Kind of a homey place, likable staff, colorful Santa Cruzians shuffling in and out with their hipster wear and crunchy hair (well, some of them). A couple of old men are huddled at a nearby table trying with all their might to work out a crossword puzzle. Even the flies get in on the action every now and then.

I miss doing this. I like coming to coffee shops and writing, but I so rarely get the chance. I should make the time to do it more often, really. This place is a little out of the way compared to wear we live, but I’m sure I can find a place just as good in Aptos for weekends when I just don’t feel like being cooped up in my office.

I want to keep ordering coffees, but I feel a little like peeing, and I don’t want to pack up and lose my seat by going up to the bathroom. I’m set up at a sweet table and I don’t really want to lose it. Dilemma!

Javier Grillo-Marxuach’s TV series based on his Viper Comics title kicks off next week. Since there’s nothing else to watch during the summer months (not counting pay cable shows like Weeds), you may as well give it a try.

Some of you will know Javier Grillo-Marxuach from his work on Lost (he wrote some pretty great episodes, including All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues in season 1 and Orientation in season 2) and his work on Medium (one of my favorite, most underrated shows (I never watch it live, and let it stack up on my DVR but always wonder why when I finally view the episodes).

Well, Javier’s new series The Middleman starts up on ABC Family next Monday night. This is a bit of a full circle for the scribe as he had originally pitched the premise as a pilot before being convinced by Paul Dini to do it as a comicbook instead.

I haven’t read the thing yet, but plan to pick up the complete series trade paperback when it’s released late next month.

As regular readers will know I recently got the LG Voyager through Verizon. Despite knowing that the possibility of a 3G iPhone was on the horizon, I decided to stay with the bog V. Most of the people I talk to are on Verizon, so they’re all In calls - so no minutes used.

But days like this make me question my decisions. It’ll subside. It did last year, too. Still… what a damned fine piece of tech.

You know, screw this thing. It’s TINY. If LG tries to top this with a new version of the Voyager that’s smaller and more compact (thereby ruining the perfect form factor and functionality of it’s QWERTY keypad inside) I will seriously cry… even though it won’t really impact me until around December of next year (new every two, don’t you know).

I’ve never understood this whole fetish with smaller, smaller, smaller phones. Pretty soon we’re going to start seeing bug-eyed, tiny-thumbed mutant children evolved specifically to see tiny micro-phone text and bang out long txt messages on keypads normal people can barely even see.

Loving the Voyager, by the way, and can’t imagine a better phone. Well, I suppose the camera could be slightly better (okay, a lot) and it could have a lens cover like the enV… but the size and functionality tops this Glyde pretender by a mile.

Because I’m pretty heavily involved with direct/email advertising campaigns at my day job, I have a gmail account set up specifically to receive various emails from retailers, companies, etc.

I just happened to get this from Costco…

Philips 42″ 1080p LCD HDTV
Resolution: 1920 x 1080
Dynamic screen contrast: 29000:1
Brightness: 500 cd/m²

$999.99

What’s the catch here? The specs look fine. I’m not completely sold on Philips as a brand over, say, Sony, Sharp, Samsung or even LG… but at under a grand for a 42″ LCD? Fuck it, that’s like a perfect second set for the bedroom or something if you had room.

Tya and I were just talking about how nice it would be to have a TV in the bedroom now that we have a nice huge bed to be lazy in…

“After traveling 422 million miles since its launching last Aug. 4, NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander is aiming for a touchdown on Sunday in the unexplored northern regions of Mars. But first, it must survive what its developers call the final “seven minutes of terror” to reach the surface…”

And then it must fend off the sentient dervishes and machine-eating ape devils!

More here. Just… not about the dervishes and ape devils (sadly).

So here’s a test video to see how that works out.

Tya and I are making mental lists of stuff we want to rush-pack and take with us if we get evacuated.

Needless to say, this is not altogether the best feeling I’ve ever felt.