Ricardo. My coffee guy. The man makes a little drawing in each and every drink he serves. Chocolate syrup on foam, that’s his medium. A little sun, maybe. A smiling coffee cup. A Christmas ornament. When Ricardo smiles, his little round cheeks poof out, chipmunk style, and his eyes look like upside down crescents. He wears big gold crucifixes around his neck. What can I say? The man enjoys life. He’s a freakin’ Bodhisattva, is what he is. One of these days I’m gonna screw up my courage and ask him what the secret to his happiness is. But I’m afraid he’ll just give me an answer as cryptic as it is true, something like, “Oh, Alfredo, all you have to do to be happy is….be happy!” Ah, Ricardo, you bring joy to my life.

One Bad Thing: After spending the morning having my life infused with joy by Ricardo, I spent the afternoon with someone hell bent on sucking the joy right back out of it. The sales guy at the Verizon store. I was upgrading my phone, and the guy kept saying stuff like, “Not a bad deal, right? Everyone likes to save money, right? Bet you didn’t think you were gonna spend this little today, right?” Then he leans in close and tells me in a whisper about the mail-in rebate, as if he’s not supposed to do this, as if he’s hooking me up – just me, Alfredo, nobody else – with a special deal that his boss might fire him for if he finds out. “Dude, you just send in the barcode and they give you a hundred bucks back.” Wow! Really, bro? Thanks for the solid! Poor bastard. I knew what I wanted before I ever set foot in the store. He had the sale. He was just fishing for the compliment. I know, I know, a bigger soul like Ricardo would’ve given it to him, but I just couldn’t. Had to save my energy for not messing up on that damn rebate form: sign in green ink, cut out barcodes using only a series of forty five degree angles, mail on even days only, etc... Ugh! Man, I need to see Ricardo soon.