no, really

On my way to moving the truck the other day (I had to park it way over on Graham), I stumbled past a sign that said “Buy our coffee now” in aggressive chalk bubble letters.  It took a minute before I realized that I had never seen that sign before, nor noticed that there is a coffee place called “Variety” in that storefront.

That’s because it’s brand new.

After just having visited el Beit on Bedford, and loving their $5 (ouch) mocha, I figured why not try something a little closer to home?

Amazing.

First off, their iced mocha (it’s summer and worth the extra $.50), is outrageous, and even iced, is still less than el Beit.  Today I was a little pekkish, so I got a croissant.  Also very good.  Hurray!

Now I need to work this place into my budget…

the clouds are so pretty today

We had a call with the outsourcing firm we’re looking into yesterday morning.  I continue to be amazed at the level on which these guys operate.  Anyone who’s worked with me knows that I have an absurdly high expectation of the people that I work with, particularly in their ability to examine a problem and understand all its facets.  The particular tech lead we had the conversation with asked all the right questions.  I actually got the feeling I was a little under-prepared for the conversation.

I spent the rest of the day preparing the tools they’ll need to finish spec-ing out the project to give us a quote.  I set up a duplicate copy of the site for them to browse and poke at.  I also took the time to finish installing Trac.  At FiLife, we used Trac, and I actually learned to like it.  It may not do any of the big features amazingly well (wiki, ticket tracking, planning), but I came to appreciate the cross-links between the different feature sets.  Plus, it’s a very easy way to browse a Subversion repository.

Tonight we’re going to visit the Food Film Festival in LIC (bringing our own beverage, of course).  It’s going to be a gorgeous evening with the sunset and all, so… sangria, anyone?  I wish I could take the ferry, but there are conflicting reports about the east river ferry running.  We’re waiting for Bill’s week off to take a day trip from the Williamsburg landing to Pier 11 in Manhattan to Ikea at Red Hook!!

I’m also having fantasies about trading in the truck for a BMW 135.  SO HOT!

I love being able to be home during the day on occasion now, because there is so much life that happens when you’re not looking.

At the suggestion of Ken I stopped by Gimme! Coffee on Lorimer to pick up a cup and a pound of coffee, and good lord is it worth it.  First off, it’s exactly what you would expect of a boutique espresso joint in a hipster hood.  Excellent coffee, a bench with tables along it, overpopulated by “writers” and their $2100 Mac laptops (yes, one was an Air).

On the walk home, I saw them move the big Italian festival trailer thing that’s always parked on Metropolitan.  I assume it must serve its purpose on a regular basis, and not one of those once-a-year events.  But what could it be?  I’ll take a picture next time so you know what I’m talking about.

It was also nice to play “dog walker” for the cars and switch sides just at the right time.  And still, all of this while getting work done.  I’m so productive like this!

I’ve always done whatever it takes to get the job done, which often means learning stuff I’ve never done before.  In the past few months, I’ve done a lot of sysadmin work for myself – Ezra is rediculously amazing, but for the little stuff there was no reason to bother him.

In the past few weeks, we started moving all of Noo over to a server on MediaTemple.  We have been working with a gridserver, which felt kind of like bobbing for apples.  I mean, it can do the job, but you have to get used to having your hands tied.  Now that we’ve got a full dedicated machine, I can really stretch my legs and get things up and running, which has been a lot easier than I expected!  I’m appreciating all that I’ve learned from the talented people I’ve worked with.  They have good shoulders to stand on.

Plus, the speed increase is obvious.  I was wary of keeping Plesk on the box because it puts things in strange places.  But I’ve learned how it works, so I’m happy doing it both ways.

I’m still excited to be moving on this work now.  I can’t wait to start to see the results!!

It has been far too long.  And what a long three and a half months, indeed!  Let’s see…

• Bill moved into the apartment.  Hilarity ensued.
• I worked several ~70hr weeks at FiLife.  We launched today.
• I started working full time with Mahdad on Noo.  We got financing.

Along the way, there were some good points (Birthday bash, weekends on Fire Island), and some sad points (grandfather passing, tax nightmares).  In the end, I’m grateful for loving friends and family that have been there for it all.

So, yet again, I’m at a point of transition.  I’ll miss very much working with the FiLifers – a talented and crafty bunch who have been so much fun to work with.  I’m still tingling with excitement as I do work on Noo.  Success is within reach!

As part of my new regimen, I will get back to blogging regularly.