I’m going to miss living next door to a Dunkin’ Donuts, although I was far from a regular customer. It was certainly handy this morning, since my coffeepot is packed.
Here’s a very righteous rant that you might like — Lucky to Have a Job.
The Mahablog
Politics. Society. Group Therapy.
A Dunkin’ Donuts!
Don’t spend a dime on a security system or fancy locks! There are more cops there 24X7, than back at the station.
I’ll leave the cracked pot jokes alone…
You’re doing a timeshare with Dick Cheney?
We live about thirty miles from the nearest Starbuck’s, which is fine with me. I always feel cheated when I get coffee there. But, I have fond memories of Dunkin’ Donuts coffee to my taste it’s better coffee with less pretension.
The best coffee I have ever had was back in the old days in Ybor City any of the Cuban restaurants in the Tampa Bay Area served great cafe con leche. On our last trip to Tampa, we got the same weak, unremarkable stuff that you find everywhere else. The good old days are gone.
All the best to you in your new home, Maha.
Change really is good.
Best of everything in your new home, MahaB! See you around the Empty Hand. _/|\_
We just got Dunkin Donuts here. I used to live in Kansas City and the nearest DD was about 50 miles away in Lawrence Kansas..I really don’t like sweets(or drink coffee) but I used to drive 50 miles one way just for a cup of that coffee and a raspberry filled donut – it’s a sin how good that is. Now I have one less then 10 miles from home! They opened the 9th of Nov, and like everything that is “new” there is a long line for the first week or so and to avoid that I waited until last week to go. There was still lines out the door, someone in the parking lot directing traffic, and two men with a sugar addiction got into a actual physical fight over who was in line first (they were 75 and 76 in line and when the police removed them with no donuts it made the line two shorter for me). The police said that this was not their first call since the grand opening( yep people fight over who gets donuts first here) and they said it was almost always as crowded as it was that day – Who knew that the dunkin donuts was such a dangerous place? Be glad you are clear of that place Maha, those donut folks are a rough crowd. Marijuana stores open (in states where legal) with less drama. Times are a changin when it is safer to buy a bag of weed then a donut. I’m just sayin-
Justme, They sent cops to break up a fight over doughnuts? Comedy routines are made of stuff like that.
Goatherd, I drove through Ybor yesterday on my way to the salt mine.Charming place.
We have a Dominican restaurant here in Kissimmee now that has great Cafe con leche.
I haven’t yet found a local source for the Cuban coffee shots they serve in Miami, rocket fuel in a plastic condiment cup.
“hope you enjoy your new place, Maha!
Erinyes,
Ybor is a shadow of its former self. Seventh avenue used to be filled with great, yet affordable restaurants and small cigar shops or “buckeyes†as they were called. You could get a hand rolled, no paper cigar for 25 cents. I haven’t smoked in thirty years, so I guess that would be wasted on me now. But, older Cuban men would spend their weekend afternoons sitting on the benches, smoking cigars and talking.
A Cuban friend of mine told me that long ago, his grandfather was seated on a bench and the most beautiful woman in Ybor City asked him to escort her across the street. I suppose that was a thing gentlemen offered in those days. After he delivered her safely to the other side, he simply returned to the bench and his fellows. I suppose there is a deeply sexist side to the culture, but I thought there was a certain charm in the fact that simply walking across the street with a beautiful woman would provide a story for three generations.
I have quite a collection of coffee devices, thrift store finds that I test out and eBay. I have a Pavoni Professional (vintage!!) and a Vam. I think the Vam is the best espresso maker ever. Every morning I wake as a barista at 5:45 and make my wife cafe con leche, maduro or strong enough to be dark brown. It’s like the coffee from the old days in Ybor and makes the coffee at Starbucks seem like “agua sucia”.
For regular coffee the vacuum syphon is the best.
Sorry, I really love coffee.
Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich breaks down the fiscal choice in 2 minutes and 30 seconds—with pictures, too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMuA8I2M5l0&feature=player_embedded
And now, we await the first post from the new Taj-maha-house.
Having been on the ‘other’ side of “you’re lucky to have a job,” employers like I was realize early on that without a responsible, rational, literate work force I wouldn’t have had a job.
The phrase that really gets me is “the working poor.” Imagine that for your entire life you can be part of “the working poor” always living in poverty while at the same working your ass off for the ‘privilege’ of being poor.
As always, I enjoy the comments. Thanks all!
I finally got around to watching the Robert Reich linky from Gulag’s comment above. Excellent stuff… plus cartoons!
I’m starting to think the endgame will be letting the tax cuts expire, then forcing the GOP to say no to middle-class tax cuts, if they dare, and if they are really that desperate to service their billionaire masters at the expense of their House majority.
And I’ve seen more than one photo in the last couple days of Boehner looking dyspeptically at Obama, like he’s looking at the sudden end of his career in politics.
I have a friend and neighbor who is about an “11” on the Foxworthy scale. He’s adopted me because I lend a few bucks now and then. He definitely has his faults, gets into fights and is no stranger to incarceration. He’s been on disability since the mid 1980’s but, still complains about the government and blames Obama for a recent cut in his benefits. But, that’s just default behavior here. The standard conversations starters in our corner of the South are right wing talking points or churchy stuff. He’s really quite skilled and not stupid by any means. But, he is poor and faces a series of problems that most of us don’t have. The only thing he had in the world was one of those little 45 mph scooters, which are the bane of the roadways, but to him it was serious transportation. He hangs out with a rough crowd, so pretty soon it was stolen. Good luck getting the police interested in that case.
A few weeks ago, he calls up to ask me to feed his chickens and dog because he woke up without a shirt on a dirt road on a cold night. He was bleeding from his shoulder. When he finally got home, he started to clean the wound up and noticed it was round. So, he’s spent the last few weeks getting used to having a 9 mm slug in his shoulder. Worse yet, he borrowed a small automatic from his brother because he figured someone was after him. I think he was out smoking a cigarette when the NRA safety instructor was covering the “always make sure theres not one in the chamber.” part of the lesson. He shot himself through the knee. The bright side is it was just a .25 and it was his bad knee anyway.
So, I guess where this is going is that people can bring on some troubles themselves. If I were still in the game, I’d say my neighbor makes bad decisions and has poor impulse control. But, he wouldn’t have to make so many tough decisions and he wouldn’t have so much underlaying stress if he just had a little more money. Once you have a certain level of security, the complications of living on the edge fade into the rearview mirror. But, it’s good to remember them once in a while.
There was that old “humorous” bumper sticker that read “Live fast, die young and leave a beautiful corpse.” For a lot of people, that’s the course they’re on like it or not. Most of the corpses are going to be on the ugly, worn out side. That’s why in a civilized society have to take care of the less fortunate. At least my neighbor still has a good set of teeth.