Time for a coffee break

  The staff of GCM got a surprise in the mail yesterday -- boxes jammed full with a four-cup Mr. Coffee coffee machine, a pretty porcelain mug, packets of Starbucks coffee, a box containing six scrumptious (and long-gone) gourmet cookies and even coffee filters! That's a good day when something so yummy and unexpected falls onto your desk at work.

The package of treats was all part of Pace Turf's promotion of its new Pace Turf Information Center designed for superintendents who are members to access critical weather alerts, a photo gallery of insects, weeds and other turf damage problems, an online archive of research results and plenty of other benefits intended to help superintendents save time and money and prevent turf problems before they occur. Us media folks learned about the newly improved service through an online press conference today that carried the theme, "Coffee and Cookie Break."

Ed Hiscock, GCM's editor-in-chief, asked me what types of goodies were sent to the newsroom of my previous gig writing about fruits and vegetables. We regularly got packages of pineapples, mangoes, golden raspberries, pistachios and trendy new fruit drinks from companies eager for some editorial coverage. And while good, those snacks were far too wholesome for my liking. I'll take warm cookies and a mug of steamin' joe any day over produce.