Virginia Breeze

This morning I needed a cup of coffee fast so I ducked into a fast food restaurant when no one was looking and asked for a medium cup of coffee with three creams.  No sugar.  They will put the cream into the coffee so you don’t have to mess around with the little dairy creamers.  Just ask for the coffee and creamer  together.

So I was sitting in the car drinking this thing and coffee was landing on the front of my coat.  There were little dribs and drabs of coffee all the way down the front.  How could I be such a slob?  This happens all the time.

What am I doing wrong?

Well the coffee gets caught in the gutter that goes around the coffee lid.  And then when you tip the cup it goes out of there and into space.

Until it hits your clothing.  Gravity comes into the picture unfortunately.  But why would they design a coffee lid with a reservoir?

It seems to me that it’s really a design to give the coffee a place to cool off before it ends up on you.

This is my opinion.  No more million dollar lawsuits!

Charles Darwin

Wait a minute!  Is it  possible I  have all these light colored clothes with coffee  stains and freaking laundry bills because this restaurant is trying to protect me from it’s coffee and avoid a lawsuit?

I was so disturbed by this possibility I looked up the history of coffee and lawsuits.  Why so hot it needs a reservoir between you and it?  And here is what I found:

Judge Frank Easterbrook wrote a unanimous 7th Circuit Court of Appeals opinion affirming dismissal of a similar lawsuit against coffeemaker manufacturer Bunn-O-Matic. The opinion noted that hot coffee (179 °F (82 °C) in this case) is not “unreasonably dangerous.”

The smell (and therefore the taste) of coffee depends heavily on the oils containing aromatic compounds that are dissolved out of the beans during the brewing process. Brewing temperature should be close to 200 °F [93 °C] to dissolve them effectively, but without causing the premature breakdown of these delicate molecules. Coffee smells and tastes best when these aromatic compounds evaporate from the surface of the coffee as it is being drunk. Compounds vital to flavor have boiling points in the range of 150–160 °F [66–71 °C], and the beverage therefore tastes best when it is this hot and the aromatics vaporize as it is being drunk. For coffee to be 150 °F when imbibed, it must be hotter in the pot. Pouring a liquid increases its surface area and cools it; more heat is lost by contact with the cooler container; if the consumer adds cream and sugar (plus a metal spoon to stir them) the liquid’s temperature falls again. If the consumer carries the container out for later consumption, the beverage cools still further.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

So they are trying to have it both ways.  They want to coffee to start out at almost 200 degrees F so it will beat the competition in the taste category but they also know that if it’s too hot it will also burn you up.

Those first few sips are very hot.  And when it touches your bottom lip you have two choices.  You can stand tall and let your bottom lip take the brunt of the injury.  Or you can back off a little and let the steaming brew fall into the trough.   That’s why they put it there.

It cools as it runs around and it will not burn you.  But it seems to me that it  will fall on you and your clothing the first chance it gets.  Unless you can somehow manage to suck it out of there and still enjoy your coffee drinking experience.

Nice.  What would Darwin have to say about this?

I’m sure there’s more to this than I have shared in this post.  And I don’t know what it might be.  But if I buy a cup of coffee I would like to have a lid that keeps the coffee inside the container or allows it to go directly into me.   All of it.

In the meantime watch what happens next time you drink some of this stuff.  See if you can avoid wearing some of it after awhile.   And be sure to share the details with me.  Taking coffee out of beige sweaters in not much fun.

http://davidnotes.com/2008/11/23/extraordinary-video-deliver-sarah/

In the buff

Meaning

N*ked.

Origin

A buff-coat was a light leather tunic which was worn by English soldiers up until the 17th century. The original meaning of ‘in the buff’ was simply to be wearing such a coat. Shakespeare makes reference to this in The Comedy of Errors, 1590 - employing a play on two meanings of the word suit, i.e. a suit (of clothes) and suit (authorization):

ADRIANA: What, is he arrested? Tell me at whose suit.

DROMIO OF SYRACUSE: I know not at whose suit he is arrested well;
But he’s in a suit of buff which ‘rested him, that can I tell.

The later meaning of in the buff meaning naked is an allusion to the colour of the skin, which is somewhat like the colour buff (a light browny yellow). This was first recorded by Thomas Dekker, in his work Satiro-mastix or the untrussing of the humorous poet, 1602. In this he likens ‘in buff’ to ‘in stag’, which was a commonly used term for naked in the 17th century.

“No, come my little Cub, doe not scorne mee because I goe in Stag, in Buffe, heer’s veluet too.”

All of this from a lovely little site called  The Phrase Finder

Earlier in the year we were up in DC and having a nice tour of the Library of Congress when our friend Kurt started telling us about these two paintings way up there on the ceiling.

These are representations of our national pastimes of football and baseball. But, of course, there is a major Greek influence going on here with all the statues and large columns. Just having a picture of Brett Favre up there (and a reference to There’s Something About Mary) would not be cool.

What to do? I know! Let’s undress em all and Play Ball!

So this is my Sunday afternoon post. Basically I’m sitting here alone because Beth went out for awhile to do some shopping. And I already did some shopping this morning on Amazon.com. Last evening when we went to dinner our waitress was telling us about the upcoming Black Friday shopping day. Her eyes became wide with animation as she talked about waiting in line at five am to be the first one in Walmut’s. She was pretty cute about it. Apparently last year there was a large crowd around the mountain of stuff that was unbelievably discounted.

Televisions for ninety nine cents. That sort of sale and when they’re gone they are definitely gone. So the guy was throwing the stuff to people who couldn’t get near the pile. And our poor waitress got hit in the head by a small box.

I think it was a radio or an alarm clock.   Because she got clocked.   So they had to call the ambulance. . .

Just kidding. She had fun and went out to breakfast with her buds after it was over.  And she had an adventure.  Plus!  She was not watching television.  She was enjoying her life.

But why am I not convinced that I or anybody I love should do this. . .I guess it’s a sport. And like any sport you have to understand the finer points. And love it.

Like n*ked football. Or even better. . . n*ked baseball!

Batter Up!

Have you noticed that a lot of my posts lately have been about n*kedness, n*dity or s*xual desire in some way, shape or form? What’s that all about?

I don’t know. Maybe I will introspect for awhile as I try to avoid going downstairs to the den and turning on the TUBE to watch some football. Why would I do THAT you ask? Because I watched Robin’s great (first) video about being ALIVE and not watching the TUBE.

Here it is by the way in case you missed it. Doesn’t she have a nice voice and a great way of presenting the material? I think she should be on television. Oh wait. . .

If you enjoy it please SU it so more folks will see it. And just to be perfectly clear SU means Stumble it on StumbleUpon. There’s no telling what might have been running through your mind a few seconds ago.

After reading all these edge dwelling posts.

Have a wonderful Sunday afternoon.  Maybe I will go for a walk.  Evita would approve of that.

Beth too for that matter.

Happy Saturday evening everybody. Here is a photo from the Henricus historical site I took last month. So you see that bird over there? That is one mean little rooster. I was taking photos and watching him with one eye.

Because I didn’t want to step on him. Suddenly I felt something on my leg and when I looked down Foghorn Leghorn was karate kicking my shin with his feet. He was really getting up in the air too at around a ninety degree angle.

What was your problem bird? You can tell by the way he is looking at me that he’s getting ready to demonstrate his martial arts talents.

Beth and I went out to dinner tonight.  I should have had chicken in honor of our friend but decided instead on a tenderloin with asparagus and mashed potato.   Prior to that I had a caesar salad with fried oysters.  And for desert we shared some German chocolate cake and ice cream.  Beth had Parpadelli and Crisp Pancetta.  She enjoyed it too.

Here’s the entire menu for your dining pleasure.  Leave a hundred comments or so and next time you are in Richmond I will take you and your date here for dinner.

http://www.westwoodclub.net/index.php?mod=dining&type=menu&menu=dinner

It’s really time to start getting ready for the holidays and I’m doing my best to stay on top of things.  I hope everyone who plans to shop at Amazon.com will arrive there thru HERE .  There’s a rumor around the blogging can actually be profitable.  But I’m not convinced.

I do know however that it’s time to be thankful for life’s blessings. And thank goodness the furnace is working.  It’s really COLD outside.

02-baby-its-cold-outside

Lee Ann Womack/ Baby It’s Cold Out There

Lee Ann’s version of this song really moved the needle on my sexometer.  Have a nice Saturday night. . .

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I have found this book about ADD Attention Deficit Disorder.  And I would like to read it to discover if this may be part of my problem.

But I can’t concentrate long enough to read more than a few pages.  What do you think?  I read a few paragraphs to Beth and she says I do not have ADD.

And case closed, too, for that matter.  She doesn’t need to think about it.  She doesn’t need to read the book. She just knows.  Does your spouse do this?

We are having an interesting morning.  Zach was on his way out to school as I was returning from my morning exercises.  He is participating in a debate this morning.

I said to him that this weekend I would like to take some mood photos of him.  He doesn’t have to try to smile in other words.  Some people have problems doing that.   But Beth came downstairs at that moment and thought I said “n*de photos”  (I can’t write it out because when you run Bad Neighborhood it picks up on words that are so innocuous George Carlin would turn over in his grave if he could see it).   So she thought I wanted to take some risque photos of my son.

So we got that straightened out and then I said “Baby you are the only one I want to take n*de photos of” and she gave me the “in your dreams” look.   And I turned around to continue my conversation with Zach in time to see the top of his head go out the door.

Apparently he didn’t want to hear about my wants.  Or needs.  Or anything else unless I could give him some good ammunition for the debate.

But it’s Friday and that’s good news.  Thank God all the election stuff has subsided.  It’s time to prepare for Thanksgiving.  And I did win approval for one remark I made in this regard.

We have lots of family here for Thanksgiving.  And some of them have girlfriends and boyfriends.  So seating becomes an issue.    My idea was that everyone who is over 39 years old should sit at one table.  And then the younger (and larger) group could sit together at the dining room table.  Because everybody is not going to fit together at one table (or one room for that matter).

So there are no favorites.   Unless an unexpected guest decides to show up for dinner and then we will make an exception.  Let’s say Charlize Theron who is always welcome decides to join us.

She will be offered a place next to me.  Beth will be on the other side.  The right side because that’s where the angels sit.   And I’m sure her father will want to sit on Charlize’s other side.  And who else?

Oh her mother!  She can sit across from me so that I can gaze into her lovely eyes and listen to her words of wisdom.

When I’m not being polite and listening to Charlize of course.  Or Beth.

You see!  I have it all worked out.  Does it sound like ADD to you?  Probably not.

Probably your diagnosis is further along in the old psychiatric manual.

Delusions of Grandeur

Suicidal

Out of Touch With Reality

Any recommendations?

Here’s one I found interesting. . .

“Just cook the turkey til he’s done so he will quit making so much noise.”

More Writing

http://davidnotes.com/2008/11/13/dreaming-great-photos-photo-presentation/