Coffee On The Balcony

5/11/2026

Coffee on the Balcony

I didn't have to make Keshav breakfast today for two reasons:

1. He is in Boston for Mother's Day.
2. I am in Palm Springs visiting my bestie Dave O.

Freed from breakfast duty for the weekend, I poured myself a cup of coffee and sat on the patio of Dave's new condo and watched the morning sun highlight the mountains. He lives in a complex that, as you can see, has a pool in the middle, and it is a pretty great view to look at in the morning, or anytime for that matter. 

After getting on the road back to Los Angeles, I had a breakfast burrito at a Carl's Jr.. It was pretty decent, and I have to give them credit for making the eggs fresh to order. As I was waiting, I looked at the menu board and thought to myself, "This food looks really fucking good!" I realized that fast food is designed to appeal to our short-term reward system in our brain, and that is why Wing Stop puts both salt AND sugar on their fries. Is there anything more appealing short-term? 

As I looked at the Carl's Jr. menu board, I thought about how satisfying it would be to get a Western Bacon BBQ Cheeseburger with Fries and a Coke. At least it would be satisfying until it was consumed. After that, I suspect that the satisfaction would decrease as my body figured out what to do with all of that. But in the moments I had to look at the menu board, I got it--sometimes we choose short-term because the long-term offers less satisfaction. I see that drive for short-term satisfaction all the time in the generally overweight people who often patronize fast food outlets. I just don't want to make that trade-off for myself. 

Did you know that Carl's Jr. started as just one cart serving hotdogs and burgers? Carl Karcher started the whole thing with is wife way back when, but what puzzles me is where the "Jr." came from. If Carl was a Junior, wouldn't he call the cart Carl Jr.'s? I suppose I could ask Google for the answer, but I don't really care enough to solve this mystery. I will instead just live with the unknown of it all.

*

Keshav comes home on Wednesday, so I have a couple days to myself here. I was going to take myself to see the new 3D Billie Eilish concert film, but I decided I needed a night at home so here I am. Billie Eilish is a singer who I feel comes around once in a lifetime, like Frank Sinatra, Amy Winehouse, and Madeline Peyroux. She has a timeless voice and unbelievable talent for creating songs that get into the listener's bloodstream, if you know what I mean. I wonder if my interest in her music, at age 63, is similar to my mother's interest in Madonna when she came out (my mother was 63 as well when Madonna hit is big in 1985). 

We never lose our ability to appreciate art, do we. I feel fortunate to have been born in a time when Madonna and Billie Eilish are creating art. In many ways I look at what is available to me in the time I am alive on this planet, and the list never fails to astonish me. 

But I don't need a list, not really. If my time on this planet only included Madonna, Billie Eilish, Wing Stop french fries, Keshav, and coffee on Dave's Palm Springs balcony, that would be more than enough. 

It would be more than enough.