27 Feb 08 Smell The Coffee
Practically all the Starbucks stores across the nation closed their doors recently for three hours, to have a training session for their staff. They’re closing 100 stores, and scaling back business expansion plans.
Wall Street, who once saw them as one of the gold jewels, now look upon Starbucks as yet another fast food chain.
Many folks are not impressed with Starbucks, and avoid them. Others flock there on a daily basis. Well, myself, I’m an occasional user. I don’t think their coffees are wonderfully out of this world, but they’re ok, and while I’ve had better, I’ve certainly had a whole lot worse. I’m not a regular visitor for two reasons. One, I work from home a great deal of the time, and therefore have no need to pick up a latte on the way to the office. Two, I’m pretty frugal with things like that anyway, and if I am going to an office, I’ll make coffee at home, and take it with me, in a thermal mug. I don’t feel it’s justified to spend between $2 and $4.50 each day on a cup of coffee anyway.
What do you think? Are you getting a good barista-crafted creation in your cup for your dollars at Starbucks, or is is just a squirt of warm liquid, and a splash of cold milk?
Tags: business expansion, coffee, coffees, daily basis, doors, fast food, food chain, gold jewels, latte, occasional user, starbucks, starbucks stores, thermal mug, training session, wall street, whole lot
03 Dec 07 Real Age
I get these emails from this web site called Real Age. Now, I tend to take all this stuff with a pinch of salt, as they have a motive of course – to buy medications, and supplements from their sponsors.
However, I took their ‘real age” test again today, and I’ve got a bit younger, but I’m still older than I am really but only by 0.2 of a year.
I seem to be doing much that is right. They list things like little or no exposure to secondhand cigarette smoke (apparently that kills 20,000 people in the US every year). My blood pressure is good, I don’t drive to fast, I get enough vitamins, don’t eat too much red meat, have a diverse diet, don’t drink too much, take no medications, and clean my teeth every day.
Things I do wrong, which I already knew about, include not eating breakfast every day, being overweight and not doing enough exercise.
Although I clean my teeth every day, at least twice, and use a mouthwash, according to this survey, I am prematurely aging as I don’t floss my teeth on a daily basis. Oh shock, horror, disgust, I hear some of you exclaim!
It goes on to recommend that I should eat more grains, more vegetables and more fruit. I thought I did quite well in those areas, as I eat wholemeal bread at least 50% of the time, and always wholegrain rice. I eat fresh vegetables with most meals, with a good selection of green stuffs like broccoli, cauliflower, collards etc. As for fruit, I know I should probably eat more. I eat bananas quite often, but I simply don’t have much of a sweet tooth, and I find savory items more appealing. I will try harder.
All in all, not too bad then, but my biggest failing is lack of exercise. I guess I should start some kind of walking regime each morning. I always find lots of excuses of course. Lack of time for one. I’m not a morning person, but perhaps a brisk walk will help wake me up, and put me in the mood for some breakfast. We’ll see.
Tags: broccoli, cauliflower, collards, daily basis, disgust, floss, lack of exercise, medications, mouthwash, pinch of salt, real age test, savory, secondhand cigarette smoke, shock horror, sweet tooth, teeth, things i do, try harder, vegetables, wholemeal bread
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