if we can't laugh at ourselves, who can?a couple of weeks ago i was introduced to the blog stuff white people like by my friend trevor. trevor sent a link to this blog to a group of us "white folk" & the e-mail responses from all of us whities were absolutely hilarious. i recall our friend walt saying he had to stop reading the blog after about 5 posts because he was scared his name would show up any minute.yesterday i myself experienced what should be the next post to the stuff white people like blog. what should have been a long bike training morning for me turned into a shopping extravaganza at the yuppie domain right here in austin. kristin wanted to meet-up with the team-in-training staff who were recruiting for the nike women's marathon in san francisco later this year (kristin signed up folks!) at austin's very own betty sport run shop. after hanging at betty sport for a bit & me binging on the free luna teacakes (i must have eaten 7 of these luna bars) being advertised at a booth in the domain atrium we decided to do a bit of clothes shopping for the new VP of business development as i'd soon be needing some new threads as i travel the world obtaining new business for my company!eventually i find myself in a leather chair at cole haan trying on new dress shoes. i'm wearing a pink t-shirt that kristin insisted i buy a few weeks back, i've got my starbucks coffee right beside me, & the free pelligrino sparkling water the sales assistant (lyn - she's a chemist during the week) offered me. i felt like such a yuppie king & at that moment i handed kristin the camera (iPhone - jeez, how yuppie am i?) & said you've got to take a picture of this... how yuppie white can i get i thought to myself. the sad thing - none of this was staged! oh, & if you are wondering i did not buy the $200 shoes lyn was so kind to fit for me :).
today is april 15, 2008. it's also tax day & i've taken the day off of work so that i could do our taxes. why oh why do i procrastinate like i do? hell, i'm procrastinating right now... i should be doing our taxes this very moment yet i'm taking time out (procrastinating) & making a blog post about the very thing that i'm saying i shouldn't be doing...if you follow my blog, you'll notice a large gap (2-week period - end of march through the beginning of april '08) where there was basically zero activity from me. not only was the ironman training consuming so much of my time, but the act of blogging was becoming some what of a to-do list for me. i would start a number of posts & i was keeping track of things i should blog about but i didn't just sit down & write the post. so now, i've got stacks of thoughts & pictures for which i'm not sure i'll come back to post about. it's just like letting dishes stack up in the sink, or clothes in the laundry basket, etc. if we would simply maintain these "to-dos" they would simply become motions that make up our day rather than feeling like work. i actually think i'm pretty good about keeping up with the dishes - i'll defer to my beloved for her opinion.OK, i really do need to do the taxes now :)
i have yet to try mcdonald's coffee, however, i hear it really is good. the idea of ordering a coffee from someone that just mixed up a batch of mcmuffins, big macs, & fries just doesn't sit well with me. regardless of my feelings about mcdonalds & their coffee a number of folks do order their daily cup of joe from this grease pit.of course it is this grease pit's ability to offer good coffee for less than a buck that continues to make starbucks nervous. further to their dollar cup of joe, today while visiting usatoday.com (wondering why i was visiting usatoday.com today?) i noticed a mcdonald's ad for their lattes. i'm not sure if this is a new offering by mcdonalds or if they've been doing this for some time... the cool thing is that they sell their medium latte for less than $2 bucks (a $1.87 i think). if it's any good, like their coffee supposedly, starbucks could be in some serious trouble. if anything, those of us regulars at starbucks we'll all benefit as starbucks may need to soon lower their prices to remain competitive.
i really love coffee & i enjoy visiting new coffee shops too. recently i've visited a number of coffee shops here in austin. did i mention i've been drinking soy caffe lattes too? way to expensive, but oh so good!today i ventured out to starbucks to try their new pike place blend. i thought they were serving cups all day beginning at 11 AM CT for free (as stated in the austin biz journal & on NPR this morning). it turned out they were simply offering a free tasting (read tiny cup) from 11:00 AM to 11:30 AM CT. i stopped in after lunch around 1:30 PM to find this out. the starbuck's crew behind the counter turned out to be pretty cool & hooked me up with a short cup (i'll introduce this later) regardless.the pike place blend is a medium roast that i wasn't too crazy about. it had a very weak after-taste & it just felt to light. starbucks is obviously excited about this new blend - it's their back to the basics approach. howard shultz (returning CEO) is trying real hard to turn the company around. starbucks even developed new branding on all their cups to promote this new blend - they really want us to know that they've got it!a fun little fact about starbucks that i learned while having lunch with the CEO of one of our vendors. he said starbucks has a 'short' cup size. it's one size smaller than the 'tall' & about $0.50 less for any drink. if you've ever ordered a to-go pot of starbucks you should be familiar with the 'short' cup. funny (upsetting) how they don't promote it on their menu though...the more i think about coffee & visit new coffee shops the more i think i should start a coffee shop review blog. i want to do it right & currently i don't have the luxury of time to start such a blog. it's something i (& you) can look forward to when this full ironman training is over with.
i've taken a break/vacation from blogging since kristin & i left for la jollam, california last week. while in la jolla i decided i wanted to stay as far away from the computer as possible. when we returned to our daily lives here in austin late monday night (flight delays in dallas) we were both wiped. i hit the ground running both at work & with training the very next morning & am just now feeling like i have an opportunity to come up for air.it's been a tough week recovering from the race, the vacation, adjusting to work, gearing up for kristin's birthday (it's today!), preparing for my parent's & my brother & sister-in-law's visit next weekend, & getting right back to ironman training (which is not going so well right now).
if you are following my thoughts & stories what's to come:
- i'd like to introduce you to some really wonderful people we met during our vacation
- a race report on my first half ironman
- the wonderful cuisine we enjoyed while in la jolla
- traveling with our buddy danielle
- coffee shops
- the value of the dollar
- my training
- my mom's first 5K
- kristin's birthday
so stay tuned family, friends, & strangers because more posts are coming soon!
if we can't laugh at ourselves, who can?
