Owie!

[swestrup]

So, for the first time while I've been here, due to incompetence of the staff, I didn't have any coffee available when I woke up. The stash of coffee I wrote about a while back is now completely gone because the maids have been generally forgetting to give me coffee more often than they've remembered and for some reason, for the last week the maid has completely failed to supply coffee at all.

Two days ago when I got home and there was no coffee, I called up housekeeping and complained and a guy came around with two packets. That did me for the next two mornings, but last evening when I again had no coffee to set up the coffee maker with, I called and complained again, twice.  This time no one came.

So, this morning I wake up to no coffee and another first for this place -- a migraine. Now my normal treatment for migraine is a couple of AC&C, which I promptly took, and lots of caffeine. With no coffee, this was a problem.

So, I got dressed as best I could with a pounding head and walked a block in the California sun, along a street full of noisy traffic, to a crowded Starbucks where I had to wait in line. Finally though, I got a venti americano with 5 shots of espresso in it, and walked back drinking the coffee (it was quieter by the traffic than in the Starbucks).

I've just now finished the espresso and although I can't claim to feel good at this point, I at least don't feel like I'm about to die. On the way back to my room I passed the lobby and once more asked for coffee, and now I'm sitting in my quiet and darkened hotel room waiting for someone to deliver it.

So, I seem to have survived my first California migraine, but I think I need a better emergency coffee plan. I'm not sure what though. I don't want to buy an expensive espresso machine for the occasional emergency need, but the cheap ones that I know about probably take more manual dexterity than I have when dealing with a migraine.

And now I can't take my morning shower until someone shows up with coffee ... if they ever do.

Comments

[sillermoon.livejournal.com]

Can you buy one of those 4-pot coffee makers (~$20 US) and some regular coffee? Or do you usually need an entire pot? I'm assuming the hotel coffee maker only takes the precisely-measured packets?

Espresso makers are usually much more expensive. I forget, do you have a stovetop in the room? You could get one of those turkish coffee pots and some ground espresso.

[swestrup]

The coffeemaker in the room can take regular coffee if I had some, and had some of the right kind of filters. I haven't gotten any of my own because, up till now, they've been good at making sure I had coffee. I have no idea why they suddenly failed so spectacularly.

Besides, espresso is better. When I have a migraine I need lots of caffeine and that usually takes at least a full pot of drip, which is slow to get into me, but is better than nothing.

I do have a stovetop and was thinking about one of those Italian stove-top espresso machines. But I find them fiddly and I'm usually not too clear headed when a migraine is hitting me. I'm not sure, but a Turkish rig might be the same.

I'd also have the problem of figuring out where to buy either of the above around here. Not many gourmet equipment stores hereabout, and that's the only place I've ever seen those.

[wintersweet.livejournal.com]

I'm sure Sur la Table or Bed Bath and Beyond would have something...I have to go to Kinokuniya sometime today or tomorrow (more likely tomorrow, but I haven't heard back from today's client yet) so we could pick you up and take you to whichever likely place is on the way, and you could poke around the Japanese bookstore and grocery store with us.

[swestrup]

I'm supposed to be going out for brunch and other, as yet unspecified, activities with sps today, but my tomorrow is free.

So, if you end up going tomorrow, I'd love to join you! It would be nice to finally meet.

I'm not sure if I have your email address or not. If you drop me a line at sti *AT* pooq _dot_ com, I'll reply with my cell phone number, so we can coordinate things.

[kishiriadgr.livejournal.com]

Go to Ralph's and get a jar of instant espresso. I keep either Medaglia d'Oro or Cafe Bustelo on hand. Since the effect is meant to be medicinal and not aesthetic, it should fulfill the need.

[swestrup]

Ralph's??? Never heard of them, and a Google Map check shows the nearest store to be over 30 miles away, in Alameda.

[kishiriadgr.livejournal.com]

It can be any big grocery. However, IIRC, Ralph's is called Raylie's or something up there, and Vons is Safeways. Either way, they'll carry it.

[ai731.livejournal.com]

These: http://www.rei.com/product/401040

aren't too fiddly (put the water in the bottom, the coffee in the basket, and screw the top on), make (imho) very good espresso, and work well on the stovetop. You could order it to be delivered at the office or the hotel, I should think. You'll need some sore of mug/cup that fits under the nozzle.

[swestrup]

Thanks. I'd never seen that model before. I'll keep an eye out for something like that.