life outside the office

so we're planting this church, which is a whole other series of blog posts conspicuously absent from my blog, and for now that means we are homeless. Hope booted me out of my office, which was a little sentimental for me since I've worked there 8 years, but I feel like I've been set free. I realized my desk was a repository for junk I couldn't decide what to do with and I'm hoping to not find space for one in our new building. I feel like a desk just beckons me, saying, "You must spend time with me" and I feel like it's a horribly unproductive environment for me when I'm trying to get a message ready. I do miss my bookshelves. I think the only thing I'll really miss about my office is that my kids knew where I was so they would come into our office suite and run down the hallway screaming, "Daddy, daddy!". I wonder what they're going to do the first time they run down the hallway screaming "daddy" only to find Joe in my office...

For the past few weeks I've been wandering from coffee shop to coffee shop in search of free wifi and a place to call 'office' for a few hours. Here are some observations:

- You can get free wifi almost anywhere in Raleigh and almost nowhere in Cary. One manager flat out told me it's because they figure people in Cary have enough money that they won't think about paying for it. The only place in Cary I've found free wifi is Caribou, and they just started offering it a few weeks ago.

- Cafe Cyclo was my favorite place until it closed a week ago. Great atmosphere, divided their spaces well so you didn't think you were right next to anybody. Too bad for me that it closed, but we bought a bunch of their furniture for the new building where our church will meet, so good for us. And Marissa Byelick made the best hazelnut lattes around.

- Whenever I'm at Helios I feel like everyone's listening to my conversation. Great location, not so great atmosphere.

- There's a new starbucks right by my house. I've been there a few times. Good coffee, no free wifi. I was listening to (eavesdropping, really) a manager evaluate one of his employees the other day. Good manager, but starbucks wants it's employees to eat, drink and breath starbucks 24/7. working for that place must really make you feel like you're working for the man.

- Tried out the Royal Bean on hillsborough yesterday. I'll be back. Free wifi, cool atmosphere, lots of space, and the folks behind the counter were awesome.

Any other suggestions?