My top coffee shop pet peeves:

1. People who take up more than one table just so they can put their dirty cups or bags on it, especially when the place is crowded.

2. People who have loud conversations on cell phones.

3. People who think it's impossible to hold a conversation with the person sitting directly across from them without sharing it with the entire coffee shop.

4. The kid rhythmically tapping the metal table with his pen as he listens to his iPod.

5. The baristas who have had the same damn Lucinda Williams CD on repeat for the past two weeks.


Seriously, I need to start bringing some headphones.

Please shoot me now.

Twenty minutes ago, Arie learned that the tiny bits of plastic and paper he and his brother threw down the heating vent in their room two years ago didn't burn up in the furnace but instead is sitting somewhere in the ductwork. Since then, he's spent the past twenty minutes crying and debating in an effort to get me to dismantle the ductwork and remove the twenty cents worth of crap that's inside it. He's also started asking Éiden if he's going to throw stuff down the vent when Éiden has gone up to his room. If I never hear someone talk about crap in the ductwork again, it'll be too soon.