Monthly Archives: January 2009

It’s wintertime, but it’s not objectionably cold all the time, and on those occasions where the mercury rises to the point of tolerable and the jeep starts a little bit easier and you notice that you don’t scamper from the parking ramp to the office tower quite as quickly as you did the day before, it’s maybe a sign that it’s ok to put on your skates or strap on your board and go outside and play.
And here you sit, perched at the top of a tiny suburban hill, ready to hurl yourself off all manner of jumps and bumps and rails and debris and oh man it hurts when you fall, but not always in a bad way, and then when you eventually do exhale after gliding casually out of a simple grab tail-tap floater off a jump that’s arguably too big for someone your age, it feels way better. And of course you listen to Dylan on your headphones while you jib. And it brings clarity. And then you fall on the rope-tow and some 12 year old kid laughs and you laugh along with him. And you wonder if you really have to go back. And if you maybe should have eaten something more than a tiny bowl of soup for lunch, because seriously, you’re hungry. Off you go.
Go outside and play.

A couple years back I picked up this totally adorable La Peppina FE-AR espresso machine at a garage sale in the neighborhood. Actually it was more like an estate sale and it was in the next little neighborhood over, but whatever, that’s not important. What’s important is that it was totally adorable. And the dude selling it had no idea if it worked or not. It had belonged to his parents or something. He had it marked $20. It was late in the day, so I offered him $5 and he took it. I think people thought it was a fondue pot, maybe? Whatever, I know kick ass adorable Italian espresso goodness when I see it. Me take you home now.
So I get it home and immediately start to triage what kind of shape it’s in. Dump in some water, plug it in, throw the switch, omg it’s getting hot! Nice. Functional. Pull the lever. Oh yeah, it pulls. Best $5 ever? Just maybe. Then um, yeah, basically nothing. No infusion, no water, no nothing. Uh oh. Ok, yeah, off to the basement with you, cutie, I’ll get back to you later.
Aaaaaand then kids and life and whatnot, and it’s been a few years and then out of nowhere I decided that last weekend it was finally time to dig in and figure it out. And lookie what I found when I broke her open? Scale much? Indeed.

So I soaked and cleaned and dissolved and gently scrubbed and after a long afternoon of pampering and more tearing down and then some painful-wait-how-did-this-go-again? reassembly I was back in action. And guess what. Totally working mint.
Here’s the first pre-pull with it loaded.

Here’s the result. I’m sure Garrick is rolling his eyes, but I was happy with it. Also: adorable!

As with all things these days, there’s a fanbase for this particular model online. Here’s the original manual. It’s a hoot. You can even still track down some OEM parts. I’m gonna overhaul the gaskets top to bottom I think. I’ll get to it in a few years, I’m sure.

The rumored [Grateful] Dead reunion tour was announced last week and I’m not exactly jumping up and down. In case you missed the dates, here they are.

April 12 Greensboro NC Greensboro Coliseum
April 14 Washington DC Verizon Center
April 15 Charlottesville VA John Paul Jones Arena
April 17 Albany NY Times Union Center
April 18 Worcester MA DCU Center
April 19 Worcester MA DCU Center
April 21 Buffalo NY HSBC Arena
April 22 Wilkes-Barre PA Wachovia Arena @ Casey Plaza
April 24 Uniondale NY Nassau Coliseum
April 25 New York NY Madison Square Garden
April 26 Hartford CT XL Center
April 28 E. Rutherford NJ IZOD Center
April 29 E. Rutherford NJ IZOD Center
May 1 Philadelphia PA Wachovia Spectrum
May 2 Philadelphia PA Wachovia Spectrum
May 5 Chicago IL All State Arena
May 7 Denver CO Pepsi Center
May 9 Los Angeles CA The Forum
May 10 Mountain View CA Shoreline Amphitheater

In a prior life I would have plotted them on a google map so you could see that all but like 5 of them are in the Northeast. (Thanks for the Midwest love!) Though I honestly have no idea if Philly counts as Northeast or what

Here it is, the 92nd annual ‘best of’ list. Sorta late, but not crazy late. 2008 just wrapped, afterall. Drumrolls, go.

• Sausage of the Year – This is easy, it’s Clancy’s little breakfast chub things. Porky and sweet and delicious in most every way. I always overbuy on purpose, just so I have a few extras cooked off in the fridge should the mood strike me. Such as at breakfast time, maybe? With a lovely bowl of Grape Nuts and some coffee? Yes please.
• Album of the Year – Fleet Foxes you knew this was coming whatever. And yeah, whatever, I still say most of the backlash against Fleet Foxes sources from people wanting to use the word ‘pastoral’ to sound smart. Geniuses. I’m sure Neil Young is crying. But screw them, the album is great, and it plays well live, and come on, what’s wrong with a little postoral? Nothing. Deal with it. Runner Up: Several runners up here, including the notably under-appreciated Cloud Cult joint from last spring/summer and – of course – Lucy and her Velvet Lapelles, who put out the record you wish your city would have and everyone gushed yet somehow it didn’t get a lot of end-of-year love and that’s just silly because yep, it’s great.
• Water Cooler Moment of the Year – Gathering everyone around an LCD monitor in a cube in corporate America to watch a European video feed of the Olympics in China where a Jamaican sprinter ran a 200-meter race faster than any human ever had before. I stood up. It was fantastic.
• Strike of the Year