i am a new member of the barista guild of america. what a barista is, few know. what we need our own trade association for, even fewer would understand. i definitely see a need for such a community, but since it is still a fairly new entity, we are still trying to figure out who we are and what we are doing. after processing the thoughts i've had the past couple of weeks, i posted this this morning on the bga discussion forum:
[quote="trish"]
I hope that the BGA will be about coffee education and free exchange of ideas not about "how do we please the judges".
um...
please bear with my analogy...
i am a week old bga member. for a long time i dabbled in spirituality, but now i have joined an actual church. i am a card-carrying barista. what does this mean? since i have been a barista for years, my actual role and job description does not change. but now i guess i feel a new obligation to the masses (evangelism) and to the brethren (discipleship). i have visions of crusading through the coffee shops of virginia, dc and maryland sharing the gospel of hardcore specialty coffee and bringing many to salvation...
but...i need a bible to preach from. or some tracts to stuff in tip jars. i feel a little impotent in my mission.
from the bga website:
Simply put, the Barista Guild of America is a trade organization for Baristas. The Barista Guild focuses on promoting coffee quality as the principle standard for success, encouraging craftsmanship through education and collaboration, building community among Baristas, recognizing achievement, and cultivating a sophisticated "public face" for the industry
being a new believer, i look at the mission field of an american public missing the deliciousness of a well-prepared cup of coffee, and the state of a church where 99% of the baristas do not know exactly what they are doing or why and i want to change the world. how do i "promote coffee quality", "encourage craftsmanship", and the rest? as the bga, we can hopefully equip each other and bring many into the fold, and i am definitely excited about where this is going. we are a new religion and are maybe still formulating our doctrine as well as our mission philosophy. don't get me wrong, i am pumped about all that is happening in the industry, etc, etc. i just want help. and i want to help others.
maybe we need some standard literature/resources to use in our evangelizing as deferio suggested...i don't what this all looks like. i just want to know how i can help to stir a coffee revival in this region and around the country outside of just going to work every morning and reading discussion boards.
-end analogy.
Saturday, March 19, 2005
Friday, March 18, 2005
puck pyramid brought to you by carlos ramos
Picture012.jpg
Originally uploaded by restingmusic.
carlos occasionally does the most random things. today he constructed this structure from spent coffee from the morning rush.
danielle is leaving us. i am sad about that. she has to go and move to san francisco. darn ambition.
...i guess we have to try to move the wedding date. there is a wedding the same weekend involving one of jill's family friends and will require the attendance of many and the desired attendance of jill's family. so we are now exploring a date a couple of weeks later. now i have to go tell everyone a different date. hopefully everything will work out well.
Wednesday, March 16, 2005
back in eastern market
well, i'm home.
i apologize for not winning. i am not the united states barista champion. but i am still a champion. in the hearts of so many. like my mom. and my fiance.
it was a lot of fun in seattle and a joy to compete alongside so many wonderful people who make wonderful coffee. superstars in the coffee world. to be 20th in the competition behind the nineteen ahead of me is an honor, even though i wanted to rank a bit higher.
and now...well, i guess i'm famous. i was part of a story nationally broadcast on npr on all things considered and locally on wamu (scroll down to "holy grail of espresso"). people have been wandering into the shop to see what all the press is about. hopefully we are delivering.
seattle was beautiful as always and we had great weather. my feet and legs are still a bit sore from all the walking and my mind is reeling from all that i learned from everyone this weekend.
i apologize for not winning. i am not the united states barista champion. but i am still a champion. in the hearts of so many. like my mom. and my fiance.
it was a lot of fun in seattle and a joy to compete alongside so many wonderful people who make wonderful coffee. superstars in the coffee world. to be 20th in the competition behind the nineteen ahead of me is an honor, even though i wanted to rank a bit higher.
and now...well, i guess i'm famous. i was part of a story nationally broadcast on npr on all things considered and locally on wamu (scroll down to "holy grail of espresso"). people have been wandering into the shop to see what all the press is about. hopefully we are delivering.
seattle was beautiful as always and we had great weather. my feet and legs are still a bit sore from all the walking and my mind is reeling from all that i learned from everyone this weekend.
Saturday, March 12, 2005
ready or not...
well, at about 4:30 today, i will take the stage and make a bunch of coffee...
i spent hours last night and this morning perfecting the mix of music that i will use for my fifteen minutes of competition time.
the final line-up:
sufjan stevens- he woke me up again
kings of convenience- live long
rogue wave- be kind and remind
benjamin gibbard- farmer chords
nick drake- from the morning
iron and wine- peng!
the most important part of my performance is complete. now all i have to do is make some espresso and smile like my life depended on it.
i spent hours last night and this morning perfecting the mix of music that i will use for my fifteen minutes of competition time.
the final line-up:
sufjan stevens- he woke me up again
kings of convenience- live long
rogue wave- be kind and remind
benjamin gibbard- farmer chords
nick drake- from the morning
iron and wine- peng!
the most important part of my performance is complete. now all i have to do is make some espresso and smile like my life depended on it.
Monday, March 07, 2005
off to the usbc
well, it's time. in the morning i will be flying to seattle to compete in the united states barista championship. i am very excited and a little nervous. my milk technique is down, i'm perfecting my introduction, i need to trim my beard. more than anything, i'm just excited to get to be there. it should be a lot of fun and very, very interesting.
there isn't a whole lot else to say. other than it's time for me to go pick up my tuxedo. that's right, tuxedo. we'll see what happens. go murky!!!!!
there isn't a whole lot else to say. other than it's time for me to go pick up my tuxedo. that's right, tuxedo. we'll see what happens. go murky!!!!!
Sunday, March 06, 2005
the homer simpson showboating academy
michelle kwan is millhouse's idol.
it's kind of weird that they are rerunning a simpsons episode from like a month ago.
anyways, on saturday night, i went with a couple friends to see lou barlow at the iota. it was interesting to see this old skool indie rock star (see sebadoh, folk implosion) now aged, both married and with child. he played some of his old somewhat depressing songs from albums released when i was in junior high and high school but also played a few tracks from his new album, EMOH (HOME backwards), that have a bit more optimistic tone.
he remarked that a girl approached him after his show in philadelphia, asking him if she could be honest with him. she ended up critiquing his music, stating that none of the songs have ends. they are all left unresolved. lou didn't really know what to do with that. he didn't really have a defense, but he also didn't really recognize why they don't have ends.
i would venture to say that they shouldn't have ends. a song, an emotion, a prayer--none of these really have concise conclusions. and maybe we shouldn't pretend that they do. even though lou is married, his love for his wife isn't final. it grows, it changes, there are joys, there are pains. to finish a song and have the listener see the whole picture and have a sense of finality--well, that's not reality. that's not honesty. ...just a thought. keep being honest, lou.
it's kind of weird that they are rerunning a simpsons episode from like a month ago.
anyways, on saturday night, i went with a couple friends to see lou barlow at the iota. it was interesting to see this old skool indie rock star (see sebadoh, folk implosion) now aged, both married and with child. he played some of his old somewhat depressing songs from albums released when i was in junior high and high school but also played a few tracks from his new album, EMOH (HOME backwards), that have a bit more optimistic tone.
he remarked that a girl approached him after his show in philadelphia, asking him if she could be honest with him. she ended up critiquing his music, stating that none of the songs have ends. they are all left unresolved. lou didn't really know what to do with that. he didn't really have a defense, but he also didn't really recognize why they don't have ends.
i would venture to say that they shouldn't have ends. a song, an emotion, a prayer--none of these really have concise conclusions. and maybe we shouldn't pretend that they do. even though lou is married, his love for his wife isn't final. it grows, it changes, there are joys, there are pains. to finish a song and have the listener see the whole picture and have a sense of finality--well, that's not reality. that's not honesty. ...just a thought. keep being honest, lou.
Friday, March 04, 2005
"stop american nationalism"
that was the message of a bumper sticker that i saw yesterday as i left to go do laundry. during my drive, i found myself pondering what such a bumper sticker is suggesting.
question 1: who is this addressed to? an individual, a group of people, the government? i would assume that this statement is geared toward the american public. toward the group of people who live in this country and possibly consider themselves to be americans.
question 2: what exactly is american nationalism? on a definition level, nationalism is defined by www.dictionary.com as
1. Devotion to the interests or culture of one's nation.
2. The belief that nations will benefit from acting independently rather than collectively, emphasizing national rather than international goals.
3. Aspirations for national independence in a country under foreign domination.
definition's #1 and #3 appear to be fairly positive things in most any light, so #2 is probably what is being attacked. on one level, yes, we need to consider international interests. obviously. (i'm sure the bumper stickerer would argue as well that it is obvious, but not followed) but we could all think of ways that the international interest may be irrational and against what any single person might deem to be a positive international goal. i, for instance, would like to see the world push more towards being on a strict diet of cornmeal pancakes and straight espresso (but not mixed).
so the attack is against a group of people looking out for themselves, right? if my whole neighborhood decided that they were going to persecute scandinavians and my family thought that that was not fair or reasonable and acted in our own interest against this injustice, are we deemed family-ists and branded as being uncooperative? where is our commitment to the neighborhood? well, it fell to the commitment to justice, truth and, finally, what will benefit my family (because we'd be scandinavian). i am aware that my examples are somewhat ridiculous and extreme, but it seems natural that an element of nationalism must exist or else the nation or people group will not be strong in themselves, but just bow to what where the greater wind blows.
question 3: how should we stop such a thing? so is the bumper person suggesting that we put or national identity on the altar? i don't know what this looks like. "i am no longer an american"? but i live here. i live next to people. i live in america with a group of other americans. stopping me from having a national identity and looking out for our interests is asking more than i'm willing to give (and i know that the argument is that we may be looking out for our own interests directly in the face of international interests) and i can't believe that we even could do this, even if we tried.
if we aren't a nation, what are we? if you don't like our policies as a nation, or as a gov't, then argue for a change of policy, not a disassembly of the community that we have called america. i don't know if this makes much sense at all, but neither does forsaking my nationalism for the sake of some vague idealism that doesn't correspond to the real world. one must be careful in throwing out the very positive and community-and peace-building aspects of nationalism along with the political moves that are possibly dangerous 'nationalism' as was alluded to in the bumper sticker. we want and need each other in the communal sense, whether that is a family, a city, or a nation. yes, even as communities, we are not infallible. but that does not legitimize a full-on overthrow of community-forming.
question 1: who is this addressed to? an individual, a group of people, the government? i would assume that this statement is geared toward the american public. toward the group of people who live in this country and possibly consider themselves to be americans.
question 2: what exactly is american nationalism? on a definition level, nationalism is defined by www.dictionary.com as
1. Devotion to the interests or culture of one's nation.
2. The belief that nations will benefit from acting independently rather than collectively, emphasizing national rather than international goals.
3. Aspirations for national independence in a country under foreign domination.
definition's #1 and #3 appear to be fairly positive things in most any light, so #2 is probably what is being attacked. on one level, yes, we need to consider international interests. obviously. (i'm sure the bumper stickerer would argue as well that it is obvious, but not followed) but we could all think of ways that the international interest may be irrational and against what any single person might deem to be a positive international goal. i, for instance, would like to see the world push more towards being on a strict diet of cornmeal pancakes and straight espresso (but not mixed).
so the attack is against a group of people looking out for themselves, right? if my whole neighborhood decided that they were going to persecute scandinavians and my family thought that that was not fair or reasonable and acted in our own interest against this injustice, are we deemed family-ists and branded as being uncooperative? where is our commitment to the neighborhood? well, it fell to the commitment to justice, truth and, finally, what will benefit my family (because we'd be scandinavian). i am aware that my examples are somewhat ridiculous and extreme, but it seems natural that an element of nationalism must exist or else the nation or people group will not be strong in themselves, but just bow to what where the greater wind blows.
question 3: how should we stop such a thing? so is the bumper person suggesting that we put or national identity on the altar? i don't know what this looks like. "i am no longer an american"? but i live here. i live next to people. i live in america with a group of other americans. stopping me from having a national identity and looking out for our interests is asking more than i'm willing to give (and i know that the argument is that we may be looking out for our own interests directly in the face of international interests) and i can't believe that we even could do this, even if we tried.
if we aren't a nation, what are we? if you don't like our policies as a nation, or as a gov't, then argue for a change of policy, not a disassembly of the community that we have called america. i don't know if this makes much sense at all, but neither does forsaking my nationalism for the sake of some vague idealism that doesn't correspond to the real world. one must be careful in throwing out the very positive and community-and peace-building aspects of nationalism along with the political moves that are possibly dangerous 'nationalism' as was alluded to in the bumper sticker. we want and need each other in the communal sense, whether that is a family, a city, or a nation. yes, even as communities, we are not infallible. but that does not legitimize a full-on overthrow of community-forming.
Thursday, March 03, 2005
Wednesday, March 02, 2005
a little get to know you
so i manage a coffee shop, right. and there are all these people that wander in and out. some of them are great and others, not so great. some provide intrigue, but others fatigue.
last week i was walking to the bank and was stopped by a gentleman on the sidewalk. he asked me if i knew where to find free wireless internet. i looked at myself, wondering if i, indeed, look like someone who knows where to find such things (i was reassured later that i certainly do), before telling him, "yes. go to the corner and take a left. you'll see murky coffee. they have wireless." he expressed his gratitude and walked off and i continued to the bank with a smile on my face, thinking how serendipitous it was (the word he used later) that, of all the people he was to ask, he asked the guy who runs a shop providing what he searches for. what a great city. what a great neighborhood. what a great human race. how lovely. how divine.
as i walked into the bank to do the daily deposit for the shop, something horrible occurred to me. "what if he's one of those guys?" the next day, my question was answered. although i was happy to see him return after he sat for an hour the day before, working on his computer and spending five bucks or so, he pulled out the headset for his phone and proceeded to make a half hour long phone call to the customer service department for some major electronics retailer, trying to sort out some problem he was having. he was loud. he had one of those kind of whiny annoying voices. he was sitting at the bar about four feet from me the whole time.
fine. come in. do your work. talk on your phone. whatever. but don't be loud. don't fill the whole shop with your complaining about how the digital video camera you bought doesn't have the promised capabilities, etc. grrrrr. why does this bother me so????
part of me wishes i had never run into this gentleman. i could've sent him to another coffee shop a few blocks down the road. i could've denied him service for annoying me. the other part of me...well, honestly, i don't think i'm going to give in and just say that it's all about serving people and loving them and making him a great latte whether he is owed it for being such a fine customer or not. all i will say is that some days i get it better than others. i'll leave it at that.
last week i was walking to the bank and was stopped by a gentleman on the sidewalk. he asked me if i knew where to find free wireless internet. i looked at myself, wondering if i, indeed, look like someone who knows where to find such things (i was reassured later that i certainly do), before telling him, "yes. go to the corner and take a left. you'll see murky coffee. they have wireless." he expressed his gratitude and walked off and i continued to the bank with a smile on my face, thinking how serendipitous it was (the word he used later) that, of all the people he was to ask, he asked the guy who runs a shop providing what he searches for. what a great city. what a great neighborhood. what a great human race. how lovely. how divine.
as i walked into the bank to do the daily deposit for the shop, something horrible occurred to me. "what if he's one of those guys?" the next day, my question was answered. although i was happy to see him return after he sat for an hour the day before, working on his computer and spending five bucks or so, he pulled out the headset for his phone and proceeded to make a half hour long phone call to the customer service department for some major electronics retailer, trying to sort out some problem he was having. he was loud. he had one of those kind of whiny annoying voices. he was sitting at the bar about four feet from me the whole time.
fine. come in. do your work. talk on your phone. whatever. but don't be loud. don't fill the whole shop with your complaining about how the digital video camera you bought doesn't have the promised capabilities, etc. grrrrr. why does this bother me so????
part of me wishes i had never run into this gentleman. i could've sent him to another coffee shop a few blocks down the road. i could've denied him service for annoying me. the other part of me...well, honestly, i don't think i'm going to give in and just say that it's all about serving people and loving them and making him a great latte whether he is owed it for being such a fine customer or not. all i will say is that some days i get it better than others. i'll leave it at that.
Tuesday, March 01, 2005
another pic of my baby and me
ryan_jill
Originally uploaded by restingmusic.
this was taken last summer at our friends wedding reception. look how clean shaven!
i have realized the comfort that i have now in the status of our relationship. engaged is better than dating. dating was definitely better than friends. hopefully, married will be better than engaged. i think it will.
although i don't know what my job situation will be like in 6-8 months (basically, whether or not i want to continue at murkycoffee), i do know what the greater context of my life will be. i know i'll be here in dc and with the love of my life. job security is down the list of priorities at the moment. just don't tell jill's parents...or mine.
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