A letter to my Chickie

Dear Chickie Babe,

What happened this morning?  This may be the first time that you've awoken in such a panic at the exact time your mother and I get going in the morning.  This week you've been up a little earlier than normal but we've managed.  I'm glad I had the rest of my Kenya Karinga ready to go in the maker this morning. I slept well but only downstairs until about 3 and then failed upstairs and came back down.  We had breakfast together and you sat on my lap as I had cereal and the last of the coffee.  I think it did the trick of keeping me awake, it must have, b/c I should have passed out on the train this morning but did not.  

So Chick, please get back on the schedule of sleeping till 8am so I can have an incident-free morning.  

Thank you.

Assignments Day

Hit the ground running, today.  At first I was bummed out about it but then I realized I had a deadline which was good and then I got another freelance gig.

An Awake around 10.

A Venti Pike from 11-1130 during a remote conf call.

In this time I got the freelance assignment and the coffee probably started kicking in. It was also around this time I was SCREAMING!!!!  SCREAMING FOR VENGEANCE!

China Green Tips to wash down the gyro (my office probably no smell good). 145

Light Note Blend Venti now till whenevs.  I can still taste the gyro.  Gross.

Thank you for reading this.

Just another day...

Started with a Du Monde, b/c I had the time and my breakfast needed more flavor.

Had 2 cups of Awake before 11.

I did get to go outside for a bit and trudged through the cold to find a pizza place on Lexington. Passed a famous Gyro cart, too.  Listened to Overkill's "Nothing to Die For" and that basically handled my feelings about my current 930-530. I will use that at the gym tonight. Between that and the cold, I was getting a second wind as I prepped for coffee.

Held off on coffee until my 2pm phone call/meeting.  I work with talented people but I am indifferent to the actual work.

Thank you for reading.

Oh, good. More snow.

I've made it a habit to drink green/herbal tea at night.

I shoveled for at least an hour yesterday morning and rewarded myself with cup #2 of Cafe Du Monde.  It's delicious and all but I've obviously developed a tolerance b/c I'm not getting a buzz off it, even after expending at least 100 calories pushing sludge.  It's better than pushing emails 40 hours a week, though.

Still, no buzz.

I later tried a loose black tea that my mother in law gave to Liz.  Used the Adagio.  I cannot recall the name of the blend but I will update later.  Drank it while clearing stuff out of media room yesterday.




As for Today --

Have had my Awake and my first 20oz of Pike.  Work is work.  I'm picking up the pieces from Friday's mess.  I have a feeling that'll be a phrase I often utter.

2PM
Had a 2nd Pike for my 2pm meeting.  Was sort of dreading it but it wasn't as bad as I'd thought. A new skill I've acquired is the ability to wrangle the attention span of another person so that we can accomplish a goal. In this case, finishing a thought is the goal.

445
Had a tiny bit of the mild coffee with whole milk just to get more calories.

Thank you for reading.

Beans for the week of Feb 16

To retrace all the coffee I’ve had in the past week is actually not all that difficult to note. I’m fairly certain that I had a little less over the last weekend, which extended to Monday due to the holiday. Liz bought condensed milk, so the Café Du Monde has been one step closer to actual Vietnamese style.  You can see the difference in its general darkness and how it takes on a wonderful nearly-caramel color once the milk is added. The thickness of the milk probably contributes a bit to this.  I try not to overload on the milk, though, because I want the chicory taste to be enhanced and not drowned. 

It’s been a quicker week in my existential office space. I’ve kept up with the same pace of Awake Tea upon my arrival and having my two 20 oz. Pikes.  I did break from this on Wednesday, though, as I was able to finagle a Gold Coast blend from the Starbucks downstairs as part of the now discontinued recycling program at 1045 am.  My old Christmas Blend bag was exchanged under light protest by the establishment. Fact is, they should have a recycling program regardless of the “awards.”  Deceiving as it may sound, Gold Coast is a darker roast and unfortunately it was unremarkable – less because of the actual product and more because I let it cool whilst in a meeting. By the time I got back to it, it’d cooled off and I was not about to reheat it.  Shortly after, I’d been handed a writing assignment as a freelancer, which was fantastic, and my heart was racing either because of the following up of Pike or the prospect of earning more money or the fast turnaround time it needed.  I was able to set up my interviews for Thursday (yesterday) and still make a lot of progress at work, and I guess I felt the need to celebrate a little during “Modern Family” that night. Two glasses of chilled red wine later, I’d passed out in front of “Kroll Show.”  When I let my guard down, it comes down hard, I suppose.

On a side note, I cashed in on my free DD coffee Weds night after the train ride and brought home a medium Coconut which was mostly for Liz. I did have a small gulp and it’s pretty good. I suggested she have the condensed milk with it and apparently that was quite tasty.

Last night I actually finished a decent draft one of the article, with the aid of Bruce Dickinson and Café Du Monde.  I was up really late but it was worth it (even with the Monday extension) so that at least I’m cleaning it up over the weekend instead of first writing it.  It was a little long and lighter on facts but I was able to write a decent feature that came full circle.

I have been putting a packet of raw sugar in my cups these days, because I’m not eating as much junk at my desk (which would normally provide supplemental sweetness). 

Not having coffee in the mornings at home has been beneficial. I’m sure I’ll relapse at some point but I need to move a little faster and it takes time to brew, cool and drink and honestly, all it often does is make morning bathroom trips longer and wake me up for a train ride during which I’m caged and not wanting to stay awake.  If I had the bike with me it’d be a different story. Plus, the coldness of this Winter is enough to keep anyone’s nervous systems up and running. 

Our express to Penn just sat at Jamaica for well over 10 minutes but they refuse to open the doors to the stranded passengers on the platforms.  People are freezing out there.  Apparently there are systemwide delays and it’s exactly 9am as I write this and we’ve barely made it a couple of miles out of Jamaica.  Makes me long for Brooklyn as much as one could long for that sort of thing. 

Thank you for reading this.

v-day chills

1030am

Was expecting to be up all night doing work but the atty never responded so I reckon I was off the hook.

Had my Awake tea this morn as usual and and found doughnuts and Vermont maple cream oreo-type cookies (in the shape of a leaf) so my sweet tooth is balanced by the egg & cheese sandwich I had for breakfast.

Am going to start on a different writing project and reckoned I needed to Pike up.  I can feel a slight headache coming on but it's from withdrawal and possibly the wind (needed the thermals today).

It's also worth noting that I'm starting my day with Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" today and mostly instrumental jazz and such while I'm at my desk.  I do crave some Helloween so I'll eventually let that devil out and then get back to a cafe-type atmosphere.

130pm

Another in-house Venti Pike to get through part 2 of meeting day.  Tuesday will also be meeting day. I just want to get the work done so I don't have to stay late b/c I'm working with a West Coast person.

Is there still a need/craving?

Today is the 2nd day in a row where I did not jav it up at home and opted for grapefruit instead.  I realize that my lifestyle change probably led to this; not biking has chilled me out a bit.  No changing trains, no amping myself up for battling the weather; the pedestrians are still there but in a different setting.  Being able to wear my fav leather coat and read for a bit does wonders and contributes to a feeling of clarity.  No need to get amped up for a 50-min sit-fest.  Maybe I'll feel differently when I take my personal writing more seriously (which I should).  Also the morning coffee probably also contributes to an extra BM that keeps me from making the train on time.

Had Awake tea this morning as I got settled and tackle my first real lawyer ego.  No need to stay awake for this, either.

1045am

Got a 20oz (Venti) sized up from 18th FL and filled up with Pike.  One raw sugar bag.  So far so good.  Will help me map out rest of Feb and Start of March.

3pm (approx)

Am taking on my first real writing assignment for an atty who was overlooked in the nomination process.  Figure I can use another 20 oz esp if I have to write on the train.

445

I guess it helped.  I got it all done in time. Will pick up tomorrow.

In da' House Blend

Had yet another meeting but this time in a large conf room where there was House Blend, which is Medium and darker than what's up here.  Threw some raw sugar in there and it was actually pretty effective.   Had a cup and a half and that was it for my entire coffee intake (had Awake tea at 930).  Meetings are boring.

Been a while for the creature of habit

It's been too long since my last post. It's on my mind and I should make more of an effort to just write it out.  I will not limit myself to weekends anymore. It'll happen frequently but sans consistency.

I've been acclimating to my new job on 7th Ave and in doing so, have developed new coffee habits here.  The coffee options @ this firm are either Flavia or percolated Starbucks. I asked the HR rep about the authenticity of the latter, which she confirmed.  Apparently the most popular reason for going packaged as opposed to 'bucks is b/c it can likely be fresher.  They brew every morning but I doubt every afternoon.  Additionally, on my floor, they have only 2 varieties of caffeinated blend (Light Note and Breakfast Blend) which are Mild.

However, I realized that on the 18th floor (where I can also get free iced coffee in the cafeteria), they've got Pike Place Roast, which is darker and the fall-back when I'm @ an actual 'bucks location.  So I make up to 2 trips to get my fix.  It's one elevator and two flights down, as opposed to leaving the building and paying.

Up until last week I had been using the Bodum single press here for my Christmas Blend.  I love it but it loses its flavor (and thrill) after about a week.  By the time I brought it in, it was just another blend.  Or maybe I got desensitized to it.  I thankfully now also have a large Bodum french press for home, so I can ask grinders to do it up and enjoy special stuff on weekends.

Side note, I had asked the barista at the RVC 'bucks to grind one bag as fp and the other as ground and she did both as fp.  This is the second time this has happened in as many years. I was able to tell for sure this time by the coarseness of the beans and the fact that it was coming out lighter than it ought to have in our dripper.  Not the end of the world but I feel like I will have to trick them in the future or not fall for the BOGO gimmick.

Since SB has a distribution deal here, we also have Tazo, which is fantastic.  I'm starting my work mornings here with "Awake" first.

I'm reading Coffee: Grounds For Debate and while some of it is beyond me, the authors give a nice brief history of the bean as well as how it effects our nervous systems and economies.

That's all for now. Thank you for reading.