You know, how when a friend looses their job (or funding for their job) you usually feel bad for them? Especially when they work at a pretty important, meaningful, vital, if perhaps internally flawed organization? Well…then you know how sometimes – after feeling bad for them for about a second – you are all like, “hey, my company should hire her.” You know how that sometimes is? Well that’s how I feel now.

For years now I’ve been telling people how lucky I am that I get along so well with J’s folks. No parent-in-law stereotypes here. Nosiree-bob!

Oh well. I guess the illusion was nice while it lasted.

Damn right he is. Well, his ashes, anyway. The cannon is to be mounted in a sculpture of his “Gonzo” fist atop a 100 foot pillar. Live loud.

Most people who really enjoy coffee agree that Starbuck’s has nasty, over-roasted and over-priced coffee. They sell a lifestyle and nearly everyone you know is buying. Hell, even you dear reader, are buying. I too admit to falling prey to the comforting green glow.

The problem is that the neighborhood coffee shop is being pushed out and with it, some part of community. The neighborhood coffe shop – like the neighborhood bar and, in my opinion, the neighborhood laundromat – help define a neighborhood. Starbucks doesn’t care about your neighborhood.

This site, the Starbucks Delocator, serves to help you find local coffe shops by zipcode. Odd, you say, that the words “Starbucks Delocator” don’t appear on the site? Fear of lawsuits prevented the San Francisco Art Institute from using that name. So here’s my part in Carrie McLaren’s Google campaign to get the name mentioned in as many places on the ‘net as possible, so that the Starbucks Delocator will come up in Google’s search results when you type the word “Starbucks.”

Go on over to the Starbucks Delocator and search for cafés in the zip code “45245” to see what I’m talking about. One café, 10 Starbucks. Ugh.