Bob’s Thirsty Thursdays: Coffee, Reply All Etiquette, and Comic-Con 2014

I love coffee. Seriously, if there’s anything I drink more than water and Miller High Life, it’s coffee. Yes, I’m playing up the Seattle stereotype hundred times infinity, but whatever–there’s nothing like waking up to a hot pot of coffee. I’m not gonna lie, but there are some mornings where that is literally the only thing that is getting me out of bed: the promise of hot caffeine injected into my face-hole.  Last week I ragged on Beer Snobs and what complete shitfaces they are, but now I’m about to turn a 180 and be 100% hypocritical: I’m a Coffee Snob. Fuck Foldgers or any of that instant coffee bullshit that looks more like brown water than coffee. That shit is nasty. Fuck putting milk or cream or sugar or anything else in it to dilute the taste. I take my coffee black…. like my men. And because of that, the coffee has to be good. It doesn’t necessarily have to be Starbucks… but it helps. Actually, I’m pretty much a fan of all French Roasts (or darker… Espresso Roast is tasty too), whether it’s Seattle’s Best or Pete’s Coffee or even Dunkin’ Donuts. No joke, Dunkin’ Donuts coffee is legit, which surprised the hell out of me. We don’t have those on the West Coast, so I assumed the worst, but hot damn their coffee is delicious. Whether it’s brewing it French Press style or in a Mr. Coffee, whether it’s kept full bean until it’s brewed or it’s bought pre-ground (in my experience, it doesn’t really matter, shit tastes the same), I love me some coffee… and I can’t imagine living a day without it.

We live in a world of e-mail, so much so that I haven’t written or received a letter via Snail Mail in over a decade and I’m totally cool with that. It’s better for the environment (all those trees saved!), it’s more cost efficient (no more money on stamps!), and e-mail serves us that type of instant gratification that you just can’t get anywhere else (except maybe IM). I can’t imagine what going to work would look like without e-mail. Seriously, how life functioned before e-mail is sort of a mystery to me. You know what is also a mystery to me? How people are still morons when it comes to the simple act of Reply All. Yes, Reply All, probably the most misused feature in the short history of e-mail, and yet after we’ve incorporated e-mail into our daily lives, people still find a way to fuck it all up. Drives me absolutely batshit.

So if you don’t know the correct etiquette on how and when to use Reply All, listen up:  if you are on an e-mail with a group of people and what is being discussed is relevant to everyone (and it needs to be a discussion, or everyone needs to know the outcome of the discussion), then use Reply All.  Example: coordinating a time with people to go on a trip, or figuring out when the best time would be to schedule a meeting, then use Reply All. If you are on an e-mail thread with a group of people and something is brought up that not everyone needs an answer to… then just reply to the person directly, because no one on that thread gives a fuck. Example: someone mails a group of people that today is their last day at work, there is no need to Reply All that you will miss them or that you think they did an awesome job. Just reply to that one person because, honestly, no one gives a shit what you have to say to that person. The overuse of Reply All is way worse than the underuse for sure, but both are annoying as hell. Is it that hard to figure it out? If I see one more Happy Birthday thread with like 85 replies in my Inbox (especially to some schmuck I don’t even know), I’m gonna explode. I get it: you care that it’s that person’s birthday. But guess what? I don’t. And I now hate your guts. So there.

This week kicks off the annual San Diego Comic-Con and it’s been 4 years since I last attended. For the first few years after my last appearance, this is the time of year that I would drink myself silly with jealousy, being so full of rage and over-the-top envy that it went from my most anticipated time of year to my most loathed time of year. Now, I can honestly say, that I’m officially over it. I’ve had enough time to reflect and while I had some epicly good times, there’s way more bullshit that goes into covering SDCC, so thank Jesus I don’t have to deal with that malarkey anymore.  So while I do miss hanging out with Jim Law, Johnny Moreno, JimmyO, Rusty, and Mike Sampson, partying hard on free drinks, photobombing celebrities, watching early screenings of blockbuster movies, getting five star treatment at a swanky hotel and riding in elevators with Jeff Bridges, and getting awestruck with celebrity interviews, I’ve realized that all those things don’t really have much to do with Comic-Con itself, because most of the actual Comic-Coning I don’t miss at all: milling around like cattle with thousands of sweaty people, poor ventilation, incredibly long lines to get into Hall H, the absurd amount of time wasted just standing in said long-ass lines, Hall H’s lack of restroom and food accommodations, busting ass to write up some interview panel while some joker is live blogging about it while it’s happening (in essence, busting ass for no reason), lack of food and nutritional intake for 4 days (sorry yo, you can’t live on bagels and granola bars for that long), and getting yelled at by people “in charge” who aren’t even there. All things said, the bullshit outweighs the cool stuff, but hot damn I’d be there in a minute if BingeMedia covered the Con… BingeCasting, drinking, photobombing, and party crashing… now that’s how you rock San Diego!

Tune into next week’s BingeCast to hear all about Jim Law’s mancation and my final thoughts on ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK.