Someone once asked me what the high falutin’ Stein Baron/Coffee Mogul lifestyle was like. Honest answer: not much different than it was as a grad student, but with slightly better quality booze and meat. All fiddling my Funranium Labs has mainly been a labor of love, a hobby that occupies that hands and clears the mind, plus gives me a place to spin a fine yarn from time to time. What profits I make tends to get squirreled away in hopes of acquiring new, dead sexy, laboratory glassware. I can’t resist a fine piece o’ borosilcate glass, nosirreebob.
But sometimes bad things happen. A little while back, Laurie Penny’s tools of the trade were stolen from her in Bloomsbury. You folks pitched in for a small tidal wave of BBotE that turned into fresh gear for her, much to her surprise. I tried to tell her people like her work and want more of it, with ultracoffee being a very meager excuse to her help out.
Yesterday, my parents were heading east on a grand retirement camping trip, driving through Amarillo, TX pulling their tiny camper behind them when someone decided the best way to merge onto the freeway was through their trailer hitch. My mom successfully swerved to avoid a wreck, which is good because a sideswipe at 65mph is Bad News, but this flipped the camper trailer, destroying it and their stuff inside.
Within less than 24 hours of the accident I have, literally, bought my parents the demonstration unit camper from the Casita showroom in Rice, TX (they normally only build to order). I have moved them with my parents plight, they wish to show good Texas hospitality and, coincidentally, steal a customer from their primary competitor. I’m not sure they could’ve have asked for a better PR opportunity, so here it is being shared with you.
But really, I want to thank all of you for giving me the opportunity to be a good son by keeping my folks on the road. I couldn’t have done this without a couple years of people partaking of my bizarre coffee and sharing my desire for cold beer.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.