The Mind of Boz

Ocean Beach! A new neighborhood for me.

I'll say one thing for this place, you can't beat the view. Newbreak is on Abbott St and Santa Monica and all the windows look across a parking lot to the beach and the ocean. It's pretty sweet. They even have a little enclosed patio area where you can sit semi-outside.

Unfortunately, you can beat the network performance. With tin cans and a string. I've been sitting here all day, and while I've never had less than 3 (of 4) bars of connectivity, the actual throughput has been atrocious. Instant messaging dropped out several times, email had to be re-sent and web pages reloaded. It might be time to lose the 56k modem in the back and step up to broadband or something.

In their defense, there have been a fair number of people here all day, and most of them have laptops. And the goombah behind me appears to be playing WoW. Obnoxious.

As far as power, there's a fair bit. There's an outlet in the southwest corner on the ceiling (I didn't notice it until someone hung their power supply from it. . .). There's another on the west wall south of the enclosed patio. And a third at the bottom of each of the columns. Alas, there's nothing on the little outside patio (that I could find).

Plenty of seating, though a lot of it is barstools, so don't expect your feet to touch the floor... No couches.

Best of all, they have bialys!! And they're not half bad! For those of you ignorant of the wondrous bialy, it's a bagel that's got little onion bits and is only baked (most bagels are boiled then backed, giving them their chewy texture). Unfortunately, it's one of those things (like beer) where you have to have a good one before you can appreciate the not-so-good ones. And I've yet to find a good introductory bialy west of the Hudson river.

Banker's Hill, corner of 1st and Upas.

Some tables, patio, a couch. Only one outlet (behind the plant on the right as you walk in), so bring an extension cord.

Network is solid, I was there all day on Friday with no problems.

Overall, a nice little cafe to spend a day. The only downside is a limited food menu -- there's a deli next door, but beside that nothing in short walking distance.

Clean your showerhead. Seriously. Right now. Bust out a pair of pliers, twist that bugger open and pull out all the little bits of grit that are stuck in there.

See, isn't that better?

I think I need to find a job. . . idle hands do the plumber's work and all that.

My First Cafe Post. Woot.

Today I'm at a cool little cafe area near Henry's grocery store on Park Blvd. It's a 'cafe area' because there's no roof. It's basically a converted alley between a clothing boutique (Frock You) and an apartment complex. The advantage being that there's lots of outdoor seating. The disadvantage is that it's no fun in the rain.

As far as I can tell, there's only one outlet. It's under the fountain on the north wall.

Wireless is solid, I've been here all day with no problems

The downside is, it's only open until 2pm. Darren, the owner, says he's getting an employee soon so it'll be open til 8. In the meanwhile, he's happy to let you sit after he closes and you just leave via Frock You.

All in all, I'd recommend it. It's nice to be able to code in the breeze. Sunscreen is your friend, however. Pretty sure the back of my head is burnt...

Tomorrow I'm checking out Cafe Carpe Diem.

If you haven't noticed, the enforced creativity thing isn't working so hot.

But I had an idea last week. A friend of a friend is new in town, and looking for cafes. Apparently, I come highly recommended in that particular bailiwick. So she called me, and I rattled off about 10 options in her neighborhood. Ten. Off the top of my head. I should be writing this stuff down.

So that's what I'm going to do. In addition to my witty prose (which I can't seem to be bothered to write), I'm going to try to throw down one or two cafe reviews every week. Now these won't be your run-of-the-mill "the coffee is great, the service is great" type of reviews. Oh, no. I intend to hit the real highlights : bandwidth, power outlets, hours, whether or not the employees glare at you for taking up a table for 6 hour stints... important stuff.

We'll see how it goes. If not, maybe I'll try writing at particular times of day. Or something involving nipples and electrodes. Somehow, I'm going to make this a regular habit.