Words Soccer Fans in the United States Ought Never Use, Part 1.

cynical.
clinical.
pace. pacey.
workrate.
boot.
pitch.
rubbish.
mercurial.
lad.
on X points.
table.
fixture. fixture list.

Coffee

Two things have changed my coffee life.

Before I go on wasting time while I should be finishing my sermon, I need to let you know that I love coffee. Love. Coffee is wonderful.

Having said that, my coffee love has been taken to strange new places with the introduction of two new things - cold brewing and a local roaster.

I first read about cold brewing in the New York Times a couple of months ago. I read up on it and discovered the Toddy cold brew coffeemaker. Calling it a coffeemaker is a bit of an overstatement. It's like a big plastic brew basket for a real coffeemaker. But it is easier and probably quite a bit less messy. Cold brewing results in less acid and a much nicer flavor. I have never been a fan of black coffee, i like the creaminess of, uh, cream, and the sweetness of sugar, but I will drink coffee made in my Toddy black. I like to mix it with milk, but I have discovered I don't really need sugar. Incredible.

The second thing is my local coffee roaster. I have had locally roasted coffee in St. Louis (Kaldi's) and Alexandria (Misha's) before, but neither are the bestestest ever. My new place here in Baltimore is Zeke's, and they are awesome.

Together, these twin awesomes have collided and changed my world. I will only drink coffee I cold brew myself. I no longer like Dunkin Donuts iced coffee. If you know me, you might realize the depth of this statement.

I'm going to start keeping a coffee diary as I try new coffees. Stay tuned, loyal reader!

The Xbox 360 Saga

Probably not getting an Xbox anytime soon. I went to Best Buy yesterday and bought a couple of PC games with one of my gift cards. I picked up the new expansion to Civ 4, Beyond the Sword. It has some interesting stuff in it, I've only played through once. I also got the Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-Earth Anthology. It has LOTR:BME 1 and 2, as well as the expansion for 2, all for 40 bucks. I thought that was a pretty good deal; I had been looking at getting one or the other for a while.

So, I have some new PC games. It won't let me play Halo 3 or GTA, but I'll live. And I decided I don't really like NCAA football anymore, they've messed with the recruiting system so much and still haven't fixed the ridiculous discipline system. ("I know you killed somebody, son, and it's going to get us into big trouble with the NCAA, but I just don't have enough discipline points left to sit you for a game.")

This blogging thing.

I just want to say that, even though I am starting a blog now, midway through 2007, I was truly way ahead of the curve.

When I was in Brazil, I was making what would probably now be considered a blog. I called it, creatively enough, James in Brazil. I coded it in html, even though I didn't know html very well, because all these easy blog software things did not exist. It wasn't great, and nobody read it because I didn't tell anybody about it, and this was before Google had taken over the universe. I don't know why I was doing it. I guess because I could. I don't remember what service I used. I don't know if it still exists somewhere. It was a long time ago.

My point is this: I am not behind in starting a blog; in fact, I was way ahead.

I want an Xbox 360. I think.

My mother and grandmother sent me $50 gift cards to Best Buy for my birthday. So now I have 100 bucks to spend at Best Buy. I really want to get a next gen system. But now that they have dropped the price on the PS3, and now that it has been revealed that the 360 is a deathrap (well, it malfunctions alot), my previously unshakeable 360 fanboydom is in crisis.

The reality of the situation is, I can't afford either, and if I didn't have the gift cards, I wouldn't even be seriously considering either. I will probably end up buying the new expansion to Civilization IV and some CD's.

Bah.

LCMS.

I am displeased with the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.