things i think about while powerwashing 27

dang. it's always so hard coming back from a vacation week.

Just when you think you have a grip on things at the end of a four-day week, you get hit with a five-dayer. I never really understood why people dreaded Mondays and loathed Friday afternoons, but these days I really get it. Corporate living really is different.

But the weekend is here. I get to use my new coffee grinder, with my new coffee whisk. I recently bought a hand grinder and it has made a noticeable difference due to the finer grind. Water used to run through the espresso basket like Christian McCaffrey, but now the water is gently, but firmly being pushed down, collecting bits of flavor from each ground.

I'm still trying to clock in the right amount of beans, click on the grinder, etc. But it's made such a noticeable difference in quality that the first thing I do when I get home is make a cup of decaf espresso. How fitting, starting and ending the day with coffee.

If you've known me for a while, you are no stranger to my coffee obsession. I really started drinking for taste in high school, but halfway through college my blood ran on coffee to the point where I really should've just bought some type of coffee machine. Six cups of Starbucks $1 coffees running through my veins at 10 pm while I attempted to wring algorithms and equations out of my two remaning brain cells in the basement of the Purdue library.

And now as an adult in the living world, I've really started looking for more coffee in the Bay Area. In the South Bay, 1 oz. is definitely one of my favorites. There are two locations, one in Mountain View and the other in Santa Clara. Neither have ample indoor seating (Santa Clara is entirely outdoors) but they make for a very nice experience. My favorite outside of San Francisco in general would have to be St Frank Coffee in San Mateo, right next to the train station. That too is entirely outdoors but their espresso is to die for.

In the city, I try to catch Golden Goat when they're open for their awesome and extremely friendly baristas! If you see a Carolyn Xu there, just know she was the runner-up in a local latte art battle (a grueling 64 man tournament) and that you'll be getting some of the prettiest leaves in your lattes.

song of the week

I remember I posted DPR IAN's previous album, Moodswings In This Order, sometime in 2020. Well, they're back! The slight rock influences to make a unique and gritty sound in the Korean RnB space is just what I need during those sleep 3 pms at work.

animal of the week

That's right, that's big simba. He's back because no one sent me any animal pictures. Please send me animal pictures. I want to feature your animals, the ones you have, everything. Plants, something, please.