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I’m sitting at my second office (Panera Bread) doing what I do best — procrastinating and watching other people. It’s an extremely productive way to waste time. Here come two 30-somethings dressed in jeans and cute tops. C’mon, give me something to chew on. No, I’m not interested in hearing about your cookie exchange. Next. The men at the table across from me are going over some sort of Excel spreadsheet. Bo-ring. I think one’s a regional. That’s a big thing down South. Regionals. I don’t know what they are or what they do, but there sure are a lot of them. And, like pilots, they always seem to have hair. Ever met a bald pilot? Me neither. And I’ve never met a bald regional either. Can someone interesting please walk in here so I don’t have to do real work?

Been waiting for the coffee to brew for about twenty minutes now. Man, what does it take to get good office help around here? Oh wait, it’s not really my office.

Guess I should do what I came in here to do and update my status. No, I’m not talking Facebook. Status as in assessing the progress of each of my work projects, report to clients accordingly, and then take notes to figure out what’s next. Filling out status reports can either be an uplifting or an incredibly humbling experience depending on what actually happened during the week. Today it’s humbling. Because in addition to everything else, I pitched a new project and now I’m in the ‘waiting’ mode. I’m not good at waiting. It takes the control away from me and puts it into the hands of someone I usually don’t know (or like). But it’s part of the process. Which is why it’s good to come to Panera so I can focus on someone else’s life to divert my energy. Except nobody’s life seems very interesting today.

Here come a few newbies. Old guy with a laptop from 1980. Nope. Screaming kid with mom who’s trying to ignore him. I give her credit but I’m not liking the atmosphere right now. Tennis ladies in the full getup. Okay, I definitely need to find a new office.

That’s the thing about freelancing. You’re a little bit like a nomad. I can pack it up at any given point and find a new place to put up my family pictures. I don’t even have to give thirty days notice. I think I need a little more culture and diversity. I need to move my office out of the suburbs and into the heart of the city.

But for now I’m still stalling and trying really hard to find something worth listening to. I’ll try again with the regionals at the spreadsheet table. Can’t one of you say something incriminating? Something juicy about a torrid love affair at work? Something other than pie charts? I wonder what they’d think if they knew I was writing about them?

Since none of this is working I guess I’ll figure out what to make for dinner. Not excited about stir fry and am feeling the need for something healthy. Oh, it’s Valentine’s Day soon, isn’t it? Maybe we should do something pink. Something pink and healthy. Salmon. Yes, salmon it is. And there goes the hour.