In honor of what is clearly Milwaukee County's busiest coffeehouse, I've started a separate page for the 24-hour Starbucks on Hwy. 100 & 1-94 in Wauwatosa. The location has become a regular hangout for me, and I note that just in the last week or ten days, they've upgraded to the new Mastrena espresso machines.
-For those who are visiting for the first time because of the Shepherd Express article, Welcome! For those who haven't seen it, the Shepherd article is available online here (link opens a PDF-type reader application). For those who were wondering, the picture was taken at Le Reve Cafe.
-I picked up a pound of Intelligentsia's Milwaukee Blend (which is their Miller's Blend, renamed) and look forward to cupping it in the morning.
-Please welcome Kristine Hansen, co-author of the The Complete Idiot's Guide to Coffee and Tea, as the latest Contributing Author to the site.
-Apparently, the major local media feature on this blog is scheduled to be published on September 24th.
My website, Milwaukee Specialty Food and Coffee,
is seeking freelance contributors on a per-article or ongoing basis.
Modest pay is negotiable, but contributors should mostly be looking for
exposure (my site currently receives approximately 50+ hits on an average weekday).
Articles should be related to coffee or be restaurant reviews.
Contributions from baristas and coffee enthusiasts are especially
welcome. For more information, e-mail mike@milwaukeespecialtycoffee.com
Dear MSFC Readers,
The intoxicating call of the Virtual Yellow Brick Road has reached my ears and infiltrated my brain. I find that I am helpless to resist its seductive lure and must follow it to where it will lead.
This means that, as of this moment, I shall no longer be a presence on MSFC. Fear not though, friends, for my voice shall not be silenced within the blogsphere as I am working tirelessly on a new blog about food, drink, culture and art--the name and URL of which shall remain secret until next week, when it will be worthy of your invaluable click.
I wish to extend a heartfelt thanks to Mike for allowing me to share in the greatness of MSFC. And thanks to all of you who read and responded to my humble posts.
I shall return to MSFC next week to reveal the new blog.
Until then, I remain faithfully yours,
Mary
I'm missing my Eee PC laptop (pictured here). I've established a $200 reward for its safe return with data intact. If the data is gone, I don't want it back. Please e-mail mike@milwaukeespecialtycoffee.com or call me at (414) 241-4430.
MKE is closing down and I continue to reflect on the demise of what is, technically, a competitor, though one that operates on a vastly different scale. An astute friend of this blog called it the "fluffiest rag," and I find it relieving that this editorial strategy wasn't successful for them. I'd imagine that they had rules, whether written or unwritten, that politics, religion and other potentially controversial issues were not to be addressed. Though one might counter that it sometimes featured racy, sexually themed content, I find that this merely provides the standard "edginess" for any infotainment offering pitched to those under 40. Most of that target demographic, it's rather safe to say, enjoys all things related to mattress dancin' and those who are offended by that are probably not reading anyway.
The publication served the sole purpose of delivering eyeballs to advertisers. The editorial content seemed almost like window dressing. I find it absolutely mind-boggling that the publication would be discontinued due to lack of advertising sales. The thing was nothing but ads! I can only theorize that it was expected to subsidize the Journal-Sentinel, the parent company's daily newspaper. That operation must be absolutely bleeding money with gas prices at their current level.
This website operates in a polar opposite manner to a print publication such as MKE. No one here is currently drawing a paycheck, so our overhead is almost nonexistent. Conversely, both authors pretty much write whatever they feel like and, as equal partners, don't have any way to coerce each other. Though MKE's demise doesn't mean that our way will necessarily be successful, I must say that I am more fine with it than I have ever been.
I've taken advantage of the holiday lull to tweak the layout of the site to hopefully make it more user-friendly. To my mind, "not user-friendly" is the worst condemnation a site could receive. Websites aren't much if not user-friendly. They make terrible furniture--you can't even put a drink on them!
Please do let us know your comments and ideas.
Milwaukee Specialty Food and Coffee has just reached 10,000 page views. It was almost a year ago to the day--May 21, 2007, to be exact--that I posted my first post. Things didn't turn out the way I thought. . .they turned out much, much better!
Since then, great things have happened. I found a wonderful business partner in Mary Dally-Muenzmaier, who's lassoed up an astounding 1170 and counting MySpace friends for us--precisely none of whom will go out on a date with me (I've asked).
Thanks to you, our readers, and to our present and future sponsors. To be a part of Miwaukee Specialty Food and Coffee with your advertisement, e-mail mike@milwaukeespecialtycoffee.com.
One item of corporate policy isn't up for vote: we won't be joining the SCAA or giving money to them in any other way, shape or form. This in light of Mary's earlier post and the related discussion.
