From the first conversation I had with Leah (a phone call for an available position at thump) during which she mused out loud that the actual interview might involve some sort of Survivor-like reality TV barista challenge, I knew that thump was the right fit for her! The wit that came through in our first conversation resonates throughout all conversations with Leah! You just find yourself cracking up!

After graduating from college, Leah took a road trip. Destined for Alaska, she was sidetracked to Banff, Canada. Dwindling cash funds led her south, visiting all the friends she knew, until she ran out of money in Eugene, OR. She was broke and needed a job — but not in Eugene. She headed to Bend, and the place she knew she would fit in and gain employment was Mt. Bachelor. “The place,” she said, “where you can’t make enough money, so you can’t ever leave!”

A native of Colorado, Bend has now been home to Leah for longer than any place she’s lived. “It feels like I was meant to be here,” she said.  When she first arrived, Leah remembers Bend as a “… sleepy mill town where people weren’t recreating! I felt odd going for a run and assumed the river was a toxic waste dump because nobody was in it! Coming from Colorado, everyone was in the river!”  She appreciates “… how cool Bend has become and that there’s such a diversity in jobs that are not solely dependent on tourism and the lumber industry.”

Prior to joining us at thump, Leah jointly started and expanded a local business for 14 years while raising 2 children. She also started to explore a career as a doula assistant but put that on the back burner as it was challenging to try to juggle running her business, raising her children and taking up to 36 hours at a moment’s notice, to support parents-to-be through the childbirth experience. Leah sees herself possibly returning to the doula profession as it, “… brought out the best in me” she said. “I would come back from working for 36 hours and be on cloud 9!” Providing Hospice care also has its appeal to her. She’s drawn to working with the “… passages of coming in and out of the world.”

Thump has been so fortunate to attract employees whose passions, talents and accomplishments bring life to our shop and Leah is no exception! We’re so lucky that Leah has joined us at thump!

Mark in Mitlaufer

coffee brain sketch by: Sean Claughton

Mark transforms into a cat soon after he gets off work, don't leave your cat food/milk outside, you might regret it.

If you lived in Bend between 1980 and 1999, you surely remember Bend’s first introduction to espresso at Coffee & Co. on Wall St., next to the Tower Theater. At the tender age of 8, our featured thumpista Mark, started serving coffee at Coffee & Co., established and run by his grandfather and three aunts. Mark recognizes some of you as regulars who “lived” at Coffee & Co.!

Recently returned from a three-year stint in a New York beach town (where he tended bar at an Irish pub frequented by the IRA and owned by a retired member of the anti-terrorist task force), Mark is happy to be back in Bend, near family and the mountains. He is planning to pursue a Master’s in Teaching degree through OSU Cascades. “As of right now,” he said, “I want to teach high school, maybe looking towards college. English, creative writing… maybe History!”

Prior to moving east, for eight years Mark lived in Portland, where he went to school at Portland State University and worked at a handful of cafes that serve Stumptown Coffee, including Haven, Tiny’s and Ristretto. He also tapped into the music and theater scenes, performing for theater companies such as The Oregon Children’s Theater and Fever Theater, and with bands such as The 6 Minute Heartstop, The Vinos and Iretsu (all of which produced CDs). When asked what roles he’s acted, Mark responded, “I have been everything from an old man’s ghost to a French mouse… and literally most things in between. Once, I played the ghost of Mayor Bernard Goldsmith, mayor of Portland from 1870. I think one of my favorites was when I played the disembodied arm and hand of an old man living in a haunted forest. I really enjoyed this particular role because I got to learn some about puppeteering, as well as explore new movement techniques.”

Mark was in his first band, Dain Bramage, at age 13, along with some classmates from Cascade Middle School. “I started playing music on the piano, so I’ve always stuck with that, and I love playing bass,” he said. “I also play drums, accordion, cello and sing…. I love all kinds of music… maybe not ICP. I have played classical, jazz, punk rock, surf, chamber pop, lo-fi garage, country, gospel, rock ‘n’ roll… Right now I am really interested in simple. I have been leaning more towards old time and country, but I like employing any sounds that come up to let the music be its own engine.” In regard to performing, Mark reflected, “I really enjoy entertaining people. Also, I think that performance can show us a lot about what’s going on in our culture and the rest of the world. Both [theater and music] give a voice to things that are either hard to put into words or better left unsaid.”

In addition to preparing to start a Master’s in Teaching degree, and working at thump, we wondered what else Mark might fold into his life. “Someone familiar with my acting in Portland recently approached me about auditioning for a local start-up theater,” he said. “I want to get art going in my life and in Bend, and spend time outside.”

H: “Anything else you want me to include that I’ve left out?”

M: “I can eat fifty hard-boiled eggs.”

What a wonderful addition Mark has been to our thump crew! Please don’t take him to task on the 50 hard-boiled eggs feat though. Knowing him, he might just do it!

This month the spotlight shines on Brian. He is most likely a familiar face to those of you who frequented Royal Blend Cafes between 2000-2005 and Great Harvest Bakery in more recent years. An avid world traveler, Brian spent 2007/2008 traveling throughout Nepal, South America, NY, NY, and Denmark, intentionally in that order, to really experience the contrast between countries and cultures. Prior to this excursion, Brian traveled all over Europe, New Zealand, Australia, Japan and Brazil.

Since his return to Bend in 2008, Brian’s focus has been on developing a career as a Rangeland Conservationist. With a degree from Oregon State University in Natural Resources, Brian owns his own business, East Cascades Restoration, which helps create sustainable landscapes for generations to come. As a private contractor for the USDA and Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS), Brian works directly with Central Oregon’s ranching community, providing free services to private landowners to help them restore and conserve their natural resources.

Another seasonal job that Brian juggles with working at thump, is instructing with Commute Options “Safe Routes to School” program. He describes this program as, “Driver’s Ed. 001″. He works with 5th-8th graders on skills ranging from proper helmet fitting, to hand signals and negotiating round-abouts, to being more aware of their surroundings for safe bicycle riding throughout the community. A bicycle commuter himself for the last 5 years, Brian was drawn to this job. He enjoys teaching kids not only about safe bike riding skills, but also about being physically active and reducing their dependence on fossil fuels to get around town. He appreciates that this job is a great service to the Bend community.

When asked what he hopes for his future, Brian shared that he hopes to balance his desire to travel with building his professional career as a resource conservationist. He didn’t mention that he wanted to visit Antarctica, the only remaining continent he’s yet to visit! Instead, he would like to spend time in Bolivia and Argentina. “And,” he added, “I’d like to have a family. That would be good!”

She doesn’t work behind the bar at thump, but she is always behind the scenes, keeping our thumpistas happy with special treats and making sure the performance on stage is beautiful and tastey! Janet has been a member of thump’s family since the beginning, brainstorming with me (Hazel) on a regular basis about seasonal baked goods to fill our case, and providing amazing spreads of cakes, cookies, cupcakes and chocolates for various Art Hops and private parties here at thump. (See images.)

A talented specialty cake baker by day, Janet’s The Bittersweet Kitchen also provides thump’s cupcakes, bars, coffeecakes, sweet breads, and specialty cookies. We’re so fortunate to have this exclusive relationship with The Bittersweet Kitchen!

Janet remembers baking in grade school, before learning how to cook anything else. “Nothing was hard,” she said. “You know how they say making a pie crust is hard? I didn’t know that.” She grew up eating very seasonally, as her grandmother’s farm was bountiful with varieties of apples, plums, cherries, pears, loganberries, raspberries, blackberries, filberts, and walnuts.

“A lot was going on in the kitchen, canning fruit, feeding and nurturing people.” And she continues to do that! Last week, she brought a berry tart baked in a shortbread crust for our thumpistas. Juicy, tart, in a delicious crust!

The Bittersweet Kitchen’s chocolate cake with praline espresso buttercream, draped in ganache with sugar tile accents, won “Best Use of Unique Ingredients” in the 2009 Tour de Chocolat at the Tour Theater. For the 2010 Tour de Chocolat, look for the Bittersweet Kitchen’s “Love of Oregon” cake, using ingredients originating from Oregon. The “Love of Oregon” is a chocolate fudge cake, dressed in ganache with Swiss meringue vanilla buttercream, and chocolate French buttercream. Janet shared, “I love the decoration of cakes. But it’s all about how it tastes first; it’s not just about the appearance. The taste and the beauty meet each other.”

Though The Bittersweet Kitchen specializes in truly gourmet — and sometimes whimsical — cakes for weddings, special events and parties, Janet loves the relationship she has developed at thump, as do we. “I want to work where it feels good and I’m treated well. You guys take care of my baked goods. To me it’s not just a banana bread I’ve baked 200 times. It’s REALLY good! And I appreciate the certain niche of quality that exists at thump.” And from our point of view, though we’ve served hundreds of slices of her banana bread, we appreciate that they have been made by hand, with the finest ingredients, only for thump customers.

Desserts from the Bittersweet Kitchen will be offered at thump during the Spring Art Hop, Fri. 4/2. Come join us and meet Janet! To learn more about the Bittersweet Kitchen, visit the website, or search “The Bittersweet Kitchen” on Facebook.

Last time I interviewed Steven for our “thumpista” article, he interjected into the conversation that he was giving us six months notice to take two months off from thump to tour Eastern Europe on his bike. “Just a heads up!” I filed that information away and pondered this ambitious goal. Lo and behold, he and his friend Brett traveled for nine weeks and almost 2,000 miles, while we held a job for his return.

Their route took them through Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Serbia, Bosnia, Croatia, Slovenia, Austria, the Czech Republic and back to Poland. Part of Steven’s motivation was to visit the extended Chaprnka family. (Visit Steven’s blog about the trip here.) About every 4-5 years there’s an exchange of family members either coming to the States for a visit, or going to Europe. While traveling, Steven met up with his grandfather’s cousin’s family (3 generations of children and some sharing his last name) in Tolpocany, Slovakia. He described this time as, “Amazing! Everyone treated us like family, and fed us on the hour!” Before departing, his Slovakian family gave him two bottles of homemade brandy, which, at Christmas he took back to his family in Michigan to toast those who had taken such good care of him.

From our conversation, it appears that time visiting Steven’s family was the easy part of the trip. Overall, the nine weeks of cycling were more challenging and physically taxing than he ever could have imagined. From finding food, to deciphering different languages, to traveling through mountainous terrain in 100+ degree temperatures, to overcoming horrendous road conditions and speeding semi-truck trailers trying to run them off the road, it never got easy.

Where to take shelter at night was also an ongoing issue.  They used the www.couchsurfing.org community to line up households to stay with, but this required projecting a week in advance where they were going to end up. When they did arrive at their destination, after biking anywhere from 4–13 hours, they had no way of contacting their host families. So, they approached complete strangers and asked to use their cell phones, to be regularly turned down. They also stayed in hostels, hid in the woods, camped in an orchard, a church yard, farm fields and a bus shelter. All, remarkably, without incident.

When asked what he would have done differently, he said, “I would have brought much less, because you can always find it.” He also encouraged future travelers “to take huge chances, except don’t sleep in land mine fields!”

Steven would have liked to have spent more time everywhere they went, but he says “being on bikes made us so exposed, it let us experience everything in a much more accelerated way.” Despite the fact that this trip was “not a vacation!” he explains that he returned with the invigorated desire to continue traveling, and to always open his house to international travelers and treat them like family, knowing the difficulties they face.

Here’s to Steven, fulfilling a dream, challenges and all!

Chairlift at Termas de Chillan, Chile.

Kent and I love welcoming back staff after they have taken time away to explore the world. So many of us dream of doing something like taking several months to travel throughout South America during their winter to snowboard and study Spanish, but we don’t manage to make it happen. We knew pretty early on in Ellen’s career at thump, that she intended to go do just that. With great determination to save money by working ridiculous numbers of hours at thump and Pizza Mondo, and experiencing several set backs including undergoing shoulder surgery, Ellen fulfilled her dream!

This summer Ellen started her adventure in Santiago, Chile, the home base for her entire trip. She spent a month-and-a-half living with friends, studying Spanish and snowboarding. Onward she traveled to Peru, where she camped for several days at Machu Picchu. She also visited Canyon Colca, an area whose temperatures ranged from daytime temps of 80 degrees to below 0 degrees at night! She also attended several winter solstice festivals in Cuzco. Ellen then returned to Chile’s San Pedro de Atacama desert, one of the driest deserts in the world. She mountain biked in Valla de la Luna and traveled to several high altitude lakes that were inhabited by flamingos! Ellen moved on to Bariloche, Argentina, where she filled a month-and-a-half with the continuation of studying Spanish and snowboarding. Her last week was spent in a cabin in the mountains in Chile with friends from Oregon with more snowboarding on the agenda.

On this trip, Ellen met up with friends from the States and befriended fellow travelers from around the world, who she traveled with for short periods. For the most part though, she carried out this adventure on her own. Traveling solo was not the original plan and this was the first time she’d traveled alone internationally, but Ellen LOVED it! She reflected that this experience has made her more outgoing and much more intentional about seeking out the things she enjoys doing, and doing them; not waiting around to coordinate schedules with a group to make things happen. Since her return, her days have been “ . . . filled to the brim, I haven’t wasted a minute!” She’s so happy to move back to Bend (as are we!) and to enjoy winter in town and up at The Mountain. Ellen’s also excited to take on the new role of auntie for the first time toward the end of December!  We welcome Ellen back and hope that we can help make it possible for her to pursue her next great adventure!