You Want How Much Money Just To Make Hot Water?!

About a month ago I wrote about using a Aeropress Coffee Maker and abandoning the old school drip coffee maker for my morning cup of java (the drink, not the programming language). I also mentioned that I had discovered that the old coffee maker got the water sufficiently hot, the recommended temperature being around 175° F. The thing is, it’s getting about time to replace the drip coffee pot. It’s starting to get hard water deposits in the tubing, the panel on the front that marks what each button does is starting to peel off. Plus, since it’s only being used to make hot water these days, it’s taking up unnecessary counter space. So I’ve been looking at electric tea kettles, which take up less counter space and essentially are built for making hot water and also have temperature control features.

Imagine my surprise when I discovered how much these damn things cost! The thing about my coffee pot I love is that it has a timer on it. I can pour in the water and set the timer for 5:00 AM and go to bed, and when I get up at 5:30 AM, there’s already hot water (or in the past, coffee) waiting for me. So far I’ve found one... one electric tea kettle that has a timer as well as temperature control.

Seriously? $250 to make a pot of hot fucking water? Sure, I’ve found some for cheaper, but they don’t have the timer nor a “keep warm” option. The model pictured above would be ideal, but sweet dear and fluffy Lord, why the fuck is it so expensive when all it does is make hot water? The coffee pot I have was only $20 and it has a time - ok, so it doesn’t have temperature control, but I don’t see how that in conjunction with a programmable timer justifies the price being 12.5 times as much.

I guess I’ll keep looking, or maybe just buy a less expensive model and one of those old school plug timers like folks use for their lights when they go on vacation and just plug into that. Or maybe I’ll just keep using the coffee pot to make hot water.

~ JC

Searchin’ For Research, Part 3: Reading, Notes and Note Apps

Now that I’ve chosen a topic, the next logical step would be to start gathering resources and reading; a lot of reading.  I really enjoy reading, so this shouldn’t be that big of a deal, right? What I am very quickly discovering (or rather re-discovering) is that reading for fun or general knowledge versus reading for research are very different. Reading a novel, or even a non-fiction book for fun or to gain knowledge of a topic involves sitting down and reading; that’s it. Reading for a research project, however, is a bit more arduous as I keep having to remember to stop and take notes on what I’m reading so that I can not only remember it, but also so I can properly cite that source later. It doesn’t help that, as much as I enjoy reading, I’m very slow at it -- I’ve never developed the skill of being able to read without sub-vocalizing the text in my head. If I try to scan for content, I either skip important facts, or I end up re-reading the same line several times anyway. Having to stop to notate what I’m reading (thank the gods for post-it notes) makes the task of reading take that much longer.

Speaking of notes, I remember back in highschool that the prescribed method was to create note cards, one for each source (duly numbered, of course) and then to use more note cards to take notes or write down quotes from said sources. Now, however, we live in a digital age with computers, smartphones and lots and lots of “apps for that”. This is a very useful thing, because now, if I quote or note a source, when I begin writing the actual paper, I can copy and paste instead of having to retype it all over again. The problem arises with this method of how to organize all of these notes.

When I began this self-imposed task of writing a research paper about the history of role-playing games and the effects they have had on modern society, I starting off using OneNote to make notes and keep track of my sources. It made sense at the time because creating a text-box for each note sort of mimicked using an index card. After awhile, though, these text-box note cards began to get somewhat jumbled and not terribly organized. It is at this point I recalled my former college roommate mentioning on Facebook an application/web service he had been using called Zotero. I love this service! I wish it had existed when I was still in college. I personally prefer the standalone desktop application, but it also has a web based version. It also, very handily, has plug-ins for both MS Office and LibreOffice, et.,al., so creating footnotes within a document are a breeze.

Zotero also makes keeping sources and notes in one place very easy as well as creating the correct formatting for a footnote and bibliography. Instead of having to have a document with my sources in both a bibliography format and a footnote format for future copying and pasting, not to mention the entries in OneNote with my notes and quotes, I can keep everything in Zotero with any notes attached directly to the entry for the source. When citing a source, all I have to do is use the plug-in in LibreOffice and select the appropriate source and enter the page number (if any) and it automagically inserts the footnote for me in the correct format for the style I have selected (in my case, I have selected Turabian style, but Zotero offers 6,463 different citation styles that can be downloaded and installed including Chicago Manual of Style, MLA, APA, etc.).

I had initially set a goal of completing this project for the end of September, but with all of the sources I have found and continue to find, I am shifting that goal to the end of the calendar year to give myself plenty of time to gather my research. One this is for certain; if I were still in school and had to adhere to a hard deadline, I’d be pretty screwed since I am horribly out of practice at doing this type of in depth research project. Still, I’m enjoying the challenge.

~ JC

Related Posts:

“Searchin’ For Research” (July 7, 2013)

“Searchin’ For Research, Part 2: Getting Started” (July 21, 2013)

Searchin’ For Research, Part 2: Getting Started

The first step in beginning a research project, of course, is to decide on a topic. Once the topic is settled on, finding source material and actually doing the research can begin. I would have thought that the internet would make doing research easier than it was fifteen years ago when I was in college. To a certain degree, that is true. The problem is, since I have decided to write a paper titled “Role Playing Games: Their History and Influence on Society”, the vast majority of what I’ve found in the way of information has been on the internet. Considering my topic and that I’m only writing the paper for my own enjoyment, that is probably fine, but there is always that concern about sources such as Wikipedia not being seen as trustworthy and accurate. Unlike the woman in the insurance commercial on television, I know better than to believe that, “They can’t put anything that’s not true on the internet.”

Internet research aside, I have also obtained, for the first time in years, a public library card. Of course, as I’ve mentioned, finding materials for which a library card is actually useful or needed has been difficult. Still, it is kind of cool to have a library card again and with today’s technology I can search the entire library system catalog from the comfort of my couch and request anything I need to be placed on hold and pick it up at the branch closest to my house.

So far I’m enjoying doing the research and tracking down sources. It has been so long since I’ve done something like this, though, that I am a little concerned about achieving my goal of having the whole thing written and posted by the end of the quarter.

~ JC

Related post:

“Searchin’ For Research” (July 7, 2013)

Coffee Has Become A Pressing Matter

Let us harken back to the days of yon; ok, let’s just go back to December 25, 2012, upon which date I received an Aeropress Coffee Maker as a Christmas gift. I had put this on my wish list because it seemed like a really cool idea to be able to brew a single cup of coffee without having buy an overly expensive machine that uses little proprietary premeasured packages. I was quite excited to get it, but I have to admit my first attempt at making coffee with it resulted in something more like coffee flavored tea. I tried again one other time a few weeks later, which resulted in a very good cup of coffee. The first attempt I simply didn’t get the water hot enough.

For the last few months it has sat behind the coffee maker untouched; that is, until last weekend when I decided to try a bit of experiment. As I mentioned before, my first attempt resulted in not having the water hot enough because I had tried to heat it in the microwave. The instructions recommend a temperature of 175° F. Using my electric hot pot worked much better, but it has not real temperature control (it’s either on or its off). I good electric teapot with programmable temperature is pretty expensive, so I decided to find out if the coffeepot itself would get the water hot enough. Thankfully, it does get the water to a little over the recommended 175° F.

The way the Aeropress works is pretty simple. There are basically three parts to the whole thing; the chamber, the plunger, and the filter cap.  The filter cap (naturally with a filter in it) attaches to the bottom of the chamber which is then placed on top of your favorite coffee cup. Using the included scoop, measure an amount of coffee into the chamber (for me, it’s three scoops since I use a fairly large mug). Pour in the hot water (the amount will depend on how much coffee you have used); let that steep for a few moments, give it a stir then put the plunger into the chamber and press. Voila! There are, of course, some other methods I’ve found on the internet for using the Aeropress in other ways which supposedly make a better cup of coffee than the prescribed method in the included instructions.

This won’t fill the mug to full. What you end up with is a really concentrated amount of hot coffee. What I do is top off the mug with more hot water, essentially making an Americano, but you could also use steamed milk to make a latte or cappuccino if you prefer.

My next step will be start trying whole bean coffee to figure how many scoops of whole beans I need to use to make the coffee strong enough.

The other great thing about using the Aeropress is that I don’t waste coffee. There have been plenty of mornings that I’ve made a pot of coffee (actually, I set it up at night and use the timer on the coffee pot so it’s ready when I get up) and only had time to drink one cup before having to head to work. Using the Aeropress, I make each cup fresh, so I don’t waste coffee by having to pour out the leftovers. Cleanup is also much faster as the Aeropress itself only really needs a quick rinse in the sink, and the coffee pot only had water in it.

So now, I get a better cup of coffee, cleanup is much faster and I can still use regular coffee instead of having to revert to instant if I just happen to want a one-off cup of coffee later in the day.

~ JC

Available from:

http://aerobie.com/products/aeropress.htm

http://aerobie.com/Products/aeropress_usa_retailers.htm