Morning all:

I am enough of an open book for some of you to have noticed the fact that I have an ongoing and not very secret love affair with coffee. Over the many years of being in the workaday world there came a time where I was in so many meetings and at so many on-the-run coffee counters that I believe I actually reached a point where I preferred my coffee served in a Styrofoam cup.

Many a time I’d be tidying up a conference room after a meeting trying to find a water-proof basket to dump used cups, many often partially filled with cold burnt coffee. Sometimes these cups were just fun to look at since they had creative doodles or ballpoint pen hole designs punched into the sides. All of this “art” has now been raised to new heights. Major new heights! You absolutely must click “HERE” and have a look at plain old Styrofoam eyed by an artist, and available from $5.00 to $8,000.00.

Marcia always wonders, “Dirk, how do you find these sites?” I guess I am eclectic enough to listen to and read a variety of differing stuff. For well over a year I have been an avid listener of a NPR show called Brain Brew—business savvy advise for people with an entrepreneurial spirit. I download the show on the iPod and it fills exactly an evening of walking with Shang. The host, Doug Hall, founded a local training and consulting establishment called the Eureka Ranch with a focus on Fortune-200 companies. He is also one of the judges on the new reality show “American Inventor” (wears the Hawaiian shirts). In two weeks I will be attending some meetings in Las Vegas where Doug will guide us for two days—I am pumped. Anyway, the “Styrogamist” was a guest on last week’s Brain Brew show, looking for a proper way to price his works.

I am all for people having a healthy aortic pulse wave velocity (aPWV), something used to measure aortic stiffness as it relates to cardiovascular disease. Also, I am fully convinced that a stiff dose of Capsaicin will do wonders for this same circulatory system. “Ok, Dirk, where are you heading” you ask? Our office held its fifth annual Chili Cook-off yesterday. With Marcia out of town I just knew I could tackle the event in two ways. First cook a batch that would do me proud, which I did. Second, make it at a temperature where it would be pure joy to gobble the final bowl or two tonight without anyone in the house screaming around looking for a faucet.

Late at work yesterday I got to Instant Message a couple of minutes with Adrianne. The two ladies are doing splendidly in Tonga. They have even attended one of the ever present putu (funeral), Marcia done up properly for the event all in black and with a mat about her middle. However, there are a few dark clouds hovering about. A quick question whether or not I was familiar with Western Union. Huh? What do you think that is all about? Also the fact that they needed to mention that both are dying of the ever present heat to me proves that there could be difficulties in paradise.

Make it a great week everyone.
Cheers,
Dirk