The Coffee Dialogs: Part Two

Picking up from where I left off… many moons ago, I’d like to get back to discussing coffee. Specifically I’d like to discuss three items:

Holiday themed paper cups and increased coffee beverage enjoyment: causal relationship, somatic response, or self-fulfilling prophecy? (thanks to Beth for the verbage)

Why I spend so damned much money at Starbucks, and my lame attempts to justify/validate this obscene behavior.

The latest (and possibly most oddly uncomfortable) addition to espresso beverage ordering lingo.

1) I enjoy the red holiday cups at Starbucks. In what some could consider a Pavlovian reaction, I can almost taste Peppermint Mochas with whip and red sprinkles (that while covered by the white plastic lid, do have immeasurable added-holiday-joy value) as soon as I catch a glimpse of a red paper cup. My body most certainly puts out lots of natural “downer” chemicals in attempts to combat the pending arrival of a caffeine stimulus. I remember learning about this in Psych 101 class. The human body (much like the human mind) hates change and likes to maintain homeostasis at all costs. Though a scientific explanation of this process is stored in the back of my brain under “F” for “fuzzy memories,” the general concept does make sense to me. What I can’t understand is why a red cup makes even a plain drip-coffee so much better than the coffee served during the rest of the year in their white cups with green logo. Certainly the red cup can’t cause a better tasting coffee beverage on its own- so what gives? Is it just that I happen to like the “Christmas Blend” coffee beans above all others? Am I just full of Holiday Spirit? I do love Christmas, but really- to the extent that it makes food and drink taste better? Perhaps this is some prehistoric/plane-wandering/get ready for a long, hard winter gene that is making things tastier and telling me to fatten up for the barren season? Or perhaps I’d found the real reason that in my opinion, Seattle’s Best Coffee produces a tastier drip-coffee year ‘round (they have a red logo and accordingly, serve in red cups all year long…)

2) Okay, I get it. Having an intricate coffee order makes people feel important. Clearly a “Grande Double Shot Soy No-Foam Macchiato” is ordered by someone with coffee prowess, while my occasional “Tall Latte” is just for amateurs. I feel pretty fluent in most of the lingo, but I generally stick with a “Tall Drip With Room,” or the above mentioned latte. On special occasions during red cup season, I’ll order a Tall Peppermint Mocha. With Whip. (ummm… candy for breakfast…) But since when did people start throwing in a defined quantity of “pumps” into their drink orders? More often than not, I’m hearing “Grande Two-Pump Sugar-Free Vanilla Non-Fat Latte” or “Tall Triple-Shot Two-Pump Almond Mocha.” Oddly enough, I have yet to hear anyone order anything with one pump. Or three pumps.

Call me old-fashioned, call me a prude (which would be a total misnomer) but can’t we, as a coffee drinking community, come up with a better phrase? One that doesn’t make me feel oddly uncomfortable? Can’t we say “light on the vanilla?” or “Extra almond”? In the universe of coffee vocabulary, I’ve accepted the term “Drip” (and that wasn’t easy), but I don’t think I’m the only human being on earth who wants nothing to do with anything labeled “two pump.” I want no part of it. I’m just glad that I can’t think of a context where anyone could used the term “Two Pump Drip.” That would just be too much.

3) The last think that is vexing me about coffee today is how much money I spend on it. Way too much. The bad part isn’t the actual amount of money I spend, but the lengths to which I have gone to justify this expense as perfectly reasonable, or even a positive aspect of my life. For example: I don’t smoke, so I don’t have to buy cigarettes, which cost much more than daily Starbucks. But sadly, I don’t even know if this is true. I’d have to smoke about a pack a day in order to outspend myself. Because I’ll be damned if I don’t find myself also purchasing sandwiches, scones etc at least once a week there, which sometimes puts me at $10 in a single day at Starbucks. Cripes.

What else… I don’t… play GOLF! So- think of all that money I would spend on green fees/clubs/sporty visors, that instead I can spend on Starbucks. Do you see my trail of ridiculousness? I’m like the dieter who gives him/her self credit for going a whole week with no ice cream: but they never liked ice cream to begin with.

In my head, I came up with a win-win situation: Invest in Starbucks. Kind of a “if you can’t beat them, join them” concept. So I bought some shares. And I’m glad to report that after 8 months, a stock split and the hypothetical capital gains tax that I’d be liable for if/when I sell the stock, I’m just about at break even with how much I’ve spent at the store over the past 8 months. And all along, I’ve been telling myself that its really okay to spend so much at Starbucks, because I’m actually just reinvesting in my company and compunding my investement. Yeah… like reinvesting my dividends… yeah!
Just think where I’d be if I invested the money I would have spent at Starbucks, in Starbucks instead…

And even now, I’m justifying all of this (while taking the last sips my morning Tall Drip With Room) and thinking to myself, “Gina, at least you’re now totally aware of the problem. That’s the first step. One step at a time. Good work on that first step. You deserve a reward. Like a refill….”

Please tell me that I am not the only chronic over-justifier!

And finally, a bonus coffee item that was not part of my original 3: I love that the characters on Gray’s Anatomy are constantly drinking coffee from a paper cup with a cardboard insulator ring (and while I’m at it, I love just about everything about that show). They must have been filming an outdoor scene in the show and keenly noticed that everyone in Seattle drinks coffee from a paper cup. Constantly. It has become an institution. I know some have issues with this. I know it’s not as charming/Euro-coffee-house/environmentally-friendly as a ceramic mug, but it is very Seattle.

Yes, we ARE number 9! But moving on now...

‘Tis the day before Thanksgiving and all through the office, not a creature was working, well, not really working at least. There are shells of people in the office today, but I don’t think I’m alone in the fact that I’ve already mentally checked out for the holiday weekend. I simply cannot accommodate a full workload AND mentally debate about what non-jello/marshmallow/raisin/date containing side salad I will make to replace our traditional Waldorf Salad for tomorrow’s dinner. After much ado, it has been decided: we’ve vote Waldorf Salad off the island (or table as it were). We usually have it at Thanksgiving dinner, because every red-blooded American family needs to have some sort of fruit/raisin/nut-containing cold side dish at Thanksgiving. I’m speculating that this dish for most families contains either jello of some sort, marshmallows, cool-whip and or shredded coconut. There is also a high likelihood of canned fruit cocktail lurking within this beast. It might go by names such as “Heavenly Salad” or “Seafoam,” “Sunshine Salad” or “Raspberry Fluff.”

But does anyone actually enjoy these items for anything other than sentimental value?

I don’t. And I speak for my family in saying, “We don’t.” So we’ve always done Waldorf Salad instead. Similarly, we always do rutabagas in lieu of or in addition to sweet potatoes/yams. However, rutabagas will never be in danger of being expelled from the table. I’m sure Lisaopolis will expand on this at some point, so I’ll let her take the reins on explaining the virtues of this humble root vegetable.


But then the issue was brought up on Monday night at dinner: Do we even really like Waldorf Salad, or do we just make it because Nanny used to make it?

Crack of Whip! Roar of Thunder!! What is this?!? A family revelation!

No one really likes Waldorf Salad either. But we all agree that there needs to be something to replace its cold, crunchy slightly sweet sensations.

I’m thinking of a simple fresh fruit salad. And I’m thinking that a fresh fruit salad would be a good excuse to go down to Pike Place Market this afternoon for some pre-holiday shopping and pre-home-sickness release. I’m envisioning myself going down to the market and chatting with the produce vendors and pretending that I do this every week to buy my fresh produce. Which ideally I would. So what if all I ever do is go to Safeway to buy bags of pre-washed lettuce and the occasional bag of granny smith apples (purchased only for their delicious-to-dip-in-caramel qualities)??

Today I will be the kind of girl who strolls through the market and buys whatever is fresh and catches my eye. Maybe some delicious red seedless grapes are in order? Heck- I don’t even KNOW what kind of fruit-tastic delights are waiting for me….

Here’s what I’m envisioning…


But I’ll probably shop with a wicker basket, and maybe have some birds chirping on my shoulder in manner of Sleeping Beauty!

So in other news: Want to hear something kind of ironic? I need to come up with a writing sample. Details to follow. Something ideally related to child nutrition. Shucks. I’ve probably written more in the last year than I ever have in my life, and I love it. But I have no professional writing samples from the last two years, as the regulations on my current industry esentially prohibit any sort of original thought- especially in writing. We’re… strongly encouraged… to use existing written materials that have been approved my the corporate big brothers and associated legal big wigs. God forbid we put anything in writing that doesn’t have at least 400% of the original word count in associated disclaimers. I’ve essentially learned that whenever I make a statement or a point in writing, I have to spend twice the amount of time, effort and energy then disclaiming what I have just communicated. It’s super neat. No it’s not. Unless you want it to be. But I make no guarantees of its neatness or lack thereof said neatness.

See? I’m gooooood. But what translates well as a CYA method in one industry probably just translates into “Huh!?!” in any other.

So I have no writing to show. I know I’ve HAD writing samples of yesteryear. But when you change jobs, move across states and countries, spill glasses of water on your laptop and THEN have that same laptop stolen, these things have a tendency to vanish, as if they’ve never existed.

I’m in a pickle.



It is very cold and salty in this pickle.
.

The smell of Apples in the air...

This might be the most beautiful thing I’ve seen in a long, long time.

Other than you of course. Smile you gorgeous beast. Yeah, there it is. Perfection.

Okay, back to the other beautiful thing….



Um um ummmm…. Check THAT out. I love it. Yeah, we raised more money for Habitat for Humanity, which not only resulted in the Cougar Flag being flown over the space needle every day (except twice, when some rich husky dropped a few grand for the daily win) last week, but it got our logo and a "Go Gougs!" on the Space Needle. This is doubly rad becuase the Space Needle, being in downtown Seattle, is in in the heart of Husky-ville. So, this is a nice coming-together of two of my faviorite things about the great State of Washington: Seattle, and Washington State University. If I had a little smilie emoticon, I'd insert it here.

So its pre-game Friday and not a lot of work is being accomplished today because its Apple Cup Friday, a day that is historically reserved for jokes, pranks, tricks, team color-wearing and playing your fight song over PA system of office across the greater northwest.

I have already heard the Huskies, “Tequilla!” and "Bow Down to Washington" (AKA "Bend Over Washington!") played about 7 times over our loud speaker. I have only heard the Cougar Fight Song once, but I am okay with this, as everyone knows that Cougars are much more refined than Huskies, and we don't like to over-do things! So there's that... and I just found the cougar roar file online and plan to play it multiple times throughout the day. Specifically, I want to play it right after I do anything cool today (this could be soooo many different things). Now if only I could find the “And that’s another… COUGAR, FIRST, DOWN!!” file...

Most of you know what a dismal season this has been for our team. But through thick and thin, winning and losing seasons, I firmly believe that it is always great to be a Coug. And the fact that the Huskies have had (what some could consider) an even worse season, doesn’t hurt.

I found this quote on http://www.coug.com/ that summed up my hopes, which are firmly rooted in reality for this Saturday’s game:

“I want to be able to rush the field Saturday with all but one finger in the air shouting "We're number 9, we're number 9!" When you finish first in the Pac-10 they give you roses - what do you get when you finish 9th? I want to find out.”

And you know, I’m almost glad that the Huskies beat Arizona last weekend, because to be honest, it just wasn’t as fun to beat them in the Apple Cup last year when they were winless. I almost felt like we were beating up on the fat kid. It almost made me feel bad. But then I felt like they were intentially robbing me of my post-win gratification. Which would just be so typical.


Go ahead, click it. You know you want to.

Its Monday, and I have nothing to offer for a snappy title. Please accept an IOU.

So I have been MIA for a while. Seems like blogging and jogging are things that are easy to continue not doing once you skip a day or two… Are there any other “ogging” verbs that are easy to skip? Flogging? Nah, who can skip out on a good flogging? Logging? I don’t know, I’ve never logged. But I did know a logger once. Hey, don’t judge, I lived in Longview. Anyway, I apologize to all who have had to wade through these last several days with only useful and pragmatic reading available to them (or “Him/Her” as the case may be. I don’t want to assume that I have plural readership, but a girl can dream…).

I suppose that one dilemma of blogging is the temptation to write all the details of life, while being mindful of the constraints of professional discretion. AKA: I try not to write about work and/or things that affect work. And those things have been renting rooms in my cerebral hotel for the last couple of weeks. I think they might be staying for a few more days, or even weeks, but soon I’ll have to send them eviction notices, as I’d like to get back to focusing on fluff as soon as feasibly possible.

For instance, Starbucks is now serving delicious coffee beverages in their holiday red paper cups. And we all know that the red cup makes all the difference. Starbucks tastes approximately 110% better in a holiday cup than a regular cup. I can’t prove this, but I’m fairly certain of it. AND they’ve come out with a new delicious mint chocolate brownie-like concoction, which expertly balances out the Cranberry Bliss bar, a favorite holiday baked good made famous circa 1999.

I actually have no idea when the Cranberry Bliss bar came out. But wouldn’t it be fascinating of I were able to research this in depth? No? Ah, I see. No really, that’s fine.

Sadly, I have only had metal capacity/vacancy for Big Girl (like “grown-up”, not “plus size”) issues lately. Nothing too heavy, and its all good stuff, not bad, just stuff that zaps a lot of my surplus energy and creativity. And since I’m fairly confident that my laugh lines aren’t going to kill me (contrary to my initial thoughts of doom toward the pending Wrinklegate 2005 Scandal), I think I’ll just allow myself to run with it.

But have faith, I have a feeling that things will settle into some sort of operating mode quite soon, and that the upcoming season of eating, drinking, shopping and Christmas-music-listening will supply me with writing ideas a’plenty.


But one quick little item that I forgot to mention: Anyone know of a cure for a dipping addiction? I seems lately that I’ve found myself in a bit of a food jag, and a new one. As a background item, sometimes I get stuck in food jags- eating the same thing for weeks on end. Potstickers, Subway Cold-Cut Combo Sandwiches, Pickles, Oreo cookies, BBQ Ribs (that one was weird, it only happened twice, but each time I pretty much ordered take-out BBQ ribs every night for a week) and English Cucumbers have been repeat offenders in the past. But this time: Anything that I can dip into something else. I’ve gone through about 3 acres worth of raw carrots/celery with ranch dressing in the last couple of weeks, and now I’m hitting green apples and caramel dip pretty hard. Lord help me if I get close to a chicken nugget before this thing passes. I worry that with Satsuma Mandarin season nipping at my nose that I might have to juggle TWO food jags at a time, and I just don’t know if I’ll be able to manage. Pray for me.

Dangit! I forgot the Blog!

Well, I didn't forget about it so much as...got out of the loop. But really, there isn't to much to tell about about my life in times. I would like to comment that I am loving the "sometimes all you need after a vacation, is another vacation" commercials for travelocity. Or maybe its expedia? Hum. So while they are entertaining commercials, perhaps not so good at branding. But my brain is all tapped out of anything else to say this week. Hum...