ed [email] said at 11:41 PM 08-31-2007: Oh Meredith, they don't believe me
but you won't let those robots eat me
Meredith, they don't believe me
but you won't let those robots defeat me
meredith [email] said at 3:09 AM 09-01-2007: Saweeet! I will bring my ear and eye protection! I need to take a trip soon anyway. Perhaps I shall come to DC again.
anthony [email] said at 3:29 AM 09-02-2007: Yeah, I usually just wear sunglasses, although I'm sure they don't really protect. If I come visit Chicago, I expect the same...or just a bb gun and some bottles.
meredith [email] said at 10:07 AM 09-02-2007: Yeah, my friend wore his normal glasses. But made me wear the big dorky yellow ones. I really didn't care though. I'd like to do it outside once and shoot bottles and cans off a fence.
reggie [email] said at 9:36 AM 09-01-2007: Yet more proof that you pretty much are training to be a superhero. I mean you're already basically a ninja, you can probably lift cars and stuff and now you're becoming a markswoman.
If you're not training to become a superhero then clearly you're ready to become a member of the Deadly Viper Assassin Squad. Move over Uma.
meredith [email] said at 4:45 PM 09-01-2007: I'm not that awesome. I passed out in line during the end of my class today. It was a promotions day so it was all live sparring and grappling and I guess two pieces of toast didn't cut it. I got promoted (just a stripe, not a belt) then stepped back in line. My friend Dana was getting her brown belt and I managed to completely usurp her moment by passing out. At least I finished the class.
reggie [email] said at 7:20 PM 09-01-2007: Meredith, you're talking to someone who's daily exercise consists of skipping up stairs because it doesn't hurt my knees as much as when I walk up.
And also you are that awesome, not just 'cuz of the guns and ninja stuff but just in general.
meredith [email] said at 2:22 PM 09-02-2007: Starbucks really doesn't compare to Taco Bell or McDonalds. I don't get the shits after drinking a mocha frappucino.
reggie [email] said at 10:11 PM 09-02-2007: From About.com: Coffee is a known bowel irritant. The caffeine in coffee is bad for the digestive system. Caffeine speeds up every system in the body, including the colon, which can lead to diarrhea. De-caffeinated coffee does away with the caffeine, but it still contains acids that can increase stomach acid production.
rick [email] said at 9:38 PM 09-02-2007: I actually know someone who likes Taco Bell. It's not Spago, but some people don't mind eating fast food. I actually eat the BK Veggie every now and then.
reggie [email] said at 9:41 PM 09-05-2007: Do they still have the veggie burger? I used to get it e'ry once and a while too. I just assumed it was discontinued.
ed [email] said at 9:17 AM 09-06-2007: I like da Bell for what it is. If I've only gotta couple bucks, I go and get a couple of grande tacos or beef combo burritos, and I'm all set. Haute cuisine it ain't, but it gets the job done for 2 bucks + tax.
If I want "real" mexican food, though, I'll splurge on a local mom&pop restaurant, or just fix it myself.
rick [email] said at 11:12 AM 09-06-2007: The problem is, I do not really like tacos, much less low-grade tacos, and as for burritos, I prefer the kind that are the approximate size of a speed bump.
josh [email] said at 2:03 AM 09-02-2007: starbucks is pretty hard to avoid in most of the world, if you want to drink coffee that you didnt make yourself. unless i am at home and i want coffee, there are usually no coffee shops around that arent starbucks or borders cafe
anthony [email] said at 3:06 PM 09-02-2007: This is definitely true and annoying. However, there is a
>website that helps you find relatively independent coffee houses.
meredith [email] said at 3:44 PM 09-02-2007: There are several indie coffee houses in my neighborhood (less in the downtown area) but sometimes I choose Starbucks over them because of the attitude. Like if I'm not in there every day with my laptop I'm some kind of coffee house tourist and they can take ten years getting me my coffee and serve the regulars behind me cause I'm not really important. I know not all of them are like this, but once I'm turned off a place once, it's a long time before I give it another chance. Case in point, I haven't been to a Chipotle since the incident.
marcia [email] said at 3:26 AM 09-04-2007: I've had similar experiences of indie coffee joints choosing regulars over people they don't recognize. I find that incredibly uncool.
myriam [email] said at 9:20 PM 09-02-2007: There are shitloads of independent coffeehouses in Chicago. Most of them, with the exception of 2 that I really like in my and John's hoods, serve worse coffee than Starbucks, and with an attitude that pisses me off. Starbucks has a lot of good things going for it as a corporation. It's not like it's 100% evil and all independent coffeehouses are inherently 100% true and pure and good.
rick [email] said at 11:06 AM 09-03-2007: Deceptive advertising is not cool but it still does not warrant the dark cloud of vitriol that wafts forth each time I hear some one denounce Starbucks. I almost expect to find unbaptized children from the Third World skewered so that the blood can be used as coffee syrup and then being tossed wantonly into the roaster somewhere in a backroom.
reggie [email] said at 11:40 PM 09-03-2007: AWWWWWW dang. I messed up with the links. The first link was SUPPOSED to take you to an article about how a group of Ethiopian farmers were taking action against Starbucks for basically undercutting them when the coffee that they produced was their bread and butter.
Also, in my orientation today I "cupped" (tasted) three different kinds of coffee and the one that tasted worst just so happened to be a Starbucks brand. Now this was in a blind "taste test" in which I had zero formal knowledge of what I was sipping.
Really, Starbucks tends to do what they can to cut costs whether it be their automated espresso machine or the fact that the coffee they serve isn't as fresh as those from mom & pop shops OR maybe it's the oversaturation of their brand. I don't know I just think Starbucks is bad for the coffee business. Growing coffee could be the absolute number one source of income for many small farms in Ethiopia or South America (or even the U.S.) what Starbucks does is pay as little as possible TO THEIR MIDDLEMEN, how much of that money actually ever hits the farms that physically grow the coffee is minimal. There's less time for the coffee that is served by your mom & pop shops is generally fresher and spends less time sitting around getting old. The QUALITY of the beans is better because Starbucks is much more likely to just throw in half beans or just whatever crap they can instead of taking the time to filter out anything that would result in a lesser coffee product.
Your just getting a lower quality product because Starbucks is more interested in making profit/selling stock than making sure the product they sell is of a high quality and from a great source.
But Starbuck's has gotten a lot of people into coffee drinking. Even people you know. By getting more people into coffee drinking, the demand for coffee is going up and there will be a likely higher price for the coffee beans.
As for quality, with any franchise, there will likely be an upper ceiling to how good their product will be. But there will likely be a limit too, on how bad their product will be. I have had bad Starbuck's but I have also had indie coffee that was lukewarm and I could swear was tearing the enamel off my teeth. Being a lone wolf does not mean a lot.
anthony [email] said at 12:05 AM 09-04-2007: There's a movie/documentary I watched called Black Gold that focuses on how coffee farmers get screwed and all the middlemen make bank. I saw it on a Virgin Airlines flight over to London this summer. It's a good watch and definitely clues people into who they are helping when they make an honest effort to buy fair trade, even if they can't do it 100% of the time.
john [email] said at 10:27 PM 09-02-2007: I honestly just really like the taste of Starbucks coffee. I don't have a problem with the fact that it's a "corporation". So what. It's good fucking coffee and it makes my life more enjoyable because I really like a good cup of coffee. The independent coffee places need to brew better coffee and step into this decade and take debit cards. I don't always have cash on me. It's their loss if they don't want to run a good business. There's a place by my house that charges more money than Starbucks does for a shitty tasting mocha but they have a sign up at the cash register that says, "Friends don't let friends drink Starbucks." But they charge more for a crappy product.
john [email] said at 10:27 PM 09-02-2007: I honestly just really like the taste of Starbucks coffee. I don't have a problem with the fact that it's a "corporation". So what. It's good fucking coffee and it makes my life more enjoyable because I really like a good cup of coffee. The independent coffee places need to brew better coffee and step into this decade and take debit cards. I don't always have cash on me. It's their loss if they don't want to run a good business. There's a place by my house that charges more money than Starbucks does for a shitty tasting mocha but they have a sign up at the cash register that says, "Friends don't let friends drink Starbucks." But they charge more for a crappy product.
anthony [email] said at 10:45 PM 09-02-2007: I couldn't disagree more. I find their coffees are often burnt and not roasted. Furthermore, all of their espresso machines are automated which is good in the sense that you're guaranteed the same cup of coffee at every location, and while it's OK, it's certainly not a great cup.
On the flip side, at your "Mom and Pop" coffee houses, there are some really talented folks who know how to pull a really great shot and add personal touches that make a person know why coffee can be amazing. The only problem might be the inconsistency of quality amongst baristas varies from establishment to establishment, and from shift to shift.
If you load your coffee up with sugar and cream and shots of this and that, then Starbucks is definitely the place to go, as they know exactly how to satiate a person's sweet tooth and need for a caffeine fix.
For me, my complaint with non-corporate coffee houses is when I order a caffe macchiato, I have to qualify that I want the actual thing and not the Starbucks invention. It happens without fail, although it is kind of amazing that Starbucks has single handedly redefined the "recipe" of a traditional Italian drink within a matter of a decade if not just a few years.
john [email] said at 11:07 PM 09-02-2007: And I couldn't disagree more with you. That makes us even. I really like how Starbuck's coffee taste and I don't load it up with sugar and cream. If I found a "mom and pop" coffee house that served me better tasting coffee with better service then I'd be more than happy to buy their coffee. Maybe they've got some talented coffee slingers working there, but that doesn't make the product taste better when it's a cheaper quality of coffee bean in the first place. You can't polish a turd. Yeah, but it's a corporation, it's evil, it's the devil, I don't fucking care, I like the coffee. I've got/had friends that paid rent and got through school from working there.
anthony [email] said at 11:35 PM 09-02-2007: I never commented on the evils of it being a corporation. I merely think Starbucks drip coffee tastes like ass and their espresso drinks weak. I fail to believe that they are able to purchase great beans in such large quantities where as somewhere smaller has more freedom and ability to shop around. Nevertheless, preference is preference.
And I'm not exactly sure what your friends financing school has to do with my prior comment, nor was I extolling against Starbucks as a business.
courtney [email] said at 1:43 PM 09-06-2007: I feel like there are lots of indie coffee shops out there that give indie coffee shops a bad name.
There are certainly a good handful out there with very talented baristas that have a passion for what they do, but for each of those, there are a dozen that need better training, or just don't care because it's their part-time job.
I'd say out of all the coffee houses in SF (and there are a ton!), I genuinely only like 4 of them for their coffee.
john [email] said at 10:37 PM 09-02-2007: I went through several shooting schools in the Navy and National Guard and although I never went through sharp shooter school, I did score high enough on one of the final tests at the range to qualify as "sharp shooter" with an M16. But it was only a test score, it doesn't mean that I'm an actual "trained" sharp shooter. Going to the range is a definite stress reliever. Only problem is when hot casings from the shooter next to you fly over and land in your shirt, which happens a lot when shooting with M16s in burst mode.
meredith [email] said at 10:37 PM 09-03-2007: I actually had a few of my casings land in the little bucket attached to the wall as they discharged. I felt like such a bad ass when that happened. Like I had control over it or something.
craig [email] said at 2:21 AM 09-04-2007: I hate starbucks because it is overpriced and because I feel ridiculous everytime I have to order a "grande" or "venti" sized drink. Also, I hate the fact that they put whipped cream on my drinks unless I tell them not to. In order to use wifi at Starbucks you must have an account with T-Mobile which is lame. Also, the decor sucks. Also, the world deserves better than starbucks.
marcia [email] said at 3:21 AM 09-04-2007: In Starbucks' defense, they were one of the first companies to give their part-time workers benefits, and also allowed the part time worker's significant others, gay or straight, to also receive benefits. I find that to be pretty fucking cool. I would support any business that treats its worker well...though I have no idea about how they get their coffee...I'm assuming there is a pretty seedy side to that because they have to cut corners somewhere if they're publically traded and need to make profits.
As for their coffee, I like their Double Shot Espressos in a can...I admit it...
I don't hang out in Starbucks because, well, I don't know anyone who works there like I do other coffee joints (which are usually independent.)
How huge its gotten does bother me in some ways, but I'm not a huge coffee drinker, but every time I see a Starbucks I get nervous about what else will be moving in close by.
meredith [email] said at 9:22 AM 09-04-2007: The benefits are amazing.
Also, they take a long time to choose the coffee that they buy from. The workers all have to be treated well, and the coffee is put to some kind of three year test or something. I had to go to 'coffee school' before working there and I remember thinking, wow, they actually do a lot. They also market one 'brand' a year of Free Trade coffee from some struggling coffee plantation or whatever.
I admittedly don't remember much about it. But then again, I am one of those people who don't like the taste of coffee but prefer my caffine jolt to be dressed up like a frothy dessert.
reggie [email] said at 12:49 PM 09-05-2007: Really, the only thing that's relevant in all of this is the fact that Meredith is a sharp-shooting ninja who can recite Shakespeare in a single bound.
meredith [email] said at 3:26 PM 09-06-2007: Speaking of which, I have a Shakespeare show opening tomorrow night. A version of Julius Ceasar. I should put something up about it. I can't remember if I have. I'm horrendously stressed.
