free coffee?

Sitting on my desk at work is a bag of the best coffee I have ever tasted... move over Starbucks, here is Skeena River Blends, organic, fair trade coffee.
Before you die from shock at the conversion of this committed Starbucks girl, you need to taste this coffee.
I did an interview with the owners of the company last week, also newcomers to Houston, and it was great talking to them and sharing insights and impressions as only newcomers to this area can. The interview was a reporter's dream, they were easy to talk to and gave me some great quotes. Plus, they brought me coffee in a carafe for me to try. One sip and I was in java heaven. (I actually wrote my column on the coffee as well, and I might have been a little enthusiastic about it; after all, we don't give away advertising, do we) (and if I give them anymore free advertising, I should atleast get paid for it)
Today they came by and dropped off a whole bag of coffee just for me... I am very excited. Sometimes I just love my job.

I thought it was time for an update, as I seem to have been blogging about everything else rather than the day-to-day happenings of life in the VW household.

- M started his new job at the beginning of January, and other than having to work in the cold, really likes it. He likes working with people and I think being by himself in his other job was starting to get to him.

- In my job, I never encounte the same thing twice, except for town politicians who don't want to talk to the press or spin doctor their quotes. The scoop is the final cost of the town's new pool came in at a whopping $6.2 million; the problem comes when it's almost $2 million more than originally planned... hmmmm, I have a feeling that might not go well with the taxpayers in town... (just a guess) I'm trying to get that number confirmed by my good friends at the district office, who keep on trying to say that people voted on the amount the town was allowed to borrow. I know that. I also know how much the people authorized the district to borrow. I'm not after that amount; I'm after the amount the people were given two years as an estimate of what the pool was going to cost. Grrr.... just give me a straight answer, damn it, and stop wasting my time.

- You can almost see the floor of my office at home, that's how good the cleaning/purging is going. I am ashamed to admit that I moved my stuff in there three months ago, and it is still a disaster. However, it would be cleaner if M didn't keep shoving any sort of crap or other paper stuff in there that he doesn't know where it goes and just figures it's mine. (he doesn't admit to doing this though). Just as soon as I think I'm getting ahead, there's another pile of stuff that I have to sort through and throw out.

- Weird fact: Houston still doesn't have it's New Year's baby. Whereas in most towns the competition is down to the minute after midnight, here, it's not like that. Smither's baby arrived last week. I guess I have to keep calling the hospital. If I were about to have my kid, I'd do anything to speed up the process, because the businesses in town are giving out a lot of free stuff for the New Year baby.

- 24 is back! After a long absence, 24 is back on the air. I don't know why, but all my favourite TV shows lean towards the violent side... 24, CSI, Bones, sometimes House... (althought I do appreciate King of Queens) it certainly isn't my favourite genre of movie... It was a 24 bonanza as the show aired two hours two nights in a row... I do have to say though that I find 24 is a bit unbelievable in the amount of stress the people go through in one hour (show after show) without any reprieve. Our bodies can stand alot, but there comes where it says enough... Could Jack Bauer have just jumped into investigating a terrorist bomb threat mere hours after he got off the plane from China, where he was tortured for 2 years, without having a chance to rest? I don't know if anyone is that strong...

- Yesterday and today it snowed up here again, though I don't feel as bad anymore as the rest of the country has joined us in our cold weather misery. I have deicded that -15 or even -20 is not that bad. -30? Unbearable. We had a stretch of -30 weather last week and I was so ready to pack up my bags and move (the first I've felt that way all winter). Enough! I said. That kind of cold gets to you no matter how many layers you have on. And even once you're inside, it takes forever to warm up again. And some people here still complain that the winters "ain't what they used to be". This is the kinder side of global warming.

- Weirder fact: "gooder" is actually a word up here in Houston and Smithers. I am not kidding. "Gooder" means better than better. I didn't actually believe it when someone told me that until I recently heard it in regular conversation. "This pie is gooder." Next thing you know we're all going to marry our cousin, wear overalls, and spit in public...

Well, I'm done for the day and going home. Another nice thing about this job, is that even if I get offered a free lunch at the senior's dinner and take an hour off, if I take my camera and snap photos, I'm still working...