I just realized that I have now been working 3 years 9 months with The MathWorks. Why is that significant? Well that is one month more than I was a teacher…

Well sort of. For Christmas I requested my mother-in-law purchase an exotic ~500 dollar a pound coffee (I only got 4oz) which is made from the droppings of an animal called the Luwak. It sounds disgusting but here is an explanation from the site:

There are both technical and practical reasons for the superior taste of Kopi Luwak. Luwak use their keen sense of smell to select the very best ripe coffee beans. A Luwak will visit a plantation and eat only a fraction of the available beans, leaving any that are inferior or not quite ready on the tree. This means that the beans are individually selected by an animal that is specially adapted for this purpose and is far superior to humans at doing this. Laboratory tests have demonstrated that there is also a qualitative reason why kopi luwak beans taste better than other coffee. As the beans pass through the digestive tract of the Luwak, the acids in the stomach of the Luwak permeate the bean and leach out some of the proteins in the bean responsible for its bitterness resulting in a sweeter coffee bean.

So what did I think? I enjoyed it very much. It was smooth like a Kona but also earthy. I would not buy it again unless for a gift because I can’t justify its cost and I feel my Keurig makes some pretty darn good coffee. However I am glad to have tried it and if you get the chance you should too, because hey, when are you going to get a chance to drink a coffee that once resided in the digestive track of an Indonesian tree dweller?

I think I may have posted on this before, but I ran into it again last night and couldn’t help be amazed. Natural History, especially that history which is just about out of reach really facinates me. Also have a look around the wiki, there is some neat stuff in there, it really makes me miss Rochester.

Abandoned Subway – Rochester Wiki
Rochester once had an underground rapid transit system, called the Rochester Subway1. It is an incredible experience, an urban exploration opportunity rivaling the offerings of almost any other city2. As such it has become a popular destination for photographers and thrillseekers, along with being home for a sizable portion of the city’s homeless.