Sip All About It

I can't believe the last time wrote a post it was President's Day. The end of the school year is always busy and with both my wife and I working it is hard to find time to think, let alone put anything down in intelligible sentences.

I was prompted to post something new because I happened upon a new coffee shop today. I am unashamedly going to give them a plug here. It is a relatively new local business called Blue Line Coffee. They had, by far, the best caramel latte I have had in quite some time. I would almost go so far to say it might be the best I've ever had. Not only was the coffee itself yummy, but the ambiance was perfect. It was cozy, yet I didn't feel as if I was sitting on anyone's lap. The walls were posted with various ads promoting local events. The best part of all was that the price was reasonable. I had a huge mug full to the brim that cost me less than $3! I would have paid at least $4 at most of the other local spots for the same thing. If a simple cup of brewed coffee is your thing than you can partake for less than $1.

As I sat reveling in my new-found treasure, I had a strong desire to put together a coffee-based book. Now, I am not much of a writer, and the coffee-based novel has yet to become a best-seller, but I think I could put together a pretty good coffee-table book the brewed bean. Another thought I had was a coffee-lover's guide to local coffee establishments in the U.S. or region. I can envision visiting local cafes to test the wares and get the back story from the owners. Each entry need not be lengthy. An address and simple map, a rundown of their house specialties, a quick bio of the shop and proprietors, and several pics to give the reader a sense of what to expect. If Apple ever comes up with a Scratch-and-Sniff app for the new iphone, we could add an aroma section for the on-line version.

I wouldn't expect to make millions on a book of this type. It would be appreciated by the small demographic of true javaphiles, and thus would probably go straight to paperback. The reward of an endeavor like this would be the process of experiencing coffee in all its various locales and forms and getting to know the artists that ply their trade in this business.

President's Day

Ah, President's Day!

There is no school, so I do not have to go in to work. Just think of all the possibilities open to me today! What should I do?

The real question, though, is what am I doing? What I am doing is sitting in a coffee shop waiting for the place across the street put new tires on my car. Yeah, this is turning out to be a bang-up President's Day already. Of all the things I could be doing this is about 1,679th on my list.

Now that I think about it, this might just be what President's Day is all about. Today we commemorate two of our great Presidents-- Washington and Lincoln. More widely, we celebrate all the Presidents of our great country and the great office that they held. I know it is a stretch, but stick with me. If all of those Presidents had not done what they did in upholding their office and protecting the Constitution of our United States, then I may not have the freedom to sit here in a coffee shop right now and randomly pound out my uninteresting thoughts. In fact, I might not even have the option of picking which tire place to get ripped off by this morning.

The freedoms we continue to enjoy as American citizens are, in part, due to the determination and choices made by our Presidents. Yes, there have been bad decisions made along the way. And, there have been many policies that, after history has judged, were probably a setback rather than a help. All-in-all though, our country has upheld personal freedom and great opportunity for its citizens. For that I am thankful.

I will not devolve here into a prophetical warning about what the new administration will do to undermine all of that. While I definitely have my reservations (as do many others), I find it hard to believe that a 4- or 8-year span of time will undo over 200 years of this nation's history.

No, today I will enjoy the small, everyday freedoms that are mine. Freedom to spend my hard-earned money on car maintenance. Freedom to splurge for a large latte. Freedom to sully the already-full internet with my ramblings. Freedom to, in about an hour, go home and surprise my wife and kids who assumed I left early this morning to go to work. (Yeah, I forgot to mention last night that I don't have to work today.) That is how I will spend this President's Day, and, hopefully, that will honor the memory of those great men in some small way.