Stink Different

I risk further alienating myself from my apple loving friends (including my girlfriend) and their pretty computers but I just can't resist pointing out this address form that the geniuses at Apple Computer are requiring me to fill out in order to use my newest Itunes gift card.

Read the error message and know that I had clicked 'done' multiple times at the point when I made the screen shot.

I guess they should spend some more time on programming and less time on making their power adapter glow...

Mike

Fair Trade

So tonite, I went to one of my favorite Madison coffee shops--Java Escape.

At the coffee shop, I bought a 1lb bag of coffee.

• This coffee was roasted by a small roasting coop in Madison, Just Coffee.
• It is 100% fair trade (all Just Coffee is Fair Trade certified, plus they frequently travel to coffee growing countries to build relationships with their farmers).
• Just Coffee employees make 12-16$ per hour (and the full time shareholder/employees get benefits) according to their website.
• The coffee is small batch roasted by people obsessed with coffee.
• AND I got a free small latte from the coffee shop for buying said bag of coffee.

Oh And:

• The coffee shop is huge with multiple rooms
• Still has free wifi
• Doesn't seem to mind you buying a cup and studying for 4 hours.

And the total price for this was $9.50 (including tax).

• My first point in mentioning this is to reinforce my prior feeling that Starbucks is a complete ripoff.
• My second point is that companies can take care of their employees, their suppliers, the environment and still provide a quality product at a great price. Any company that says otherwise is just being greedy.
• My third point is that a coffee shop doesn't need to be small and have a quick turnaround to thrive.

Mike