Starbucks...

I hadn't really given much thought to the idea before, but I have come to understand why people like chain stores - department stores, restaurants, etc - especially when they are travelling or in an unfamiliar place. You have a pretty good idea what to expect every time you walk into a Chili's, for instance. You know it will never be the best place you've ever eaten, but you also know that it won't be the microwave Mexican food from hell.

I have told many people about my experience in France. On our second day there, in our rented Renault, we were making a wide sweep from northeast of Paris to the Normandy coast to be there for the 60th Anniversary of the D-Day landing. As I recall, it was about 180 miles. We'd had our morning coffee, and it wasn't more than an hour or two before nature called. Then it dawned on us - driving along the highway we hadn't seen anything like the typical rest area in the U.S., and we couldn't understand the road signs. Our bladder pressure continued to build with each passing minute, and we had begun considering ways to... shall we say... improvise. As the situation became critical, up ahead I spotted something that looked familiar: the Golden Arches! I do not regularly patronize McDonald's, by any means, but I'd rarely been so happy to find one. I knew there would be Big Macs and Coca-Cola. And rest rooms.

So it's time I should admit that I have become a fan of Starbucks.

First of all, I don't know what they put in their coffee, but I am simply unable to brew a pot at home that tastes as good as theirs, and I appreciate it every time I have a cup. Secondly, I have now been in enough of them that I know what to expect. I know the terminology. I have caved in and begun ordering tall, grande or venti coffee rather than small, medium or large. And, at some point recently, they made it so that regular customers can have wireless access free (it was stupidly expensive before). After that, and since I embarked on my New Clothing Enterprise, I not only visit Starbucks frequently, I have come to rely on them. No matter where I am, I know I can find a place to sit, surf the web, and get a nice caffeine buzz.

Now that I'm at the point that I will be intensifying my job search - most of which can be done online - I don't want to sit in my hovel and browse. I still want to get out and see things and be around people. Starbucks lets me do that.

I searched their website this morning. There are nineteen Starbucks locations in the District. I think I'll end up visiting most of them. Earlier, I was at 1201 Maryland Ave, SW (Google Map Link HERE). I could look out the window and see the top of the Jefferson Memorial. It was busy, but it was one of those Starbucks where people just come in, get their cup, and then leave. So I had plenty of room. It wasn't one of those Starbucks where random people go in and hang out for hours. What kind of crazy person would do that anyway?