Padding the bottom line (day 152)

bacterial update:  not too much to report.  I finally have Pu-erh tea in my hands.  I tried to purchase some from the Granville Island Tea Company but they were out and counseled me to get it from Chinatown regardless.  Apparently it's a specialty product that you don't want to just approach haphazardly.  Steve went to fetch some for me in Chinatown this afternoon.  The problem with Chinatown is that it's hard to know whether you're getting what you came for because of language and culture barriers.   It's always an adventure and I bet if you did it every week you could build up the right relationships.   What we acquired is a 4 year old raw pu-erh which I'm guessing is like buying a $20 bottle of wine.   It came beautifully packaged as if it was going to be a gift which I suppose is the reason most people like us go into the shop.  I did feel special holding the box and unwrapping the 'melon'.  I brewed a cup and it tastes fine though I was expecting a stronger taste and a darker brew.  It was pretty tough to flake off the tea leaves so perhaps I didn't use enough.   It tastes like an earthy green tea.  It's an odd feeling to not know whether you're drinking the real thing or not.  Like entering a foreign land and hoping you're not mistaking their version of McDonald's for fine dining.  I have a new goal to get myself to a tea shop that will serve genuine samples of Pu-erh tea.  For now I'll use what I have and hope that it'll be drinkable kombucha.  It's been said that a good Pu-erh can create the champagne of kombucha.
The Kefir grains are still dormant while I work my way through all the Kefir.  I give it another two days.

I made a deal with Steve that I would get to bed before midnight today so I'm running out of time to write much more.  But how about that iPad?  It certainly is the talk of the town.  I saw a funny article in the Onion where they portrayed Steve Jobs madly scrambling at the last minute to put together a tablet, finally deciding to just slap a bunch of iPhones together.  I suppose why not keep going with a good thing.   We were all expecting innovation in hardware but we may have received innovation in software and interaction.  I'll have to try it and see.   It's interesting that they didn't use e-ink technology.  They may not have been aiming for the e-book market and in their promotional video they repeat 'web browsing' an awful lot.

A song for this post.