holidaze

Holiday festivities are in full force, so I blog today from GlaskyHQ in Alpharetta, GA. Not too far of a drive, but far enough away from the city to make you feel that you're on vacation (as long as you ignore the Best Buy, Chilis, every other chain imaginable, and the mall on your exit off the interstate). No other blood family exists in the southeast region for us, so it's usually a pleasant party of four. The Muckerman family lives just around the corner, so there may be a planned rendez vous at the movies tomorrow.

Before arriving in suburban north Georgia, the Octane holiday party had us all in good spirits at Tony & Diane's pad. Delicious food from my lovely ladies Alyssa and Larisa... cheeses, teriyaki tofu squares, olives and sliced prosciutto and salami (maybe?), and some killer two-bite fudge cakes. Aside from the eating and drinking, we all take part in a White Elephant gift exchange every year. Everyone brought great stuff this time, so stealing became a habit. I'd say the Clapper that Aly brought was definitely a highly coveted item (mostly by Tony), but T&D put together the most sought after gift around. Seeing how a majority of Octane employees are either smokers or enjoy fine tobacco, they put together a box of VERY nice smokes from the Chicago smoking lounge Marshal McGearty. I've read that M McGearty smokes are being pushed in a test market in Seattle, which would explain Diane's ability to get her paws on some (she's out there often visiting her sister in Portland). In the exchange, I ended up with Dirty Dancing on DVD, pair of cardboard box speakers from MUJI, and a gift certificate to the local indie music/book store.

The best gift, though, was a gift to Octane. M'lissa and Curt (a shop friend and fellow coffee enthusiast) presented to us an hat for the Linea- a PID. A Proportional, Integral, Derivative devise that will allow us to monitor the temperature inside the boiler so that we are never pulling shots below our optimal temperature. I went by the shop this morning on my way up here to get a look at the beaut in action. M said that even after just three shots in a row, she was already noting a drop in temperature. I'm looking forward to learning about Linnie's swings and how to keep ourselves as baristas more consistent.

Until the shop opens up again (as we are closed for the holidays), I'll be playing the Wii with the family, eating plenty of coffee cake, and snapping some photos with the Holga. Pictures to come soon.

Merry merry, everyone.