Ann Arbor Coffee Shop Blogging

It is really cold and windy here in Michigan today so I didnt want to go far for lunch. I figured it would be fun to take my laptop over to the coffee shop across the street.

Coffee shops are such interesting places and coffee shops in Ann Arbor are especially interesting....

It's mostly women here at the moment. I dont know if there are actually more women in the coffee shop but the there is only one guy in the back room here. Maybe women prefer this back room because it has an intimacy to it and is a good place to sit around unnoticed. I have had lots of people tell me that this particular coffee shop is known as a "pick up place" so maybe people sit back here in order not to be noticed. I like to sit back here so I dont get distracted by people coming into and leaving the coffee shop.

The conversations are what you might expect. Lots of liberal politics. Some gossip. Some business conversation. That sort of thing. One of the reasons I like the back room is that it actually is difficult to eavesdrop because the conversations blend together. I interviewed for my current job here and didnt worry about people listening in.

I come to this place often enough that they know my name but I usually just get coffee in the morning before work and dont hang out so it is kind of neat to sit here and see whats going on. There is such a different atmosphere here than there is at coffee shops in Ypsilanti. The people in Ypsilanti feel more real to me somehow. I always feel like I am "hanging out with the cool kids" when in the coffee shops in Ann Arbor. Isnt that funny? I think it is just that so many people are clearly very affluent while in Ypsilanti, people look different. I know that if places were like houses, Ann Arbor would be some kind of model home used to show off some designer's work while Ypsilanti has a more "lived in" feel to it. If you went to Ann Arbor's house, the dishes would all be done and the only clutter would be a stack of Russian novels on the bedside table. But in Ypsilanti, you might find things a little less put together and showy and more homey and comfortable. Like you could put your feet up on Ypsilanti's coffee table but you might feel you had to take your shoes off when entering Ann Arbor's house. :)

Things Are Good

Ahhhh. The neglected blog.

It is funny how little I feel like writing these days. I guess things like writing come in waves. At least for me anyways.

So things here in Michigan are good or at least as good as can be when the temperature is down in the teens and single digits (that's below zero with the wind chill). I am constantly reminded that I cant find my winter stuff -- gloves, hat, etc. I always tell myself in the summertime that the cold will motivate me to clean up my stuff so that I can find things like my hat and gloves and yet here I am with none of those things.

It is kind of like my washer. It broke last August. And every time I go to the laundromat, I tell myself that going to the laundromat will motivate me to clean up my basement so I wont be embarrassed to have someone come deliver a new washing machine. Not that I have the money for a new one at the moment. I figured I wasnt going to get around to buying one so I bought a plane ticket to Paris instead! I guess there are rewards to procrastination.

Anyways, all in all, life is good. I still love my job and still have it. I have a really cool house. I have wonderful friends. I went to my friend Burt's 40th birthday party on Saturday night. I had a really good time. I lost touch with him and that whole crowd for years but have reconnected with them (because of MySpace of all things) and I am just so happy about that. I met Burt when I was in the 7th grade! It is nice to talk to people who knew me whan I was young because I was so different then that no one I meet now can ever get to know that kid that I was. But Burt knows. As it happens, I was kind of an asshole but Burt is kind enough to have forgotten that part or at least kind enough to say that he does. But then wasnt everyone kind of a jerk in junior high/middle school? I suspect that my sister who teaches kids that age might agree with me although I've never asked her.

Work, Dogs, and TV

I havent been doing much this past week except the usual going to work, walking the dogs, and watching TV.

Work - Man, I have to say that my job totally rocks. I know I am always going on about it to people but I have really been fortunate to land here. My co-workers rock. The bosses rock. I get treated well all the time. I am generally good at what I do but I have found out that even if I make a big mistake, I get treated a lot differently at this job than at my other one. I still have days where I wake up and dont feel like going into work but they are much fewer and far between than before. All in all, in that area, things are going well.

Dogs - they sure are fun. Last week we had lots of snow and it is so funny to see how differently each of my two dogs deals with snow. Brooke LOVES it. She always runs out and dives right in. She gets her whole head under the snow, she runs around in it, she makes snow angels, and generally just has a blast with it. Tasha on the other hand will walk outside and then will turn around and try to walk back in the house as soon as she realizes that there is snow on the ground. I have to make her go out to pee. It is hilarious!

We have been having some really unseasonably warm days for the past couple of days. I think it got up to 64F yesterday which was a record high. There has been a lot of rain too which combined with the melting of all the snow from last week has meant a lot of mud. There is so much water and mud down at the park that the paved path is mushy. That is too bad since I am pretty sure that the city doesnt have money to replace it. They did replace the lighting down there though but, so far, they havent turned them on. Oh well. I went down there yesterday and there were lots of people with dogs there. It was cool. Tasha LOVES meeting people and other dogs. Brooke likes it too but with less gusto than this yellow lab.

TV - I have just discovered Friday Night Lights. NBC.com has full episodes all the way back to the pilot on their web site. I have watched the entire first season in a week and a half! When I first heard of it, my thought was "A show about high school football in Texas? It sounds perfectly awful" But it turns out that it is well written and quite interesting. Even the football parts are decent. I would even go so far as to say that this show's fake, staged football games are much better than real live football games. For one thing, they only last a few minutes and they just show the "good parts" ;) I am learning things about football from watching the show though.

Happy New Year!

What can I say? 2007 was a good year for me. I can only hope that 2008 will be just as good. I hope everyone's 2008 will be good too. There are 104 chances to win the lotto this year. I hope that me and my closest 103 friends all hit it big. Haha. J/K I am sure that if that scenario were to actually occur, I would find myself behind bars since no one, not even me, would ever buy such an occurrence :)

I am not big on New Year's Resolutions but I do have some goals this year.

I am going to go to Europe.

I am going to work to improve my external environment (i.e. keep my house cleaner)

I am going to challenge my mind somehow. Maybe this will be the year I spend more time playing video games :)