i love coffee. i really do. but when i make it at home, it almost always tastes terrible. so when we moved to our new house, i threw out my old hand-me-down coffee maker and decided to buy a new one.
i got a new coffee maker at target, along with a coffee bean grinder, because i heard that it's impossible to make good tasting coffee at home without grinding your own beans. i also did some research online about how to brew a good cup of coffee, and i consulted a friend (who is a manager at starbucks) to find out if i could get some inside secrets.
she told me that i have to make sure i have the 4 fundamentals: grind, water, proportion, and freshness.
i was still somewhat confused so i checked out several websites for guidance. basically this is what i need to do:
-buy un-flavored coffee beans (they said order them from a company that just sells coffee beans, but i'm too poor so i will be getting them at the grocery store)
-use filtered water (from the brita)
-buy unbleached paper coffee filters
-clean coffee maker and carafe thoroughly after each use
-store coffee beans in an air-tight container in a dark, cool place (not the freezer)
-grind coffee beans just before making coffee, only grind what you will use right then
-grind 2 tbs. of beans for each 6 oz. cup of coffee
-stir coffee before serving
as soon as we get a sink in our house i am going to try doing all of these things. i'll let you know how it goes.
ever since i've been in arizona i haven't been wearing my contacts as much as i used to. they hurt like crazy, and i blamed it on the lack of humidity in the air. even when i opened up a brand new pair of contact lenses they were still terribly uncomfortable.
lately i had been having trouble reading street signs, so i decided it was probably time to go to the eye doctor. i had thought that my eyes had gotten worse, because that seemed to be the trend the last 15 years of my life, however, they got better! i went from a 4.25 to a 4.00. and i was very excited.
i told the eye doctor about the problems i had been having with my contacts, so she suggested i get O2Optix lenses. they came in yesterday and i just wore them for the first time today and i must say- they are AMAZING! i can't even feel them in my eye. http://www.o2optix.com/about.shtml is their website. they even have a guarantee on there that you can return them for a full refund if they're not the most comfortable lenses you've ever worn.
moral of the story- if your contacts are uncomfortable, get these.
going to school in the summer just isn't right. it also isn't right to have classes twice a week from march to september with no break- 24 straight weeks of class is pure torture.
i'm just upset that i can't be in chicago w/ jon this week. i know, i'm going next week, but i wanted to be there with my boyfriend. and i don't like staying home alone by myself in the new house. it makes scary noises at night.
i have 8-week terms of grad school. this week i just started a new term, my classes are Characteristics of Students with Mental Retardation and Strategies for Teaching Students with Mental Retardation. i couldn't go to chicago this week because i didn't want to be the "bad student" who misses the first class. although, only 6 out of 13 of my classmates actually showed up tonight, so i wouldn't have been the only "bad student". but seriously- classes on the evening of july 3rd- that's just un-american. shame on my christian university for not supporting our country. please note my sarcasm.
back to my new professor.... she seems nice enough, but apparently she hasn't gotten the memo that you won't be fired if you deviate from the syllabus and she is assigning us EVERYTHING. i'm missing next week's class b/c i'll be in chicago, but i don't want to take any of my work with me, so before thursday at 4:30pm (that's when i have to leave my house to get to my other class- and after that i have to finish packing and leave my house at 4:30am the next morning to get on the plane)- i want to have the next two weeks' assignments done. but that means reading 4 chapters, writing two 1250-1500 word essays, two 500-word essays, two 150 word journals, and somehow contributing to my collaborative learning community group project. ugh.
i'm sad. i want to be in chicago right now drinking a beer at buffalo wild wings with everyone. instead i'm going to microwave a lean cuisine panini, open a can of cherry coke zero, and crack open the books for a long night of grad school fun.