CoffeeStudyTalk

There are so many options and choices in sneakers and I want to build a simple collection of all the great basics: Converse - Chuck Taylor - All Stars White/Red Stripe Adidas - Superstar - White/Black Stripes Nike Cortez - White/Red Logo Onitsuka Tiger  Mexico 66 White/Red/Blue Nike Air Force 1 Low Cut - All White Puma Suede - Black/White Stripe White & Black Pretty much it'll be 5 white and 1 black shoe for the basics.  Although, I may reduce this count to 3 white and 1 black. More Colorways Additional colorways will be handled by my 2 Onitsuka Tiger Serrano's (Blue, Red) and when they are retired I'll replace them with comparable shoes in likely a Burgundy Red New Balance and maybe all-Black Converse, Adidas Superstar or Air Force 1's. 2-3 Years to Build I'm in no rush and it'll likely take 2-3 years to fill out this collection as I have ample shoes already and will only buy something when I'm ready to replace something.  Probably

Getting closer to my ideal wardrobe and plan a few more adjustments in 2020.  I'm discovering that I look pretty good in Earth Tones (Dark Green, Light Brown/Tan) along with Burgundy Red and Dark Purple.  I'm going to reduce my reliance on Dark Blue in favor of more of these other colors to balance my Black and White basics. Uniqlo/Adidas I'm quite pleased with Uniqlo and that's becoming a larger proportion of my wardrobe.  I'm also liking Adidas for my sneakers and sporty jackets.  It's quite possible in a few years a good 50-60% of my 51 main articles of clothing will be from Uniqlo/Adidas. Shoes & Jackets My Shirts & Pants will focus on the basics and I'll dedicate my budget on Jackets and Shoes.  I'll start simple on shoes to find the ideal choices and want to stick with the standard Converse All Star, Adidas Superstar, Adidas Samba and a Nike or Air Jordan.  Possibly, squeeze in a Puma, Onitsuka 66, etc. Outerwear, considering a Harr

The Sidecar is becoming my favorite coffee drink.  It has a little bit of everything and when I have time to spare to enjoy it.  Otherwise, I'll go to my cappuccino. While the espresso has remained consistent, the cappuccino/macciato? has differed slightly with each barista.  Albeit, I only enjoy the sidecar a few times a year so it can also be for other factors.

After years of trying various brands, I finally found the perfect Polo shirts.  Previously, I relied on Ralph Lauren exclusively, but the quality has declined and started trying other brands. Brands I've tried: American Eagle Abercrombie & Fitch Old Navy GAP Banana Republic Foot Locker Armani Exchange Ralph Lauren Tommy Hilfiger Nautica LZOD Moncler  Burberry  Naturally, the higher priced shirts generally were better...but I'm not about to spend $50-200 per shirt when I need about 5-7 polo's.  Uniqlo had me covered with some excellent options at $20. At first I was hesitant as the Uniqlo poll's have two buttons on the collar, when I'm used to three.  Don't judge until you try them on and they were perfect. Will the collars survive?  Will get back to you in a few months... However, only time will tell if the collars hold up.  That's an inherent problem in most polo shirts.

Spent a week in Vegas for work and stayed at the Venetian on the Strip. Always wanted to check out this hotel and for most part it's 'okay'. Not as 'great' as I had hoped. But then all the Casino's I've tried from Bellagio, Mirage, Paris and Caesars were all about the same. There is something for everyone, at nearly every price point so that was great. I finally could find decent beer for $2-5, and not have to visit CVS or Walgreens. Best of all, I got to learn how to play Craps; still lost money. Venetian Hotel Room - Double Single Beds...very nice & spacious layout. 🤗 Old Fashioned @ Casino Bar -- Meh.. 😑 I'm always seeking out the best Old Fashioned, wherever I go and figure I try the 2-for-1 coupon that comes with a stay @ Venetian.  Went to the round Casino Bar and it was meh.  The drinks were certainly strong and I couldn't taste the alcohol, but it was neither amazing nor great for the $ 18.75. Learned lat

Previously, I was under the impression that 10 years was considered old for a car and usually got rid of them before then.  I've owned several cars and 2 in particular hit the decade mark with 120-130k miles on the odometer. Goal: 20 Years @ 2027 This time around, I've been more careful with my 2007 Lexus sitting at 12.4 years, which is both the oldest car I've ever owned and to my surprise the average age of most cars in the Western United States.  The Lexus is doing surprisingly well and I'm hoping to keep it for 8 more years until 2027. I've got warranty coverage for 2 more years until 2021 so I just need to 'survive' 6 more years on top of that.  But if it doesn't last...no biggie, I can just pick up a Civic or Corolla for under $10k and start a new odyssey. With 72k miles on the odometer and 8k miles more per year.  I'll hit 136k miles by the 20th year mark, which also seems reasonable considering my old daily beaters hit that m

It's getting harder to find Mr Brown Coffee and I know of only two locations in my area that still carry them.  A friend of mine told me about a local specialty grocer that might have them in stock. Like the other locations they had 4 flavors, but instead of my favorite Cappuccino they had a new flavor (Caramel Latte).  I got 2 cans of each flavor and decided to try the Caramel Latte. Sadly, it was disappointing and appears the only flavor I still prefer is the Cappuccino.  I'll have to stick to the known locations that still carry it and stock up. But for now these are not half bad and perfect for a morning treat.

I started blogging Jan 2014 (well...Nov/Dec 2013 to be specific).  I guess that makes it 5 years since.  Some things have changed in my life and I've learned quite a bit from blogging, I'm just amazed at how much time has gone by.  It feels 'almost' like yesterday when I started blogging. My primary goal in blogging was to wean myself away from social media and it has proven successful.  I'm able to post whatever I want, whenever I want and not feel pressured or watched by my friends and family who may find offense with what I write.  Granted, I write generally benign, practically boring stuff, it's still nice to be somewhat free under semi-anonymity (we are never truly anonymous online). By freeing myself from the constant need (addiction) of checking social media every few minutes...I've probably given myself back 2-3 hours to invest in the mundane habit called 'living' and 2-3 hours a day is a lot of time.  I can sit and relax, get lost in my

I've had the pleasure to enjoy many different types of whisky's and grew up on the sweeter side with bourbons (primarily Jack Daniels) then graduated to the peat smoke of a good scotch, but no matter what I fancied at any given point in time, I always find myself going back to my all time favorite Johnnie Walker Black Label. I'm not sure why I'm drawn to a dram of JW Black, but I can enjoy it neat, on the rocks or even in a mixed drink and find something pleasing about it.  It has just enough of a taste profile to keep me intrigued.  And after several years, I've reached the conclusion why I enjoy JW Black so much, consistency.  This realization hit me when I bought a new bottle of Macallan 12 from a reputable store and found it to taste utterly appalling and worse than rotgut.  I've yet to experience such a thing with any Johnnie Walker, no matter where I've procured it. I've had JW Black in over a dozen countries and dozens more different cities an

It's taking a while and I just completed Chapter 6 of Kimball's 3rd Edition of Data Warehouse.  It's probably one of the best books I've ever read in the 'Data Analytics' domain.  I started in November 2018 and six months later have only cracked a portion of this book. I'll keep at it and will try to improve the pace by hitting Chapter 7 on Sunday as this is something I need to finish and focus on in my life.

White shoes are one of the most versatile items in any wardrobe.  They are about as essential as blue jeans or a black or white T-Shirt.  Granted, white shoes require additional maintenance to keep clean, but are worth the effort considering their utility. I've owned several pairs of white sneakers over the years between the classics of Nike, Adidas, Converse, Reebok and more, but never really maintained a set after one wore out.  I previously, would keep just one pair of sneakers, no matter the color. I've since remedied that and embarked on establishing a basic set of the major classics and two of the most iconic are the: Converse All Stars Adidas Superstar Both come in a variety of colorways, but the ones primarily in white are the ones you would want to invest in first, before trying out new color options.  Both models are so popular, you can easily find them on sale periodically or at a discount retailer. I got the Converse for about $40 and the Adidas for $20.  Making the

Often its the simple things in life that give us the greatest pleasure.  For me it's sometimes enjoying a simple can of iced coffee from Mr Brown.  It's a Taiwanese based company and I usually can find one of these 8.12 ounce cans for about $1 each at several stores in town. It comes in several different flavors and so far my favorite has been Cappuccino. I tend to limit myself to 1 or 2 cans of iced coffee per week.  A welcome treat and I'll likely drink more during the hotter summer months.

Been enjoying Cappucino's at one of my favorite local shops. I usually have a cup of coffee on Saturday or Sunday and either read a book or get in some study time (still working on Kimball DW). I've been trying to cup back and limit myself to 1 or 2 cups a week as they cost easily $5 a pop.  My daily grind at work is Starbucks grounded coffee for about 20 cents a cup.  So I like to splurge sometimes...

I picked up my Lexus IS250 on June 2018 and next month it'll be about a year since I've owned it.  The car is 12 years old and still running quite well.  I've never owned a car this old before and quite impressed that it still a decent ride. Just got my second oil change at the dealership and I do notice the engine runs a little smoother and the gas mileage has improved just a bit; although that could just be confirmation bias.

I was having a hard time finding a Large size Supima Cotton T-Shirt at Uniqlo in the States and asked a friend to pick me up a couple in Japan.  My friend said they had a ton of Large size shirts there so I ordered five (5) Supima Cotton T-Shirts. When I got them however, the Japan size Large fits more like an American size Medium and was very disappointed.  After researching online, it appears this is due to vanity sizing and the sizes will differ between countries. I gave away the Japan shirts to another friend and just by luck, I checked my local Uniqlo store in the States and they finally got Large in stock.  I bought the five (5) I was seeking. The experience was bittersweet.  While I finally got the exact shirts in the size I wanted, it required wasting almost $50 bucks getting a bunch of shirts of the wrong size. Lesson learned.  Do your research before buying clothes you cannot try on in-person.  Been quite a few hit-or-misses when ordering clothes online. Still...I f

I received as a gift the 3-pack sampler of Pilot brand Iroshizuku ink.  This set contains 15 mL samples of: Syo-Ro Ama-Iro Fuyu-Gaki I'm elated to receive this as I slowly build up my collection of fountain pen inks and now have 5 different Iroshizuku colors (Kon-Peki, Murusaki Shikibu). I inked one of my Pilot Metropolitan pens with Ama-Iro and was quite surprised at how much a lighter shade of blue and initially looks a lot like Kon-Peki; after it's dried.  Kon-Peki in comparison initially is much darker, but lightens up to what Ama-Iro looks freshly inked. Looking forward to trying the other colors and perhaps considering getting the other 3-pack samplers of (Asa-Gao, Shin-Kai, Yama-Budo) and (Tsuki-Yo, Take-Sumi, Kon-Peki) to establish a decent collection of 10 colors. Eventually, I may try to own all 24 standard colors and also the 3 special edition colors (Edo-Murusaki, Fukugawa-Nezu, and Shimbashi-Iro).  Based on some online research they released the special

In my pursuit of simplifying my wardrobe, I've heard a lot of good things about the Japanese brand Uniqlo.  I am naturally skeptical regarding the overall quality among fast fashion retailers, but decided to give them a try as I've been having mixed results with Zara, H&M, Old Navy and others; my primary problem being the lack of basic essentials. T-shirts // Good For example, I just wanted some decent quality t shirts in plain colors for a reasonable price.  So I started there and am quite impressed with Uniqlo already as I purchased both their Supima Cotton and Dry Packaged lines of t shirts.  The only problem I had was finding them in size large.  I'm in that weird limbo size category between medium and large and generally buy large and hope it shrinks a bit to fit nicely. Oxford shirts // Good I also found a nice oxford short sleeve in light blue and picked that up.  I'm quite happy with it.  I also found a nice linen shirt in a blue/white plaid pattern fo

Did a 5 mile walk @ a 19 minute/mile pace.  Started with a nice Cappuccino from Olive & Oliver (quite good) and finished my walk at Denny's for lunch.  A fairly good day with plenty of coffee. I still plan on taking a hike later in the afternoon when it's get a bit cooler and less sunny and hit the book studying Kimball Data Warehouse.

There was a 50% off sale at my local Adidas store and I picked up 2 items a track jacket in red/black stripes and a navy/white stripe windbreaker.  I'm quite pleased with both of them. The track jacket is great indoors, but doesn't really keep me very warm outside as I suspect the material allows the breeze to blow right through.  The windbreaker is phenomenal, it is very lightweight, keeps me warm outdoors and also water resistant. In total, I spent about $45 total ($20 for the track jacket, $25 for the windbreaker).  I would have preferred the track jacket in the more classic red/white stripes and a royal blue windbreaker, but they are both fine as-is and I'll enjoy them for many years. That fulfills about half of my 2019 clothing purchases.  I'll likely pick up a pair of Adidas track pants later in the year and see quite a few at Costco.  Probably in the 3rd Quarter and some replacement t-shirts and that'll complete my 2019 clothing replenishments. Review

Had to have a good cup of coffee and went with the Sidecar.  It tasted alot like a Cappuccino, but I think it's still a Latte Macchiato.  They are very similar and have the same ingredients, just in different order with the Cappuccino having Espresso first then Milk, and a Latte Macchiato reversing that order.  Both topped with Milk Foam.  I also like the side of Espresso. I enjoyed this while studying more of Kimball Date Warehouse (Chapter 5).

For my 1st purchase of 2019, I deviated from plan and picked up a 750 mL bottle of Jim Beam.  I wanted an entry level bourbon to help me compare and contrast with the Wild Turkey 101 and Jim Beam was a perfect choice.  It was sweet and smooth, but otherwise bland and this helped when switching to Wild Turkey to accentuate it's flavor profile. I like the price point of Jim Beam and it's otherwise a very palatable drink.  I probably will add another bottle every now and then, but want to make room for Wild Turkey 101 as my bourbon staple next to my scotch stables of Johnnie Walker Red and Black.