Playing cupid

In one of my first entries on this blog, I wrote that I have become an expert on the location of every electrical outlet in all the cafes within a five block radius of my apartment.  As laptopping in cafes becomes more and more common (these days there are more cafe people with laptops than without), this knowledge is necessary for survival.  There's no worse feeling than lugging your laptop to a cafe, waiting in line, and then turning around with your drink to see that all the tables by the outlets are taken by other people.  Seats by the outlets are coveted positions, and nothing brings out the worst in people when others are doing the coveting.

Several months ago, I went into a local Starbucks and gleefully nabbed the last table by an outlet.  I ordered a coffee and bagel, set up my gear, plugged myself in and got to work.  Five minutes later, I heard an angry "Hey! Excuse me!" from in front of me.  I looked up, and there was a pert blonde lady in her late-twenties, looking down at me with daggers in her eyes. 

"I reserved that table," she said through a deepening frown. "It's mine."

I blinked and removed my headphones.  "Reserved?" I asked, genuinely confused.  "How?"  Could you actually do that?

"I put my jacket on the chair," she said.

I looked behind me and saw nothing.  "I don't see a jacket," I told her truthfully.

"Yeah, it's over there." She answered, and then pointed to a jacket - which was hanging off the chair of an entirely different table.  "See? It's right there." 

"Um," I replied, talking slowly and trying to find the right words. "That's not this table.  That's another table."

"Well, I *meant* it to be this one."  She retorted, as if it was obvious.  "So could you get up?"

I debated for maybe half a second. I looked around at the crowded cafe, where every table (bar the one with her jacket) was taken.
"Sorry," I said.  "If you wanted this table you should have put your jacket on this table."

Her eyes narrowed into slits. "You are SUCH a gentleman," she huffed. Then stormed over to the empty table to collect her jacket.  Just then a guy at another table waved at her and said "Hey, there's an outlet here.  I'm not using it. You can share this table with me, if you want." She looked at him, looked at her stuff, huffed again, and then reluctantly agreed.

Normally the story would end there, but today I went to the same cafe and I saw her again.  Not only that, but she was with the same guy!  They didn't recognize me (why would they?) but for some reason I recognized them.  I couldn't tell if they were a couple or not, but I'd like to think that they were.  That on that fateful day, they shared a table and made a connection.  That he hesitantly asked her out and she agreed, and after a short time love bloomed. 

Maybe they'll get married one day, and decades from now they'll tell their grandchildren about that jerk who enabled them to meet by not giving up his table.

-Dave

Design mobility

So I'm in the midst of what I call the "design phase" of development.  For me, this is the most fun and also the most challenging part of the process.

On the one hand, I've got a lot of creative freedom.  I let my mind go nuts and my pen follows suit.  If what I come up with sucks or doesn't work, I just cross it out and start again.  It's quick, it's dirty, and it's very satisfying.  I think I have about a dozen notebooks of cross-outs and scribbles on my shelf.

On the other hand, I rarely feel like I'm accomplishing anything substantial.  During proper production, you have a list of tasks you need to accomplish and you get the satisfaction of ticking them off one by one.  You have a large goal that is broken up into smaller goals, and it's much easier to digest.

The design (or pre-production) stage isn't like that for me. I can't break up the game into smaller chunks, because I have no idea what the game is going to be.  It's some nebulous, insubstatial, raw thing that's floating out there in the ether.  So there are days where I feel great that I get to be all artsy and creative (this is fun), but there are days when I pound my head in frustration when I see that a whole day has gone by and I've only designed half-a-puzzle that I may or may not keep (this is not fun). Time is money, and all that.

But the biggest perk to the design phase?  I don't need my laptop.  No longer do I have to lug that thing around.  I just grab a working pen (usually two, just in case) and a notebook and off I go.  A laptop gives you great mobility, but a pen and notebook is even more so. 

In the last week, I've done design in the following places:

- on the subway
- Washington Square Park, while a live jazz band played
- on a bench overlooking the east river
- a park overlooking the Hudson river
- the back seat of a taxi
- the bathtub

So yeah, the design phase can get frustrating but it certainly has its moments.

-Dave

Wi-fi is everywhere

Cafes and laptops go well together.  There's something about tapping away on a sleek little machine while sipping a drink in the intellectual surroundings of a cafe that appeals to a lot of people.  You only have to peek into a Starbucks or a Cosi's or a Think to see that thousands of others feel the same.  Which is why many cafes offer free wi-fi in order to bring people in.

Wi-fi in cafes I understand.  Wi-fi in some other places... well, it just baffles me.

About six months ago, a burger joint opened up around the corner from me.  I've eaten there.  It's pretty good.  Eating a burger in a burger joint makes sense.  What doesn't make sense is the sign in their window that proudly displays the words "FREE WI-FI!"  I read this and was instantly baffled.  Surfing the web while drinking a double mocha latte?  Sure!  Surfing while munching on a burger?  How does that work?  Wouldn't you get grease everywhere?

I've noticed free wi-fi being offered in bars and diners, too.  I guess it makes a kind of sense, although I have yet to see many people taking advantage of it.  Maybe I should try working in one of those places one day.  In the name of research.


-Dave

10 things I've learned from working in cafes:

As I've posted before, I've been doing the laptop cafe thing for awhile.  Here are a few little bits of wisdom I've picked up.  Use them wisely.

10 - It's impossible to sound masculine when ordering a latte.

9 - If you have to answer a call of nature, bring your laptop with you.  If you ask someone to watch it for you, they will always say yes before promptly forgetting about it.

8 - The girl smiling and cooing at her computer screen is talking to her boyfriend on skype.

7 - Get there before 9:30 AM if you want any hope of getting a table near an outlet.

6 - You can coast in a cafe all day on one cup of coffee, but it won't make you well-liked by the staff.

5 - People might look like they are doing important things on their laptops, but half of them are just updating their facebook status.

4 - Free wifi sounds like mana from heaven, but in a crowded cafe (with dozens of laptops) you might as well be on 300 baud dialup.

3 - The people you think are weird are thinking that you are just as weird.

2 - Nobody actually cares what you are doing on your laptop, no matter how interesting you think it is.

1 - Rainy days + warm cafe + sweet jazz music = best work environment ever.