2016 Mobile Setup

My first taste of good notebooks, and my first taste of thin and light was with my Acer Aspire Timeline X 3820TG, which I feel was essentially the precursor to the Ultrabook. Extremely slim (for it's time), packed with a Core i5, loads of RAM and storage, a switchable GPU for extra performance, lots of connectivity, and an absolutely killer battery life for the time, it was a mobile workhorse and carried me handily through my 2nd year in college with lots of back and forth travelling. I fondly remember using it all day in class un-tethered from the wall running virtual machines, web browsing, writing, only to hop on the bus and blog for an hour during my weekend trips back and forth to Amherst. I'd get home to Amherst and connect it to an HDMI monitor and a wireless mouse, and it was like I never left my rig at my apartment.

Of course, with notebooks from that era (2010! Six years ago!) build quality, although pretty alright, was mostly plastic. Only business models like Thinkpads, or Apple products like the Macbook Pro were built to any extremely high standard. The Timeline was falling apart by the end of it's life in 2014. Had it still been in my hands at the time, it may have lasted longer, but that's in the past now. What we do see, and thanks to the Macbook Air, is a big push for higher quality, thin and light devices, all backed by Intel and their Ultrabook format. I decided in 2016, I wanted to finally get a notebook that would meet my needs for a high quality travel companion. My requirements are below:

Good screen: 13.3" or lower IPS LCD screen, 1920x1080 minimum.
Thin and light: Under 2cm thick.
Good build quality: Aluminum unibody, or very high quality plastic build.
Good keyboard: Typing shouldn't be a chore.
Adequate daily performance: It doesn't need to be a monster, but being able to handle my workload is a must.
Killer battery life: Seriously, I want that feeling the Timeline X gave me.

The choices very much came down to the Dell XPS 13 Skylake Edition, a loaded Thinkpad x260, or the above pictured device, the Asus UX305CA. I went with the Asus.

13.3" 1920x1080 matte IPS LCD
Intel Core M3-6y30 @0.9GHz
8GB DDR3 1866MHz
256GB SSD
Intel dual band 7265 AC wireless
3x USB3.0, MicroHDMI, SD card slot, combo headphone jack
45 Wh battery

Build quality is extremely good. The device is 12.3mm at it's thickest point, and constructed of aluminum. This makes it less thick than the 12 inch Macbook! It's not quite as light however, weighing in at 2.6 pounds. There's no real flex in the keyboard tray, or on the screen, and when open the screen doesn't wobble. It's amazing what 6 years can do for differences in build quality and engineering. The Aluminum build also helps a lot with heat dissipation, which is necessary because this is a fanless computer. For usability, the keyboard has a surprising amount of key travel for such a thin device, but there is no backlighting. This isn't a dealbreaker for me, so I won't complain too much about it. The layout of my model is the bilingual version, so it is a bit different than my keyboard at home, but I'm used to it. The trackpad is large and responsive, but they clicks can be a bit loud. Not a dealbreaker though.

For performance, the Core M3-6y30 is a device designed for low TDP devices like tablets and fanless notebooks. You may think this automatically makes this device slower than a ULV CPU or a regular CPU, but it's surprisingly zippy! From my research, it's not that far off burst performance wise from current generation Skylake ULV CPUs, which is helped along by the fact that this is a hyperthreaded dual core with a 2GHz turbo. Considering the aluminum build is great for heat dissipation, extended operation at 2GHz isn't an issue. I would easily put this on par with the Timeline X I had performance wise daily, but with the added benefit of solid state storage and more RAM. I won't lie, I was skeptical going into this, but spending some time doing my daily stuff such as installing and running virtual machines, web browsing, listening to music, and even playing some games (AOEII HD and Minecraft) I can say I've been very pleased with the performance overall! I still have some stuff to try out like basic photo editing, but I'm confident this is going to handle any mobile blogging needs necessary.

The screen is very impressive. The UX305CA also has a QHD touchscreen flavor, but the hit on battery life and system performance wasn't worth it in my opinion. On top of that, the matte screen on the 1920x1080 model makes this pretty usable outdoors too! Color accuracy should be good considering the IPS display, and although not professionally measured, I can say nothing looks off. Viewing angles are great as expected too. The adaptive brightness does a good job regulating, and maximum brightness is pretty eye-searing which should be awesome if I do any outdoor work with it. I find 1920x1080 on a 13" screen is a bit much at 100% scaling, but I did find that 125% was readable while still feeling like it was displaying a lot of information. 150% felt a bit too cramped in comparison. UI scaling in Windows has a ways to go, but it's mainly developers coding static UIs. At 125%, there are some applications that look fuzzy, but I can live with it. Anything I tend to use daily looks great.

For battery life, after testing for a few weeks, depending on workload, I can expect anywhere from 6-11 hours on a single charge. If I'm just browsing the web in bed, it's closer to 11 hours, where if I'm actually doing something like playing games or working with virtual machines, or watching a lot of YouTube, it's closer to 6 hours. This is still very much on par and even exceeding my Timeline X's battery performance. I'd love to see even longer battery life, but heck, the thing has a larger screen and still has better battery life than my tablet! Color me impressed.

If I was to list a weakness of the thing, it'd probably be the speakers. They're not horrible, but they're downward firing and a bit uninspiring. They're loud enough to fill a small room, but don't expect any real depth or richness from them, although clarity is on point. I would have also loved to see the M7-6Y75 model more actively available with my current configuration, but the M3-6Y30 is still plenty fast for my use case.

For accessories, I grabbed an MX Anywhere 2 from Logitech. I used to have a VX Revolution, but I recently discovered it's dead. I did what I could to clean the battery leads, and I even opened it up to ensure everything was connected correctly and there was no corrosion on any of the cables, but alas, it just would not power up. The MX Anywhere 2 drops a few buttons, and there's no middle click, but it does offer what I want in a mouse: Hyperscroll, side scrolling, forward and back mouse buttons, USB rechargeable, and a Bluetooth connectivity option. I've been pleased with the performance of the MX Anywhere 2, however my unit does have a defect. To switch between regular and hyperscrolling, you need to press down on the scroll wheel. This doesn't work 50% of the time, and requires fiddling with the wheel to get it to function. I would have liked to replace through Best Buy, but they're currently out of stock. I'll keep my eyes open, and if they don't get any stock anytime soon, I'll just RMA through Logitech, which always had great support in my past dealings with them.

I also ended up grabbing a notebook sleeve, as although the build is robust on the UX305, I'd still like to keep it separated from other things in my backpack. I don't have any current pictures of the sleeve, but I found a Kapsule branded one on sale at the Source which also included a few nice deep zippered pockets on the sides to store stuff like the tablet, mouse, charger, and any extra cables/drives I might need to take along. It's half decent looking too, so I may have photos up eventually.

Overall, this is a fairly impressive thin and light mobile setup that meets my needs for daily use! I'm pretty happy with my choices, and I hope they keep impressing me as I use them further.

Upgrade Plans: 2016

It's 2016. I've had my current processor and motherboard since 2010. That processor and motherboard released in 2009. I feel like a total scrub, but I'm using SEVEN YEAR OLD HARDWARE. And you know what? It's actually not that bad. You can definitely feel a bit of a performance hit in modern games, but day to day usage isn't hindered by speed. If anything, I really want to upgrade for newer standards, like USB3, SATA3, and M.2. The SSD is still plenty fast, but 120GB of storage is feeling cramped. So, I've set out with a few requirements in mind, and I think I hit most of them with my choices.

Larger SSD
Core i5 or better
USB3/SATA3/M.2
Dual Intel Gigabit LAN
SLI Functionality

I believe my final choices will be:

Intel Core i5 4690K
Gigabyte Z97X-UD3H-BK
Samsung 850 EVO M.2 250GB SSD
HP NC360T Dual Gigabit PCIe x4 NIC

Intel Core i5 4690K: This processor is a 4th gen Intel Core i5, which is considerably faster than my first gen i5. I'm opting for a K series unlocked CPU in case I choose to overclock in the future. I'm currently running my processor stock, so even at stock clocks it should be leaps and bounds ahead. Another great advantage to 4th gen processors is they still support DDR3 fully. Although it would be nice to grab a Skylake CPU, I don't really want to drop the extra money for a RAM upgrade. The 16GB of Mushkin Blacklines I have now will be plenty of RAM for the time being, though I may see myself expand to 32GB over time.

Gigabyte Z97X-UD3H-BK: After a lot of searching, this seems to be the board of choice. It supports USB3 (4 USB3 and 4 USB2 ports on board), SATA3 and M.2 (6 SATA3 ports with 4 usable while the M.2 slot is in use), and has on board Intel Gigabit LAN, even though it's only a single port. rounding that out, it fully supports SLI with 2x PCIe x16 slots (Running at x8 with 2 cards installed) and a 3rd PCIe x16 slot that runs at x4. Reviews are favorable of the on board sound too, with custom capacitors, and a decently loud built in amp. I'll likely retire the HT Omega Striker in favor of the on board audio.

Samsung 850 EVO M.2 250GB SSD: Affordable, fast storage, in the M.2 2280 format. Should save space and be a bit quicker than regular storage, and let me have plenty of breathing room for games that benefit faster loading times. I may decide to go with a regular SATA3 SSD if it's priced any cheaper, but right now this M.2 drive is in a pretty sweet spot.

HP NC360T Dual Gigabit PCIe x4 NIC: Since I couldn't find an affordable Z97 board with dual gigabit Intel NICs, I think the NC360T is a great choice for an add in NIC. Not only is it basically an Intel Pro 1000 PT dual port, it's also freaking affordable, regularly selling on eBay in the 30-40 dollar range. This is due to them regularly being pulled from off lease/EOL servers. I'm very pleased with it's performance in my ESXI box, so I can't see it being disappointing in my regular box. I could go with a single port, but for 5-10 dollars more, it makes sense to just grab a dual port.

At the moment, all in this upgrade should roll for under 800 post taxes and shipping, and I'll be able to sell my existing gear for a bit of cash to offset. If this lasts for another 6-7 years, I think I'll be pretty happy. The only upgrades I can see occurring after this are video card related, and it may just end up with me grabbing another GTX670 for SLI, or migrating into something completely different once the performance gap between my card and something newer is a bit higher. For right now, I can run 3 EVE clients at max settings pretty easily, and I can max out any Source engine game at 2560x1080 pretty easily. There isn't much that I play that would benefit currently from a new video card. If there's any more hardware upgrades, it's gonna be more monitors!

2016 Peripheral Update

I've decided to update my mouse and keyboard for 2016, as both the G9 and G15 were getting to be a bit long in the tooth. Specifically the G15, of all keys that could die, the F7 key kicked the bucket. This isn't so bad, but I do use it pretty regularly for EVE. I decided with a new board, I wanted to try mechanical switches. I also decided that macro keys and screens weren't a huge deal, and I wanted to keep it under 125 bucks (Amazon credit FTW). I also wanted a full sized keyboard with a pretty normal layout and normal key caps.

My pick was the Coolermaster Quickfire XT with Cherry MX brown switches. The browns are a good compromise between tactile feedback and quietness. I personally didn't notice a lot of difference initially, but switching between my work keyboard (membranes) and the Quickfire XT really showed me the difference. I find typing emails for extended periods of time at work tends to feel a bit more fatiguing, and the key presses just aren't as good. Gaming wise, the keyboard layout, although very similar to my G15, has taken some time to get used to. My guess is it might be due to the lack of wrist rest. Other than that, I find performance wise, it feels the same for gaming. Overall I'm happy with the keyboard. If I was to go back and re-buy with a bit more of a budget, I'd probably look at a model with back light, but everything else is perfect. This may come in the future anyway, and I may end up transitioning the Quickfire XT to work in favor of a Ducky brand board with back lighting.

For my mouse, I swapped the G9 with a G502 Proteus Core. With Logitech updating the Core to the Spectrum, and replacing the LEDs with fully customizable RGB ones, the Core got a price cut! I was able to score a pretty sweet deal, and got the Core for 30 dollars off retail. The G502 is pretty much the G9 evolved, and the evolution is perfect. The shape is very familiar, except extended in all the right places. The sensor is just as accurate. There's more programmable buttons. The hyperscroll switch is in a much better spot. I've heard complaints about the scroll wheel design, but I actually like the feeling better than the G9. I'm happy with the replacement, and I feel it's gonna last just as long.

Watch You Got There?

It's been a few months with the G Watch, so I figured I'd finally share my experiences with Android Wear, and the OG G Watch. For the basics, I'll start with the tech specs.

1.65" IPS LCD
400Mah Battery
Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 1.2GHz CPU
512MB RAM
4GB internal storage
Bluetooth 4.0, 9 Axis sensor (Accelerometer/compass/gyro)

Yep, that's right, watches now have processors and RAM. The great thing about Android wear is that it's pretty well regulated across the board, and even newer devices coming out these days have similar base hardware as the LG G Watch. The only real difference is stuff like speakers, additional sensors, screen tech, and design. Otherwise, pretty much everything you get will have the same internals. I'm happy to say although the G Watch is one of the oldest Android wear devices, it's still receiving regular updates, and recently just received 6.0 Marshmallow, adding doze functionality, along with some other tweaks affecting devices containing speakers, and it added some new gestures.

The adjustment period for the watch didn't take long. I was used to wearing my BM8180, so other than a slightly larger case size, and a larger strap, it wasn't a huge deal. It does take a standard 22mm strap, so it was very easy to find a replacement for the horrible white thing that was included. If I was able to obtain a black model for the same price as the white one, I likely would have kept the strap. I do still have it in it's box in case my new one ever fails. More on that later. As for similarities to my BM8180, well... It tells the time, and shows the date. Other than that, it's essentially just notifications on my wrist. It's very good at a few things - lists in Google Keep (Groceries!), controlling Google Play Music, setting timers, alarms, and reminders with voice. I even find myself occasionally replying with short messages using the thing. The voice recognition is surprisingly good, but that's to be expected from Google. I'll check the weather with the Google Now cards, get ETAs to and from specific places of interest, but most importantly, it's a fantastic notification filter.

For performance, it's always zippy. The 1.2GHz snapdragon, although rather old, is plenty fast for what the watch is doing. The interface is pretty constantly running at 60FPS, with very little stutter or lag. I've had one instance since starting to use the thing that it actually locked up on me, but it quickly recovered itself. For battery life - It really depends on daily workload/notifications. If I'm getting a lot of notifications, or checking things a lot, or heck, even playing a bit of Ingress, battery will usually end at around ~35% with screen always on and the basic digital watch face you see above. If it's a slower day, I can sometimes hit bedtime with 60% or more remaining. A 2 day stretch on battery is definitely possible, but would require minimal use or a low number of notifications. Overall, daily charging doesn't bother me, as I do have the dock right next to my phone's charger, which also gets thrown on the charge when I go to sleep. Charge time is about an hour.

For my replacement strap, I decided to reach out to Popov Leather again. I am still absolutely in love with my wallet I got from them, and the watch strap is no different. I did end up having to trim my strap and add an additional hole, but I don't think you can really tell. (I have what feels like dainty, un-manly wrists, and anything Popov Leather provides should fit the general population just fine!) Shoutout to Popov Leather, they provide a high quality, Canadian made product for a decent price. The strap also looks a heck of a lot nicer than the white one included.

Anyway, for anyone looking to check out Android Wear, find a watch on the cheap and give it a try. If you look hard, you can probably find a G Watch for around 100 bucks like I did! It's well worth the try if you enjoy any form of geekery. I hope to be posting a bit more over the next week or so, as I do have a few other new things to showcase, and some possible future plans to throw onto the internet as well!

Nexus Player, Ultrawide, G Watch?

We've had a Chromecast in the house for a while, and it's been awesome. Really easy to put stuff on the TV, and cheap too! When I noticed the Nexus Players received a price cut though, I couldn't resist. My one real complaint about the Chromecast was the fact that it only had 2.4GHz wireless. Wireless N helped a little bit, but unfortunately we live in a 16 unit apartment, which has a 2.4GHz wireless router in each unit... For something as sensitive as streaming media, that's a recipe for disaster. Although most of the time the Chromecast was good, you'd get good hiccups with HD content in the evenings when everyone was online. The TV we have has 5GHz wireless N, but it was still really slow and not at all a pleasure to operate. The Nexus Player however supports up to Wireless AC (2x2 MIMO), which is fast as hell, provided we have an AC router. (At the moment we don't but we'll take advantage of the 5GHz wireless N anyway). So, the Nexus player is basically a beefy Chromecast, with built in and downloadable apps and games, and voice search. It's a nice replacement, looks good, feels good, operates quickly. Let's just hope that Google doesn't plan to wrap up the idea of Android TV.

Also back to 3 monitors! I ended up getting a 25" LG Ultrawide for ~200 dollars as a birthday gift for myself. My GTX670 still pushes 2560x1080 about as well as 1920x1080, judging by game performance in Battlefield and Borderlands, and the extra screen real estate is absolutely awesome for EVE online. I'd love to add an additional one, but I really don't have the desk space. I'll likely end up just switching my 19" for another 21.5" and keep things like that.

Last but not least, I ended up scouring the internet over vacation for a G Watch. Yes, it's one of the first Android Wear devices released, but guess what? The internal specs really haven't changed, even with the newer, higher end watches. They all run on the same chipset, with similar battery sizes, and similar sized screens. The only real difference is the quality of the screen and watch case, and if it does or doesn't have GPS/heartbeat sensor built in. Considering the 100 dollar price tag, and the fact that wear has been receiving pretty regular updates, I figured it's time to see what it's all about. I hope to have some pictures and a quick review up sometime after it's arrived.

Long Time, No Update?

It sure has been a while since posting anything. I figured since I'm on vacation I may as well update a few things here. First off - The Nexus 5 is still an absolute monster of a phone. I fall deeper in love with it every day. It's now ~2 years old and I'd still consider it a flagship. Running 5.1.1, stock to the bone, it's absolute butter when it comes to the interface and day to day use. I can see myself being happy with this phone for at least another year or so. Battery is meh, but it does last a day. We'll see what Android M brings! By the looks of things, the Nexus 5 should be one of the first devices to receive it, and battery life improvements seem positive already.

The Shield tablet received Lollipop 5.1, which improved performance a ton - No more random lags in Chrome, or when switching apps. I likened the Shield to a truck prior to 5.1 - Slow to get up and running, but a beast once it started moving. Now it's more like a sports car - Super quick and super powerful. I can say the tablet is a pleasure to use, a pleasure to hold in hand, and it fills the hole that the Nexus 7 left when I gave it away. Maybe one day I'll get the controller and cover for it as well, but for now it's been great as just a media consumption device/web browser/kitchen assistant.

I've also started playing EVE Online. I think at some point I ranted about how I detest the idea of pay to play titles, but I can see the advantages now. EVE is fantastically complex and absolutely hilarious - The entire game is essentially PVP. It doesn't matter where you're at, there's always a risk of getting killed by another player. I do have a bit of an interesting take on the game as I got a fairly well developed character from a friend who stopped playing a while ago. You can check out my adventures by clicking this link here - I'll be updating it from time to time, hopefully with pretty screenshots. (Now dead)

My EDC hasn't really changed a lot. I've changed from the mechanic's ring to a dangler type system as I was finally able to find some cheap ones on eBay. I love supporting communities, but at 20 dollars for two P7 suspension clips? I'll have to pass. The cheaper knockoffs seem built just as well and I was able to get 5 for about 10 dollars, which is probably more than I'll ever use. The nice thing about the dangler is that it prevents things from just turning into a ball in your pocket and looking awkward. It's a lot easier to just pull out your key chain as well!

I was also considering switching out my MiniChamp for an Alox version, but thinking now, the most commonly used pieces on it are the blade, the file, and scissors... Which all exist on the Classic SD. So I might end up just grabbing a Classic SD in plain silver Alox and retire the MiniChamp to a first aid kit or something, where it might get a bit more usage. Silver is definitely a must though! It seems silly, but most of my other stuff that I carry in my pockets now is silver (Everything else on my keychain), and so is my Cadet. There's a lot else I'd like to add or change in my carry, but it's really not a necessity.

Anyway, that's about it for right now... I'm going to get back to enjoying my vacation, maybe play some EVE.

Popov Leather Card Holder

I did say I was replacing my Fossil wallet with something else. Here it is! It's a Popov Leather card holder in royal blue with cream stitching. They use a nice thick leather and high quality hand stitching. I couldn't resist grabbing this beauty when I saw they had a discount on top of their already clearance pricing for the older leather models. The wallet holds 5 cards in the main compartment and has a wrap around pocket for cash, notes, or smaller key fob loyalty cards. If you're looking for a quality hand made leather wallet, I can recommend Popov Leather.

Mobile Tech For 2015

Okay, okay. I know I did say earlier this month I was going to be sorting out my flashlight situation, but I had a good opportunity to replace my now non-existent Nexus 7. I had been looking for a while to replace it due to poor quality memory (Either controller or flash) causing the thing to be slow as dirt for multitasking. It served me well for 2.5 years, but ended up leaving me as a gift to someone else. As a result, I've been tablet-less since Christmas, and I definitely missed not having one.

I really wanted to replace the Nexus 7 2012 with another Nexus device. The first possible choice was the Nexus 7 2013 which improved on the 2012 in pretty much every way. The only issue though is at this point it's close to a 2 year old tablet, and the SoC (System on Chip) is getting a bit long in the tooth. A new 2 year old tablet started at 250 bucks, and there were better options for a bit more. On top of that, I wanted something just a bit bigger in the screen department. The next stop was the Nexus 9. Although it was a lot newer and faster, the 8.9" 4:3 screen was a bit of a turn off, and the price point felt a bit high for what you were getting in a device.

Final stop for my tablet search is what you see above. In my opinion, it's what the Nexus 9 should have been. It's the Nvidia Shield tablet. The specs are:

• 2.2GHz quad core Nvidia Tegra K1 w/ 192 core Kepler based GPU


• 2GB RAM


• 16GB storage (MicroSD expansion available)


• 8" HD IPS display (1920x1200)


• 5MP front and rear facing cameras


• 6700mAh battery


• 390g weight

Also included are dual front facing speakers, a stylus, micro HDMI output, and your usual array of connectivity options. The cherry on top of the package is it runs on stock Android Lollipop with a few Nvidia goodies baked in. I can't really offer much beyond initial impressions, but compared to my Nexus 7 2012 this device is night and day difference. I was initially fearful that the 8" size would be almost as unwieldy as a 10" tablet like my Transformer, but it I was wrong to be afraid. The 8" size makes it more appealing to grab compared to my phone when I'm looking to do reading or browsing. On top of that, it still retains similar portability of the Nexus 7, however I will need to look into a new sleeve for it.

The screen is considerably better and the resolution is exactly what I wanted. Though 2560x1600 would be nice, 1920x1200 is plenty high res for an 8" device. Color reproduction and contrast is good and there aren't any dead or stuck pixels. The back light is very bright, and goes down to very dim as well. The front facing speakers outperform just about any other tablet solution I've come across, making for good and clear audio even in noisy environments like the kitchen. Build wise it feels good in hand with no real flex or play. My only complaint with the hardware is the power and volume buttons. They're very shallow travel and take time to get used to pressing, but I feel I'll get used to this in due time.

Performance wise the tablet flies. I've experienced no real issues with lag or stuttering with normal multitasking. The specs on the tablet also ensure some future proofing, with the SoC currently being one of the fastest on the market when it comes to gaming and general day to day use. Although the tablet is marketed as a "The ultimate tablet for gamers", my reason for purchasing wasn't gaming. The device is arguably the ultimate 8" stock Android tablet on the market currently. My only issues with performance would be in regards to battery life, which is a bit middling. This is to be expected considering the SoC in the tablet. I can estimate I'd get a good 8 hours worth of screen on time for browsing and general usage, dipping down to 2-4 for gaming depending on the title. Standby drain however is pretty exceptional, dropping only about 5% a day idle. So for casual use, I could expect the battery to last a few days, but only a day if I'm using the thing constantly.

The Nexus 5 and the Shield make for a very powerful and very portable Android pair. I don't think I'll have many complaints related to speed in 2015, that's for sure. For now I don't plan on adding anything more beyond accessories. Perhaps a sleeve, the Shield cover, a Bluetooth keyboard, and perhaps the Shield controller. Just enough gear to make things a bit more usable while on the go. Later in the year, if I plan on blogging a bit more, I may add a Windows or ChromeOS notebook. There are some things that the notebook form factor and "non-mobile" operating systems do better, and content creation is one of them in my eyes.

February Coffee: The Roasters Pack and Parachute

It's been a dark few months... Cafe Eureka closed up shop due to lack of interest in exotic coffees in the surrounding area, and I haven't been able to find a really great local bean since. Any of the local retailers in Sackville sell some of the more locally available goodies - Just Us, Laughing Whale, Full Steam, etc. None of it features a roast date however, and none of it is really roasted to my liking. The end of January rolled around and I hadn't used any of my coffee gear since December, and I was really disappointed. A few slow evenings at work lead to some researching and reviews, and suddenly I was subscribed to two wonderful Canadian coffee subscriptions. Both very different, but both offering exactly what I wanted: A consistently fresh and good cup of coffee, with monthly variety.

First up, The Roasters Pack. The Roasters Pack curates three exceptional coffees every month, packs them in wonderful resealable bags, bundles them with some nice information on each coffee, and ships them express to your mailbox for $29.95. Now, The Roasters Pack is definitely more expensive than Parachute, however it gives me one of the major things I want: variety. You get three four ounce bags of coffee from a variety of roasters across Canada. The examples this month were fantastic: A Costa Rican roasted by Phil & Sebastian out of Calgary, a Colombian roasted by Bows and Arrows out of Victoria, and a Kenyan roasted by Anchored in Dartmouth! Each bag is good for about 5 cups of coffee (I use a 17:1 water:coffee ratio, and generally use about 20g of beans in a cup) which gives you lots of time to play with different brew methods or just dial in a great cup. I can safely say the tasting notes on each bag are pretty spot on! It's not overblown or outrageous, just well documented notes that come out in a proper brew. The included info cards are awesome too, and there are included discounts for each bag of coffee, which is shipped direct from roaster when ordered. For variety and quality, The Roasters Pack should definitely be considered.

Parachute Coffee is similar to The Roasters Pack, except they curate a single coffee each month and ship a 12oz bag directly to you for $25.00 flat. Parachute gives me 12oz of good coffee that I can reliably brew 15 cups out of. This month's coffee was a Costa Rican from Detour Coffee! Notes are smooth, buttery, tangerine, and I definitely get that in the V60. There's some nice brown-sugar, nougat-y flavors in there too. Parachute also includes some really well done info cards inside, giving you some basic brew tips, and the roaster's thoughts on the coffee. For something different every month at a reasonable price, Parachute is a good choice!

Goodnight, My Old Friend

I first purchased my Galaxy Nexus in February of 2012 as a hardware upgrade from my HTC Desire Z. I was really tired of the small issues with the Z, and found myself not using the hardware keyboard all that often. It was a big toss up between the Nexus and the Galaxy S II, however the newer, stock software and the HD screen ultimately won me over. From that point on it was my constant daily companion. Pictures? Handled. Scheduling? No problem. Games? Sure! The list could go on in regards to what functionality that phone provided me, but let's keep it short. The phone was hands down the best smartphone I've owned in my lifetime, though that doesn't say much.

In late 2012, the Nexus 4 was released. Although I wanted one, I couldn't justify it over my then speedy Galaxy Nexus. The glass back had durability issues, and the camera, battery, and screen weren't really much of an upgrade over what I already had. In late 2013, the Nexus 5 was released. This was what I could consider an upgrade, but again, the Galaxy Nexus was functioning fine, and I couldn't justify the additional cost, even though just about everything would be considered an upgrade over the Galaxy Nexus. Once again, my Galaxy Nexus was getting slower and less shiny, but was still a satisfying device.

Over the years many software upgrades were seen. The jump from 4.0 to 4.3 brought a slightly slower device, but more fun features. When 4.4 Kitkat hit, I was flashing the latest custom ROMs, as Google's support stopped at Jellybean. But things were slower. There's only so much that can be done with a now unsupported dual core processor from a now non-existent company and a gigabyte of RAM. In 2014, discovering Ingress, I found the phone was functional for the game, but overall the GPS performance wasn't great, and the battery was definitely suffering. Day to day performance wasn't spectacular for me either, with newer apps causing lag, and an overall poor multitasking experience.

In late 2014, the monster known as the Nexus 6 was released. Although Android 5.0 Lollipop was attractive, and the specs on the phone were amazing, a 6 inch device is a bit too big for me. So again, the Nexus 6 didn't cause me to leave my Galaxy Nexus. What did cause me to abandon the phone is failing hardware. The power button appears to have suffered from some water ingress, causing it to intermittently work. I could only take this for so long before deciding an upgrade was finally necessary. But what to upgrade to with the Nexus 6 being too large, and none of the common flagships supporting stock Android? I'd love to have a Play Edition Galaxy S4 or HTC One M8, but they're expensive and not easily available in Canada. Everything else felt like it had bloated software or silly features. Look at Sony's Z3C - The phone is perfect hardware wise, but the dated manufacturer's skin makes it less of a pleasure to use.

I quickly narrowed my choices down - I needed a phone that was affordable off contract (Forget a hardware upgrade through Bell... I'd be shafted by the pricing on the new plans), and one running stock, or close to stock Android. Ultimately, my choices came down to the OnePlus One, and the Nexus 5. The OnePlus One was a very new and very affordable phone, with flagship specs. Unfortunately, it's hindered by most things a new company has trouble with - Supply, quality control, and poor/slow support. They work (Or did at the time I was considering buying one) off an invite system. You need an invite to buy the phone, which most are either giving away sparingly, or selling. This is a bit hard to get a hold of, so one needs to hunt a bit to be able to buy the phone. On top of this, if you receive a poor device (screen problems, camera issues, etc), chances are you're going to be fighting with poor/slow support just to get a replacement. To top it off, the screen is 5.5", and after handling a Galaxy Note III (Approximately the same size), I determined it'd be foolish for me to own a phone that couldn't fit in my pocket.

So, process of elimination, the Nexus 5 was my choice. It's an upgrade in every way to the Galaxy Nexus, and I can openly say I'm pleased with my purchase. It may be over a year old now, but I can easily say it's one of the best performing budget smart phones on the market. A quick rundown of the specs:

• 2.3GHz quad core Snapdragon 800 CPU w/ Adreno 330 GPU


• 2GB RAM


• 16GB storage


• 4.95" True HD IPS+ display (1920x1080)


• 8MP camera with OIS (Optical Image Stabilization) and LED flash


• 2300mAh battery


• 130g weight

As soon as I received the phone I sideloaded the Lollipop update and was happily on my way. I feel I should have unlocked and rooted at the same time, but for now, stock is treating me well. Performance is better as expected with multitasking being very fluid - There's no noticeable lag switching between apps or opening games, and all the animations run flawlessly at 60 frames per second. Reception is definitely improved as well - The radios are much better than the Galaxy Nexus. I get better reception in areas at work that I never did before, and I rarely lose signal in our basement apartment. The camera, although not as good as some other flagships, still performs well for me. Color balance is natural and low light performance is decent, but not great. This still puts it way ahead of the Galaxy Nexus when it comes to shooting photos. To top it all off, it's thinner and lighter too, while maintaining the same approximate size. This means it still fits in my pocket great, and doesn't add any more weight to my pockets.

My only issues with the phone are the same that most have had with it. The battery life is a bit mediocre, although this definitely should improve when developers start implementing the project Volta API into their apps. The phone still gets me through a whole day, and on WiFi I can probably expect about 5 hours of screen time. On mobile data, depending on signal quality, 3 hours seems to be the norm.  Poor signal drives that number down of course, and even with the improved radios, signal quality isn't great at work. It's definitely enough to get things done though, and I'm never too far from a power outlet or my Anker. My other issue can't be fixed, that being headphone port placement. It's on the top of the phone, which makes placement in my pocket a bit odd. A minor nuisance, and I'll get used to it over time. My final small problems are software related, but should easily be patch-able in the near future. One being the current issue with Lollipop memory leaks, and the other being the camera/LED flashlight going non-responsive if the light is left on for too long. Reboots resolve this issue, and they don't come up too often, thankfully.

Overall I'm pleased with my decision. It's an affordable device that should last me at least another year or two, until a better sized Nexus comes out. I like it so much however, that it might end up staying with me until I wear it out.

Citizen EcoDrive BM8180: My Review

Watches have become a bit of a fascination for me. After reading into the subject more and learning the basics, I learned there's a lot more out in the world other than the digital Timex watch of my childhood. This research lead to a need to further study the subject, and perhaps start another collection of sorts.

My checklist for a watch was pretty simple. I wanted something that was minimalist and rugged, quiet, and most of all small, due to my wrist size. I definitely gravitated to Military/field style watches, with their simplified faces, basic date functionality, and Arabic numerals. Being my first real watch too, I wanted to keep the entry price fair, so I limited myself to under $150. I quickly narrowed it down to two. The automatic Seiko 5 SNK809, and the Citizen EcoDrive BM8180. After looking at how well each one kept time, the Citizen came out the winner.

The BM8180 is a very handsome watch with a black face and silver housing, which can work well with a variety of straps from metal to NATO. Depending on the strap, one could use this as a dress watch as easily as one does casual. The 37mm size fits well on a smaller wrist and the watch can accept any standard 18mm strap. The strap included is leather backed green canvas with brushed steel buckles and holes. Overall the strap fits well and wore in quickly. As for the watch itself, the build is superb. No loose crystal, no play in the crown, overall solid feeling. The watch is water resistant and should be fine for light submersion such as swimming, dishes, showering, etc. I have yet to try this, however I have no doubt it'll be fine. If there are any issues, Citizen does cover the watch for 5 years with their manufacturer's warranty.

One of the big draws for me for the BM8180 wasn't just that the watch met all of my above requirements, but also the fact that it's powered by Citizen's Eco Drive. The watch uses barely visible solar panels behind the watch face to charge the battery of the watch in natural OR artificial light. This means as long as you have a light source, the watch will continue ticking. Once the battery is fully charged, the watch will tick for a good 6 months in complete darkness before it goes dead! I'm not sure about anyone who reads this, but I normally see some form of light within a 6 month period. As for keeping time, the quartz movement has been exceptional, and I don't really notice any loss or gain in time after approximately 2 months of ownership.

The watch face is very minimalist. The hands aren't overly obstructive, except when they travel over the date, which is not a huge issue. The face does have basic lume on anything white, so all of the numbers will stay lit pretty well throughout the night, provided you've had a good day in natural light. The hour and minute hand are also very well illuminated, however the second had can leave a bit to be desired with just the tip containing lume. The second hand is ever so slightly off on my watch, however it's definitely livable. The movement is practically silent as well, unless you have it in your ear in a quiet room.

Overall, this watch does exactly what I wanted it to do - tell the date and time - and it does it well. It's a piece of tech that's been perfectly integrated into my life - I don't need to constantly remind myself that I have a watch on. I don't pull out my phone as frequently for time checks. It's a "fashion accessory" on top of that. It can function well for both my day to day and anything business related that may come up in the future with just a quick change of the strap. Knowing I have something on me that will just function without intervention is almost comforting in a sense. I have a feeling this is my first of many time pieces, but it's a hell of a nice first.



Here's a link to where I bought it - I did have some really steep discounts though, thanks to all of the promos that shop.ca has going on.

Phone Updated

Finally up to date when it comes to Android. Figured I'd do something productive today and update. Still using my Galaxy Nexus, I decided to wander away from stock again and picked up LiquidSmooth 3.0. It's based on Kitkat 4.4.2, making me up to date with the latest version. Along with LiquidSmooth, I also went ahead and flashed Fancy Kernel for some added quickness/stability. It was surprisingly quick too! I really could have done things just with the phone itself, considering I was able to install TWRP recovery from their app. After that, it was just a download of the latest ROM, Google apps, and kernel, boot to recovery, and queue up the files to flash.

My reasoning for updating is a bit silly. I was just tired of the OTA update notification, and too lazy to get rid of it. I suppose the added advantage of this is I get a faster phone with newer features. Lastpass, my preferred password manager, recently released an update for their Android app, allowing autofill to apps and Chrome. Autofill to Chrome was only supported on Android 4.3 or higher, so that's another good reason. Also, why didn't I play with DPI scaling before? 280dpi makes it feel as though I have a lot more room on my homescreen. May switch back to 320, but I'll give 280 a try for a bit.

Getting Started With Coffee

Coffee can be expensive. It's really unavoidable. There is a crazy number of brew methods on the market, and they all vary in price. What a lot of people don't see however, is that a quality setup is actually a lot cheaper than they think. My starting gear was a Hario mini mill, and an Aeropress. That was plenty enough for me to get bitten by the coffee bug, and it kind of ballooned from there. Of course, for someone just getting started, finding a solid source for what you need and don't need can mean a lot of reading. I decided to collate what I've learned over the past year and put it into one big post, to help others who are just starting.

Getting Started: The Gear

There are many different ways to brew coffee, some very cheap, some very expensive. I've decided to throw together a couple of pieces of gear that are multipurpose and easy to get the hang of.

Scale: Why is a scale important? You want to measure things by weight. Weight is the most constant way to measure something. The volume of coffee may change based on the roast level, size of bean, etc. What does this mean? A tablespoon of Colombian coffee beans is going to weigh differently than a tablespoon of Ethiopian beans. A scale makes your results more repeatable. Any scale will really do, as long as it's accurate. It can be gram accurate, or .1 gram accurate, it doesn't matter a whole lot when it comes to brewed coffee. The big thing is to make sure it weighs to an adequate weight, it's accurate, and it doesn't time out and shut off too quickly. You may also want to look for something that's quick. I recommend the above scale, the AWS-2KGA, mainly because it's pretty reliable, fairly cheap, and operates on either AC or battery. This makes it rather portable, but at the same time something good for the counter top. Bonus: Scales are great for baking too! Just like coffee, a cup of bread flour weighs differently than a cup of all purpose.

Grinder: Grinding fresh is very important with coffee. Coffee begins to "stale" as soon as it's ground. More surface area exposed means more rapid oxidization. Grinding fresh means a better tasting cup of coffee. Of course, you could go for a blade grinder, but that just smashes coffee inconsistently and generates a bunch of heat. Unevenly ground coffee leads to poor extraction, which means bitter and harsh coffee. A better option is a conical burr grinder. Good electric options are expensive, and you may not want to invest in that when you're just starting. Luckily, there are manual options. My recommendation is a Hario Mini Mill. It's slim and portable, grinds to a pretty wide range, and is good for about 30 grams of coffee. Grinding that much takes anywhere from two to four minutes, depending on how quickly you grind. The perfect thing to do while waiting for your water to boil. The plastic body is pretty durable, and the ceramic burrs grind consistently, and should stay sharp for a while.

Brew Method: As stated above, there are many different ways to brew coffee, all with different tasting results. I'll cut to the chase and just provide my recommendation of the Hario V60. It's a cheap option with the plastic cone coming in around 10 dollars, and it teaches patience with coffee. It can be a bit frustrating at first, however once you get a method down you can get some pretty fantastic results. The V60 can do anywhere from one to two cups, so it's even perfect if you want to share with someone. I'd recommend the plastic over the glass or ceramic, as you don't need to worry about heat loss, and the molding process seems to make more pronounced ridges than what you see on the ceramic or glass. Now, there are many different, more beginner friendly options than the V60. Something like a Clever dripper is basically set and forget, or you could even look at a Bonmac or Melitta cone. I believe the V60 is going to be the better option though, as it's going to teach you more.

Kettle: A vessel to heat and pour water is also a very important investment when starting coffee. Any kettle will really do, heck, even a 2 cup Pyrex measuring cup and a microwave is fine. My recommendation however is a gooseneck kettle. A gooseneck is going to give you a lot more control over the speed and intensity of your pour, which is something that's going to improve the V60 a lot, as it lets you control the speed of your brew. This carries over into a lot of other pourover methods such as the Chemex and Kalita Wave. A basic gooseneck is fine, and really not that large of an investment at about 35-40 dollars. Of course, if you want to combine your pouring kettle with your day to day kettle, Bonavita offers electric versions, both a basic one and one with variable temperature control.

The above is what I would consider a really good starting point for someone who is really interested in better coffee. The scale, grinder, and kettle are usable for other brew methods too, so you're not stuck with the v60 if you decide it's not your cup of
teacoffee. The above recommendations should come in between 100 and 120 bucks. Pretty serious, but when you think three of those four things you won't need to buy again, it's not so bad.

Getting Started: The Coffee

My biggest tip is finding a local roaster who roasts to order. Most of the stuff that's on a grocery store shelf has been sitting there for a while. A nice local roaster who roasts to order is going to be the biggest quality improvement in your coffee. Chances are pretty good too that the roaster you find is going to be very helpful in recommending beans to try. Most people in the business are very passionate about what they do, and love to talk about their product. What to choose? Blends, single origins, whatever, it doesn't matter. Just get fresh roasted quality coffee beans and you'll be fine. I'd recommend if you're buying, to get enough coffee to last you around two weeks, and no more than a month. Even in whole bean format, coffee still stales, and even a month is pushing it on the quality side of things. If you can buy weekly, do it. Oh, and try new things. The great thing about coffee is there are a lot of different areas in the world where coffee is grown, which leads to a lot of different flavor profiles.

Getting Started: Brewing

There are a few things you want to keep in mind regardless of your brew method, the first being your water source. Clean filtered water is going to result in a better cup of coffee, as you don't have to worry about chlorine or any other funny tastes mucking up the flavors of your coffee. Bonus: Cleaner water means a cleaner kettle. No mineral deposits, less cleaning. On top of clean water, you're also going to want to remember to rinse your filters, which has the added benefit of warming whatever vessel you're brewing into. Finally, keep in mind your ratios. You won't know what's perfect for you until you experiment, however for me, a 17:1 ratio is what I consider the best. What does this mean? For every 17 grams of water, I use 1 gram of coffee. Depending on your preferences, you might prefer a 16:1 or an 18:1. Heck, you might even prefer something completely different. Oh, and keep a timer/calculator handy. You have a smartphone, right? Perfect.

The actual process with the V60 is pretty easy. The technique is what takes time to master.

Weigh your coffee/heat your water: With the above setup, you can weigh your coffee right into the mini mill on the scale. While you're weighing and grinding your coffee, you can also start heating your water. The ideal grind size for the V60 is about the same as table salt. Grind your coffee and set it aside. By the time you're done that, your water should be boiling.

Rinse: Shut off your burner and rinse your filter (which is hopefully sitting in the V60 on top of your brewing vessel) with your now boiling water. Don't be shy, you can't over rinse. You're doing double duty by heating your brewing vessel and rinsing away any paper taste. When you're done this, empty your rinse water, set everything up on the scale, and zero it. Add and level your coffee, maybe making an indent in the center. You'll need to experiment to decide what works best for you. Don't forget to zero again.

Pour: By the time the above is completed, your water should be between 195 and 205 Fahrenheit. This is the perfect temperature range for brewing most coffees. You can start by adding a bit of water for a bloom. This is a pre-infusion that allows CO2 gas to escape from the beans, and wets them for better extraction. You'll probably want to start your timer when you start pouring. My recommendation is about twice as much water as there is coffee, however, use as much as is required to just barely wet the grounds. You'll notice the coffee is getting rather bubbly. This is a sign of freshness, and should be something to look for when brewing. Once your timer hits around 30-45 seconds. start the rest of your infusion. Slowly add water in a circular motion, being careful not to hit the sides of the filter, and try not to stay in the center. The addition of the rest of the water should take another minute or so, and your final brew time should be between 2:15 and 2:45. When all the water is gone from the filter, you should see a nice flat bed of coffee grounds.

Enjoy: Pretty self explanatory. Remove the V60 from your brewing vessel, and enjoy. Smell it, taste it. Fresh and properly extracted coffee shouldn't be very bitter, and you'll probably find flavors you don't normally notice. Keep in mind, coffee is a lot like wine, developing a palate can take a long time, however the results of a fresh cup are going to be noticeable even to a beginner.

Troubleshooting: It's inevitable that your first few cups with the V60 will probably be less than perfect. It's a big learning process, however keep in mind there is a lot you can adjust. Finishing the brew too quickly? Try grinding finer or pouring slower. Too slow? A coarser grind may be in order. Seems flat? Maybe your water wasn't hot enough. Try changing one thing the next time you brew, and see where it goes. If you're serious, try keeping notes as to what worked and what didn't. Once you develop your technique, perfect cups will start coming every time you brew.

The above post would really be what I was looking for when I started. Multiple sources and exhausting research can really turn someone off of something so great. Once you have the gear and a basic brew method down, enjoying good coffee on a daily basis is easy and fun. Expanding based on what you already have is easy too. I hope this helped you get started with coffee, and I hope to expand on this post at a later date.

New Coffee For March, And New Gear!

A new month, a new batch of coffee from Cafe Eureka! This month I was once again adventurous with my half pound choices. Along with my full pound of Ethiopian Kochere Teklu Dembel, I also grabbed half a pound of Yemen Mokha Mattari, a Colombian microlot grown by Jose Amir Medina, and some Flores Bajawa Ngura. I split an order with my friend Eric, so I also grabbed 25 grams of the Cuban Turquino from him. So far I've done the Cuban in the Chemex, which was fantastic - Very tea like peppery finish. I've also done the Ethiopian and the Yemen in the V60. The Ethiopian is very fruity with those nice hints of caramel and butter, with the Yemen reminding me of chocolate, smoke, stone fruit, and when cooling, a bit of grape. It's going to take a bit to get used to the v60, but overall it's fun.

On a side note, I've also received my Eight Ounce Coffee order. I'm not pretty well kitted out as pictured above. I don't think there's a whole lot else I want right now. As you can see above, I have a Bonavita gooseneck (from what I've read it's actually more accurate than the Hario, and cheaper to boot), a plastic V60-02, an Aeropress, an 8 cup Chemex, a french press, a Bodum Santos vac pot, and of course my AWS 2KG scale. I might replace my current press with a Bodum Chambord or an Espro, but beyond that I think I'm set for gear until I hit espresso, which won't be until we find a larger apartment.

New Coffee Gear Soon!

Another year, another bonus. After bills were paid, and a new laptop purchased for Karyn (RIP Timeline X, you will be remembered), I had a bit of cash flow left over for some things for me. Not quite enough for something like a new ultra-portable ultrabook, or a Nexus 5, but enough for some of the coffee equipment I've been looking to get a hold of. This should really do me over until I start looking at serious espresso, which should be no time soon.

I've ordered an 8 cup Chemex (pictured above) along with the filters for it, a Hario V60-02 in plastic with the filters for it, and a Bonavita gooseneck kettle. The Chemex and the V60 are both pour over methods of making coffee, however they offer widely different results. The Chemex filters are much thicker and remove a lot more sediment, and the pour is generally more foolproof, whereas the V60 filters and design rely a lot more on pouring technique when it comes to the result of your brew.

Also, a quick shout out to Eight Ounce Coffee here in Canada. It's been my pleasure to deal with them for any of my coffee gear! It seems as though every time I order I find a little issue, and of course this time was no different. This isn't a bad thing though, as their customer service is fantastic. When I ordered, Paypal was able to complete my purchase, however the website returned an error. Jen from Eight Ounce Coffee promptly replied to me, offering a technical explanation of the issue, refunding my Paypal purchase, and advising me to redo my order. For my issues, she said she'd throw in some free swag! No issues with that at all. However I do have to wait for Paypal to clear the funds, which will hopefully be Monday. Really looking forward to receiving my Chemex, V60, and kettle. Hopefully I can get some pictures up of the brewing process.

In Gaming: Battlefield 4 Updates, Pokemon, And Titanfall Beta

Lots going on in gaming for me over the past few weeks, including playing a fair bit of Team Fortress 2 and Counter Strike: Global Offensive. These are great games that are quick to pick up, easy to play a round or two, then put down. Nice for those nights where I want to play something, but I don't have a lot of time. I've also been playing Far Cry 3, but that's another post.

DICE has recently decided to make things better with the community and try to make up for the rocky release of Battlefield 4. They've declared February to be player appreciation month, and have been running events, doing open communication with the community, and getting feedback on balancing. I honestly thought the game wasn't really rocky to begin with, but this is coming from someone who played Battlefield 2142 for a number of years. It's nice to see DICE engaging the community, and balancing/fixing things. They've also announced that the Second Assault DLC will be available Tuesday, February 18th for premium players, and Naval Strike, the next DLC will be out sometime in March. With the release of Naval Strike, they're re-imagining titan mode from 2142 with the game mode carrier assault. This is pretty exciting. Along with this comes 5 new weapons and a few new gadgets. New weapons are always nice to see in game, and here's hoping DICE keeps it up for all of the future DLC releases.

I've also picked up a 3DS! Pokemon was just far too attractive a title to pass up, so along with the 3DS, I grabbed Pokemon Y. As for the handheld, the hardware feels well built, it's easy to use, and the battery life is very reasonable. Karyn has been using it for Nintendogs, however I've been going pretty hard on Pokemon. They've added a lot of new stuff in Y to make it a lot more user friendly, however there is still that sense of nostalgia when playing through the game. The online features are well implemented (Wonder Trade, anyone?), as is Pokebank (cloud storage for your Pokemon, AND a way to migrate Pokemon from older games to X/Y). I've put a fair bit of time in so far, and still haven't become bored with it. Hopefully it stays that way!

Titanfall beta is also out. Looks like a pretty solid game, hope to play some of that today. Ended up getting a beta key from a friend. The game is basically 6 vs 6 multiplayer deathmatch with bots. Players can call in "Titans" to fight in, which are giant mech suits. From what I can tell, controls look pretty tight, and it looks like a gorgeous game. Surprisingly, it's based on the Source engine too. Perhaps I'll post up my impressions.

New Coffee For February!

I may not have mentioned in previous posts, but I've become a bit of an enthusiast when it comes to specialty "third wave" coffee. This all started with beans from The Black Duck downtown, a Hario slim coffee mill, and an aeropress. It quickly snowballed, and now I have a bit more gear, including a Breville smart grinder, two french presses, a pour over, and a Bodum Santos vacuum pot. The Black Duck beans got a bit boring after a while, so in typical Jon fashion, I went to the internet. After a bit of searching, I came across Cafe Eureka out of Moncton NB. Denis, the roaster, has a wonderful collection of coffee oddities, ranging from Californian to stuff from the Canary Islands, along with all sorts of single origin beans from many different countries. I had a relative pick up a bag of his Columbian Flor de mi Tierra, and well, the rest was history. Denis roasts to order, sources quality beans, and is very passionate about his work. It definitely shows in his finished product.

This time around, I picked up a pound of Ethiopian, which was has been blowing my mind, along with half a pound of Chinese (This particular coffee is the first from China to obtain specialty designation), and half a pound of Sumatran. I tend to order a pound of what I know is good, along with half a pound of two other coffees to try. If you're at all interested in high end single origins, I'd highly recommend checking out Cafe Eureka and putting an order in today. It won't disappoint.

Dropbox Screenshot Sharing

Seriously, how did I not know about this earlier? This was apparently included in the Dropbox update in September of 2013, however I just noticed it last week. It's pretty darn easy to share screenshots now with Dropbox. You can now set it up under the Dropbox preferences import tab to automatically save any screenshots taken to your Dropbox folder when you press the print screen button. Holding down the ctrl key while pressing print screen will copy the link to that screenshot to your clip board for sharing. You can even add the alt key in there and it'll only screen shot the active window (as usual with Windows, of course). This makes things a lot easier in regards to sharing screen shots with friends.

If you're interested in signing up for Dropbox, and taking advantage of screenshot sharing, automatic photo upload, and just a good general purpose online file storage, use this link, and we'll both get some additional storage space!

Molasses Oatmeal Bread

It's winter, which means it's cold. On top of that, I seem to have contracted a bit of a head cold, which isn't fun at all. This spells out one thing - COMFORT FOOD. I was originally going to make just Boston style "baked" beans in the slow cooker, but it isn't any fun eating just beans. Wait a minute, what am I saying... I love beans. Anyway, what goes well with beans? What other than fresh molasses oatmeal bread?

Beyond the resting, this went together in almost no time in in the Kitchenaid. The dough is slightly tacky, but very workable. The oats give a lot of body to the loaf, and the molasses adds that bit of sweetness. It's a perfectly moist, tender loaf, great for butter and honey, or even just dipping in baked beans. You can grab the recipe from About here, and as a note, I did leave out the cornmeal, and the recipe does half fantastically!

Linux Server Golden Image

As stated in my previous posts, for my lab and internal network infrastructure, I'm using mostly Linux bases servers. They're pretty reliable, low maintenance, low footprint, and they do the job without a GUI. Of course when I'm spinning up a new server every day or two for testing purposes, configuration can get a bit repetitive. To make my life easier, I've decided to create a "golden image" of my currently preferred server distro, Ubuntu Server 12.04 64 bit.

To create this base server, I've thrown together a virtual machine in VMWare Workstation. Standard version 9 virtual machine, 1 core, 512MB of RAM, and a 20GB hard drive. The next snapshot will include the removal of non essentials like sound card, USB, etc. Once the machine is created, Ubuntu Server 12.04.3 64 bit is installed, and configured with a default username and password, along with the SSH service. I don't set a static IP at this point, as I've created a script to take care of that and placed it in the home directory, along with a script to check memory usage.

Once the base install was complete, I installed VMWare tools and Webmin, and called it a day. Once it's shut down, I created a snapshot in Workstation and made notes as to what was done to the virtual machine, which basically prepped it for upload or cloning. To actually upload to my ESXi box, I just use the VMWare Standalone Converter, and make sure to adjust RAM amounts depending on the tasks the VM will be handling, and also set the disk to thin provisioned depending on what disk it will be sitting on.

This whole process takes a lot of the work out of creating/deploying scenarios and new labs, which is great. This, along with my golden image of Server 2012 R2, and I can have labs up within half an hour. Minus the configuration of course.