Dave Morris NewsOK.com Blogging Community

We must be getting close to the holidays.

Starbucks does a great job of marketing. They extend their brand in many directions, perhaps expanding too quickly and outgrowing their markets. However, they typically have a good grasp on the seasons and their customers’ tastes during certain periods of the year.

So now when you pull through a drive thru at Starbucks - and let’s face it, the drive thru at Starbucks is remarkably fast, compared with Subway for example - your coffee is contained by the festive red holiday design, complete with pine trees and doves.

Maybe it’s the little things, commercial as they may be, that you notice at the end of a long week.

Edwin Grant Dowty, a Woodward educator, former foster parent and minister of the New Covenant Church of Woodward was arrested Monday and charged with three counts of lewd molestation of a female under the age of 13.

Ellen Censky, director of the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, announced today she will resign next month from the University of Oklahoma museum.

Oklahoma State University today became the largest campus in the state to ban tobacco. OSU President Burns Hargis said the policy aims to make OSU a clean and healthy environment.

Starbucks Corp. has announced it's closing 600 underperforming stores in the United States. it expects to open fewer than 200 new company-operated stores in the United States in fiscal 2009.

Looking ahead to your Wednesday forecast, expect highs in the mid 90s in OKC.

USA Today has a story today about Starbucks offering a 2 hour free wifi window with AT&T. It’s about time. Their contract with T-Mobile is phasing out. There are still some strings to Starbucks “free” wifi, but overall it sounds fairly business saavy on their part.

So what do you think of Starbucks’ new logo? The mermaid shows more. The logo is brown instead of green.

If you missed it, Jenni Carlson has a good story about the five men who are leading the charge to keep the Sonics in Seattle.

The story breaks down each of the five men:

Gary Nickels, Seattle mayor
Richard Yarmuth, attorney for Howard Schultz
Brian Robinson, Save Our Sonics director
Slade Gorton, City of Seattle attorney
Howard Schultz, Starbucks chairman and CEO

Starbucks will now serve up an everyday brew. Hmmm, and I thought the lattes I ordered there were of the everyday variety already. This seems a little too marketing driven.

But you can get a free cup tomorrow.

“To celebrate the launch, it will give away free 8-ounce cups of Pike Place Roast — named after its first store in Seattle’s famed public market — at more than 7,000 U.S. stores from 11 to 11:30 a.m.”

Now we’re talking.

Starbucks recently opened a location at Britton and Broadway, diagonally across from the OPUBCO building. I know I spend enough money at the McDonald’s across the street, and I certainly buy my share of Starbucks at any number of their locations.

Seems the everyday variety coffee is a big deal to Starbucks. They embargoed the story on their web site. I doubt they care that word has leaked out.

Here’s more on the coffee:

“Chairman and Chief Executive Howard Schultz touted Pike Place Roast for its bold flavor, smooth finish and “subtle, rich flavors of cocoa and toasted nuts.”

It will be freshly roasted, hand-scooped, freshly ground and brewed in small batches that sit for no longer than 30 minutes. It will be brewed, both regular and decaf, alongside rotating coffees of the week, and sold by the whole bean for $9.95 per pound.”

Apparently this is why Starbucks shut down its stores for a few minutes in February: to train its baristas.

I won’t lie. It’s cold today. Overcast, breezy and cold. How cold? iPhone weather reports 48, and I’m pretty sure it’s warmed up in the past 3 hours I’ve been up.

And what’s up with people’s dedication to Starbucks? Nothing against Starbucks, I’ve spent my share of cash on their brew. But here at the Marriott World Center, there is a Starbucks in the lobby. And people will line up 20 deep and wait forever for their drink. That’s crazy.

Maybe they don’t know there is a coffee shop downstairs that isn’t as busy. $2.50 for a large.

I know, it’s not the same.

Oklahoma Starbucks; Sooner Assistant Coaches; Size 2 is not fat.

Get up early tomorrow. A total lunar eclipse can be seen in Oklahoma around 4 a.m. and ending by 7:30 a.m. The Earth's shadow will glide across the moon's surface, eclipsing it and turning it to shades of orange red. Go to nasa.gov to watch a webcast of the eclipse. I'm probably going to go ahead and miss this one. The next total lunar eclipse occurs in February.

Yahoo is introducing new features today for its email. Users will be able to send e-mail, instant messages or text messages from a single Web site. Think of the money parents could save if their kids use their computers to text instead of 15 cents per text via cell phones.

Dunkin’ Donuts is trying to refresh its image by largely eliminating trans fat. How? With alternative cooking oil and by reformulating 50 menu items — doughnuts included. All by Oct. 15. Krispy Kreme has yet to roll out a zero gram trans fat doughnut but hopes to do so. Starbucks said in May that it would cut artificial trans fats out of its food and drink by year’s end.

Stay healthy America.