02023-05-16 | Coffee, Internet
I want to create a place where the flow of time is slow. The private library and cafe designed for that purpose are “Donko Donkou/Cafe Yoshi Kissa Fang”.
As the daily flow surrounding people accelerates, it is daring to be slow from the speed required by social systems and technologies. And to continue to think spontaneously about pleasure and health as a person. That’s the time I want to encourage with “dumb thinking”.
Read a book while tasting the coffee slowly roasted and carefully brewed. I believe that the lonely time of nothing and the fellowship with someone in the past called books will be the foundation of human’s ingenuity and wealth in the future, and I will open up “dumb thoughts” here.
BACH Kyoto branch office Donko donkou/喫茶芳
Machine translation isn’t perfect, but sometimes it comes up with good phrases. I like this:
I want to create a place where the flow of time is slow.
Check out the photos on the website. I also love the blue drop animation. I admit that I scrolled down several times to watch it disappear in the puddle at the bottom.
02023-02-18 | Coffee
I have often wondered why payment software doesn’t have the option of extracting the first name from the credit card and using it for the order. Or highlight the first name for the person taking the order. When I bought coffee this morning, there was quite a bit of background noise and when the person taking the order didn’t understand my name I pointed to it on my credit card.
Coffee habits: lately I take my Snowpeak cup to coffeeshops to get it filled with drip coffee AND I also order a cortado/gibraltar in a glass to have there. I drink the cortado and take the cup with me. It works. :-)
02023-02-14 | Coffee, Ottmar
For many years I have been using the name Frank for pick up orders and in coffeeshops. It was easier than spelling my name over and over. And sometimes they wouldn’t even get “Frank” and substituted “Fred”. Whatever, it was still more efficient, faster.
My partner suggested that I use my own name because people should get used to names that are not normative. And by normative I mean typical American names like Tom, Joe and such. (((you will notice I didn’t mention names like John, Robert and Stephen… 😊)))
Of course, there is nothing wrong with Anglo names but there should be room for different sounds, and for alternate spellings as well. How can a culture grow if it doesn’t allow for new or different input? And when you stop growing you begin to die, as Frank Howell said.
So I have been using my own name. It has been rocky and here is something I noticed. A POC will ask me to spell my name and write down the letters. It’s only six letters, and two of them are identical and in a row, and it goes really fast. The white person will look annoyed that I am not a Tim or Joe and sometimes even spelling will not help. I have to believe it’s because they don’t want to accept a different name. Sometimes I quickly reverted to Frank because I got sick of the dance.
I remember when I met with the two founders of Higher Octave Music, in the Fall of 1989. They asked me to change my name because they found it too strange and feared that it would be too hard to remember.
Perhaps my name was just different enough because it obviously did not stop people from finding Nouveau Flamenco. I wonder how many people went to a record store (ah, record stores!) and asked for “that guitarist with the strange name”?
02023-02-12 | Coffee, Design, Photos
On Thursday we stopped for coffee in Claremont. It was served in these cups. At first I thought it might be a new paper cup design but it was too sturdy. The fins made it cool to the touch. I looked up the brand and discovered this:
Our journey began with the iconic HuskeeCup. A modular, reusable cup for the home, cafe, or takeaway that repurposes waste coffee husk, a by-product from the production of coffee.
Huskee US
02022-12-07 | Coffee, Language
from this post on Spoon & Tamago.
02022-11-26 | Coffee, Guitar, Lx, Photos, Travel
I arrived in Lisbon yesterday morning after a long, long day of traveling that started in Durango at 0600. Well, all of me arrived, except my guitar. (((I like William Gibson’s idea of the “Soul Delay” of long distance travel, whereby the soul can’t keep up and will invariably arrive later.))) Guitar had to travel as baggage, because the overheads for international flights are too small and I can’t afford a business-class ticket (((Business Class: no worries, your guitar can go into this closet. Economy: your guitar travels with the other suitcases or you won’t fly.))). I am not too worried because it’s a new case that was recommended by my luthier Keith Vizcarra, who also set the case up perfectly for the instrument. Plus this guitar will stay here and won’t have to travel for a long while. (((Tip: Don’t just buy a case and jam the guitar into it. Either take the time to set up the case yourself or ask a luthier to do it. It can make a huge difference. You don’t want the guitar to move even a fraction of an inch!!))) So I spent a long time at lost baggage in Lisbon which, after 22 hours of travel, isn’t fun. As the man, who created the claim, said: “Most likely you will get a call from us tomorrow and we will deliver the guitar case to your apartment. Most likely.”
Called an Uber to the airport. The driver called my mobile and asked me where I was, because it can be difficult to find the Uber pick up spot at this airport. I replied where Uber pick ups always happen, indicating that this wasn’t my first rodeo. A few minutes later he arrived and another twenty minutes later I was in my flat, or most of me was. Too wired to sleep and too tired to do much. Eventually I walked to a favorite cafe and had lunch. That helped. Went to the store and got a few basics, something to make for dinner, milk for morning coffee. Bought another type of oatmilk, hoping to eventually find something that can replace milk for me. The two milk products I haven’t been able to replace are yoghurt and milk for coffee. I love yoghurt.
I wanted to go to sleep at 1900 yesterday but made myself stay up until around 2200. This morning I feel much improved. While I am still waiting for my guitar, my “soul” must have caught up overnight. I got up and made coffee and enjoyed the light show of the morning sun in my apartment.
Good news: I just received a phone call from the airport. My guitar was found and will be delivered later today…
