COFFEE LITE AND A THREE-DAY BET

I'm not much of a coffee drinker.  I just started drinking it in the last year, though I've always loved the smell of it.  I drink iced coffee, not the hot stuff, and I prefer it with a shot of flavor: caramel, pumpkin, or peppermint.  But, if all else fails, I'll drink an iced regular without batting an eyelash.

Strangely enough, when I order iced coffee out, I'll order high-test (fully caffeinated) without any residual after-effects.  When I make my own iced coffee at home, though, the caffeine makes me jittery.  I don't understand this at all, except perhaps that I tend to make my coffee strong enough to peel paint off of the walls.

Still, caffeine has never been my enemy.  Before I gave up soda, I could drink a six-pack of Coca-Cola and fall asleep with no problems (except my bladder).  I am not, however, a fan of caffeine-free anything.  That's just wrong on so many levels.  The only time I went caffeine-free was for a month before massive foot surgery because it was screwing up my circulation.  It was a choice of chocolate or my foot, so I gave up the chocolate ... for a few weeks.

Until tonight, I've been combining hi-test coffee grounds with semi-hi-test coffee grounds: Half of the filter is filled with full-on caffeinated, and half of the filter is filled with the lite version (half-caf).  I guess that puts me at about 75% revved up.

Now, I am empty of both canisters of coffee.

I replace the hal-caf, but I do not replace the high-test.  I am about the enjoy my last few rounds of the semi-caffeinated concoction, and I'm not entirely certain that the lite version is going to be able to keep me going through what is rapidly becoming a series on ten, eleven, and even twelve-hour work days.  I can't get ahead of myself (nor on-par with myself, for that matter).

Considering I've entered the coffee-drinking game very late in my working life, I'm more than a little shocked at my concern over my dependence on the stuff, even though I sip at what can be considered a reasonably small amount of coffee in my large travel mug (lots of ice gets my coffee through lunch).  I figure I have a week more of my 75%-high/low-test grounds combo before I take the 100% lite version for a whirl.  I am betting I go no more than three days before breaking down and buying another canister of high-test to add to the coffee maker.

Wish me luck.  And, if you work with me, wish us ALL luck.