Another year, another title, another seemingly bodged report based on FBI facts, another sucker punch to Detroit. After losing to St. Louis last year, CQ Press a unit of Congressional Quarterly Inc, used FBI crime statistics and elevated my home town to No. 1 – “Most Dangerous US City”. This dubious “score” of 407 to St. Louis’ 406 must be irritating to mayors and crime officials alike, as this has been touted as a gross misuse and inaccurate interpretation of data.

Since moving further into the suburbs, I am no longer toting this crypto-facto-brication with pride. When I went to school and regularly attended events downtown, I fancied myself as a hardened city-dweller. I rarely ever find myself in Detroit proper, save for the two miles that I drive through to get to my home. Now that I live in the bubble of suburbia (granted 500 yards from the border) I wait until people question their own city’s safety. They talk of their crime, and in some cases they have more dangerous cities, but I have aggregated crime data forged into a number on an unregulated scale calling me… a badass in a dangerous town.

The Associated Press: Detroit Declared Most Dangerous US City [link]

I’ve been late, a lot. Chronically late for work. My mornings have dragged on and I realize that I can streamline the process to get out the door quicker. It’s not the shower, the wardrobe, the creative ways of cobbling together a ‘nutritious’ breakfast. A big part of my morning is preparing coffee.

I mourn for my super automatic coffee maker. With a touch of a button the grinding mechanism would activate, the water pump would whir followed immediately by the sound confidence and courage pouring into my cup.

Busier mornings, preparing coffee was less courtly. The outside foam of an insulated disposable cup would blister in the microwave as milk heated; foaming milk on that machine was a chore, and I would collect the coffee in a pre-warmed turkish coffee pot which contained sweetener. As the coffee streamed in, I would give the pot a swirl to properly mix the bitter and sweet then pour the contents into the disposable cup. Zero to bliss in ~50 seconds.

My super automatic coffee maker conked out last spring. We’ve had no plans to replace it, but since I’ve been running late for the past few weeks I think I can justify its high cost. In fact, I’ve paused in the middle of writing this to check prices. Despite the failing dollar, they’ve come done in price. I know the snuff will object, but he’s a sucker for a good crema.