Why a Thermos?

I have been thinking about changing the header of the blog for a while and can't bring myself to do it.

I am a coffee drinker. I think that coffee is a great tool for hanging out with friends. You could say, "I really like you and want to converse with you," (sounds like Dr. Spock, no emotion) or you can say, "Hey, lets get a cup of coffee." That way you are offering a gift and something to do.

But, what kind of coffee drinker am I? I like good coffee. I visit MannWell's Coffee Shop on Main St. in Washington and Panera Bread occasionally. MannWell's uses Kaldi's coffee and it tastes really great. I love the old building and downtown location. Knowing the people who work there is like knowing your barber. It is more than a business relationship. Though I like good coffee, I am actually a, carry your steel thermos to work, kind of coffee drinker. BTW, the header is a picture I took of my metal coffee thermos.

Here is the detail. If you are a bottled water drinker, or if you have to have an expensive cup of joe every day, then you are just high maintenance. Sorry to break it to ya'. I, However, am low maintenance. Just ask my wife.

I have heard all these statistics like, if you save the $3 you spend each a.m. on a latte and put it in a savings account you will have half a million dollars or something. Well, that may be true. The real motivator for me being a thermos kind of guy is that I do save money. I make a killer latte. Again, ask my wife or anyone at church who has had one. It is my spiritual gift to make them for volunteers in our church. Thus, I can brew my own coffee and make my own specialty coffees and save a ton that can go to missions or our building program.

The other thing about the steel thermos is that it has so many memories (mostly hunting and traveling). I remember a cold morning outside when the top froze shut. I poured coffee from the cup onto the thermos to open it and the inside was still perfectly hot! Or, sharing coffee with with my brother after I shot a deer. Before we could finish our drinks, he shot one too! Another round of coffee was then in order. Those moments were almost magical.

Lastly, the steel thermos keeps coffee hot for 24 hours. By the time my coffee is cold, it is time to brew another pot! Really, if I put 8 cups or more in my thermos, it will stay hot 24 hours. Opposed to the paper cups that keep coffee nice and cold all day! Our last visit to a bookstore in a mall that served coffee was so funny. The college girl behind the counter handed us two paper cups and my wife had the gaul (political incorrectness) to ask, "Don't you have a Styrofoam cup? This won't keep anything hot." The girl's responded like my wife was a baby killer, "You should never use Styrofoam, it is bad for the environment." Then I looked at all the plastic items in their cooler and on their shelves and thought, "What the heck! All this stuff is going to end up in the center of the Pacific Ocean killing all the fish." My steel thermos cost one pound of iron ore, a touch of carbon, and about 1.5 ounces of hard plastic 20 years ago. It is like I am recycling and saving trees every day I use it.

So, since I already have a junky car and still can't afford The Junky Car Club, I am an official member of the steel thermos coffee club. It is a special breed of ultra conservative, low maintenance, do it yourself, blue collar types who happen to be educated enough and brave enough to break with the new forms of convention and carry a steel thermos that is likely going on two decades of use.