Coffee - The Key to Surviving Life, Daily

"Give a frontiersman coffee and tobacco, and he will endure any privation, suffer any hardship, but let him be without these two necessaries of the woods, and he becomes irresolute and murmuring."
- U.S. Army Lt. William Whiting, 1849


I swear, minus the tobacco, this is the basic truth to survival of some of the most enduring hardships -- getting up and going to the same freakin job for 40 years (if you are so lucky in our modern day where most people have no less than 8 career changes in a 30 year period), getting up and being married to the same freakin person every day, or the other side of that...getting up and not having anyone else in your life you can count on every single day . . . coffee is that one thing you can count on. It can make you feel more like it might just get a little better, because it does...with each cup...until the day is over and you have to wake up again the next day.

If you're a coffee lover like me, every time you have a cup of coffee, everything else seems more manageable. That cup in the morning is my best friend...it knows exactly what I'm going through and soothes me by saying, "just have another sip...it gets better. When the world is falling down around you, you can still stare into my warm brown essence and know that I will always be here for you...sorry about the ulcer, but don't think about that."

Sure, I remember similar conversations when I hung out with my old friend "cigarette" -- but it always ended worse:
"...sorry about all the money you've wasted and the smell permeating your clothes, hair and car, and the coughing and impending cancer...but don't think about that."

Where is my good friend now? Oh, just brewed another pot of him...

Alaska Coffee Roasting Co.

Yes, Alaska.

http://www.facebook.com/AlaskaCoffeeRoasting

This establishment is one of the many things about Fairbanks Alaska that I miss.  They really roast a good bean, but more than that, they have a very nice place that serves delicious food.  With various Alaskan artists displayed and always a special selection of some eclectic, often local, music, ACRC (as the regs call it), provides an atmosphere just pretentious enough to make everyone who walks in the door feel smarter and more precious than everyone else in the world.

Love and miss this place.  If you ever get the chance to visit Fairbanks be sure to pop in and enjoy the soup and sandwich special...whatever it is, you won't be disappointed.

No they didn't effin pay me to write this, but I sure wouldn't mind if they did.

Follow Up: Got an offer of Free Coffee next time I go in there...not sure when I'll make that 3,000 mile trek again, but I'm counting on that free coffee now ACRC.

Ronald Reagan on Coffee

"I never drink coffee at lunch. I find it keeps me awake for the afternoon."
- Ronald Reagan


I love this quote. I wonder how old he was when he said it.

Ronald Reagan was like the rich, famous, nice, gentle, smart uncle I never had. My apologies to all my uncles who qualify for many of those descriptive adjectives but not all...I am not forgetting you...especially Uncle "I'm going to shake your hand, oh, no I'm not, I'm going to squeeze your fingers so you can't give me a real handshake and tell you to 'get a grip, ha ha ha ha, come on, get a grip, heh heh heh'

...sorry.

Also, I love my afternoon naps...even though they only come about once every 3 months or so, they are very appreciated. We need more siestas in our American lives.

Or maybe just another cup of coffee....

don't mind if I do.

George Carlin on Starbucks? No, Bill Maher....

When I first found the following quote, it was attributed to one of my all-time favorite philosophers, George Carlin.

Upon doing 30 seconds more research I discovered it was actually taken from Bill Maher's show along with other great bits from his genius mind and attributed to the late great Carlin in a mass-email which has been floating around the atmosphere of the internet for 5 years now...

Carlin, I'm sure Maher would agree, doesn't need any words placed in his mouth even posthumous.

Here is the quote:

The more complicated the Starbucks order, the bigger the asshole. If you walk into a Starbucks and order a "decaf grande half-soy, half-low fat, iced vanilla, double-shot, gingerbread cappuccino, extra dry, light ice, with one Sweet-n'-Low and one NutraSweet," ooh, you're a huge asshole.

Agreed.  And a tag on that would be, "If you feel you have to steal one man's thoughts and attribute them to another man, you may be an even bigger asshole."

I wish there was a way to kill the spam faster...but now these false emails have found permanent homes around the internet on static pages creating unnecessary ignorance and confusion.

On a related note, I recently discovered you can get Real Time with Bill Maher on iTunes for free as a podcast!  Kids, check it out...Bill Maher is perhaps the smartest man alive according to other men you may consider the smartest man alive, like Jon Stewart or Steven Colbert -- although, I'm not sure where Hawking weighs in on Maher...I'd have to ask him.  Anyway I don't listen for Maher, I listen for his incredible mix of guests that you would never imagine existing in the same room.

More coffee now...

Conan O'Brien on Starbucks Coffee

“Starbucks says they are going to start putting religious quotes on cups. The very first one will say, 'Jesus! This cup is expensive!'”
-Conan

It's true...it is. And yes it is also over roasted on purpose. If it were free, I would still not drink it on a daily basis but it's not free -- and people do drink it every day...simply because they are addicted.  So effin what.  Everyone is addicted to something...I have friends in recovery who are addicted to not being addicted...yoga, meditation, meetings.

I've written about it in the past...the amazing company that Starbucks is...for all the trash it may create and the heat it gets just for bing a large corporation -- they seem to be a corporate giant with a conscience.  A well paid conscience at that.  I wonder how rich you have to be to have someone else do your presentation and cleanup for you...I guess that would be called a publicist and from what we've seen of Charlie Sheen lately, that job might be obsolete soon.

As usual, Conan's quote made me chuckle.  I don't have cable though...so I just watch the reruns online...yay for Team CoCo.  Boo for the wicked witch of the west.

David Letterman on Coffee

"Way too much coffee. But if it weren’t for the coffee, I’d have no identifiable personality whatsoever."

-David Letterman


As a low-key guy myself, I have to say I can really relate to this one. When something in life can help you tap into that source we call "passion" you tend to gravitate toward it. As an American mut married to an Italian woman, I can tell you I do not have the direct line to Passion the way them Europeaners do. But one thing I can say is coffee gets me going...enough for me to even start this blog.

Right now, I'm drinking some of that Trader Joe's French Roast ground coffee: Black with some sugar.

God, does it hit the spot. If I don't make it to the "oval office" in time it hits the shorts!

I'm sorry for those who read this and do not have a Trader Joe's...but french roast is generally an easy one to duplicate...just roast the ess out of them beans.

Have another cup...

A few good quotes about coffee.

As much as I love coffee and like to give my opinion on different coffee experiences, sometimes I like to know what others have to say about coffee...here are a few quotes I've enjoyed over the years:

"The morning cup of coffee has an exhilaration about it which the cheering influence of the afternoon or evening cup of tea cannot be expected to reproduce."
- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., "Over the Teacups," 1891


"I believe humans get a lot done, not because we're smart, but because we have thumbs so we can make coffee."
- Flash Rosenberg


"Coffee is the best thing to douse the sunrise with."
- Terri Guillemets


As much as I appreciate the true coffee enthusiast who for some reason cannot have the caffeine, and insists on still having decaf...this one really made me laugh:

"Decaffeinated coffee is kind of like kissing your sister."
- Bob Irwin


And one of my favorites:
"Coffee smells like freshly ground heaven."
- Jessi Lane Adams