step #2

Find a coffee shop.
Make that coffee shop yours, if you find that it meets the proper criteria. An abbreviated list of this criteria follows (#ed too):

1) The establishment ought to play good music.
2) The establishment ought to feel welcome to anyone who might please, but only once--a completely welcoming atmosphere, I have found, can be really annoying. Everyone should feel welcome once, but, after that, the annoying people ought to weed themselves out.
3) The establishment ought to be conducive to reading, writing, studying, thinking, conversation, and, if so desired, chess.
4) The establishment ought to serve great coffee.

You might want to check out Coffee Time, on NW 21st, for a good example of how a solid coffee shop is run. If you were studying there this evening, you would have heard them play Stevie Wonder's Songs in the Key of Life in its entirety. You know that's what the team's about.

The coffee shop you select will provide the necessary atmosphere, shelter, and caffeine to fuel you reading/studying/researching/thinking for the next five years of your studies, so choose wisely.