Recommendations for "The Third Place"
I'm finding myself working from home, or telecommuting, more and more frequently these days so I'd like to ask the group where their favorite "Third Place" is for getting work done. The Third Place is basically "that social surrounding separate from the two usual social environments of home and the workplace," as stated in Wikipedia.
I'm fairly new to the Austin area and live up in Round Rock so I'm not too familiar with Downtown. However, I will travel anywhere around to find a suitable work environment combined with a cup of joe. I know of these options already:
* Starbucks - highly accessible, food/drink, power/wifi ($$)
* Library - quiet study rooms (reservations required), power/wifi (free), sometimes stale environment
* Launchpad Coworking - sounds great but opens this summer
* Independent cafes/coffeeshops - food/drink, power/wifi (free), sometimes uncomfortable chairs/tables
* UT Campus - assuming it has study areas but I'm not a student/alumni
* Home - highly accessible, food/drink, power/wifi (free), crying/sleeping baby
Feel free to expand on my options above and recommend any specific locations. I'm mainly looking for free/inexpensive wifi combined with a comfortable work area.
Thanks!
Jon Mick
http://www.linkedin.com/in/jinglejammer
[Cross-posted on Refresh Austin]
Hi Jon,
Well, I like Mozarts on Town Lake. Picturesque scenery, free wifi, and just a great hangout in general.
Also, you have heard of Jelly Coworking, haven't you? People meet at local coffee shops to work on whatever they do.
Mozarts: http://www.mozartscoffee.com/
Jelly: http://door64.com/node/2171
If I think of anything else, I'll drop it on here.
I'm not gonna tell you, because all the cool places keep getting filled up with outtatowners like you.
;)
But seriously, just search for wireless hotspots - they're all pretty cool and go through waves of popularity.
And UT campus, esp main mall and libraries, is *the* traditional place for studying Slack (which, I think, sounds a little like "jellying").
~ Ms. G
Yet Another Austin Weirdo
JingleJ: Since this was cross-posted on Refresh Austin, what did you find out there?
@jinglejammer:
I started working on campus in January, so I'm still getting the feel for things. But one thing I've noticed is that they really don't check your ID anywhere on campus, at least not unless you're trying to pay with BevoBucks or something. So, if you want to be on campus to study, you should be able to do that in most places.
That said, you may not want to be on campus. In that case, I find SpiderHouse Art Cafe to be an amazingly cool place to be. All sorts of coffee & tea drinks (the Yerba Mate Mint Latte is quite nice), a decent selection of draft & bottled beer, some decent snacks/food, and at least some of the furniture is very comfortable (especially in the front room by the bar). That said, sometimes the music can be a bit loud (even if it is cool), so that might not be your kind of place.
Speaking only for myself, I'd much rather have an authentic local Austin place than Starbucks most any day.
--
Brad Knowles brad@shub-internet.org
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/bradknowles