I hit 62 WPM today on my benchmark typing test.
I also had 16 errors per minute.

I have plateaued a little bit, seeing slower increases in speed and iterative increases in accuracy ( I have the backspace key very well in hand).
There is no doubt that there is far less hand movement typing Dvorak than Qwerty. That is worth it alone.

I had this small idea for a brief little post this AM to share with you my touristy side about how I got my first coffee at the worlds first Starbucks on my way to work but right after I took my first sip my idea changed.

Right before I left my previous job in Auburn I was turned onto the idea of ordering “good” (organic, fair trade, shade grown, [insert cause here] ) coffee from a place called Grounds for Change. Angela and I gave it a run and found it to be just fine and morally better than some other alternatives, so we stuck with it.

The original conversation that led to the first order included relatively disparaging remarks about the quality and taste of Starbucks coffee. It is over-roasted, burnt and (paraphrasing) generally tastes crappy. I agreed conversationally but inside gave the thought a modest and relatively uninterested ‘psh, coffee is coffee’.

It has been about a year now, after my move downtown, and I have been taste testing various coffee houses, trying to develop a sense for which location I prefer, which has the best ‘flavor’ etc. Granted I tend to sweeten my coffee to the point where I am comparing the flavor of sugars as much as the flavor of coffee but there is still adequate comparisons (as long as I put a lot of sugar in all of them). hehe

During that time I have mostly consumed Starbucks Sumatra blend, which they supply at the office, and it is generally adequate. Also recently I watched a documentary on PBS called Black Gold and that turned me onto a particular coffee that they happen to sell at Grounds For Change, it is Ethiopia “Yirgacheffe”.

I tried it for the first time last night and I am not disappointed. It is very good and morally rewarding as well. Somehow, buying this coffee makes me feel like I am helping out the underdog in Ethiopia rather than the Big Dog in [insert suburb here]. I know that almost all underdogs want to become Big Dogs and we tend to have a soft spot for underdogs in The United States of Big Dog…but that is a different thread.

All this to come to the point that as I performed my duty this morning, finally stopping at the first Starbucks to use my giftcard, and swallowing my first sip of…ACK!! over-roasted, burnt, and a basically crappy tasting cup of coffee. The Ethiopians and opinionated Existentialists have ruined me, and now (if I end up really taking to coffee) I won’t be able to walk into any city in the world, walk three blocks, and enjoy the resulting caffeinated beverage. It just doesn’t taste good anymore.

This isn’t the same spirit of your friendly neighborhood ‘things I have broken’ post but I can report that I have broken my own personal record for both lowest parking fee and lowest amount charged to my credit card in one magnetic swoop.

The records both stand at 27¢