The Peet's Beat

2 Feb. 2008, Peet's Coffee & Tea, Santa Monica

I’m at a Peet’s in L.A., surrounded by sitcom and dramatic series writers, and I’m wondering why there haven’t been assassination attempts on the Ground Hog. Wouldn’t that change the prevailing weather outlook? And shouldn’t Los Angelenos, who take sunny days for granted, produce the sleeper cell to do the job?

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2 Feb 2008

More from the Montana Avenue ladies who sip their lattes in the corner...
Things to do with your Blackberry while sipping a cold cappuccino:

Read that a carrot looks like a human eye when sliced…

Figs increase mobility of male sperm…

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2 Feb 2008
OMG! The Beverly Hills library has an ATM! Just how expensive are those fines?

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5 Feb 2008, Redondo Beach, Peet’s Coffee & Tea
Two 60-something men wearing ball caps and windbreakers stand in line. One says to the other:

“I heard the weather report. They said there’s a ‘chance of rain.’"
I look outside. The sun’s out.
If you think about it, there’s always a chance of rain.”

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6 Feb 2008, Yellow road sign in Los Angeles:

Traffic Calming Info
(213) 977-6464

I won't ask. But 'Like Prozac for your Porsche' comes to mind.

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8 Feb 2009, Peet’s, Petaluma

Mimi, a barrista, coined the term “Transformational Whining” Mimi is Buddhist and has an 11 year old son. She should know.
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23 March 2009, Peet’s, Redondo Beach

Just bought a Vegan Chocolate Chip cookie.
How can a cookie be vegan if it never had any meat in it to begin with? Or had it?

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23 March 2009, Peet’s, Redondo Beach, later that afternoon

A dapper man in faded jeans, a black jacket, white open shirt exposing a grey T-shirt and carrying a briefcase and paperback asks me if he can borrow the free chair perpendicular to me at my table. “Please feel free,” I offer him.

“Thank you.”

Seconds later, he becomes aware of the late afternoon sun pouring through the storefront window. He smiles apologetically as he turns to me and says, “I didn’t realize there’d be sun. I’ll have to move to another end of the room.” I point to the pull down shades, two of three I’ve already pulled down for the same reason. “Oh, thank you!” he says, “I’m indebted to you twice.” He takes his seat. And then, his closed Apple laptop on the faux marble bar before him, he blesses himself with the sign of the cross. He then plugs in the laptop.

Man, that’s someone who has little faith in Macs.


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28 March 2009, Java Man, Hermosa Beach

While sitting at a wooden table with my laptop and Princess phone to my left,
A late 30-something/early 40-something gent in shorts, Doc Martens, a black
ski cap and a gotee, strikes up a convo with me about my Princess phone and
MagicJack which connects it to the net. I pick up half way through:

SkiCap: …it’s like my cell phone. I have a $20 variety I got at 7-Eleven. You can walk here and there, better reception than my Blackberry. No bells and whistles but it makes calls. It’s like a car. I could drive a Jaguar, but if I’m driving a Jaguar it better be because they’re filming me. With a Gran Torino, I can have five girls in there, (he then swings his right leg forward in a kicking motion), boom! Get out! And L.A. freeways are moving at 4 miles per hour anyway.