nick's site

many times it seems like i’m not learning anything useful in school, applicable to someone who has been working in IT for a dozen years already. at first, it was learning to program and learning processes, then documentation and workflow. now i’m learning some basic nuts and bolts of how computing works, which is neat but doesn’t seem immediately applicable.

i was reminded last month that maybe school isn’t about tools or skills but instead about access; access to explore new ideas and figure out what you want to do. maybe it’s about getting pointed in the direction you’re interested. maybe it’s about teaching you to think about problems differently.

i’m nearing the end but still don’t feel like i have a direction. i’ve been reading the acm and sigcomm periodicals for ideas and inspiration. some graduate-level classes look interesting but i’m burned out with school. although, i feel when I pause, i won’t go back.

the pause is inevitable as i follow through on a commitment to my wife but the duration is undecided.

a few people have asked how we make our cold-brewed coffee.  we make it a gallon at a time, you can adjust quantities as needed.  it takes a while to make a batch but you can make the second batch while consuming the first.  🙂

you need a pitcher, a sun-tea jar, a strainer, coffee grounds (medium or dark roast), and coffee filters.

medium-grind two cups of coffee beans, pour them in the pitcher, add water (seems to be about two quarts.)  let it stand at room temperature for 12 hours.  stir it every couple of hours if you remember.

after 12 hours, put your coffee filter in your strainer and place it on top of the sun tea jar.

pour the coffee concoction through the filter.  you can fill up the filter but it won’t flow outside the jar.  this is the slowest/hardest/worst part for us because we’re impatient.  pour the mix in and walk away for 10 minutes, don’t watch it.  repeat this until the pitcher is empty.  you can replace the coffee filters when they get too gunked up to pass coffee any more.

almost done!  use your fingers on the outside to gauge how deep the coffee is.  then add that much water.  chill.  enjoy.  it will be good for about five days but rarely lasts any more than two days in our house.