Seriously, how long has this coffee stuff been around? Is it new? Why did I not know about it so much? Can somebody please explain to me where coffee has been all of my life?

I have never liked hot drinks. Ever. Not coffee, hot tea, hot cocoa, hot totties, nothing. That's just another way for me to hurt myself similar to the potato incident from St. Patrick's Day 2006. Until my episode last fall, I was a Mountain Dew guy. My reasoning was, it's got caffeine, it's got sugar, and it's got carbs. What's not to love?

But then, when I changed my diet, I didn't figure that the Dew was too good a choice, so I quit drinking it. After 25 years of having between one and 15 a day, I quit, and I never looked back. If we went out for lunch or breakfast, I had unsweet tea (which I've always loved) or water. If we went out to dinner, I had a cold beer. But sodas of all kind were gone forever.

But then, over the last couple of weeks, I haven't been sleeping great and combined with 2Doh's sleep habits, I had been as tired as I've been at any point since she was born, or even moreso.

So last Monday, after nodding off at my desk at 6:45am in the middle of typing an e-mail, I decided to have a cup of coffee.

Now, I still don't like hot HOT drinks. Hell, I don't like HOT HOT soup or even HOT soup. So I poured a cup, dropped in two ice cubes, and drank it.

Next thing I know, I have energy to beat the band. YAY!!

So two days later, I was equally tired and did it again, with the same magical results. Really now, does everyone know about this stuff?

This week, I've had a cup (or two) every day and I feel great in the morning. Also, I am generally starving by the time I get to work at 6am. Not hungry. STARVING!!

This week, after enjoying my cocoa bean lover, I haven't been hungry at all, even skipping breakfast proper twice. Now, I still eat a kashi bar but that's about one fourth of what I get calorie wise from even a healthy breakfast. I say thumbs UP to that!!

So here I sit, a gentle buzzing occurring in my brain thinking "What CAN'T I do today?", and I wonder if this wears off or if I've been missing out on one of life's great joys?

I still don't like the idea of cream and sugar barely tinted tan by a tablespoon of coffee and, therefore, I drink mine black. Also, I think the idea of a four dollar coffee is as crazy as anything I've ever heard of, but hey...until two weeks ago I hadn't had five cups of coffee in ten years, so I guess anything's possible.

Oh, and the other thing this does is open my life up to a whole new category of Father's Day gifts. Instead of ties and socks and whatnot, 1Doh and 2Doh can get / make me coffee cups.

Is there anything coffee CAN'T do?