Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Coffee Shop Blogging

Virginia Countryside


We're in Birmingham, AL now, and are at the coffee shop where my brother works. Called La Reunion, it's a hip, funky little place on the south side of town. It has great coffee, and art from local artists on the gold colored walls. It's a nice, relaxed place, with free wireless to boot. There are about 4 other folks in here, all working on computers as well.

One of my (and my brother's) pet peeves though...if you're going to stay for free internet, make sure that you buy something at least once per hour. It's the least you can do. Yesterday while we were here, we sat next to a lady who had been in the shop for the entire day. She bought a Caffe Americano in the morning ($2.95), ate lunch with her husband (who brought in food from somewhere else) at noon, and bought a latte later on in the afternoon. Basically, she used the shop as her office, making calls on her cell phone, and shooting emails back and forth. And then, she had the audacity to snap at my brother when he reset the server because some of the other customers couldn't get on. I made a point of asking Melody in a loud voice, "Let's see...we had lunch, 2 coffees, and 2 bottles of water...Do you want anything else? I'm going to go buy something to avoid seeming like a moocher." To the lady's credit, she did apologize for snapping at him, saying that her patience runs thin after 8 hours of working on the computer.

Birmingham has been a fun time, as we finally got to meet our newest nephew, Thomas. He's a cutie, and is nearly as big as his 3 y/o brother, Charlie. We had a great time playing with them, and hanging out with my sister and mom and dad. Robert, my sister's husband, couldn't come due to work. Last night, we had a few of my friends from high school and college come over for pizza and beer, and had a great time catching up with some of the folks that I'd not seen in 10 years. While a long time, we all were able to just catch up where we left off. It was also fun to meet all the kids that had come along in the meantime.

We're going up to the boat on Friday, and will have a chance to see my cousin up there whose wife just had a baby. Another cousin who lives in Nashville was down for Easter supper. All in all, it's been a great few days.

This is Boris (AKA "Uncle B."), my cousin's mother-in-law's dog. He's a Bassett/Black Lab mix, and has a "flipper" for a front left foot. He's a nice fellow, but a tad bit spoiled.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

It was great seeing you two. It brought back some good memories, and it was nice to get to spend some time with Melody. The kids had a big time also. Hope to see you both sometime soon (relatively speaking, at least less than ten years)! Take care and God bless.