Last day at Sip & Kranz

In this first picture I am pouring some pressed Panama Esmeralda Especial Batch #1, arguably one of the best coffees in the the world right now. Stumptown bought the whole batch. Buying a half pound of this coffee from stumptown would cost your a mere $85. Not so much right? It is a very expensive coffee for a very exquisite flavor profile.

This was a gift from my friends at Stumptown Coffee Roasters, along with the mug in the second picture. I am incredibly thankful for not only these gifts but to have had the wonderful opportunity to work with them over the last year. I can' say enough about my experience with Stumptown Coffee as people and a company. They are extremely passionate about coffee and care a lot about people, it's evident.

With that said, my last day at Sip & Kranz was great. I've enjoyed having the type of relationships that can exist with people that regularly get coffee from us, it was good to say goodbye to them all - I hope you all will follow my blog and communicate with me via comments and thoughts.

It's been a great year at the cafe' and I'm ready for the next adventure.

Photo credit to Margi Felix

Unemployed

Last Friday was my last day of work at Sip & Kranz.

The journey begins.

I will head home to Eugene/Junction City this week where I will spend the remainder of my time while in the US before I fly out. It is really nice to have a couple weeks to soak up time with family, Portland, the Oregon Coast, and just rest.

August 22nd we fly out. Eugene -> Portland -> Seattle -> Seoul, South Korea, -> Bangkok, Thailand.

We are getting really excited for our trip. I look forward to the sureal moment of stepping of the plane into the hot, sticky, familiar, Bangkok air.

I'm tempted to describe what it's like to get into Bangkok right now, but I think I will save that for when I actually do land on Thai soil - letting my experience rather than memory serve me best.

Anyways, we will be in Thailand for about 2.5 months, with an open schedule. We are going to be visiting and staying with friends of mine in Bangkok. All things are open to us. We can travel around Thailand, SE Asia. We can spend a couple of weeks in an orphanage serving, or serve in the mutilitude of other outlets available to us through the people and programs that we know in Thailand.

I think we will end up spending a good portion of our time in Bangkok, spending time with friends and learning more about Thai life and culture. This in the end is the most meaningful, building relationships rather than storing surreal images of the exotic in your mind somewhere. Relationships are living and changing, memories or sights are fleeting, surreal, & in the end - illusions.

Asia, here we come.

Gigi (gee-gee)

The dog that screams and whimpers for joy when I get home.....well, kinda when anyone that she likes gets home.

Grandpa's 90th Birthday!

Grandpa Bill Stuber has turned 90. My middle name, William, came from granpa - my mother's father. We all got together at the Lucky Lab downtown to celebrate our favorite wonderfully old man. It's a sobering thought to think that I wouldn't be around had the slightest thing gone different, I'm somewhere a couple steps down the chain and some unkown amount of decision making to actually make it to baby stage.

Well, grandpa we appreciate and love you.

It's great to get comments.

I want to communicate with everyone who is and does check this blog, it is really great to get comments on photos and thoughts. It's much more enjoyable to post on my blog when it has an interactive appeal to it. If there are no comments it becomes a silent hole for my thoughts and pictures....So, I would love to know what you think!

Beard --> Mustache

Need I say more?

It's called a tulip

I only have a little over a week left working as a Barista. This latte art is what we call a tulip because it has the two leaves framing the heart. I will miss making great coffee...& drinking it, but hopefully there will be great coffee to be had in Taiwan.

Junction City - Home

I took a trip back to Junction City, the place of my development & where my mom & dad live. Andrew Brahms is getting married in a couple of weeks, so we got together to celebrate the last of his singleness. Friday was beautiful, so I took some of these shots. My mom is savoring one of their ripe cherry tomatoes. I tried to get some pictures of the many bees spending their time in the Lavendar.

Food, wine, & friends

A few pictures from dinner with friends.

Portland @ sunset

I was finishing up with work one everning and this beautiful sunset beckoned me to take a short walk and a few photo's. Portland has some really beautiful older buildings around, they add so much flavor as development tends to favor sleek and modern architechure. Portland, a beautiful place.