Hiding Out @starbucks

As much as a whole cadre of professional baristas like to beat on Starbucks for a variety of reasons I won't go into here, once in a while I like hanging out at the local Starbucks near my house.

It's not too busy. It's only three years old. It's clean. It's comfortable. On blazing hot days like today, it's got cold air conditioning. The black iced tea is agreeable (won't touch the other iced teas - they're abominations and should be banned). But most importantly, the baristas there are always nice and friendly.

Today I'm need of a spot to sit down, check e-mails and analyze reports. Can't do it at Spro because there's a never-ending parade of things to do there. Can't do it at home because inevitably I'll be distracted and end up doing something else, like reading cookbooks, actually cooking or watching back-to-back episodes of The Wire until 2 a.m.

Here I can focus on my reports, figure out what to do with them and generally look like I'm accomplishing something. Add a couple of cute female baristas making my drinks and life is pretty good. Now, if only the Nazis that run the Socialist Demokratik Republik of Maryland hadn't pounded us with draconian smoking laws forbidding me from enjoying a nice cigar with my iced tea it would be damn near perfection.