Working

It’s funny that when we got to this hotel, I decided to spend the first day working rather than apartment hunting. During that day the internet connection in the hotel worked fine, and I basically spent the day catching up on email (having spent the previous several days offline while packing and moving).

As soon as I started apartment hunting, though, the internet connection at the hotel stopped working. The hotel had no explanation for it, and no estimate for how long service would be unavailable. So I started relying on local coffee shops for internet connectivity.

My first impresssion was holy shit, there are a lot of Starbucks in this city. Probably not any more than in any other city, but my typical response to a Starbucks is to glare disdainfully at it’s occupants, wondering how they could be sucked in by a place with such bad coffee and saccharin ambiance (ever spent any time paying attention to the music they play?). So usually Starbucks occupies a minimal timeslice in my consciousness and is easily forgotten, perhaps leading me to typically underestimate their density in any given urban environment.

These days, though, I’ve been actively seeking out Starfucks, since I’m in desperate need of the drug they supply. No, not caffiene — wireless high-speed internet access. I’ve been to 3 different Starbucks in this city, all within two or three blocks of my hotel on Dupont Circle. And I’ve only looked north and south — I’m sure that more Starbucks lie in wait to the east and west.

I’ve also tried the local Starbucks-alternative, the cyberSTOP cafe, which I was very pleased to find. Unfortunately the coffee is just as bad as Starbucks and the service is less friendly. Not to mention that there’s only one cyberSTOP, and I just feel kinda funny about sitting down and working in a single cafe for more than a couple of hours at a time.

Today I found what seems to be a great alternative, Sharky's Expresso Shop in the new U district. I haven't tried the coffee, but the chai-from-powder ain’t bad (does nobody but Mocha Joe’s make the real thing?). They have wifi, a comfy atmosphere, friendly staff, and best of all, it’s not Starucks.

So of course, now that I’ve found a decent spot to work away from the hotel, the internet connection at the hotel started working again. Sigh... I suppose it’s for the best, since now that we have signed a lease on an apartment I am now working full-time again (so coffee-shop hopping has lost its luster).

Working full time again has made me realize how crappy the ergonomics of this hotel room desk are. The ergonomics of working at coffee shop bars and tables are even worse. What it means is that my wrists are acting up again, which sucks. When you’re 26 years old the last thing you want to have to worry about is an injury that could destroy your ability to continue in your chosen profession.

Hopefully City-to-City will pull through and we’ll get to move into the new apartment soon, so that I’ll be able to bust out the Aeron and my special laptop stand. Otherwise I’m doomed to spend the next few days or weeks researching (reading) instead of developing (programming).