After making a coffee roaster this weekend, I just roasted my first batch of coffee beans. Jules found some green coffee beans at the Ypsi Food Co-op for only $5 a pound unlike the $9 for 10oz at whole foods. 
As soon as the roasted beans cooled down I brewed a pot of coffee and it came out great. I think I’ll go for a slightly lighter roast next time. Here is the roaster and finished product.
The Corner Brewery opened up last week but I just got this in my inbox:
Please join us Saturday, June 17 from 3-7 for a Grand Opening Celebration at Ypsilanti’s new Corner Brewery.
Taste the beer, tour the brewery, watch the slideshow of the renovations and brewery installation, check out our new 6 pack designs (coming soon to a store near you!), lounge in our new beer garden, and help us make merry!
There will be a special reception and short program at 4:00 with Congressman Dingell and local dignitaries (TBA) on hand to toast the new brewery.
We are located at 720 Norris – at the corner of Forest and Norris Streets – 2 blocks North of Depot Town between Huron and River.
We’re doing a “soft opening†now and are open daily from 11-11 and Sunday from noon – 11.
Cheers!
Rene
See you all there!
If you’re in the Ypsilanti area, don’t forget that the Corner Brewery is opening up on Thursday. It’s a new micro-brewery pub located in the old Motor Wheel plant just north of Depot Town. It’s owned and operated by the owners of the Arbor Brewing in Ann Arbor. Support your locally owned businesses. We need more of them in Ypsilanti and everywhere else. The brewery is at 720 Norris St in Ypsilanti
My friend Gerry has recorded some his songs and put them up on his Myspace page. He has some great songs and is a really good guitar player. Gerry always brings his guitar along to parties and it’s to L. Ron, Ron. His music has kind of Steve Earle feel to it and I really like it. I particularly like Good of the Country. Head on over and give it a listen.
I’ve always thought that the premise of using windows and MS Office in schools because that is what they will use in the workplace is a crock. First of all it is not the job of the public schools to train kids how to use specific proprietary software packages. Any software tools that are used should be their because they meet a specific need related to the curriculum. If the kids are learning to plot data, the lesson is about ways to represent data in a meaningful way. There are many packages that can achieve this end some proprietary, some open-source. Similarly if the kids have to do research and write a report, they need to learn how to search for information, they need to learn how look up books in the library, and do effective internet searches. Whether they use IE or Firefox or Camino is irrelevant. Search engines work basically the same in all browsers. Learning how to write effectively is more important than learning how to use MS word. If the kids are taught how to write they can type a report or story in any word processor.
Since Michigan schools have had increasingly tight budgets in recent years thanks to the tax policies of the Republican legislature, it is ever more important to reduce costs. Ypsilanti schools got new computers about 5-6 years ago. For PC’s this is a long life span. At some point in the future they will need some upgrades. There are now several Linux distributions that are specifically geared to the needs of schools both for workstations and servers. There are also many open-source educational programs and also programs like GIMP for image editing, InkScape for drawing and blender for 3d modeling and animation. Of course OpenOffice provides all the functionality that is needed from MS Office at ) cost. As updates are needed the district IT staff should really need to consider moving to open-source solutions. Linux generally needs much less in terms of hardware resources than Windows (and with last weeks release of the hardware requirements for Windows Vista that one is out of the question without complete hardware replacement) The existing hardware could be updated with new open-source software at much less cost.
Yesterday the 2006 Washtenaw Elementary Science Olympiad took place at Forsythe Middle School in Ann Arbor. There were 1300 students competing from 16 schools including 15 in Ann Arbor and Estabrook in Ypsilanti. There students from 2nd to 5th grades. Estabrook only had 5th graders competing. We have been practicing since January. I coached the team competing in the Write It, Build It event. The Estabrook team worked extremely hard and although we didn’t win any single event outright, we did well in most events, including 2nd in Straw Tower, 3rd in Name that Scientist and 4th in Write It, Build It. Our team had no result worse than 10th. As a result the Estabrook team came in third overall among all the schools. More importantly, the supervisors of each event voted on which team showed the best combination of politeness, conduct during events and behavior toward others and teammates. Estabrook won the sportsmanship award for 5th grade. Today there was an article in the Ann Arbor News and they had a picture of one the kids I coached Destiny Mack. I put up a bunch of pictures here.
Congratulations to all the kids who worked so hard to prepare and learned so much new stuff, to head coach Lisa Lava-Kellar and to all the parents who volunteered to coach the teams!
Everyone in the Ypsilanti area knows about the financial problems of the city and how they had to cut funding for the recreation department a couple of years ago. Fortunately the wonderful people of the area have come through to support these community resources. This Sunday, April 30 the friends of the pool will be holding Pennies for the Pool at the Senior Center. If you live in the Ypsi area and you have some spare change go give them a hand. We will be going over and buying a season pass for the family. Rutherford is a great pool and is a great place to spend a sunny summer afternoon. Here is a copy of the e-mail I got with all the information
Sunday, April 30th from 12-3pm (at the Senior Center on Congress at Oakwood) will be your first chance to sign up for passes and swim lessons for this summer. Please check out the price structures below as some things have changed. If you can’t make it on the 30th the pre-season sale will be available on Ypsilanti Pride Day and Memorial Day weekend. Please remember that although we do open on Memorial Weekend regular hours will not start until June 10th when Ypsilanti schools are out for summer. More program information will be available on the 30th.
Check or cash only-no credit cards
Family Pass Pre-season (last year’s price ) $110.
After Memorial Day $125Swim Lessons First lesson $50. next lessons $45 each
Individual pass $60
Adults $3.00 per session
Child (1-5pm) $2.00
Child (6-8) $1.50We will be offering a gift card this year. The card can have up to 5
punches on it at a reduced rate. Children’s gift card-$8 and Adult gift
card $12. Perfect for out of town guests.Pennies for the Pool, too, on April 30: Please feel free to bring your pennies(or other coins/bills) that you might have in your couch cushions or on top of the dresser. We even take pop cans as donations.
When cleaning out your garage-if you have any stackable, plastic lawn
chairs that you wish to get rid off-we’ll take those, too.If you have any questions please contact Cathy Thorburn at 485-xxxx (e-mail me and I can give you the number if you need it) or
catabates AT hotmail DOT com
Hope to see you all the pool this summer!
So this morning YpsiDixit had a a post about the apparently squishy housing market in Ypsilanti. Then this afternoon the Ann Arbor News had an article about the rapidly increasing number of listings combined with stagnant sales, and actually falling prices. While most economists would blame this on rising interest rates as I did until recently, I think the real reason may be something different. Have you noticed anything new about many of the for sale signs in the last couple of years? Why is it necessary for real estate agents to stick a big photo of their mug on the for sale sign? I am not buying the agent, I am buying a house. What I want on the sign is the words “For Sale” and the phone number in big bold type so I can easily read it. I don’t want to see the face of some schmuck trying to sell houses all over town. Ann Arbor until just a few years ago used to prohibit for sale signs from realtors, only owners were allowed to put for sale signs on their houses. I used to think this was ridiculous. Now after seeing all the signs with agents pictures I think it is time bring back the sign ban.
On Saturday Max and I went out to the LeFurge Woods nature Preserve in Superior Township. I have been driving past it a couple of times a day for years on my commute to work. I have only ever stopped along the roadside to take some pictures of birds. Recently I read a post on YpsiDixit’s blog
about exploring the preserve. Prior to that I was not aware that there were actually trails through the area and that people could go walking through it. Since Saturday was such a nice day, Max and I went for a walk and wandered around for about 1 1/2 hours. Thanks to the rain in the preceding days, the wetland was particularly wet and we came out with very muddy shoes.
I took a whole bunch of pictures and a selection of them can be found here. Fortunately with digital photography I have the freedom to just shoot and shoot and edit later without having to pay for photofinishing. I took about 160 photos, something that would have been completely impractical for me in the film era that I grew up in.
This preserve is a wonderful little piece of nature not very far from where we live. If you are in the area it is definitely worth a visit.
Ypsilanti, has a real plethora of great Mexican food, and none of it comes from a chain or franchise restaurant. The old stalwart is of course La Fiesta Mexicana on W. Cross St. Michelle Roman and Guillermo Aleman (Memo) have been running their little establishment across from the EMU campus since 1990. On most evenings it is quite busy and they are also open for lunch. Jules and I and the kids have been going there for many years and always love the food. They specialize in traditional Mexican dishes primarily from central Mexico. The enchiladas verde covered in a tomatillo salsa have always been one of my favorites along with the tamales which are available with several different fillings. The fresh tortillas especially the corn are also extremely tasty. I could just sit and eat the corn tortillas for a meal. The carne dishes are fabulous too and the pollo con molle is a special treat as a are the Fajitas. Make sure you get some guacamole and a carafe of the limonada to drink. You won’t be sorry. Now Michelle and Memo have opened an offshoot called Taqueria La Fiesta on Packard at Carpenter Rd next to the Hollywood Video store. We’ve been there a couple of times now and it is great. The Taqueria is different, mostly takeout with a few tables. The menu is also very different from the original restaurant, with tacos, gorditas and Mexican sandwiches, none of which are available at the original. The lengue tacos are particularly good and a new favorite of Max. This place is definitely worth checking out if you are looking for some quick food on the go.
Another recent addition is Taqueria LaLoma on W. Michigan Ave. The location has been home to several different establishments in the last few years but it looks like La Loma is going to stick around for a while. The food is great, and the service is really fast. The chimichangas are very tasty and the various tacos and burritos are great too. They also make great Mexican sandwiches. Depending on what you are looking for each of these restaurants has great choices to offer, with their own unique menus.
On the other hand any “Mexican” restaurant that doesn’t know what cilantro is must be avoided at all costs. In that vein make sure you stay away from Tios. This place started in downtown Ann Arbor and has had a second location in Ypsilanti for a few years now. The appeal completely escapes me. We’ve tried it a couple of times and been completely underwhelmed each time. Throwing some jalapenos and hot sauce on your dishes does not make Mexican food. The hot sauces seem to be the sole appeal of Tios, and if you take those away the food is bland and uninspired, reminiscent of Taco Bell.