Archives for August 2013

Sebastiani’s Cabernet Week Hangout

August 30, 2013 by · Leave a Comment

Did you know that this week was Cabernet week? That caught me by surprise as well. Somewhere in the Twitterverse I got wind of Sebastiani planning a Google+ Hangout with Mark Lyon, Head of Winemaking. As a Sebastiani club member for the past several years, and fan of their Cherryblock Cabernet, I thought it would be worth sitting in on the session.

I was somewhat surprised to be the only one in attendance.

In the course of the conversation I learned that they had a 2009 vintage of their Secolo. We had really enjoyed an earlier release of Secolo, which is an affordable red wine blend. I ‘ve come to wonder which I would appreciate more as a Wednesday night glass; the Alexander Valley Cabernet or Secolo?

There’s only one was to find out. The experimental method! All in the name of science of course.

Filed Under: wine · Tagged With: , , , ,

Magic Beans From Canada

August 27, 2013 by · Leave a Comment

Tim-Horton's-Coffee-BeansOne of my last major projects working for Pixel Power was an installation at WBNS in Columbus, Ohio. I was reminded of this project, which started in August 2012, when I saw that it was recently written up in TVTechnology.

Columbus, Ohio is notable for being the corporate HQ for Wendy’s International. As a Canadian living in the US I’m also mindful that Wendy’s once owned the Tim Horton’s coffee chain that is a long-time Canadian institution.

One of the treats I stumbled into during several weeks in Columbus was the location of a Tim Horton’s very near to WBNS. It became my daily stop on the way in to work.

In my pre-caffeinated stupor one morning I happened to glance around the store and see that they were selling coffee, including bags of whole bean coffee. Further, it was offered at a decent price…cheaper than nominal beans from our local supermarket. I brought back several pounds in my luggage that trip.

Tim Horton’s doesn’t make it as far south as Texas. In fact, although they are reputed to have over 500 stores in the US, they don’t seem to stray too far from the Canadian border.

While invoking my morning grind yesterday I was reminded that coffee beans don’t last forever. I would soon run out of the Gevalia Whole Bean Coffee that I’ve been using most recently.

I’m not much of a shopper. This, and the fact that we’re a one-car family, has driven me to shop online for most things. In fact, I’m a big fan of Amazon’s Prime program. So as a lark I grabbed my Nexus 7 and put “coffee beans” into the Amazon app.

Imagine my surprise when I found that Amazon sells Tim Horton’s Coffee, in whole beans, in 2 pound bags cheaper than I can  buy similar goods at the local supermarket. I executed the patented one-click order and got me some Timmy’s to be delivered. All the way to Texas.

It’s like a little bit of Canada being lobbed over the fence. What an unexpected treat.

Filed Under: The Good The Bad & The Ugly · Tagged With: , , ,

Rover Realized in Miniature

August 20, 2013 by · Leave a Comment

I’ve long been a big fan of The Prisoner, Patrick McGoohan’s 1967 spy series. One of the strange an interesting feature of the program was a robotic security device known simply as “Rover.” Rover was basically a weather balloon that rolled along the ground or water. Rover was dispatched to fetch people trying to escape from The Village. It seems to me that Sphero has the potential to be a 3” Rover.

I wonder if this could be used to add a new layer of spooky/creepy to our Halloween presentation? It would be really cool to see a herd of them behaving like the Velociraptors in Jurassic Park.

Filed Under: Fun · Tagged With: , ,