Starbucks

I just returned from a trip to Marquette, Michigan. Marquette is in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Go look at a map. Find Marquette. Do you notice how all major highways end before they get to the U.P.? The nearest interstate is like four hours away. We set foot outside this sleepy city and got lost in the woods. I'm not kidding. You're in the middle of two seas- the freshwater sea that is Lake Superior to the north, and the sea of trees that is, well, pretty much everywhere else. Pines and birches and poplars and maples whizz by, for hours, and you'll want to fall asleep at the wheel, just to put yourself out of your misery. You need a cup of coffee. But you're in the middle of nowhere, where can you turn? A man can only subject himself to so many Creamy French Vanilla Cappucinos from the Holiday station.

Luckily, there is a Starbucks in Marquette. The civilized world just got a whole lot closer with the sight of that wondrous green logo. You exhale a sigh of relief, grab your travel mug and walk in to order a triple grande soy no whip mocha, requesting that they rinse the inferior Holiday residue from your mug so as not to taint what is good and holy.

I used to hate Starbucks. They're too big, I said. Their coffee is burnt. Their stuff tastes like crap. They feast on third-world countries, I said. And they're EVERYWHERE. Yes, I used to hate Starbucks.

Then I matured into their coffee. I realized they don't feast on third-world countries... rather, they cultivate them. Their drinks taste great, and that funky, Euro-modern feel? Cool. And then I realized for the first time- these guys are EVERYWHERE. When you need a good cup of coffee, when you need to meet someone somewhere, when you need a place to chill for awhile, a place to have down-to-earth human contact, there's a Starbucks for you. Find me a more consistent cup of coffee that you can find practically anywhere you are. It's an amazing thing.

Starbucks can be overdone, absolutely. Too many four-dollar mochas will rack up the pounds, as well as leave a large hole in your wallet. But with everything in life, moderation is key. You can eat too much health food. You can spend too much time at church. You can watch too much football. Yeah, I know.

Let's go back to church for a moment, shall we? God is everywhere. He can be really divinely annoying sometimes, too, because of His omnipresence. But you know that He's there, right? When you need Him more than the air you breathe, He's on every street corner, in every strip mall, even as close as your kitchen cupboard, right? And so it is, to a significantly lesser extent, with Starbucks.

So in a quite literal, worldly way, Starbucks is indeed the God of coffee.

Spoken like a true Starbucks partner, right?

48 - 12

I keep it real, Badger-style.

Snow & Cold

It's October again. The trees are slowing dying, their last words communicated via hues of orange and red and yellow. It's getting cooler, too, down into the 50's and 60's for highs. And who pulled the shades on the sun? It looks like a mid-summer evening at noon everyday. This is the stuff of which fond memories are made, the days of autumns past, the perfect October photo op.

And if you live in Minnesota, it means the first snow is most assuredly on its way.

Last year, we received our first inch of snow on October 6. Though there is no such snow in the forecast today, Old Man Winter has been trying his darnedest to blast us with turbocharged flurries today. It was beautiful outside, more like December than October. It was mildly cold; I use "mildly" as a relative term, since it was only in the mid-30s, with a windchill of about 20. Good Minnesotans know that 35 is not cold, and a windchill of 20 is simply an invigorating breeze.

I like cold. Those of you who have been reading my musings since the summer know that a significant part of me dies every time the thermometer rises above 80. Cold wakes you up in the morning and gets you into a hot shower and off to work more quickly. Cold causes the static metamorphosis of liquids, allowing our ponds to become hockey rinks. Cold also causes our women to be more conducive to cuddling and becoming more smoochy. What palm-shaded sandy beach causes female reactions like that?

But most of all, cold sets you apart. You are automatically different when your loyalties lie below the freezing mark. You laugh because, when the rest of society bundles up in their North Face parkas, you are sitting pretty in your hooded sweatshirt. And heck, if you're being active outside, that's even too warm... jeans and a tee will do. You snicker at the shmuck who just coughed up 50 g's for a four-wheel-drive Escalade and put it in a ditch, as your Escort effortlessly plows through the drifts and safely delivers you to your next destination. And there is nothing like a shirtless toboggan run to get your blood flowing.

Cold is not a problem. And if one insists upon that premise, it's nothing wool socks and a hot cocoa can't fix.

But alas, this premature bout of snow is all but a passing fancy. It will warm up again, to 50 by Saturday, they say. There is still much of a wonderful, crisp, cool autumn left to enjoy.

As Garrison Keillor says, "October is a month for intellectual clarity. Try to keep that in mind. Cold is a stimulant, heat a depressant."