Day 61/365 - Office Away From Office

We have a Starbucks adjacent to my office building and when I need to really focus on something and blaze through my review of it, I take files down there and work. Today it was a grant announcement I'd promised to get reviewed and returned to the program office by COB. This is my favorite table. There were a couple kids sitting there when I entered, but by the time I got my chai they'd left and I was able to claim my usual spot.

I've always been one of those people who focus and concentrate better when there is stuff going on around them. I could never study in complete silence. My mind tends to start wandering if there isn't something going on in the background. Some people need absolute quiet in order to concentrate and others of us are just the opposite. In school I always had to have the radio or tv on when I was studying or doing homework and even now I listen to music in my office.

It seems counter-intuitive that you'd need noise and commotion in order to avoid distractions, but that's what works for me.

(Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)

Day 4/365 - Sunday Morning with 'The Post'

Hadn't done this in a while, but with the weather being too gorgeous to be cooped up indoors, I took the Sunday copy of the Washington Post over to Starbucks at Pentagon Row and grabbed myself a venti pumpkin spice latte and a pumpkin cream cheese muffin and sat outside and had breakfast and read the paper.

Pumpkin rocks. Sucks that you can only get the pumpkin ale from Blue Moon Brewery this time of year. It ought to be available year-round (as should the pumpkin cheesecake at Cheesecake Factory).

(Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)