5 Places To Get Things Done

by Mike Weiss

Whether you have a loom­ing assign­ment or just need to refo­cus, get­ting out of the office is a must on occa­sion. Hang­ing out in the fol­low­ing places is good for your men­tal health, and can spark some cre­ative think­ing for the last minute pushes in any project.

What do I look for?

Any place con­sid­ered on this list will have at a minimum:

  • Free Wire­less Inter­net — As a web pro­fes­sional, my life pretty much revolves around hav­ing a reli­able inter­net con­nec­tion. I con­stantly have to mon­i­tor email for out­ages, and con­nect­ing to the var­i­ous web servers makes devel­op­ing much eas­ier. When work­ing on a project, the inter­net is invalu­able for it’s research capabilities.
  • Good Vibes — The places I tend to grav­i­tate toward have very cool envi­ron­ments. They tend to focus heav­ily on inter­est­ing archi­tec­ture, cool music, and have art on the walls.
  • Con­ve­nient Hours — I tend to be a bit of a night owl. It’s impor­tant to me that the places I choose to work at are avail­able after hours as well as on weekends.

The List

Cof­fee Shops

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My pri­mary place of choice is Brew­topia Cof­fee on Sag­i­naw Street.  Brew­topia Cof­fee (for­merly Har­vest Cof­fee House & Bean­ery) has been my loca­tion of choice for the past few months. Their exposed brick walls, local art hung on the walls, and ambiance fit well with almost any mood I’m in. Although the live music is some­times irri­tat­ing, it’s no com­pe­ti­tion for my ear buds and library of music in iTunes.

Pub­lic Libraries

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If I need unin­ter­rupted silence, you can bet you’ll find me at Alice and Jack Wirt Pub­lic Library (but don’t come find me there, I need unin­ter­rupted silence). If avail­able, I will hop into one of A&J’s study rooms. If not, I’ll set­tle for the research sec­tion on the sec­ond floor, look­ing out over down­town Bay City.

Sand­wich Shops

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Although the last time I was there the inter­net was a bit shaky, Souper Cafe has phe­nom­e­nal soups and sand­wiches. If I need to stay on the other side of the river, while unplug­ging for a bit of refresh­ing down­time, I’ll stop in and have myself a help­ing of Baja Chicken Enchi­lada soup with a sam­mich. Yum!

Sports Bars

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Some­times I like to enjoy a nice frosty bev­er­age while I work. That’s when I hit up the local Buf­falo Wild Wings. I’ll have 6 bone­less wings, honey barbecue, an order of buf­falo chips, and a bud light. Free wifi and ample booths lend them­selves well to a chaotic spread of wings, lap­tops, and papers. Don’t mind the stain on your proposal.

Your Vehi­cle

My truckAhh, a true road war­rior. Equipped with cen­tral heat and air, sur­round sound, XM Radio, and the abil­ity to go any­where, my truck is per­fect for those instant get­aways. Whether I choose to park near a hotel with open wire­less, or I tether my cell phone to take advan­tage of Verizon’s 3G net­work I have the abil­ity to hook into my digi­tial world from any­where in the world at any time.

What do you say?

Where do you like to escape to? What do you look for in a remote office? Leave your com­ments by using the form below.

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