In Which Life is Good

God, I love coffee. I love it as a social medium, as a method of propping my eyes open, and as a beverage en générale. I love it so much, in fact, that as I get older and my metabolism struggles to accommodate levels of caffeine that once served as baseline, I continue to drink it.

One of my absolute favorite things to do is to sit in a coffee house and read or play/work on my laptop. However, your average chain just doesn't cut it. I was deeply disappointed to find that there is no independent coffee place near our apartment, other than one that makes terrible lattes and keeps unpredictable hours. This is Oakland, for God's sake, one of the most progressive cities in the country. I assumed that Starbucks wouldn't have a stranglehold on the caffeine industry here.

To my great delight, I recently discovered Mama Buzz. It's only about 20 minutes from our place on foot, and meets all of my criteria for a good café:

• It has free wireless, not that "sign up for T-Mobile for only $4.95 now or $19.99 per month" absurdity.
• It displays local art.
• The coffee is good.

My quality of life has risen by a factor of 1000.