San Diego, Stone Brewing, and folks from The Green Coffee Buying Club

Leone messin' with Matt's hat. That is some Ethiopian Likempti I'm holding. A pretty rare coffee, from the Oromia coop... Joe, getting ready to load up some Panama Carmen Estate (I think) into his Sonofresco. A neat little commercial machine that does one pound batches pretty automatically. He was about to sell it, but changed his mind. Seems like a nice critter to hang onto.
Loaded and ready to roast.
Yellowing beans
Getting darker

Pretty close to done, still a little ways to go. I have more pix, but this gives you an idea of how you can watch the beans as they roast. Pretty nice.
Matt checking out some of Joe's bags. Joe was nice enough to give me several of them to use as decorations at the coffee shop. The one Matt is holding is a cool "rustic" looking Ethiopian bag.
Leone and Joe's kids (Anthony and Hailey)... Matt geeking out in the background.
Coffee and laptops....That's Joe, Jennifer, and Chris from left to right.
Another perfect shot. This one was Matt's blend...Brazil Daterra Santa Columbo, and India Dwarka Khaindor (gotta check on that name).
Matt, tamping for the perfect shot....we got some pretty good ones, and his blend is quite tasty.
Joe, rocking out on the guitar. Matt also did a little playing....
Matt, with a full Chemex of his COE columbian (#4 ???). Whatever we got through the GCBC recently. I haven't roasted mine up yet...
Matt came equipped with his tiny scale...
The Chemex rocks. It made me want to get one - but I've been pretty happy with the Technovorm I picked up from Chris a couple months ago....
Joe's home espresso setup. Oops, forgot what brand this machine is, but I know the grinder is a Super Jolly...
Leone, playing with some scrap stones outside Stone brewery. The inside was a bit too loud for him.
Matt, Chris (stone employee extraordinaire), me, leone (head turned), and Joe, out front of Stone Brewing...
Joe, Matt, and Chris getting a private tour from Ken. Thanks Ken!
Same crew....this is one impressive brewery folks. Sixty thousand square feet, including 10,ooo for the restaurant, plus a HUGE stone beer garden still under construction.
Matt, Chris and Joe in the sampling room...
My hotel coffee setup. Freshly roasted Sumatra Lintong Triple Pick (roasted day before my departure), cheapo hotel 4 cup Mr. Coffee, and whirley-bird grinder that I checked in my luggage. Does the trick. The hotel had Wolfgang Puck pre-ground coffee bags. I didn't even try them, but I might bring a couple home and test them out on my Technovorm just out of curiosity.
Leone finally getting a badly needed nap...
Leone checking out the Kayaks (or whatever you call 'em) at "baby beach" near the Dana Point Harbor.
A little fun in the sand...
And of course some fun in the water....
Leone was pointing out the "pirate ship" to me I think....It was hard to get him to leave....
Leone with Grams at her apartment. It is nice that he gets to hang out with his great-grandmother....
We had window seats all the way (two planes to get from Louisville to Orange County).
More sightseeing....we were way above the clouds....
At the airport - always plenty to look at...

Checking out what all the buttons do. But Leone is good and always checks with me first to make sure it's ok...so he was just playing with the light...

Cheers!
-nimbus couzin

Wood Installation, and a trip to Indy

This is Monon Coffee, in the Broad Ripple district of Indianapolis. I got a double espresso and a cup of Kenyan drip. Jamie got a latte (I think). I wasn't overly impressed with the espresso, but the atmosphere was nice and cozy. We walked along the canal afterwards, with coffee in hand.
Moving chaos. My cooling sieve made it to the new place, but my RK drum is still at the old house. I brought it back this afternoon, and roasted up five pounds of Sumatra Lintong Triple Pick (gotta have some stash to bring to california tomorrow!)
This was the ugly thin brown carpeting in Leone Ray's room prior to removing it.
Jason sweeping up the padding that promptly turned into dust. Sean is heading towards me.
Voila, after installation!
The next room.... Jason using the chop saw (back turned) and Sean fitting in the next strip of wood.
you can sort of see the ugly green carpeting in the back third of the room...this is also up on the second floor. Looks like Jason is supervising.

Just finished today! Nice white oak....

Buying Wood for the Coffee Shop, plus more Boat pix

Not a very good picture (I think wes was shooting into the sun with my phone camera), but just taking a break after unloading the first 13 of our 75 pound boxes of white oak. The next 39 got heavier and heavier (gatorade breaks were necessitated). We were beat. Then we got to unload the 3/4 truckload of heavy furniture. We finished by 8pm. It was probably still around 90 degrees, and thick humidity. A long day.
Wes and the back of the coffee shop. We still had about three hours of unloading to go (had to carry a long way, and some of it up stairs).
Leone looks happy about his latest tower. I think this was a fire station.
Us on the boat last weekend, on the Ohio River.
Leone using a telescope, and with Craig and Peggy Sue. The Louisville skyline is behind them.
I think he was looking at some big cranes near the dockyards. Very exciting.

Down below...lotsa fun...
Look, driving the boat with no hands!!!
Leone taking his captain's job seriously...
Gotta use the telescope to see what is up ahead.
A solo mission....

Done with school, hitting the river (Ohio)

Leone makes the local paper

After crashing the Sierra Club picnic last week, Leone made it into the paper:
http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Site=B2&Date=20060725&Category=NEWS0102&ArtNo=607250810&Ref=PH&Params=Itemnr=6


Leone Couzin, 3, climbed on the fountain.

Johnny Cash

OK....Johnny Cash is one of my all time favorites. I just got his latest release (yeah he's dead, I know...THANKS Rick Rubin), and it is amazing. I hear it was the number one album last week. Pretty cool. Highly recommended. Sorry, no pix today. Teaching in the AM, then moving in the PM (thanks Shannon for all the help!!!!). The Johnny album really made my day.

-Nimbus
P.S. In the middle of lecture this morning, one of my students just said "You're a really good physics teacher." I said thanks. But it took awhile to sink in. That kind of stuff makes a teacher happy. I know that I know the material well, and I have experience, and I try to teach well, but you never know when you're doing a good job. So it is cool to have a student say that, especially in the middle of a class. I think we were doing basic electric interactions at the time. So I really had a lot of wonderful things happen today. That student (she would have made my day, if not for other stuff later), then quality time with Shannon doing moving stuff, then the Johnny Cash CD. Heck, the Cubbies even won (Zambrano is 11-3 now, and he even hit a HR).....the stars must have been aligned properly today (you know I don't believe that stuff).

Basketball!!

Well, after a day of moving, and a weekend with Leone, we decided to slack today and play some hoops. After a 7-2 lead, I lost by a final score of 14-11. Wes got lucky! Of course it was a Monday, so I had to get Leone to school and drive to U of L by nine AM. Not good for a late night person. But afternoon hoops always helps. I think it was under 90 degrees today, but it felt WARM.



Leone and I roasted up a couple pounds of Sumatra Lintong Triple Pick, and a couple more pounds of Panama Carmen yesterday. I'm letting them both rest two days, because I've gotta finish off my Intelli Black Cat (roasted 7/11 by them). I like when roasters date their coffee! I've been brewing coffee with the Technivorm, my Gaggia is off to the new place...
Wes, proving that he is still able to leave the ground when he takes a jumper...
Playground art. I have to give Wes credit for this shot...
I'm not sure if this was a fade-away jumper, but it sure looks like it...but the hand seems wrong. I might have been taking it in to the basket and tried something funny.
Me, getting ready to take it to the hoop.
That looks like a little better form for my shooting....they usually go in when I shoot 'em right,
This was Leone sipping some of daddy's coffee at a Del McCoury band live show at Ear Xtacy, a cool local record store a couple (three?) weeks ago.
Another shot from the bluegrass show. Leone had fun, but got antsy after the start was delayed half an hour by sound problems. We were front row (camped out on the floor).