Friday Mailbag - 1/15/21
On coffee and cool dads
Hello. Welcome back to the Mailbag. Some of you took note of my absence last week. I’m doing fine. It’s just that every so often I tell myself, “You know what, Pat, you don’t have to put out a dang Mailbag this week!” Very normal situation going on inside my brain!
20 in 20 EPISODE THIRTEEN is LIVE!
I had an enjoyable time talking chopsticks, Hari Kunzru, Brooks & Dunn, and more. Find the newest episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Buzzsprout.
Moving right along, I’ve been working on a lengthy fiction project, which explains my relative silence here at New Experimental Hours. Yesterday, I did manage to put out a story I’ve been wanting to do since I started this newsletter. Jonathan Richman is a huge inspiration to me, and I loved spending time in his world this week. Please consider reading this piece right here.
AND NOW TO THE MAILBAG…
Loyal N.E.H. reader, Jonathan, asks:
“Favorite way to make coffee at home? Drip, French press, pour over, etc..”
Great question. I’m a French press guy. I’ve been using one for many years, and I see no point in stopping now. Kathy and I require lots of coffee every morning, so I bought the biggest French press I could find. And some mornings we make two!
Friends of mine swear by the pour over method. And others will never give up their coffee makers. Me, I like a French press! I should add that I’ve stopped grinding my own beans. I don’t wanna do it anymore! Ffeine sends me two pounds of coffee every other week, and they grind my beans especially for a French press. I use a standard electric kettle, not a gooseneck kettle or whatever.
We have an AeroPress, too. Kathy uses it on occasion. I’ve never learned how. I never want just one cup of coffee; I always want 56 ounces of coffee.
Loyal N.E.H. reader, Leah, asks:
“What is the secret to being a cool dad?”
Ah, the age-old question. So before you can become a cool dad, you’ve got to become a dad, period. Several ways to do this. Some men have intercourse with women, others adopt children, and then there’s surrogacy. I can’t stress this enough: you’ll never be a cool dad if you’re not a dad.
Suppose you are a dad. Ok, that’s great, but now comes the next part: being cool. What does it even mean to be cool? I have ideas, but seeking a more scientific approach, I Googled “which dads are cool” and clicked the first result. According to lifehack (dot) com, there are 20 things that make dads cool. For example, skimping on hygeine when vacationing. Fine by me. They also say it’s cool when a dad treats his spouse with respect. Okay, yes! Totally agree with that. Number 10: “He’s the first person you shared a beer with.” Hmm, my kids are 5 and 3. It would be very uncool to share a beer with them! Starting to think lifehack (dot) com doesn’t have all the answers.
So I turned to a website called Fatherly. They seem to know all about being a cool dad at Fatherly. They even have categories of cool dads.
I guess if you want to be a cool dad, you should follow the lead of either Barack Obama, Marshmello, Tom Ford, or Buster from Arrested Development. Hope that helps.
Got a question? Feel free to comment on this post or e-mail me at newexperimentalhours@gmail.com. Thanks!
Have a splendid week, dear readers. Next week, we’ll have a new president.