Off-topic

Will you indulge me a mini off-topic rant?

An Open Letter To All Bloggers Throughout The World
by Nick Cho

Dear fellow blogger:

The english language is, as we all know, an ever-changing thing. Words get added every year with much fanfare, usually acknowledged by broadcast, print, or internet news as a semi-silly human-interest-type story tagged onto the end of a segment.

"This year, the Oxford English Dictionary added the word 'wiki,' which means the sound that a DJ makes when scratching." or whatever.

Add words; that's fine. It happens. Sometimes it's annoyingly cutesy, like when they added the Homer-Simpsonism, "Doh!"

But sometimes, things take a weird turn.

Did you know that the english language USED to have five 1st-person-singular personal pronouns?

There's the ever-present "I" (that's as in 'eye,' not a lower case L or the number one, to the serif-impaired readers in the audience).

Of course, there's the oft misused "me."

And then the others: my, mine, myself. (Grammar-Nazis will note that 'my' is, in fact, a personal adjective and not a pronoun. To you, I say, "Beat it, nerd.")

There's a new 1st-person-singular-personal-pronoun on the block.

"This blogger."

Sometimes, it's "This blog." Sometimes, it's the name of the blog.

God created a certain number of personal pronouns. It's an abomination against The Creator and all mankind to go against it. It's unnatural. What's next, are you going to have sex with animals?

I'm not even going to rant any more about this. It's annoying, and it has to stop.

Please.

Sincerely, your friend, cordially,
Nick

scaa charlotte and usbc (ryanj's take)

So this is kind of a late update, but it's taken a long time to both process everything that went down in Charlotte and get back into the swing of things back home.

We had two fine competitors in the United States Barista Competition, placing 27th and 32nd in an amazing field of baristas. RyanG and Katie poured their hearts out and made us all proud with their dedication and professionalism. Behind the scenes, Katie got to high-five her "ultimate high-five", eventual USBC champion, Matt Riddle from Chicago, IL, and Ryan got to hob-nob with coffee luminaries Mark Inman (Taylor Maid Farms Organic) and Andy Schecter. Mandy also got her ultimate high-five, Jeff Taylor of PT's Coffee, and was the best station maintenance-r at the whole competition.

RyanJ and Aaron spent the weekend judging the USBC and meeting some of the coolest folks in the industry from Ritual Coffee Roasters in San Francisco, Stumptown in Portland, and enjoying some good times as always with the Counter Culture posse.

Nick enjoyed another schmooze-fest, podcasting like crazy and emceeing the USBC, shaking hands and kissing babies with the best of them.

All in all, an amazing competition, an amazing show floor (clover!!), and amazing peoples. Thanks for hosting a great party, SCAA!

Wi-fi

On Sunday, April 2, 2006, both murky coffee locations will no longer be offering wi-fi internet access. We understand that this will inconvenience a lot of our customers, and for that we're very sorry.

Please visit Jiwire.com for information on places that offer wi-fi internet access.

For questions or comments, feel free to email us at email@murkycoffee.com.

(EDIT 11:01 PM : To all of the folks who emailed us today with angry words of hate and disappointment... I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive us... forgive us and please remember today's date and all that it means.)

(EDIT 4/19/06: It's called April Fools, folks)