A Permanent Quiet Car?
People keep listing ordering sushi for delivery at 4 am as a major pro of living in New York, but I have never taken advantage of this and probably never will, given my fear of undercooked foods and being murdered by a stranger at my doorstep in the dead of the night.
I have a bunch of projects I have to finish before I move this summer, so I am currently on the hunt for good places to work. My apartment is not conducive to anything except serving as a nesting place for breeding rodents, and thus I have fled for the streets.
I tend to stay in one spot until I finish a task, but I am also very prone to procrastinating on the Internet, so places that stay open late are a must for me. This rules out most public libraries or any other establishment that closes before 11 pm. I also need Internet access for the procrastinating mentioned above, but the combination of reliable free WiFi and late hours ends up actually being pretty hard to come by in New York when you no longer have a university affiliation.
One would think Starbucks would be the answer, but Starbucks in NYC has a tendency to block its power outlets, which is probably a smart business decision, but inconvenient for the rest of us. I always bought an assortment of baked goods to make up for the fact that I was going to spend too much time in Starbucks, but I guess other people never did this. And now I think I have diabetes, so my plans have completely backfired.
I spend a lot of time at Vagabond Cafe in the West Village because they have a most likely illegal density of power outlets, but they are prone to hosting open mics at random hours. Many an evening I have spent there and then been forced to leave as soon as someone plugged in the amplifier for his guitar.
I thought maybe I would be immune at Think Coffee, but the 8th Ave. location also featured a folk-themed band for Valentine's Day. I think I was supposed to be impressed by the band's whimsy (folk music! rural charm!) but the rest of the customers and I just glared. Perhaps everyone else was also frantically trying to meet a 10 pm deadline.
Sometimes I also frequent the Think Coffee by NYU, but hanging around a college crowd is a little sad when you're no longer in college. It is also nearly impossible to find a table there, unless you are prepared to show up at 7 am or are particularly good at diving with a 15-inch Macbook (why oh why did I opt for the 15-inch? One of life's great mysteries) in tow.
What I really need is the Amtrak quiet car in the garden behind my apartment building. It would be a Boxcar Children-type scenario (post Book 1)--I would be able to live in the building if I wanted to, but I could also hideout in my train car when I wanted to (which I guess is what the Boxcar Children did for the entire series, in between solving mysteries).
I take Amtrak almost never due to the exorbitant price of tickets and because I am a broke recent college grad, but I did read this article in the New York Times about the Amtrak quiet car, and it sounds like the ideal workspace! If only it had large tables.
In closing: do you have any recommendations of good places to get work done in New York? I enjoy snacking while I work, so food has to be allowed! Although I am not certain in food is allowed on the subway, and I find myself eating on there almost every morning.
Also, here is a gratuitous picture of two (!) dead mice (rats?) in my apartment:
On a more savory note, I think my next post will be about burgers. I have been to Shake Shack, the Spotted Pig, and the Corner Bistro, but where else should I go? Minetta Tavern? Burger Joint? I have ambivalent feelings towards trekking out to Brooklyn!
Back to lying low to recover from my wheezy cough because out in public I am treated like I have some kind of a fatal illness. Germs schmerms. I've been coughing into my elbow, but I'm probably not even contagious at this point.
I have a bunch of projects I have to finish before I move this summer, so I am currently on the hunt for good places to work. My apartment is not conducive to anything except serving as a nesting place for breeding rodents, and thus I have fled for the streets.
I tend to stay in one spot until I finish a task, but I am also very prone to procrastinating on the Internet, so places that stay open late are a must for me. This rules out most public libraries or any other establishment that closes before 11 pm. I also need Internet access for the procrastinating mentioned above, but the combination of reliable free WiFi and late hours ends up actually being pretty hard to come by in New York when you no longer have a university affiliation.
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| Despite my love/hate relationship with this building, I sort of miss it. credit: students.brown.edu |
One would think Starbucks would be the answer, but Starbucks in NYC has a tendency to block its power outlets, which is probably a smart business decision, but inconvenient for the rest of us. I always bought an assortment of baked goods to make up for the fact that I was going to spend too much time in Starbucks, but I guess other people never did this. And now I think I have diabetes, so my plans have completely backfired.
I spend a lot of time at Vagabond Cafe in the West Village because they have a most likely illegal density of power outlets, but they are prone to hosting open mics at random hours. Many an evening I have spent there and then been forced to leave as soon as someone plugged in the amplifier for his guitar.
 |
| The bane of my existence credit: www.musiciansbuy.com |
I thought maybe I would be immune at Think Coffee, but the 8th Ave. location also featured a folk-themed band for Valentine's Day. I think I was supposed to be impressed by the band's whimsy (folk music! rural charm!) but the rest of the customers and I just glared. Perhaps everyone else was also frantically trying to meet a 10 pm deadline.
Sometimes I also frequent the Think Coffee by NYU, but hanging around a college crowd is a little sad when you're no longer in college. It is also nearly impossible to find a table there, unless you are prepared to show up at 7 am or are particularly good at diving with a 15-inch Macbook (why oh why did I opt for the 15-inch? One of life's great mysteries) in tow.
 |
| You have another think coming if you think you're going to get a table with outlet access at this place. credit: washingtonsquareparkblog.com |
What I really need is the Amtrak quiet car in the garden behind my apartment building. It would be a Boxcar Children-type scenario (post Book 1)--I would be able to live in the building if I wanted to, but I could also hideout in my train car when I wanted to (which I guess is what the Boxcar Children did for the entire series, in between solving mysteries).
I take Amtrak almost never due to the exorbitant price of tickets and because I am a broke recent college grad, but I did read this article in the New York Times about the Amtrak quiet car, and it sounds like the ideal workspace! If only it had large tables.
In closing: do you have any recommendations of good places to get work done in New York? I enjoy snacking while I work, so food has to be allowed! Although I am not certain in food is allowed on the subway, and I find myself eating on there almost every morning.
Also, here is a gratuitous picture of two (!) dead mice (rats?) in my apartment:
 |
Back to lying low to recover from my wheezy cough because out in public I am treated like I have some kind of a fatal illness. Germs schmerms. I've been coughing into my elbow, but I'm probably not even contagious at this point.