Settling in

Well it's been a little over three weeks at this point and I am finally getting things set up in the apartment. I don't have a TV, there's no Sofa. I never quite got around to setting up an Internet package... but those are all optional extras. I had to focus on the priorities... what might be more important than TV and the internet for a tech worker and self confessed geek?

I'm going to leave you hanging on the suspense of that question and jump back to an update on the Moto 360!

I have been using my 360 for a couple of weeks now and whilst the people I work with often seem underwhelmed with what it is capable of doing, I am still very happy. Sure it's 'only' really good for notifications and quick responses, and there are not many apps for it, but I feel that is really missing the point. This is clearly not a replacement for my phone, but it is a replacement for my Jawbone! (and a LOT more comfortable to wear) and a wristwatch... I mean sure I haven't used one of those in ten year but it turns out that it's a lot easier to look at your wrist to find out that you are five minutes late to a meeting than try and check your phone, whilst wrestling with the coffee machine that is inexplicably attempting to see how far it can spit coffee grinds across the room. And that is disregarding the fact that when I checked, it also told me what meeting, with who and where... and buzzed to give me ten minutes notice which is why I had rushed to the coffee machine. If I am out walking and need directions, wanting to check where to turn, change music track or the volume I am no longer constantly pulling out my phone and struggling to see the screen in the glare of the californian sun. Instead I am simply checking the time, maybe a swipe or two and getting all of that information.

I guess the 360 is more like the x to y. It isn't a stand alone device and people shouldn't be expecting one. It is a second screen with some convenient features that mean your fitbit / jawbone / watch are all unnecessary. And for me that is enough. I don't want to be trying to play games on it, or check share prices (although it seems very determined to keep informing me). The buyer's remorse I felt on first hitting the "Complete Order" button is well and truly gone and I am now enjoying an augmented life that has a lot less pocket searching, walking around looking like a tourist.

And there's one more thing, which has significantly improved my life outside of work - "Mute". When my 360 is connected to my phone, my phone is on silent, the only notifications that I get come from the 360. Not only is this a lot more discrete, it means that when I am not at work, I can simply swipe down on the 360 to mute notifications there as well and all of a sudden, I am living in the real world without the internet constantly buzzing at me to pay attention and for me, that's fantastic.

So back to my earlier question, what could be more important to a geek than TV and Internet access? Well there are two parts to that question, one is of course coffee, and the other is homemade bread. While I was at University, I was fortunate enough to have access to a rather good bread maker, and wanting to avoid revision and studying in general, I took to making bread every couple of days. Over the next few months I tweaked the recipe, discovered weighing flour is really important and, of course, eating a lot of bread. Whilst none of this did much good for my waistline, it did make me quite keen on good bread and totally in capable of eating supermarket sliced loaves. On getting to the US, the bread maker was one of my first purchases, and has since been put to use for the fabrication of my weekend breakfasts. To compliment this, I have added a high grade coffee grinder, Four Barrel's Guatemala Retana Coffee, acquired from Red Rock Coffee in Mountain View and a simple but functional French Press.

 

All together a perfect combination for weekend breakfasts... next up a frying pan and some eggs!