All posts by Brent Seehafer

Well, Shit.

So I broke my Chemex yesterday. The lid to the kettle wasn’t on just tight enough and it fell off onto the Chemex sending a nice big crack right down the entire side of it. Off to the recycling bin with that one. I’m actually surprised it lasted as long as it did with me being in the house. Just call me Mr. Butterfingers.

We’re now using a plunger pot in the mean time—which also has had it’s carafe replaced multiple times—and I’m experiencing a coffee routine upset. Chemex coffee was, to me, perfect. It didn’t have the little bit of sludge that french press coffee does and it got everything out of the beans for full flavor, unlike my drip pot. I’ve ordered a new Chemex but it’ll be a bit before it’s here and, well, did I mention a coffee routine upset? I’m so easily baffled concerning these things.

Just Breathe

I wasn’t fully aware of what I’d have to deal with concerning the things that come along with being a business owner, and I’ve only just begun. I’m sure there’s another lovely surprise pile of dung to deal with at every crooked turn on the way to the finish, wherever the hell that is. I did see a bit of what it was like when my wife was totally on her own as a freelancer. She had to fight the hardest for the smallest amounts of money and from the ones who most likely didn’t have any intention of working with her again. This could easily turn into a rant about integrity and relationship building or upkeep but there’s nothing new to that and I’m determined not to turn into “that bitter old dude”.

So in the mean time, I’m enjoying my second round of Stumptown Ethiopia Suke Quto.

Silencio

In addition to being busy for a bit, I’ve been full-time daddy for the past couple days while the mommy was in Arizona visiting some friends. Oddly, some friends that I knew first and don’t actually talk to all that much anymore. Funny how friends come in and out of your life for different reasons but what’s always been funnier to me is how they make their way back in.

Being alone with my son for the past few days has been interesting and oddly not all that different from when my wife has been around. She’s usually the one who works during the day and I’m the night owl, so that typically means I’m on daddy duty for the majority of the day. Charlie and I did have our first milestone while we were out. He made his first HUGE mess that required a clothing change and it was before the meal even began. I felt pretty awful about it actually. Since I do spent quite a bit of time with him, I’ve tried harder and harder to see things from his perspective in order to better understand what he’s going through at certain times since he’s not fully communicative at this point. It’s easy to say that him spilling about 10 ounces of cold milk on himself was relatively easy to comprehend, even without the panicky squeals he was letting out. Thankfully everything worked out in the end as I did happen to have a change of clothes in the car and getting him back into the seat was easy since there were french fries involved.

I did take a little bit of time for myself whilst mommy was out and used it to start a painting. I’m not really sure what prompted me other than the fact that I got some cheaper canvases to practice on a while back and the weather that night was nice. I had other things that I could have done, but completed a few pressing things during the day and just felt the urge to smoosh paint all over with a palette. It’s funny because I’m not really a good painter and my creative outlets are typically a lot less messy. I am, however, pushing myself to be more creative in certain aspects since doing so helps properly motivate me while working on client projects, which are coming along nicely I must add.

I’m also going to probably transition the videos and nonsense posts out of this blog onto a tumblr account where they belong. This space was never really meant to be a wasteland but there’s some funny stuff out there and I felt like sharing. And with that, I have to go clean up the house and prepare for the arrival of the mommy! Cheers!

Also: on a coffee related note, I took delivery of some beans from Stumptown Coffee Roasters earlier in the week. I’m anxious to try them and will report back with my thoughts.