Cup of Coffee

 

A short story about how a cup of coffee saved my life.

Dare I say, it wasn't my time. My Guardian Angels (I need several) were on full alert one particular day in 1985

News Report - RHEIN-MAIN AB, Germany — A powerful car bomb exploded early Thursday at Rhein-Main AB, killing two Americans and injuring more than 20 people. The blast occurred at 7:15 a.m. as hundreds of employees were reporting to work.

I was there that day, doing what I do best, having a cup of coffee and being lazy.

The story: My friend was transferring back to the states and asked me to give him a ride to the Base AirPort in the morning. Of course I said yes, because it meant I could get out of work for a few hours. He told me later that we needed to leave at 5:30am. Which was fine. We had four children, so being up at Zero Dark Thirty was a way of life for me and the wife back then. 

All went as planned. Picked him up. Drove an hour from our Base (Sembach) to Ramstein AFB. His plane was scheduled to leave at 8:00am

Then Fate, or as I believe, my Guardian Angels took over.

I parked, dropped him off, and he said those magical words that saved my life or a serious injury, "You don't want to go back work, come in, have a cup of coffee with me until it's time to board. 

Of course, I said, "Yes!" 

Note: It's 1985 - no cell phones - wife is at work.

Thank You Guardian Angels

While drinking some coffee and having a goodbye conversation, suddenly a LOUD BOOM! It rattled the entire airport. Alarms Went Off! Screaming! Kids crying! 

As for me and my friend, both having seen our fair share of Alert Exercises, we didn't panic and continued drinking our coffee. Actually, he was mildly upset the Base picked the day he was leaving to conduct an exercise. 

But when the Air Force security police were running all over the Airport, we then realized, um, something bad happened.

Several hours later, after the dust settled, my friend's plane took off, and I was finally allowed to walk to my car.

I saw the destruction the bomb left in its wake - bad, really bad.

Not Good

The moment I got in my car, I started doing math in my head. When we arrived, when I would have been walking back to my car. WOW! was my reaction - yes, I thanked God the entire drive back to work.

Needless to say, as soon as I got back to work, (My wife and I worked in the same place at the time) the second she saw me, she ran and hugged me like I'd been gone for years. Then she proceeded to scream at me for not calling. I lied - I said the phones were down. 

That's my story. 

My advice, never hesitate when you're offered a cup of coffee. Say yes every time. 

I recommend, this holiday season, hug the ones you love and even the ones you might not like very much.

Life is precious.  and so is coffee.

j/k

World Greatest Malted Milk Shake Recipe

My Uncle Phil lived in Chicago (southside-1964), and when we went to visit him, he would make us malted milk shakes.

Today, I am going to share with you my secret Uncle Phil recipe. 

Yippee!

 

Basic Ingredients:

You need a regular size blender

Gallon of ice cream – Vanilla, Chocolate, etc. etc.

2 tbsp. Malted Powder or 1 box of Malted chocolate balls

2 egg whites – or if you’re lazy, throw it all in.

½ tbsp. Vanilla extract or Almond extract

1 cup of cream – optional if you use whole milk.

½ Gallon of milk – whole milk is preferred

 

Any malted powder will do. This is what I use.

Before you get started, put your serving glasses in the freezer.

(Milk shakes are more better when served in an ice-cold glass.)

 

Step 1: place in blender, 2 tbsp. Malted Powder – or 1 box of Chocolate Malted Balls,      2 egg whites, ½ tbsp. Vanilla extract, 1 cup of cream, and 1 cup of milk.

Step2: Mix ingredients for 10-20 seconds. Don’t over do it. You just want the ingredients mixed up really well before you start adding Ice Cream and more milk.

Step 3: Add a couple scopes of ice cream and a splash of milk – then blend. Continue until you get the desired thickness for you. Add- blend, add blend. (I add a lot more Ice Cream than milk)

I like really, thick shakes – thick enough for the spoon to stand on its own.

And there you have it –A Good Milk Shake.

 

Blue Blue - The G.O.A.T. of Ice Creams.

World’s Greatest Milk Shake

If’n you want to step up your game and make the W. G. M. S., well, you’re gonna need BLUE BELL Ice Cream, for sure! Pick the flavor you like and go for it.

I like cookies and cream and use whole milk. I typically make 4 full glasses. Eat one, freeze the others. Frozen Milk Shake is gooooood.

 

When the grandkids come over, I get a Gallon of Vanilla, 

add 2 tbsp. of Malt Powder and all the other ingredients, but then 

I let them add any flavor they want – chocolate cookies or 

strawberries; basically, whatever their weird little minds think of – they like to throw in a couple of their favorite candy bars.

The Grandkids also like it when I put whipped cream and sprinkles on top.

It’s a great dessert for any occasion – reading a book, watching a movie, or just cuz.

 

Wishing you all a World’s Greatest Milk Shake Thanksgiving!

 

j/k

Reviews - Yes or No?

Full disclosure: I barely passed High School, got bad grades in English classes, and therefore it disqualifies me to legitimately critique anybody’s book.

 

I have, however, read a lot books – when I was a young lad, I read a couple of Jules Verne books and sports books (football- baseball); classics and D&D books in my 30’s; pirate and adventure books in my 40’s; I started writing a trilogy in my 50’s and only read specific styles of writing; and currently piles of indie books.

 

If I knew what I was doing, I wouldn't be doing it wrong.

Reviews:

Everybody wants a review – electricians, plumbers, car repair people, stores, and writers. A review for a waiter/ waitress is determined by the size of the tip you leave them.

Are they important?  Depends. 

If an electrician did their job in a timely manner and everything works, I write a review, so other people know that the person can be trusted or not. I believe that's important.

I have written 100’s of reviews for people who have provided a service and I am a super generous tipper.

On the other hand, I believe my current number for writing an indie book review is three. I do rate all the ones I have read, 1-5 stars.

Why?

Indie writers are an extremely delicate class of people. One wrong word and there is a strong possibility they may never write again or worse. But there are some who can handle constructive criticism.

The are 3 main points I focus on when reading a book – pace, readability, and imagination. Readability is grammar and punctuation, and I fully expect there to be errors, but if there is an excessive amount, I might stop reading the book. Thus far I have never not finished a book. I’ve come close.

The biggest difference, I have noticed, between an indie book and a traditionally published book is pace. Indie writers are generally horrible at pace. I think the reason is because they try to hard and over think the basics.

Recently, (last night) I was reading an indie book, and I was literally screaming in my head, . . . JUST TALK TO ME! If it’s not important, why did you write it. Page filler? If you feel compelled to write page filler material, please make it interesting.

I give up, today, but tomorrow is another day.

Writers are their own worst critic – me included.

I have officially completed six books, published three, and working on a seventh. I cringe when I reread parts of my books and pat myself on the back when I think a particular passage is good.

Of course, writers are trying their best to write a readable book.

Sadly, there are some books that are truly awesome, but will never get the notice they deserve.

 

In the beginning, I intentionally skipped what I was doing in my 20’s. I’ll spare you the details – we have four children.

 

To the people who write reviews – Thank You!  Don’t stop.

 

Have a great day reading and writing fellow book people.

 

j/k