What's Important

I don't do product placement, at least not for money, which is not to say that I wouldn't necessarily, depending on the product, just that I've never been asked. Always a bridesmaid, never a bride. Well that's not exactly true, I was once a bride (no, it wasn't necessarily a Good Thing, yes, I'm happily single), and as it turns out I've been a bridesmaid exactly as many times as I've been a bride, though I've been flower girl a gazillion times.

Three or four. The dresses were much better, because little girls can be got up in ridiculous get-ups, much like pregnant women, and still look adorable.

If you've been here before, you might have had an inkling that while I may not necessarily have the most sensitive and refined palate in the entire world, I do enjoy a tasty cup of coffee from time to time. Every morning preferably as it turns out, and if the decaf is good, later on in the day too.

On the first day, when I got the mediocre cup of Americano from the espresso machine (for which pleasure I'd have had to pay a buck a shot, should I have been willing to deal with something not even slightly automatic first thing in the morning, not to mention trek down to the second floor where I might have learned about turning off the alarm sooner than I did, alhough probably in the same ear-piercing, guilty, helpless, panic-stricken way) I asked the guys making the cup what kind of coffee they used. They looked at me as though I was a little light in the cranial department and said "Espresso roast" which told me all I needed to know, much like the one time I went on a cruise, and upon being told a story about piracy off the coast of Africa and asking which country, was given the DUH look while being told very firmly again "AFRICA!!!"

My first actual early morning, Greg had made the coffee and lo, it was very, very bad. Folgers, made at what seemed like economy strength, which is to say, Rather Weak indeed.

I don't do much caffeine, usually a cup a day, and only occasionally more than that, so I really want it to be good, since it's so rationed. I want a delicious cup of coffee, with real sugar, just a touch, not Splenda, and real cream, not powdered petroleum products. So sue me, I did mention that my palate isn't the most refined in the universe, as I do like my coffee flavour rounded out with a bit of smooth and a bit of sweet.

This was not available at the new workplace, not any of it, except sugar, which only the people on the first floor get in their kitchen. They're obviously pretty damn special, as they also get the only decent women's restroom, but hey, the exercise is good for me, right?

So I did what anyone else would do: I bitched about it to my friends online, all 671 of them, and someone said a magic word:

Aeropress.

I Googled and read and talked about it and made coffee at home (French press), but of course that meant that I was bringing in cold coffee to be reheated two days out of three. It's not awful, but it's not ideal, so I bought the Aeropress and OHMIGOD I love it.

It makes a fine cup of coffee. The slowest thing about it is heating up the water (2 minutes 44 seconds in the Very Slow Microwave at work), it's very convenient, and it's unbelievably easy to clean. If I were the camping type, I'd take it camping with me, it's that low-tech: basically a wide-bore syringe with a filter.

In other news, I'm writing here, now, instead of submitting teaching proposals to Bead Fest or Bead Expo or something. Here's something that's in the pipeline (if only because I have no pictures of my cream cardigan, which I finished so long ago I've worn it TWICE.