More Coffee Shop Fun

There is a cute old couple on a first date sitting next to me. I can't help but listen in. I'd take a picture if it wouldn't be weird. He is charming her socks off and it is extremely evident. He seems to know that he is charming her socks off and is enjoying that fact.

I'm thinking about renaming this blog "Scenes from Starbucks," based on this and some previous posts (here and here). Unfortunately, I won't be able to spend this much time in coffee shops once school and work starts in a week. I'm also concerned about copyright issues with using the word "Starbucks."

Nonetheless, coffee shops are great places to sit and exist (and work). Just the other day, I watched a couple help a man jump his car outside of another coffee shop. They had just randomly met because they happened to sit next to each other in the coffee shop. When the man offered to pay for the couple's coffee in return for the jump, the couple told him, "No, just pass the kindness on."

Seriously, I can't think of a single better place to study humanity in all its glory and depravity. I will certainly miss all the time I've been spending here lately come next week.

This is lame, but I still thought I'd share

ESPN.com allows you to personalize your ESPN front page to include information on all of your favorite teams. You can organize it however you want, so I typically keep information on the teams that are currently in action near the top (football in the fall, basketball/hockey in the winter, etc.).

Well, I went on the page today and all of the teams on my front page that are currently in action are first in their division. Badger Basketball - 1st in the Big Ten. Belmont Basketball - 1st in the A-sun (2 of their 5 losses to Big Ten opponents). Nashville Predators Hockey -1st in the Central Division. This could create for a very busy March/April, but I would welcome that in a second.

To Jason: Where are the Red Wings in the Central Division? O, right, they're in 2nd.

More coffee shop drama

So I am sitting in a coffee shop working on an article I am writing. A little girl (probably 3 or 4) in here is jumping on a couch and screaming "Hi" to people who are sitting nearby.

I am sitting nearby and if she...

"Hi," I say out loud.

Inside I want to scream at this child's mother. First of all, this isn't your home and second, do you let your child jump on your couch at home? Even if you do, have you not taught her that home is home and everywhere else is, well, everywhere else. And you don't jump on couches everywhere else (assuming you do at home).

Going to coffee shops can teach you a lot about human beings and let me tell you, I am not impressed. I can't help but wonder what the fundamental problem is. I used to work at a coffee shop in Nashville and this is not just a Madison problem. Has the coffee shop atmosphere become so "homey" that people treat it like their home? I guess in some ways I treat coffee shops like my office, so maybe I am equally to blame. Maybe others are annoyed at people like me who come in and plug our laptops in and start working for hours on end. At least I'm quiet, though, and not bothering anyone else. Hmmm...