In the short walk between my car and the wonderful establishment known as Starbucks, I had a near-death encounter.  I always park across the little road from the Starbucks parking lot, and right before I crossed it today, a pair of rednecks driving a beat up old truck come flying around the turn.  Mind you that today it has been raining, and the pavement is quite slick.  The truck spins out, which is what the two old hillbillies were going for, but it came dangerously close to taking me for a ride as well.  Okay, so I exaggerated a bit, but it did happen.  Moving on to the actual coffee shop, I walk in, and this time one chair of both sets of comfy green chairs are taken.  One by a college aged girl, the other by a man with a 12” Powerbook.  I went and sat down next to the man with the Powerbook, and we had a brief discussion about being Apple loyalists and how his son is a programmer that moved to San Francisco to be closer to Apple’s headquarters, hoping to get a job with them.  It was nice.  Near me, to guys in their early 20s are playing an interesting game of chess.  One tries to pop the top off of his coffee with a mechanical pencil.  The chess pieces are made of metal.  It is very dreary outside.  The rain intensity grows with each minute.  I can see puddles outside the shoppe.  It’s pretty much pouring now.  The guy next to me is typing away, as am I.  I count two other guys with laptops in the shoppe, besides the old man and I.   A lady enters shaking off her umbrella and she is wearing a business suit.  As an alternative, funk music is playing—not the smooth jazz as had been the case in the previous two visits.  I see the manager of a local pizza shop fixing her frapuccinos.  I know her because we visit her place usually every Friday night.  She tells me that she is on her way to work.  She leaves with her two daughters.  The two guys playing chess begin to debate over an accusation that one made of the other stealing or moving a piece.  They then laugh it off.  One makes funny noises to accompany the R & B music that is now playing.  I decide to start listening to the soundtrack from Rent.  “Another Day” has been stuck in my head all day.  Mimi’s part has at least.  The ballad portion of the song.  “No Day But Today…”  I hear the thunder over my headphones.  The rain is drenching everyone walking outside.  Good song.  This narrative has become quite lengthy, so I will end with the fact that the two guys playing chess just ran out of the store, and one left an unopened Jones Black Cherry Soda.  Lucky someone.

::b