Black Coffee

Strange weather

2006-02-17T10:32:00.000-05:00

Bright Morning
Originally uploaded by jbrau13.

This picture of a Bright Morning was made 4 days after the Picture of the man taking Picture of Snow.

4 days later and 5 miles away there are a lot more degrees and a whole lot less snow.

Picture of man taking Picture of Snow

2006-02-16T16:31:00.000-05:00

Picture of man taking Picture of Snow
Originally uploaded by jbrau13.

I haven't posted in a while. No reason really, just haven't. I'd like to say I've been all busy with work, life, etc...but I've just been sort of lazy...no lazy isn't right more like uninspired.

Anyway this whole blizzard thing that just blew thru here sort of helped get the juices flowing.
Recently I've been attracted to pictures of people taking pictures.
I call this one - Picture of man taking Picture of Snow

The first picture I made of someone else making a picture coincided with the first time I saw a camel walking down the street in Brooklyn.

Those interested in such things may find them here -

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jessekasendorf/86581752/

NYC Marathon

2005-11-07T00:06:00.000-05:00

Storm Trooper
Originally uploaded by jbrau13.

About 37,000 ran in it and it felt like there were almost as many people watching. One guy had a big blue afro, and others had tape on their nipples. People had water bottles attached to funny places. A few were wearing backpacks that held water and had a little tube to drink from. Some people watching were handing out bananas to the runners. One guy was offering them donuts, but I didn't see anyone take one. I didn't see anyone give any runner any paper towel, but they all seemed to have them. They would wipe their sweaty faces with them and

throw them on the street

. This guy was in a Storm Trooper costume.

Twin Lobsters, merlot

2005-11-04T11:48:00.000-05:00

Twin Lobsters, merlot
Originally uploaded by jbrau13.

These were really good.
Lobster always tastes good, but its annoying to eat - having to get the meat out of the shell and all - I just never really thought it was worth the effort. In all fairness, I am kind of lazy. Anyway at this place I ate at last week for my dad's 55th bday, they have the brilliant idea of serving the lobster out of the shell. Brilliant indeed.

My 2nd Favorite Beverage

2005-11-01T13:44:00.000-05:00

Beer
Originally uploaded by jbrau13.

After black coffee, my 2nd favorite beverage is beer.

Sometimes I make beer at home.
It's a long complicated process I don't really feel like getting into - but here is a neat picture.
It's neato that this bubbling cauldron or god knows what will one day become beer.

Making beer is fun. Friends come over - one of my friends is my brewing partner - it's a lot of work, so its good to have a partner.
Sometimes other people come over too. Whenever you tell someone you make beer at home, they're always like 'Really, how does that work?'
They ask all these questions, which is cool, cause I don't mind talking about it, but it can be tricky to explain so sometimes its just simpler if they come over and watch.
So there's that aspect.
And also, its like a rule that when you make beer, you have to be drinking beer, and since it is my 2nd favorite beverage, that makes it fun too.

Sadly, sometimes it can be more fun to make the beer than to drink it. Truth be told, its not always really that good.

It's Halloween

2005-10-31T12:01:00.000-05:00

So today is Halloween. I don't really get too excited about Halloween. This year it happens to be on a Monday. I'm always a bit groggy on Monday mornings, especially before I have my black coffee.

This morning was pretty typical. I'm on the train. White Stripes playing in my ears. NYTimes in my hand. I'm reading about Tim Russert, Lewis Libby, and Val Plame. I'm also reading about Sean McManus taking over CBS News, Freddy Ferrer complains about Bloomberg, the Giants winning for their dead owner, and all sorts of other stuff. Every now and again I look up from the paper. I keep noticing all these people that are dressed kind of funny. One woman has all this makeup on. Another has these decorative beads pasted to her head. I'm thinking that New York is really kind of a freaky place. I get out of the train and notice a person w. a black witch hat on and it's only then I remember that today is Halloween. All the others I saw on the train were presumably in costume as well.

This still may be a freaky place, but not for the reasons first suspected.

I had all these ideas...

2005-10-28T09:15:00.000-05:00

So yesterday I posted on here. I wrote about how baseball was over, it wasn't the most compelling bit of prose, but it was timely and on my mind.
I had a few other ideas and almost posted a second time yesterday. Then it occurred to me that it may be a bad idea to post multiple times in one day.

Are the good folks of cyberspace really all that interested in what I have to say? Wait - actually I don't really care if they are or if they aren't.

Shouldn't I actually be working, not just sitting in front of my cpu reading blogs, and looking a people's flickr pages? No that wasn't really it either.

I think its this strange, self-imposed sense of obligation I feel to post on this site regularly. And if I blow my whole wad of ideas in one day, well then what the hell am I gonna post about? When will have another observation I'm compelled to share? So the thought was to kind of save up a few ideas...spread out over a few days.

So I thought I had a pretty good idea, but then I forgot.
I can't remember.
I have absolutely no idea what I was thinking of writing about yesterday.
None whatsoever.

Going forward, this is gonna be more of a stream of conscience sorta thing - when I think of something, it's going up. Maybe 3 in one day, and then nothing for a week. Thats just how it's gonna have to go down.

No more baseball

2005-10-27T09:05:00.000-05:00

Shea
Originally uploaded by jbrau13.

Last night the baseball season ended. Summer, which was alreay over, is now really really over.

It's late October, so the whole summer being over thing is no suprise. It's just that as long as they're still playing baseball I kind of kid myself into thinking that tomorrow maybe I'll wake up and it'll be really nice out and you can sit outside and take in a game or something like that.

A few words on the umbrella

2005-10-25T15:58:00.000-05:00

Umbrellas are great. Everyone should probably have one. A friend from New Zealand even has a neat name for them – Brellys.

During this – the wettest month on record in New York City – a few things have begun to bother me -

Some among us feel compelled to carry around umbrellas large enough to keep the entire state of Rhode Island dry. Is this really necessary?

People need to not keep their umbrellas up on the sidewalk when it is not raining. That’s just silly.

I notice a lot of people are using broken umbrellas. I notice this because I’m jabbed and poked but the metal rods that hang out from said umbrellas. Why? I know the broken umbrella isn’t really keeping you dry…please, for the love of black coffee, just cut your losses and buy yourself a new umbrella.

That’s all I have to say about that.

The end of the Rain

2005-10-20T23:11:00.000-05:00

The end of the Rain
Originally uploaded by jbrau13.

This picture was made at the end of a long rainy day. The long rainy day came at the end of a long rainy week. As this day ended a bunch of friends got together with some other people that they didn't know very well. There were about 10 of them all together. They enjoyed a nice dinner, and eventually some of them made it here to where this picture was made. One of them made this picture, and another one got half his face in it. When the night was over they all went back home. The next day it stopped raining.

This can be difficult

2005-10-11T13:23:00.000-05:00

It’s not easy coming up with stuff to write on here.

I feel somewhat obligated to put something up here today because it’s been a while. It’s a shame because this sense of obligation makes the whole experience a lot less fun. In fact this really isn’t fun at all – this particular post I mean. As I thought I would be doing this for enjoyment, and as this post – well like I said, it’s really no fun – I’m just gonna stop here. I’m going to go eat an apple. The apple will be photographed – that part is still lots of fun for me. I’m also going to go drink my afternoon cup of black coffee. Even bad black coffee from that weird machine that sorta swallows the pre-packaged little containers (http://www.flickr.com/photos/jessekasendorf/47322915/) is still pretty damn good.

Strangers Drinking Beer

2005-10-03T10:17:00.000-05:00

strangers drinking beer
Originally uploaded by jbrau13.

I don’t know these people, but they look really happy. I think that’s what I like most about this picture.

I wonder who these people are. I wonder if they always look this happy. I wonder how they know each other. I wonder what the girl is looking at. She could be looking at one of the men next to her, but she could also be looking at that guy who was at the bar who had a hole in is pants. That guy was kinda weird.

Beer In Big Styrofoam Cups

2005-09-30T13:20:00.000-05:00

There is bar in my neighborhood that serves beer in such cups. I went to this bar with a friend of mine on Wednesday night. I like beer, I have no real issues with styrofoam, so I suggested we give it a try.

Let this serve as a cautionary tale - If you drink big styrofoam cups of beer, there is a very good chance your head will hurt the next morning. The pain can prevent you from doing things that otherwise come naturally - like making photographs of the food you eat that are in focus.

Only time, and the soothing elixir known as black coffee allow clarity to return.

How does God take her coffee?

2005-09-28T12:17:00.000-05:00

The following is an excerpt from Dan Barry's column in today's New York Times titled 'Not Much Guidance From Above.'

"You know the answer," God said, as she tried to choose between milk and half-and-half for her coffee. She finally decided to drink it black.

I'm not a religious man, but I've always been told that God created us in her image.
Perhaps this is why one is overcome with a sense of calm and clarity when drinking a cup of black coffee.

47th St.

2005-09-27T23:44:00.000-05:00

untitled2
Originally uploaded by jbrau13.

This is from one of those times that I feel really cooped up in the office. I come outside and have a seat on a bench. Its always the same bench. It's up a few steps in this little brick courtyard with a waterfall. It's very pleasent there on a nice day. I sat there before my first interview for this job for a few minutes having some iced black coffee.

breakfast - sept. 27

2005-09-27T23:34:00.000-05:00

breakfast - sept. 27
Originally uploaded by jbrau13.

Breakfast of Champions

legs

2005-09-25T22:32:00.000-05:00

legs
Originally uploaded by jbrau13.

Legs. Feet. Shoes. Lately around this big city I've taken notice of the peoples feet. All the people and all their shoes, or maybe just their legs. I'm not sure this only really started a few weeks ago. I was watching this show about a girl who was a shoe designer. She was cute. She mentioned something about noticing the shoes people wore. A perfectly senseable thing for someone who designs shoes to do. I myself never really took notice of such things. However, after hearing her I began to notice the shoes pepole were wearing alot more. I'm not gonna go crazy and say its the first thing I notice on people now, its not and sometimes I still don't notice them at all. But I sure do notice them a whole lot more and I've found shoes, feet and legs make for interesting pictures. Thus the name of my new set of photos - Shoes, Feet, Legs

Breakfast sept25

2005-09-25T12:25:00.000-05:00

breakfast sept25
Originally uploaded by jbrau13.

This is part of my evolving photo series called 'Food I eat and/or see eaten.'
Those of you who are interested can find the set on my Flickr page.

Everything bagel w. Light veggie cream cheese, the two pills I'm taking these days, and a large black coffee.

They always give you way too much cream cheese...its like your eating a cream cheese sandwich. I always end up wiping like half of it off, but it looks nice in the photo I suppose.

Breakfast - 9/24

2005-09-25T12:12:00.000-05:00

Breakfast - Saturday, September 24th 2005
This was at the Garden Grill - my local dinner. It's good. I had an egg white omelet w. feta cheese and tomatoes. When I order it the guy behind the counter says 'Feta and tomato OM-E-LETTA BLANCO all the way to stay.' I think the 'all the way' business is for the potatoes and buttered white toast that come with it. I always put hot sauce on my eggs. The ketchup is just there for show...I was wearing a Heinz Ketchup tee shirt so the old fella behind the counter thought that the ketchup bottle belonged in the picture - I didn't object. I also had about 4 cups of my beloved black coffee.

craig w. bubbly

2005-09-23T15:11:00.000-05:00

craig w. bubbly
Originally uploaded by jbrau13.

This is my friend Craig. We met freshman year at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. That was in 1996. Wow, it sure doesn't feel like 9 years ago. I can still remember our first conversation. It was in the dinning room, we were eating bad pizza - its all pretty bad in Madison - and Craig was telling me about this experience he had with a young lady and some kind of controlled substance.

This is a good picture of Craig. He's poppin open a bottle of bubbly. Craig seems to have a certain flair for entertaining – he’s a very good host. Criag and Jen (his wonderful woman of many years) had a New Years Eve party in 2004. There weren't really many people there, and one girl was really getting on my nerves, but we all had a very good time and nobody ever had an empty glass.

How'd they make the burgers so damn small?!?

2005-09-23T09:52:00.000-05:00

IMG_1014
Originally uploaded by jbrau13.

This is my friend Jon. I've know him for a really long time. We were on the same basketball team in the 4th grade. That was a lot of fun. About 18 years later I had a party and bought a lot of White Castle hamburgers. Jon seems fascinated with his, doesn't he?

885 2nd Ave

2005-09-23T09:28:00.000-05:00

885 2nd Ave
Originally uploaded by jbrau13.

I work here. It's a big beautiful building on the east side of Manhattan. We work in a tiny room with no windows in the basement. Sometimes in the middle of the day this makes me sad. When this happens I'll go outside for a few minutes and eat a peach or something. That usually makes me feel a little bit better.

the coz

2005-09-23T09:25:00.000-05:00

the coz
Originally uploaded by jbrau13.

Gotta love those sweaters!

self-portrait

2005-09-23T09:23:00.000-05:00

self-portrait
Originally uploaded by jbrau13.

I made this pic very early one Friday morning in May. I look kinda crazy...I'm not really that crazy. I also don't really look like this any more.

music

2005-09-22T10:37:00.000-05:00

IMG_0905
Originally uploaded by jbrau13.

This is a neat picture

My kitchen

2005-09-22T10:00:00.000-05:00

IMG_1032
Originally uploaded by jbrau13.

It doesn't always look like this...black coffee comes from this room. Mmmmmmm.

The Beginning

2005-09-22T09:03:00.000-05:00

This is the first entry in my new blog.
I actually opened the account back in December, but haven't used it until today - 9/22/05 - the first day of autumn.
I'm calling the blog 'Black Coffee'
Black coffee is one of my favorite things in this whole world. Maybe I have simple pleasures, or maybe I just know a good thing when I see (or taste) it, but I love me my black coffee.

Today is also the first day of autumn. I thought it would be a good time to start this here blog. I suppose autumn is kind of about the end of things in some ways, the end of summer, end of long days, end of girls in open toed shoes is near, days get shorter, and so on.
But for me its the start, the start of this blog at least. And black coffee accompanies the start of each day for me, so why not the start of this as well.