Neal Wilson ✅ @neal@social.typica.us

Apparently vocal anti-maskers decided to over-run the shop this morning and make an ass of themselves now that we're no longer telling them they need to put the mask on. One felt the need to say that they're glad we got rid of "our" mask rule and that he (of course it's a he) hadn't been in since we started that. It's probably for the best that I wasn't here for that. (1/2)

The local health department has asked the city to get rid of the mask mandate so that's moving its way through and everybody is going to rubber stamp that. My company's COVID czar (my mother, a former nurse who has lots of directly relevant education and experience when it comes to interpreting the data coming out of the health department) agrees that it's fine to move back to mask-optional. We're still limiting seating to 18 (the space is allowed 49, but that's still crazy).

There was a car crash in front of my shop just after closing. I'm not sure how they managed to do that during normal moving traffic with no hazards.

Microsoft Windows has wasted another day.

The cat is pulling my hair.

The cat was pretending to hunt.

Today I got a new pair of Birkenstock clogs for my birthday. My birthday was in November.

The phone thinks it's extremely important that I know about a snow warning that I'll be in my house throughout and keeps blaring an alert sound. This is why phones should have removable batteries.

Last night's dream was a new murder mystery in which the killer tried to frame someone else, the detective tried to figure it out, and the entire cast of 9 (including victim) were all AI agents. I doubt I'll re-run that dream.

On the initial tasting, going out darker than this dark roast wasn't bad, but the coffee lost some of the distinctiveness.

The dark roast is on the lighter side of a dark roast and in some ways reminds me of an Earl Grey tea. Smoky aromatics, fruity aftertaste, heavy body. This is my favorite one of the set.

The medium roast doesn't have the issue of drying the mouth out, smoother, a little more intensity on the fruit notes and overall perceived sweetness. Expression of distinct flavor notes is still mild, but overall intensity of the coffee is good. This is something that I can sell.

In production test batches, the light roast I'd selected is mild and sweet, but it dries the mouth out, especially as the coffee cools. This is a bit lighter than I typically go for even a cupping roast. The main problem is that distinguishing flavor characteristics are understated enough that I don't think the roast is worth what I'd need to charge for it, so I won't be putting the light roast on the shelf. Slighly tart, a bit of melon, pleasant aroma.

Tasting production test roasts of the new coffee from El Salvador. The initial test set covered a very broad range from very light to very dark and the coffee performed decently across the whole range, so I think home roasters can pretty much do whatever they want with this and are likely to not go too far wrong. They should just do whatever generally aligns with their preferences.

Updated my #GenshinImpact character tier list for the new version.

If anyone needs me I'll be petting my cat.

It has come to my attention that I am making some people feel stupid. This is not my intent and likely means that I'm not explaining something well enough.

Today's coffee tasting was a new coffee from El Salvador. Natural process, Pacamara from a farm that my sister has visited. This performed pretty well across the whole range so I'm going to do production test batches of a light, a medium, and a dark roast, brew full pots of those, and decide what I'll sell based on how those perform.

Today's junk mail was of a religious nature. It wanted me to imagine a world with no healthcare and no medicine and tried to spin that dystopian nightmare in which I would have died several times over by now as a hopeful vision of the future. Sorry, but if I wanted the be fed that kind of shit I'd become a Republican.

Cat says it's time for cuddles.