Exploring

It's been raining a lot lately, but that stopped. I'm grateful for that. Probably even more so that the lows temp-wise will be around 50 after going into the high 30's last week.

I have a space heater but am reluctant to use it a lot knowing how much my bill was when an electric heater was used back in my old apartment . So when I woke up yesterday morning at 7am and was unable to go back to sleep. I did a quick search of all the McDonald's between where I am and where I was planning to meet some friends for lunch to observe Chinese new years.

McDonald's offers free Wifi and they currently have a $1 coffee special with free refills. The McD's in South Pasadena has *one* electric outlet, a concession to folks who use it to recharge their phones - yes, surprisingly, there is a homeless contingent in South Pasadena, and one such person who was charging his phone Friday evening gave me a quick list of all the places that give out free food during the week. Apparently if you go to the police station, they'll give you a blanket if you're cold at night.  But I digress.

The McD's closest to me had all their outlets covered. Ditto for the two McD's in Pasadena and there were homeless sleeping in seats farthest away from the ordering stations.

I got to the McD's in Temple City, all outlets covered - and packed with old Chinese scarfing down breakfast. Didn't see that one coming.

My reconnoitering complete for the morning, I went to a Starbucks in Arcadia, and rented a table and outlet for the price of a $1.95 small coffee and chatted off and on with some guys seated at the next table while I surfed the web and did a little rewriting on my ebook until I left for lunch in Arcadia around 11;30am..

In conclusion, the Pasadena library which is open 9am-9pm M-Th, 9am-6pm Fri-Sat & (I think) 1-5pm on Sundays. is still probably the main choice for free wifi and respite from inclement weather conditions. & Starbucks can be the go-to starting at 5am and as late as 11pm for the price of a $1.95 coffee. How you get there and where you go after that, I'm still exploring.