Monday, October 18, 2010

Return to Blogging, and an odd story

I just want to let everyone know that I plan to blog on a semi-regular basis again. (Disclaimer: Semi-regular may mean anything from daily to annually.)

Now for an odd story.

I was in Nevada today (Nevada, MO, for those unacquainted with the geography in these parts - NOT the state of Nevada) because I drove Cindy over this afternoon to teach her evening class at Cottey College. Usually she takes the car and I just stay at work late.

After I dropped her off at the college, I went to the one coffee house that is currently open in Nevada, AJ's Coffee Rush. There was a sign in the window saying that they had moved to the Daylight Donuts building a few blocks away, so I drove there. The signs just said "AJ's Daylight Donuts - Now Open." I assumed that meant I could still get a cup of coffee at least, and sit in peace for a while. I went inside, and found what at first appeared to be an empty place. There were some paint buckets stacked in the corner and evidence of recent painting, so I wondered if they were actually closed, and the painters had just stepped out for a bit without locking the door. But the espresso machine had lights on, and there was brewed coffee gently steaming in the Bunn carafe. There were also doughnuts still on display in the glass case behind the doughnut counter.

Then I glanced around and noticed a laptop sitting open on one of the tables. Then to my surprise and bemusement I saw that there was a young gentleman lying on the bench beside this laptop, deep in dreamland. I had made a decent amount of noise when I entered, ringing the bells hanging on the door and scooting a chair out loudly to see if it would summon someone from the back room behind the counter. I had to assume that here on this bench was the sole employee on duty. I hung around for about ten minutes, and when nothing happened, I left. I could easily have grabbed several free doughnuts, some coffee cake, and a to-go cup of coffee.

I'm still not absolutely certain that the place was officially open. I've always had good service in their old location, and I didn't recognize the snoozing fellow as one of the employees I'd seen previously.