As some of you may not know, while I was unemployed, I was cutting back on the coffee; not for financial purposes, but rather out of convenience. (I didn’t have a “need”/want to drink it.)

As I started this new gig, I saw my Coffee intake increase again, as, once again, Coffee convenient to drink.

It got me to thinking about my coffee drinking history.

I first started drinking coffee at a relatively young age. I remember tasting it when I was a child, and disliking it.
Then I grew into coffee on Sunday Mornings, cause it was what the adults were doing before church.
Then I started drinking it at home when Mom and Dad made Coffee to start their day.
When I started working, I drank it when it was offered, cheap, as in free.
By the time I was working in the Grocery Store, I was drinking it and contributing to the Coffee Fund on a daily basis.
When I started taking night classes at college, I was drinking large quantities of it on a nightly basis (I’m remembering it was on the order of 64 oz, of it after dinner time.)

It was funny, cause it actually started to make me twitch. But it was odd, that I wouldn’t twitch constantly, but rather it was ONE twitch, that almost happened like clockwork. I’d be sitting in the lecture, and around 8:00 I’d have an involuntary twitch in my neck. Just one, that was it.

During this time, I’d go through phases. I’d go months at a time drinking large amounts of coffee, then stop for weeks at a time; drinking none. With no side-effects. No headaches, no withdrawal, I’d just stop; almost like I’d forget to drink coffee.

Then I moved to Arizona, and Coffee became inconvenient again. I’d make it at home, but I was always in a hurry to leave the house. And Starbucks was not as huge around campus, so there were few places to just pick up a cup of coffee.
Then I started working at the Not-So-Small-Software-Organization, I was suddenly immersed into an environment of cheap, as in free, coffee.

It was here, when I learned, eventually, that I might have a problem. I had a mug which I filled four times in my eight hour day. Which was probably upwards of 80 oz. of coffee. Eventually I did cut back.

So I was drinking coffee daily, except for maybe on Saturdays, because there was little access to coffee on those days. Sundays, I’d stop by a Circle K for a 20 oz. of their coffee before church.
When the office got their own in-house barista, I was on a diet of 40 oz a day (one purchased, one free refill, thanks to me supplying my own notorious “W” Mug.) and maybe a latte to lighten things up going into Lunch.
When I was Laid Off, I found coffee inconvenient again, and my consumption changed to the point where I was drinking coffee once a week on Sundays, with an occasional treat during the week if it was convenient.

Now, I’m back in an office with Free (but limited) coffee. And I’ve un-retired my original mug from the Not-So-Small-Software-Organization (Not the “W” Mug, the “foam crap” one I was given as a new-hire where the name of the Not-So-Small-Software-Organization completely washed off.)
I’ve limited myself to two fills of the mug, before lunchtime. (Start of Day and First Break) And I’m rarely finishing either (I’m usually warming up come first break, and pouring the remainder down the sink at the end of the day when I leave.)
Part of it might be that the coffee is not that good, but its drinkable. If it tasted better, I’d probably be drinking more of it between calls, and not just enough to wet my whistle.

I just thought the landscape of the hills and craters of my coffee consumption was interesting. What I find fascinating is that the difference between the two is seamless, withdrawal-wise.