Goats, Arabs, Coffee and Prayer

Where does the time go? It seems like yesterday that I posted last and yet tomorrow it will be one full week. Someone please make the merry-go-round slow down some! This has been a challenging week in a lot of ways. I have a smorgasbord of responsibilities on my plate at work and am really wondering if I am being spread too thin. Do I say something and risk the chance of not being asked to oversee tasks that will eventually help me to advance or do I just suck it up and pile the plate high?

Next week I am off to Denver, Colorado and the week after to St. Louis, Missouri. I’m looking forward to these business trips. They always allow me time to think, meet people, and have a change of scenery.

Did you know that goats can breathe through their ears? Imagine that! I read that in a book early this week. Let me tell you about it …

I woke up one morning this week and randomly grabbed a book that caught my eye. It was about, of all things, coffee: its history, development, global economic impact. So I read in the first chapter that we have the Arabs to thank for when we drink this black brew. Also, I read that these magical beans we grind, mix with boiling water and eventually drink, have all manner of folklore attached to them.

Check this out. The story goes that these Arabs goatherds in the Middle East kept observing some pretty wild and unusual behavior among some of the goats they were tending. I mean these animals were everywhere, running wild, jumping over stuff, wild-eyed, you know, really tripping out.

They conclude that these goats are taking their morning munch from these bushes in some hidden cove somewhere. You guessed it! Coffee trees. Yep! Those goats were horkin’ down on raw coffee beans and the caffeine intake was setting them ablaze with energy.

One thing leads to another and one of these Arabs cats tosses a bush in the fire and out from the fire comes the first whiff of the aroma that to this day is nigh orgasmic to many people.

The Arabs discovered that by drinking this bitter concoction at the crack of dawn that it made their early morning prayer traditions bearable and hence was born the morning cup of Java.

Now, isn’t that interesting?