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Wednesday, February 08, 2006

Gong Fu

I am a huge tea fan. So the other day when I was down in the East Village and saw a tea place, I had to check it out. Besides the name of the establishment was Gong Fu Tea (Anything that sounds like Kung Fu has to be good, right?). Gong Fu has many great tea flavors to choose from and also offers a small selection of cookies and sweet breads. Definitely take a trip and check out this great store! They are located at 414 East 6th St in Des Moines.
http://www.gongfu-tea.com/

The History of Tea: The story of tea began in ancient China over 5,000 years ago. According to legend, Shen Nung, an early emperor was a skilled ruler, creative scientist and patron of the arts. His far-sighted edicts required, among other things, that all drinking water be boiled as a hygienic precaution. One summer day while visiting a distant region of his realm, he and the court stopped to rest. In accordance with his ruling, the servants began to boil water for the court to drink. Dried leaves from the near by bush fell into the boiling water, and a brown liquid was infused into the water. As a scientist, the Emperor was interested in the new liquid, drank some, and found it very refreshing. And so, according to legend, tea was created.

Sunday, February 05, 2006

Lazy Tom

The building I work at downtown is connected to the skywalk system. As you walk into the connecting skywalk bridge to our building you are greeted by a set of glass closed doors. You can either open them manually or use the automatic button that is meant to be for handicapped individuals. I hate to admit this but I always push the button instead of actually taking an extra second and opening the door myself. I am not the only person who is guilty of this. I have taken the time to notice lately and pretty much 4 out of 5 people will push the automatic button. Are we all just that lazy? Maybe it is okay to use these buttons even though I am capable of using my arms and legs?............
As I was thinking about this situation, the truth hit me like a brick in the face. I was walking up to the door and noticed a person in a wheelchair coming towards me from the opposite direction. Instead of pushing the button like normal, I opened the door myself because I felt guilty to be using the automatic button with a handicapped person watching me. Wow! I felt like a superficial idiot. I only opened the door because someone was watching. It shouldn't really matter how I act when someone is watching, it should be how I act when nobody is watching. That is the true person. Needless to say, now I open the door myself with the arms and hands that I have been blessed with.

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ValPak Coupons