Smooth Via

Daddy Date Night

For those of you who don't know, I am the proud daddy of three beautiful girls! God has blessed us so much. I grew up in a home where my parents had four boys and one girl. Needless to say, we were a pretty rough bunch, and I've never had much sensitivity training. In fact, I'm convinced one of the reasons that God has given me three girls is to teach me some sensitivity. My wife often as to say to me, "Baby, you can't speak to her like that. She's a sensitive little girl. You hurt her feelings." Well, I'm learning. Maybe one day I'll have this thing down.

Even though I may not be great at sensitivity. I think I do pretty well at treating them like princesses. I want the way I treat them to be an example of how they should be treated as they one day seek out boyfriends and husbands. I want to treat them in such a way that sets the bar so high, that they will never want settle for anything less than that. 

Along those lines, this month marks the beginning of a new monthly tradition: "Daddy date night." On the second Monday night of every month, I will take one of my grils out a date. I don't share much personal family stuff on this site, but I thought this was important to share. So, below you will find pictures from our first ever official "Daddy date night."

 

I let Cana choose whatever she wanted for dinner. She was adamant that she wanted a cheeseburger. So I took her to the best burger joint around: Five Guys

 
After dinner Cana specifically asked if she could have "candy AND ice cream" on her "special date." Of course I couldn't resist. We started with the candy.

Once her candy was carefully selected, I took her to Caribou where I enjoyed a coffee while she enjoyed her candy.  

Cana wanted to take a picture of me too.

True to my word, after she finished her candy we went to get ice cream.

We finished up the evening at a book store where we read books together and played with a train set. 

We had a great time. I think I may have enjoyed it even more than Cana. This is definitely a good thing we've started. I know I'm going to look forward to it every month!

From the Mind of Matt & Wes - A Week Without Coffee

The new feature at our monthly Uprising event is a huge hit, and it's back by popular demand. This month the boys tackle very serious issue of coffee addiction. I have no idea who the modeled the main character after. I'm sure it's completely fictional and any similarities to a real life person are purely coincidental.

Why I'm a Die-Hard Fan of Caribou Coffee

Well, if you follow me on Twitter, by now you know that I'm pretty much a coffee addict. But I'm not just addicted to any coffee. I like good coffee, and good coffee can be hard to come by. Now there are some pretty good shops in the Triangle that have good coffee, but few of them have consistently good coffee. For instance, Starbucks has a few roasts that are good. "Pike's Place" (pretty much the only coffee they offer after noon), which I affectionately call "Puke Place," is not a good coffee.

But the one coffee shop that is pretty consistent is Caribou Coffee. That being said, lately I've been frustrated, because the only Caribou location that is convenient to where I live and work has only been offering one regular coffee, and it's usually a lite roast. Now, I'm not necessarily a lite roast "hater," but there are only a few lite roasts that I really enjoy. When I inquired from a barista as to why they only offered one regular coffee, I was told it had to do with the economy and it was too expensive to brew two different types of regular coffee. So basically, they have been more concerned with saving a few extra bucks than attracting the picky coffee aficionados like myself. That sounds more like Starbucks than the Caribou that I know and love. So when I go in the morning (as I did this morning) and they are only offering their "Columbia" roast (which I don't care for), that's irritating. So I pay the extra cash to have French press of a roast that I do like.

Well, this morning I was reminded of why I'm such a die hard fan. After paying the extra cash for a French pressed Mahogany, I sat down, went on-line to their website, and filled out a survey. I was very kind in the survey, but expressed my irritation at the daily roast selection. No more than 2 hours later, I received the following email from the district manager:

Hi,

I am the District Manager with Caribou Coffee and first off want to say Thank you for taking time to write us with your feedback regarding Triangle Town Center. At Caribou we strive to offer products of the highest quality while delivering superior customer service. I apologize that was not the case during a recent visit to one of our locations.  I have spoken with the team at the location in an effort to not have this happen again.  The staff will be developing a way to offer a better variety of our blends and a plan to be able to offer a french press at the coffee of the day price in the event we are not brewing a particular roast.

As a token of my appreciation for your feedback and to express my regret for your recent experience, I would ask you to respond back to me with a mailing address that I can send a gift card for your next visit to any of our locations.  Thanks again for your feedback and for allowing Caribou to be a part of your coffee experience.

Thanks and have a great day!

Sincerely,
 Richard Freeman
 District Manager - Raleigh, NC

That is what I call customer service. Thanks Richard. Thanks for reminding me of why I'm a die-hard fan. And thank you Caribou for caring about coffee, maybe as much as I do.