My Favourite Pastimes

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Believe it or not, it’s not listening to music or going to the movies (it probably used to be).

My favourite pass-time is enjoying good company but most importantly, good conversation. You can hold good conversations anywhere. On a plane, while walking through a National Park, at a cafe or while driving.

A good espresso coffee (one of my favourite consumables) isn’t much without a conversation and of course, company.

Other pastimes:

  • Shaving (traditional wet-shaving with a double edge razor blade, none of this gillette 5 blade crap)
  • Taking photos (SLR, point and shoot, doesn’t matter. You can improve the photo later on picasa. Yes, because photoshop is too hard)
  • Making BBQ (only on the weber, preferably wood charcoal but briquettes are ok too, no gas burner though)
  • Preparing coffee (about as relaxing/therapeutic as shaving)
  • drawing (charcoal, graphite pencil. I don’t use other materials)
  • writing
  • and on occasion, smoking a cigar.

Photo by the sea, edited on picasa

I’m a perfectionist. Oh no!

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Ok it’s out there. One of my defects is about to be explored.

  • Coffee Baristas, do you ever find yourself tipping out half a litre of milk because it didn’t froth the way you expected?
  • Pizza makers, do you ever re-arrange the pepperonis or the olives on a pizza because they weren’t evenly distributed?
  • Office gentlemen, Do you ever knot a neck tie 2 or 3 times until you get the right length?

These are some of the things I often do when things don’t turn out the way I would like them to. I know it sounds excessive but I’m just fussy. I don’t know what’s wrong with me but I take great pleasure in seeing things come out great. There’s nothing like eating an almost perfect pizza, drinking great coffee and knowing your tie is precise on length. Stupid things like this make me happy on a daily basis. I don’t get upset when something comes out average but I pursue and immensely enjoy excellence. You have to be willing to pay for it most the time too.

My thoughts on Google Buzz

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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. Continue reading →

How private should your blog be?

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The longer you maintain a blog, the probability that you’re leaking out your private life increases. This is the case for personal blogs.

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. Continue reading →

Espresso Coffee for Beginners

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A simple guide to using an electric manual espresso machine. The photo tutorial is divided into 2 parts: the espresso making stage; and the milk frothing stage.

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
8. Water (filtered water preferred)
9. Milk (full cream gets best resutls)

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. Continue reading →