Local Authors Tell Local Coffee Shop Owner, “Thanks”
By chicago-pipeline at September 9, 2012 | 8:45 am | Print
Two guys walked into Filter Cafe, 1373 N. Milwaukee Ave., early in the morning this past Thursday, and ordered a hearty breakfast of steak and eggs.
Later on, one of the men approached cafe owner Jeff Linnae, pictured, and told him that he had something to ask him.
Jeff said he first thought, “Oh no, I hope he’s not trying to sell me something!”
It turned out that the man wanted to ask if he’d like a copy of the book he co-authored, Team Geek, A Software Developer’s Guide to Working Well with Others, which was published on July 18, 2012.
Brian Fitzpatrick and Ben Collins-Sussman, both developers for Google, began working on the idea for Team Geek many years back while hanging out at Filter’s previous location, on the corner of Milwaukee/Damen/North avenue. That location closed back in ??? and became a Bank of America branch.
Filter re-opened in January of 2010 at 1373 N. Milwaukee. Brian and Ben ended up completing Team Geek at the new Filter, and were meeting up early before their jobs for a celebratory breakfast of steak and eggs at the spot where it all began. They both thanked Jeff for the existence of Filter.
“I just thought that was the coolest thing ever. It really made my day,” Jeff told the pipeline, before proudly showing us his signed (and complimentary) copy of Team Geek.
We thought it was a really cool story, too. Thanks for reading it!
