a new bag of coffee…

Last night, after a lovely dinner with my even more lovely friend Mel, I stopped at the market to pick up a bag of coffee. Three days earlier I had brewed the last of a truly fabulous roast that was a pleasure to wake up to every morning. Dark, sweet, a little spicy but very smooth.

I stood in the aisle, staring down all the varieties, trying to decide which I should choose. “Hmmmm…which country do I want to travel to each morning? France for French roast? Columbia? Sumatra? Hawaii? Do I want my coffee Bold? Balanced? Rich? Earthy? Full? Light?”

Sigh. None of these would be able to replace the pleasure and the depth of flavors in the coffee I had been enjoying for the past two months…the coffee that was brought back from Olympia, Washington as a gift and cannot be found locally (that I’m aware of).

In the end, I choose Sumatra. Earthy. Rich. Robust. Grand.

As I sip my cup of coffee this morning, it is none of those things. The flavor is bland, the aroma is boring. I miss the chartreuse green bag printed with two dancing goats that remind me of the Pan character from Tom Robbins’ book, ‘Jitterbug Perfume’. I miss the sweet smoothness and dark complexity of the coffee, and of the person who gave it to me.

Last night, in the market, I should have chosen a different coffee, a different set of adjectives…but there was not one that claimed to be “Dark. Sweet. Complex. Balanced.”, which is what I was really looking for.

the wall of oil prices

i was watching the news last night and two things really pissed me off.

when George W. Bush took office on Jan. 22, 2001 the price of one (1) barrel of oil was $32.19.

yesterday, May 5, 2008 the price of one barrel hit a true new record high of $119.97.

let’s do the math. that’s an increase of $87.78….over seven years…an increase of $12.54 per year.

invading Iraq had nothing to do with that, i’m sure “our” government would say, nor would the resulting instability in the middle eastern region of the world. and speaking of Iraq and “our” government…i learned last night that the U.S. military is building a wall – that’s right, A WALL – around Sadr City, a section in Bhagdad that is home to 2 million people, not all of whom are “insurgents”.

a wall. in Bhagdad.

a fence. on the Mexico border.

someone please explain to me why “my” government is building structures that are, in effect, useless. all this money and manpower being used to divide people instead of feeding people, educating people…or money that could be going to researching clean fuel alternatives to reduce the dependency upon oil….which brings me full-circle. one barrel. $119.97. which politician’s pocket should i deposit my money into?

first times…

sadly, i awake this morning NOT having a chippendale’s adventure last night as my horoscope said might (phew! sticking my hard-earned dollars into the speedo of heavily oiled overly muscular men really isn’t my thing). instead, Angel, Lisa and I went for a pint at District Tavern after work. the conversation drifted to “first times”….uh hmm, not that kind of first time…we were talking about the first time each of us got onto the internet.

Angel immediately knew when her first internet experience…at her friend Amber’s house. Lisa also could recall her first time…age 15, at her dad’s office.

me…i’ve been pondering this all night and i cannot remember my first time on the internet. sad. such an important event and my mind isn’t finding that specific memory. i suppose it had to have been at my first newspaper job while i was a senior in high school.

the internet is such a integrated part of my life that i have a difficult time remembering what life was life before it. heck, a few minutes ago i was feeling homesick for san francisco so i went for a tour via Google Earth. who would have ever thunk that would be a possibility?

when was your first internet experience? where were you? can you remember the kind of computer you were on? i bet you used AOL as your ISP…were there really any other choices? brownie points to those of you who can you remember the first site you visited.

random quote overhead on the way to the bar: “let’s kick their ass after we do a tap dance.” (three dudes in hoodies on the corner of 6th ave. & congress)

silliness and Bark in the Park

very fun weekend. i went on three photo shoots with youth staff members, all of which were fun and successful. i’ve got a minor “freak-out” feeling starting to bubble up to the surface. our first batch of stories are heading this week to the Arizona Daily Star for the first round of editing and layout. Katie and i met last week to plan the general design of the magazine (where each story will go and how many pages each youth needs for their story). i think we did a splendid job.

Mamta recruited me to join the Pima County Occasional Daters, a fledgling grass roots singles support group that believes in not using modern technology to find people to date. it’s very fun, and all very tongue-in-cheek. Mamta swears she told me of the regulation that we have to go on at least one date per month, a detail i must have chosen not to hear because i’m not good at “dating”. despite all my non-traditional ways, i am old-fashioned when it comes to ladies not asking men out on a dates. the PCOD (we even have our own acronym!) had their inaugural party on saturday night. we missed the water fight, but met some neat people.

we then headed over to Plush to see The Lemon Drop Gang. it was great to see Steph, who took this photo of Mamta and i.

becki…i took this next photo for you. keep the beat lady!

i took the Gertie Girl to Bark in the Park on sunday. the baseball game was actually boring, but it was splendid to sit outside, drink lemonade and eat pretzels and talk nonsense. here’s missy, (mamta), gertie and i.

the beer guy dropped a huge chunk of ice into Talullah’s dish. she’s a Bull Mastiff (Masteeefff!) Mamta gets credit for the image of ‘Lula.

oh…and i actually got a little bit of a tan.

League City

to my viewer in League City…if you are someone with the initials – t.p. (henceforth referred to as “toilet paper”) – or if you are related to “toilet paper” – find other places on the internet to hang out. you are not welcome here.

if you do not know who “toilet paper” is, please disregard the above message. thx.

love this poem…

i had a hard time sleeping last night, so i pulled out my collections of poetry. i rediscovered this poem by Mark Strand. as a person who feels like i am in constant motion in search of finding a sense of being “whole”, this poem has particular meaning to me. enjoy.

– Keeping Things Whole –

In a field
I am the absence
of field.
This is
always the case.
Wherever I am
I am what is missing.

When I walk
I part the air
and always
the air moves in
to fill the spaces
where my body’s been.

We all have reasons
for moving.
I move
to keep things whole.

– Mark Strand (b. 1934) –