The Next Window

I finally broke down and ordered some more green coffee beans last week. I’ve been working seriously on reducing my bean inventory — which hit a high of 88 pounds! Since I was now under 20 pounds, and had been out of my favorite blend for espresso for several weeks, I finally ordered.

Of course, I ordered them from my favorite bean supplier Sweet Maria’s (www.sweetmarias.com).

The new beans arrived on Monday — 5 pounds of SM’s “Monkey Blend,” 2 pounds of Tanzania “Songea” and 5 pounds of the hit Ethopian Harrar Horse Lot 30, a.k.a. “Blueberry Horse.”

Blueberry? YES! This unflavored coffee has a natural aroma and taste that includes blueberry. It also has a strong chocolate smell and taste. Even my wife commented about that.

While some members of Sweet Maria’s Homeroast mailing list report that the coffee needed to rest for 3 days to develop the blueberry taste and aroma, I found it immediately.

Even as green coffee, I could detect a slight blueberry. Straight out of my roaster, it had strong aromas of chocolate and blueberry.

I tried it first yesterday monring using my Cuisinart DCC-1200 drip brewer. Awesome. Most of the pot went into my thermos so I could nurse it all day long.

Cuisinart DCC-1200 12-Cup Brew Central Coffeemaker, Black and Stainless Steel (Kitchen) Manufacturer:Cuisinart Released:

Then, I tried some more last night in my Bodum Santos vacuum pot stove-top brewer. Wow. Even better.

Bodum Santos Vacuum Coffeemaker (Kitchen) Manufacturer:Bodum Released:

I can’t wait to give it a try on the 3rd day!

It was a fast, close game — and LSU pulled away from Duke at the end for a fantastic NCAA Tournament win.

LSU 62, Duke 54

LSU Moves Up, Duke Moves OUT!

Great job, LSU!

BBC News reports that a new Star Wars television series is on the way.

BBC Radio 1 interviewed producer Rick McCallum who said that the writing team would be meeting soon to start the project and that filming would begin in 2008 — to be ready for TV that same year!

The series will be placed between Episode 3 (Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith) and Episode 4 (Star Wars: A New Hope — the original Star Wars movie).

In February, I received a “2005 Volunteer of the Year” award at the Cajun Clickers Computer Club’s volunteer appreciation dinner. Everything at the Cajun Clickers (www.clickers.org) is done by volunteers!

I was recognized for my work leading the Cajun Clickers Katrina Pet Rescue Project, as an volunteer instructor, as a PC Tune-up volunteer, as member of the web site maintenance staff, as one of the Cajun Clickers Radio Show hosts, and other volunteer work.

Two other volunteers were selected also to receive Volunteer of the Year awards also: Penny Cano (PC guru and instructor of our popular “Computers for the Dumb and Dumber” series) and Pete Galik (head of our 2005 garage sale and a volunteer for almost everything).

We have over 1,500 families as members of this all-volunteer computer users group in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Membership includes the immediate family (those living in the same house). Visit our web site to see this month’s schedule of programs.

Cajun Clickers has a monthly general meeting, and many other meetings, too. We usually have 40 to 60 educational events (classes, workshops and special interest group meetings) at our permanent offices, and there is no extra charge for these events.

We also have a mailed monthly newsletter, available via download, too, our Cajun Clickers Radio Show every Saturday morning at 9am CST on WJBO (you can listen on-line at www.wjbo.com), and active mailing lists. We have two lecture rooms and a computer lab (15 student computers), all equipped with instructor PCs and projectors.

If you’ve poked around on my main web site, you know that I’m a coffee fanatic. Well, maybe not a fanatic, but I like my espresso, my Americano’s (espresso + hot water for an American-style cup of coffee), my drip coffee and my vacuum pot coffee. Oh, yeah, I roast my own coffee, too.

I make my daily pot of brewed coffee in my Cuisinart Brew Central DCC-1200. This is a retro-look stainless and black model drip machine. Coffee had a noticeably better flavor out of this pot, as it heated the water to the proper temperature.

Cuisinart DCC-1200 12-Cup Brew Central Coffeemaker, Black and Stainless Steel (Kitchen) Manufacturer:Cuisinart Released:

I combined the BrewCentral with a SwissGold� filter. The flavor is much more concentrated than when I tried using either bleached or unbleached paper filters.

SwissGold Coffee Filter, KF-4 Universal Cone (Kitchen) Manufacturer:Frieling Released:

My mornings usually start with an eye-opening Americano from my Rancilio Miss Silvia espresso machine. While I’m drinking it, I fix my daily pot of drip coffee in the BrewCentral.

Why the Americano? It’s strong, it’s intense, and it’s fast!

“Without a doubt, the driving passion of my life is to share the radical transforming power of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.”

With these words, Jean Stockdale begins her web site Jean Stockdale – Standing Near the Cross.

Practical, humorous, and insightful are just a few words that describe the teaching ministry of Jean Stockdale. God has blessed her with a unique ability to teach profound Biblical principles while using practical illustrations, personal life message, and a sprinkling of sanctified humor.

Jean’s Speaking Ministry has taken her across the United States to speak at churches and Christian women’s rallys. Through 16 years of her MOMS Ministry, she has helped countless young mothers as they stuggled with today’s hectic world and including their loves of the Lord, their husbands, and their families.

Visit her web site Jean Stockdale – Standing Near the Cross to read more about Jean, her Speaking Ministry and her MOMS Ministry. Jean lives near Memphis Tennessee and is available for speaking engagements across the country through The Mitchell Group.

The Cajun Clickers Computer Club and I were honored on November 11, 2005 as “Hurricane Heroes” by the Excalibur Club in Baton Rouge.

During September, I started and lead the Katrina Pet Rescue Project of the Cajun Clickers Computer Club.

We were working as volunteers for the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry’s Office of Animal Health Services (also known as the “State Vet’s Office”).

From September 6th through September 22nd, I had 80 volunteers who spent an estimated total of 1,400 man-hours inputting phone logs and emails into a massive spreadsheet for the State. We were tracking reports of lost animals, animals to be rescued, offers to volunteer, offers to send goods and offers to foster animals.

We input over 7000 records into the spreadsheet, which was used by the Louisiana SPCA to coordinate the actual rescues..

Each morning, I picked up input data at least once from the State Vet’s Office. Each night, I consolidated the spreadsheets input by each of that day’s volunteers into the master spreadsheet and emailed it to the Louisiana SPCA’s coordinator, the Humane Society of the United States’ coordinator and the Louisiana State Vet’s office.

Read more about our Katrina Pet Rescue Project

Just finished watching the movie Under the Tuscan Sun, which my Home Theater PC recorded for me over Valentine’s weekend.

While this was definitely a “chick flick” (that is, full of emotion and low on action), I recommend it for rental, viewing on television or purchase.

Why? The photography in the movie — whether the filming of people or landscapes — was excellent. Sometimes, directors go for a soft look. Other times, they want the focus sharply on the person, but slightly blurred on the background.

Here, it seemed that everything was in focus, but I never had the feeling that I was looking at a soap opera — well, the content maybe gave me that feel, but the photography didn’t.

Sunbelt Software has recently released Sunbelt Kerio Personal Firewall, their new personal computer firewall software package. SKPF is available in full-function mode (paid license) and in a reduced-function free (licensed free for personal and/or non-commercial use) versions. Actually, it is the same program � after the full-function 30-day trial, you can purchase a license key to reactivate the additional functions or if you don’t qualify for the free license.

Why the long name? Sunbelt purchased the existing, respected firewall program Kerio Personal Firewall from Kerio in December.

Sunbelt has reduced the price significantly, too. Sunbelt Kerio Personal Firewall will be $19.95, which includes 1 year of upgrades, as opposed to the usual $40 for firewall programs. Sunbelt’s web site shows that upgrade subscriptions will be priced at $9.95 per year.

Until March 31st, Sunbelt Software is offering a special introductory price of $14.95, a 25% savings for the license and 1 year of upgrades. Since I have already registered my copy, I know that the License and the Upgrade Subscriptions are two different things. My license expires “Never,” while my upgrade subscription expires next February.

Read more in my article Sunbelt Kerio Personal Firewall — the Review.

I am occasionally asked “is it ok to leave my computer on overnight?” or “can I leave my computer on all the time?”

My answer is a resounding “yes, I do.” My desktop, my wife’s desktop, my Linux box and my Home Theater PC (www.terryshometheater.com/htpc) all run 24 hours per day, 7 days a week — 24/7.

My notebook does not and should not — …

Read more in my article Running Your Computer 24/7