Wherever I go, I pick one up.

As you can imagine, my collection is vast.

Pretty soon I’m going to need a few new cupboards to hold my collection of travel coffee mugs.
I’m not big on T-shirts, so my souvenir of choice these days is a mug.

When I went to Philadelphia for a weekend after the Fourth of July, I got two. I was only there for two days.

In mid-June, when I went to Washington to cover Mentor resident Mike Rae’s participation in the Police Unity Tour bike race, I got two. That was a better performance, because I was there for five days that time.

The mugs come in handy because I suck down gallons of coffee during the day. Any day. Every day.

These days, though, it’s all decaf. When someone new joins the newsroom, I warn them that the pot sitting in the office next to mine is filled with decaf — not because I don’t want them to take any, but because I don’t want them relying on it to stay awake.

There’s another pot two doors down that’s filled with high-test.

And, now that I think of it, there’s entirely too much caffeine in this newsroom.

Especially since we got a Keurig.

The single-cup coffeemakers are growing in popularity as word spreads about their ease of production and relative lack of cleanup.

I’ve looked them over many times in the past year or so, but each time I came close to pulling the trigger I have put them back on the shelf after remembering my coffee mugs average about 16 ounces.

The Keurig we have here in the office is able to produce coffee in three sizes — 6 ounces, 8 ounces and 10 ounces.

Pishahhhhh.

To fill my mug, I’d need two cups — a second one to hold the extra four ounces that won’t fit into my travel mug.

Regardless of my relative lack of excitement for the fancy new gadget in our midst, I must admit I’m thrilled about the reason it’s here in the first place.

You might have noticed that in the past few months The News-Herald has been hosting a lot of events here in our office.

Sports discussions with beat writers came first.

Then, this past week, we hosted the candidates on the November ballot for an open house.

Those on hand got to check out our new living room in the newsroom, complete with wall-mounted big screen TV, as we discussed politics and caught up with those we’ve been covering, in some cases, for many years.

We also got to make friends with some new faces on the ballot. And, finally meet some familiar names. Such is the case with Denise M. Kaminski, Geauga County’s clerk of courts.

I got to discuss the latest technology with Lake County Prosecutor Charles E. Coulson and Jason Wuliger, Republican candidate for Lake County recorder — when I go shopping for my next gadget, I’m asking them along for the trip.

A little while later, Wuliger’s challenger, Democrat Ann Radcliffe, and I got to discuss the horrible chairs we’re forced into at Lakeland Community College during our annual candidate interview sessions.

We completed this year’s discussions about two weeks ago, and they’ll be airing beginning in late September.

He might not realize it, but many of our younger staff members stopped in their tracks when Republican Bob Patterson walked in. The candidate for Lake County treasurer bears an almost shocking resemblance to former News-Herald reporter and editor David W. Jones.

In fact, because of the political nature of the event, many of them figured it was Dave when he walked in, since he spent so much of his time focused on politics.

I got the chance to ask Geauga County Probate/Juvenile Court Judge Tim Grendell if he’s glad the case involving accused Chardon school shooter T.J. Lane has left his courtroom.

When he said it was a relief, I couldn’t help but look across the room at Geauga County Common Pleas Judge Forrest W. Burt, even though he doesn’t have Lane’s case now that it’s in adult court. Fellow Judge David L. Fuhry is handling the case.

When I mentioned new friends, I can’t leave out Emilee Teresczuk, candidate for Lake County clerk of courts; or John Hamercheck, candidate for Lake County commissioner; or Jim Dvorak, candidate for Geauga County commissioner.

We’re looking forward to more visitors here in our new living room, and expect more surprises down the line as we debut more ways we’re going to share our space with the public.

LKessel@News-Herald.com
Twitter: @Lauranh