Thursday, March 11, 2004

I got a cup of Starbucks coffee this morning, having been too tired last night to load my home coffee maker. Yeah, I was that tired.

When I got the cup up to my office, I noticed there was a small drip coming from under the lip of the coffee lid. I've had this problem every now and again, with maybe one cup out of twenty leaking on me. I've always just figured it was a defective lid and/or cup and dealt with it, carefully avoiding dripping any coffee on my clothes, desk, car or whatever.

Today, not wanting the hassle of having to watch out when I took a sip, I decided to see if there was a defect I could identify and possibly correct. I removed the lid and scrutinized it. No problems I could see. I looked at the cup itself. This also appeared solid.

As I went to return the lid to the top of the cup, I suddenly realized what the problem was. After doctoring up my coffee with cream and sugar, I had put the lid's access hole right next to the cup's seam. The little extra bit of cardboard there was just enough to throw the seal out of whack and create the drip.

Two seconds after I realized this, it hit me that I've been making this mistake at least 5 percent of the time for over a decade.

There's nothing quite like being humbled by one's own consistent, long-term lack of thought to start your day. Makes me wonder if I'm qualified to tie my own shoes.

Posted @ 12:31 PM

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