Gwyneth B. McGlinn

El Diablo
Sunday April 15, 2007
22:50-23:00

Coffee:4+
Atmosphere: 4
Wifi:4+
Treats: —
Location: 4

Comments: Coffee was great! Too bad I forgot they’re only open till 11pm on Sundays. We’ll have to go back on a Friday or Saturday when they;re open till midnight.
We took Martin and Jeremy with us. Since they closed and politely kicked us out we ended up at UZ for desert.

Special considerations: We came right as they were closing so it was empty. Another couple came in after us but left with their drinks. This may have also affected the parking situation and wifi speed.

UZ
Sunday April 15, 2007
23:20-23:57

Coffee: —
Atmosphere: -5
Wifi: 3
Treats: 3
Location: 4

Comments: I was mad and I’m still mad so I don’t plan to go back for a while. As I posted that night they did a last call for espresso drinks at 11:25pm. That is a full 35 minutes before they close. I remember thinking it was bad when they did last call 15 minutes before closing. This made me give the atmosphere a -5 and significantly impacted my experience. Additionally, their clocks are fast so they turned the internet off at 5 minutes till which is really about 8 minutes till midnight.
I remember the days when we could come in at 5 minutes till and get coffee. If you know of any local coffee forums let me know. I want to post my experiences and see if other people have similar complaints. That way I won’t give the UZ workers a piece of my mind.

Special Considerations: The deteriorating service and downward slip in espresso quality has been happening for a while. I should expect to have a less than 5 by 5 experience when going to UZ.

Important things:
El Diablo Coffee Company
University Zoka
“Five by Five”
Five by Five

Something to Talk About | Badly Drawn Boy | About A Boy
The Good Times Are Killing Me | Modest Mouse | Good News for People Who Love Bad News
Talk | Coldplay | X&Y
Say It Again | Badly Drawn Boy | The Hour of the Bewilderbeast
Hard to Explain | The Strokes | Is This It

23:25 Last call for espresso drinks.

Trishka | Telepopmusik | Genetic World
Sweet Potato | Sia | Colour the Small One
Stop Watch Hearts | Delerium | Chimera | Bonus Disk
The World At Large | Modest Mouse | Good News For People Who Love Bad News
Cause A Rockslide | Badly Drawn Boy | The Hour of the Bewilderbeast

Format: Digital
Source: Betty

Last week Betty got her much anticipated upgrade.  A new battery and an 8 gig CF card later and I’m pleased to say she is doing quite well.

Her previous battery suffered from severe lack of battery life.  It would shut down after 5 minutes or less claiming it was drained.  If you waited 5-10 minutes you could get a repeat performance.  This lasted for a couple encores before it just wouldn’t play.

Additionally, I kept having to make room for new music due to lack of space.  Now I can put twice as much on it.

I was borrowing J.P.’s iPod while Betty was being upgraded.  Old school at it’s best!  I had fun listening to the hard drive which was eager to be heard.  Betty’s hard drive was never that loud.  It was a nice break from the usual but I’m happy to have her back.

Tomorrow I’m going to start a time trial with a fully charged battery.  I know the new battery lasts a lot longer than the old one, but how long is the question.  Once I get that figured out I can plan the amount of music I need on it.

If she ever gets another  upgrade I plan to call her Betty Mark III Celebration.  It’s a bad joke but I couldn’t resist.

I have to give a shout out to the Chuck’s Propane Chevron on 99 for meeting my expectations on Sunday.
Our trip was billed as a quick drive to the Silverlake Chevron for and Henry’s doughnuts for maple bars.
We arrived at Silverlake to find out that they were missing their air hose. The station down the street wanted 75 cents for air. So we went on a journey to find free air. Henry’s became simply a pit stop. They were out of maple bars. At least they had some doughnuts unlike Saturday when all they had were 8-12 muffins.
Various other gas stations and the emissions place let us down on the way home. Why are people willing to pay for air?
Finally we pulled into “Chuck’s Propane.” That’s just an old faded sign out by the Chevron. I have no idea if it’s just a leftover or if the Chevron and garage is/was Chuck’s.
To paint you a picture the Chevron looks like it hasn’t been updated since the early to mid 90’s. It has 4 old style pumps (I think) under a simple cover. The pumps do take credit cards though. Off to the side is an even older kerosene pump.
There is a building where a cashier can be with snacks or something. Attached to that is a garage with maybe 4 bays.
At night the pump area is lit and there may have been a light on or in the building. We pull up and are driving out when I spy an unlit water/air machine. We stop and J.P. fills up the tires. As expected the pump leaked some air but did manage to work.
I must go back and get pictures so I can share. We’ve bought gas there once. It’s just a good place that seems to have what we need. It looks like the sort of place that just has things. Don’t expect too much though…things just seem to “work.”

So I was going to post a playlist on Friday but I left the list at work. So I just posted it. Enjoy.

Fireworks | Moby | 18
Eternal Odyssey | Delerium | Chimera
32 Flavors | Ani Difranco | Not a Pretty Girl
Stoned | Dido | Life for Rent
Impressed | Natalie Imbruglia | Left of Middle

Format: Digital

Source: J.P.’s iPod