The following has been adapted from actual correspondences
I arrived on the 14th, flying from Hamburg to Stuttgart. Hamburg is a very fine city that has a dynamic blend of old buildings and startling modern architecture. They have an immense construction project at the harbour that is similar to the Expo lands development.
People are friendly, as in Canada, but less reserved initially. In Canada people “exchange glances” and look away. In Hamburg a first look is like an extended quiet conversation. It is quite engaging. I asked about this characteristic and people acknowledged it is so.
People pour out of the trains in BC furtive and suspicious. In Hamburg you leave the train as if you know many people, though you may have spoken not a word.
The transit system is what Vancouver´s aspires to be – conventional trains from the hinterlands, S-Bahn rapid trains for the suburbs and city, neighbourhood and express buses, and ferries. It is similar to Vancouver´s in having no turnstiles. Yet I saw not one police or fare-checker. This all contributes to a more trusting and confident populace. This is something of a paradox to me, because on another level, the people are highly regulated.
When my father came to Canada he showed up at the Police Station and they asked him what he wanted. He said ‘Here I am.’ They laughed and sent him away. In Germany you have to inform the government when you move, within a few weeks, or you are fined.
You can feel spring is about to arrive, the weather gets cloudy in Hamburg but rarely rains. It was very cold. In Stuttgart it is much warmer and feels like spring. I miss many things, but most of all I miss my family. (… to be continued)
To me, the most satisfying cup of coffee is served in a diner where the waitress fills it up at least 6 times (without asking) before you get your two eggs over medium with bacon and hashbrowns. Other than that, at any specialty coffee shop on any street corner I’m usually a dark roast girl.
Photo Credit:
Cosmo on Flickr
The other morning John overheard someone ask for a dark roast coffee because they needed the extra caffeine in their system. The barista replied that dark roasts actually have less caffeine since they’re toasted longer and that drains it out. Of course when he told me this I had to do some internet-sleuthing to confirm or bust this dark roast caffeine myth.
Generally, dark-roast coffee has less caffeine than lighter roasts because the roasting process reduces the bean’s caffeine content. [Caffeine – Wiki]
Drinking a darker roast will decrease your caffeine intake as the higher roasting temperatures eliminate more of the caffeine in the bean. [Sally’s Place]
There are also several forums where others have asked the very same question and the resounding response seems to be that caffeine comes out in the roasting process. However, this lovely Drupal site below suggests the opposite:
It really depends on how you measure the caffeine.
If you measure by weight you actually have more caffeine in dark roast because the water loss is faster than the caffeine loss. If you measure by volume you have less caffeine because the beans expand as they roast. [Coffee and Caffeine FAQ]
It’s also been suggested that if you want a dark roast taste with all the caffeine of a light roast, try ordering an Americano. However, if it’s just the pure caffeine you’re worried about, consult Vancouver Coffee’s post about ingesting specific amounts to increase your hyperactivity.
In the end, I’m not quite sure what the actual answer is without getting into some serious mathematical and scientific molecular breakdown calculations. I’ll just sit back now with my warm beverage of choice until the shakes inevitably arrive by the next coffee run at 3:00pm.
The first thing that probably comes to mind when thinking about online video is YouTube. It’s the most popular service and is pretty darn entertaining but for some of my “day job” needs I wanted something that looked a little more professional and that wouldn’t scrape the encoding quality down like sandpaper.
The alternative I chose was Blip.tv, which allows you to upload videos, have “episodes”, and is conducive to video podcasting offering up RSS feeds, enabling comments, and tags. I was pleased with Blip while it lasted until something with the day job turned things upside down and I had to scramble to find another video service. Honestly I could have just embedded the videos using the amazing flv wizard but I like the social networking features and stats tracking of the video services.
I Googled around, passed over Revver (I forget my reason for ignoring it) and came across Viddler. I signed up for an account and was pretty impressed. They have a sleek interface that allows you to enter titles and tags on the fly in a smooth AJAX-y manner (you don’t have to go to another page to enter this information, it’s kind of like editing details of a photo on Flickr). You can also record directly to their site (without uploading a file) using your webcam.
What ultimately sold me was their batch upload feature. Since we no longer had our half-dozen videos up on Blip, I had to toss them all up again. Viddler helped me do that all in one batch operation which included adding tags and titles to every video while I waited. On the flip side, I’ve already noticed that the embedded videos on my work site don’t load in Firefox 2, but they work fine in Safari and FF 3 Beta 3.
Last night I went to my personal Blip.tv profile and encountered some familiar issues. The upload time was dragging, the thumbnail I uploaded for the video player wasn’t working, and the video wasn’t playing on my profile or while embedded on my blog even after about 30 minutes it still said status “pending”. I decided since Viddler was working out so well at the day job that I would sign up for a Miss604 account on there. I made a Twitter update saying I was moving on to Viddler and the response was astounding.
I received a Twitter request from Rob, the co-founder of Viddler, who also added me as a contact on the video site and made a nice comment about the video I had just uploaded. I then had some friends and contacts message me saying they’re also pleased with Viddler.
This morning I got an email from Eric, the Director of Content Development at Blip.tv. I assume he saw my Twitter as well – yes, Twitter is very public – and he was just asking if I would share some reasons why I left. Eric was really nice to inquire and I gladly shared my story. I explained my reasons for moving over to Viddler and he was all ears. I stand by my statement that Blip.tv is excellent for video bloggers (and I haven’t deleted my account or anything), but I think I’ll be giving Viddler a whirl for the next while and we’ll see how it all pans out.
I’d like to thank Rob and Eric for being so responsive and engaging me in conversations about my satisfaction with their respective services. I’m certainly more inclined to work with them and use their products after all of this. Geez, aren’t the internets great?
First off, if you haven’t yet subscribed to the Lipgloss and Laptops podcast, stop being silly and check it out. Second, happy belated birthday to co-host (and my teammate on victorious Team Blogger), Kerry Anne.
She and Airdrie have been podcasting for over two years now and they’re almost at the #100 episode mark (and I really think they should have some type of party to celebrate cause I think that would be fun *cough*). Most recently they were also responsible for all the MAC gift bags and swag at the Northern Voice dinner.
They’ve pretty much perfected the art of intelligent and insightful banter, spiced with product reviews, cosmetic tips and the occasional reference to a burlesque show or the Number 5 Orange (as you’ll see in their latest episode).
Just walking to work this morning I learned about the application of fake eyelashes, self-tanners, and vibrating pore scrubbers. They also play amusing renditions of “shag, marry, kill,” listing off a couple men of note – all in good fun of course – and in episode #95 they have a geek theme including the likes of Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Paul Allen. They close out the podcast with a “reality check” regarding to one of my posts, and I have to say it means a lot to know these women, whom I hold in such high esteem, appreciate my content and share some of my same views.
You can listen online at LipglossAndLaptops.com or subscribe to their feed in iTunes.
As stated when I first started making my site open for advertisements, I will always disclose when a blog post is a part of a paid advertisement. As I choose my advertisers probably as carefully as they choose me, I make sure to remain above board for my readers.
The latest ad space has been scooped up by UsedVancouver.com, here’s the staple interview and more information about the company provided by Kean: Continue reading this post ⟩⟩
