My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on February 11, 2014

One of the pleasures of my “adult” life has been enjoying coffee. Generally I’m content with run of the mill canned coffee or “plain Joe” restaurant brew for that first cup of the day, but after dinner or on the weekend I much prefer a freshly ground bean from roasters who know their craft.

Recently the good folks at CCSpecialtyCoffee.com heard me talking about Kona coffee (a favorite of mine) and thought I might be interested in trying their 100% Hawaiian Kona Coffee just as I was preparing to purchase from another company. To sweeten the deal, they also suggested I give their Jamaica Blue Mountain beans a try too (a future post).

The first surprise was absolutely no coffee smell when I opened the Priority Mail box … something that I’ve almost always noticed when receiving a coffee shipment. This tells me that more than likely the roasting and vacuum sealing process is separate from the shipping (one of my clients is a coffee roaster and reseller). Since it was a weekend, I quickly went about opening and getting my first whiff of roasted beans. Yes, I closed my eyes and felt my pulse slow as the pleasure filled my senses … even if you don’t like the taste of coffee, I’m betting you enjoy the aroma?

For the first cup, I ground enough beans to fill my Keurig K-cup reusable filter basket … which reminds me that I need a new stainless filter. Unfortunately the grind was a bit too fine and I ended up restricting the drip … note to those grinding, keep the grounds on the course side for the Keurig. For paper filter drip  or percolator the finer grind doesn’t seem to present as much of a problem. French Press, “without” a paper, can be another story as the fine grounds find their way into the cup.

Anyway, my first cup was a disappointment, but it was my own fault. I quickly ground another and after correcting my error and sat back with a favorite sailing magazine (another pleasure) and enjoyed a mild yet flavorful cup of Kona coffee. I’m looking forward to a full pot experience using my well seasoned Mr. Coffee. For the record, I’ve retired an older Bun (home brewer) and no-name drip and returned to the old cheap looking Mr. Coffee.

If you are in the mood for some coffee … consider CCSpecialtyCoffee.com and Kona for these 10 reasons … although I’m suggesting they add Valentine’s Day!

1. Birthdays – buying a friend or family member a pound or more of Kona coffee makes an excellent birthday gift. Perfect for your brother, sister, grandparents or friends.

2. Christmas – buying Kona coffee for you, loved ones or a friend makes a perfect present during the Christmas/Holiday season. Perfect for moms, dads, uncles and aunts.

3. Thanksgiving – Planning on hosting this years Thanksgiving dinner? Buy 1-2 pounds of coffee for your Thanksgiving guests to enjoy before or after the feast. Hosting a large dinner, buy 3 pounds!

4. Fathers Day – there are plenty of dads that would enjoy receiving some gourmet Kona coffee on Father’s Day. Make sure dad gets a wiff of those great smelling gourmet coffee beans.

5. Mothers Day – Any mom that is a coffee lover would graciously appreciate the jester of receiving specialty Kona coffee on Mother’s Day. Truly bring a smile to her face.

6. Business Meetings – Amaze clients with some great tasting gourmet Kona coffee during business meetings. A minor business expense that will definitely impress many individuals.

7. Weddings – Planning on serving coffee at your wedding, jazz it up a bit by serving specialty Kona coffee. We offer per pound pricing with discounts as you purchase more pounds! For smaller weddings purchase 1-3 pounds, having a large wedding? Purchase 4-5 pounds.

8. Made in the USA – Kona coffee is the only specialty coffee that the USA, specifically the Big Island of Hawaii.

9. You are a Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee Lover – if you love blue mountain coffee, coffee cultivated on the beautiful island of Jamaica, you will love 100 Kona coffee as well. Try a pound and see if you like this specialty coffee as well!

10. Lastly, that Morning Cup of Ambition May Reverse Symptoms of Alzheimer’s.

Category: Misc, Shopping | 1 Comment »
Tags: coffee, jamaica, kona

Posted By RichC on February 10, 2014

Muddy Waters from 1948 (I’m not sure what got me thinking about the Blues … but enjoy)

Category: History, Music | No Comments »
Tags: blues, muddy waters, Music, music monday, musicmonday, youtube

Posted By RichC on February 9, 2014

Picked up a great tip from Classic Motorsports:

Guitar String: Best Tool for the Job
Classic Motorsports forum reader wheelsmithy suggested a creative trick for removing windshields. Have you found a sweet U-PULL-IT windshield and need to remove it from a vehicle without breaking it? Just bring an old guitar E string and a buddy (very important) to the junkyard. Pass the string through the rubber windshield surround, and saw away. Works every time and is sort of like a lumberjack competition. Also works with bass strings (round wound, not square wound for the non-musical types).

Category: Archive, Automotive | No Comments »
Tags:

Posted By RichC on February 8, 2014

Monitoring Kickstarter projects is a great way to see just what entrepreneurs and inventors are coming up with … and to rejuvenate pride in American Exceptionalism. The other day I saw a guys talking about Mobile Personal Theatre headphones  called Glyph on the business channel CNBC which was pretty neat. I’ve micro funded a few projects in the past and know several people who have enjoyed being on the ground floor with products like the Pebble (watch).

This week I joined a Kickstarter campaign for a new kind of instant water heater called HeatWorks Model 1 with the plan on getting on to test out on the boat. It is small, efficient and looks like it should be the perfect solution if it can withstand the nautical elements (and be plumbed to work). I’ll be anxious to watch the progress of the company and at this point wouldn’t mind being in on the ground floor as an investor either! Stay tuned.

Category: Energy, Innovation, Marketing, Sailing | 1 Comment »
Tags: encore, heater, heatworks, kickstarter, sailboat, water

Posted By RichC on February 7, 2014

With data breaches in the news recently (Obamacare website, Target, Neiman Marcus) it was just a matter of time before someone archived the list of sites and collected a list of email addresses so that users could check their own.

Check your email address with haveibeenpwned.com and see if your information has potentially been compromised. The site offers a simple search which will either give you a little comfort or a reason to update your email password and security precautions. Most experts recommend two-factor authentication be used to access sites or webmail when available … and if your email is listed, it might be a good time to adopt better email security practices. Try to imagine what information could be collected and “sold” to hacker IF a user gained access to your Google account or other email … besides just loosing your account access and data.

Category: Cellphone, Computer, Technology | No Comments »
Tags: account, email, hacked, information, security, techfriday

Posted By RichC on February 6, 2014

Gauge Magazine featured a great Willys pickup conversion using a Volkswagen TDI diesel TDI engine. It is a bit “rust”ic … but would be pretty interesting to see. Check out the additional photos on the featureinfo page.

Category: Automotive, Diesel, Volkswagen | No Comments »
Tags: diesel, pickup, tdi, volkswagen, willys

Posted By RichC on February 5, 2014

The winter of 2014 has been one of the colder and snowier in southwestern Ohio that I can remember (although we had some snow in 2010). In previous years, putting the snow blower on the old John Deere 330 was almost optional, but this year it has been used and abused more that any since moving from our house in Hudson in northeastern Ohio. Those were the days before 4WD SUVs and when I would  push Brenda up our driveway with the tractor. I guess it’s really not that bad?!?

Category: Personal, Photos, Weather | No Comments »
Tags: ice, john deere, snow, snowblower, tractor

Posted By RichC on February 5, 2014

It is about time that I wrapped up the numbers for the recent Florida trip in order to work on the boat. One of the “high level” decisions that I had to make (snicker), was whether to drive my own car down and back with my 300 or so pounds of batteries and gear, or whether to rent a car. If Brenda was along I’m sure that we would have driven the Honda Pilot … for comfort sake, but after running the numbers I decided it would be cheaper to rent a car. My neighborhood Budget has discounted rate for week long rentals and having rented one once before thought I might be able to get pretty good fuel economy?  Unfortunately I was only able to average about 34 mpg down and back hauling batteries, just a little bit better than the time Taylor and I tried the same thing over his spring break. Still, after calculating the $160 week rental plus $206 in regular gasoline, the total car related expense for the trip was $366. If I were to assume “zero” wear and tear on my SUV (not realistic), the fuel cost alone for the 2300 mile round trip would have been $380 … so I saved at least $14! Good decision again.

In family news, Katelyn and Drew were busy making headway planning their move to Minneapolis, Minnesota. Katelyn spent today interviewing and having dinner with a couple places she might be able to put her pediatric medicine skills to use. They are definitely in an exciting time of their lives together … AND the key word is together … they are enjoying it together.

Category: Automotive, Personal, Sailing, Travel | No Comments »
Tags: drew, encore, florida, focus, ford, katelyn, minneapolis

Posted By RichC on February 4, 2014

If business growth is the medicine for job creation and a healthy economy … how does the U.S., or more specifically, each state, encourage business growth and incentivize expansion?

Companies need to have an attractive tax climate in order to put capital at risk (or at less competitive), although it is not the only criteria for investment. With worldwide competition being what it is in today’s global environment, having fewer dollars to invest because taxes are too punitive can make the difference between growing or shrinking (job creation and hiring employees). If you are an individual investor, an entrepreneur, a manager or on a corporate board, you need to at least consider the tax consequences on a business.

U.S. corporation are already heavily taxed federally before state and local taxes take their chunk … leaving fewer for reinvestment. Below is the Tax Foundation’s state by state comparison, see chart or PDF .

See full report in the Tax Foundation’s 2014 State Business Tax Climate Index PDF

Category: Business, Politics | No Comments »
Tags: economy, jobs, policy, taxes

Posted By RichC on February 3, 2014

My apologies to Peyton Manning … probably the most complete football quarterback to ever play in the NFL … but you and your team stunk. The fine performance by the Seattle Seahawks aside, Super Bowl XLVIII was a dud of a game to watch.

The festivities that now are part of the entire Super Bowl buildup were still enjoyable as a mid-winter aside and certainly the commercials were worth the price of watching the game on TV. I think my favorites commercials tend to be retro … and this year Radio Shack did a pretty good job with that; I wish them well with their rebranding.

Another “personal like” (post title) was receiving a few photos from my daughter and her husband in Chicago. They decided to make the most of their trip to Minneapolis by spending a night and watching the Super Bowl a few stories up. Sure looks like they are having a great time.

Category: Marketing, Personal, Photos, Sports, Travel | 1 Comment »
Tags: chicago, commercials, drew, family, katelyn, superbowl