Will blog for coffee

One thing you have likely learned about me from this blog over the years is that I love coffee. I subscribe to the reportedly Turkish proverb: "Coffee should be as black as hell, as strong as death, and as sweet as love." All those in favor indicate by saying, "Aye."

Aye.

My coffee reliance runs deep. On the days that I commute to New York, the timer on the coffee maker has been set the night before to make sure there's a hot pot brewed by the time I head out at 5 a.m. This also ensures that Commuter Mommy has coffee waiting for her when the boys and the dog start stirring a little later in the morning. Commute mornings are all about survival of the fittest for all involved, and coffee gives us a leg up on the Commuter Urchins. Lord help us when they start drinking coffee.

There are likely two additional stops for coffee in my future on these commuter mornings. By the time I get to the office 4 1/2 hours later, I am wired and ready to jump right into the requisite meetings and conference calls -- right after a stop in the men's room, naturally.

On the ride home later in the week, there's almost always a coffee pit stop, too. While this wreaks havoc with getting to sleep once I arrive home, it helps me make it home in one piece.

The side effect is that I also indulge in three cups of coffee during most mornings spent in the home office. We realized the extent of our addiction when we recently purchased decafffeinated coffee by mistake. Brandy and I wondered why we were still feeling so tired after consuming the first pot made with the impotent grounds, and only realized our shopping error when checking the package in our still-bleary-eyed attempt to make a second pot.

I'm not proud of this addiciton, but given that I have shed or severely curtailed most of my other vices -- cigarettes, red meat, martinis, midnight ice cream binges, Jelly Bellies -- I will be clinging to this last bad habit for a while longer.

All of this is a long-winded way of explaining why I am introducing you to three fellow caffeinated bloggers today as part of the New England blogging carnival. They are all part of the larger network of New England Bloggers compiled at Thoughts From an Evil Overlord, where Commuter Daddy is also listed.

• Coff-A-Cuppe
  Lives in an antique house, just like us. Can't talk straight when tired, just like us (hence the name of the blog). Likes to cook, just like us. Funny conversations with her boys, just like us.
• Coffee Slut
  My favorite blog name of the three, especially given what I wrote about my coffee love above. There's a lot of memes pursued by this fellow Massachusetts blogger: Sunday Stealing, Meet Me on Monday, Wordless Wednesday, and Follow Friday 40 and Over. My other favorite thing about this blog? The comments are tallied as cups of coffee.
• Wake Up And Smell The Coffee
  This Maine-based blogger also has three boys in an age range similar to our brood and this particular blog has some entertaining stories about time spent at story time and other activities with her boys. However, the real find is her photography blog. What can I say? I am easily lured by good photography blogs.

There are some other coffee-themed or named blogs that I follow from time to time and therefore should also introduce: Catnip and Coffee (also New England-based), DailyCupofJo (not New England-based) and Marketing Over Coffee (also New England-based; truthfully, I listen to the podcast more than I read the blog).

Enjoy, and cheers!