I would not, could not in the shower

We had an interesting conversation in the office last week. I have no idea how it started but clearly remember the moment it changed tack. Someone (it might have been me) stopped and asked a colleague for clarification: "you drink tea in the shower??" 

A quick office poll revealed most of my team were as surprised as me. How does it work? Don't you get soap and shampoo and other stuff in it? What if you spill it? Doesn't it taste awful? The simple answer was "no", but no further information was provided.

My curiosity couldn't let it go. This now called for a Twitter poll. The results mostly confirmed what I knew already and also furthered the conversation.

But seriously, how does it work? Several people offered suggestions. Many shared that they take cups of tea or glasses of wine to drink while relaxing in the bath. (A friend takes it one step further and pops her Kindle into a zip-lock bag to complement her bath wine experience.) That makes perfect sense. The surfaces are relatively flat, the floor is not too far away and water or other substances are not potentially falling from above into an open vessel. It's the 7% who frequently shower with hot drinks and the 9% who have tried it that intrigue me.

This is not me

How do they do it? Splash-proof lids? Children's sippy cups? Or do they have gigantic walk-in showers with separate shelves away from the shower head that means they can quickly take a sip before stepping back under the water?

I'm reminded of a couplet from my favourite Dr Seuss book, Green Eggs and Ham - slightly revised for this new context.

I would not, could not, in the shower
I would not, could not, at any hour

I still don't understand how it works.

#nzconfession

Every so often, a hashtag pops up on Twitter and goes crazy. (I won't say goes viral. I'd be happy to never hear that phrase again.) I found myself nodding a new one at lunch time today: #nzconfession. I just had to join in!

I am a proud kiwi, but there are some things that kiwi culture and I just don't agree on. It's not necessarily cultural cringe. I like pavlova (and I can make a pretty darn good one myself). I like kiwifruit, Vegemite (not Marmite) and Anzac biscuits. But there are some things that would make people gasp at my lack of kiwiness.

Thinking about it this afternoon and evening, I came up with some things to add to my #nzconfession list. I'm going to be brave and admit them here. I'm hoping to discover that I'm not alone in some of them.

• I don't like L&P.
• I don't like BBQs.
• I don't like cricket and I have gone off rugby and rugby league in recent years. I'm not a netball fan, either.
• I think most kiwiana is crass and embarrassing, especially the 'traditional' plastic fantastic hei-tiki.
• I have zero interest in The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings. Zip. Zilch. Nada.
• I sometimes find the New Zillund accent embarrassing, especially when listening to eye-witness accounts on the news.
• I don't find Rhys Darby even remotely amusing. He is irritating to the point that I will deliberately boycott anything he tries to promote. Ditto many other self-proclaimed 'famous' 'comedians'.

What's on your #nzconfession list?

6th birthday bash

You say it's your birthday

It's my birthday, too, yeah

They say it's your birthday

We're gonna have a good time

It's time for a virtual party because Café Chick is 6 years old today! It seems like a veeeerrryyy long time since this first hesitant post six years ago, but at the same time it almost feels like just the other day. How does time play tricks like that? Join me in a song.



Six years of blogging about everything and nothing has been tremendous fun. There have been busy times and quiet times, ups and downs, excitement and everyday goings on. Undoubtedly the biggest bonus for me has been what I've learned from the online community over the years: recipes to try, music to listen to, books to read, movies and tv programmes to watch, places and events to go to ... and a million and one practical tips about almost every topic imaginable, as well as those I would never have otherwise dreamed about. Gosh, what a ride!

Thinking about things, I wonder how old I can become and still credibly tote a name like Café Chick; she is definitely a lot younger and far more fun than I am in real life. I have been ruminating on a new name for a while now but am not sure about making the transition to a new persona, or whether it's even worth bothering. The spelling could be a little confusing. I'd need new themes and art work and it would take a while to update all my social media accounts, but a change of name may better see me through more years online - or not. Time will tell.

Of course, it wouldn't be a blog birthday without an obligatory screen shot of my pretty red Clustr map. This is two years worth of dots, as it didn't reset last year. The map represents more than 46,000 coffee breaks from all around the world - 192 countries, in fact. Wow! Blogging activity feels quieter during the last couple of years but I realise that my online community has merely shifted into other spaces and Twitter is where most of my interaction and relationship building takes place now. I'm fine with that. :-)

Thanks for dropping by!

So join me with coffee and a cheese scone (it is Cheese Scone Friday, after all) and help me celebrate six years in the blogosphere. Thank you to each and every one of you for visiting, commenting, posting links, chatting and coming along for the ride. Cin cin!

Happy 5th birthday to Café Chick

Happy birthday to me

Happy birthday to me

Happy birthday dear Café Chick

Happy birthday to me

Five years old today! On 29 November 2007, Café Chick joined cyberspace and hesitantly started blogging with a few self-indulgent posts. Things grew gradually and before I knew it, blogging regularly became something I really enjoyed, especially as I got to 'virtually' know others in the blogosphere. Twitter followed a year or so later and then things really took off ... and here we are, five years on. Woo hoo!

No birthday would be complete without birthday cake, and a chocolate cake makes it even better. As you will have worked out, I love baking and have really stepped up with my baking and decorating this year. I still love coffee, reading, music and taking time out to enjoy the little things in life. Sure, I had to apologise to my poor, neglected blog a while back and promise that all is not forgotten. To steal a thought from John Lennon, "Life is what happens to you when you are busy making other plans." I try to live by the philosophy that life is for living and life is good. Thank you to everyone who regularly reminds me of this when I get sidetracked, either virtually or in real life. :-)

My trusty Clustr map has once again let me know where people have been visiting from during the year - more than 33,000 from 188 countries! Numbers dropped off quite a bit after Blogger changed my domain to a .co.nz suffix, but that just means there is more coffee and cake to go around so everyone is welcome to have a second or third helping. I am still thrilled to see little red and yellow dots build up every day and absolutely looooooove it when people leave comments, either here or on Twitter.

So what's in store for the next year? Probably more of the same, or maybe something different ... that's what I love about blogging (and tweeting). I never know where it will take me but enjoy going along for the ride. Thank you all so much for joining me. Please help yourself to more cake.

Cafe Chick's 4th birthday

It seemed like a good idea at the time. Don't they all? Things started quietly on 29 November 2007, grew a bit, built up a lot ... and now it's Cafe Chick's 4th birthday! Along the way, I've joined Twitter, participated in the 101 in 1001 project, had a go at Project 365 and most recently launched Café Chick's Jukebox, sharing tiny snippets from the soundtrack of my life. Whew!

Enjoy a slice of Café Chick's 4th birthday cake

So, what's up with Café Chick four years on? Well, I still love Wellington. I still love cafés. I still love coffee. (It goes without saying that I will always love chocolate.) Sunshine makes me happy, as does my sweetie and the occasional good book. I bake every chance I get and still am thrilled with my little corner of the blogosphere. Tiny red dots and comments (or tweets) from blog visitors always make my day, even four years after this blog began. :-)

As with every blogging birthday, my Clustr map will archive in a few days and my world map will be devoid of pretty little red (and yellow) dots until my coffee buddies start visiting again. I somehow managed to avoid my map being archived last year, so it is looking beautifully red today. 81,000+ visits during the past two years - gosh, that's a lot of coffee and cake!

I've been a bit quiet lately but am still here and plan to celebrate at least another birthday or two. Thank you to each and every one of you who has dropped by for a cup of coffee, a recipe or a song. It really has been a blast!

#DailyBitch digest

We're off to the snow for a week. I guess it's ironic going to the snow after it came to us in such spectacular fashion earlier this week, but we've been looking forward to going away for quite a while now. We've packed up the car with far more stuff than we'll need but are bound to have forgotten some essentials. It will be good to have a change of scenery, time to catch up on some reading, drink lots of coffee (I've stocked up on fresh coffee beans) and catch up with a couple of friends during the week. Oh, and take some (more) skiing lessons. *gulp*

I don't have a fancy/smart phone that can get online so can't guarantee internet access during the week. How will I cope with a week offline? Well, I've managed it before (kind of - just) but hope to be able to check things on my laptop or iPod touch occasionally ... hopefully.

Just in case I can't get online every day, I'm going to post a digest of my #DailyBitch tweets in advance, because I know the Twitterverse will be hanging out for them each day. ;-) Really.

#DailyBitch digest

• Saturday 20 August: "I want a man who is rich, sensitive and neutered." #DailyBitch
• Monday 22 August: "I've stopped blaming my parents and started blaming my children." #DailyBitch
• Tuesday 23 August: "Life is so much less stressful if you ignore." #DailyBitch
• Wednesday 24 August: "I never hate myself in the morning; I sleep past noon." #DailyBitch
• Thursday 25 August: "Nice outfit, girl. Skank convention in town?" #DailyBitch
• Friday 26 August: "Some of my deepest insights are based on a lifetime of not giving a crap." #DailyBitch
• Saturday 27 August: "The more men change, the less their underwear stinks." #DailyBitch

See you on the other side!

Café Chick on Twitter

I have been an irregular tweeter for the past year and a half in the context of my job. I remember raising an eyebrow to Twitter in the early days and wondering when or how (and why) I would want to use it. I set up an account and released a few hesitant tweets. My network slowly grew as colleagues and other work associates also came on board, but mostly I sat back and lurked while the Twitter world exploded around me, participating occasionally.

I found some tweets really helpful when compiling work-related resources, looking for research and supporting links, or for keeping up with who was doing what in their professional lives. What quickly became tiresome, however, were the exhibitionist-type tweets from people who including tweets such as these:

"Putting on my pyjamas now, ready for a cup of tea and bed. Night!"
"Just been for a run. Hope it motivates me to work now."
"Sitting at the airport waiting for my flight to Nelson. It's late, grrr."
"Flight is delayed further. Damn *insert airline name here*"
"The kids are still awake way past bedtime. Any suggestions?"
"Morning all. Another gloomy day in Rotorua but heading home tonight.""Not sure what to have for breakfast. Toast or cereal?"
"Toast it is, then. Now, jam or peanut butter?" etc ...

Ahem. Yes, I realise that Twitter's strapline is What are you doing? but isn't this taking things a little bit too far? I guess it depends on your purpose for tweeting, and which kinds of networks you wish to develop. While I'm sure some people would find the tv programme they are currently watching to be fascinating, I don't really need a minute by minute update of what's going on. Then there are the repeated tweets back and forth between two people, ie a complete conversation but in full view of the rest of the Twitter community. I have a suggestion, people: instant messaging.

The thing about the Twitter monster is that the bigger it grows, the more it consumes you. Once you starting following 100+ active tweeters, or have them follow you, then the frequency of updates can easily run away on themselves. Logging in less frequently only results in hundreds of tweets banking up to be read later; in reality, I skip them by refreshing my Twitterrific to start each session with a blank slate. Ahhh.

The international media's recent interest in Twitter intrigues me. Seen as the 'latest' trend, I don't think people realise that micro-blogging has been around for a few years now. I also smile at the way some try to get to grips with the associated terminology: a Twitter page/site (technically: account), "Twitter about it" (tweet), etc. When Ashton Kutcher attempted to break the 1 million followers mark (and succeeded), it started a Twitter-war with CNN, Jessica Simpson and Britney Spears also jumping on the bandwagon. In New Zealand, there are newspapers and airlines trying to drum up followers, whereas an RSS feed will work just as well.

As a side note, I'm both chuffed and amused to see that a former student of mine is just starting out with Twitter. She follows all of the above-named celebrities, and me, LOL. :-)

And now here I am with a brainwave: in order to avoid being an exhibitionist in my professional life, I'm going to set up a second Twitter account (yes, another one!) for Café Chick. Yes, folks, two for the price of one. I'm not sure it's really necessary, but I've opened the account and started transferring some of my more frivolous links. (I'd imagine Zen Cupcake would be perfect to follow on this account, lol.) Feel free to join me for the ride.