More stuff to smile about

So much more. The first smile was brought on by sleep. Lots of sleep. Probably deserving of a post all its own, but instead I'll just start with it here. Like most regular folks (I'll probably never use "folks" in conversation, but in writing, there it is), sleeping was a big deal in the earlier part of my life. I was probably good for nine to ten hours a night, and then maybe a nap too. So much did I love to sleep, when I was twenty the only way I could hold down a job was to work the evening shift. I was sleeping from about 4:30 am until 2 in the afternoon most days.

I'm going to double-dip right here and work coffee into the story, because since we're headed for chronological order, I may as well cover the two main parts concurrently. I don't remember exactly when I started the coffee habit, but I think it was just after high school, which would have been junior and senior year if I'd gone to high school instead of out sleeping late and starting to drink coffee. Or maybe it was a substance vaguely resembling what I call coffee today. You see, most of what I drank came from three places: Dunkin Donuts, The Windy Ridge all-night diner, or a jar of Maxwell House instant. And no matter which of the three it came from, it had cream and sugar in it.

Far and away, most of the coffee I consumed came from Dunkin Donuts. Remember though, this was a long time ago. Dunkin Donuts was not what it is today. The chain was New England only, and instead of having six or more locations in every town, there were maybe six locations, tops, in all of the Metro South area. The one I went to the most was in North Randolph, and they still had a full breakfast counter with bacon and eggs served off of real plates, with real silverware, and real grease. You could get your coffee in a paper cup, or a real ceramic coffee cup. Kids, I'm not making this up. I think the coffee was a bit better than it is today, but I can't say for sure, because as noted above, I took it with cream and sugar. Then as now, DD did not hold back and if you ordered cream, they put in a shitload, and I used two sugars.

As for the instant at home, yeah, well, we didn't percolate, and I guess we didn't have a drip coffee maker, and besides, I already told you I got up at 2 pm, and had to be at work by 3, and so I didn't drink much at home. We ate at Windy Ridge about four or five nights a week, so it's a miracle my cholesterol was never elevated. Anyway, over time I started racing bikes and migrating toward clean living, eating less steak and eggs anyway, and even working the day shift on occasion. I stayed with the Dunks habit though. Still slept a lot too, maybe not so many ten hour nights, but a morning ride followed by a righteous afternoon nap was a staple in my repertoire. Then along the way, Au bon Pain opened up a store right next to my place of employment. Actually, we had three adjacent buildings, and my job at the time had me constantly walking among all three (which I must have done well too, because I always received great reviews), stopping by Au Bon for a cup was a natural.

When they first came to this area, Au Bon Pain stores featured Coffee Connection coffee. Now remember, Starbucks had yet to reach their tentacles over to this coast. High-end coffee didn't really exist in the suburbs. We had DD and that was it. To my DD with cream and sugar pallete, the dark roasts from Coffee Connection tasted bitter and nasty. By this time, I was making drip at home, usually purchasing the grind by the pound at DD. Somewhere in the story, I stopped buying light cream and moved to half and half. I also moved aspartame sweetener instead of sugar. I kept on doing this, but the rich, bold taste of the CC coffees grew on me, and once I became accustomed to it, the lighter stuff tasted like shit. DD was turning into the mega-styrofoam crap in a bag, two stores on every corner racket it is today by then, and I'm sure the quality of their beans suffered. The stuff was just plain watery, and still is.

Then Starbucks came to Massachusetts. To gain a foothold quickly, they bought out Coffee Connection and converted all the stores. Au bon Pain saw Starbucks as more of a competitor, and didn't want to buy beans from them, so they switched to Peet's, which was also unheard of around here at that time. So now I'm drinking Major Dick's and Highway 101, and it's even bolder than the CC stuff. A lot more. Aspartame gets a lot of bad press and one day I just stop using it, because now my coffee has real taste and the sweetener just gets in the way.

Where the hell are we going? Oh yeah, sleep. You might be falling asleep by now too. Anyway, as my coffee got more like coffee over the years, the quantity and quality of my sleep went the other way. I'm not entirely convinced that these two facts are related, because as Gewilli has pointed out (you didn't really think I was going to do a ridiculously lengthy post about coffee without linking to Gewilli, did you?), dark roasted coffees generally have less caffeine in them that cheap, shitty coffees do. I'd kind of chalked the declining sleep stuff up to aging. I'd like to sleep more, but I just don't. For the past ten years or so, six hours or so is all I can manage. No more naps either. Even on a weekend, with nothing to wake up for, comfy and cozy, I just wake up. I don't even use an alarm clock.

Here's the weird part: starting about two months ago, suddenly I'm sleeping again. And I mean really sleeping, like a baby, eight hours a night, and smiling about it the next day. I do not have an explanation, but I'm liking it. You biochemistry experts can chime in, but I've read that HGH is only produced by the body when we sleep, and that sleeping is the best anti-aging treatment, etc. You don't have to sell me. Ironically, just the other day Gewilli posted "who needs sleep?" or something like that. Well, more thanks to Ge, as I've written on the blog before, I'm now about one month into black coffee, no additives. Just coffee. It took me about 25 30 years to get to this point. Honestly, I don't like it quite as much as I did with a little cream, but I still look forward to it, and I'm drinking a little less as a result. These days, I almost never buy a cup all made, instead drip brewing it at home. I've tried beans from 53x11.com (before your race too GC, in fact go back on my blog archives and you'll find the pictures from when I bought my first shipment. BTW, I'd link, but you changed your address and I don't remember it, besides, hunting and gathering links is just one more thing to smile about, and I don't want to take that away from anyone), as well as TJ's, Starbucks, and the supermarket. This is still a backwater suburb, and we don't have access to independent roasters. I do mix in decaf though, and by far the best one I've tried is from Vermont Coffee Company. You can get it online, but I bought it at the Stonyfield Visitor Center in Londonderry, NH, right next to the Manchester Airport. Is that why I'm sleeping better? I don't think so, as I still drink the New England crap we have at work most days too, and that is loaded with caffeine.

Going to the gym and doing strength training is the only logical explanation I have, but I only do that about twice a week, and I'm sleeping better nearly every night. And I'm smiling about it. What else to smile about? Colin's blog. Now that he doesn't have results to worry about, this smartass has a funny blog. And his smartass friend's write funny comments too, even when they're not trying too. And CR responds. Nothing wrong with that. He should race the road with us. And bring his friends. Or at least blog about why he doesn't.

There's lots to be happy about. The ice age came right when I was taking my break anyway, heh-heh. That's good, because yesterday my roof started leaking (bad), my wound started bleeding profusely (also very bad), and today my car seems to be in trouble. Driving home from Framingham, stuck in traffic right after the toll, suddenly I smell anti-freeze... And then my windows ice up, and I nearly crash, but the Geo is pretty good at four-wheeling off the cloverleaf. I'm not sure if the heater core is leaking or what, but I ended up buying paper towels and driving home with the windows open, steering with one hand and wiping the inside of the windshield (with a vigorous circular motion, rub it!) with the other. Luckily, it was a balmy 18 degrees. See? Lots to smile about. And one of the veal calves called me out for only linking to two three female bloggers, and like fifteen males. And one rarely update, and the other doesn't like me anymore. Is this really a problem? I think it's something to smile about. And baseball stars all take p.e. drugs? Oh my god. Smile. There's more too, but I'm out of gas, need sleep. Thanks for reading.


PS - now I remember. Google search superlatex girl. Yup, there's solobreak, right about six down. Smile.