I'm sitting in Cafe du Soleil in Lower Haight; a really cute cafe/bistro with good espresso, tea, pastries, French bread and tasty looking sandwiches with wine and beer on tap; slowly watching the battery meter on my laptop count down to zero. Because there are no electrical outlets anywhere. How frustrating. And utterly typical of this town.
It is truly rare to find a telecommuter-friendly cafe in San Francisco. Either it's the dearth of outlets or else it's the WiFi that forces you to register and then boots you offline after an hour. During the work day, these cafes are only half-full, mostly with remote workers like me. What is the point of aggravating what few customers you have and forcing them to leave?
From the looks of Cafe du Soleil's clientele this morning, they're much like me. Each table that's occupied has (a) a laptop, and (b) a frustrated person watching their battery die. Why, San Francisco?
Battery on fumes, I'm packing up and heading to the Church St. Cafe. They get it.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Saturday, May 2, 2009
The Best Damn Bar Anywhere
My friend A from Seattle decided to do a little couch-surfing, and my roommates were gracious enough to open their home to her, so for one night she stayed with us. Knowing I'm a fan of dive bars, she came with a recommendation: Zeitgeist. I think I have a new favorite bar in town.
Sign on the door to the bathroom at Zeitgeist.
What makes it a great dive bar? I could rattle off features every dive bar should have ... good beers on tap, good tunes on the juke box, greasy pub grub and a kitchen that the Health Department might take issue with, a good local crowd, an outdoor seating area, pool tables, pinball machines, maybe even an old arcade console from the 80's. Zeitgeist has all of these. But there's something else. Zeitgeist swaggers. Zeitgeist is Axl Rose circa Appetite For Destruction, bad attitude and all. It's paradise city.
On another night, my local friend K took me to her favorite bars in town: the Cha Cha Cha and the Elbo Room. Both are fine establishments ... Cha Cha Cha an upscale bar/tapas place with a damn fine burger, and the Elbo Room is a darker, divier gin-joint with pinball and live music.
As for my other love ...
Coffee
I'm having fun wandering around and into local coffee shops. My latest favorite is the Church St. Cafe in the Castro -- great low-key, creative vibe. I did some good work while holed up here. There are so many cafes to choose from in town that tomorrow I'll probably have a new favorite.
Miscellaneous
(I guess if I had a Twitter account, I'd just tweet these updates, but I don't.)
An 80 year old black man named Mac at Aquarius Barber Shop cut my hair. His shop is on Haight. He's been cutting hair there since 1969. Whoa. He's seen it all, man.
I had brunch with my friend M who then showed me around the Castro and the Mission. He showed me where the gay and straight seating areas are in Dolores Park. Really? Good to know.
My decision to hire a CPA payed off. He emailed me to let me know he prepared my Q1 tax return. I had completely forgotten about it. :-P
I've given my 30 day notice. I've decided to look for another place here in SF for the month of June. After that, who knows?
Checkpoint
I'm now a month into my new nomadic life. I've hit no showstoppers yet, so onward! For me this has been one loooong month, and that's a good thing. It means I've seen and done a lot. After all, getting more out of life has always been the point of this adventure.
Sign on the door to the bathroom at Zeitgeist.
What makes it a great dive bar? I could rattle off features every dive bar should have ... good beers on tap, good tunes on the juke box, greasy pub grub and a kitchen that the Health Department might take issue with, a good local crowd, an outdoor seating area, pool tables, pinball machines, maybe even an old arcade console from the 80's. Zeitgeist has all of these. But there's something else. Zeitgeist swaggers. Zeitgeist is Axl Rose circa Appetite For Destruction, bad attitude and all. It's paradise city.
On another night, my local friend K took me to her favorite bars in town: the Cha Cha Cha and the Elbo Room. Both are fine establishments ... Cha Cha Cha an upscale bar/tapas place with a damn fine burger, and the Elbo Room is a darker, divier gin-joint with pinball and live music.
As for my other love ...
Coffee
I'm having fun wandering around and into local coffee shops. My latest favorite is the Church St. Cafe in the Castro -- great low-key, creative vibe. I did some good work while holed up here. There are so many cafes to choose from in town that tomorrow I'll probably have a new favorite.
Miscellaneous
(I guess if I had a Twitter account, I'd just tweet these updates, but I don't.)
An 80 year old black man named Mac at Aquarius Barber Shop cut my hair. His shop is on Haight. He's been cutting hair there since 1969. Whoa. He's seen it all, man.
I had brunch with my friend M who then showed me around the Castro and the Mission. He showed me where the gay and straight seating areas are in Dolores Park. Really? Good to know.
My decision to hire a CPA payed off. He emailed me to let me know he prepared my Q1 tax return. I had completely forgotten about it. :-P
I've given my 30 day notice. I've decided to look for another place here in SF for the month of June. After that, who knows?
Checkpoint
I'm now a month into my new nomadic life. I've hit no showstoppers yet, so onward! For me this has been one loooong month, and that's a good thing. It means I've seen and done a lot. After all, getting more out of life has always been the point of this adventure.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
