We're going to be taking a road trip to Nebraska soon and Zac decided at the last minute that we needed to get the headliner fixed on the car before we left. The headliner is that fabric that covers the ceiling(?) of your car. Ours has been slowly peeling away over the last year and for some inexplicable reason Zac decided that it needed to be fixed within 24 hours of us leaving on a three-day road trip. Never mind that we still need to do laundry, pack and take the dogs to our friend's house. (Which is a 1.5 hour round trip in and of itself.) This is on top of the fact that I was given a work assignment a few days ago that takes a fair amount of time. I had been working on some short, sweet assignments for the preceding few weeks and I figured, what the heck, I'll ask for one more before I leave for Nebraska, figuring I'd get another day or two of work in before we left. Of course instead of one of the nice six to eight hour assignments of the last fortnight, I got one of those good 20-25 hours beasts. My original goal was to have it completed by tonight, so I could upload my work and focus on enjoying the drive and the time in Nebraska. That isn't going to happen, meaning I will have to find the time to work either on the way to, or in, Nebraska. Hopefully I'll be able to get it done in the two nights on the way there so I can upload the work while I'm still at a hotel that has internet access. (Zac's folks have dial-up. I love my in-laws, but in many ways having dial-up in 2012 is almost not like having internet access at all.)
Having dropped off the car at the auto upholstery shop, I am sitting at a Starbucks looking out at the rain and sipping on a hot chocolate. I applaud their choice of the Nutcracker for our listening pleasure. It's classical, which is soothing and makes my neurons fire better. But is also familiar so I find myself happily bobbing my head along with the music as I plunk away on my keyboard. I've been here for an hour and a half already, and I'm trying to figure out the appropriate frequency of purchasing beverages to justify my sitting here. I don't think a tall hot chocolate is going to buy me four hours of favor from the baristas.
I don't know how people can actually work or study in a busy Starbucks. (Though I claim to be working, obviously I'm blogging, an indication of how hard it is for me to focus in here.) I had the option of staying at the auto upholsterer, but their shop wasn't exactly designed for waiting customers. Their reception area was a desk with a phone and shelves stocked with hundreds of rolls of fabric and leather. There was an old, worn seat from a car on the floor in one corner of the room and a miniature step-ladder in the other, but neither one looked like something I would want to sit on for multiple hours while balancing a laptop. I needed some place more customer-friendly.
So here I sit, looking at the rain, sort of working. I think it's time for some tea . . .
No comments:
Post a Comment