The Bar

MellotronG · Post by **MellotronG** » Sat Apr 15, 2006 10:02 pm

What did you do today CC? Anything thrillseekers would pique up to?

Desert Duck · Post by **Desert Duck** » Sat Apr 15, 2006 10:04 pm

I actually like the semi-polluted: double hazelnut latte, shots ristretto, syrup light. I used to live a block from a roasteria- Vivace. They made perfect coffees.

CLARKcon · Post by **CLARKcon** » Sat Apr 15, 2006 10:05 pm

Yeah, it's all fun and games until you hit LD-50 (the lethal dose for 50 percent of the test subjects with any chemical, and in this case, caffeine). Poisioning is much lower, and I think the lethal dose for caff' is around 15-20 grams for an average sized adult (essentially, you'd have to drink around 200 cups in an hour to even start getting those levels, and I don't think the liver can wait up fpr it

btw, MelloTron, The Drop In Papaya's broke up/disbanded last night. Real bad stuff.

Desert Duck · Post by **Desert Duck** » Sat Apr 15, 2006 10:06 pm

Oh, I'd have heart failure waaaayy before that.

CLARKcon · Post by **CLARKcon** » Sat Apr 15, 2006 10:08 pm

Mellotron, my day consisted of sleeping, checking the mail, and deep-frying some frenchfries at my house for a snack. Not exciting enough to make the cover of Enquirer.

MellotronG · Post by **MellotronG** » Sat Apr 15, 2006 10:08 pm

CC and I know a local or two or three who are Starbuck's regulars...you'd think these folks would after a while conjure up some home concoctions after realizing how spendy that daily habit can get...but maybe it's the "atmosphere" or the uppity social climbing clout that revolves around being seen at a Starbuck's...(with the New York Times, etc.)

MellotronG · Post by **MellotronG** » Sat Apr 15, 2006 10:11 pm

what?!?!?!?? Drop-In PP's broke up? Holy sh*t....if only we went over there last night, the outcome might have been 'way different.

Desert Duck · Post by **Desert Duck** » Sat Apr 15, 2006 10:11 pm

Starbuck's sucks. Their coffee sucks, their president sucks, they suck. Their CEO and founder wanted to make his driveway a full circle only it would go straight through a city park. He already had a dozer out before he was stopped.

CLARKcon · Post by **CLARKcon** » Sat Apr 15, 2006 10:12 pm

Indeed, MTG (nickname o.k.?) It's all about the pose...hold it................hold it........perfect. The amount someone spends on a cup of that is what buy's me a can that lasts two weeks.

MellotronG · Post by **MellotronG** » Sat Apr 15, 2006 10:16 pm

Starbuck's has certainly got that sprawling corporate "one outlet per every square mile of land on the planet" smothering philosophy...perhaps even beyond McDonald's and Coca-Cola...I mean---that's the first word association I think of when I see "Starbuck's".

MellotronG · Post by **MellotronG** » Sat Apr 15, 2006 10:18 pm

MTG is fine n' dandy/works for me...

Desert Duck · Post by **Desert Duck** » Sat Apr 15, 2006 10:19 pm

This place is serious about their coffee, and it's a really cool spot to stop and enjoy a cup. They only have one cafe', it overlooks the reservoir and park that was a block from my house.

http://www.espressovivace.com/retail.html

Very cool, and each of the counters overlooking the park is a different kind of marble with a little tag that says what it is and where it's from.

CLARKcon · Post by **CLARKcon** » Sat Apr 15, 2006 10:20 pm

Crap. Mellotron, our mutual friend from Cairo, Egypt is on the phone. I'm not gone, but I'm not here, either...will be back...

MellotronG · Post by **MellotronG** » Sat Apr 15, 2006 10:21 pm

I checked my mail today, and Legacy wants to sell me a new car--even had a car key inside a little plastic cylinder. What a mass promotion..that is--if they mailed one to everybody in the valley. Usually it's those whell 'n dealers out Hermiston way, or Summit up in Enterprise. Heck...I don't need any more vehicles on my property....my yard already looks like an indian reservaton

MellotronG · Post by **MellotronG** » Sat Apr 15, 2006 10:22 pm

Talk to our friend--she e-mailed me yesterday. I need to break away & watch the weather on the news & get some coffee goin'

MellotronG · Post by **MellotronG** » Sat Apr 15, 2006 10:29 pm

Duck, our only Starbuck's is in a Safeway store. Right by the c-c-cold entrance to the south side of the store, and a great spot with about five tables to sip coffee and hear the noise of shopping carts being pushed into one another & the beep beep beep of the scanning lasers at the checkout stands.

sputnik · Post by **sputnik** » Sat Apr 15, 2006 10:30 pm

Hey...I heard someone mention Vivace. nice stuff. I prefer Caffe' D'arte myself, but Vivace is a close second.

Damn, all this talk of coffee and you'd think this was an AA meeting or something.

LeChatNoir · Post by **LeChatNoir** » Sat Apr 15, 2006 10:30 pm

(Black Cat rolls into the bar and stops in his best ninja pose)

(He’s wearing his neato-keen tactical harness/backpack which has a flashlight, compass, and this thing that tells time)

BEER!!!!

(Reaching into his pack and pulling out cold beers like pulling arrows from a quiver)

*zing*

DD!

*zing*

MTG!!

*zing*

Cc!!!

(holds front paw out in karate fashion and surveys the room for anyone else hiding in the shadows...)

LeChatNoir · Post by **LeChatNoir** » Sat Apr 15, 2006 10:31 pm

*zing*

Sputnik!!!

sputnik · Post by **sputnik** » Sat Apr 15, 2006 10:31 pm

Beer...good.

MellotronG · Post by **MellotronG** » Sat Apr 15, 2006 10:32 pm

Hello LeChat and Sputnik! Well it looks like we've got beer raisers and coffee drinkers here....wait a minute..wasn't that a song by ZZ Top?

sputnik · Post by **sputnik** » Sat Apr 15, 2006 10:33 pm

MellotronG wrote:wasn't that a song by ZZ Top?

You're the one with the headphones...you tell me.

and Hi!

LeChatNoir · Post by **LeChatNoir** » Sat Apr 15, 2006 10:35 pm

(tucks into a ball and rolls up the wall... yes, up the wall... and lands on one of the rafters)

Good beer too. From a local brewpub. Porter that’s brewed and aged in old bourbon barrels...

Very nice stuff.

Desert Duck · Post by **Desert Duck** » Sat Apr 15, 2006 10:36 pm

Thanks, LCN-I was getting a little tanked from the bourbon drinks, this'll slow me down a little.

(weaves just a tad)

How's it goin' Sput? I'd say I do like D'arte, but for the cup itself, Vivace's got some really awesome baristas. Definitely close, though.

MellotronG · Post by **MellotronG** » Sat Apr 15, 2006 10:36 pm

Well, actually the headphones aren't plugged into anything--they're just on my head to protect me from the megadecibels of passing sailboats, bugs, bag ladies, paper airplanes and mimes.

MellotronG · Post by **MellotronG** » Sat Apr 15, 2006 10:39 pm

(and the occaisional door-to-door metric crescent wrench salesman)

Desert Duck · Post by **Desert Duck** » Sat Apr 15, 2006 10:42 pm

KNOCK,KNOCK

sputnik · Post by **sputnik** » Sat Apr 15, 2006 10:43 pm

Desert Duck wrote: How's it goin' Sput? I'd say I do like D'arte, but for the cup itself, Vivace's got some really awesome baristas. Definitely close, though.

I am suffering from a bit of insomnia related to megapixels. Too much on my mind, so I had to spit it out at people a bit ago. Hopefully I can sleep soon.

Anyway, I've never had a chance to compare baristas. Stoped by D'Arte once when I was in Seattle. I honestly was not thrilled. But there were two problems. 1) they barely spoke english (italian seemed the language of choice) 2) they spoke a different coffee language than I do. I asked for a double cappuccino and they stared at me like they didn't know what I was talking about. All I wanted was a cappuccino with two shots of espresso in a small cup. I think I had to ask for a doppio cap in a short cup, or something like that.

MellotronG · Post by **MellotronG** » Sat Apr 15, 2006 10:45 pm

my wrenches are so old, they say Made In Formosa instead of Taiwan. They hark of an era when Mtn. Dew was actually carbonated, and when harass and Uranus were pronounced correctly.

Rockdad · Post by **Rockdad** » Sat Apr 15, 2006 10:45 pm

Those are the best wrenches bought a set of those gear wrenches love them bit pricey though...