Adios, office coffee pot

So, my friends, another page is turning in the book of Meister; today is my last day at Time Out NY, a place at which I have truly enjoyed working, alongside colleagues I've been honored to know and copyedit (both for and with). But I am off to more caffeinated pastures as a member of the New York team for…

…wait for it…

…Counter Culture Coffee!

I'm very excited to be heading down to Durham for three weeks of coffee college, and even though I've really enjoyed my editorial work (and will likely continue doing it here and there), every single person I've told about the choice has said some variation of "You are going where your heart is."

In the meantime, it's my last time in an office for a while, which is a little sad. My cube has been mostly disassembled; my sparkly plaster-armadillo bookend is back at home (much to Brett's chagrin); and my drawers are once again merely a receptacle for my officemates' menus, mustard packets and spare napkins—just like when I first started. Bittersweet. I hope the next person to sit here finds all the little treats that have been left in this copy of the dictionary by G-d knows who (e.g., the interrobang that highlights Merriam-Webster's inclusion of breast drill and the heart drawn next to the illustration of penguin).

In a last-ditch effort to make up for leaving a job I actually really liked, my final gift to my coworkers was to clean the living heck out of the coffee pot in the lunchroom—as best I could, anyway. Armed with a fierce dose of JoeGlo and the hottest water the place could manage, I soaked and scrubbed and flushed the pots and lines, and then I soaked and scrubbed and flushed 'em again. Who knows when the last time this situation was cleaned (if ever)? The old-coffee flakes that came out of that thing were amazing.



Now it's so spotless even I will drink what it brews—even if it is premeasured, preground doses of Dunkin' Donuts coffee.

As it happens, TONY's last gift to me was to allow me to interview Liza Minnelli, whose show I am also attending tonight. Talk about going out with a bang! Far out, my friends.

See you on the caffeinated flip side!