Alfred Peet, the Granddaddy of Great Coffee Alfred Peet, the founder of Peet's Coffee & Tea (and the granddaddy of American specialty coffee) has died. I'm not one to usually wax poetic obit-style but Mr. Peet deserves it. His coffee is the best I have ever tasted: rich and strong, without that acid aftertaste I get from Starbucks. Whenever I go to the Bay Area I head for Peet's. And, in fact, I'd always buy two pounds to take back home with me, that is until a recent conversation I had with a fellow DC local and Peet's lover. When I...

Fear of bridges is a relatively common phobia although most people with it do not know they have something called "gephyrophobia"...

I have written a few times about the decline of Western Civilization, I mean the decline of customer service. It's an uphill battle. Companies create silos so that one part of the organization works independently of another part (even though the customer's wellbeing is tied to a unified approach). Representatives either connect you to another division or simply state: "That's not my problem," leaving the consumer to fend for themselves. Knowing that I cannot win by debating store managers in the cereal aisle I have decided to make it easy. Here is one simple rule that would improve customer service immediately...

My camera's paltry zoom got me this close to the Queen. Click image to see an enlargement. On a whim, I decided to visit the Queen the other day. My coworker, Cathy, and I walked over to the World War II Memorial on the National Mall during lunch, where Queen Elizabeth would be paying her respects on the anniversary of VE Day. I've had a few encounters with celebrities over the years. There's the Hollywood variety: I waited on crooner Bobby Darin and action star Charles Bronson when I worked at an L.A. department store during college. And my brief time...

I didn't hear of Monday's tragedy at Virginia Tech until 9:30 that night. I had just plopped down my suitcase in my NYC hotel room after a long, flight-delayed ride from San Francisco. As I unpacked I watched the TV as teachers and students were eulogized and I began to remember my many years as a college teacher. As I watched Cho Seung-Hui's English professor, Lucinda Roy, recount both her concern and inability to take action after reading Cho's writing, similar memories of my own experiences with my students began to resurface. Suddenly, I remembered John.

If you are a Mac fan you will remember its auspicious introduction: the 1984 Ridley Scott television commercial (updated in 2004 to include the ubiquitous iPod earbuds). Some anonymous Barack Obama supporters (or are they --a little Dem infighting couldn't hurt the Republicans) have remixed the ad to show Hillary Clinton as "Big Brother," I mean "Big Sister." No matter who you support for President, you gotta hand it to these underground videographers: a creative and thought-provoking remix. Up next: Hillary "supporters" remix Gone with the Wind (is nothing sacred?). Down and dirty. Let the games begin! [ Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton,...

Hey wait can I borrow your cape The leader is nowhere to be found, And if you wake up his fans You will not hear a sound. Bobby Bare, Jr.Borrow Your Cape House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer Guess who I ran into yesterday --literally? Steny Hoyer, Democratic Majority Leader of the House. Well, he actually ran into me. He was walking down 9th Street just as I was on my way back to my office after lunch. Synchronously, a nice bio article had just appeared that morning on Hoyer in the Washington Post. I had been moved by the piece's portrayal of his life and slow...