Over Caffeinated

My former boss was a professor from Italy, who started up a software company during the boom years. The man use to mainline espresso like it was going out of style. He must have averaged at least 6 or 7 doubles a day, and that might be a conservative estimate.

While the company ended up going under, I developed a taste for espresso drinks during my time there. So when I started consulting and working out of my house, I use to hit Starbucks on a daily basis to get my Java fix.

After a while I realized it made more economical sense to purchase my own espresso machine and make my own drinks at home. I figured I would end up saving a nice chunk of change by not handing over $3+ a pop everyday.

It was a smart move as I would go to the local coffee shop weekly to get some beans ground. This worked out for a while, but I wasn't entirely satisfied with the espresso I was producing. Then I started reading some of the coffee forums, and realized I needed a grinder as well. And not just an ordinary grinder, but a quality burr grinder.

After months of going back and forth on which grinder to get and trying to justify the hefty price, I finally gave in and puchased one last week. It arrived today and thanks to the Internet I picked up a bunch of tips on how to use it.

This afternoon was spent trying to find the right grind settings with some fresh roasted beans and sampling the output from the espresso machine. I must have gone through almost a half of pound of beans, but it was worth the effort. The grinder with fresh beans has made a world of difference and the result is a much better end product so I am very pleased with my new gadget and also over caffeinated at this point.

I hope it doesn't affect my sleep tonight as I plan to run a 2 mile road race in town tomorrow morning.

Training wise, I put in a steady 9.55 miles this morning. I planned to run the local golf course and made it down one of the holes before realizing it was open. Not wanting to get hit by a stray golf ball and get in trouble with the country club, I cut out and made up my route as I went along. This is one of the benefits of having a Garmin Forerunner.

Hope everyone has a great fouth of July holiday.....