Things I Learned From TV - "Moonlighting"

So kudos to this new channel on Comcast (I think it's basic cable), "Ion", that seems to show only episodes of the "Wonder Years" and "Alice".

I've been strangely obsessed with "Alice" lately in spite of still not having watched a whole episode of the show in, oh, 20 or more years. I think it began some weeks ago when I caught a bit of the movie "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore" and discovering for the first time that the show was a spin-off of this film. (I also just learned that Cheryl Ladd played Flo in the film version, then played Flo's short lived replacement "Belle" on the tv show, before she was replaced by Jolene, who seems to show up - the actress, not the character - every few months lately in movies or a TV guest spot)
I caught a few minutes of an episode last night that reminded me that I can say with certainty that this show introduced me to the concept of "moonlighting" (working a second job, presumably in the evenings). Mel was staunchly against his waitresses moonlighting, and Alice was always trying to do it. So I grew up thinking this was a huge deal and that if I ever got a job I better not do it or my boss would be very angry. Little did I know much of the country works 2 jobs to get by...and I actually moonlighted during my first real 9-5 job, working some evenings and weekends in the sky boxes at Wrigley Field.

As a side note - some new (to me) observations on the "Wonder Years":
The show was good because it was first a show about growing up, and second a show about a specific time period.
The later shows (I'm pretty sure the episodes I've been seeing are all from the last season) weren't very good. They were pushing too hard for sappy and forgot the funny.
They never really gave Danica McKellar (Winnie Cooper) much to do beyond react to Kevin. She never really had much dialogue beyond these little monologues meant to awaken Kevin to the ways of women.
Anyway....later seasons aside, here's hoping they someday manage all the music licensing issues and get some season sets out on DVD.

Jobs I Don't Want #1

Air Conditioning / Heating repairman. Almost everywhere you work the AC or the heat is broken - you'd almost always be sweltering or freezing on the job.

Here's to You, Mr. Vonnegut

A long overdue thank you letter to Kurt Vonnegut -

Dear Mr. Vonnegut,

I owe you a word of thanks for saving my hide in High School. When I was a sophomore, my English teacher broke our class up into a number of small groups and assigned each a book to read and do a group project on. One group got David Copperfield, another got The Good Earth, and another Wuthering Heights. My group's assignment? Slaughterhouse Five. Not only did I read the assigned book, but everyone else in my group did too - something I'm fairly sure could not be said for the groups assigned the considerably more mammoth novels. It was a pleasure for once not to have to be one of the few participants in a group project that has actually done the work.

Did I enjoy the book? Yes, I recall thinking it was interesting. Did I understand it? Not a lick. Did I do any research to help my understanding? I don't really recall. Did I watch the movie? Yes. Was showing scenes from the movie a large part of our presentation (and the only part I remember)? Yes.

So thank you Mr. Vonnegut for writing a short interesting, book. A book that in my busy high school career, I had the time to finish. A book that for many years, until I read "Cat's Cradle" for a college assignment, allowed me to say, "Oh yeah, I've read Vonnegut. I like his stuff".

And oh yeah...I promise to re-read Slaughterhouse someday and try to truly understand and appreciate it...and to finally get around to David Copperfield. As for The Good Earth...I'm not making any promises.

In Depth Reporting

What a great full page Tribune article yesterday on the Crown Fountains at Millennium Park, by Emily Nunn. There are pipes and pumps in there to deliver the water? Amazing! You have to go underground to see it all? Wow! When it's hot outside, it's hot in there? Who would have thought it! Water drips in there? Say it isn't so! The photos are run by a computer? What crazy technology will they come up with next!

About as relevatory as Geraldo uncovering Al Capone's empty vaults.

Coffee Reviews Part 3 - Disappointment

In my quest for the great cup of coffee I discovered the concept of cold brewing. If you're not familiar - you drip cold water through grinds to create a coffee concentrate, which will keep indefinitely. The supposed advantage being that the result has considerably less acidity than traditionally brewed coffee. When you're ready to drink, you add hot water to taste. You could rig up your own, but never the DIYer, I purchased the Toddy Coffee System.

It was kind of a pain just to get to the point where I was ready to brew - you do a pound at a time. So first, I went out and bought a pound of beans, as I normally would. I soon realized I should have gotten those beans ground at the store as trying to grind a whole pound in a small home grinder is quite a chore. So, I delayed and waited to go buy some ground beans. When I finally brought home so ground coffee, I realized I hadn't gotten the right grind - this requires a very course grind. So once I finally got the right beans with the right grind I had to find a time when I could start brewing and be available twelve hours later - the recommended brewing period.

The result was definitely a non-acidic coffee with a very unique taste. Just not a taste I care for in the least. I played around a bit with the amount of hot water I added, and brewed a second batch to just to make sure I hadn't done something wrong the first time - nope, it tasted the same.

I do plan on making at least one more batch for iced coffee, which I drink quite a bit of during the summer (and tend to add cream or milk to, which I don't to add to hot coffee). But if that doesn't do anything for me, I'll have a Toddy Coffee system available for sale.

Coffee Reviews Part 2 - Coffee I Hate

I have friends who have long been unofficial promoters for the Coffee & Tea Exchange. I've been in a handful of times and it's kind of a unique and interesting place. They have these large open bins of beans, and you decide which you want and then an employee scoops it and bags it for you (and grinds it if you need that done). They have weekly specials and a couple of weeks ago B told me about a big sale right when I was running out of beans, so I checked it out. It only took me a few seconds to decide on "Steve's Espresso", which was on sale for a good price (and I tend to brew espresso roasts as regular coffee - I haven't been brewing my own espresso drinks lately, though that will soon change as the office has ordered a very low end espresso machine, at my request).

So I don't know who Steve is, but apparently he likes his espresso light and crappy. If I had bothered to look at the beans before I bought, I could have saved myself the trouble. They were extremely light brown - some almost green. No oil at all. A look at their website reveals that they do consider this to be a lighter espresso roast, but they also say it make great drip coffee. Not true. They have a columbian espresso they claim is the "darkest cup of joe you'll ever have". I may have to see if that's true.

Coffee Reviews Part 1 - Coffee I Love

In all the years I've been a coffee freak I've never really settled on one bean that I would choose as my all time favorite - until now...and I'm very surprised that it's coming from a grocery store. It's Allegro Extra Dark French Roast from Whole Foods. I think Allegro is an independent roaster that Whole Foods has adopted to be their main roaster. These beans are amazing - dark and bold, but not at all bitter. Perfect really.

I haven't tried any other beans from Allegro, but probably should see how their other roasts are.