jellying

So I'm sitting at The Change You Want To See coworking space. There are about 10 people here. Four of them are women, including myself. I think you'd feel weird if you didn't have a laptop. There does not seem to be any space to work. More people just entered. Two more guys. We are running out of space. There are two older gentlemen here. There is a guy here from Buenos Aires, who does coworking there. He's working on the couch. It seems pretty quiet. One of the founders of the space just walked in. Her name is Becca. Alexis is here but not Louise. The amount of mac users overwhelm the dell users. There is music playing. Star trek-like instrumental. Oh... Louise just walked in. This guy next to me takes off his watch before he starts typing. That is interesting. Jon does the same thing at home. I think bulky, men's watches gets in the way of typing. There is a cat here that came from the ceiling and just walked down the ladder. Her name is Tony. I think the owner just walked in as well. The space is getting tight. People are not really moving to accommodate, but there is a break-out room. The guy next to me just got a call and he's going outside to talk. Alexis just put on his headphones. The SSID and password are listed on the blackboard. There is a girl with a wacom and she is drawing.

It's not 12:40 and people are becoming more conversational. I hear more talking. Some people ordered lunch together from M. Shanghai. I'm not big on Chinese, so I just grabbed a slice. News12 videotaped and interviewed some people. I think it's showing at 5:30 pm today.

Some ideas for products is having a laptop that has a screen on the back so that you can project messages as well as create a skin for you laptop with pictures and such. It's 4:24 now. I have been working on wedding stuff all day. I guess I'm multi-tasking.... working on thesis and wedding stuff. Some people are leaving! There were about 25 people all together. I guess people like to work late. I guess you can do that when you are your own boss. Some people are now leaving and some are getting beers and coming back with it.

change you want to see

Coworking is an interesting phenomenon. It's a place where bloggers, programmers, writers, designers, and really just about anyone come together to co-habitat a space while working on individual projects. I ventured into Williamsburg today to check out the change you want to see, which is an art gallery space that is also used for daily coworking. The location seemed quite dismal but two very friendly coworkers greeted me inside - Alexis and Louise. They both were so open to converse about the space, coworking, and their jobs. They raved about how productive coworking is compared to any other job they had sitting in an office or cubicle. I imagine I would get great feedback on prototypes and concepts from these guys, which would fall in line with the premise of coworking. To foster a sense of community and spur innovation and creativity in a space where no two people are working on the same thing.

This Friday is jelly. It's a bi-weekly get-together of coworkers at higher numbers than usual at the same location and I can't wait to see what happens.

laptops and lattes

I sat in Tillies today. I ordered a green tea with an energy hemp bar and pretended to do work like everyone else because cafes are anything but places to sip lattes and chat with friends. No, they have turned into pseudo offices. Places where people go to drink coffee and type away on their laptops. People will pay for multiple beverages for the ambiance, the white noise, the clutter-free table, and for the cafe energy that helps them be productive.

I sat next to a writer who told me that he was editing. He said that he needed to work at home when he's actually composing a piece, but he needs to be in this setting to edit. He said it gave him 'perspective.' I think I understand what he meant by 'perspective.' I get that feeling when I sit in airport terminals because it heightens my senses and makes me think about where I am and where I am going. It affords me time to be reflective and deep which always puts things in perspective.

The most important thing I learned from sitting at Tillies was that people need to be in different environments to effectively work. The home office may be a good way to start the day, but the local cafe may just what you need to plow through the 3 o'clock hump.