day 26- you light up my life, you keep the bugs away

i arrived in north carolina today, and as i was walking as fast as i could out of the airport i passed the starbuck's. quickly, i checked the price of coffee. is it me or is it getting harder and harder to find "just coffee" on those menus?

found the price, tucked away amongst the mocha whipped iced latte's. the price for a small coffee was with tax..
a buck64.

so okay. i can get a cup of coffee for my buck64 after all. so long as i am in north carolina i can do it. the catch is, for me, i can't get the same deal in the big city of new york.

please don't get the wrong impression of me, i am not really a fan of starbucks. in my opinion they spent the past 15 years basically destroying the neighborhood coffee shop, but if you work in midtown new york city and you want a "coffee shop" cup of coffee, starbucks is all there is.

how many small coffee shops have closed because of this huge corporate entity. how much of the worlds coffee beans have gone to starbucks to be systematically burned and dumped into over sized cups filled with to much cream and names you could not say three times fast if you tried? i really like the small time coffee shop, the ones where you know you can get a good cup of brew and the people are genuinely nice and friendly. i miss their abundance, their roasts. they are though, on their way back. who ever would have thought that the very monster that starbucks created would begin eating itself. now they are actually closing down some stores and they have begun to "get back down to basics" to compete with the growing number of independent coffee shops out there, as well as the fact that every fast food place is now serving "gourmet coffee".

i really need coffee to survive my day. i am an addict, i know and accept it. i just wish that i did not have to go to the starbucks every once in a while to get my fix. i will go to the neighborhood shop if there is one, but when your falling asleep at the wheel at work and you need a pick me up i know they will do the job.

am i being hypocritical? maybe... i just wish there were more smaller shops out there to choose from, but america likes it big and, well... boring. you can get the same cup at 15,000 locations worldwide. (though my recent trip to the bahamas had the ladies working there scratching their heads when i asked about the pike's place coffee. way to go bahamas!)

starbucks, if you want to change.. if you want to "look smaller" than you are then i would suggest you tell your stores to make each store as inconsistent as possible. each one should be different in making it's coffee. give them each few flaws in the brewing and the construction. make some better than others. that will knock you all down a peg or two. a little humility is endearing.

try it, the people might like it.

as i said yesterday, vacation does not stop the buck64aday. the only thing that might is my father not giving me some precious pc time to complete this blog each day i am here on montclair circle.

today's purchase was actually found by my mom. ever the bargain hunter, she found this little tiki torch lamp complete with citronella oil. i cannot take this one home with me as the faa won't allow me to take flammable liquids on board the jet blue, but for a buck91 from the true value hardware store on highway 54 in durham, it will do.

as for it keeping the bugs away.. i am going for a maximum protection of and 8 inch radius around the flame.

still it will look nice while it has oil and i have till saturday night to burn it all up.

wrapping up
559.71 at the start
a buck91 spent

the kitty stands at 44cents

maximum spending tomorrow

2buck8cent

i can spend that much tomorrow

you can't stop me.