I bought my car over a year ago, but there is one issue with it that I’ve never gotten around to fixing. In the driver side front door, noisy shaking happens when playing music, especially with strong bass. That shaking noise has annoyed me for so long. My plan was to take it to a shop, assuming that such a job would be out of my scope. But today I gave it a shot myself – I undid a few screws and opened up the door and saw the insides. I found exactly what was shaking, and I applied super glue to hold some plastic components together to avoid the shaky vibrations. Success! It felt so awesome to do this on my own. Really didn’t think it’d be so simple. These little wins are so great. 

Mexican food is pretty much the ideal food. It’s so perfect, so comforting, so satisfying, so flavorful. I had some dope asada tacos at El Taco Veloz, then walked across the parking lot to a small panaderia, hoping they’d have a good dessert option. With my very limited Spanish, I asked, “Pastel de tres leches?” And they happened to have just one slice left! Tacos and tres leches cake – can’t ask for much more than that. Ah, I dearly miss Mexico. 

I pushed myself to go to the gym three times this week. Yes! It feels really good too, so I need to keep up the momentum. It’s mostly a mental battle. Right at 5pm, I’m eager to leave the office and get away. That mental fight to resist and head downstairs to the gym is excruciating at times, but I gotta do it. Today, I did. 

One of the highlights from my summer in Mexico was daily yoga. Wake up early, 90 minutes of yoga. There’s no better way to start the day. It’s been exactly two years since that summer, and I’ve totally fallen off the yoga boat. My body and soul felt incredible from it, so I’m gonna try to bring it back. I just bought a mat off Amazon! Challenging myself to wake up a little early, do 30 minutes of yoga, then brew coffee and just sit and sip mindfully. It sounds blissful and serene. Gotta make this happen. 

I left the office a little early today, 4pm. I was hoping that’d be early enough to beat the worst of the evening traffic, but the rain felt otherwise. I got home a little before 6pm, and by then the rain cleared and it was sunny outside. This is summer in the South. I got home, dropped off my bag, grabbed a draft latte can, and walked over to Freedom Park. It felt oddly blissful, despite the humidity and wet grass. That park is the best part about my neighborhood, so glad that I’m just minutes away from it. 

Lunchtime escapes can be therapeutic. My go-to is a Starbucks nearby my office. I know, that’s pretty wack, but it’s all I’ve got for now. It’s no comparison to this weekend’s coffee excursions, but it’ll take it. Short blonde roast, a chocolate chip cookie, and a seat at the long communal raffle. Not too bad. Sure beats that cubicle. 

Starting off this week with the feels. Coming off a great weekend in DC with the fellas, I’m looking back at this day last year – August 8th, 2015. Still I’d say that it was best weekend of my life. Me, Osama, Uzair. I remember the day vividly – brunching with our girl Vicky in Cupertino, cruising in our rented Audi A4 along California State Route 1, then dragging these guys to experience Emily’s D+evolution with me in Santa Cruz. We had no phone signal along the coastal highway, so our weekend anthem was the radio’s latest hit at the time – Taylor Swift’s “Bad Blood”. As I sit in my cubicle right now, it’s hard to believe this all even happened. A year back I remember thinking that graduation would mark the end of our clownery, but as seen here in this pic, gazing into the Pacific with my boy Jose Loyal, it merely marked the beginning of it. 

La Colombe. A place that will always be dear to my heart. I discovered this brand in the summer between my freshman and sophomore year in college in Philly, and that one discovery has changed so much about my life. The amount I’ve learned about coffee, roasting, and brewing; the amount of time, effort, and investment in equipment and beans; the countless coffee shops visited in so many states; the atmosphere, the incredible conversations, reconnecting with wonderful people. This all roots back to my first exposure of La Colombe more than four years ago. Two days in DC, two obligatory visits to Blagden Alley. But I did venture out a little bit too – Peregrine Espresso and Qualia, both awesome. Ah, I miss this life so much. 

Been hanging in DC the past few days. It’s great to get away for a while, but it feels exhausting too. Despite being in a big group, I managed to escape a few times and do a few things I wanted to do – entirely coffee related. First I visited the La Colombe in Chinatown, but it was a bit disappointing. The baristas seemed apathetic, not knowledgeable about the product offering, and they even forgot to make my drink. And there was Wi-Fi is that shop!! That’s absurd! My favorite thing about their shops is the lack of Wi-Fi. Unsatisfied, I walked to the Blagden Alley cafe to see if it was any better. Ah yes, so much better. The Blagden Alley staff was super friendly, and one of the baristas told me about Qualia, a local DC coffee roaster. Qualia has a cafe a few metro stops north, so after enjoying an espresso and pour over at Blagden Alley, I headed up to Georgia-Petworth and bought some beans at Qualia. Considering that I consumed a draft latte, two double-shot espressos, and a pour over in the past two hours, I chose to forgo drinking any coffee at Qualia. Looking forward to getting home and brewing those beans. 

It’s been a crazy busy time at work lately. Many late night, usually not getting home till past 8pm. But I’m finally taking some time off! I’m going on three weekend trips spread out during this month and Labor Day weekend. I’ll be in DC tomorrow night through the weekend, reuniting with the fellas. Can’t wait!! Always have such a great time with these guys, regardless of where we are or what we do. Countless stories.