12.29.17 - Starbucks with Neil

This is the first MO trip where I've made a concerted effort to keep earning while here. Most days I leave in the morning and go over to Mom's and work there for the better part of the day before coming back. That works alright, but recently Dad assigned me a task that takes a considerable amount of concentration, and while Mom's house has fewer interruptions than when I try to work wherever Clara and Jane are, it's still fairly distracting.

So today I decided to get more serious and go get some work done at Starbucks. I got some chocolatey caffeine in the form of a mocha, enjoyed the fact that I'm not calorie counting in the form of a warmed up morning bun, and felt guiltless about it because Merlene had gifted me a Starbucks gift card she got through work to use for just this reason. So that was a good start. I sat on a tall chair in the corner against the bar, and no one sat near me so I was able to spread out my stuff. Plus, just in general I feel more relaxed in a suburban MO Starbucks because the odds of anyone coming up and trying to scam me or hit on me are vastly lower than if I were in an urban CA Starbucks. So that's always nice.

Yessssss

I was able to focus pretty well and make good progress on my project (a hunt for FCC documents regarding the creation of cellular bands). I still got sleepy after a while so I messaged Neil and told him he should join me. He was working hard to finish a scrapbook he's making for Emily, so we could just work alongside each other. So he did. That's another joy - instead of trying to stay awake while chatting with a sibling online (while they are hundreds of miles away), I could just ask them to pop on over. Nice.

So we worked alongside each other, stopping occasionally to chat and keeping each other awake and focused, for several hours. Neil showed me some pretty hilarious screen caps he took from video of the Thanksgiving trip. I had nothing to entertaining to offer by way of FCC research but it was fun anyway. Just wanted to remember that tidbit.

One of the screencaps: right after Everett beat Dad in a not-smiling contest.