Do I get it?

Maybe not. There could be a connection between an online word processor and a blog editor, of course. But I expect blogging tools to have specific fields for titles, categories/tags, and trackbacks/pings.

Making a Scene

Those who think bloggers have no social life should either think again or attend a meeting of the YulBloggers.
Here's a list of some of the people present: Metroblogging Montreal: Biggest Yulblog EVAR!
And some people's reactions to the event:
In English (or bilingual English/French):

• Hippopocampe
• Adie
• Vanou
• Vila
• Christelle

In French:

• Patrick
• Artemisia
• Josée
• Jean-Luc
• Émile
• M
• Lyne
• Michel
• P'tite frisée
• Sandra
• Zerotom
• Fanny
• Geneviève
• Sébastien
• Pierre-Léon

Mine:
Lots of people, all of them fascinating. Lots of fun, much of it free and open discussion about just anything. Fair amount of diversity, though recognizable features of many bloggers. Fair bit of bilingualism, much of it French-speakers speaking English. Great sense of community, despite a few definite subgroups. Good number of new people, none of whom seemed intimidated. All sorts of subtle things happening between some individuals (new relationships?). Formal proof that bloggers aren't anti-social.

All in all, a great party. Picture it this way: a group of about 80 people take over a bar on a Wednesday night. They spend the whole night (8p to some time past midnight) talking about all sorts of great subjects while drinking good amounts of beer and mixed drinks, leaving pretty good tips to the very welcoming staff. Many of those present talk publicly about their experience the following morning.
Scary?

Toponymie montréalaise

Chez la panthère rousse: Victoire!!!

L'Avenue du Parc ne changera pas de nom! Comme je n'ai pas écouté les nouvelles, je viens de l'apprendre grâce à Laiya de Metroblogging Montreal.

Et, justement, c'est Metroblogging Montréal qui nous set de lien. ;-)

Blogging from MS Word???

Hate to say this but… The last post was posted from Microsoft Word 2007 and, well, it's not as bad as I thought it might be as a blogging platform.

Of course, it doesn't do categories in Blogger, it has no repository of blog posts (à la Qumana), it doesn't maintain a link history for easy linking (though it does keep a list of recent documents), it seems to only support one category per Wordpress.com post, its support of "advanced blogging features" seems lacking, etc.

But, at least, it works with the new version of Blogger. What's a half-w00t?

Brikka Bliss

(Reposted from CoffeeGeek)

I love it when I get one of those. A cup which is just awe-friggerly-some! What's cooler is that I can be reasonably certain that the next one will be very similar to this one.

So, this is a blend of two beans, Burundi Mumigwa and Brazil Santos. Both roasted well into second crack. Did that two days ago, I think.

The first cups weren't so good. Kind of harsh. Maybe because my previous batches were with less-awesome beans.

And my two moka pot brews this morning tasted, to me, something like Charbucks drip. You get the roastiness and some kind of spicy/wild character but on a cup without any depth. These two batches were fairly weak (low grounds to water ratio) but, with lighter roasts, I get a more multi-dimensional cup.

But now, this Brikka version. Neat!

I still get roasty, with a bit of smoke and wood (the Charbucks profile). But with many other notes. And it really is multidimensional as I get harmony (several notes at the same time) and  melodic development (a sequence of notes, with some repetition, tonal centres, rhythm...). I got a short note of Japanese dry sake. I get nuts. I get dark, dry fruits. I get earthy, muddy, dark soil. Some faint tomato/brothy umami/savoury. And many other notes which are modulating to other tonalities but are still very consonant. As it's cooling down, those notes are muted but still sounding. The whole cup was an experience.

What's neat is that it wasn't as full-bodied as most cups I get. More nuanced. Like an ensemble mezzo-forte (as opposed to a solo fortissimo). Made it easier to perceive differences.

Oh, wait! The second piece is starting!

Starts with tomato, gets into curry very quickly. Now we get woodfire smoke. And that was just the first few bars. Let's take a sip... Velvetty, creamy. Another sip: crescendo to apricot nut. Back to the woody motif. Lingering notes of fire crackling. Smoke as a soft drone throughout this section. A sweet, short melody in the higher range. Warm, brassy notes. A few cherries, here and there. Did I hear pepper? Nah, just a faint spicy note, calling back the curry introduction. Surprise effect! Smoked ham, sforzando! Lingering finish. The whole concert hall is still resonating.