07-14-10
I recently received the Chapadao de Ferro, Brazil from MadCap Coffee Company for this months shipment in the Direct Trade Coffee Club. So far, I have had a chance to try this via a chemex, espresso and in an americano. The dark chocolate comes out in the slow brew while I get a lot more of the caramel in the espresso. Makes for a well rounded and versatile roast. Amazing flavors!
06-02-10
My first attempt at creating a “how to” video for some home baristas out there. I made this one up for the folks over at CoffeeCupNews.ORG.
If you recall from an earlier post, I have had some issues with Verizon. Today I received a response from them on my support call again after they pushed out the NFL app to everyones Blackberry service book.
Thank you for contacting Verizon Wireless. As a reflection of my commitment to provide the best customer service possible, Unfortunately there isn’t a way to turn off automatic update on your blackberry. The phone is designed to receive automatic updates the only way not to receive automatic updates is to turn data off completely. By doing that you will not be able to utilize the full experience of the phone.If this continues to be an issue for you we do have other devices that doesnt not allow automatic updates.
If you have any further questions or concerns please call us at your earliest convenience from a landline phone at 1-800-922-0204 option 3 for technical support. You can also visit a Verizon Wireless store. To find the nearest location, please click on the following link: www.verizonwireless.com/storelocator
We appreciate your business and thank you for using Verizon Wireless products and services.
MW Analyst Team
Well what are your thoughts on that? I say fine if they are not going to turn off automatic updates to my phone then stop putting apps on my phone. Again, I state that I understand that these are not the full app but app install links. I would really be interested to hear what some technical folks have to say, is this not possible from the servers that VZW is running for their customers?
04-13-10
I found Wordle.net a while back and refound it again while working on a graphic for someone this week. Here is a look at what is currently on DanLacher.COM
04-05-10
So many have been asking what my geek toolkit looks like so I thought I would drop a post on what I have in my bag of tricks.
That about wraps it up… the next will be a breakdown of my coffee geek ware, the esential tools to keep the other geek running.
03-25-10
As an avid backpacker and coffee connoisseur I continue to find a better method for preparing coffee on the trail. My current preferred method is with my GSI lexan french press, this provides me with the best tasting cups that I have had on the trail to date. The only issue that I have is that I purchased a larger press that is a bit bulky for when I am going solo or when I am the only one on the hike drinking coffee… I digress.
For some time now I have seen and heard about Java Juice Extract as an option for coffee on the trial. With a recent purchase on Amazon I picked up a ten pack to give it a try. This morning with my man Sean Bartley from journeys coffee we gave it a tasting. First impression of the packaging, it would dramatically reduce pack weight and bulk. Upon tearing open the pouch I found the pre-defined opening to be nice and small, great for helping to reduce possible spillage. I grab a set of scissors to open it up more to be able to smell the extract before adding it to the waiting water. Well that was a mistake, the smell of the extract was that of worcestershire sauce or if you have ever had Samuel Adam’s Triple Bock, either way the potent aroma that hits your nose almost made me not want to pour it into the water… so if you are going to give this a taste test, I suggest you skip the sniffy sniff of the extract itself. Move on then to adding the extract to 11 oz of water at 190 degrees. After a little stir to ensure consistency in the mix I have it a sniff. Okay, the extract smell is still there in the final cup all be it a little mellowed down and I was able to also pull out some slight nutty aromas and sadly that was about it. Moving on to the taste testing with a quick sip, I found there to be almost zero flavor with a slight hint of “brown water”, really to me this had an extreme lack of flavor and no finish. I have to say I was pleased that there was no finish, I don’t know if I could have handled having it on my palette. I gave it a few more sips to see if I was missing something then dumped it, sorry Java Juice this is a major pass for me.
I shall continue to search out some other options. I believe my next trial will be to see how the AeroPress can preform on the trail.
03-22-10
In this day and time I am sure this will be out dated before I have a chance to hit publish so take it as a moment in time and one of many possible methods to solve the issue of social media workflows. After reading Crush It by Gary Vaynerchuk I decided to add a few new items to the social networking tool bag. Now that there is just a complex interconnection I decided to take a moment and see if I could simplify the workflow for optimal movement of data and hopefully eliminate duplication of data and effort.
Let me start with the tools and sites that I am using.
So with that many sites and tools someone, like myself, might just get a little confused. It could be super simple to come up with a post/tweet/idea and drop it in all the social networking outlets independently but that seems like extra work and thus why others have written tools to help us all out.
So where I was before I read Crush It and added in a couple of new tools? I was simply using UberTwitter and Tweetdeck to update my Twitter status and DanLacher.COM for full blog entries. Then using the Twitter -> Facebook connect application to update my status from Twitter to Facebook. For full blog entires I would post the link on Twitter and simply mention the entry. After adding Twitterfeed into the picture then I could have that tool monitor the RSS feed on DanLacher.COM and simply post new entries directly from there to Twitter. So that is really where I was before I decided to complicate my life and the process by adding in Ping.fm and Tumblr.
So enter the new players into the mix and let’s see if we can make the workflow simple and without duplication of data because I tell you, if you just turn them all on and don’t watch for routing issues there are double posts all over the place. The new routing that I believe I have figure out, for now, is to update via Seesmic or direct to Ping.fm where then Ping.fm will post it to Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr. That takes care up the status updates now to take care of the blog entires on DanLacher.COM. Step in a new plug-in for WordPress, WordPress 2 Ping.fm. Since we have the Ping.fm issues worked out we all ready have the workflow solved. I can’t say that I am fond of switching from Tweetdeck to Seesmic but until there is a Ping.fm integration with Ubertwitter and Tweetdeck I will have to go this route, I have become very fond of Tweetdeck and Ubertwitter.
The major issues that came into play before getting all of the routing worked out was the fact that each tool/site thinks they can solve a portion of this workflow and if you turn on and allow them access to the various sites paths cross and data is duplicated. This might not bother some people but I find it slightly annoying to see multiple updates on a twitter feed and Facebook page for the same status update. The final, for now, solution needed to be that one has to pick one “master” point and let all the data flow from there.
I hope this helps someone else out and that I don’t have to change up the workflow before this post makes it out through the pipeline.
03-18-10
As you read this, you will hopefully see clearly that there have been a few times now that I believe God has clearly spoken to me. How you ask, well let me tell you by way of the accounts.
The first time that I clearly recall hearing God, freaked me out. This to date is the only time that I believe I audibly heard Him. I was showering and praying about what the heck the day would bring when, as clear as can be, I heard a voice tell me that I was going to pray at the firehouse and over the fire fighters. I seriously looked around to see who was in the bathroom. I was a bit freaked at first, and spent most of the day then wrestling with God on if He really wanted me to do this. Really, I spent most of a day bantering back and forth over something so small. I finally said You got it, picked up the phone book, found the number for one of the stations in town and called. I headed over around dinner time and had a chance to sit around and find out a few of their stories. Before leaving I had took the opportunity to pray over the firehouse and the men that were their. It was humbling to hear the voice of God asking me to do something so simple yet so powerful.
Like I said above, that is to date the only time that I have heard the voice of God audibly speak to me. The other two encounters I am going to share came differently.
Messiah believed that we were being called, and still do believe, to take journeys out of our current building and to bring it to Main Street to create a coffeehouse ministry venue. Early in the process of imagining what this could be, I had been seriously praying over where God wanted us to place the coffeehouse. We had found a location right on Main Street in Midland and really felt like it was the place. Several of us had prayed over the location, but there were other offers starting to come in all at once on a building that had been sitting empty for over a year… So one night after a long day of working numbers for the new venue and endless hours working on other portions of the technology issues around Messiah, finally I made it home. Family time is always a wonderful thing to come home to after a long day, and as on every other normal night, Erin and I did the standard family routines and then Erin and I dropped into bed. I was exhausted off my feet… but I could not fall asleep. After tossing and turning, I found myself praying and asking what was on my heart that I had not confessed or didn’t understand. God and I had a great talk that night and then I drifted off to sleep. A few hours later, I had the most vivid dream I can recall having. As simple as the dream was, I clearly heard God tell me that the He was giving us the building and to not worry.
Okay, so first I tell you that I audibly hear the voice of God while I am showering and now I tell you that while I am sleeping one night He comes to me in a dream and tells me that He will give Messiah a building for launching a Main Street coffeehouse ministry venue… if you are still with me, that is right. It was an amazing and powerful dream that woke me up and I knew that it was truly God that had given me the dream and spoken to me.
Now to the present where I have been wrestling in pray for months with God over something and not knowing which way to go, what side is up or down, and really at a loss for the direction on how to proceed. While Erin and I were recently on a small vacation I had lots of time to do nothing. Nothing except spend some amazing time in prayer as I continued to wrestle with God over this. After several days of this and being deep in His Word, I was awoken by another amazing dream that laid out the answer. I know above I said the dream about the coffeehouse building was vivid, but this tops it. The details of this dream are captured and will be shared in time, but I am humbled to have been awoken by this dream and to know it was God clearly speaking to my heart on the matter. Simple and humble amazement washed over me for my Creator.
So there is it. I don’t know how or why God has chosen to speak to me in these ways but I am blessed to have listened and acted as He has called.
02-17-10
For those that know I have had a sorta love / dislike relationship with Verizon for 10 years now. I have been a Verizon customer since March of 2000, so I am by no means an original customer but they have been my only wireless provider since I entered the marketplace. In the past my only real complaint has been how they sell/subsidise phones that have had functionality crippled or turned off all together.
Now fast forward to December of 2009 when Verizon decided that they would push the Bing application out to all of their Blackberry users. Really, for a device that owned by the user and not the company and for a device that is password protected from application install I don’t understand how a company would make that move. Now I understand that it was not a full application push but a shortcut to install the application and until recently no apparent way to remove it… I don’t consider hiding the application icon a solution.
Move ahead again to February of 2010 when Verizon pulls the same stunt and pushed a shortcut install application for Slacker Radio out to my device.
WHAT! At this point I was out right pissed off. I called Verizon to find out what they heck was going on. After a discussion with the front line customer service member who clearly had no idea what I was talking about he informed me all he could do is file a complaint for me, which I did. The following day I received a follow up phone call on the complaint to gather further information and clarification and was told they were going to escalated the issue further along. I am still waiting to hear back from them.
The saga continues when I then connect up the Blackberry to back it up before installing OS updates. The backup went fine but I can’t say the rest did. My device is currently running v4.5.0.138. In the process of updating to v4.5.0.175 one of the main application Blackberry Messenger disappeared. Details of the applications showed it installed, so I tried all the combinations of reinstalling, uninstalling, installing… with no joy. So I decided to swallow my pride and go in to see if the techs in the Verizon store could help. Well that was a waste of time, they did all the sam steps I had all ready done and then concluded that a device wipe would fix it. Well it does not. The store also has no ability to reload the OS on a Blackberry device. So I venture back home, downgrade the OS back to v4.5.0.138 and Blackberry Messenger is back and fully functional. So they failed in understanding devices they are supporting and I am just glad I was able to figure it out to get the functionality back.
So while restoring my device and poking through some deeper options, specifically: Options, Advanced, Service Book I found Bing and Slacker Radio. So I figured what they heck, can’t hurt to delete them, the worst that happens is I have to restore like I just finished doing after the Messenger fiasco. I am glad to say that did the trick, no more application shortcuts on the device.
I have been so pissed through this process that I have been researching a switch of the Verizon network. The devices and networks out there that have my interest are the iPhone, Blackberry (not on Verizon) and the Google Nexus One.
The story is not finished yet, but I am waiting to hear back from them on their next move.
01-27-10
Today marks an interesting day, a time of transition shall now begin. My first post college career with Sun Microsystems (now Oracle) I made the choice to transition to new employment. Today the decision was made for me to transition into the next area of life. I have loved to serve at Messiah on staff for three years. In that time I had the privilege of helping to give birth to journeys, and bring the technology Messiah uses to reach the world and spread the message of Christ much further along.
I leave this post with a word from our Lord.
And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns. Philippians 1:6
Be Blessed
dl
