New for me

[Kenneth Swauger]

hello,
I am sitting in a coffee shop, near Paterson Park, drinking a nice cappuccino with my best girl typing on an iPad. A first for me!
Cheers, Ken

[Rodeo0530]

Sounds good except for the cappucino! Coffee(black) is perfect for me. Enjoy your day.

[j allen]

I'll second the black coffee. If your weather is as nice today as ours, it sounds nice. Enjoy!

[Kex]

Kenneth, you seem to be doing all sorts of crazy sh!t since you "retired" from c/s!

I love coffee. I used to drink about 6 to 10 cappuccinos or espresso's a day, but I'm more reasonable now, with just 5 or 6. When you get involved, it's pretty much just as bad as audio. For example, you purchase a $500 Espresso machine, only to discover that you can't make proper espresso unless you spend at least another $250 on a grinder. There you were, thinking $500 was pretty steep for a coffee machine, but it turns out that's the entry level to the good stuff!

BTW, Starbucks coffee, and most coffee houses' coffee, is very mediocre at best. There's the whole fresh roast thing, and they don't really do a good job with that TBH. Peet's is certainly a step up from Starbucks IMO, but still not spectacular by any means. I enjoy the coffee shop atmosphere nonetheless, so yes: I go to Starbucks frequently, with or without an iPad, netbook or laptop (mostly without in my case), and I wouldn't ever ruin the moment by being too much of a snob about it.

Cappuccino is what I like best, along with espresso, but espresso is very unforgiving of quality IMO. If the coffee quality isn't there, then the cappuccino will take the edge off a bad bean. Latte is a purely American invention (not Italian or European), and I'm not really into that. Latte is to coffee what MP3 is to music IMO, convenient and not horrible, but certainly not the nec plus ultra either.

Enjoy yourself! There's nothing quite like having breakfast in a Parisian bistro with cappuccino and a fresh baked croissant, while contemplating the view of something like the Opera House IMO (or just about any other Parisian scene), especially if you have the right person (or friends) next to you at the time. I usually follow up with an espresso right after.

[headrott]

Sounds like a good relaxing time Ken. Now if you could just get your rig there to open up peoples' ears with some great music from one of your reel to reel decks........;):D

[wayne3burk]

hello,
I am sitting in a coffee shop, near Paterson Park, drinking a nice cappuccino with my best girl typing on an iPad. A first for me!
Cheers, Ken

Sounds like Patterson Perk.....

but what do i know

-- wayne --

[madmax]

Digital is great for toys!
Enjoy

[engtaz]

Sounds like a good time was had. Congrats on modern geekdom. :)

[Kenneth Swauger]

Hello,
My wife and I had a great day! The iPad was on loan from her office, so we drove down to Patterson Perk cafe and sat outside. The weather was sunny, but windy. After walking around Patterson Park we drove to Fells Point and I bought some books at a street flea market. Let's see: "Night" by Elie Wiesel, "Les Miserables" Victor "Boom Boom" Hugo, "Dancer" Colum McCann (actually a gift to my mother-in-law, described as "erotically charged story of the Russian dancer Rudolf Nureyev"), "The Angel of Darkness" by Caleb Carr and "Homicide" by David Simon (bought within 300' of where they filmed the TV show). There was a guy playing an Australian hand drum and a pair of diggeridoos (sp) at the same time. Only in Baltimore!
Then, off we went to South Baltimore looking for grub. We went, for the first time, to Thai Arroy. OMG was that delicious! Thai lemon grass soup with shrimp for me and a soft veggie wrap for the missus. Main course was chicken satay for her and tofu "Mr. Green" un-bo-live-able!
Great day in Baltimore! I hope all you Polkies had one as well!
Take care, Ken

[dorokusai]

Nerd.

[Kenneth Swauger]

I prefer "cool-challenged" myself.
Ken

[fatchowmein]

..."Les Miserables" Victor "Boom Boom" Hugo...

I hope you picked up the abridged version unless you just wanted to carry the unabridged around to supplement the "cool challenged" facade. If not, you're a brave man.

[Kenneth Swauger]

Hello,
Yes, it's the abridged version. Harrison Ford as Valjean and Tommy Lee Jones as Javert.
Ah, coffee! After working at Polk I became a shambling addict, looking for the best tasting brew I could find. We had one of Matt's espresso machines available and the engineering guys supplied the beans. Now that I'm retired I have to fend for myself, no more mooching. Heck in the good old days, if you treated him well, Paul DiComo would make a steamed milk and coffee slice of paradise for you. But, now within easy walking distance is Zeke's Cafe. A small batch roasting company that has it's over-the-counter sales and coffee shop in the site of former Grindon Cafe. But, in my humble opinion, the best cup of joe, in B-more, comes from Belevedere Square, near Towson. They use Higher Ground brand coffee, also a small batch roasting company. I tend to go for a medium roast with plenty of flavor.
The Patterson Perk is on a par with Zeke's and combined with being able to walk around the park, it's hard to beat.
Enjoy, Ken

[Sherardp]

Freaking A!!! I was inches away from buying the Ipad today and you go and post this one on me. Told myself to wait until gen 2 comes out, I'm really wanting bad. Which model do you have and how are you enjoying thus far?

On another note, I love B-more, always out there when I'm Hagerstown for meetings with the other part of work. Nothing beats a Maryland Crabcake, man I love those.

[Kenneth Swauger]

Hello,
Keep in mind I am not a great source for recommendations for computer gear. For everything analogue audio and some digital I can be trusted. With that "crying towel" in place let me say I found the iPad to be really amazing (the $599.00 model)! The touch keypad was sensitive and seemed very intuitive to navigate. I had no owners manual and yet could still figure out how things worked. We checked movie schedules, looked at CP, used Google Maps listened to downloads with no problem (the unit's speaker must be about 2mm tall). If the sun is over your shoulder the screen is washed out, but that's to be expected.
Best of all, people actually stopped and asked how we liked it. We had our 15 seconds of being cool. I remember, many years ago, working in a store that sold cameras and stereo gear. In order to get people interested in the new Polaroid we would stand near the front door and take pictures of people as they brought in their film to be processed. You could see by the expressions on their faces that this was a really great way to take a picture. Just pop out the white paper covered "picture", press it between your hands and wait the 60 seconds. Presto! There's your smiling mug almost instantly.
Yesterday my wife looked at me and said, "I can see the future! You're sitting in Patterson Park, coffee and scone, working on your iPad. Keeping the peace on CP."
She was right, now I'm in my dark basement, next to the mice cage. Let's see, where can I get 600 smackers?
Cheers, Ken