Caffeine, my drug of choice

My drug of choice these days is caffeine. (My previous drug of choice was something far more deadly, far more dangerous, and the most addictive substance known to humankind according to the CDC. God, I miss smoking even after 33 years....)

Anyway, this article from Lifehacker is something fascinating about caffeine and how it works.

Caffeine, my drug of choice

Drugs are good for you--yes, we know that!

Caffeine is the drug that makes life worth living. This sterling silver necklace helps you celebrate your addiction to the drug that perks you up and gets you out the door. More information is available here. They also have things like theobromine chocolate earrings, an endorphin choker necklace, and phone charms with your favorite molecule, including testosterone, estrogen, and acetylcholine.

Drugs are good for you--yes, we know that!

Early Monday am

I had a lot of things to do for work this morning, so I got up around 5:00. There was some leftover coffee that was drinkable (I have much lower standards than the Babe for drinkability and leftover coffee that was good to begin with will do for an eye-opener), but I'm going to want more caffeine shortly, definitely.

I've got a ton of albums to listen to this morning--a new Weird Al, a bunch of Leon Redbone, some Steve Goodman--and a pile of really satisfying work. It looks like it's going to be a good day.

Early Monday am

Nuclear stress test tomorrow

I'm going in for the nuclear stress test tomorrow, in which they're going to pump my heart full of dyes and see what it does when at rest and when it's stressed (on a treadmill, apparently, though just to get it up to peak rate). We'll be able to see if there's a blockage anywhere. Chances are very good that there isn't, but it's really nice to know these things for sure, y'know?

If they do find something, I'm going to be whisked over to the other side of the hospital for an angiogram followed by Who Knows What? I'm hoping that if there's something hidden to find that they find it so they can treat it. If there's nothing to be found, I'd like to know that, too.

The worst part, though, is no bloody caffeine for 24 hours before the test!!!. I'm drinking decaf right now just for the sense of having something, but plblbplbppblplpblpbplplpblpblbttt!!!!

Nuclear stress test tomorrow

What kind of coffee are you?

Given the entry earlier today on the Thanksgiving Ritual of Coffee, it's rather synchronicitous that this should turn up now. Although I'm surprised that there's no milk in the coffee--I don't like it black. Ah, well, black coffee's better than none at all.

You are a Black Coffee

At your best, you are: low maintenance, friendly, and adaptable At your worst, you are: cheap and angsty You drink coffee when: you can get your hands on it Your caffeine addiction level: high

What Kind of Coffee Are You?

What kind of coffee are you?

The Thanksgiving Ritual of Coffee

JeanC posted something today on her blog, JeanC's Cat House and Shooting Society, about the Chocolate Ritual. I have always liked the Chocolate Ritual myself, although I prefer the Thanksgiving Ritual of Coffee, which I learned back in 1982 at a gathering. The Ritual of Coffee is a simple ritual of thanksgiving to the Gods and goes like this:

Pour a cup of the sacred liquid in the ritual morning chalice*.

Inhale the sweet fragrance, then raise the chalice to the heavens in adoration for a moment.

Bring the chalice to your lips and take a loud, ceremonial sip.

Raise it to the heavens again and shout the invocation:

"Oh, Gods!"

"I NEEDED that!!"


* There are multiple divergent sectarian differences about the nature of the sacred liquid used, including the Path of Delectable Darkness, the Way of Sweetness and Light, and a semi-heretical sect known as the Tea-osophists. Do whatever seems best to you.

The Thanksgiving Ritual of Coffee

Hey, nice news!

I just got a phone call as I was finishing the previous entry about smoking that I've won a raffle! The prize is a basket of coffee and chocolate and things like that. They'll even swing by and deliver it this afternoon. Not bad at all!

Hey, nice news!

Obscure saint: St. Drogo

Okay, the Roman Catholic Church is pretty weird in a lot of ways; we all knew that. But I stumbled over a saint that I feel I have to share with all of you: St. Drogo. (I am assuming that this is pronounced with long 'o' sounds.)

According to various and sundry web resources, St. Drogo was also known as "Dreux," "Druon," and "Dugo." (If those are the choices, I'd stick with "Drogo.") He was the child of Flemish nobility who was orphaned in his teens. Drogo got rid of his personal property and became a penitential pilgrim--the phrase "penitential pilgrim" is common to the various descriptions of him that I found on the web--who practiced extreme penances. (I'm sure he felt he had a good reason.) Drogo travelled to Rome nine times.

Drogo needed to support himself, so he worked as a shepherd for in Sebourg. The locals revered him for his holiness. His primary sainthood miracle seems to have been that he could "bi-locate," that is, be in two places at the same time: some witnesses attested that he was observed working simultaneously working in the fields and attending Mass. During one of Drogo's pilgrimages to Rome, he developed some kind of unsightly bodily affliction, so he became a hermit (at Sebourg) for the remaining 40 years of his life. He is the patron of orphans, mentally ill people, cattle, shepherds, unattractive people, midwives, and against bodily ills, sickness, broken bones, hernias, and (oy!) gravel in the urine. Possibly as a result of being in two places at once, he is also the patron saint of coffee house keepers. So now you know who protects your latté and the person who makes it.

Obscure saint: St. Drogo