I've been focusing on the copywriting course for the past week, making good progress. I'll be writing my first sales letter soon and then it's onward to the second section which arrived the other day. In addition, I've been doing a fair bit of reading on the subject. Not much fiction reading, though.

I've also been keeping busy job-hunting and doing some networking. There are a couple of promising leads, but it's too early to say whether they'll bear fruit or not.

The Galaxy mags I won in an Amazon auction arrived today and I spent awhile going through those. They're the large format 90s revival of Galaxy with newsprint paper and illustrations for most stories. They remind me a bit of Cemetery Dance from that perspective. E. J. Gold (son of Horace Gold, the editor of the original) was editor and I found it interesting that the editorials in the first couple of issues talk a lot about the size of the slush-pile :) There are some big names in these mags, so I'm looking forward to seeing how it compares with the old Galaxy (I'm guessing the old Galaxy was better).

Now for my tea ratings! We've finished sampling the teas from Harney's and they were all rather good. All were black teas, steeped for just under 5 minutes with boiling water. Bear in mind that my ratings are very subjective - so much so, that it's possible I could rate them differently on future tastings! I've indicated in brackets whether we ordered a 4oz tin or a sample. Without further ado, here are my thoughts:

Valentine's Blend (tin)
This is the first one we tried, a couple of days after Valentine's Day. It's a seasonal blend composed of chocolate tea and rosebuds, and has a rather strong aroma while in the tin (I was tempted to start eating it!). The aroma becomes more subdued after steeping, and I found I needed to add sugar to give it a sweeter flavour. The rosebud taste seems to come through pretty well. This will probably be more of an occasional tea because it is so unusual.
Rating: 6.5/10

East Frisian (Bernd's Blend) (tin)
One word: Mmmmm! Although this tea is quite mild, it is full-bodied and has a delicious flavour. Apparently this is a blend of hearty Assam, lightened by Darjeeling and Ceylon. Sounds good to me :)
Rating: 8/10

Paris Blend (tin)
This blend has a strong aroma and delicious fruit flavour with a hint of lemony Bergamot. According to the website, it is meant as a homage to the blends popular in Paris. This is another one of my favourites.
Rating: 9/10

Hot Cinnamon spice (tin)
Whew! This stuff is strong! It's very sweet, so sugar is unnecessary, but I do recommend more milk than usual to balance out the fiery cinnamon flavour. They say this one is 'assertive' and that's not an understatement! What we have here is a blend of black teas, three types of cinnamon, orange peel, and sweet cloves. Another favourite!
Rating: 9/10

Irish Breakfast (sample)
This is 100% Assam tea, full-bodied and with a mild aroma. I found it a little unusual, but it still tasted great with milk and sugar.
Rating: 7/10

Earl Grey Supreme (sample)
This one's for the Earl Grey connoisseur, containing a higher grade of teas with added Ceylon Vintage Silver Tips. It sounds like this is a popular tea and preferred by many of their customers over the regular Earl Grey. It smells nice and the lemony Bergamot comes through nicely.
Rating: 8/10

Big Red Sun (sample)
This is a special blend of Kenya and Kenilworth teas with a mild aroma and great taste. According to the site, "the golden tips of Milima are reminiscent of Assam and the bold leaves of Ceylon's Kenilworth are very mellow." Even though that doesn't mean a lot to me (yet), I still found this to be a tasty blend.
Rating: 7.5/10

Hao Ya 'A' (sample)
Hao Ya 'A' is Keemun's best black tea, with a hefty price to match. According to the site, "The first plucking of the Spring yields small shiny leaves that make an intense cup of tea. The elusive Keemun flavor is in full force." I did find it had a moderate aroma, but it just tastes like tea to me - am I missing something here? I suspect a second tasting will be necessary for me to judge this one properly.
Rating: 6/10

Darjeeling (sample)
Found high in the Himalayas is Darjeeling - "Queen of Teas." They say this one's a blend of First Flush and Autumnal teas, yielding a light colour and having a fragrant "nose". I found it to be rather mild and the taste rather similar to that of the Lipton's loose black tea we have. This is not necessarily a bad thing, and I still found this an enjoyable, yet subtle, tea.
Rating: 6.5/10

Overall I was very impressed with Harney's teas, their ease of ordering, the shipping options, and their service. The links above point to the pages for ordering each variety, so if you'd like to order samples (maximum five per order @ $2 apiece) you'll need to visit their sample page. Thanks again to Keith for extolling the virtues of tea and getting me hooked on to Harney's :) Do yourself a favour and give Harney's teas a try - you'll be glad you did!

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If you haven't seen them already on the Quizno's ad (currently playing here in the US), there's a fine performance given by the Spongmonkeys entitled, 'The Moon Song'. Extremely bizarre and extremely funny! (your mileage may vary) I found the link on Jay Lake's messageboard. I suspect something stronger than tea was consumed while the animation was being developed ;)

What I'm Reading:
More Tomorrow and Other Stories by Michael Marshall Smith
The Stars My Destination, by Alfred Bester
The Well-Fed Writer by Peter Bowerman
The Ultimate Sales Letter by Dan S. Kennedy