Coffee and Warm Drinks

This is going to get me in trouble with some, oh well! I'll keep it short.

I love coffee, I really can't stand Starbucks. Every once in a while I'll go back just to make sure it hasn't improved. Today I when and got a Carmel Macchiato, venti, hot. It's horrible! I always feel that the beans are over cooked or something! I over pay every time! Bucks is just convenient garbage, much like McDonalds. Except their fries, who doesn't love their fries right?

But then there's this wonderful place down the road. My Circle K. Cheap, hot, and delicious! If I really want to splurge, I'll go to Dunkin Donuts. Yup, that place! My fiancée is all about her Starbucks, but these days it's a much more open door. She even said that Dunkin is better! Can you believe it! I was on cloud 9 because I knew she meant it! We'll go to the store and buy better coffee for home.

But now there's a little more of a bit in the air. So I've been warming up a different drink a little more often. First there's the Apple Cider, sometime with a little Irish Whiskey, sometime not. But then there's the grand daddy of winter awesomeness! Hot Cocoa! And I especially love my with broken up candy cane!

Now, sometimes I go into teenager mode. And even I was a bit skeptical when I did this. I made some with Eggnog. It's the one time I'll say skip the candy cane. When done with just the plain cocoa though.... mmm! I'm going to have to get more eggnog at the store today. It really is awesome though. An holiday treat dancing into my mouth, and down my throat. Not for the light of heart. Give it a try. I dare you!

Adventures in Life

A lot of things change as we get older. When we're kids, we didn't necessarily have a lot of choice in how we spent our nights. But staying at a friends or relatives was usually great. Camping even better. But it was whatever was alright with the folks. Then we finally got that freedom to do as we pleased. Oh man, it's like dropping a tone of raw meat in a shark tank.

I think back to some nights before I enlisted and some of my early years in the military, and I shudder to think of some of the stuff I would do. A great night out was loading up some of the guys, and going down to Mexico for a night of booze, loud Mexican music, soggy chips, salsa, and then making the trek to Denny's after drunkenly testing the fates and coming back home. Yeah, I'm glad the folks didn't learn of that until years later.

A night out in Ishikawa, Okinawa, Japan.

Then came my service years. The first part of it, you could easily find me at an E-Club, or a local hole with some booze, loud music, or even some karaoke. This was usually topped off with the Okinawa offerings of yakisoba, taco rice and cheese, or one of the biggest corn dog's you ever imagined. There was usually more drinking to be done after returning to the barracks as well.

Gate 1 outside of Cp Hansen in Okinawa. Nothing but restaurants and bars.

The next phase I'm not sure how it came about. Either as my time as an MP dealing with drunks, dealing with drunks in the barracks, or just generally being tired of boozing it up. But for me at that time a good night, or weekend for that matter was SCUBA diving, sight seeing, or even just hanging out at the beach. I'd go out to the various restaurants, different beaches to lounge or dive, the various sites from the aquarium to waterfalls. It didn't matter where or what, just that it was there to be done and not in the confines of a bar, or barracks.

Playing with Nemo and his cousin in the East China Sea.

Posing with the A&W Great Root Bear in Nago, Okinawa, Japan.

Then I came back to the States, a little older, and a little wiser hopefully. And again things changed. Bars still do nothing for me. Clubs are a joke in general. There for a while a nice night out became a meal, and a movie. But even that changed quickly. There for a while I knew I wanted to do something, but I didn't know what. Going to the zoo is still a treat. A few years ago my youngest and I were treated to watching a giraffe being born.

A giraffe being born at the Albuquerque Bio Park around 2009. You can see the hooves under the mothers tale.

Sometimes going out is still the answer. Some place that isn't too rowdy, a restaurant here and there. The zoo a rare treat. But outside of taking a road trip someplace, or camping, there's one thing that I can do pretty much every night that makes me happy. Sit out on the porch with my wife, a cigar, a drink, maybe some music, and just stare off into the sky. Who'd have ever thought that a good night would become a night at home? Guess it's true. You can take the boy out the country (sometimes literally), but you can't take the country out of the boy.

You can see my bench  a little on the far left.

It's funny how things change.