May 8, 2006

A dreary Monday study day.

Even looked at through flowers...

Flowering trees

The day is dull gray. You can go hole up in a café. But everybody's studying, or listening to an irritating, intense critique.

15 comments:

MadisonMan said...

Now they can all catch up on the studying they should have done yesterday but didn't because it was so spectacular weather-wise. Today is God's gift to the procrastinating studier.

Danny said...

Espresso Royale! Have you ever done the couch? They've added an outlet to the couch which solidifies it's status as the #1 people-watching location in all of Madison.

Ann Althouse said...

That couch harbors germs.

MadisonMan said...

Whenever I see a coffeehouse davenport, I think lice. Much much worse than germs -- I have an immune system to deal with the germs.

You may all scratch your heads now.

Ann Althouse said...

Lice! Now I'm never sitting there.

Mark Daniels said...

The tone of the guy whose voice can be heard droning on in the background was one of a condescending lecturer.

Who was he...

an insufferable boyfriend advising his girlfriend about a decision she's making? (Maybe to leave him or not?)

a prof incapable of offering counsel devoid of a demeaning air?

a guy I'm completely and unfairly misunderstanding on the basis of a short clip taken in a Madison cafe?

No doubt it's the latter.

Mark

Danny said...

I've sat in that couch for two years and, other than a particularly nasty bout I had freshman year, the lice tend to leave me alone.

Anonymous said...

There's always enough money for a triple machiatto espresso double shot half-caf semi demi vente steamed soy milk with a twist in that couch.

Ann Althouse said...

Mark: That guy was talking for the entire hour plus that I was sitting there. He was talking to a woman, who barely said anything. It was some professional matter, some problem in the workplace. Your reading of the voice is quite apt.

Ann Althouse said...

Alan: Are you identifying the actual music heard in the clip? I like the music, but it almost doesn't read as music, interwoven with the room noise and the annoying man. It's funny, when you're there, you have no awareness of how much background noise there is. The mind sorts things out and puts the man's voice on top, with the music as a clear second layer, and the white noise and clanking filtered out. It's quite strange how that works.

Unknown said...

You make me homesick for the Midwest with all your weather talk! I do tire of sunshine.

Ann Althouse said...

Wicked: Is Chris in this post? Yes, of course, he's my son. I'm glad you like his blog!

Pancho said...

Whenever I see a coffeehouse davenport

Wow, I haven't heard a couch called a davenport since I was a kid at my grandmothers in St. Louis. I'm way beyond kiddom now! She also always called the refrigerator the "ice box".

SippicanCottage said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ann Althouse said...

"Ice box" is great because it's concrete and cool looking -- short syllables, great Scrabble letters. "Refrigerator" is so ugly by comparison: long, fussy use of "or" (why not "er""), unnecessarily use of "re" (was everything in it previously "friged"?). But "davenport" is great because it's long and grand. It's like "dungarees" for "jeans." My grandmother said "davenport." I do like "davenport" more than "couch," which is an ugly word, suggesting that you're hiding there, couched in -- whatever -- laziness. The best word for that item is "sofa." It's the shortest, and it's cool looking. We don't have enough nouns ending in "a."