waste container.

empty out coffee remains

PART II

Now we look at frothing the milk to get a silky/velvety consistent texture ideal for cappucinos and lattes. This is the most difficult part of espresso coffee making and it took months if not years for me to learn. Practise is the best and only way to master this step so be patient while you are learning.

Add fresh milk to the pitcher until the beak.

Fresh milk and thermometer in the pitcher

Now flush the steam wand into the collector drain before hand to remove any possible build up from before. This also prepares the wand for the next step by ensuring the pressure and heat are at their highest right before frothing.

flushing the steam wand

Hold the milk pitcher at a slight angle away from the wand. Only just immerse the wand tip into the milk, about 1cm or 1/2 and inch.

Good firm hands are needed

Turn on the steam wand, bubbles may form in the first 10 seconds. Nothing to worry about as they will soon get smoothed out.

Bubbles form at the start due to the pressure of the steam

Keep the angle and the wand tip submerged in the milk at all times. Bubbles are now slowly disappearing.

The milk expands slightly as it froths

Turn off the steam wand once the temperature reaches 50°. By the time the wand turns off completely it will reach 55°

at 55°, the milk is still sweet and frothed consistently

Once you place the milk pitcher aside, immediately wipe down the wand with a moist cloth and flush into the tray once again. It’s important to keep the steam wand clean at all times.

Always wipe down the wand right after use

Now you will free pour the milk into the cup of coffee, piercing through the layer of crema and mixing both liquids together as the level rises.

One motion free pour without any interruptions

It’s good to see that the top layer of the finished cappucino has both brown and white colours visible as this indicates that the milk has mixed well with the crema, providing a consistent taste and texture throughout the beverage.

consistent and well frothed milk on these coffees

I’m no master of latte art but it’s good to constantly practise.

the finished product

And that’s how I prepare espresso coffee at home. Please comment or add suggestions.

-RB

Picture from: http://www.nutrigrain.com.au/iron-man-series.aspx

While growing up, I changed my childhood dreams a fair bit.

Primary School Dreams

The earliest dream I can recall is wanting to be an iron man tri-athelete. I loved the beach and I was getting far with my swimming lessons at the time.

I then found a passion in books. It seemed logical that I would want to become a writer, like my favourite authors Roal Dahl and Paul Jennings. After being told that I wouldn’t make much money from being a writer, I soon lost enthusiasm for that dream.

It would be a few years before I would create another destiny for myself. I was in year 6, I was elected the school captain for my primary school. It was the year Pauline Hanson made headlines over her controversial views and statements. I had given a speech in class condemning her views and the racism she was promoting. I had finally decided that I wanted to be the prime minister of Australia. It was the same year that I discovered that John Christopher Watson – Australia’s and the world’s first Labour Prime Minister (1904) – was born in Valparaiso, Chile just like me.

High School Distractions

The following year I started high school and different things started occupying my mind. Sports, social life and school work soon distracted me from dreaming any further. I stopped thinking about what I would be when I grew up and I was clueless until the end of high school.

When I was around 15, I realised that I was rather good at using the house computer and I picked up things pretty quickly. Not really impressive, I guess being young and curious helped my knowledge but it made me think that if I found computers easy to use, I may as well aspire to work in IT.

Not as ambitious as my previous dreams but it seemed sensible. There was a large world-wide IT shortage so it was logical. It would be a profession that paid well and I had the capacity to pursue it.

So I enrolled in IT when I started college (college in Australia means year 11 and 12) to try it out. I don’t know why, but I didn’t understand a thing in that class. We did databases, programming – both html and c++, system architecture and other stuff I can’t remember. Those two years were so tedious to get through that I almost lost hope altogether. Convinced that if I studied IT at uni, that I would start from scratch, that it would be different – I stuck to my idea of pursuing an IT career.

After Secondary Education

After switching undergraduate degrees, taking time off from studies, changing from different jobs, it seems that somehow I’m still heading towards the dream of working in an IT-related role.

After all this time, I still don’t enjoy the technical side of IT but the managerial and analytical aspects are of interest to me. I’m 25 years old, I’ve done a fair bit of travel and of living and still have not fully entered into my professional career. There is still time for me to investigate other avenues but I think I’m on track to pursue my latest dream.

Writing, My Real Passion?

Since beginning this blog, I feel that I’ve opened up a connection to my childhood dream of writing. Although I don’t think I’ll become an author anytime soon, It’s quite rewarding to translate my thoughts into words, share them and express my originality.

Somehow, being able to channel my childhood interest of writing through this blog, enables me to find the motivation to work towards my current dream. Now all I need is to get into shape and participate in those iron man competitions that fascinated me all those years ago.

Conclusion

It’s important to encourage children to dream while they’re young but at the same time, you don’t want to accelerate their growth by making them think like adults. It’s equally vital that you let kids dream whatever they want to dream, there should be no right or wrong aspirations. It’s the originality, humility and spontaneity that make children and their aspirations so remarkable. I always enjoy looking back at myself, I just hope the future me does enough to impress the child me of about two decades ago.