Guide to coffee shop study spots in the Twin Cities

I've found that existing coffee shop guides are usually geared to telling you about the quality of the coffee. This guide is focused on how well-suited coffee shops and cafes in the city are to settling down and studying. I will continue to update as I continue visiting places! (my favorites are marked with asterisks*)

Coffee Shops / Cafes:

1. Mojo Coffee Gallery* - perfect place for settling down with your laptop and studying, with wifi, outlets and lots of tables and different types of seating. The atmosphere is unique and quirky with pottery, paintings, and sculptures on the walls, and model planes and ships hanging from the ceiling. Outdoor seating available too. Parking lot adjacent.

2. Anelace Coffee - staid, modern, clean, medium sized cafe with interesting drinks - also nice and quiet with outlets and wifi making it good for studying. Best part about this place is the location, in the middle of a diverse commercial street in Northeast Minneapolis, meaning there are many cheap, delicious places to have lunch or dinners during your study session. Nearby street parking free.

3. Al-Amir Restaurant and Bakery - after studying at Anelace for a morning, I walked down the street to this restaurant for lunch. The lamb kebabs with rice were delicious and fresh. But also, I found that they have wifi, a quiet atmosphere, and a couple of tables well suited for a study session. I sat at my table after lunch and worked for a couple of hours. It's a small place, the furniture is all beat up, and it isn't aesthetically appealing, but it's an authentic, non-corporate, interesting place to work, and local business to support. A couple years ago this place was owned by Iraqis but currently it's owned by a friendly Somali lady who is happy to trade stories with customers. Nearby street parking free.

4. Parallel - a large, upscale, modern coffee shop with adjacent, affiliated event space and art space. Perfect for studying, bright, spacious, airy, wifi, outlets, etc. Everyone there is grinding away on their laptops, apart from the transitory lunchtime crowd. Parking lot adjacent.

5. Corner Coffee - cozy with different types of seating and spaces, medium sized cafe, great for studying. Big downside is street parking is metered with 2hr limit and $2/hr.

6. Bordertown Coffee - Old sorority house made into a cafe, still has homey feel making it great for sitting down to study. Again, issue is street parking. Wifi doesn't load half of the website for me but appears to be only my problem.

To be continued!

Can you give a child two last names? (California)

QUESTION: IN CALIFORNIA, CAN I YOU GIVE YOUR CHILD TWO LAST NAMES?

ANSWER: YES

ANSWER SOURCE: BIRTH RECORDER (person at hospital who submits the data that will be put on your baby's birth certificate to the government)

ELABORATION:

• Last names:
• You are absolutely allowed to name your baby with two last names, without a hyphen.
• The baby's name will appear exactly as expected on it's birth certificate (meaning with a space, without a hyphen)
• This will be your baby's legal name
• Many people name their kids with two last names and the kids do just fine
• Yes it will cause some difficulty here and there for paper work - but no one can specify exactly where - but no problem will be insurmountable
• Middle names:
• Same possibilities as for last names!
• Hyphenation
• Hyphens are allowed in first, middle, and last names (even simultaneously!)
• You can even have a three-part hyphenated first, middle, or last name (like example #6)
• Valid Name Examples:
• Baby 1
• First Name: John
• Last Name: Smith Coggins 
• Baby 2
• First Name: Elena 
• Last Name: Ramirez Velasco 
• Baby 3
• First Name: Hamid
• Middle Name: Usman
• Last Name: Urazi Campa
• Baby 4:
• First Name: Kuo
• Middle Name: Chen Huynh
• Last Name: Perez Chi
• Baby 5: 
• First Name: Jung-Min
• Middle Name: John-Paul Harvey-Lee
• Last Name: Greene-Walsh Rathert-Knowles
• Baby 6:
• First name: James-John-Jacob
• Middle Name: George
• Last Name: Delaney
• If you have examples of famous people with these multi-part names, I would love to hear them in the comments! I think having these examples to point to helps reassure concerned parents/family.