Ruminations on a Coffee Shop Hangout

When the girl behind the counter began recognizing us, I realized what we had become. We are "Friends". We are the sitcom of people sitting in coffee shops hashing out problems and talking about stuff and a lot of the time, not even talking at all. Just drinking coffee and surfing the web in little groups, a little Apple enclave in a room Apple enclaves. Well, the Apple people and the people like me, who lust for I-books but work on whatever we happen to own. As it turns out, this is being written on a little PC laptop called TROGON, which sounds a lot like a Godzilla antagonist. It does itŐs job usually without complaint, so I try not to look too lustifully at the Macs around me. So my friends surf and I write but we all hang together and talk and laugh and complain about each other.

I know that the coffee craze began in Seattle years ago and has spead like a Kona-bean virus across America. Small towns with farmers discussing hog belly prices over their morning Mocha-lappichinos have internet access.

We sit, we drink socially, but nothing that makes driving illegal and we hang. So did Friends come first and we followed, or was Friends based on all the west coast people in coffee shops doing what my friends and I do? Are we life imitaiting art which was based on life to begin with? Ultimately, does it matter? No, not really.

I just believe that coffee shops are the best hangout for me and if I can get my favorite drink AND free Internet access, all the better. There is something there that gives solace. A home away from home, with scones. It is also a prime place to, as I have seen male friends do this everytime we are there, check out members of the opposite sex. And since lots of different kinds of people tend to come to coffee shops, you tend to get a nice cross section. You get a lot of hippie-type people, you get students and neighborhoods folks of all ages. You get chess players, readers, talkers and surfers. ItŐs a place you can pass the time pleasantly or in groups.

It's nice to have a funky place where you can hang out and feel you belong. (Insert Cheers theme).

I have however, discovered an idec coffee I can make at home that's cheap and delicious. A bottle of the syrup costs about $4.00, which is close to the price of 1 iced coffee.

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