Off The Clock Shenanigans

glenn winkler and i took the opportunity to play a little pinball last wednesday before my shift started. he currently has the high score of 70 million. i managed to tilt the game.

The Boss

"hey buddy, could you wipe down that table by the stage? it's got a few crumbs on it... oh and hey, what do you think of my hat?"

Americano

There's no place to hide in an Americano.

An Americano is one of the simplest drinks we make at Homer's. It's just Espresso and hot water. But it's also one of the most difficult to get right. With flavored drinks, like a mocha, the chocolate is the dominant flavor. But with an Americano, there is no flavor to hide a bad shot of espresso and no milk to soften the bitterness of espresso. It's all about getting a good shot pulled.

Yesterday I had a customer who frequents coffee shops all over town tell me that our Americanos are the best in the city when served in a ceramic mug. Maybe he was just trying to flatter me, but that doesn't fit the personality of this guy.

You might try our Americano and decide there's a better one someplace else, you might like ours the best. Either way, you can be sure our baristas are committed to making great espresso. Come try an Americano (it's the patriotic thing to do).

-Glenn

The lights went out, the band played on

I knew that it was going to be a big night.



On Saturday, August 23rd we had two artists new to Homer's playing. Abi Robins, a folk singer, had been coming to our Monday night jam session, Pickin' on the Patio, for some time and we were excited to have her play. Margo May and the Honeybabes were also on the bill for the first time at Homer's, and I knew their fans would fill up the coffee house. By the time Abi started playing at 7:30, every seat was filled and it was a standing room only show. Abi was playing, the crowd was engaged, the baristas were making drinks, all was well. Then, as Abi started her last song of the night, I saw the bank across the street go dark, our lights flickered, the Rio Theater went dark, and we lost power also. The sound system went silent, the lights were off, and all our equipment shut down. My first thought was that we had flipped a breaker with from using so much power (air conditioner, blenders, sound system, fridges, espresso machine, etc.) but I was informed that a car had hit a light pole on Metcalf and knocked out the power on the street, many of our customers had seen the transformer explode. I asked everyone to move outside for safety reasons, and doubted Margo would get to play.



As I was preparing an apology to Margo in my head, the lights came back on! We moved back inside and Margo May and the Honeybabes played a great show. We were thankful the power was only out for a few minutes and we didn't have to cut the show short.



Two great performances. One Power outage. It was a memorable night.



-Glenn