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I know it's been a while but here's the long and short of it:

I began going to counseling again this week. It knocks the wind out of me (luckily I'll only be going twice a month).

I'm taking seven of the college group members from my church to a camp to serve in the kitchen this weekend.

I made a peanut butter and jelly frappuccinno at work tonight (minus the bread). Good stuff.

I went to a wedding this past weekend but I couldn't stop thinking about divorce (only because I have to write about it this month on The Brew, not because of any opinions I have about the couple getting married).

I had three shots mixed with a little eggnog before starting work today (beginning tomorrow you can too). Good stuff.

Had a conversation with one of my roommates that ended up with us both saying how we had told our friends what a blessing it was to be living with the other one.

I flipped the bird to Dallas and it's 'Must Drive Everywhere Mentality/City Setup' when I walked to Wendy's one night for a burger that kind of sizzled.

I 'bought' Radiohead's new album off their website, which lets you pay whatever you want for the album. 'Reckoner' is an amazing track.

Last Election on The Brew

I just posted new author Scott Duplisea's article, "Mudslinging and Straw Polls in Junior High" on The Brew.
It's great stuff.

Old Brew is New Again!

I reposted the May and April Brews over the weekend.
It's great to read back over what makes The Brew so good.

For example: Dan Morgan's "From Love To Lust" article from April's Two by 4 issue. Or Jon Reisinger's "The MySpace-ination of Community" from May's Space issue.

Single Guy Adjusts, Becomes Token Person

I went back to the chiropractor today after getting rid of one intern at the chiropractic school who was messing up my back rather than fixing it. The new intern (gives adjustments for about $25 a pop) was great. She took the wind out of me with the first crack of my back. The other adjustments were just as shocking but also soothing after the initial pain of the adjustment went away.

I came out of the office feeling a little euphoric. There was one adjustment (somewhere in the neck region) that's famous for making people feel high. "We'll ease into that one," the intern said. They also want to do some test to find out if I'm diabetic. This would mean me fasting for 12-14 hours, sucking down some glucose and then testing my blood six times over three hours to see what happens.

Yeah, I'm bring a book for that one.

Over the weekend, one of the small groups from my church asked me to be the emcee for a "Newlyweds Game." I felt honored until I realized that they had already asked my roommate (one of only a few single 20something guys in my church) already. But I already knew half of the couples in the group well so I went for it. And as usual, the token single guy comes home with half of the desserts from whatever meal they had (though I'm not complaining).

The Oldest Election on The Brew

I just posted Kevin Schwartz's "The Oldest Election" on The Brew. It's a not so obvious look at the idea of election in the Old Testament.

Thanks for reading and being patient as we continue to work out the kinks on The Brew.

A Tour of Texas

I had a pretty extensive tour of Texas on Saturday.

It began when I met up with a buddy of mine at a farmer’s market in Coppell, TX (a NW suburb of Dallas) that morning. We met there to go to on our road trip to see where Dr. Pepper first began.

But while I was there, I chewed the cud with an organic coffee roaster, or more accurately, tasted the brew. After a great conversation that would surely amaze or bore someone not so into coffee, I bought about a pound and a half of some Peruvian coffee. It was great stuff: strong, natural cinnamon, chocolate and caramel flavors in the coffee. The variety of flavors blew away the beans from the Coffee Chain That Shall Remain Nameless because the beans I sell on a daily basis are roasted to fit one specific taste profile. The beans I bought at the market are roasted with the flavor profile left up in the air, like the sweet smells and smoke of roasted coffee. It’s a little more adventurous.

So anyway, two other guys and I drove a couple hours to Hico, TX (just next door to our final destination in Texas terms). Our destination: The Koffee Kup Family Restaurant. They had pies with mile-high meringue and tasty chicken fried steak, but the main reason we went there was the infamy this café used to have. The retired title of restaurant was: Koffee Kup Kafe. The infamy comes from the alliterated title and what the first letter of each of those words mean when lined up next to each other (KKK). No joke. This is Texas, mind you.

Then we set off to Dublin, TX, where Dr. Pepper was invented and is still bottled to this day. What makes this plant (more accurately a small building on a corner in a town of 3,000) unique is that the Dr. Pepper made here still uses the original recipe of Imperial cane sugar, rather than corn syrup. This gives the pop a much crisper taste and is just plain awesome. I took a tour of the ancient glass bottling machine that is only used once a month, due to the lack of bottles and the ancient nature of the parts in the machine.

In the soda fountain shop next door, I had an old fashioned Dr. Pepper, made by adding carbonated water to syrup. Ooooooohhhh yeeeeaaaahhhhh. Then I bought 8 six packs to savor for a while.

And a couple days later, back in Dallas, TX, I hit up a happy hour at a local microbrewery and tasted their ‘chili’ beer, made with jalapeños. Let me just say: jalapeno beer = awesomeness.

Badgers and my influence

One of my roommates showed me some pretty good car insurance commercials. They involve badgers and that's all you need to know.


via videosift.com

On a different note, I'm realizing how much influence I can have one people. The college kids from my church went out and bought a coffee grinder and a French press. And some of them are now quoting The Big Lebowski.

Morals and Election on The Brew

October's first Election article was posted on The Brew. Daniel Burnham wrote on "Why Morals Can Be Dangerous During Elections." It's a powder keg of an article and very worth reading.

Flashback: Take some time to check out Ian North's "Christploitation!" article from June's Film Brew. It's great look at lesser-known, more obscure genre of film.

Ocotober Brew

I just posted October's editorial on Election on The Brew.
This is the beginning of a challenging month, but also the end of the first year of The Brew.

It's crazy to think that it's been going for a year already.

Company Values

So I heard about a "Blend Off" contest at work this week, where employees of The Coffee Chain That Shall Remain Nameless can create their own blend of coffee.

This event was in the works for a while, though my store manager felt like it was one too many things to make working for the company 'fun.' I heard about the event an hour before it took place and tried to get something low-key together.

So I put together a blend of coffees, which consisted of 60% Guatemalan and 40% Kenyan beans. Both coffees have really distinct flavors that work well together and pair well with orange and chocolate. I used dark chocolate orange-flavored Hershey Kisses to go with the blend.

At the meeting, I snickered at the elaborate presentations others made of their blends, though this was to create enthusiasm for our livelihood and a passion for coffee. Some had pencil-drawn logos for their blend and a brief description of the coffee, it's name and it's purpose. I had merely a French Press of my blend, along with a description and a name I pulled out of the air.

My store manager and I snickered to ourselves when one guy took ten minutes just to explain the name of his blend; it consisted of some Italian music terms, references to Shakespeare and the word 'gestalt'. Then he had a medium-sized paste board to feature his logo: a large, abstract painting where it seemed every swatch of color meant something. With all coffee shop stereotypes aside, it's still easy to pick out the art school grads or dropouts.

This guy also had a tray with an elaborate spread of pound cakes and chocolates to go with his blend, which was so many parts this coffee, two parts this other coffee and still more parts of another coffee.

I laughed at this guy because he was enthusiastic and he was taking himself seriously. I saw this meeting as a way to get out of my store for a bit and to be a little creative with coffee. It made me think about how I viewed the company I work for: as a means to an end.

I love coffee as much as the next person but I can't say that it's my life and or that I can't picture myself doing anything else. The uber presenter won the district taste test and is going on to the regional contest on Friday. I guess I'm happy for him but I don't think I could see myself doing the same.