Yeah, I was spoiled living in Iowa City. They have great locally-owned coffee shops that all used, as I mention above, the individual drip method as opposed to making it by the pot. There is a world of difference. When I left Iowa City, there was about one coffee place on every block downtown, each an independent, plus one Starbucks.

In 1992, when my wife and I moved back to Iowa City and were searching for employment, one of our thoughts was to open a coffee shop. There were none at the time in Iowa City. We seriously considered it, and then decided, nah, it would never fly. Within a year, there were at least three very successful coffee shops downtown.

starbucks burns their coffee to keep better on the shelf. most of their copffee is roasted/burned weeks or even a few months in advance and shipped out. I would love to find a cofeee place that roasted on site.

STORY
- Once, about 10 years ago, my grandmother and an aunt and uncle came to visit us from Puerto Rico. My grandma brought over a big bag of green un-roasted puerto rican cofeee beans. She used a giant aluminum cooking pot and our outdoor propane grill to roast the beans and OH fuck did they smell fantastric. it took her some time but she roasted them to a nice deep brown and then we ground them and made coffee and HOLY fuck the coffe was SWEET and dlicious without adding any sugar at all! I love my shit with sugar but the fresh rioasted and brewed cofee was so fucking flavorful...

I know some people who work at starbucks and say it's fantastic, fun, easy, and pays well.

i just hate coffee shops, whats wrong with a nice cup of tea and a sandwich.
but yeah why not, go ahead.

tea is not my thing. I enjoy it when it is served to me, but I am Puerto Rican and we drink COFFEEEE

little tiny cups of espresso over a tablespoon of sweetened condesed milk. we call it a CORTADITO, which means "the little cut one"

Strong Coffee just doesnt agree with me at all, makes my mouth feel like theres a layer of moss and death inside it. A good selection of teas is the way.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYqpKpSh69s

Im Steven Fry, youre... the other bloke.

tea does not have th caffeine I need man

the smell of coffee alone makes me wake up. teh smell of tea make sme think, "I will take a sweet sweet nap now..."

I like storng flavors though, dark chocolate, strong coffee, port wine, cigars, kind bud, wet horny pussy, garlic....

yeah its a great entry level job but the man has kids in college. i think it's the wrong kind of job for him, unless he's having an american beauty moment.

I think I'd rather not, actually. It's dawning on me that this could be, like, you know, work. With a bossman and stuff.

no shit-- and your boss will be your kid's age and have an iq of 101 and will take out his hatred of older men on you. "hey dude dont forget to clean the bathrooms before you go home". yikes.

& I'll be all like, "Fuck you, dude. I don't do bathrooms."

fucking lazy american....

;)

and then he'll be like "you think you're better than the rest of us? you're fired!"

spare yourself the disgrace & look for ways to increase your business. seriously. subscribe to some trade journals & read this too

http://books.google.com/books?id=qfQq5MbXKhAC&dq=renegade+writer&pg=PP1&ot s=cj5mgkdDsF&sig=eBQX8E5V4iBcbUCRBLhwAQ3tzKs&hl=en &prev=http://www.google.com/search?q=renegade+writer&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&sa=X&oi=print&ct=title&cad=one-book-with-thumbnail

it's got great advice on recycling articles & other junk

also, read some shit on marketing, creating buzz, etc. once you're "established" business will come to you & you'll pick & choose your clients.

and find yourself a good bar if you need human contact.

& I'll say it while applying my eyeliner in the women's mirror! Ha, that'll show em.

I seriously have so much work now that I've had turn stuff away. I hate doing that, too, but I've had to. I have nothing against any assignment,mind you, but it kills me when big-time editors (at least regionally big-time--big fish in Columbia's litttle pond) call up and want something tomorrow for peanuts. It's like they think writers are happy to get paid what they could make in a shift at McDonalds (or Starbucks for that matter).

hm... then you probably need to increase your fees (new years is a good excuse) and come up with some realistic accounting so that you can budget your paychecks.

if some editor calls you with bullshit offers it's ok to tell them you're an established writer that will not work for peanuts and you charge X amount, but maybe then can find an english major to do it for their price-- ha ha ha.

seriously. someone called me yesterday looking for someone to do data entry. i suggested a temp agency.

No, I think it just has more to do with the fresh start of everything. It took a couple months to start getting noticed, and then the assignments were for things with deadlines fairly far along (meaning even with a few good advances final payments were/are a ways off). The momentum's happening, the money just needs to catch up, and then (providing the momentum keeps happening), I should start seeing a more reliable flow to all this. Like, I cna look ahead and see a watershed month--I'm just not there yet.

Yeah, I've actually done a couple things here for crap money. Like less that 10 cents a word! And it involved travel, time on the phone, not too mention the actual writing. I seriously could have done better selling my plasma! But I took them because they will get my name in print in some surprisingly prestigious regional magazines.

It's weird. These magazines are great. They're big and glossy, lots of advertisers, and lots of great writing, photography, etc., and enjoy a good reputation. But the pay absolutely stinks!

I might do a few of these a year, just to keep my name out there and to add to the portfolio.