Kevin's post yesterday about working with his Q1 in a coffee shop made me smile.  That's something I've been doing for several years and it's interesting to see Kevin get indoctrinated with it.  There is something about the combination of caffeine, coffee aromas, and sitting in a coffee shop with all the other people "working" that makes for a productive work space, if the blenders aren't working overtime, that is.  I was in a Starbucks yesterday when I read Kevin's post which was appropriate, I think.  I spend time in coffee shops at least 4 times a week, usually between meetings or after my work day has ended.  While most of my coffee shop chair time is spent in various Starbucks, that's not always the case as I try to find independent shops whenever possible.  Starbucks usually wins my time simply due to the sheer numbers of outlets.

Yesterday when my butt was warming the Starbucks chair I saw something that I see so seldom it made an impression on me.  An older gentlemen (I love saying that) was sitting in one of the comfy chairs using his notebook computer.  He is in sales, at least I gathered as much from his phone call to the missus explaining he had two more sales calls to make in the afternoon.  What was unusual about Sales Guy was his computer usage.  He was actually using the notebook on battery power.  That's what notebook PCs are for, you might interject and you'd be correct.  But from one who spends a fair bit of time in coffee shops it made an impression on me because I can't remember the last time I saw someone on a notebook that wasn't plugged in.  To be fair a lot of the people I see in the shops may be topping off their batteries after a long mobile day on battery power but somehow I don't think they all could be.  It is not unusual for me to see 5 or 6 notebook users all sharing the outlets to keep their PCs on power all the time.  Kind of defeats the purpose of having a mobile computer to me.  Spare battery is the battle call of the true road warrior.