http://uebbeibei.spoonylife.com SpoonyLife fr-FR http://uebbeibei.spoonylife.com/david-beckham-bags-teen-choice-award-25111.html David Beckham bags Teen Choice Award bags David Beckham has been crowned Choice Male Athlete at the USA'sprestigious Teen Choice Awards. Beckham - who plays for Californian team LA Galaxy - was presentedwith the honour at the 2008 Teen Choice Awards which took place inLos Angeles on Sunday. The awards, which honours the year's biggest acheivements in music,movies, sports and television, is voted for by thousands ofteenagers across America, and each winner is honoured with an awardin the shape of a surfboard. Hosted by teen sensation Miley Cyrus, the American Awards bash alsogave accolades to US TV show Gossip Girl, actors Steve Carrell, Hayden Panettiere and Chace Crawford. Beckham beat off stiff competition from sport stars including NewYork Giants football star Eli Manning to land the coveted award. - NZ HERALD STAFF Wed, 06 Aug 2008 07:44:00 GMT http://uebbeibei.spoonylife.com/sand-bags-available-in-sabine-pass-25110.html Sand bags available in Sabine Pass Sand bags available in Sabine Pass By Christine Rappleye Sand and bags are available in Sabine Pass at the old firestationat Texas 87 at Broad-way, according to emergency managementofficials. Officials are waiting until later this afternoon to determine ifSabine Pass residents need to evacuate, said John Owens, the PortArthur "s emergency management coordinator. The morning high tide is at 6:45 a.m., is an importune time asTropical Storm Edouardo is slated to come around in the morning,Owens said. For now, residents need to stock up on non-perishable food, fill uptheir gas tanks and continuing watching for updates. Also, residents need to secure any loose items around their yard,including yard furni-ture, so that it won "t be a projectilelater. SPeople shouldn "t be too complacent, Mayor Deloris SBobbie Prince said. SWe didn "t expect Humberto to do whatit did (last year). Edouardo is about 265 miles south-southeast of Galveston andexpected to turn north, making landfall just south of Galveston,raising concerns for flooding along coastal areas, including Texas87 to Sabine Pass. An evacuation order has been issued for CameronParish, La. Wed, 06 Aug 2008 07:43:00 GMT http://uebbeibei.spoonylife.com/-talk-tax-bags-gh-4-million-25109.html 'Talk tax' bags GH 4 million bags The Communications Services Tax (CST) which was introduced amidstmuch debate over its appropriateness and burden on the taxpayer hasrecorded more than GH? million in its first month of collection. The Large Taxpayer Unit of the Revenue Agencies Governing Board(RAGB), which collects taxes from big companies in the country,collected the bulk of the revenue, totalling GH?.99 million. The Executive Secretary of the board, Mr Harry Owusu, said theincoming figures were ample signals that the system would performbeyond expectation. Offices of the Value Added Tax (VAT) Service at Osu, Adabraka,Kaneshie, the Spintex Road and Tema also collected marginal amountsthat brought the total figure to GH 025 million at the end oflast month. The government announced the service tax on the use of airtime oncellular phones and other telecommunication services in the 2008Budget which was presented to Parliament last November. The tax affects mobile telephony, the Internet, fax and otherinformation and communications technologies in the country and wasintroduced to replace import duties on mobile phones as a measureto check the evasion of duty by importers of mobile phones and,other communications gadgets. According to the government, proceeds from the tax, popularlycalled Talk Tax, would be used to support the National YouthEmployment Programme (NYEP). On the larger revenue front, domestic revenue collection was ontarget, recording a provisional GH 692 billion mid-year, asagainst a target of GH 668 billion, despite the debilitatingimpact of rising crude oil prices on the economy, Mr Owusudisclosed. The performance represents 1.4 per cent in excess of actualcollection over the target for the half year and amounts to a 22.3per cent growth in nominal terms over collections during the sameperiod last year and 17.5 per cent if inflation is taken intoconsideration (real terms). Mr Owusu said the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS),which is responsible for import duties and other taxes related to the importation of goods and services, exceeded its target of GH?86.28 million by collecting GH?889.10 million for the half year ending June. He said the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), which collects pay-as-you earn (PAYE) taxes, corporate taxes and other taxes related to income earnings, also exceeded its target by 5.7 percent, having collected GH 549.28 million as against a mid-year target of GH 519.67 million. Mr Owusu said the VAT Service, which receives taxes on consumptionon behalf of the country, also collected GH 253.75 million as against a half year target of GH 62.51 million. "In these times of world economic recession one would have expected revenue collections to be worse but the figures show otherwise," he said explaining that there had been a significant drop in duties onpetroleum products as a result of the mitigating measures announcedby the government in the second half of the year. Mr Owusu stated that contributing to the good performance was theimproved efficiency of the various revenue collecting agencies,saying. "The agencies have become proactive and vigilant in theirareas of work." The Executive Secretary of the RAGB said the Revenue ProtectionUnit established within the RAGB had complemented the preventiveefforts of CEPS in intercepting uncustomed goods and cars thatentered the country. "The spate of smuggling has reduced and car custom documentation isalso going up," he said. Mr Owusu hinted that the RAGB had almost concluded negotiations onthe introduction of point-of-sale devices in VAT-registered shopsand traders for online VAT record taking to replace the electroniccash registers currently in use. He said the devices would be piloted in some parts of Accra withintrading outlets which were currently not using any cash registers,adding that once it became fully operational, the new system wouldcompletely phase out every electronic cash register. The RAGB boss said the computerisation programme for the InternalRevenue Service was on course with the acquisition of somehardware, while efforts to" procure the software was almostcompleted. However the implementation would only affect selected districts inAccra for a start. Source: Daily Graphic Wed, 06 Aug 2008 07:42:00 GMT http://uebbeibei.spoonylife.com/bhel-bags-first-order-to-supply-800-mw-boilers-25108.html BHEL bags first order to supply 800 MW boilers bags NEW DELHI: In a critical breakthrough, country's largest powerequipment maker Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd has won first evercontract worth Rs 2,500 crore for supplying 800 MW supercriticalboilers. The company has received the Rs 2,500 crore contract from AndhraPradesh Power Development Co for supply of 800 MW supercriticalboilers, BHEL said in a statement here. It would set up 1,600 MW (2x800) steam generator at KrishnapatnamPower Project of Andhra Pradesh Power Development Company Ltd(APPDCL). The contract includes manufacture, supply, erection, testing andcommissioning of the steam generators and other auxiliaries likeElectrostatic Precipitators (ESPs). The supercritical boilers would be manufactured by BHEL at itsTiruchirapalli unit, coal mills and ESPs would be supplied by thecompany's Hyderabad and Ranipet plants respectively. The company has recently formed a joint venture with Tamil NaduState Electricity Board (TNEB) for setting up 2x800 MWSupercritical Thermal Power Project in the state. The project would be the first supercritical project in the state. The company has also won a Rs 200 crore order for a hydro-electricpower project in Vietnam. The contract which marks company's maidenentry into that country was awarded by state-owned Nam ChienHydropower. Major equipment to be supplied for the project comprises hydroturbines, generators, transformers, controls, monitoring andprotection system and switchgear. As per the contract, the company would design, engineer,manufacture, supply and supervise installation as well ascommissioning of electro-mechanical equipment. Wed, 06 Aug 2008 07:41:00 GMT http://uebbeibei.spoonylife.com/cong-bags-council-chairman-post-in-karnataka-25107.html Cong bags council chairman post in Karnataka bags Bangalore, Aug 5 (PTI) Veeranna Mathi Katti of Congress was todayunanimously elected Chairman of the Karnataka Legislative Council. The election of Matti Katti was facilitated after the ruling BJPnominee Susheel Namoshi declared in the House that he waswithdrawing his nomination. Thirteen-member JD(S) had also supported the 29-member Congress inthe election held today. Pro-tem Chairman N Thippanna announced the election of Mathi Katti. The 60-year-old Mathi Katti was MLA during 1978-83. Opposition Congress leader in the state assembly, N MallikarjunaKharge congratulated Mathi Katti on his election. In the 75 member house, Congress is in majority with 29. BJP has23, JD(S) 13, JD(U) 2, Independents 2, Chairman one. There are fivevacancies. PTI Wed, 06 Aug 2008 07:41:00 GMT http://uebbeibei.spoonylife.com/disturbing-but-informative-video-plastic-bags-are-killing-the-...-25105.html Disturbing but Informative Video - Plastic Bags are Killing the ... Across America, the debate continues - Plastic or Paper? This presentation at GoingGreenResources.com will eliminate plastic as an option for most people. Besides graphic photos of seals, turtles and birds tangled in thesehorrible bags, there are examples of sound reasons and statisticsgiven for banning the use of plastic bags. Financial: "China will save 37 million barrels of oil eachyear due to their ban of free plastic bags," - CNN.com/asiaJanuary 9, 2008. How much oil will be wasted in America? Environmental: "There are an estimated 100,000 marine animalsthat die each year of plastic pollution." - National MarineDebris Monitoring Program. Our Pacific and Atlantic oceans arevalued by every American - why isn't something being done now tostop this problem? Waste: "Los Angeles consumers use an estimated 2.3 billionplastic bags each year. Statewide, 19 billion plastic bags aredoled out by retailers annually. Yet only about 5% end up beingrecycled." - David Lazarus, LA Times July 27, 2008. A few cities are taking steps to ban plastic bags. It's a slowprocess. The most effective step Americans can take is toimmediately refuse plastic (and paper) and tell the clerk, "Ihave my own reusable bag." There are also biodegradableplastic-like bags available for use around the home and office. View the presentation at GoingGreenResources.com and see if you agree. About GoingGreenResources.com: Easily understood resources for going green can be hard to find. AtGoingGreenResources.com the goal is provide useful, environmentallyfriendly ideas that everyone can undertake locally, yet as informedcitizens have a significant impact on the planet. Contact: John Livingstone, President Wed, 06 Aug 2008 07:40:00 GMT http://uebbeibei.spoonylife.com/12-money-saving-travel-tips-25104.html 12 money-saving travel tips Know luggage rules by airline I reviewed the burst of surcharges on luggage and more in the pastfew weeks. Don't get caught opening your wallet wide at the airportwhen you follow your old routine of two checked bags plus acarry-on, only to find out that one or two of your three items willcost you $15 - $25. Most folks know by now that the majority of airlines will charge$25 for a second checked bag; fewer realize that Northwest, United,US Airways and Spirit will charge you $15 for a first checked bag,each way. So anytime you are pricing out flights, you'll want toadd the applicable baggage charges to the cost of any roundtripflight on these airlines or pack more efficiently to lightenyour load. Weigh your bags at home Similarly, your checked bags could cost you if they are overweight;the difference between a 49-pound bag and a 51-pound bag could be$50, the most common fee for any bag weighing in excess of 50pounds. It is worth noting that if you are traveling with acompanion, and he has a 40-pound bag while you have a 52-pound bag,the airline does not average the two and let you pass; you'll stillpay for the one overweight bag. If you take the time to weigh yourbags before you leave, you can redistribute the contents such thatyou pay less or nothing at check-in. As above, you will want to know the luggage rules; while mostairlines charge $50 for any bag over 50 pounds, Delta charges $80and Frontier charges $75; not all overweight bags lighten yourwallet by the same amount. Pack lighter, and let the hotel pick up the tab Many essential travel items can be obtained free of charge in yourhotel room or from the front desk razors, tooth brush andtoothpaste, hand soap, hair dryers and more. Instead of packing(and paying for) these items, simply request them at check-in. Ifyou do end up having to purchase them at your destination, you'llfind that prices at the CVS don't vary much nationwide. Wed, 06 Aug 2008 07:38:00 GMT http://uebbeibei.spoonylife.com/take-bliss-as-it-is-for-coffee-wine-good-food-23478.html Take Bliss as it is for coffee, wine, good food Coffee If you feel like shrimp, they come prepared two different ways asan entree, or you can have three fat ones as an appetizer with anexcellent sweet-sour cucumber salad. The appetizer shrimp areswimming in a Grand Marnier barbecue sauce, although it could justas well have had a splash of Mountain Dew as liqueur. The sauce issimply too fiery to taste of anything but heat. The kitchen had its ups and downs. A shrimp bisque, smooth as cream- probably because it contained so much cream - had just the rightdelicate texture (so you can pretend it's lighter than it reallyis) and was filled with chopped shrimp. It was a minor tour deforce. But the halibut decorated with big lumps of crab meat, aspecial that night, had a lime butter sauce that tasted of nothingmuch. It arrived with mashed potatoes and the vegetable of the day,cauliflower. Even adding a wedge of lime and a pink orchid didn'tmake the all-white plate look any less bland than it tasted. Muchas I like cauliflower, and I do, it isn't a good vegetable of theday to serve with potatoes. Minor improvements could make a big difference. The "vegetarianrose," a sort of pasta primavera, is made with cappellini, a creamytomato sauce and grilled vegetables. The flavors are wonderful;it's the proportions that are off. More vegetables and less pastaand sauce, please. The cheese plate, really for two, has port wine cheddar, sharpcheddar and smoked Gouda. It's supposed to come with strawberries,grapes and kiwi slices; but bing cherries were substituted for kiwislices. That was fine - more than fine, really. But the red grapeshad been taken off their stems so there was just an unattractivepile of loose grapes. Also, the kitchen had added slices of salamiand a blob of spicy mustard to the plate, which was a little odd. The dessert made in-house was the weakest of the ones we tried. Thechef, who brought it out (the place was so busy the poor guy washelping out the servers when he wasn't cooking), apologized becausethe chocolate mousse in a chocolate cup was too stiff and hadlittle lumps. Good flavor, though. The Key lime pie and berry tart,made by someone local, were both excellent. Bliss' wine list is filled with familiar names and easy-drinkingbottles. The list isn't extensive, but it changes periodically andis affordably priced, with enough choices by the glass. You mightthink a place that labels itself a wine bar would put more emphasison wine; this is more just what you'd expect at a nice restaurant. And that's what Bliss is. If you go in with a preconceived notionof what a coffeehouse or wine bar should be, you might bedisappointed. If you accept it as a nice suburban restaurant with awarm and welcoming staff and a kitchen that can produce some verygood food, you'll be happier. So it needs to get a few kinks out.It's still a better option than the chains in the area. elizabeth.large@baltsun.com Bliss Coffee and Wine Bar Address: 1402 Handlir Drive, Riverside Hours: Open daily for continental breakfast, lunch and dinner Price: Appetizers: $7.95-$11.95; entrees: $14.95-$24.95 Call: 410-272-0505, live-your-bliss.com Food: ** 1/2 Service: *** Atmosphere: ** 1/2 Mon, 04 Aug 2008 04:59:00 GMT http://uebbeibei.spoonylife.com/morning-coffee-utah-state-s-qb-in-question-23477.html Morning Coffee: Utah State's QB in question Coffee Posted by ESPN.com's Graham Watson The decision of who will start at quarterback for Utah State justgot a little more difficult. Junior Jase McCormick, who played infour games last season and was expected to challenge for thestarting position during fall camp, told coach Brent Guy that he might walk away from football, the Salt Lake Tribune reported Saturday evening. McCormick completed 62.5 percent of his passes, but threw fiveinterceptions as opposed to two touchdowns. Senior Sean Setzer, theonly other quarterback with experience, becomes the frontrunner forthe starting position. He played in one game last season andcompleted one pass for two yards. The article also notes the emergence of true freshman ExavierJohnson, who looked strong in the Aggies first practice. My take: This isn't great news for coach Brent Guy, who needs toshow improvement on his 6-29 record during the last three seasons.The good news is that this Guy's first team full of his guys. Ithas 17 seniors, which should help with leadership and finally hasits full array of scholarship athletes. Several non-BCS teams have started or will start practice thisweekend and Monday. As I've noted a couple times this past week, Iwill be at Utah for its opening practice. I will be chatting livefrom camp at 11:30 EST (9:30 MST) for a half hour. Mon, 04 Aug 2008 04:59:00 GMT http://uebbeibei.spoonylife.com/starbucks-chokes-on-its-latte-23476.html Starbucks chokes on its latte What has happened to the siren's magic? For more than two decades along-tressed maiden more decorous now than when she wasfirst launched upon the world has been the centrepiece ofone of America's best-known commercial logos, that familiar greencircle with "Starbucks Coffee" in white letters, to be found,seemingly, on almost every city block and main street in the land. And until lately, the allure of the Starbucks siren had beenirresistible. Howard Schultz, the visionary businessman who ineffect founded today's Starbucks when he bought out its originalowners in 1987, ran the company until 2000. In the process hecreated not just a runaway business success but a small revolutionin American culture. A handful of outlets in Seattle have become aglobal empire of some 15,000 stores, generating annual sales ofabout $10bn (£5bn). But the company that was a case study in business acumen and grewto be the largest coffeehouse chain in the world is now a casestudy of a less flattering variety of how complacency andthe laws of the marketplace can bring even the mightiest low. This year the creeping crisis at Starbucks has exploded into fullview. In January, it sacked its chief executive Jim Donald, andrestored Mr Schultz to his former job. April brought a 28 per centslump in quarterly profit, and news that the company would againcut the number of new stores it planned to open across the UnitedStates, to 600 less than initially planned, and trim its officeworkforce by up to 1,000. Last month, the trickle of bad news turned into a flood. Some 500stores across America are to be shut, with the loss of 12,000 full-and part-time jobs. And the rot has spread farther afield.Starbucks is closing 61 of its 85 stores in Australia meaning that henceforth only the residents of Sydney, Brisbane andMelbourne will be able to sample its wares. This week brought thelatest blow, the company's first quarterly loss in 15 years, of$6.7m, compared with a $158m profit a year before. At one level the news is anything but surprising. The US isengulfed by its worst economic crisis in decades, and consumers arecutting back on non-essential spending, with expensive coffee amongthe first things to go. There is a symmetry too between thetroubles of Starbucks and those of the plummeting US housingmarket, the epicentre of the crisis. California and Florida, where the company has been opening newstores and which account for one-third of its domestic revenue, aretwo of the states worst hit by the housing slump. As demand hasfallen, the cost of dairy products such as milk have been risingsharply. Not just Starbucks, but any similar business, would behaving problems in these circumstances. But there is far more to it than that. Starbucks' malaise longpredates the downturn of 2007/2008. In a sense it is a victim ofits very success. Consciously or subconsciously, a company thatstarted life as an exotic shop in the Seattle landmark of PikePlace Market, selling beans and coffee-making equipment, and thendeveloped into one of America's smartest global brands, must havefelt it could do no wrong. In the process, however, it forgot whereit came from. From the outset, the key to Starbucks success was its upmarketimage. Its coffeehouses were where yuppies went, and those whoaspired to be like them. That the coffee itself was a miteexpensive only added to its snob appeal: Starbucks was not for thehoi polloi. If you wanted cheap coffee, then go to a diner andchoose between regular and de-caf. Its stores were chic andfashionable, where you could spend a little downtime betweenappointments or simply shoot the breeze with friends. Starbucksprojected itself as "The Third Place" between home and theoffice and there was much truth to the slogan. Mr Schultz'sgenius was to grasp the market for the concept. Have a good idea though, and others will copy it. For a long whileStarbucks managed to keep ahead of the game, expanding at breakneckspeed, buying up likely competitors and launching new products thatrivals could not match. On top of lattes, grandes, mochas,espressos, frappuccinos and the rest it offered not just teadrinks, fruit smoothies ice creams and its own range of snacks.Starbucks sold its own franchised merchandise T-shirts,even its own books and music. But premium coffee remained the basic product and oneothers could easily imitate. Of late that challenge has been pickedup by Dunkin' Donuts and above all by McDonalds. In an age ofbelt-tightening the virtues of thift are again evident. McDonalds'coffee was perhaps once best known for being scaldingly hot. Now itoffers premium coffee, not only cheaper than Starbucks' but of aquality that won first place in a survey in March by ConsumerReports here. As a result, Starbucks finds itself caught in a new, unweclome,"third place", pressed from below by the fast-food chains from whomits very ubiquity has made it almost indistinguishable in thepublic mind, and from above by a new generation of expensive andexclusive coffee houses to the modern industry whatStarbucks was 20 years ago. Such an identity crisis would be bad enough on its own. ButStarbucks has compounded the problem by, in Mr Schultz' words,"cannibalising" itself opening so many stores, so closetogether, that they attract business not from new customers buteach other. And even the quality may be sagging. In a recentindependent taste test of the main coffee chains in the UK,Starbucks came bottom. For such structural difficulties, the chief executive admits, thereis no instant fix. The giddy growth of yesteryear will neverreturn, even when the US economy picks up. A solution, almostcertainly, will require a return to first principles. As Mr Schultztold analysts this week, discussing that first-in-15-yearsquarterly loss: " We are not going to go down the fast-food laneand do things that are ... not in the long-term interest of thebrand and the experience." It would be unwise to count Mr Schultz and Starbucks out, whateverthe current travails. The loss reflected exceptional costs relatingto the closure of 600 stores, and the next quarter will be back inthe black. Wall Street is cheered by the company's readiness toface up to its difficulties. Some foreign markets are still faringwell, and Starbucks is still looking expand in areas such asEastern Europe. New products, among them a milder "regular" coffeecalled Pike Place Roast, have also been introduced at its 11,000American stores. But it will be a while, if ever, before theStarbucks siren regains her former magic. How a coffee empire was built 1971: Gordon Bowker, Jerry Baldwin and Ziv Siegl open their firststore, selling coffee beans and coffee-making equipment, inSeattle's Pike Place Market. It is named Starbucks after the firstmate in Herman Melville's Moby Dick. 1982: Howard Shultz joins the company as the director of retailoperations and marketing. It begins providing coffee to restaurantsand espresso bars in addition to its own five stores. Shultz,having seen coffee bars in Italy, convinces the founders to try thesame idea in Seattle. 1984: The trial was successful and Starbucks as we know it islaunched. Separately, Shultz creates the company Il Giornale,selling products made from Starbucks coffee beans. 1987: Il Giornale acquires Starbucks assets and it morphs intoStarbucks Corporation, opening stores in Chicago and Vancouver. Itloses money throughout the 1980s as it expands. By 1989 it has 55stores. 1991: The privately owned company offers stock options to employeesand in 1992, starts trading on Nasdaq. It also sets up shops inBarnes and Noble bookstores and Nordstrom department stores and in1994 started providing coffee to ITT/Sheraton hotels (nowStarwood). Mid-nineties: Starbucks branches out with various deals thatinclude making coffee ice cream with Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream, apartnership with PepsiCo to sell bottled Frappuccino drinks and alicensing deal with Kraft Foods to sell its brand in supermarkets.It also expands overseas, in Asia and then the UK, where it buysthe Seattle Coffee Company chain. It launches a music businessthrough its acquisition Hear Music and also buys Tazo, anOregon-based tea company. 2000: Mr Shultz becomes chairman and chief global strategist,ceding the post of chief executive. 2004: It jumps on the Wi-Fi bandwagon, offering high-speed wirelessinternet access in many restaurants. Through Hear Music, itreleases Ray Charles's Genius Loves Company CD with ConcordRecords, which goes on to win eight Grammy Awards. A new recordlabel is created between Starbucks and Concord Music Group todistribute recordings. Paul McCartney becomes the first artist, in2007, to sign. 2007: After falling sales, Jim Donald, the chief executive, quits.Shultz returns to that role and announces that the group will slowUS growth and accelerate international expansion. Starbucks now has15,756. 2008: Starbucks cuts jobs and close stores worldwide. Louise Dransfield Interesting? Click here to explore further Mon, 04 Aug 2008 04:58:00 GMT http://uebbeibei.spoonylife.com/banking-on-a-new-coffee-shop-23475.html Banking on a new coffee shop People who work in a downtown Roanoke high-rise office building orwho park in its adjacent garage now are an appetizing customerniche for a local coffee retailer. For a little more than a week, Mill Mountain Coffee et Tea hasbeen brewing its java and other beverages in the lobby of theWachovia Tower at the corner of South Jefferson Street and SalemAvenue. The coffee and food retailer has opened a shop in a250-square-foot space beside the tower's security desk. The arrival of the new shop comes after Mill Mountain shifted itsdowntown store to new digs at 117 Campbell Ave. in May. Demand for java from the Wachovia Tower's approximately 400employees inspired Mill Mountain's expansion into the officebuilding. Dennis Cronk of Poe et Cronk Real Estate Group said heapproached the coffee retailer about opening a shop in the lobby.Poe et Cronk manages and leases the office building. "We have a lot of people who have requested over the years that weprovide a similar amenity," Cronk said. By serving coffee, tea and other beverages, Mill Mountain hopes toentice people who work for companies located in the tower or whopass through its lobby from the parking garage. The potential ofdrawing a lucrative customer base appears high. About 550 people will work inside the Wachovia Tower oncearchitectural and engineering firm Hayes, Seay, Mattern etMattern moves into the building by the end of the year, Cronk said.That move will add about 160 employees. Cronk estimated that more than 100 people park their vehicles inthe tower's parking garage, though they do not work inside thetower. Many stroll through its lobby to get to their officeselsewhere in downtown, he said. The Wachovia Tower already is 96 percent occupied, Cronk added. Itopened in 1991, rises 20 floors and houses approximately 218,000square feet of office space, he said. Luis Murillo, who is district manager for Mill Mountain, describedthe retailer's new Wachovia Tower space as a convenient stop forcustomers and a "good opportunity" for its business. Unlike some of Mill Mountain's other Roanoke Valley locations, thissmall shop does not serve a full breakfast menu. It sells muffins,scones, cookies, yogurt and other grab-and-go foods. Customers, however, can place orders for lunch. Sandwiches andother fare on Mill Mountain's lunch menu are prepared at itsCampbell Avenue location and delivered to the tower shop. Already, there has been early demand for lunch delivery. On itsfirst day open, Mill Mountain sold at least three lunches at thetower location, Murillo said. This coffee retailer has a history in the Roanoke Valley. DaveJohnson opened Mill Mountain's first shop in downtown Roanoke in1990. Since then, the retailer has grown to include three otherlocations in the Roanoke Valley and two in Richmond. One is acoffee kiosk inside a Richmond hospital. For now, the Wachovia Tower shop opens at 7 a.m. and closes at 2p.m. Eventually, the afternoon hours may expand depending oncustomer traffic, Murillo said. And Mill Mountain may not be done growing in the Roanoke Valley.Murillo said plans are brewing for an additional location, but hewould not disclose details. Mon, 04 Aug 2008 04:57:00 GMT http://uebbeibei.spoonylife.com/dissent-grows-as-ruto-moves-to-name-coffee-board-23474.html Dissent grows as Ruto moves to name coffee board August 4, 2008: A new board to manage Kenya's coffee regulator is to beappointed this week, deflating hopes that farmers could once againelect the directors. This follows the end of the three-year tenure of the current 12directors of the Coffee Board of Kenya. Controversy has marred appointment of a new board followingopposition by farmers to the current system which allows theminister to appoint the directors. Agriculture minister William Ruto told Business Daily that while the interests of farmers would be looked into, the lawas is constituted allows the minister to appoint directors. The current system was put in place last year through the FinanceAct of 2007 that gave the power of appointing directors to theminister. This story is available in full in the Business Daily e-paper. You may subscribe to the newspaper here. Mon, 04 Aug 2008 04:57:00 GMT http://uebbeibei.spoonylife.com/mccain-meets-greets-at-racine-coffee-shop-23480.html McCain meets, greets at Racine coffee shop Coffee SI know I have an uphill battle here,he said. Racine County is the fifth-largest county in Wisconsin and isconsidered a must-win region for McCain in November. The countyvoted for President Bush four years ago by a narrow margin, butDemocratic candidate John Kerry won the state by 11,300 votes. Also Thursday, McCain called Debra Bartoshevich, the Racine Countyresident who lost her delegate seat at the Democratic NationalConvention for endorsing McCain, a Sperson of great courage. SPerhaps your reward will be in heaven not here on earth,McCain told Bartoshevich as he addressed the Racine Civic Centrecrowd. Before the town hall meeting, McCain met with Bartoshevich, her16-year-old daughter, Mariah, and Bartoshevich"s father, GeneBrittain, of Waukesha, at the Dunn Bros. Coffee shop in Racine. Mon, 04 Aug 2008 04:57:00 GMT http://uebbeibei.spoonylife.com/coffee-culture-grinds-starbucks-australian-operation-23473.html Coffee culture grinds Starbucks' Australian operation Coffee culture grinds Starbucks' Australian operation 19 hours ago SYDNEY (AFP) Starbucks hit a roadblock trying to export itsbusiness model to Australia, a robust coffee culture wherecustomers already knew the difference between a macchiato and anaffogato, local traders say. The US giant announced last week that it would close 61 of its 84Australian outlets by Sunday, saying "challenges unique to theAustralian market" were behind the decision, which cost almost 700jobs. The statement from Starbucks' head office in Seattle did not saywhat made Australia different, but did point out: "There are noother international markets that need to be addressed in thismanner." Starbucks Asia Pacific president John Culver was more forthcomingabout why the company was on the retreat in Australia, eight yearsafter opening its first store in Sydney. "I think what we've seen is that Australia has a very sophisticatedcoffee culture," he said in a newspaper interview. A wave of post-war immigrants from Turkey, Greece and particularlyItaly means that for decades Australians had been enjoying the"coffee experience" Starbucks virtually created from scratch in theUnited States. Both Sydney and Melbourne have Italian enclaves lined with cafeswhere old men sip espressos at outdoor tables through the day andtrendy young couples gather in the evening for a caffeine fix. Starbucks' idea of making itself a "third place" in customers'lives between home and work was a novelty in the United States,where in many small towns cafe culture consisted of filter coffeeon a hot plate. But Melbourne cafe owner Jeremy Jenkins said the situation wasdifferent in Australia, where baristas have been plying their tradeat steaming espresso machines since the 1950s. "People come in our cafe because they know us and they know they'llget good coffee, we're part of the local community," Jenkins toldAFP. "Starbucks is a McDonald's coffee experience. It's not about thequality of the coffee, it's about convenience and location." Starbucks also closed 600 stores in the United States early lastmonth in a move widely seen as a response to belt-tightening amongcustomers less inclined to spend money on luxuries like coffee intough economic times. Commentators have suggested similar problems hit Starbucks inAustralia, but the queues outside the Met Cafe in central Sydney ona recent windy winter's day indicated many customers were not yetready to sacrifice their coffee hit. Met Cafe owner Brendan Smart said Starbucks had expanded tooquickly in Australia. "A few years ago there weren't that many of them and they seemed tobe going OK, but then all of a sudden, they were everywhere," hetold AFP. "Some city blocks had three Starbucks on them -- it's crazy." Smart said many customers had told him they did not want to buytheir coffee from a corporate giant and those who had triedStarbucks were not impressed by the product, saying it did notcompare with the numerous local brews available. "What we do isn't rocket science, I'm the first to admit that, butyou've got to have a passion for coffee that involves everythingfrom grinding the beans to operating the machine," he said. "You go into Starbucks and it's full of teenagers behind thecounter. I'd question whether they have that passion." Starbucks now plans to streamline its operation to 23 stores inAustralia's largest cities Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Mon, 04 Aug 2008 04:56:00 GMT http://uebbeibei.spoonylife.com/ag-wants-end-to-meth-coffee-in-state-23479.html AG wants end to 'Meth Coffee' in state CHICAGO - The Illinois attorney general wants a San Franciscocompany to stop marketing a beverage branded as Meth Coffee toIllinois consumers. Attorney General Lisa Madigan has sent a letter to Doll God LLC insisting that the coffeeblatantly glorifies drug culture. The beverage doesn't actually contain methamphetamine. But Madigansays the product's comparison to illicit drugs violates state lawsregarding fraudulent and deceptive business practices. She also cited what she calls the devastating impact that meth hashad in communities statewide. Mon, 04 Aug 2008 04:56:00 GMT