The Low Talker. Man Hands. Vegetable Lasagna. Denim Vest. If you’re a Seinfeld fan, you know what I’m talking about. Nicknaming a person based on a strange attribute or idiosyncrasy can often be quite humorous. I’ll even admit that I have a few nicknames for select people. I don’t really attach monikers to people I know, but there are a few people at school/work/etc. that I encounter often enough to warrant more than just, “the guy 3 doors down from my office.”
Anyway, I often wonder what monikers people might have for me, and I think I might have stumbled upon one: Mr. Skunk Coffee. See, I leave a French Press at work, and everyday I bring in fresh beans to make my morning coffee. Well my office is pretty much the Folgers pouch brewed in a percolator type, so strong earthy coffee is definitely not par for the course. (If you’re a Folgers fan, I have nothing against you, I just like my coffee with an obscene amount of grit. ;) Mmmmm.)
Lately it seems that someone will walk into the lab, start sniffing, and declare, “do you smell a skunk?”, or “who sprayed pesticides in here?”. Inevitably they’ll end up in my cubicle to point a finger at my delicious coffee. I’m not really sure where skunks or pesticides come into the equation, it’s just strong coffee, but I do wonder if it’s strong enough to become a moniker. Any thoughts? Do you think pressed coffee smells like skunks?
I might just take some air freshener in with me, since I think I’d rather be the guy whose cubicle smells like flowers, instead of the guy whose cubicle smells like skunks.
In the land of things that don’t smell, I finished a lovely hat this weekend, and I’m quite smitten with it.
I used a skein of a luscious llama and soysilk blend that I picked up at the Taos Wool Festival, in a nice tweedy brown. I wasn’t ever able to decide what to do with it, until I flipped through The Knitting (Man)ual and saw the Cabled Hat and Scarf pattern. The combination of a big fat cable with seed and moss stitch was too much to resist. I only had 130 yards of the llama, so I used some leftover Plymouth Suri Merino for the brim and the top of the crown.
Just in time for the cold snap we’ve been having here, brrr! It was below 20 almost everyday last week! This is the desert, not the arctic, sheesh. ;) You can view the project on Ravelry if you’re a member, for more details. I also managed to finish the Herringbone Mittens, but I haven’t taken them off of my hands to get pictures yet! They’re so warm and cozy, and were the perfect start to my stranded mitten obsession.
I’ll leave you with a small taste of the next planned project. That is if I ever take the yarn out of it’s resting place in the swift! It just looks so nice there, don’t you think?
I looove the hat (I want one, even if I am a woman).
About the coffee, I recon that the other workers are just plain coffee ignorants, who could claim that freshly ground and brewed coffee smells bad? It’s beyond my imagination, as nothing in the world smells better (and absolutely not skunky!)
I don’t know about skunk, since I’ve never smellt one before. But I do LOVE the smell of strong coffee. Plunger or not.
Great job on the hat, too!
Nice hat Adam! Looks very warm and comfy! I love the smell of coffee, as long as it isn’t burnt ;)
Love the hat!
As for skunk coffee, now you’ve got me all worried that I offend the people I share an office with at work with my strong (possibly skunky) coffee! Perhaps I should ask so I am not known as Skunky Coffee Gal.
My hubby loves pressed coffee, and I think it smells quite yummy. Perhaps they are jealous of your new hat and want to retaliate!
I would much rather smell skunky coffee than an air freshener. Stand proud with The French Press!
Also, love the hat!
The hat looks great! I love seed stitch and cables, too.
I don’t think pressed coffee smells anything short of delicious! It’s my absolute favorite method of brewing. I’m with you, too, on good coffee, no Foldger’s crap for me!
love love love my coffee press. and i think it smells delicious….are they crazy people??? skunks???
and your hat is pretty awesome………
I am with you on the coffee. I cannot drink bland folgers or other watered down, mundane office-coffee brands. I usually bring my own coffee maker of some kind and brew some heinously strong stuff (well heinous to the folgers followers). I did love my old job in engineering consulting where there were at least 4 coffee pots: one with Seattle’s Best (my favorite), one with folgers, one with decaf folgers, and one with hot water. Unfortunately, I worked my way up to 80 hour work weeks and 5 cups a day in that environment!
nice hat! i love the blue brim, it’s a simple but strong element.
Yummmmmm fresh coffee. I don’t think skunk anything like fresh pressed coffee. Skunk smell is pretty nasty!!! Are these the same type of people who never visit a coffee shops? To each their own!
The hat looks great! Can’t wait to see the new project.
I agree with everyone else. Stand proud with the French press! I really despise the smell of air fresheners (even the best, most natural ones). Even if I didn’t like the smell of my coworker’s food, I would prefer smelling that to smelling fake flowers.
Of course, I might actually like the smell of coffee more than the taste (coming from a barista, this is quite a statement), so I imagine your coworkers are just jealous and/or ignorant. Coffee education is sweeping the nation, but even Starbucks can’t convert everyone to the Dark Side (away from the Pale Side, or maybe the Tea-Looking-Coffee Side?)… I think I’m getting carried away.
Gorgeous hat. Love the cable.
As to coffee…let’s see. I don’t think there is anything in the world that can smell like skunk except…skunks. I went hiking at Christmas and smelled one on the trail (WAY worse than smelling them from the highway!). That has absolutely nothing in common with fabulous french press coffee. These folks need some education! Of course, my favorite coffee is from a local shop which most people call “way too dark/bitter.” So what do I know?
There was a day when I did not care for the smell of strong coffee. Now that I am officially a coffee addict I don’t see how the smell of coffee could be confused with the foul odor of a skunk???? I can think of many other monikers that would fit you far better than skunk boy. For example…The numbers guy, The fastest knitter in the west, Captain spandex, or how about the guy who drives too close to other cars! Remember when the kids in 3rd grade called you Adam Bomb?
Hope you have a great day!
ps…You could keep the lovely yarn on the swift, and finish my shawl!!!
MOM
Having a rather closer experience with the smell of skunk than I’d like (we had a mating pair under the house one spring - not good) and being a fan of nice coffee (although not french-pressed in my case) my response would undoubtedly have been “Huh, didn’t smell like skunk before you got here.” so no doubt I’d have a moniker related to female canines. I wouldn’t go the floral air freshener route myself. It’ll mess up the enjoyment of your coffee.
p.s. I !loved! the “nerd paper” on the receipt with my order by the way. Much better than plain white. Pity it would be so expensive to use on a regular basis. Otherwise I’d heartily encourage you to format your receipts to fit it and use it. It seemed absolutely perfect to me.
I really like your hat, Adam. I’ve been in search for some ‘manly’ hats and will add this one to my list. My husband is pretty finicky about what knits he will wear!
no, not at all. i have NO IDEA what they are talking about. in fact, there are 3 of us in my office who use a french press…and everyone is envious of us, having to drink that office coffee. don’t get me wrong, we have both peet’s and starbucks brewing in the office kitchen, but for some reason they are STILL NASTY…
Do not use air freshener. Regardless of what people say. Your hat is great!
Put down the air freshener and back away slowly! That stuff does not eliminate or cover smells, it just adds to them. I used to have a roommate who kept using it in the bathroom instead of simply lighting a match.
No french press coffee does not smell like skunk! Your coworkers simply have uneducated olfactory senses. People patronize Starbucks or Peets and think they’ve found the end all and be all of coffee, and that there’s nothing else. And if they are drinking Folgers, they are probably jealous.
Love the hat, but if that truly is seedstitch no amount of handsome cables or yummy yarn would keep me from losing my mind. I think I’m allergic to seedstitch.
Oooh.. I really like the hat!
I love noun-based nicknames! I currently work with someone I (not affectionately) refer to as ‘Fake British Accent’…
French Press coffee most certainly does NOT smell of skunk! You co-worker is merely an ass. Ignore them and carry on with the press. No flower interference needed. They’re just jealous.
I <3 my french press.
While I love the hat and your choice of yarn/colours, I’m especially smitten with the lovely little table it’s standing on … antique??
I also like strong and dark coffee… often in the press, mostly I like it through a single serve melita… hotter and I can drink the last sip. I have on occasion noted that there is a SLIGHTLY skunky aroma to the coffee… Not sure what that’s about because it is not a usual occurrence and I drink the same coffee. Maybe it is some combination of hormones and olfaction? Is it men or woman making those comments? Because if it is only the women, well, you may have an argument to present them, or an experiment. Or you can just smugly tell them ‘none for you’ Great hat!
Oh, and that book, that book! I’ve only seen bits of it on blogs, haven’t seen it in my hands yet… Is it good? (I’ve recently come into an obscene number of really good books, so I can’t justify getting it yet)
i had a coworker once that i refered to (in secret) as “man jaw”.
i love the hat. it looks very handsome on you :). yay for giant heads!
Hito that hat is amazing! Your a crazy master of the ninja art of knitting. So I am trying really hard to like seinfeld and it is pretty funny!
folgers sucks. i’ll drink canned coffee. but folgers is absolutely horrible. it doesn’t even smell like coffee. blech.
and coffee never smells like skunk. i don’t care how earthy your coffee is.
by the way, who was “vegetable lasagna?” i don’t remember.
that’s a great hat!
The hat is nice; but, let’s talk about the coffee. Living near a wooded area where lots of deer and skunks live and being a coffee drinker, I have to say, there is no way to mix up the fragrance with the odor. That’s just ridiculous.
Now that’s a great hat Mr. Skunk Coffee!
Skunk coffee my butt! Anytime they’re giving you a hard time in the lab about stinky coffee, just bring it upstairs to my office where we drink Gevalia and Starbucks and we’re not snobby at all!
Beth
ESS Advising
Dude. I’ll take skunky coffee over skunky weed any day. Just saying.
The hat looks great on you, and your knitting looks superb.
the smell of coffee used to make me sick… but now, mmm.
how does one confuse the smell of pesticides with coffee??
Hey Adam! I’ve left you a little award at my blog!
I only drink coffee from a french press - and I even knitted a cabled “french press warmer” thing to wrap around it. I don’t bring fresh coffee to the office with me tho. Maybe I should think about that! And, no it does NOT smell skunky. Being solidly midwestern, I am familiar with the skunks.
Also, I have Man Hands. I blame my father, to be honest. I can’t wear womens gloves unless they’re a stretchy XL at best. I was not entirely amused at that one Seinfeld episode, but also being a computer geek - sometimes Dilbert is not funny either! Still, when I say I have man hands, everyone knows what I’m talking about….
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I love the hat! Now forgive my ignorance but what is pressed coffee! All I know is, if there are coffee beans involved, it is French and it is strong coffee it can only be divine and smell like the scent of the Gods. I love strong coffee, I just have an Italian coffee pot to make mine in. I have never smelt a skunk but I bet it smells nothing like coffee!
I’m totally with you on coffee not smelling anything like skunk. Don’t hate them, they drink coffee that tastes like cigarette ash. I’m working with people who don’t appreciate coffee too. But they love Diet Cherry Choc. Dr. Pepper. WTF.