A New Kind Of Office

If you want to find me most weekday afternoons, all you have to do is venture over to

That is where I usually set up camp to finish out my work day.

I'm one of those "day walkers," as my office-bound niece's husband likes to call us. All of us at Patch are part of the growing legion of employees who, thanks to the laptop and the cell phone, work outside the office.

We work from home. We work from coffee shops. We work from parks. Wherever we can set up for that particular day.

I help oversee 11 Patch sites, which means there are 11 towns to which I regularly drive to meet with local editors, do stories or talk to community leaders.

Over the past year and a half, I have learned where the best places are to work in all 11 of those towns.

Where the places with the best wi-fi are. Which places are the quietest. Which places have a feel for the community. Which places have good coffee and/or good snacks. Which places have plugs to charge up the laptop. And, most importantly to someone my age, which places have bathrooms.

This is knowledge most people who work outside the office have culled over their months and years in the field.

My day typically begins at home after my wife leaves for her job as a teacher at a preschool. I'm usually there for a couple hours before I head out the door.

As convenient as it is, I don't like sitting at the house all day. I get plenty of work done there, but as a Patch editor I feel I need to be in the community, so I venture out.

I also like to give my wife a few hours in an empty, tranquil, quiet house after a day of teaching 5-year-olds.

During the middle of the day, I can be anywhere from Concord to Newark to Livermore to San Leandro, but on most days by mid-afternoon, I'm headed back to Walnut Creek.

I like to finish my day in my home base, so I don't have to fight commute traffic. I've done that enough over the years.

When I return to The Creek, I almost always head over to Countrywood.

The main reason is proximity. It's about a mile from my house and no matter what time I head home, all I have to do is cross Ygnacio Valley Road (not drive down it).

There are other reasons for planting myself here.

Countrywood has plenty of places with wi-fi. They include (recently remodeled), and Panera. Starbucks and Panera have the quickest wi-fi in most of the towns I visit, by the way.

All of these eateries also have good coffee, bottled water and a variety of snacks. For a change of pace, I can also go to

Noah's and Panera have places to plug in. I even know whose those outlets are inside each place.

There are also bathrooms in Noah's, Panera and at the back of the watch repair shack.

I can also get other business done. There is aa dry cleaning place, Safeway and CVS Pharmacy. There is even a Bank of America ATM.

The ambiance here is good, too. It's generally quiet (except for the loud music inside Noah's), especially if the weather is nice enough to sit outside.

There's plenty of tables and chairs scattered around the pleasant arcade. And there's something about the way the late afternoon sun hits that plaza.

I have a special place near the fountain next to the Starbucks. You get some of that glorious sun as well as the pleasant sound of the flowing water.

Some of my younger Patch co-workers say they miss working in an office. I can understand that. I really don't. I worked in offices for 35 years. The solitude of the field appeals to me.

I see the local editors on a one-on-one basis and we get together as a group twice a month. One of them said to me, "It's too bad we see each other more often. We get along so well."

My responses was, "You know why we get along so well? Because we don't see each other that often."

Plus, it's awfully difficult to fit 12 or 13 people into a Starbucks.