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  A picture named MacchiatoPortrait.jpg Perils of Caffeine in the Evening
Ill-advised insomniac ruminations.
Last updated:
6/9/2005; 4:16:32 PM


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Monday, May 19, 2003

My New Living Room

As I've mentioned, I work at home when I'm not on a client's site, as an accounting software consultant.  I've discussed the tendency, absent the need to appear at an office every morning, towards slovenliness, and how I've gotten comfortable with it.  Since Thanksgiving, however, my mother-in-law has been living with us (and that's ok, I'll expand on that another time), and I've started to feel a little bit claustrophobic and fishbowl-ish lately.

I discovered a new espresso venue a couple weeks ago that the other neighborhood slackers haven't found yet.  Although I know that a) you're not slackers and b) you almost certainly don't live in my neighborhood, I still won't tell you where it is, other than that its name for these purposes is, oh, Cafe Maree.

I ordered my usual coffee drink, "a double-shot and a spoonful or two of non-fat foam", and the baristress said, "oh, a macchiatto.", and I was gratified and encouraged that this was going to turn out good.  I camped out at a table, spread out some papers and booted my laptop.  After 20 minutes or so, the proprietor came over, noticed my WiFi card and asked if I had a good connection.  There had been no indication that any internet connection was available, and I hadn't even asked.  In about 30 seconds I had a WiFi connection and was off and surfing.  The only difference from the home office is that I'm shaven and dressed, and the coffee is arguably better.  I wonder if they'll notice that I have a bedroll the next time I show up?


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Moron the Seattle Newspaper Front

I commented a while ago about the possibility that one of Seattle's two daily newspapers would close as a result of The Times' attempt to end their Joint Operating Agreement.  In the meantime, the Times' owner, Frank Blethen,  testified before a Senate committee in opposition to the FCC's probable loosening of media ownership rules.  While I dislike the idea of becoming a one-newspaper town, I applauded Blethen's testimony.  He is a bit of a loose cannon, however (literally - he once shot a neighbor's dog), and seems to have been baited into making some inflammatory comments about a fellow newspaper owner.  I had to snicker at the fellow's response:

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/122519_insider19.html

DEMOCRACY AT STAKE? IDIOTIC, SAYS EXEC: Seattle Times publisher Frank Blethen last week told a Senate hearing that letting companies own newspapers and TV stations in the same city -- a proposal being considered by the Federal Communications Committee -- is a really bad idea.

But he put it a little more personally than that and got a stinging response.

Blethen was asked whether William Dean Singleton, president of the newspaper industry's lobbying group and chief executive of the MediaNews Group, is a "threat to democracy" because he owns 50 newspapers and supports cross-ownership.

Blethen, who owns three papers in Washington state and three more in Maine, responded, "Yes." But he himself isn't such a threat, he told Sen. John Sununu, R-N.H.

The next day, Singleton responded by calling Blethen "the village idiot of the newspaper industry," according to The Washington Post.

Blethen was "commenting on Singleton's business model, not Singleton personally," Times spokeswoman Kerry Coughlin said Friday. Singleton's comment, on the other hand ...

 


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