It’s 5:08 p.m. here in sunny San Diego. Today I put up a daily goal on my wall. “Have you made your [dollar amount that represents making a living] today?”

I haven’t made my goal today, so I’m settling in for some full-on writing time tonight. Sometimes I feel like I’m still in college, working until all hours on a term paper that was assigned three months ago and is due tomorrow. But back then I kept a big bag of M&Ms right next to the computer.

I suppose heading across the street to my former favorite coffee shop for a cupcake would not only break my boycott in a pathetic way, but it would also blow my calorie count and provide another reason to procrastinate?

Yeah. You’re right — I’ve already tried the cupcake thing. I better get to work.

A friend drove my spunky little convertible yesterday and couldn’t resist zipping and zooming. I bit my lip and finally couldn’t resist asking, “You haven’t adopted hypermiling yet, have you?”

I’ve been driving more conservatively to increase my MPG thus saving money I can put into my business and my pocket. As I drive, I tell myself to do all I can to avoid braking or accelerating quickly. It may be my imagination, but I’ve noticed others here in sunny San Diego being more comfortable in the slow lanes. As I’m cruising at the speed limit, I don’t see as many people whizzing by as I used to, I think.

The concept of hypermiling seems to be simple: ease up on the gas, plan ahead to use less brakes. If you’re approaching a stop light and you know you have to stop, don’t hurry to the start line. When you start accelerating, do so slowly rather than stomping on the gas. A recent CNN article said you can increase your MPG by 30 percent with these little changes.

It’s a little embarrassing to be a little poky in my cute sports car, but I can make a tank of gas last about three weeks. Granted I work from home and don’t get out much, but I think it’s helping.

The Associated Press just released a poll that said 2 in 5 parents think kids need more math in schools to help prepare them for the real world. Half that number thought kids need more English.

As a person who makes a living writing, I realize I’m a little biased. But my first question when I saw this: Are you kidding me, people?

When I need to figure out the interest I’ll pay on a car loan, I can find an online calculator in seconds. My phone has a calculator if I needed to get a quick average of a series of numbers. Everywhere you turn, you can find tools that help you with math.

The internet does not contain tools for helping you write. Sure, you can work with spelling and grammar checkers, but they’re probably 65 percent effective, and they still can’t help you write a good paragraph.

I taught college English for many years. I’d guess at least half of the students I’ve encountered had convinced themselves they were poor writers. Their reticence to write hurt their studies in any class that required writing assignments, which was almost every class, with the exception, perhaps, of math. Even science courses had lab reports to write.

In my classes, my goal was to give the students self confidence about their writing. “When you want to convince your parents that you ought to be allowed to do something,” I’d say. “You organize your thoughts, work out plausible arguments, compose your ideas…. In other words, you write a persuasive essay.”

Ok, so the analogy didn’t hit home with all the students (many had kids of their own, for gosh sakes), but I’d try to find a way to help them understand that they possessed the capability to write well. And then we’d work on giving them an understanding of the guidelines they need once they identify what they want to write. I’d say, “Once you learn all the grammar rules, you’ll have a lot more fun breaking them on purpose.”

I can’t imagine a more critical time for people to know how to write well. With email, we all write regularly. We all read on the internet. Perhaps the worries about the economy prompted parents to rate math over English, or perhaps the parents themselves devalued the study of English because they themselves have not discovered how far the ability to write can take someone.

Whatever the reason for the puzzling responses to that poll, the results make me long to teach English again to give more students the chance to feel good about their ability to read and write.

Would you lose a customer over 50 cents?

As I lined up to spend about 10 bucks for coffee and breakfast at my favorite coffee shop this morning, one of the owners was losing a customer. There was some kind of dispute about a gift card, and the owner claimed the patron just didn’t know how much the patron had been spending, and that’s why the card had no money. The patron thought the original card (which had been lost and the one with the small amount may or may not have actually been the right card) should have 40 bucks or so.

The owner made the patron so mad with her insistence that the patron had simply spent too much that the patron stormed out.

This owner (half of a husband/wife team) was notably rude to other clients a few days ago, causing her own staff to say something to her.

Just now I go in for a little break to get my dollar refill. I’ve done this every day for … I don’t know… 4 months? I live across the street, so I buy a coffee in the morning and refill it a couple of times a day, sometimes even buying refills in advance with the first purchase.

So I go in for my refill, and the owner says, “Beth, refills are only if you stay here. It’s a courtesy for our guests.” She stared flatly at me, leaving my empty cup between us.

“Ah. Ok,” I said. I left. I dumped my cup in the trash and went home to brew a pot.

I go to the coffee shop for the people. I think I visit 7 days a week. I like to step away from the office, and the baristas all know me. I meet friends there all the time, spend probably (and embarrassingly) $25-35 a week there. Her husband serves me my refills and waves goodbye as I walk across the street.

The owner’s brusqueness and the way she treated other people turned me off completely. I’ll probably go back sometime or another, but I certainly don’t want to visit for a while. (This is not the first time I’ve been turned off by the owner, but I let the other one pass.)

I’ve never faced this as a freelance copywriter. No one’s said, “Gosh, Beth. I didn’t think you were charging me for that,” or “This seems expensive.” In fact, I often check with my clients as I am doing a project. “I’ve spent 4 hours so far, and I think I’m halfway there. Are we still on budget?” I’d hate to think that my clients thought I was giving more thought to increasing the current invoice than establishing a long-term relationship.

So, my little coffee shop just lost another customer (at least until I cool off) because of 50 cents. This is the second time in a week I’ve encountered companies who put policy over building customer relationships. I wonder if they really believe it’s worth it?