Asheville, NC is not Greenville, SC

I had a very strange moment at dinner yesterday.

Jamen's friend Tempest is in town for a few days. She too is from North Carolina. We were talking about Asheville, NC and how cool of a city it is.

I'm agreeing - "yeah, quaint, pretty liberal, neat little downtown"

Until something hit me.

"Wait, I've never been to Asheville. I'm thinking of Greenville."

"Do you mean Greenville, NC or Greenville, SC"

:: crickets ::

"Well...I don't know."

My final year in the 18-34 demo is upon me. It's happening. Here goes the memory.

How can I forget having visited entire cities? I mean, I did travel a ton for work, and I have been to many places, but not enough places that I can't remember all of them. Or at least most of them.

I had to dig back into my project files from my old job and find my expense reports from 2005 to see which city I was thinking of.

It was indeed Greenville, SC - which admittedly is a cool little city in SC, more liberal than the back country, and complete with a quaint little downtown.

But my God!

How can I have mistaken a never-was trip to Asheville, NC with a just-about-three-years-ago trip to Greenville, SC.

I am not ready for my birthday.

Starbucks HQ

Starbucks HQ, originally uploaded by southiejason.

Coffee has been on my mind for the past few days - it's hard not to think about it when you're in Seattle. At first, I thought I was hyper-sensitive to the amount of espresso bars and coffee stores around the area. But then, I realized that there were simply more of them. After all, Starbucks, Seattle's Best, and Tully's are all based here.

Here I am outside the Corporate Headquarters of Starbucks, on Utah Avenue just east of Safeco and Qwest Fields, the homes of the Mariners and Seahawks. There is a small Starbucks area in the lobby - nothing fancy, very anti-climactic. I was bummed they didn't even have "Starbucks HQ" City Mugs there (I know they existed at one point).

Well, the coffee focus did not end after Seattle. Flying home on the redeye, my focus went from "avoid coffee" before and during the flight to "must obtain coffee" after the flight and throughout much of yesterday.

I was even thinking ahead. During lunch, I bought some half-and-half for my coffee this morning, as I had none left at home. I put in in the fridge at work, and made a note to remember to bring it home as I walked out.

Well, the half-and-half, of course, is still in the fridge at work because I took that note, put in in my coat pocket, and overlooked the content of that note thirty seconds after last having read it. I am chalking it up to the 6pm day-after-redeye daze, and not to my general forgetfulness.

And as a result, I still haven't had my coffee this morning.