Two weeks ago, my wife had parent-teacher conference, then Friday and Monday off, so we took off to Chicago on Friday and spent some quality time together.

#sweet

Unbeknownst to me, I had the same thing on my calendar, just today and Monday, so my wife is working today. Hee hee! 🙂

#jerk

Hey, she did the same thing on Monday. However, my knee feels much better so the first point of business was to go work out. I got in three miles on the treadmill, then a 30-minute swim. At that point, I read to go home and sleep, but thankfully, the pull of good coffee was much greater! So, I did the Wal-Mart stop and found a wireless receiver so I can stream my phone through my truck. When I upgraded my phone, I lost my headphone jack, which means I lost the physical connection through the aux cord, thus a new gadget. We’ll see how it works. I’m used these before with limited success, but wearing my wireless earbuds isn’t always safe while driving.

#wellduh

I made it to Impact Coffee in downtown Decorah, which is a pretty sweet place to set up my computer, music, and sit back and people-watch. It’s always interesting to be out during the day because the vibe is entirely different. Many older people, some drinking just black coffee, others drinking specialty drinks, but some animated conversations to say the least. The younger people are the ones who are either making coffee, or they are running in, grabbing a coffee, then leaving. I’ve got earbuds in, so I can’t hear conversations, but they are happening all around me, along with people reading books and magazines, looking at their phones, and one guy is literally sleeping in a comfy chair. That looks like a plan, but not right now.

This is in an old JC Penny’s building (an FU to the JC Penny company for closing this place because the building was “too small”), which has been redone to have the coffee bar, seating, and an upstairs for overflow traffic and a yoga studio. It’s not the usual place for me to set up shop, but today, I wanted to people-watch. The other coffee shop I frequent, Java Johns, is an excellent coffee shop, but just a little slower on foot traffic. Today, I wanted to watch the world come and go, not just a few people, and I’m not been disappointed.

After I post this and comment on a few slices, I’ll open up the grade book and start getting caught up with work that I’ve not been able to do for a while. We are taking a trip next weekend (slices for Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday are set), and with the end of the quarter on the 15th, I want a majority of my grades done before we leave, both so I’m not scrambling (a constant with me) and because I’m taking next Monday off.

It’s been a while since I’ve just been able to be and observe people just being people. It’s kind of fun make-up scenes on why people are talking together, why the couple that was sitting in front of me got up, hugged, and left, or why my dude in the comfy chair has decided to take a nap right now! 🙂

As we approach the weekend, I hope you are able to find those times where you can sit back and just watch the interactions around you. They offer insight into the human condition, allow for some creativity in your mind, but most of all, they allow you that chance just to be, never a bad thing.

#unlessyouneedtogetyourdanggradesdone

*sigh* Fine.

Hey, enjoy a coffee picture on me! 🙂