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No other coffee maker has fascinated passionate coffee drinkers like the Santos. Here Jrgen Bodum tells the Santos story, and after you read it youll understand why this passion for coffee has lasted two generations and for sure will last another two. In the mid-50s my father, Peter Bodum, imported a French coffee maker and sold it for a couple of years on the Danish market. Although he found it both expensive and unsatisfactoryhe was convinced that the vacuum coffee brewing system was the best way to brew a good cup of coffee. With this in mind he set out to develop the first Bodum vacuum coffee maker in cooperation with one of Denmarks first product designers, the architect Kaas Klaeson. Their slogan, design should not be expensive, is one that Bodum still stands for Product development in 50s Denmark needed a pioneers vision. From the first model, called Mocca, to the highly successful Santos, my father improved both the practical aspect of the vacuum coffee system and the quality of the coffee brewed in it. In creating a coffee maker to use on the stovetop as well as on a spirit burner at the table, he bridged the gap between everyday use and special events. His new, revolutionary nylon filter achieved a break-through in coffee brewing quality, far overshadowing the existing cotton and glass filters on the market. This patented filter strained coffee to a fine, tasteful and still aromatic coffee with nearly no sediments left over in the cup - a feat no coffee filter of the time was capable of. With its patented valve sealing a safety issue was solved by preventing too high of a vacuum to be formed. Santos became the coffee maker of the 50s, 60s, and a good part of the 70s. Its popularity grew to the point you could find a Santos in nearly every Scandinavian home. During the 60s my father added a number of new models to the collection. The Domingo, small and convenient, for 4-6 cups, and the Rio, for a full 12 cups and used mainly by restaurants. The Danish supermarket chain Irma even set up a catering kitchen with as many as 100 Rio coffee makers constantly brewing. When the brewing process was finished, the funnel was removed and the glass jug was placed in a thermos box and delivered to private parties by van. In this way, a hot and excellent coffee was delivered as an after-dinner surprise. Aromatic and delightfully served The magic of Santos and my fathers other glass coffee makers held people spellbound People wanted to follow the visual wonder of water rising into the funnel and its mysterious return as black coffee into the serving jug. A unique physical process with the ideal balance between the 94C, 201 F water and just the right brewing time, extracting the finest aroma from all types of coffee.

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The National Book Festival is held on the National Mall. I would suggest using the Smithsonian metro stop, which has an exit directly onto the Mall. Both the Orange Line and the Blue Line stop there. When you get out of the station, youre already in the book festival.
If youre coming in on the Red Line metro, change to the Orange or Blue at Metro Center heading toward New Carrollton (orange) or Largo Town Center (blue). If youre coming in on the Yellow or Green Lines, catch the Orange/Blue at LEnfant Plaza and head toward Vienna/Fairfax or Franconia-Springfield.
For those who dont live in DC but live close enough to come, I suggest driving down to one of the outlying metro stations and getting on the metro there. The Metro provides a clickable map so you can see which station is closest to your side of DC. Then click on the station (Greenbelt, Shady Grove, Glenmont, Largo, etc) for its location. Any station with a car logo by it actually has a parking lot, so if outlier doesnt seem like the best choice you can easily park at a numebr of stations.
And parking in DC Metro lots is free on weekends. Compare that with the rest of DC, where parking prices are crazy.

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I had a second date the other night with a guy named Mike. He wrote me on my photoless yahoo personals ad. He said he was from my area and was now living in Huntington Beach, but wanted to get to know me better. I had brushed him off at the beginning of the week when he wrote me on Yahoo messenger saying I was too tired; it was true since I had just come back from Kentucky and was going to bed about 9p.m. when he would instant message me. On Wednesday night I was having a really difficult night, but he was insistent on calling me, so I let him. We talked for about 3 hours on the phone about school and work. He taught for several years over where my dad works... and even at the same school. I was silent when we talked about this because I didn't want to give away who I, or my dad was. He said that he wanted to meet me, so we exchanged photos, then discussed plans about meeting up. He wanted to take me to his favorite pizza restaurant, then maybe walk along the beach in Newport.

He called me last night and we agreed to meet at 6:30 at the pizza place- I thought. He is on the phone chatting with me as I'm driving and he is giving me directions on where to go. He instead directs me to his apartment complex and I see him, a 32 year old guy who is 5'11'', a little stocky build, light brown, spikey hair, and great blue eyes standing there standing on his cell phone. I roll down the window to find out where to park and then he says to park at the end of the street in his complex. I asked him if he wanted to get in the car while I drove down there and he did.

Once out of the car we walk to the laundry room in his complex because he is drying sheets. The sheets aren't done, so we go back to his place and sit on the couch watching "World News with Charlie Gibson." He tells me how nervous he was when he first met me. I told him I really wasn't nervous because I figured I had my cell phone among other things if anything went wrong. We sat there and his mom called about a new apartment she was suddenly buying. He talked to her for a few minutes, went out to check his sheets, and I stayed in the apartment. He comes back and we take off.

We hop in his raised Ford F-150 and cruise down the street to the Huntington Beach pier. We talk about all of the foreclosures/housing in the area. He talks about how shocked he was his mom was now going to move and rent an apartment to get away from the area we live in to be closer to family. As we approach the Huntington Beach pier it smells smokey and there are fire trucks everywhere. Dukes, the restaurant at the pier had caught fire, the lights were out, people were standing all around. We looked as we drove past. We also talked about music- he likes GO Country 105, KFROG 95.1, and KBIG 104 also. He turned on Dolly Parton's song "Here You Come Again," which nearly caused a fight between us. You don't turn Dolly off. Sorry.

About 5 minutes later he sees flashing lights in his rear view mirror and he wonders if he was being pulled over. He was. The officer comes up to the truck and asks if he knows why he was being pulled over. He had no clue and neither did I. He said his license plate bulb was out. He asked for his license, registration, and insurance. Mike didn't have his current proof of insurance. The officers were gone for about 10 minutes just standing outside their patrol car. During this time it was absolutely silent in the car and he spent time thumbing around for his proof of insurance. I'm thinking "oh great, I don't know where I am, don't know why the officers are taking so long, don't know anything about this guy's past and if he did something to cause them to take so long." The officers come back to the car and tell him that they'll let him go on the insurance thing, but his brake lights are also out, that because he has a raised truck he needs mud flaps on the tires, and a whole laundry list of other violations. He did get a $10 correction ticket to get the license plate bulb replaced.

We sit in relative silence- I wasn't going to be the first to say anything, he was going to have to. He just said how shocked he was and I seconded that. He said how this was at least a good thing because he proved he didn't have a criminal past or anything like that that would cause the police to take him in. I joked that I wasn't sure after we were there for over 10 minutes waiting for them. We then talked about tickets we have got in the past. We talked about how beautiful and comfy it was out that night as we drove down PCH. I had never been down PCH and I live in So Cal... haha. We passed Lambroghini, Ferrari, BMW, and Bentley dealers. He talked about work and I did too.

We drive probably 20 miles down PCH to Jenny's Pizza on PCH in Laguna Hills. He pays and insists because I drove that far to see him. We eat out on the patio. He said I looked VERY familiar and I said he did too. I know why though, he looks like the owner of the Del Taco out where I live. He talked about going to church and I asked if he went to the one I went to since so often that is where people say they know me from. Nope. He is Mormon and I'm not. We talked about other ways we could possibly know each other, but couldn't figure out how we knew each other. We talk about the Metrolink crash last week since the topic of commuting came up and I told him the story about the train crash and my sister. My sister was not involved in the bad Chatsworth accident that killed 25, but the Corona accident that happened at about the same time and was only mentioned in passing on TV. The pizza comes and it is only alright. The crust is delicious, but I'm not impressed by what we ordered. He ordered jalapenos, green peppers, bacon bits, olives, and some other stuff on it. I ordered the everything toppings. I only eat 2 pieces, but my mouth was so hot from the jalapenos I didn't want any more.

We walk back to his car and he checks his brake lights and everything else. 1 of his license plate bulbs is burnt out, the other is fine. He was still ticked off about that. He told me about his family and how they all are moving out of the area we live in because his sister just moved to Dana Point and his parents want to be closer. He told me about some of the places we passed on PCH as we drove along. The buildings were neat- the architecture was so different on all of them. He asks me 3-4 times what I'm thinking and I tell him I had no clue what to think- I was in suspense. He tells me how he is really into boating, has a boat, and other outdoor activities. We talk about our interests and things like that.

We arrive back at his apartment about 9:45p.m. and he tells me to pick out a movie from his "extensive" collection (10 DVDs or so). His extensive collection included "Space Balls," "Family Guy," "Sweet Home Alabama," and a few others. I settled on "Sweet Home Alabama," he popped it in the DVD player and I went to the restroom. We came back and sat on the couch. We laughed at the same points in the movie and he gave his commentary and I did also. I was glad to see we found the same things funny. I see he seems a little tense as we're sitting there on the couch and I'm more or less sprawled out with my shoes off. I move my leg a little closer to his just because I wondered if we were going to cuddle since we're both real big on that. He pokes me and I poke him back. He put his arm on me and asked if I was ticklish. He tickled my stomach, then touched my leg and asked if I was ticklish. I said yes and I laughed as he tickled me. There was some staring into each other's eyes and then he would ask me what I was going to do if he tickled me, or well, maybe he'd have to do it again. In the course of his playing I touched his other arm and made a pass over his chest. He told me later he knew this is when it was game on and he really felt comfortable with me. We talk to each other and tickle each other for about 20-25 minutes.

It is about 11p.m. by this time and the movie will be ending shortly- he asks if I want to stay the night. Who knows what I was thinking, but I said yes. Actually, here's my thinking... he has only been with 2 guys, but nothing more than jacking off... something was always missing in his relationships with girls... he wants to take things VERY slowly and we had discussed that... in my book going slowly was cuddling, hugging, kissing, and nothing more on a first date... I had my limits set (no oral, fucking, etc)... he had said if one of us said we weren't comfortable with something to let each other know... I knew everything I needed like his address and name... and cuddling all night? Sounded good. I didn't call my parents to let them know I was staying the night "with a friend," and went straight to his bedroom. I told my parents when I got home that time didn't really permit and my mom said she was a little upset, but understood.

He asked if I wanted a night shirt and I said sure. We stripped down to night shirts and boxers. We lay in bed hugging each other, tickling, and occasionally kissing each other. The kissing is nothing but a small peck on the cheeks or him playing with my lip. He did lick my ears and neck, which totally had me going. He was turned on by how much I was moaning because of this. He kept joking the neighbors would hear- it turns out he had the window open to his bedroom. We laid in bed touching each other's bodies, and yes, we did touch each other's dicks, but only to make the jacking off motion, and this lasted for over an hour. It was 12:30a.m. and I was exhausted and falling asleep. Mike was kidding me about little things like how ticklish I was. I told him I was so tired I just wanted to go to bed. So we hugged and then ended up cuddling the whole night. He held me in his arms, which felt so good and I was elated. The only thing was there were a couple times I wanted to turn over in bed, but because he had me in his arms I couldn't. We both woke up a couple times that night and when we did we rubbed each other's chest or arms. About 6:55a.m. we both woke up. We kissed and there was a little tongue involved. Then he laid on top of me and we kissed, hugged, and grinded on each other. His alarm kept going off and he said he would have to get up, but he never made any attempt. We started jacking each other off, but never shoot our loads. We just stop finally at 7:40 when he says he needs to be on the road right now. At this time he hops in the shower, shaves, and does his hair.We hug, then walk out of his house so he can go to work. We go in different directions to our cars.

He called me on the way home to be sure I wasn't lost and told me how he was going to be late to work. We've talked on the phone everyday since and he wants to take me out on his boat soon.

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