We have a Starbuck's

We have a Starbuck's now.  I'm not sure if that's a good thing, or a bad thing. 

I actually enjoy the alternatives out there.  Independently-owned coffee cafes have thee most charm and good options without me having to learn a fake language just to order.  (If I let little things get to me, it'd really annoy me that Starbuck's tall isn't, well, tall, and grande doesn't really mean grand which in my mind, both equate to "large."  What the heck vente is, I do NOT care to know, yanno?  Speak any language, or make sense, please don't butcher known languages.)  Okay, vent over.  Maybe that's what a vente is for hehe.  I order in small, medium, and large.  Seriously.  Thing is, I DO order, and I DO enjoy, even if it's usually not coffee but another drink (being that I don't like coffee), a bit to eat, peruse the music and gift selections, and well, M will love this......  [Update: it's "venti."  Who'd have known.]

By "we have a Starbuck's now," I mean, M and I now have a Starbuck's coffee cafe within a block from our home.  Not that we required one; there are now 13 total Starbuck's within 5 miles from my home, per their own website, with another two scheduled to open soon, 15 total within 5 miles.  Two of these are in DIRECT route from my home to my office 3 miles away, along with, direct route, a Dunkin Donuts, a Panera Bread, and a great independently-owned coffee shop I'd name but then I'd be pinpointing my location.  There are two Border's book stores with, of course, cafes, on opposite ends of my city, not too far from the two Target's with Starbuck's inside (one with two other Starbuck's in the shopping area? not within 5 miles of me, though), and perhaps some year, we'll get a Caribou Coffee, or Seattle's Best.  There's a Starbuck's on thee other side of where M's school is. 

But THIS one, will be "ours."  It's a block from us, within dog-walking distance.  Easily enroute TO M's school.  I saw the sign on the street and drove around "our" shopping center twice on separate days and couldn't find it.  Most likely, I could have simply followed the high schoolers after their dismissal from classes, but I think that'd be a bit weird. 

Today at lunch, I got my $4.08 splurge of a sandwich (I rarely eat out) at a sandwich shop.  I hadn't gotten myself anything to drink, figuring I had drinks at home so I shouldn't spend the money for one.  Then I spied it, there on the corner, taking up space that had been owned by another store still there butapparently smaller now.  I'll just drive by, I could "welcome" it to the neighborhood, get myselfa drink, splurge a bit more on this gorgeously beautiful day.  I was tempted.  Nah, let me wait until M's home, see if we get the new Matchbox Twenty cd tonight or not, maybe I'll let her get something from Starbuck's in the morning.  After walking Daisy, I still yearned for some rich tasting, caffeinated drink.  I made myself a cold chait tea latte, knowing I prefer this taste over theirs.

I've been pondering an entry about the "town" of Clarksburg, how it's grown so since I lived there (1978-80?? give or take on both ends of that), and how laughable a recent ad is for Clarksburg with two boys walking in those "farmer" jean jumpers that I'm not even sure the farmers then were wearing, never mind those too-high to be legal, town-home kids are likely to be wearing.....  how it's so built up here, how I'd be happy to still see deer SAFELY darting across the roads (not streets) with their small families.  I do mean Frederick Road (355), not even Stringtown Road where I lived that was a ROAD then, and farmland for miles just across the street.  And now we get yet another chain coffee shop this close to me (not in Clarksburg, but, to me it's analogous as thee entire upcounty has grown tremendously in these decades).   I once read an article saying that my current city had finally "arrived," as it now offered botox.  HA, I gagged on that one, preferring the pre-botox days, frankly.

And, yet, this new Starbuck's of ours?  It's not only in dog-walking distance, it's only a stone's throw from one of my banks.  This may be dangerous. 

Tags: Starbuck's, coffee cafes, Clarksburg