Coffee Shops Like Starbucks Starting to Bug Me

For many years, I used to like to go out to diners and coffee shops...and just sit there and read, write, and study.  And after Starbucks opened its Magnolia Parke store here in Gainesville in 2000, I've gone there a lot, along with other Starbucks locations.  But in recent years I've grown tired of going out like this...besides, with so many people also going to these locations (especially to Starbucks), I often find that there is no place to sit.  I also find myself more and more irritated by the crowds and the noise, so why bother when I can stay at home and accomplish the same things while drinking better tasting and less expensive home-brewed coffee?

I'm sure that one of the big contributing factors to my discomfort at coffee shops is the fact that, now with the omnipresent Internet, customers will take their tablets and laptops there and sit for hours upon hours...making it difficult for me to find a spot for myself.  I don't want to sound like a hypocrite, though: that's what I used to do, too, and for decades before the Internet was ever an option...