Mobile office rating guide

My first mobile office rating guide was all about the process of finding acceptable space to telecommute from. I've been working in and out of the home but not always at a traditional office for going on a decade now, and things are generally getting better about this all the time.

Comparing two favorite spots, typing this from one of them -

Cafe Ambrosia on Maynard St. is a nice hangout. Power outlets at every table, good coffee and muffins, a cribbage table, pictures of the owners and their kids and postcards from customers up on the wall, and generally friendly. Saul and I are regulars there on Sunday morning. Alas the wifi connections are spotty, so it's hard to be online, but it's a good place to take the paper notebook.

Espresso Royale on Main St. is very functional. It's a cavernous space with power outlets around the edges, three Macs for short term use, free wifi, some bigger tables, and a busy bulletin board. It's part of a chain; the ERC on State St is notably more student-grunge. I can go here, plug in, put my headphones on, and be a net-head for hours getting work done.

Who knows what town will be like in 20 days when the students return.

Some more places nearby or on travel routes that might have or soon have wifi - Panera Bread (none in Michigan or Ohio), Starbucks (not at the Squirrel Hill, PA location). A generally acceptable second choice for travel is to find a Kinko's - awful coffee and you'd hate to spend any time there, but net connections are reliable and there's printing.

Comments

[Edward Vielmetti]

Here's some recent coffee shop photos: http://vielmetti.typepad.com/photos/coffee_shops/. There's one of Saul enjoying a muffin.

[Prentiss Riddle]

When you say the WiFi is "spotty", do you mean intermittently unavailable or just slow?

I've only played at WiFi coffeeshopping a couple of times and at one Austin hangout where every table is occupied by a grad student with a laptop and headphones, the Internet connection was unbearably s-l-o-w. I don't know how many users you can expect to hang off a single cable modem and get anything done. (I also don't know how the coffeeshop can stay in business with that kind of clientele. Busy yuppies ordering to go buy $4 lattes and are gone in two minutes; grad students with laptops buy a $1.50 coffee and three $.25 refills over the course of four hours. But maybe the grad students are part of the "atmosphere" that brings in the latte drinkers.)

This reminds me of the conversation we've been having over at BenHammersley.com about the universal dream of opening a coffeeshop/bookstore.
http://www.benhammersley.com/dparchives/004239.html

[Mike O'Connor]

When I was living in a downtown-esque area (Royal Joke), I found that I'd want to do WiFi-ish things downtown to _escape_ from work. I'd gotten to the point where I'd started associating my apartment, my living space, with work. It was hard to think or feel something personal to write in a personal email, near the same space where I was putting myself through hot coals dealing with the crises du jour.

Home offices are places where you brood and cackle, cry out "I AM a god!" to empty air in Mad Scientist exaltation, and pace violently because beating your head against the wall doesn't burn enough calories. Normals look at you funny like you're a terrorist or Democrat when you do such things in public spaces. It could be the case that normals look at me funny no matter what, though... hmmm...

[Bob Kuehne]

hiya ed,

another place i've taken to using as my mobile office
is the AADL on main. they just recently installed wifi
(all you need is a valid library card), and it's relatively
quiet, with tables, occasional power (kinda tricky to
find), and all the facilities that you might otherwise
expect.

another library bonus: in case you feel like
blurting out mjo-like 'i am a god' comments, you're not
going to be the craziest person there. :)

bob

[Edward Vielmetti]

There's wifi (unofficially) also available in downtown Ann Arbor at Grizzly Peak, so that if you need a beer with your computing you're in luck.

[Edward Vielmetti]

There's wifi at ERC on S. Main St. by Busch's, free with your purchase. Unfortunately the place only has one power outlet so make sure your batteries are charged up before you go. Lots of parking, not too busy, but I have to drive to get there since there's no convenient bus service there from my house and you wouldn't really want to walk down that part of S. Main unless you had to.