View from my window at 8 a.m.
Recalling Mark Twain’s apocryphal line “the coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco”, we’ve been enjoying a cool summer in the City. Each morning I’ve had to don a jacket or light sweater to keep out the cold. A gray wetness blankets the road, and the defogger blasts away the condensation on the windshield.
I stop at the coffee shop on the way to the office. Nothing like a hot cuppa joe to dispel the chill and fire up the synapses. I forego the milk or cream, even the nonfat variety, due to a genetic inability to process lactose; just give me the black stuff straight. Coffee has been found to be an anti-oxidant, which means that it’s good for your arteries, fights cancer, and slows down aging. (“It locks up those free radicals,” as John Ashcroft might say.)
Coffee--the health food that makes you feel good. A pleasant surprise about a long-term, formerly bad habit. Next on my wishlist of scientific discoveries: how TV-watching makes me more intelligent.
By noon the fog has burnt off
For over 50 years the favorite accompaniment to San Francisco’s morning coffee was, not a jelly doughnut, but Herb Caen’s column in the Chronicle and Examiner. Herb Caen’s snappy mix of news, gossip, punny wordplay, and reminiscences was and is without peer. Many columnists—and bloggers—regard him as their spiritual godfather, but, since his death in 1997, no one has come close to replacing him. However, this fellow started a column yesterday and might just be able to fill Herb's shoes. © 2004 Stephen Yuen
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