Hi all, since I see a lot of familiar and respected names here, I thought I'd better join up. A bit about me: Born in Cyprus (army brat). Brought up in Scotland. Lived in Scotland, England, California, New Zealand (I am a New Zealander, but also have certain Scottish traits). Now living in Melbourne and no plans to move. Started work as a software developer, but soon moved from the dark side across to customer service and support which is what took me around the world, solving problems as I went. Now self-employed running pet care services business, but who knows what the future holds. First experience with 'real coffee' was when I picked up three Cona syphon coffee makers in the mid '70s for a couple of quid. As I was using crap coffee, I never fully appreciated what they are capable of and wish I still had them. Next experience was working in California where our company had 50 or so La Pav single groups (liberally spread around the campus). I kinda gave up coffee when in Auckland - not that you can't get good coffee there, but our office only had a superauto and in comparison to the Wellington guys E-61 two group, it just didnt do it for me. More recently, the driving force to start drinking coffee again was when I cleared room in my study for a long dormant Espressigo (basically Gaggia classic) and decided it was time to make something better at home. So began the fascination with roasting and making better coffee at home. Currently using a frankenpopper to roast, but now I've cleared a couple of projects of my todo list, modifying the hottop may happen soon. Apart from coffee, what floats my boat? Gaining and sharing knowledge (gotta love itunesU) Getting into arguments - as in a connected series of statements intended to establish a proposition, not just contradiction. Running (10k+) Messing about with motorbikes - currently got an old GS750E that is making very slow progress towards roadworthiness. Homebrewing. 'Repurposing' unwanted items - currently making a shed light from an old flatbed scanner for example. What winds me up? Too many things to mention and as this seems to be the 'friendly forum' I'll try counting to ten before venting. And finally if you sound out the letters of my screen name you've got my first name and last initial, so if we ever meet, you know what to call me.
