Two of my favorite things (Early Intel Mac edition).

[eyoungren]

Mac and coffee…

Lazy late Sunday morning…iTunes streaming Dronezone and one of my favorite Dunkin' Donuts cups. You can't see it, but it's full of Starbucks Sumatra.

 

[bsamcash]

You’re braver than I am with those coffee mug balancing skills.

 

[eyoungren]

You’re braver than I am with those coffee mug balancing skills.

That particular chair arm is stable, the other side is not. That said, I moved slowly to take the pictures.

 

[theMarble]

How the color accuracy on those 30" ACD's? It seems like most of the older Cinema Displays have a yellow tinge to them?

 

[eyoungren]

How the color accuracy on those 30" ACD's? It seems like most of the older Cinema Displays have a yellow tinge to them?

The first one I bought (local purchase, on the left) has a yellow tinge to it. I've got an app that applies a color filter that balances that out, the problem is it reduces the brightness some. So, I've just gotten used to the yellow tinge. The one on the right is normal. That's an eBay purchase.

Based on some Googling, there is a white plastic panel behind the display. Over time that panel starts turning yellow - which reflects back as that yellow tinge. So, it's not the display itself but that yellowed plastic. There are instructions to replace it but I'm not taking the display apart for that. At least not yet.

 

[raymanster]

I also have two 30” cinema displays and like you one is fine while the other has a very noticeable yellowing. If I remember correctly the one which is ok is actually slightly older then the yellowing one. Both are the 2nd generation from 2006 - 2010.

Interesting fact about the white panel, didnt know about that.

 

[eyoungren]

Yet another addition of the same thing!!!!

Seattle's Best, Portside Blend if anyone cares. My wife and I prefer dark roasts.

Incidentally, my monthly subscription of two pounds of Death Wish Coffee has arrived in my mailbox today.

And finally, I seem to like Dunkin' Donuts mugs…although their dark roast is all I will drink from them. I love bell-shaped mugs it seems.

 

[Amethyst1]

Incidentally, my monthly subscription of two pounds of Death Wish Coffee has arrived in my mailbox today.

A coffee subscription - now I've seen everything.

 

[eyoungren]

A coffee subscription - now I've seen everything.

Yes…

Since about 2016-2017 I think. Oops 8/6/2015!

#1 Organic and #1 Fair Trade Coffee

Bold, Smooth and Delicious since 2012. We source USDA Organic and Fair Trade Certified™ arabica and robusta coffee beans from India, Peru, and other countries throughout South and Central America for our everyday coffee roasts. Sustainably sourced coffee with high quality standards to ensure...

www.deathwishcoffee.com

I found DWC through a coworker who, because he is a journalist, was given a sample. He later went on to start his own subscription. DWC is our regular daily coffee. We brew something else on the weekends. Until about 2020 though you could not get it in stores. You had to order it online. Since it's our daily coffee and we can't just run down to the store when we're out - coffee subscription.

Now of course you can find DWC in stores. But at $20 a bag, I'm still saving by keeping the subscription. Additionally, they toss in freebies from time to time. My wife has a bunch of patches because they threw those in.

Now if I could just get them to STOP sending the stickers!!!!

 

[eyoungren]

Choices…

Checking the G3 Server using the A1076 Mini.

And coffee…

PS. If you can see the drive enclosure on top of the MacPro, that's the RAID for the A1083 Mini. 2TB.

PPS. Starbucks Sumatra this morning.

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

My new favorite Pirate mug is this 1920's McCoy mug I scored for a buck at a local thrift. Arrrrr!

 

[eyoungren]

View attachment 1848626
My new favorite Pirate mug is this 1920's McCoy mug I scored for a buck at a local thrift. Arrrrr!
View attachment 1848627

That mug is cool!

 

[WriteNow]

A coffee subscription - now I've seen everything.

Not sure how new the idea is, but I remember Genvalia subscriptions in the 1990s. I think I knew someone in a small town who had such a subscription. (The best coffee sold in that town was canned Folgers.)

 

[WriteNow]

My new favorite Pirate mug is this 1920's McCoy mug I scored for a buck at a local thrift. Arrrrr!

It's fun when stuff like that turns up in thrift shops!

 

[eyoungren]

Not sure how new the idea is, but I remember Genvalia subscriptions in the 1990s. I think I knew someone in a small town who had such a subscription. (The best coffee sold in that town was canned Folgers.)

My wife and I were getting Gevalia when first married. When we were dating I had also picked up a few things from them because of a subscription. Small coffemaker, canisters, scoops, etc.

They had a special coffee once that was just killer. My wife and I used to take a thermos of coffee and a thermos of cream to work. We'd share a cup of coffee or two before work in the UPS drivers breakroom (we both worked for and met at UPS). That's where we found that killer Gevalia coffee.

But at some point they did something and the coffee started to become acidic and bitter. No matter which flavor we tried it was the same. So we ended the subscription.

It was just as well though, because we had started to get coffee from Seattle's Best and Starbucks and the grocery stores were starting to stock higher quality coffee. Gevalia is on the shelf at Walmart (has been for some time) but we never touch it.

Two of our coffee scoops though are those old Gevalia ones.

 

[WriteNow]

Small coffemaker, canisters, scoops, etc.

I sometimes see coffee makers with Genvalia branding turn up in thrift stores. And I think I might have had a cannister, once, that came from a rummage sale.

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

I sometimes see coffee makers with Genvalia branding turn up in thrift stores. And I think I might have had a cannister, once, that came from a rummage sale.

Swedish Gevalia single origin Columbian is the coffee my wife buys. Her cousin (married to a German airforce officer) sends us this unbranded German coffee for Christmas each year which absolutely crushes it, but when we run out, Gevalia Columbian fills our cabinet.

 

[eyoungren]

(The best coffee sold in that town was canned Folgers.)

Oh, a word about Folgers.

Up until the early 1900s Folgers used the arabica bean for it's coffee. But at a certain point the corporate bean counters (hah) decided that the robusta bean (which is cheaper but inferior to the arabica) would cost Folgers less to use for their coffee.

Folgers reasoned that most Americans wouldn't realize the difference and they were right. The unrefined American palette didn't recognize the difference and Folgers got away with it.

Perhaps some of their product now uses arabica, they may even claim to be using it in their standard coffee now - but it's like beer. You know which brands are good and which are swill.

No offense to Folgers drinkers, but I cannot stand the stuff. My old boss bought it for the office because it was cheap. He couldn't tell the difference between *Starbucks and Folgers either.

*which is not to say Starbucks is high quality

 

[WriteNow]

at a certain point the corporate bean counters (hah)

🤣

Folgers reasoned that most Americans wouldn't realize the difference and they were right. The unrefined American palette didn't recognize the difference and Folgers got away with it.

It's not a surprise. I think I have a vague recollection of reading some coffee expert say about how the quality of canned coffee in general deteriorated. (I can't remember when he wrote the comment--but I remember reading it in the 1980s, but I have a sense that it was written a few years before I read it.)

And if this took place during the era when percolators dominated, then those percolators probably helped Folgers with their switch. A lot of the nuance in good coffee would likely get lost with a percolator.

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

Man, I am not a fan of Starbucks either. Their chatty Kathy Baristas take ten years and they build their beverages top heavy and overly sweet - like a dessert which is not what I am looking for anyhow. I'm looking to get a boost, not pass out from diabetes. I have to get a double just to balance out their lattes and make them palatable which turns an $8 coffee into a $10 coffee, so I have to pay a tenner for a drink that was not made well in the first place. I just refuse at this point. Wifey likes them so I'm still going - not going to allow my disdain to impact her choice but yeah I get a water or black tea in the drive thru.

For the record I do own a percolator. Makes a good cup and creates a more robust cup than a basket drip system but at the end of the day regardless of the method used, the old saying rings true - crappy coffee in crappy coffee out.

 

[WriteNow]

I'm not a fan of Starbucks, either. I almost never go into one.

I seldom go to coffee shops, but when I do, I prefer some local, independent store. The coffee is often better than Starbucks. And there is more character.

I remember one store that had a lot of character. One touch that was a "Our first dollar" sign. With a $5 bill. The owner explained he'd been given the sign, but, as it turned out, his first customer had that $5 bill. So he dutifully put in the sign frame. You never see anything like that in a corporate chain operation!

 

[eyoungren]

Man, I am not a fan of Starbucks either. Their chatty Kathy Baristas take ten years and they build their beverages top heavy and overly sweet - like a dessert which is not what I am looking for anyhow. I'm looking to get a boost, not pass out from diabetes. I have to get a double just to balance out their lattes and make them palatable which turns an $8 coffee into a $10 coffee, so I have to pay a tenner for a drink that was not made well in the first place. I just refuse at this point. Wifey likes them so I'm still going - not going to allow my disdain to impact her choice but yeah I get a water or black tea in the drive thru.

For the record I do own a percolator. Makes a good cup and creates a more robust cup than a basket drip system but at the end of the day regardless of the method used, the old saying rings true - crappy coffee in crappy coffee out.

You might try a Flat White. Basically just espresso with milk. Sounds like a latte, I know, but they use ristretto shots (longer, more intense flavor).

We typically get a Venti Quad (large, four shots).

I also own a percolater. We use it whenever the drip coffee maker breaks. In 24 years of marriage there's been a lot of dead coffee makers.

 

[eyoungren]

I'm not a fan of Starbucks, either. I almost never go into one.

I seldom go to coffee shops, but when I do, I prefer some local, independent store. The coffee is often better than Starbucks. And there is more character.

I remember one store that had a lot of character. One touch that was a "Our first dollar" sign. With a $5 bill. The owner explained he'd been given the sign, but, as it turned out, his first customer had that $5 bill. So he dutifully put in the sign frame. You never see anything like that in a corporate chain operation!

My kids and I used to go to Starbucks on the weekends. Ended up dropping about $20-30 each time. It was fun, I was in the rewards program - then Starbucks changed the point system and getting free rewards was much harder. What they did was also not what the customers had asked for.

So we left and went to a local shop, which took us some time to find. It's Latino run, lady made a business model and ran with it. Great coffee, but at some point the shop started to become standing room only. They opened another store, but we had stopped going by that point. In the first location though, they've recently bought out the store next to them and doubled their space so we may go back at some point. Just hasn't been a priority lately.

We go to Starbucks because the drinks are decent. There's better coffee other places but people visit McDonalds because they're hungry, it's fast and it's inexpensive. And yes, I am calling Starbucks the McDonalds of the coffee world.

@Certificate of Excellence. There was a time back in the mid to late-90s where going to Starbucks was an experience. My wife and I went for the ambience and the coffee. Back then there wasn't a SB on every corner so getting to one was a 45 minute drive for us.

Later, the baristas got stuck on themselves and developed the Starbucks attitude. I've had drinks shoved at me because the barista was pissed that I dared complain about the quality of the drink. My wife used to have me order and pickup because otherwise she'd have been tearing the baristas a new one. Not why we were there.

Now, it's just boring and not special at all. It turned into a commercially driven business where it's rare for the employees to care about what they serve. And even if they did, they're too damn busy now. That happens when you turn into the McDonalds of coffee. It's good enough to inbibe and it will give you your fix. But there's nothing special about it or the experience anymore.

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

We go to Starbucks because the drinks are decent. There's better coffee other places but people visit McDonalds because they're hungry, it's fast and it's inexpensive. And yes, I am calling Starbucks the McDonalds of the coffee world.

@Certificate of Excellence. There was a time back in the mid to late-90s where going to Starbucks was an experience. My wife and I went for the ambience and the coffee. Back then there wasn't a SB on every corner so getting to one was a 45 minute drive for us.

When my wife and I met - around 2004, we also went to Starbucks because of the experience and sometimes a Seattles Best (before SB bought them) because my wife likes a smoother roast than what SB at the time provided. A place where you could get a well crafted beverage and relax in an arm chair without breaking the bank. Yes, you are absolutely correct that Starbucks is the McCoffee of the western world. What they have become is absolutely hideous. It is mildly offensive to me that they still pretend to serve quality coffee and beverages.

I'm not a fan of Starbucks, either. I almost never go into one.

I seldom go to coffee shops, but when I do, I prefer some local, independent store. The coffee is often better than Starbucks. And there is more character.

I remember one store that had a lot of character. One touch that was a "Our first dollar" sign. With a $5 bill. The owner explained he'd been given the sign, but, as it turned out, his first customer had that $5 bill. So he dutifully put in the sign frame. You never see anything like that in a corporate chain operation!

This. There are three local coffee shops that my wife and I will frequent on a Saturday - kind of a weekend treat/mini date sort of a thing. They all buy or roast their own quality bean and take the time to craft a proper beverage, friendly service and their spaces while all unique are also all comfortable. Pricing is all aligned with the market. and not to harp on the local thing but they are all local family business people - essentially my neighbors hiring other local ppl making coffee for local ppl. The money stays in our market/city and not to global giant Nestle (starbucks parent corp).

I mean if you needed an answer as to why SB sucks so bad now, you need not look any further than their Nestle/Starbucks 2018 deal. It is a perfect example of what happens to a unique regional product & business when a Global entity bent on controlling the global coffee (and so much more) market gobbles it up.

I love this picture:

Everything Owned by Nestlé

Nestlé is known throughout the world for being a purveyor of candy, but their empire expands far beyond confections. The conglomerate also owns brands of bottled water, pet products, health-care products, and frozen foods.

wyomingllcattorney.com

On a side note - it is no surprise that Nestle has been using predatory tactics to sway local govts to dismantle municipal/public water supplies so they can buy them up, commoditize and start charging you whatever they want for the water under your feet. Doesn't Nestle just give you the warm n fuzzies.

 

[WriteNow]

I also own a percolater. We use it whenever the drip coffee maker breaks. In 24 years of marriage there's been a lot of dead coffee makers.

I have to admit I own a percolator, too. Actually, more than one. Although it's more about a vintage decorative element. But I've been known to use a percolator to actually make coffee--but I keep my expectations realistic. (Although, being fair, one of the better percolators carefully used is probably better than a crummy drip maker that is used with no care whatsoever.)

And yes...I can imagine there have been a lot of dead coffee makers in 24 years. Indeed, I can remember my mother going through a good collection of coffee makers. I can remember one time when she made an emergency trip to rush out and get a new coffee maker. She told me that she was worried that my father would just go and buy some piece of cheap junk on sale that week.

I've recently been using a small French press pot--it's ideal for a single cup of coffee here and there. Plus there are no heaters or thermostats to wear out!