Coffee Wars

I went to Anderson Woburn this morning. I am meeting my family for my daughter's birthday tonight or at least that is the plan. Traffic on 93 South started to slow down in Wilmington...which only affected my progress a little bit since I got off the highway in Woburn.

At North Station, there were people from Starbucks handing out free sample cups of coffee. The set up was two people per corner - one handing out flyers and the other with a large canister strapped to his back. In his hand, he had a tap hose...and he was dispensing coffee to people who walked by.

I avoided them for two reasons. 1. The wind was blowing so hard and was sustaining for many minutes at a time that I felt like my cup would blow away and the coffee would spill all over me.

The other reason was the medium Dunkin' Donuts coffee cup in my right hand filled with black coffee.


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Departure Time From Home: 6:18
Departure Time From Train Station 7:10
Arrival Time at North Station: 7:41
Weather as I call it: Windy, Sunny
Shady Gas Price: $3.37
Level of commute annoyance (scale of 1 to 10): 3
Feared for my life: No

Tango Grill Cafe

I had breakfast at the Tango Grill Cafe. The Tango omelet was good. I got home fries, half grilled and half fried...should have got them all fried. They were crispier and tastier.

The toast came slathered with margarine, which wasn't a negative issue with me.

The huge urn of coffee wasn't bad either.

All together, I give it an 8.5 out of 10. They are opening for dinner on Friday and Saturday nights. Hopefully they can pack 'em in.



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Departure Time: N/A
Arrival Time: N/A
Weather as I call it: Cloudy and cool. 55F
Shady Gas Price: $2.59
Level of commute annoyance (scale of 1 to 10): 2
Feared for my life: No

Held On Tight Today

My fellow rider who had the coffee spill yesterday got on the bus with another creamy-looking iced coffee. My heart sank a little. I thought we would have another sad end to his refreshing beverage. Thankfully he held on tight today and we did not have a messy, wet mishap.

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Bus Departure Time: 7:07
Bus Arrival Time: 7:24
T Departure Time: 7:25
T Arrival Time: 7:46
Weather as I call it: Hazy again. Very humid
Level of commute annoyance (scale of 1 to 10): 2
Feared for my life: No

Iced Coffee Spill

Welcome back everybody.

Today I witnessed an iced coffee spill of biblical proportions. This gentleman got on the bus with a wonderfully delicious-looking iced coffee from the Dunk. He had it prepared with a lot of cream (or maybe half and half) because it had a very light caramel color. Mmmmm creamy.

He departed the bus at Malden Center and sat down on the Orange Line along with me and about 25 other people.

Somewhere between Malden and Wellington, all hell broke loose and his cup fell to the ground. All the creamy coffee goodness rolled down the floor.

People offered him napkins to wipe himself up, but the majority of the coffee just rolled back and forth with the inclines and the declines of the tracks....It made for a wet ride.

Not much else you can do outside of passing along the warning to others about holding on to your iced coffee while on the T. Those things can get slippery.

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Bus Departure Time: 7:07
Bus Arrival Time: 7:23
T Departure Time: 7:25
T Arrival Time: 7:46
Weather as I call it: Hazy/Foggy. What's up with this summer?
Level of commute annoyance (scale of 1 to 10): 3
Feared for my life: Nah.

Random Observations

It's a potpourri type of post today.

Hot weather reveals things...like the tattoo on the middle aged woman who rides the bus with you. The short sleeved shirt that she was wearing yesterday allowed the tattoo of a castle on her left shoulder to be visible. Pretty cool.

I sometimes sit on the Orange Line in the seats between two poles...they are positioned as follows from left to right: pole, seat, seat, pole. If you sit in either seat and someone else sits next to you who likes to have a lot of space or just needs a lot of space, that pole next to you will leave a mark on your leg before you arrive at your destination. Believe it.

Apparently ice coffee takes longer to make than regular coffee. The lines in both establishments near my building were way too long. I got my coffee though, at establishment three...not so near my work.




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Bus Departure Time:
Bus Arrival Time:
T Departure Time:
T Arrival Time:
Weather as I call it:
Level of commute annoyance (scale of 1 to 10):
Feared for my life:

First Week Done

So, I finished a week of 'commuting to work' (I leave the driving to the MBTA). I still don't have any regular landmarks or items to keep track of yet. It'll take time.

Some thoughts:

There is a 7-11 that the bus passed and it has a big sign advertising a new Energy Coffee. Does anyone need more of a pick-me-up from their coffee?

Since I am on the subject of coffee, I wanted to mention I have been drinking a lot of it this week. With it, I have had some coffee-driven ideas:

If word of mouth marketing is the most effective kind of marketing, then why doesn't traditional marketing incorporate a word of mouth feel?

The slogan I would use for my product would be: "We Think It's Pretty Good." or maybe "Dude, this is so great. You have to try it."

I should cut down on the coffee.