iPad Menus?

While it would be very cool if you could order from an iPad at a restaurant and pass it around the table separating checks if necessary, they were not iPads….

Lighted Menus

After a trip to the bookstore on Thursday night, we were looking for a new place to try. Passing by all of the recognizable chains or restaurants apparently celebrating someones 10th birthday, we were intrigued by a strange glow coming from “The American Taproom.” Okay, so the gas flames on the sign outside were a nice touch too. I thought they were iPads at first, but then realized that would be quite a theft risk unless they were tethered to the tables.

The hostess seated us and gave us the menus and wine list which indeed lit up as soon as you opened them. I was intrigued and needed to find out how they work. I saw the small charging hole and figured that the menus were basically an LED version of a hospital room x-ray viewer.

After opening and closing the menu a few times, I was able to decide on dinner 🙂

The lighting continues

When the check arrived, you guessed it, it was back lit as well. Not sure that was necessary, it was not that dark in the restaurant.

If I embark on a restaurant venture again….

I will definitely provide an Ipad at the bar for guests to order food and pay for drinks. Instead of having one per spot at bar, I would have users swipe their credit / debit, or restaurant tab card to activate the menu. This would make it easy to generate separate checks.

Okay..so maybe that would be a little impersonal and probably should just stick with the iPhone sized devices to give to wait staff to keep track of orders, but I think it would be cool if you could order from an iPad. Perhaps this would work best at a busy sports bar to ensure that drink and food orders are correctly entered quickly and seem to just arrive at your table. One per table would be enough and could double as a multi user interactive game console to play along with those trivia games. You could also use it to provide guests with a way to browse the web or checkup on their email.

With the price of the iPad dropping to $399, $349 refurbished, who knows where you will see iPads being used 🙂

2012-03-042021-01-26

2012 WABA Vasa Ride

6:00 AM Sunday Wake Up!

Let me start by saying that I normally get up for work at 8 AM..so getting up at 6 AM on a weekend….ouch! I volunteered to help with setup / registration as well as being a ride marshal for the 59 mile course. There were 15 and 31 mile routes as well, all with the promise of warm blueberry soup which is actually made with bilberries, the “Swedish” equivalent.

8 AM – GO!

It was a bit chilly so only 275 registered riders showed up of the 400 registrants. Additionally volunteer ride marshals such as myself were part of the group. Since we were not on a closed course, we had some casual riders join in as well.

Starting at the “House of Sweden” at 30th and K Streets NW, which happens to be very close to Georgetown University where I spend 8 hours a day :), we headed out on K Street which is under the Whitehurst Freeway, a scene from Batman Begins I think, and then on the Capital Crescent Trail as we headed into Maryland. We zigged and zagged and rode MacArthur Boulevard up into Maryland and then on Glen road. On the way we had a Powerade pit stop and a turn around at a remote convenience store. We traveled down the bike / pedestrian / horse only portion of Beach Drive in Rock Creek Park.

Mile 50.8 BIG HILL

After a nice ride through Rock Creek Park, we see the sign for Brandywine ahead on left. I signal and then my jaw drops….it is probably the steepest, longest hill I have seen in the District of Columbia! I have to admit that I had to get off and walk a small portion as my knee was hurting me a bit. Perhaps it would have scared everyone out of doing the 59 mile route, but an ‘*’ on the cue sheet would have been helpful! Just kidding, though I think I would have rather had the hill early on 🙂

10 Minutes to spare…

So the group I was riding back huffed it as we were back on the CCT for the home stretch and made it back with 10 minutes to spare. Just in time to enjoy some blueberry soup..in a cup. Here are some stats from my bike computer. Unfortunately they include my limping ride home.

Travel Time: 4 Hours and 31 Minutes
Total Time: 5 Hours (Vasa Total. Does not include ride home)
Mileage: 61.59 Miles
Average Speed: 13.6 MPH
Max Speed: 30.6 MPH

While not as fast as my average speed for the Air Force Classic Crystal Ride from 2011, but this course was much more difficult as far as elevation changes and was not a closed or marked course.

Second Longest Ride

So this was my second longest ride. I am not sure if I will do more of these as I should train for them, but find my bike riding to work quite monotonous. I need to find more fun routes to go I think.

My good friend Shane was tempted me with Fondo’s in NY and other cities, but I think I want to do something local. Last year the Gran Fondo DC was cancelled, and I am not confident in my swimming abilities, but would like to try a Triathlon one of these days so say I have done one. Turning 34 this year, I think I better do it soon! LOL

History: Vasaloppet

Check out the event details at WABA.org. Here are some details from the WABA page in case it gets taken down.

WABA’s Annual Vasa Ride is our bicycle-themed tribute to Sweden’s legendary Vasaloppet, the world’s longest running cross country ski race in Sweden. Since 1922, thousands from around the world participate in the 90Km cross country ski race the first Sunday of March. Vasaloppet commemorates the trail of renegade Swede King Gustav Eriksson Vasa, who led the rebellion to free Sweden after a long and dangerous pursuit on skis. So why the warm blueberry soup? To keep riders warm and energized of course. It’s as much of an institution as the race itself! More info on the Vasaloppet.

2012-02-272021-01-26

Last GU Hoyas game and I finally got it

Okay….so I know this is probably obvious for those who are really into Basketball, but I never really paid attention until tonight.

Want to be number 99?

Perhaps we were ahead by enough that my mind wandered a bit more than usual, but I realized tonight that none of the players had a number that could not be represented on both hands at the same time. Basically the tens could not be more than 5, nor can the 1’s. The following are valid numbers for players. Even if you are the most famous player, you don’t get to make an exception.

How many valid basketball player numbers are there?

Perhaps a question for “Are you smarter than a 5th grader.”

Here they are 0 or 00, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 30, 31,32, 33, 34, 35, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55.

Who cares?

Right..not nearly as important as Georgetown WINNING tonight! Down with Notre Dame!

Thank You

Seniors….Jason Clark and Henry Simms!

2012-02-262021-01-26

Cool NASA Facts….

Amazing who you meet….

So the other day I have the privilege to speak with someone who worked for NASA. We talked about a lot, I attended Space Camp and love the idea of Space exploration. Here are some cool facts…

The Space Shuttle can both take off and land unattended. This would allow the use when inspection reveals some potential flaws which may cause an accident. With that said, in order to save costs until a new space vehicle has been produced, may spend less time getting the shuttle cleaned up and simply launch it unmanned with the eventual destruction of the aging fleet. The only problem with this…..the Smithsonian is supposed to get one 🙂
The American Flag on the Moon is plastic! I guess it should be expected since there is 1/6 gravity on the Moon. I used to think that since there was not any gravity and therefore by “molding” the flag, it would just stay that way.
The blast off of the lunar lander likely knocked the flag down. This being said, the first person to commercially visit the moon will likely swipe the flag.