by James G. Logue

NEWS EDITOR

Like most people, I enjoy a good cup of coffee at my desk while I work. I have a coffee mug that I keep in my desk drawer, and I wash it once a month whether it needs it or not.

I know a lot of you finicky clean freaks out there are probably recoiling right now, thinking I'm some sort of mega-slob, but I've broken in the cup just right and I don't want to mess it up.

It's not necessarily one of my favorite cups. I keep my favorites at home -- like the Homer Simpson "M-m-m-m-m coffee" mug, my Chester A. Arthur Presidential Library and Museum mug and my "Decaf? What idiot drinks decaf?" mug.

But the cup I keep in my desk serves my purposes. It's a West Virginia Press Association mug. They were nice enough to give me an award a few years back and I was nice enough to steal one of their mugs on the way out the door.

To clarify, I don't thoroughly wash my mug out very often, but I do rinse it out daily. I'm not a complete troglodyte, you know.

When I leave the cup on my desk over the weekend and it still has some coffee in it, I have quite a science experiment going when I come back on Monday. That powdery, non-dairy creamer that blended so well with the coffee on Friday is generally floating on top by Monday. It sort of resembles those old pictures of Love Canal back in the '70s.

I know there have been studies done (with taxpayer money, no doubt) on the dangers of improper coffee mug hygiene. There are risks of contracting mononucleosis, halitosis and anacanapanasan, to name a few. But risk is my middle name. I live on the edge. I laugh at danger. And I like a good cup of coffee while I'm laughing.

I know the day will come when my Press Association mug will crack or I'll drop it on the floor and it'll smash into a million pieces, and then I'll have to break in another mug. It happens.

One thing I'll never do is drink from styrofoam. Now I know the styrofoam industry is the third-largest industry in North America, employing 2.3 million workers, but I just can't drink coffee from those things.

Give me a good old ceramic coffee mug (preferably stolen) with an oversized handle and I'm happy.

Of course, I'd be happier if I had a doughnut, too.

News Editor James Logue can be reached at 626-1031 or by e-mail at jlogue@exponent-telegram.com