From: Jad "/dev/null" Davis 
Subject: Save your crack--coffee is back 
Date: Mon, 5 Feb 2001 09:55:04 -0500 (EST)
Reply-To: jdavis@cs.umass.edu
To: monday-morning-coffee@cs.umass.edu, jdavis@cs.umass.edu, ash@cs.umass.edu

So what's the big deal, right?  You pay a quarter, you get coffee.  The
damn robo-coffee maker can do that for you.  Why do you feel so much better
when Monday Morning Coffee is in swing than at other times during the year?
Is it all in your messed up little mind?

yes.

And here's why.  
Psychologists might say (I use "might" because I'm making this next part up,
but there is some chance that they would say it, I imagine) that Monday 
Morning Coffee is "touchstone event."  Our subconscious uses touchstone
events to make sure everything is the way we expect.  When you go to
a foreign country, like Texas, you may experience vague unease, the source
of which you can't quite pinpoint.  What's missing is all the touchstones
of your homeland.  Newspapers and billboards  written in your mother 
tongue, street signs in the shape and color that you're used to, familiar 
logos and restaurants all reassure your mind that everything is 
"all right" (time was when the "Golden Arches"(TM) of McDonalds (also TM) 
let the traveler know that he/she was in a civilized land--but now they 
have them in Europe too).

For the last 40 or so days, you've walked in the building bright and early
on a Monday morning (damn, there's the flaw in my theory--too late now,
we'll have to go with it) and passed through an empty atrium and up to
your office.  Although you probably couldn't put a finger on it, something
just didn't *feel* right.  For the next 16 weeks or so, you'll feel better.
All will be right with the world.  

So come, put your subconscious at ease.  10am (right now--theoretically) 
in the Computer Science Building (for lack of a better funded name) 
atrium.  Coffee, donuts, and Bagels slung by a brand new MMC crew (to be 
introduced at a later date).

Enjoy.

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