Old school is okay!
- Jay Dunkle
- Nov 16, 2025
- 2 min read
“Here’s your smoothie” …but I ordered a coffee! 😫
From my blog last week, “Let’s talk Cruisers,” you’ll quickly realize that I’m comfortable with older technology and I don’t mind showing my age. I have a running joke with myself that many of my choices in clothing, music, watches, etc., are typically sold-out, discontinued, close to a decade or two old, and generally no longer available. Taking full responsibility for my ‘out-of-touch’ taste, I’m also not usually willing to adopt new and cutting edge technology, fashion trends, concepts, etc., until they have been around for a while. Perhaps I’m obstinate or even risk-adverse, but I just prefer to hold off for a bit until some of the bugs have been worked out.
Call me old-school, but one of many things I just don’t get recently are the fruity flavor-notes in our modern coffee! I’ve seen coffees described as having notes of strawberry, watermelon, grapefruit, cherry apricot…you name it! I remember ordering my first Mocha Latte, probably in early 1996 or so, and that was it…no optional milk choices, additional flavors or shots, just a mocha. Before that I only remember ordering a cup of coffee with the ‘cow’ (a serving of dairy-based creamer). It was simple and dare I say - superb! They served diner-coffee, dairy creamer (yes, I realize there are some who have dairy sensitivity), and always offered free ‘warm-ups!’ Oh, the good ol’ days!
I would like to argue that some of us enjoyed life so much back then and almost have a nostalgia for the ‘lack’ of choices there seemed to be. If you enjoyed a song you heard on the radio, you bought the Vinyl or cassette (huh?). If you liked those wing-tip dress shoes you bought them in brown or black. Jay, don’t you want us to have choices? Yes, I do. But I also don’t think you should need a decision-tree or Venn diagram to have to make them. When Steve Jobs was (re)instated as interim CEO in 1997, Apple was almost bankrupt. Jobs cut 70% of their product road map and consolidated offerings down to the most successful! Well…fast forward and Apple was the first company to reach One Trillion market valuation in 2018. They must have done something right!
To me, being Old School simply means enjoying what you have and not needing the newest and latest. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Enjoy that plain cup of coffee and add some nice cream and sugar to-taste. Simplify your life, reduce the amount of decisions you have to make, and utilize what you have to it’s fullest extent. Live simply, satisfied, and with intent!
I hope you have an incredible Sunday! Go forth and live your Default Life!
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