Summer Food Fun and Drink 2009 Starbucks in decline - Chapter 5 · Friday July 17, 2009 by colin newell
The Seattle-based gourmet coffee chain said it is changing the name of one of its existing stores in its hometown to a name that reflects the neighborhood location.
The store will be called 15th Avenue Coffee and Tea. It will open next week and will serve coffee and tea as well as wine and beer.
Isn’t that like McDonalds changing its Victoria area outlet names to Madame Elizabeth’s Crumpet and Tea house?
Or GM or Ford changing their name to Henry’s Perfectly Reliable Maker of Motored Carriage?
Someone should have told their marketing people that you can’t buy authenticity.
Many industry pundits feel that the Starbucks brand still “resonates” with those who drink coffee regularly. But with the recession now in its second year, the brand may be struggling more because it is considered “premium,” and therefore an expensive product, by consumers.
No. No. No. It is because (in my opinion), Starbucks coffee is not the Starbucks coffee of, say, 10 years ago. In 1992, I used to delight in an extra large black coffee from Starbucks; rich and hot, filled with body and mysterious flavors.
Now it just tastes like the inferior coffee beans that the real specialty coffee companies are passing on that maybe, just maybe, is not good enough. Dunno. You judge.
The fact is, better coffee has arrived in the form of Victrola or Stumptown or Vivace and Intelligentsia
Nobody is going to be fooled by this. Corporate coffee is corporate coffee however you slice it.
Starbucks needs to move aside and let the real coffee brew.
Comment [3]
Summer Food Fun and Drink Chapter 11 The downside of twitter · Saturday July 11, 2009 by colin newell
Here’s the thing. If I could sprout an extra lobe in my brain and actually incur the ability to distill my more cogent thoughts down to 140 characters…
I probably still would not twitter.
Because I just typed 140 characters and I haven’t said a golly dash thing!
And you know it.
A lovely young lady (and that fact is irrelevant) that I passed on Friday (on campus) mused that she twitters – but is pretty sure that…
a.) She has no followers
and
b.) No one would really care about what she wrote anyway.
And yet I know for a fact that she is usually surrounded by a gaggle of young men…
and she talks a lot to them.
And they listen with rapt interest.
Because she is interesting.
Intelligent.
And pretty. Not that this indelible fact matters.
There are a couple of other nagging problems with twitter (and, oh yea… Facebook).
They are over run by corporations. We know that Facebook is merely a data mining site used by the man to get more marketing info on us consume-droids.
And now large corporations are signing into twitter because they think it’s hip and it’s marketing ore rich for refining.
It is about as hip as my grand-dad rapping with Dr. Dre.
Bottom line – there is nothing useful anyone can say in 140 characters or less. And when millions and millions are doing it – it just makes it less relevant than space dust.
My opinion.
Comment [2]
Summer Fun Food and Drink 2009 - Chapter 7 Pissed with Readers Digest · Friday July 3, 2009 by colin newell
Hey. I hope I am not the only one that is experiencing this — and strap yourselves in folks. This is a full on rant.
Readers digest. Their book club. Or whatever they call it…
I have a dear old aunt who is in her 80’s – and she is getting a little fuzzy… a bit past her mental prime and all – which is normal.
At some point she got a shill from Readers Digest (Canada) for a free book or two. So they sent her a free book… and then another… and then a box of books. And then she send them a note: No more books!
But the books keep coming. And now they are billing the old dear.
And I am shipping them back – return to sender.
Surely I cannot be the only one ranting about Readers Digest Canada.
Go to their website. It is easy to find. I challenge you to find somewhere on their website where you can e-mail some human being… if only to write…
Enough with the books already!
Readers Digest Canada – please note. My patience is running out.
Colin Newell uncovers Canada’s ugly little secrets so you don’t have to.
Comment [1]
Summer fun food and drink 2009 - Chapter 2 coffee time · Wednesday June 17, 2009 by colin newell
If my colleagues and I were cats…
This is what our daily coffee break would look like.
Draw your own conclusions.
Comment [1]
Spring into reflection - pet ownership days gone by · Friday May 15, 2009 by colin newell
Has it been 30 years since I had pets? You know. Come to think of it. Yes.
When I was a kid, I had 3 pets; 2 dogs and a cat.
A black lab. A West highland white terrier. And a street cat.
And like most pets, they were telepathic. But not very good at hiding their superior mental powers.
For instance.
The two dogs would often look at each other. One would raise an eye brow. One would nod. The other would look at its paw. The other, one more nod. And they would both leave the house together… and appear back in time for kibbles.
The cat was in a bit of a pickle, canine relationship wise. It got along famously with the terrier… but not the lab.
The terrier would hang out with the cat, occasionally gesturing and nodding.
Until the lab would show up.
And then the terrier would give the cat an apologetic look – and according to telepathic intercepts that went something like this…
Terrier: Uhm. Dude. Sorry. The lab. Is. One of my kind. And. I need. To chase. You.
Cat: Same as last time?
Terrier: Yea. I. Chase you. I will hold back. You run faster. If you run into a corner. And I catch you. You take a swipe at my nose. And hiss. Make it look good. You go left. I go right. Got it?
Cat. Left. Then right. Hiss. Yea. I think so.
The lab was not so good at reading the cats mind.
More than once it missed the escape cues and ended up with a bloody nose.
I can still hear the cat thinking… “Lab. I am going to swing at you NOW. You pull back. You might get grazed. No blood. Good luck.”
The lab did not like cats much… and did not like the mental interaction. And generally did not listen to what the cat was thinking… so blood generally.
I made a promise as I buried my last pet: Never again.
And I kept that promise. But sometimes, I miss the interaction between domesticated animals.
In the year 2009, I have human interaction and technology – neither of which is 1/2 as interesting as pets. So. If you have a pet that is alive and well. Give it a gentle hug. And remember. If you cannot read its mind, remember this.
It’s reading yours.
