The 2nd skylight is in. This bathroom will be all glass and awesome. The smaller skylight to the left is actually to be replaced by a bigger one to satisfy minimum ceiling height code requirements. It's all coming together 

TWO

The boy officially turned two. The party ran smoothly with no injuries. I call that a success. The cafe got a good workout as master barista chuck Y luv cranked out the drinks. The guests strongly prefer the Stumptown Hairbender over Espresso Vivace's Dolce. I had an espresso from our friends in Seattle and it kills me to admit this... There is no better shot than what they created. To be fair, it was called a sugar shot with sugar added before the espresso. It is meant to be consumed inside of 30 seconds from creation. Sip, sip, swirl, finish. If you haven't had an espresso from these guys then you probably don't know what espresso should taste like. The sweetness of honey, the tones of chocolate, and the essence of fruit without even a HINT of bitterness.

Here's the thing. Think of a perfectly built espresso as a house of cards built racing the clock. Everything has to be placed and balanced in a certain order and with great precision. Get any one of dozens of variables wrong and the whole thing falls down. Given that, it's safe to say most people don't have any idea that there's such a thing as a non bitter 1 to 2 ounce magic coffee drink.

A moment to rant about Starbucks. We owe them for helping educate people (for the record, I was frequenting Misha's Coffee in Alexandria VA prior to this whole starfish thing.) on the existence of something beyond folgers. For that, thanks. But for the homogenation of so many places we say with great sarcasm, thanks. Today's starfish from a drink quality perspective sucks. It's the lowest common denominator for a $3-$4 coffee drink. Their espresso quality is so far away from the experience at Vivace or Stumptown that it really needs a different category. The interesting bit is that the prices are basically the same. When on business in a foreign town for a laugh I order different drinks from them: cappucino, macchiato, latte... and no matter what I say, I receive the same drink: a milky sedate latte. The reason is more than barista ignorance in my estimation. It's that they're masking the crappy shots with enough milk so that it won't matter (enough) to be noticed by the average java jacket paper cup sippin' 'bux customer.

But enough negativity... I made a shot with the same Vivace beans that they use for espresso and generated a shot that wasn't marked with the same perfection as the in-shop experience but it was fantastic just the same. Most people do not realize that there's real human talent and mechanical precision involved in crafting an excellent espresso or cappucino. I've traveled some distance down that road but the end is far away. There is no end but I'm still pushing on. People that visit the cafe are happy to enjoy the ride.

Everybody loves a play-by-play of my life... image of dinner attached. Egg drop soup with tofu and fish cake. Also known as "refrigerator scrounge" ...  

Today's adventure with the boy: OMSI. After stopping half a dozen times to see what was up with Benjamin only to realize he was singing a Cake song and not upset I realize how much I need the sidecar. Thank you REI dividend. 

The ChickenCoop nearing completion. All it needs now is some trim pieces & paint.... oh yeah, and some chickens. 

space

When I first moved into my house, I was in love. Sure it needed a few minor tweaks but it was ok as is. Nearing a year in this place it has been like sleeping on a lumpy bed after drinking too much coffee. Lots of tossing and turning, waiting, then flopping about again in search of the confortable position. Lets see, our bedroom has moved 3 times, my office thrice as well, b-dog's playroom twice. At least the kitchen hasn't moved. The analogy isn't perfect as it's nice here already but something wasn't quite right.

With the landscaping coming into bloom, the bedroom moved upstairs (involving complete destruction & reassembly of box spring), & the bathroom to be completed in the near term, I'm really starting to feel like we have a home here. The master suite will be decadent luxury with skylights in the bedroom and almost an all glass ceiling in the bathroom. Although I've forgotten what it sounds like, the pitter patter of rain on glass will make for perfect slumber. Wierd as people find it, having the fancy toilet moving upstairs in our private space will be a good thing. The style of the bathroom will be strongly japanese although those not versed in that genre will simply like the elegant simplicity and minimalism of it all. Lots of earth tones and textures will permeate the space.

It's nice to buy a house and get past the first major phase of modifications where it goes from house to home. Sure there will always be the list but the sense of urgency will wane for awhile as we enjoy the super local as well as the local of our environment.

"Portland's got soul and it's su[per]bad." -b-dog

The boy consumed TWO hot chai lattes this morning. He, like his mom, is obsessed. He didn't do it during this photo shoot but he usually buries his face in the cup trying to get at the last bit of foamy goodness. 

Listen

I need to listen to my body. My back was killing me but I went on a mountain bike ride anyway. I rode the single speed up 3000'. There's no greater torque that can be put upon the lower back than muscling up a steep mountain in a tall gear. THEN to make matters worse, I rode a substantial ride the following day. I took my geared bike so I could be gentle to my back and spun up another 3000' or so. Later that evening I looked in the mirror and noticed that my back was completely eskew. I was the leaning tower of Chaz. I dosed up on vitamin I and went to bed. While I'm not fresh as a spring chicken, alignment has returned. I feel like an old man. Single speedin' is a younger man's game. BUT that which doesn't kill (or permanently damage) you, makes you hurt... I mean makes you stronger. Yeah, that's what I mean't. Speaking of spring chickens, they're doing well and are a bit larger. The cats are shockingly disinterested in the little birds. I think they're afraid of the red glowing incubator. good.

Shrinking house

The plumbers are here setting up drain + hot & cold rough in for the new bathroom. The level of destruction to accomplish this is amazing.... and frightening. We've got people on each floor doing their own particular flavor of mayhem. Upstairs there are big holes going in. On the main floor, an entire ceiling section 3'x10' is being removed by violent force. In the basement they're hacking into the hot & cold pipes. They haven't even started the "scary part" where they tap into the heavy cast-iron pipe. I barely have the stomach for this. Amy would have to breath into a paper bag.

name the chicks POLL

We're looking for names for the birds so give us your input & we'll take it to the judiciary committee. For reference they are identified as Yellow Araucana, Colorful Araucana, & Barred Rock. Place your votes TODAY. To help you with the process, here's a little about each of their personalities.

Yellow Araucana is the king of the roost. It's the leader and the group follows it to the water and food. It doesn't take any crap and often sits on the other birds.

Colorful Araucana is one cool looking bird. This is the one that I immediately spotted and decided I must have it. It pecks a little at the other birds and grooms itself with some frequency.

Barred Rock gets sat upon and often sticks its head in the corner to sleep. It's feisty and will decide that it's done taking any shit and blitz the other two, causing a small cacophony of little cheeps.

They all have narcolepsy and it doesn't matter what's going on. Head in the food bin and asleep...whatever. It's hilarious.

The things you find in the rafters 

Another Araucana... the family of 3 are HERE 

The Barred Rock is one of the all time popular favorites in this country. Developed in New England in the early 1800's by crossing Dominiques and Black Javas, it has spread to every part of the U.S. and is an ideal American chicken. Prolific layers of brown eggs, the hens are not discouraged by cold weather. Their solid plumpness and yellow skin make a beautiful heavy roasting fowl. Our strain has the narrow, clean barring so desirable in appearance. Their bodies are long, broad, and deep with bred-in strength and vitality. These chickens are often called Plymouth Rocks, but this title correctly belongs to the entire breed, not just the Barred variety. Whatever you call them, you can't beat them for steady, reliable chickens. Baby chicks are dark gray to black with some white patches on head and body. 

The "Easter Egg Chicken", This unusual breed gets its name from the Indian tribe of Chile where they were first discovered. Araucanas lay beautiful colored eggs of blue-green shades from turquoise to deep olive. These natural Easter Eggs will amaze your friends and make a great "show and tell" project for school. Adults are of medium size with pea combs and our breeding stock is selected for their ability to produce colored eggs. They exhibit a wonderful combination of colors and color patterns and 10 or 20 of these birds make an absolutely beautiful laying flock that is extremely hardy and will be the talk of the town. Baby chicks come in all colors, plain and fancy, just like the adults. This is a unique breed and great fun to have when the colored eggs start coming. 

ROLL CALL

Anyone reading this needs to comment below. Click the comments text then post a comment. It's easy & will take 45 seconds on the outside.

Butte baggin

I like big buttes and I cannot lie.

Summitted Rocky Butte followed by Mt Tabor for a lunchtime spin. Sunny & 60's in February? Hail Hail the norwal... I mean Hail Hail global warming. The trees & plants are beginning to flower. It's a glorious time of year. We Portlanders are latitudinally challenged and suffer in winter by losing an extra hour of daylight when compared to everywhere else we've lived. Seems my route has been tight along the same latitude: DC Metro, San Francisco Bay Area & Boulder. Our winter pain becomes our summer revenge. Momentarily we will be crossing the equinox into the promised land. We get the last laugh. Rain? What's that? With the dryest season in recent years I'm almost disappointed. Where's the big February ice storm? Hey, I built up some ice tires for my bike so I could laugh at mother nature. Next season... .

The best part about spring will be our new family members to arrive TOMORROW. I'm setting up their indoor living quarters for the next six weeks, then they upgrade to their own detached home. Benjamin's birthday gift comes early. Photos upon their arrival.

Photo Zine

I'm thinking the photo zine needs an improved format. Ideally I'd just have a map of the city and there would be links placed on there like push pins on a corkboard mounted paper map. The photos themselves have value in context because they certainly aren't interesting on their own. I'll investigate. My suspicion is that blogspot isn't going to support anything beyond vanilla html. I've got 5 other projects that are far more important so the crap format will have to suffice. If I standardize the titles with cross streets that'd be something right?

So let's all take a moment to thank CRAIGSLIST.ORG!!! What a great venue. I just sold a useless-to-me stainless range hood in < style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">most people are like that in certain circumstances... in any case, we've found & sold a few things and just am impressed.

Serene section of my favorite bike arterial... 24th St 

Ridgewood St (I think) 6 blocks from home 

Immediately opposite the 1/2 million dollar house is our school & playground 

frustratingly georgous home for sale...1/2 a million, two blocks away 

coming home 

Mystery project underway 

Buck away

Pasted excerpt
Simpsons outs its first gay character
'The Simpsons' has outed its first gay character - Marge's sister Patty Bouvier. The husky voiced driving instructor has been revealed as the show's closet homosexual ending months of intense speculation among fans. Last year, it was revealed the programme was set to feature a gay marriage in the animated series for the first time, resulting in fans and websites across the globe believing Mr Burns's faithful assistant Waylon Smithers was finally going to "come out".

But the latest episode of the hugely popular series, which aired with a parental advisory in the US on Sunday, revealed it was the formerly celibate Patty. In the episode, Springfield legalizes gay marriage with Homer obtaining a permit to conduct ceremonies at $200-a-time, prompting his sister-in-law to tell him she has fallen in love with a professional golfer called Veronica. However, Patty's big day is ruined when her "bride" is revealed to be a man when her large adam's apple is unveiled at the alter.

Despite the episode being praised by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation in the US, L Brent Bozell, president of the Parents Television Council, has slammed the creators' decision to tackle the controversial subject. Bozell said: "At a time when the public mood is overwhelmingly against gay marriage, any show that promotes gay marriage is deliberately bucking the public mood."

photo Zine

Hang in there... I'll be posting a series of local images. Basically I've taken to riding my bike with the camera in one hand and popping off photos. The intent is to create a Portland streetscape. Each image will likely not be artfully framed but the entire stream will represent a short distance on two wheels. The first installment is in the can. Just need to push the contents into the ether...stay tuned.

I hate Home Depot I love Home Depot

I'll say it: I'm a snob. Now that that's out of the way let's get down to it. I assume that anything found there is sub-par and I prefer to go to task-specific upscale professional grade places. Tile manufacturers in the warehouse district, old house parts from Rejuvination or Hippo Hardware... you get the idea. Plus the Home Depot, while certainly not remotely as evil as a Wal-Mart, it is a big box that displaces the little guy. The problem is that I can't wait. The little guy takes the day off on Sunday. I must maximize each moment when Benjamin is asleep to accomplish tasks. Shockingly they had the miracle product Red Guard along with many many critical things to the bathroom project and mystery project #2. Those who don't know what Red Guard is, well, sit down and listen up. Nevermind. It's dreadfully boring but it will make my life much easier than the traditional product it replaces. So hail hail the Home Depot with its Sunday hours.

tired

i'm too tired to work out why my TAX post is mangled. Trust me I tried the logical things. If you try to highlight the negative space, you'll see the text.

TAX

Finished our '04 taxes for a

raucous good time! I can think of no deeper hell than paperwork, scrounging for old forms and deciphering the innane turbotax line of questioning. Some of it came to absolute guessing. Try and work this out.

Question 1: When did you arrive in California?
Question 2: When did you leave California?
Question 3: Prior to 2004, When did you arrive in California?
Question 4: Prior to 2004, When did you leave California?
and I'm not kidding...
Question 5: When did you arrive in California?
Question 6: When did you leave California?

And there were more along those lines. This was not an intelligence test, it was a sanity test... and I nearly failed. Luckily only California subjected me to this anguish. Thanks Ahhhnold ... I blame YOU.
I won't be back

The bathroom is underway... Wooohooo 

Gravity 

Nevermind the stunning beauty... this trail is architected for buttery speed and cosmic rhythm.  

B-dog on the singletrack. The previous Saturday, I bombed the SINGLEtrack on my SINGLEspeed. I'm enjoying SINGLE origin espresso vs. my usual blend right now. Simplify. Seriously... that's one good lookin' boy!  

Traveling the globe captured in a bean 

Little Maggie. NO we don't know its sex but Maggie will be code for our little person until July. 

Go

Go DEAN !!!

LazyBusy

Hell, it takes like 3 minutes to upload a photo but my laziness won today. Obsessing about my new portafilter and actually riding my bike. Life is 'aight. Will blog something real, complete with images, very soon. Until then... 5 seconds of news??? Hmm, sold some old shoes for $42 on eBay....woo

on the down low

I'm going to pull my jeans down low to expose my boxers in a lewd manner in protest. If I happened to live in the VA area, I'd feel it necessary to moon them. Has everyone gone mad?

Be like me

Why can't everybody be like me. A guest at the cafe insists on drinking drip coffee and 50% caffeine at that. So here I am to lay down this edict: Espresso is better than drip. Always. I understand that such a statement is usually considered an opinion but in this case it is a universal truth. Amen. If one must have a bloo'y driplike experience, be real and get an americano. Or, better yet, be a stud and get a depth charge. I know I know doesn't that contradict? Well espresso is always better, as per my edict, but if you take a coffee and add a shot ... well then, isn't that one badass drink.

I wonder what would happen if one ran freshly brewed coffee into an espresso machine. Other than the demise of the machine, what would it taste like? Would there be certain nuanced flavors that could be created with various beans, roasts, etc for both processes? No one should ever actually do this, it's just something that I wondered about for a moment.

So I skipped the promised mountain bike ride report so here's the short of it: The trail was nearly all singletrack with some easy rock sections but most of it was buttery goodness. It snowed on our heads along the ridge and we magically found the other part of the trail for something between Coe, the Creampuff and Drunken Bear. How else to day it: That sheo' was dope.

Syncline ride... all the action shots are video so we'll use this still life image. A much needed soul satisfying ride. 

Syncline

Did an excellent sufferfest on the single speed in the snow & rain. Superb singletrack and unusually open vistas for the forested Pacific NW. I bathed the six inches of exposed skin with Technu as poison oak is impossible to spot in winter when rolling at speed. Photos and real ride report to follow.

trouble

The boy escaped the crib at 23 months. So now we have to plan on the fact that he can get out. Not only that, he has mastered the doorknob. Uh oh. We have our friend with their 8 week old. Every time I pick Jack up I nearly throw him into the sky as I'm expecting 25 lbs or so, not 8. Amazing how they grow.

GoogleZon

Worth the 8 minutes of your life. These days of blogger will be looked back upon as quaint.

http://www.broom.org/epic/

Don't worry, the coffee and biking topics will resume shortly. Speaking of, I *just* had a full fat cappucino via the new technique and dayommm, if it's not the tastiest drink ever.

23 seconds... I shut it down at this moment. I know... focus focus... next time. 

15 seconds, beginning to blonde 

10 seconds into the shot, about 3 seconds of actual espresso. So much to learn! 

three words

Out for delivery

:^)