Classic

Happy Halloween

scarves up

We went to the Sounders playoff game against the Houston Dynamo last night at Quest.  Tickets sold out in 30 minutes so they opened up 3,000 more seats, which also sold out.  The atmosphere was crazy, but the game itself was a different story.  Bad officiating and bad play by the Sounders made for a not so great game.  We squeaked out with a 0-0 draw.  We play the Dynamo again on November 8th in Houston. The winner will go on to the next round.

Check out this video of the guys!  I think it was my favorite part of the night.  I can't decide if I like Freddie or Sebastian's performance better!

Pay It Forward

Another botched post title. I thought this had to do with paying for an investment that will pay for itself in the future. Wikipedia tells me Ben Franklin described it as helping someone financially on the expectation you will not be repaid, but the person you helped will help someone else in the same fashion in the future. Well, considering this is an old post about a coffee machine, I suppose I should be embarrassed.

Seattle turned me into a coffee drinker, and not a tough-ass black coffee (known as "drip" coffee in Seattle) drinking truck driver type but a latte drinking one. What you may not know is the coffee stereotypes don't apply in Seattle, although they do apply to Seattle (compare this map to this map). For example, in Seattle, I may be the a "normal" sort of latte drinker because I only go for the non-fat latte (a.k.a. skim milk). My brother scoffs at me for drinking "non-fat", as he drinks 2% or whole or whatever they give when you ask for a tough-ass latte, but, since he still introduces me as his bigger little brother, I'll let it slide. Anyway, non-fat or not it's expensive. I bought a crappy home espresso machine and thought it was cool for a while. Then the high of saving money wore off, and I realized just how crappy my coffee was. So after a year or so of that, I stepped it up to a setup that would take ~250 lattes to break even, and I made it.


Say hello to Rocky (left) and Silvia (right). Apparently they are named after Giorgio's kids. I don't have any kids. I have a dog. A dog who, by the way, does not know how to make coffee or fetch beer.


Yeah, that's the one.

These Bearings Are Making Me Thirsty

I thought the title to this post was a funny Christopher Walken, Saturday Night Live reference, so you can imagine how upset I was when Google informed me it was just a Seinfeld reference (FYI - Google identifies its name as a proper noun and will call it out as a spelling error if not capitalized. I thought it was also a verb, but maybe we have proper verbs these days too). However, I had convinced myself of the title's hilarity for about a day and half prior, so I'm sticking with it, since I could think of nothing better before completing this paragraph. Don't get me wrong, Seinfeld was good, I just wasn't a big fan. I'm more of a Curb Your Enthusiasm kind of guy. In fact I was reminded of a Curb episode during the PE exam because I had to turn in my exam to the proctor every time I had to take a whiz (is this the proper use of the word whiz? or is it wiz?), and there was a security guard exam guy sitting outside the restroom to make sure no one talked or cheated. He was giving me some looks by my third trip, sort of like Richard Lewis' girlfriend, but coffee, Mt. Dew, and nerves have that effect on me.


I got these Swiss Bones Bearings as a Christmas gift, but, due to many circumstances, including too much work, hurting my knee, and studying for the PE, I did not skate them until yesterday. Now that I've tried them, I can say they are the shit. Thanks, Mom and Dad Miller. They're sort of like a rockered snowboard -- super fun it you know how to use it but dangerous if you're off your game and off balance.


I also purchased a bearing press, as fine swiss bearings require a precision, square setting. Otherwise, it's like buying a Porsche and putting snow tires on it, which is a comparison I first heard in reference to Jay Cutler (Porsche) and the Bears wide receiving core (snow tires). Speaking of the Bears, what the hell happened today? Why are the Broncos undefeated and people talking about Kyle Orton and Cedric Benson as MVP candidates. Whatever, at least it's not Favre.

PE?

That's no carry-on; that's the biggen. Probably would have cost $200 to fly it, too.

These are the books I brought to my professional engineering exam yesterday. Overkill, I suppose, but I did use most of them. I also learned that of the four foundations engineering references I did bring, I could have used a fifth. Anyway, eight hours later, I have to wait 3 months to find out if I'm a professional anything. Screw this, I'm going to Hawaii.

Listen to the Hand

While this post is late, the call was not. Happy birthday, mom.

four years

Leavenworth Oktoberfest

We went to Leavenworth this weekend for Oktoberfest. We went with the Gibsons and the Rices. We all camped out at the KOA. The night time temperatures were really cold, but it was a lot of fun. And a lot of beer and sausages and polka music were had by all.