Coffee Beans by puuikibeach

I have just created the perfect cup of coffee. With help from the Aerobie AeroPress and lots of experimenting with various aspects of homebrewing, I have now created my own perfect recipe which I would like to share with you.

This recipe uses the reverse AeroPress method with the AeroPress set to the 3rd water-level when placed upside-down.

• 16 grams of medium grinded coffee beans
• 30 seconds blooming
• 1 minute stiring
• 30 seconds still
• 10 seconds stiring
• Reverse over cup
• Push slowly for 30 seconds

Total brewing time: 3 minutes

Photo by Corey Harmon

I just arrived back at the office after a quick walk down to a shop to buy some plants. Having these around in the office makes the environment feel a lot better. If you have not done it already, you should adopt some plants too! I really recommend it

Photo by Ken Lee

After reading one of my colleagues blog posts about his recommended Firefox extensions, I decided to write my own post about my favorite extensions for Google Chrome.

AdBlock

The name really says it all. A definite must-have.

Awesome Screenshot

Capture a screenshot of a whole page or any portion, annotate it with rectangles, circles, arrows, lines and text, blur sensitive info, one-click upload to share. Support PNG/JPG and shortcuts. Easy to use!

Chromed Bird

A simple and great Twitter extension.

Highlight to Search

Highlight text, and search Google directly for that text.

RSS Subscription Extension

Adds one-click subscription to your toolbar. Really nice to have. I use it to add feeds directly to my Google Reader account.

The Passage of Time by ToniVC

In this post you can read about The Pomodoro Technique and how you can implement it it your daily life. The basic principles of the technique is quite simple, and it is very easy to get started. After reading this, I encourage you to try out the technique yourself and write a comment with your experience. Lets get started. First I have written a list with the basic workflow of a Pomodoro followed by a short review of an application you can use to track time and tasks, and at last, references to more information on the subject.

I encourage you to try out the technique and write a comment below when you have finished reading this article.

Basic workflow of a Pomodoro in 5 simple steps

1. Choose a task you will work on.
2. Start your Pomodoro timer to countdown from 25 minutes.
3. Focus on your work and keep working until the Pomodoro timer rings, and mark the pomodoro for your task as done
4. Take a well deserved 5 minutes break.
5. Every 4 Pomodoro, take a 30 minutes break.

Pomodairo – Working with The Pomodoro Technique

Pomodairo is a fine piece of software I recently discovered. It is based on Adobe AIR, and runs perfectly on my Ubuntu desktop.

The application includes the timer, and a task list. It also has functionality to record and track unplanned actions and interruptions throughout your day. It also has other features like statistics for pomodoros and interruptions, and an experimental twitter integration.

Screenshot of Pomodairo with the task list

With this piece of software, you should be up and running with The Pomodoro Technique in a short amount of time.

References and good reads

The Pomodoro Technique - Homepage of The Pomodoro Technique

Pomodoro Resources (Including The official Pomodoro Technique Book)

Pomodairo – Homepage of the Pomodairo application

As I announced on twitter earlier today, I will from today join the devops movement. Why suddenly such a decision you may ask? Who are these devops? And what is this movement?

Came across two interesting blogs about this topic today. Read them and you hopefully understand what the devops movement is too.

http://www.jedi.be/blog/2010/02/12/what-is-this-devops-thing-anyway/

http://mdzlog.alcor.net/2010/06/08/devops-and-cloud/

Also, be sure to check out this post with a list of 20 devops guys to follow.

http://www.agileweboperations.com/20-devops-guys/