A ref calling a timeoutA few days ago, I was presented with an interesting opportunity. I had to take my Mother to an appointment today which meant that I would have about an hour to myself while I waited for her. Knowing this ahead of time, I packed some treats to help make the wait a little time out for myself. A chance to get away from the hectic pace of the day and do a little writing.
For starters there was a Starbucks just across the street with outdoor seating, so that meant that I would have a nice location in which to write and nice libations to make the hour a tasty one. I ordered a Tazo Chai Tea Latte and took it outside at one of the black metal tables. With refreshments and location addressed, I pulled out my “toys” which included my AlphaSmart Dana Wireless, Sprint SonyEricsson T608 (in case a client called) and my Apple 40GB iPod. I now had a veritable mini office and was ready to begin my “time out” and do a little writing, but I wasn’t quite done just yet.

Knowing that there was outside seating I had packed one more special treat – a cigar. In my small bag (a freebie from the first Mobius event at the Microsoft campus) I had packed my cigar with three choice maduro cigars. Surveying my selection, I opted for the Cifuentes Partagas Limited Edition box press. I don’t know what makes them so special, but when I picked it up last weekend there was a small sign limiting one per customer, so I figured that they must be pretty good.


Taking the lid off my Venti cup, I flipped it over for an ashtray and took a healthy swig of creamy chai. I flipped on my iPod and chose to shuffle all my 3675 tracks and throw my music selections to the wind. As luck would have it, a REALLY good and very cool track started playing. It was “Standing On The Corner Of The Third World” by Tears For Fears (iTunes | Amazon). With the light breeze that carried with it a slight chill and a hot and foamy drink to ward it off, I settled back into my chair and lit the cigar. I don’t know if I looked as cool as I thought I did, but at that moment I sure felt I had reached my epoch of hipness.

With my cigar well lit and firmly set in my mouth, I began to write as “Busenfreund (Walkner.Moestl Dub)” by Tosca (iTunes | Amazon)started to play. It wasn’t easy to set aside this little hour for myself, but I was so glad that I did. It was like I was on a date with myself and boy do I know how to show a guy a good time! Cigars, coffee, cool tunes and writing. I tell you, it was a little slice of heaven. Boy I sure do hope he calls again. 😉