More "News" Than Anyone Requested

So look, we're all depressed about Spain winning the World Cup. But they really did manage to pull off some pretty convincing wins against one or two of the seven sides they played, and I don't think Germany would have been THAT much better had Müller not gotten a bogus booking that prevented him from playing in the semi-final. It's starting to look as if you just have to be consistently decent, never great, in order to win a World Cup, so let's hope Portugal can actually do that for a change next time around. The Euro will be a good start. And that's all I have to say about soccer today.

I have continued work on my magnum opus, the boring dissertation, since I last blogged, and I am confident that I will have the whole thing more or less finished by late August. This is excellent news for many of my readers, who have been avidly following my every academic move in the hopes of eventually gaining the rare privilege of reading my forthcoming book. Don't worry, we're only a couple years from that event! But seriously, I kid. The thing should be done soon, which fills me and only me with a great deal of happiness.

Those of you who have been wondering if I was ever going to upgrade my coffee grinder will be pleased (and somewhat startled) to learn that I have done so, and with very pleasing results. Accompanying that bold move was another upgrade to the current espressing system, whereby the pressurized filter baskets that came with the xp2070 were replaced with krups part #0907163 (purchased here: http://www.amazon.com/Krups-0907163-2-Cup-Filter/dp/B000PJ6R8A), the non pressurized variety. Capresso's infinity 565.5 (also from amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Capresso-565-Infinity-Conical-Stainless/dp/B000VAWXOU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1279753773&sr=8-1) does just the trick for the grinding, and my custom tamper has eliminated all need for gymnastics and gyrations during the espressing process. I am quite pleased.

Well, that's about all I can say about anything, I have been EXTREMELY BORING lately. We had some friends breeze through town on their way to Tejas, which was lovely, and we've been going out to eat some, because it's cheap with some magical coupons that we get through some website that my wife knows. Aside from those entertainments, I have to say that I'm quite disappointed with how uninteresting July has been, even with the end of the World Cup included therein. It's almost over, so that's good news, I suppose.

Until next time, this has been exciting and informative, ¿no?

Some tips for my readers

Don't drive in Cincinnati when: it's raining, it's cold, it's snowing, it's sunny, it's dark, it's foggy, it's early, it's late, it's dark, it's hot, it's goign to rain, it's going to snow, the Bengals are/aren't playing, the Bearcats are about to play, the Reds are in town, there's a holiday coming up, there are sales at discount chains, or there's a storm coming. Otherwise, it's perfectly safe to try to drive, just avoid I-75 if you can.

Don't try to play soccer in a rain/snow mix. Mostly because your friends won't be stupid enough to meet you out on the field, and you'll wind up freezing your digits off while waiting for people who aren't coming.

Don't upgrade your OS until the first set of patches has been released. I don't know what that means, but my friends insist it's good advice, and they'd know because they're PC users (jab!).

Order all espresso as "ristretto" or "short" or "corto" or "curto" or "italiano." All lattes in the US should be ordered "without foam," because no matter how vociferously you insist on a clean coffee top, they're going to foam you. But if you insist on no foam, you'll get slightly less, which isn't a bad thing. Foam is the milk that steam has scalded; would you drink a glass of scalded milk?

If the printer/scanner/photocopier is on sale for $39.99 at Target, there's a good reason. Or, there are a number of good reasons. Don't do it, it IS too good to be true.

Nearly everything is cheaper online now, especially if you can get someone else to spring for Amazon Prime.

The dissertation will not write itself, no matter how much you want it to: hint, hint.