My skating schedule this week has been totally disrupted by work, so I’m left with a limited number of swing rolls to talk about. But a conversation at work about different places to get coffee (and the relative taste-cost ratio) left me thinking about some basic philosophical questions.

What is better, coffee or skating?

As in all good questions, there are no firm conclusions, just strong opinions and the opportunity for friends to talk and acquaintances to throw ideas around (which is one of the best ways to acquire friends).

Hmmm. . . .

Cost. At certain places, a specialty espresso or cappuccino can cost as much as a skating session. Or more.

Energy pie. Coffee is certainly energizing. In some ways, it is the inverse of skating. You can relax deeply while you’re drinking it (okay, not when you’re doing the car-coffee-traffic thing). Afterwards, the caffeine makes you twitch all through those long meetings. Skating, on the other hand, is really tiring (all those swing rolls), but afterwards there’s that calm and beatific glow.

Aesthetics. Coffee can be really beautiful when the right barista prepares it. Skating likewise. Both can arouse impatience and irritation when they are not done correctly. On the other hand, I’d much rather work on my less-than-stellar mohawks than settle for a bad cup of coffee.

Almond croissants. These pair well with coffee. So do a lot of pastries. Skating, on the other hand, cannot be done well while consuming food, especially crumbly, buttery, just-the-right-amount of sweetness food. The more skilled skaters I know can eat and skate at the same time (you know who you are). But I cannot.

So it’s a toss-up or maybe just one of those random conversation-starters that I’ll use today instead of skating. Sigh.

Here’s wishing you one or the other today!