A little while ago, maybe 6 months or so, we got a new coffee maker, a Grind and Brew automatic coffee maker.  The idea is nice: you fill the hopper on top with your beans, select your grind and strength, set the time you want the maker to brew your coffee, and away you go.  Each night, you fill the resevoir with water and clean out the filter.  Pretty simple.  And it is definitely nice to wake up in the morning  to a freshly brewed cup of coffee.

However, I guess the engineers didn’t plan for an idiot of my caliber:  three times now, the latest being on Thursday, I have woken up to a very powerful aroma of coffee.  You might think that is a good thing, to wake up to such a great smell filling the house.  But, for it to be that strong indicates that I have, yet again, forgotten to replace the carafe in the coffee maker.  It is smart enough to have a stopper so that, when the carafe is not in place, it doesn’t let coffee out of the bottom of the filter.  However, that only works for so long, as it doesn’t stop it from filling up the filter.  If you brew enough coffee — more than just a cup or so — the filter fills up and coffee starts pouring out the top, down the side of the maker, onto the counter, down the cabinets, into the drawers (which, conveniently, are where we keep our wash cloths) and onto the floor.  So, instead of waking to a nice pot of coffee, I awoke to a big mess to clean up as I rush off to work. This has happened three times now.  I think Lisa is likely to ban me from using the coffee maker in the future.

The moral: there is always someone more idiotic than the engineers ever account for.

“We the People…”  Is there a written phrase more recognizable, more iconic, than this?  I was recently in DC for a symposium on Energy Security (which, incidentally, was very interesting; I may have to post some of the things I learned from that later).  I’ve been to DC a few times over the last several years — working for a Department of Energy organization draws you to the capitol every once in a while.  In previous visits, I’ve focused on the monuments, since I greatly admire some of the people to whom they are dedicated — Washington, Lincoln, and, especially, my boyhood hero, Jefferson.  This time, however, I decided to check out some of the museums around the Mall.  I’ve been there before, but there is so much to see.  While I checked out the Air and Space Museum and the National Art Gallery, my primary goal was to visit the National Archives, home of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights.

The Rotunda where all three documents are on display wasn’t overly crowded, but still there was a little wait to get up close to each.  Once I got my turn, I didn’t linger, as I knew what the documents say and it is easier to read them online.  But, just being in the presence of such important history was both humbling and inspiring.  Looking at the Declaration, you can barely pick out the signatures any more — even John Hancock’s signature is barely there.  However, the phrase “We the People” which opens the Constitution is just so iconic, so powerful, it was what stuck with me, what really caught me.  Is there any phrase in the English language that is so recognizable in its written form?  So inspiring?  So defining of an entire nation?

Let me just say that it was truly remarkable to be in the presence of those documents and, in some sense, in the presence of those great men who drafted them.

Things have been quiet around here, and the reason is that Lisa and I are now parents to a beautiful baby girl (so, it isn’t quiet at home, just here on the blog)! Once things settle down and we get some sleep, I’ll get back to posting my random thoughts about random things.

Earlier, I posted the essay I sent to NPR’s “This I Believe” series.  I heard back yesterday that it wasn’t chosen for the national broadcast.  They might still use it in other media, and it is online (well, at least I thought it was supposed to be… I can’t find it right now).  Oh well, I knew it was a long shot.

As I posted on my Basque page, today is the day of San Blas! San Blas is the patron saint of throat diseases. If you are Catholic, today would be the day you go for the blessing of the throat. In the Basque Country, there are a number of towns and villages that have fiestas today. Probably the biggest in Bizkaia is in Abadiño. The signature of these fiestas are these little cookies with holes in the center, sort of like a flat donut, which are then frosted in an anis-flavored frosting. You see them everywhere, by the bag-fulls (like in the picture which I snagged from El Correo Digital, I believe). Unfortunately for me, I don’t like anis, the flavor that also is in black liquorice, but I can still enjoy one or two in the spirit of the day.

Also as I mentioned on my Basque page, since it is my saint’s day, shouldn’t I get one miracle, that being the Giants clobbering the Patriots? I’m sure San Blas would approve!

Happy San Blas Day!