coffee maker

over a week ago, i broke the carafe of our coffee maker. such a tragic loss... not really. i've had this little coffee maker for a good eight years, and i believe only used it a handful of times. if memory serves me correctly, it was used when my old roommate came back from hawaii and brought with him some kona coffee. after about a month, i believe the coffee maker went back into the cupboard. for 8 years, i've lugged that little 4-cup coffee maker from my digs on valmont, to aurora ave, to the hill, portland pl., penn st in denver and now in east denver. i think in the eight years i've had it, it's seen more action in 4 weeks living in our new home than it did in the 8 years i had it in boulder. i didn't even know what make it was until we bought our new one and i looked at the label- GEVALIA.

so. yesterday the fam went to bed bath beyond for a new coffee maker and a present for our friends who are getting married next week. we ended up getting a braun, 10-cup coffee maker. simple, black, with a glass carafe- 19.99USD. we were teetering on getting a 69.99USD coffee maker that was programmable so we could set it up the night before and have fresh coffee when we woke the next morning. the only thing is, we seem to do most of our coffee drinking during the week. and for me, i have coffee available to me at the office; and lately, have been drinking green and peppermint tea. so we settled on the cheapie coffee maker, i mean, it is only coffee.

birthday?

i know it's been a while since i rapped at you (borrowed that from the onion). anyway. i'm usually not one to toot my own horn, but as my friend britt has tried to, and p has done this year, it's my birthday on 09.16. not expecting anything great, but turning 31 seems like a breeze. got settled in a house and the kiddo is growing up quite nicely. my dad has given him his chinese name: 郭 文 彬
‘文質彬彬’ means elegance and solidity equally combined.

It is in Confucius writing ‘論 語 (lun yu)’
子曰：「質勝文則野，文勝質則史。文質彬彬，然後君子。」

zi yue : [zie2 sheng wen3 ze ye3
wen3 sheng zie2 ze shi
wen3 zie2 bin bin
ran2 hou jun zi3]

The Master said: “Nature outweighing art begets roughness; art outweighing nature begets pedantry. Art and nature well blent make a gentleman.”

Another translation
Confucius said
“when substance overshadows refinement. There is the coarse man. When refinement overshadows substance, there is the court historian, When substance equates with refincement, there is the gentleman.

so. it's been over a month since i've blogged. it's been a crazy month, kind of. whirl wind of a move. wouldn't have been possible without some really good friends... and some even made the trip down from boulder. big shout out to poakadizi and z from b-twon. also on the list of thanks goes to cousin dave, rob, jay, jeff and p's mom and dad. anyway. the move was crazy. i thought i had a good handle on the packing, but boy was i wrong. rented a 14ft truck for 5 hrs, which wasn't enough... ended up packing the equivalent of 10 carloads after that uhaul trip once all said and done. ridiculous. and this was after jason and his little brother helped out the night before moving 5 of our 7 bikes and multibple sets of wheels.

but. we are in our new house and p has put up a few pictures around the house. yet to find a home is the painting liv gave me for taking her to a radiohead concert years ago. but, the first piece of equipment to be installed was the stereo system... the day after we closed on the house.

okay. i'm all over the place. the house is in a great location. just 2 blocks north is the sledding hill and beyond that the future huge park that's going in. then, 5 blocks to the east is a small town center with a few restaurants, our bank, a walgreens and a grocery store. it's definitely nice to have the grocery store, but it's kind of schwaggy. i like the wild oats and whole foods action... more wild oats out in golden, but whole foods does quite the good trick. then, 2 blocks to the south of us is a swimming pool. unfortunately, we were unable to take advantage of the pool... but next year, watch out. aiden's going swimming as much as possible. there is also a baby pool around the block, but haven't quite located it yet.

other than that... life is traveling along at a good speed, except for the work. it's a drag. closing out the project is more difficult as time passes to get excited about it. tedious work and looks like i'll be on the project until the end of the year. good job security, though... and i think i'm doing a good job. the project manager has dropped a good job ever here and there, so sounds like i'm getting forward progress on my work.

okay. i guess that's a wrap, for now. more pix of the kiddo coming up. damn he's cute. and very well mannered. can't believe it. getting him to bed is a dream now... hang out and let him hold my finger and after a few shushes, he's out like a light.