Thomas L. Shaffer

I am (not) often asked “Hey Thomas - How do you know you are living in Seattle?” Well, that’s simple, I count coffee. Coffee stores and coffee drinkers are abundant in Seattle and surrounding cities. This isn’t anything new, however you have to dig a little deeper to truely say you are in Seattle. For example, let’s say you are on your way to work in the morning (true story). Do you think you could tell if you were in Seattle? Glancing out to my right I see a bicyclist sitting at the light beside me. This is a common occurence around the Emerald city, but how can you be sure? Well, this guy was sipping a cup of Joe. That’s right. Here is a guy in spandex with no shorts (seriously homie, buy a pair of Umbros), rain jacket, chilling in the bike lane sipping his latte. I’m 100% certain this does not occur on the Cliff Benson back home. What makes the story even better and solidifies my statement that I am, in fact, in Seattle is that right before the light changes, he slides the carboard cup with the plastic lid into the bottle cage on his bike. No H20 for this guy, he’s down with Juan Valdez.

This story is worthless without pics, as the image of a mid 30’s, spandex laden, coffee sipping guy on a Cannondale just doesn’t look the same in your mind’s eye, and I’ve seen both. I should have told him that his cup wasn’t eco-friendly, but I was too busy trying to get the cap of my bottled water on before it spilt in my SUV.