Coffee Shoppin'

This is a Monday morning ritual... coffee at the Starbucks downtown. Erica and I hop on the 7:56 and arrive down at Broad and High around 8:30, grab two cups, a couple of chairs and settle in for the next 25 minutes. It's a good opportunity to get the day started without being immediately thrown into it. 

My only problem with it is that, of course, it's a Starbucks... but when mom & pop aren't within walking distance and the building Erica works in is accessible without going outside, it makes it a tough locale to pass on... especially in the winter when the wind at that intersection tends to whip more than in most places. Plus, I'm old and tired of putting up a useless fight. It's just too bad that it's Starbucks, Einstein Bagels or Potbelly's... which the thought of the latter serving coffee is about as appealing as a solid week of their sandwiches. People don't think it's a big deal, but one day, that's all that'll be left. That's the way these places want it. Their insatiable appetite to sell coffee not just to you but to everyone, has driven out those that might've been cool with selling cups at a reasonable price to friends and friends of friends. And some might make the argument that everyone is in business so as to drive the competitors out of business, but I don't think that's true. I think there are a lot people in business that are content with providing a great product at an honest price. And then there are those that are only interested in the amount of product they can sell.

And this is usually why 25 minutes is the perfect amount of time. As nice as the conversation may start, I usually regress to complaining about something and Erica apparently doesn't want to hear it in the mornings. But by that time, we're both ready to worry about other things.