Tag: coffee

The Salt of the Earth

Clarence and Nita lived in Lebanon while he was a missionary. Many times I remember him praising the hospitality afforded to guests by the Lebanese people. It is not only a local or national cultural characteristic, but extends through much of the region. My family experienced it during our time in Turkey. I don’t know if my in-laws were raised that way, learned it in the Middle East, or adopted it afterward, but they were the consummate hosts when anyone came into their house. I just know that from the time I first met them until Clarence passed away and Nita moved in with one of their sons, they treated everybody as greatly honored special guests. That even extended to the young guy dating their oldest daughter, who eventually became a son-in-law…

I don’t remember when I started drinking coffee, but I do know I drank a LOT of it during my college years. I still drink quite a bit of coffee, and love my Keurig – it makes a consistently good cup of coffee.

This story takes place after Vonna and I had been married a number of years. We were at Clarence and Nita’s house the day after their return from a week-long stay at a cabin in the mountains of New Mexico. As Clarence and I sat in the living room talking, Nita asked if we wanted some coffee. We both said we did and she went back to the kitchen, where she and Vonna were talking, to put on the coffee. Not long afterward, Nita came back carrying mugs of coffee for us. It wasn’t necessary, but as I mentioned, being hospitable was always important to them.

Clarence and I differed on how we liked our coffee. He liked his so hot it wouldn’t have cooled a nuclear reactor. He also preferred his coffee black. I, on the other hand, like my coffee hot, yet cool enough that my taste buds don’t take days to recover. And while I also like black coffee, my preference is with some cream and sugar. Vonna and I had been married long enough, and Nita was observant enough to know exactly how much cream and sugar I liked in my coffee. So for years, whenever she had offered me a cup of coffee, she served it with those condiments stirred in. And it was always a great cup of coffee!

It has finally been resolved, but for decades Amarillo had issues with the salt content of the city water. At the time of this story, it was dramatically improved, but ice made from the city water still needed rinsing to remove the slight amount of salt forced to the outside by the freezing process before putting it in a drink. Cups and glasses, after being rinsed and allowed to dry upside down would sometimes have a slight salt taste when you first put the rim to your lips. So I thought nothing of it when I put the cup of coffee to my lips. Slight salt taste, no big deal. The temperature was just right for a large sip of the liquid…

As I brought it into my mouth, my expression must have changed dramatically. Clarence looked over at me and smiling, asked, “What’s the matter? Too hot for you?” I couldn’t answer, I had a mouth full of coffee. But it was unlike any coffee I had ever tasted! As I sat there, my face getting more and more red, I couldn’t decide whether to swallow it or spit it back into the cup! I finally decided on the latter action. Then I could respond to him and Nita, who, hearing his question had come back into the room. It was extremely salty! It took just a minute for Nita to figure out what had happened. When they had gone to the cabin, she had put several things in similar jars – flour, sugar, and SALT, among other things. Since they had just returned home, she was using the items she needed from the jars rather than the regular canisters. Unfortunately, the salt and sugar looked very similar and being distracted by the conversation with her daughter, she confused the two jars. I’m just glad it wasn’t something like detergent!

Apologizing profusely, as we all laughed about it, she brought a tray with a fresh cup of coffee, a spoon, sugar bowl and cream. I “doctored” my own coffee. To this day, over 30 years later, she has never again put cream and sugar in a cup of coffee for me…

Installing Java on a MacBook Air

I had not used a Macintosh for over 15 years.  The first of several Macs I’ve owned over the years was a Macintosh 128k I bought in 1984 – about three months after its introduction in the now-famous SuperBowl ad. At the end of the last century, work forced me to migrate to Windows World…

Over time, as Windows improved (despite some dogs), I decided that it was a pretty good system and largely ignored what Apple was doing. Then, a couple of years ago – with a different employer – I was provided an iPhone, an iPad, and asked if I would prefer a Mac or Windows notebook. It was suggested that I might like the Mac. Being forced to use the other Apple products, and intrigued with Apple products’ legendary interoperability, I opted for the MacBook Air 13”.

At a trade show two weeks later, I was still learning the differences between Windows and the Mac OS.  Taking a break from working the booth we were manning, I set up my MacBook on a table in the café area to make some expense report entries. The show was a little slow at the moment, so one of my co-workers in the booth decided to get something for them to drink. Passing by my table, he asked if I wanted anything.  I drink a lot of coffee, so I decided that a cup sounded good.

As I was working on the report, he came back and sat down for a minute, handing me my coffee.  As we talked, I added some cream and sugar to the drink and put the lid back on the cup.  He headed back to the booth and I continued with the report.

I reached for the cup of coffee. Having been around computers and coffee for over 30 years, I made it a point to not pass the cup over the Mac. In all of those years, I had never spilled a drink onto a keyboard and wasn’t going to now! I got the cup past the Mac, past the edge of the table, and over my lap, where I apparently squeezed the sides a little because the lid popped off.  Without the structural strength lent by lid, the cup started to slip, causing me to react by squeezing it tighter to prevent a McDonald’s-like moment of hot coffee in my lap.

Success! I didn’t spill a single drop on me!

Unfortunately, the triumph was short-lived because the extra squeeze squirted the coffee back toward the table…and onto the keyboard.

I shut down the Mac, dried it with napkins, and turned it on its side to let the liquid drain out.  When I rebooted the Mac later, it worked just fine – for a while.  It went in for repairs later that day – after some keys started sticking.  It now has a thin, flexible, water-proof keyboard skin.

While I successfully installed Java on my Mac, I would suggest finding a better way – and don’t use cream and sugar. But to this day, when I lift the screen, and the smell of coffee wafts upward, I crave a cup…