What do you call a guy with no arms and no legs hanging on a wall?

Art.

Today is November 30th, the end of the month. And around here that means the art is changing. Everyday Joe's changes the art on the walls every month. This is a small way for us to give away our walls to artists. All the art in here is available for sale. And 100% of the sale goes directly to the artist. For those of you that do not know that is a pretty big deal. Ever wonder why art is so pricey? Well the gallery needs a cut so the artist must price the piece accordingly just to make a little bit of money. And when I say "cut," I mean around 40 to 60%.

Over the years Everyday Joe's has become known as an art gallery to some. We get people that come in each month to check out what we have going on. Art is a big part of the vision of Everyday Joe's. We are always looking for ways to nurture and support local artists. Any ideas out there?

It's Quiet, But Not Too Quiet.

Currently as I post this it is 3:30PM on the day before Thanksgiving. And right now there are two people besides myself in Everyday Joe's. I suspect most people are already on their way home for the holiday. And if they are not, coffee is not on their minds since this is like a Friday afternoon for most. And Friday afternoons are usually pretty slow around here.

They saw when you can not think of what to write that you should simply write the fact that you can not think of what to write. But does that work in a public forum such as a blog? I am imagine it is pretty boring for the reader if the author is just writing about how he does not know what to write. Part of that for me stems from not wanting to get to mundane in this blog. I do want to share the basics of what goes on here at Joe's but should I write things like; Today I made chai, then I dusted around the counters, they I worked on a new sign? No I don't think that would be very interesting either.

One of the reasons I started this blog is because of all the people I have calling or emailing asking about Joe's. Most of the time it is someone or a group of people who want to do something similar in another part of the country or globe. So maybe for a while I will write as if though I am writing a letter to someone interested in doing what we are doing. But the challenge there is that it involves history. History is very tricky. Especially current history. Joe's was created and launched by a lot of people. And all those people have different ideas and thoughts as to the history of the place and their place in that history. I have been around since March of 2003. That is before Joe's opened its doors to the public but long after the ball started rolling. So I will do my best with the knowledge I have and go from there. I do have the advantage of being the one who is writing the history. As always I am open to feedback and comments from all you who were around here at 144 S. Mason in 2002 and early 2003.

Well fair reader hope you have a good Thanksgiving. Take some time to think about all you are thankful for.

Dickens Out.

Our Friend The Train

It is hard to talk about Everyday Joe's and not talk about the train. And the train can make it hard to talk at Everyday Joe's. The train is very much a part of Everyday Joe's. I usually describe it has a love/hate relationship.

We love the train because of the character it brings. The loud horn in the distance. The sound of the crossing signals. And the slight rumble of the ground as it passes. And lets not forget all the interesting items loaded on the train. From tanks, humvees, and canons, to jet airplanes in pieces, the train will randomly give you something interesting to watch go by.

It also has its downsides though. Sometimes that train horn can make your ears feel like they are going to bleed. And sometimes when you want to run to the bank across the street you must wait 10 minutes or so for the train to go by, then wait for the back up of car traffic to clear.

I have learned though that part of the train can be a blessing. Two weeks ago I was doing the back deposit and my day was rushed one. Like all days I had more to do than hours of the day will allow. Sometimes this can get me a bit frazzled. The train forced me to come back to myself, to be still. I sat of the curb and just watched the train cars go by. It really changed my whole day for the better. And that is when I discovered that I was thankful for the train.

No longer in hiding.

So the cat is out of the bag. This little blog I started a week ago is now known to the world. I guess that is the whole point of blogging. I just have never done it before so go easy on me. As a writer it is always nice to have plenty of time to think about what you put done until it is published. Blogs really do not work that way.

This Friday as a unique feel to it. Today the government is observing Veteran's Day so things around here have been a bit slow. You see Everyday Joe's Coffee House resides across the street from Larimer County's office building. So many of the great people we see in here everyday come from over there. Though a few today could not resist and came in anyway. Now the shop is filling up with students studying.

Every morning we get a fresh batch of bagels from Gib's. Those bagels are delivered via Rob. Rob's Bike Courier Service to be exact. I have no idea how early Rob must get out of bed to get us our bagels by 7AM but it must be pretty darn early. I just think it is pretty cool that we get our daily batch of bagels delivered via a bicycle. If you have any courier needs you should get in touch with Rob. His email is robsbike@hotmail.com or maybe the phone is how you roll, 970-231-6794.

So now that this blog is out there please leave comments. Let me know what you want to hear about. This blog is for you.

Dickens Out.

"I am not even supposed to be here today."

Currently the planets have aligned and Wednesday is usually my day off. The day that I am not required to enter 144 S. Mason St in Old Town Fort Collins. Most weeks I force myself to not come down just so I can sharpen the saw a bit. But this week there was just too much to do. The day started with some additions to the portrait project. Six total.

Maybe I should say a few words on the portrait project. It started with an idea. A big idea. I thought about that idea for a long time. Pretty much all summer. I just could not come up with a way to make it manageable. The idea was to walk around Fort Collins with Everyday Joe's cups and take pictures of people holding them. Then make posters out of them to hang in the coffee shop. A great a idea. Though a bit complicated and expensive. Having posters printed on a single poster basis is about $15 to $20.

What you see on our wall is very basic. I take pictures of people who are willing with a simple point and shoot camera. Download them and do some editing with Photoshop. Then print them on cheap card stock on our HP 812C Deskjet printer. Trim and hang. Simple. And it seems people are digging it.




Those are just a few of them. I am approaching about 30 of them. I plan on doing it as long as I am here and I find a way to display them. So if your interested please drop me a line and lets take some pictures.

What I like about the portrait project is that it involves people, coffee, and art. Three of the most basic things here at Everyday Joe's.

Now back to my day off. After the portraits I did the daily deposit of money. Then had a meeting. Then lunch. The over to the Northern Colorado AIDS project to drop off a donation check. This month we decided to give NCAP $100. After that is was over to Downtown ACE for some table repair supplies. One of our round tables finally gave up so I had to patch it together to help make it last a bit more. And now I sit writing this blog.

Let me leave you with a bit of coffee trivia: Brazil is the largest coffee producer. Roughly 28 hundreds of millions of pounds per year. Followed by Colombia with 18.

Dickens Out.

*I'll give a free cup of coffee to the FIRST person that can tell me what movie the title of this blog's line is from.

I Voted!

Today is November 7th and many people coming into the shop are proudly displaying their "I Voted!" stickers. I think most of us are just glad this day is finally here. Tomorrow we will be able to all get on with our lives. Our phones will ring a little less and our mail boxes will not be so full.

Tuesdays at Joe's can be a bit busy and today has been. I was not sure how the election would effect business but if anything it has added to it. Probably a lot of folks downtown who do not usually get down here. I spent the first part of the day behind the bar. After that I did the deposit from yesterday and now here I sit. The shop is pretty quiet at the moment. Lots of laptops, a guitar, and a crossword puzzle. That is what is going down right now.

Yesterday I talked about coffee. Today I thought I might mention tea a bit. Here at Everyday Joe's we have about 28 different kinds of loose leaf tea. For most this is a good thing, for some this is a bad thing. "I just want a tea." is often lamented. We get our tea from The Tea Table here in Fort Collins. It is delivered on a weekly basis. Joe's does carry some retail packs in the shop but if your really out to buy some tea best to go straight to The Tea Table's website.

It is thanks to The Tea Table that Joe's is known for its tea. We have many people who regularly come in to have a fresh cup of loose leaf tea. Lately I have gotten a couple of requests for a tea pot as opposed to bagging the tea. I am currently looking into this. I don't know too much about tea so I am having to educate myself a bit. Did you know we can thank the Boston Tea party for being a coffee drinking nation?

Dickens Out.

Too Nice for November

So here it is November 6th and it is just too darn nice outside. Don't get me wrong I am not complaining, just wish I could be out of doors in stead of indoors typing at a computer. Today I also realized that it is November 6th. That means that exactly 15 years ago today I was experiencing my first day of basic training. But that is a story for another blog.

Mondays are the day for paying bills and ordering coffee and tea. Though Stumptown informed me today that coffee orders need to be in on Sundays from here on out. Which means Mondays will be tea and bill pay day.

Stumptown, have I talked about Stumptown yet? Stumptown is a coffee roaster in Portland Oregon. For those of you that do not know we are pretty lucky to have Stumptown Coffee here at Everyday Joe's. They are currently the 2006 Roaster of the Year according to Roaster Magazine. A lot of Everyday Joe's is modeled after Stumptown. Thanks to them we only do French Press brewing of our house coffee. It also thanks to them that we know what it means to be a barista and not simply a latte maker. Stumptown roasts in small batches and they also build personal relationships with the farmers that grow their coffee. This is what some call better than fair trade. There is a lot to be said about Stumptown so if you want to know more check out their website here.

I myself have been working on my barista skills for roughly 3 years now. And it is humbling just how much there is to know about the art of making espresso drinks. It was just this year that my latte art started to take shape. Lately I have been trying to create a "signature" drink but have not settled on anything yet. There is defiantly a balance of knowledge for me when it comes to coffee. I really do have the goal of being the best barista in Fort Collins but coffee knowledge is also way down on the list of life priorities. That is where the balance part comes in.

Well it is 4:38PM Monday afternoon and I have been here at Joe's since about 6:15Am, I think I am starting to run out of steam. So I think I'll leave you for today gentle reader. Remember, take care of yourself, and each other.

Dickens Out.

Everyday Joe's Board of Directors

Everyday Joe's is a not for profit coffee house. What that means is no one here is in it for the money. We are here for the good people. So like most not for profits we are led by a board of directors. Ours currently has 5 members. A President, Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary and a director. I chair the board but I am not a voting member. That is a bit unusual for a board but right now it is working.

We are all in the process of learning what it means to be a board and the board can best suit Everyday Joe's. As an organization Joe's is quite unique and we are kind of writing the book as we go. Part of that is working out the board. On the table right now is the topic of 2007. What do we want Everyday Joe's to accomplish in 2007? That is the big question.

Earlier this year we partnered with Neighbor 2 Neighbor and created a benefit show. Through the silent auction of bird houses painted by local artists and donations at the door we raised about $2000. But that is not the best part. It was more about the event itself. The room was filled with people who would rarely find themselves in the same room. We all had community around great music being performed by Wise Acres and good food from All Occasion Catering. The evening just had a very positive feel to it. And I tell you all of that because that is what Everyday Joe's wants to do more of.

As a non profit coffee house it is hard to measure our success. An organization like Habitat for Humanity could do it by looking at how many houses they build. We do not have anything like that. The sale of coffee is not something we want to focus on. It is important and vital to keeping wind in our sales but it can not be our #1 focus. So the board is thinking that maybe creating events like the N2N benefit could be something to focus on. Because that evening our vision was being 100% fulfilled. We had a meeting last night and that is a big thing to come out of it. We still do not know exactly what that looks like but at least we have a more defined direction.

If you have not read our vision statement here it is:

Everyday Joe’s desires to express the presence of the Living Christ in our community. Our means of doing this is a non-profit coffee house, where fantastic coffee and great live music are simply excuses to connect with people. We strive to be a sustainable, fully disclosed, environmentally & socially responsible buisness model that is an example to churches & secular organizations alike. We hope to be a picture of good stewardship, generousity, & community involvement. We dream of being a source of inspiration & hope to our community through the development of the arts. We strive to be a place where the disconnected can become connected. A place where community is fostered, personal relationships are created, & Love is shown... beginning with the best coffee east of Portland.


I think that is all for now.

Dickens Out.

The second post.

Hopefully in time I will get more creative with the post titles, but for now simple works.

The talk around here is mostly about the article Scene magazine did on Everyday Joe's. It is quite a good one. If you have not read it you should hunt down an issue and read it. The article is very well balanced and shows Joe's in a very geniune light. Thank you Jennifer Leigh Johnson for such great writing. It is very much appreciated.

Currently as I write this the monthly changing of the art is taking place. Evan Mann is the artist for November. Come down and check out his work first hand.

Well I am a bit tired at the moment and we have a board meeting tonight. So I think I am going to sign off for now. Take care gentle reader.

Dickens Out

The first post.

Welcome reader. This is my first post to the Everyday Joe's blog. For those of you that may not know Everyday Joe's is a not for profit coffee house in Fort Collins Colorado. Joe's opened its doors in June of 2003. Currently there are two paid positions and all other work is done by volunteers.

My name is Daryle and I am the Executive Director of Everyday Joe's. I have had that position since January 1, 2006. But I have been around since before Joe's opened its doors. Since before we even had a name for the place.

In this blog I will attempt to document the history and tell the worl more about Joe's. It is pretty common for me to get emails and phone calls from around the country of people asking about Joe's and just how it works. So this is the place that I will attempt to address all that. As well as current events and future dreams.

Please feel free to leave comments or email questions. Let me know what you want to know. Until next time.

Dickens Out.