Z’okay

I am sitting here in a coffee shop in the University District of Seattle, a place where the Seattle style is most prevalent. The coffee shop is called Zoka Coffee (or, in this area, it is known as ‘University Zoka’). Not only is it the coolest coffee shop I’ve ever been to, the coffee is also the best I’ve ever tasted. And if you order it “for here” they draw pictures with cream on the top of your drink.

It is not as though I found this place by chance. I was not just driving through and happened to see it. No, I actually have never been to this part of town before. I must tell you, therefore, how I found it. Are you ready? Good.

The other day, my buddy Brannon reminded me of a really cool program for Macs. It is a program that let’s you store your library of books, movies, music, and video games, all on one very nice platform. To add your physical books to your digital library, all you have to do is either type in the title, the ISBN number, scan the barcode with a barcode scanner, or (and the most amazing part) scan the barcode with your built in laptop camera. Once the book, movie, cd, or video game is added to the library, you are able to lend it out to someone and give them a due date, so that you never forget who has which book. It is wonderful. Sean Higgins was the first to show this to me, and at first, I didn’t really think much of it. But wow. I can’t stop playing with it. It has won some of the top Developer Awards including Apple’s ‘Best Program of the Year’ for 2005. It is called ‘Delicous Library.’ So thanks, Sean, and thanks, Brannon, for reminding me of this awesome program.

You might think that the above paragraph was a tangent or a different subject, but it will actually help me with my explaining of how I found this wonderful coffee shop.

After playing with ‘Delicious Library’ for a while, I decided to research the company who made it a little bit. I went to www.delicious-monster.com and found that they are based right here in Seattle! “Hmm…” I thought, “I wonder where there offices are…” So, while looking at the staff page on the website, I noticed that there was a staff member included who wasn’t quite…. human. It was called ‘University Zoka.’ This is where they do all of there office work. They do not have a lease to pay and they have brought much business here, and not to mention, given much business. I am thankful I found it because it is really quite cool. There are power outlets as far as the eye can see for University students’ laptops (most of them Macs). The Delicious developers are just a few tables down from me and have no idea I’m blogging about them, but that’s what makes this even cooler, if you ask me. They even have there own Delicious Monster WiFi network. Awesome.

Last night, David Giordano and I visited here for the first time and we were automatically hooked. If ever you are in Seattle, you HAVE to visit ‘University Zoka.’ I will bring you here. We will hang.

Here are some links:

Delicious Monster

University Zoka

The person who will appreciate this most

Some pictures:

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