thanks, New York Times

August 12, 2004 by Eric Richardson

Is it odd that the New York Times is telling me about free wifi in my neighborhood? I ran across a story today, mostly fluff, talking about telco responses to people stealing wifi (mooching off neighbors). I don't really care about that part so much, but the very bottom contained the part I was interested in:

Two blocks from my apartment is the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and in it is a coffee bar where a customer can order an exceptional latte. The other day I spotted a notice there advertising free Internet access for Wi-Fi users.

I took it as a sign that since my days of Internet mooching were over, for whatever reason, maybe I just needed to start hanging out in this lovely space with my laptop. Better coffee than Starbucks, and no access charge. And no guilt, either. Life isn't so bad in the Wi-Fi age, after all.

Hmmm... Definitely worth checking out.

midday downtown

August 11, 2004 by Eric Richardson

I'm working from home today and needed to return a DVD to the library (The Madness of King George, which Kathy and I rented and watched last night... Her pick; I hadn't heard of it, but liked it), so D4, Miggles, and I walked over there at lunch. On the way we ate ate the Yorkshire Grill, which I had seen many times but never been inside. It was very much like Canter's in menu and price. Canter's pickles are a lot better in my opinion, but I had no complaints about my sandwich. I ordered the Yorkshire Special, rye bread around layered turkey, pastrami, and cole slaw. The sandwich, a little cup of potato salad, pickles, and a coke came out to $12 with tip. Not bad at all.

Never one to leave the library empty-handed, I checked out Rosey's cd Dirty Child and the self-titled cd by Robert Bradley's Blackwater Surprise, who you might remember I saw at the Viper Room back in May.

PJ Harvey in-store at Amoeba?

August 10, 2004 by Eric Richardson

Just noticed over at blogging.la: PJ Harvey will be doing an in-store this Thursday, 6pm, at the world's greatest music store, Amoeba Music. The gig isn't listed on the Amoeba site or PJ's site from what I can see, but that doesn't mean it isn't so. She is in town next week playing a couple gigs, so it wouldn't be at all surprising for her to show up a bit early. And if any music store could score a PJ in-store, it's Amoeba. Definitely worth a little subway ride Thursday afternoon.

Last year I went to Amoeba for an in-store by The Sounds. It's not a great venue acoustically, but really, for a free show you can't complain.

"thank God for TiVo"

August 09, 2004 by Eric Richardson

Oon account of a free magazine I had a subscriptions to I get some random email that's not quite spam, but that I usually don't read. Today, though, I happened to scan one and this caught my eye:

Brian Teasley, a percussionist in the two-dozen-plus-member band The Polyphonic Spree, caused a ruccous last week at Dallas Fort Worth-International Airport, when a custom-built microphone in his luggage shut down five gates due to terroism suspicions.

Read the whole article here at ProSoundNews. The best line:

"I told them we had just used it when we were on Craig Kilborn's show. I still had it on my TiVo, so I was like, 'Come watch it with me.' After they figured out I was telling the truth, they were pretty cool. I was talking to them about music. But thank God for TiVo."

no such thing as a free lunch?

August 09, 2004 by Eric Richardson

Yesterday I got offered free food twice. I accepted once.

The first time was mid-afternoon, when I stopped at 7-Eleven for a Dr. Pepper. The ice dispenser on the fountain drink machine wasn't working, so they had a little bucket with a scoop in it. It was empty. I told the guy this, and hung out holding the scoop while he complained about how he had just filled it 10 minutes ago and went through the whole process of opening the machine up to get at the ice inside. Once he was finally finished I filled up my drink and took it up to the counter. He had a little crate of sandwiches behind the counter, and he asked me if I wanted one -- "no charge". I appreciated the offer, but I had just eaten lunch. So I thanked him, paid, and left.

Later, around 10 or so last night, Miggles and I decided to stop by the IHOP just off Wilshire/Vermont on the way to Ralphs. He ordered an omlette and pancakes, I ordered a waffle and hash browns. We waited. After 10 minutes or so they brought Miggles his food and me my hash browns. The waffle machine was acting up, they said, and they were still trying to get it to work. A couple minutes later the manager came over and told me that his waffle machine wasn't working and asked was there something else I might want. I got blueberry pancakes. The manager told our waitress not to charge me for them. I was happy.