Free Wifi - Boston Stoker

We are in Dayton, Ohio for Part II of our Christmas Vacation adventure. I am working remotely the next 2 days, so that Kelly and Halle can hang with the family a little longer and I can enjoy their company in the evenings. After a humorous attempt to work from BW3's last night (they were the only place I could find with free Wi-Fi in the area) I went on a search for a new work spot today. I drove all over Dayton's Northside and downtown until I found a Boston Stoker right downtown. Boston Stoker is a Dayton based coffee chain, that intends to stay in the greater Dayton area only and has snappy, humorous and condescending slogans objecting to national chains like Starbucks written on their bathroom walls. I used up someone's last 38 minutes of downtown parking at the Boston Stoker to look for one closer to the inlaws house, where I wouldn't have to pay $4 an hour for parking. I found one that looked close, called and confirmed they had free Wifi and took off. It turns out this trendy and comfortable little coffee shop is only about 5 minutes from the inlaws abode, and I wasted close to 2 hours (via internet search and driving) looking for some place to connect to the world wide web. Oh, if only one of the 20 people I asked on the street last night would have known. So... if you are looking for free Wifi in Dayton, Ohio now you know where to go. There are only about 25 of these places in town.

I would love to tell you more about the BW3 endeavor last night. Let's just say I was there from 9-1, invited some folks to sit with me since it was packed out and enjoyed some Karaoke, in lieu of my headphones, as the background music for my work toils.

Herb and Chuck... it was nice meeting you.

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Merry Christmas

I snuck onto Kelly’s computer while she was sleeping and had a little fun. I know a lot of people have been doing his and sending these out, but I found it quite humorous myself to select and adapt these pictures of Kelly!

Check it out by clicking the link below:
http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1551626037

It is our little way of saying Merry Christmas Kelly style!

Love you all!
James (and Kelly and Halle, even though they don’t know it)

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Coffee Amici

Findlay does not have a Starbucks... or a Caribou Cofee, or a Seattle's Best, or even a Cup O' Joe... the closest thing we get to cardboard cutout coffee shops is our newly built Tim Hortons, which is honestly just your average, inexpensive Canadian java, accompanied by delicious donuts! If you don't know what Timbits are I grieve for you.

What we do have are three fantastic and unique locally owned Coffee shops:

Tonight my family went to hear one of my friends from work sing at open mic night at Coffee Amici. Coffee Amici is celebrating their 5 year anniversary on Monday with .99 anything you want on the menu drinks. They are a self proclaimed "fine arts coffeehouse" nestled in our very active downtown, close to the courthouse on Main Street. The seats are not as comfortable as other places, and then ambiance is not as restful as some, but the entertainment/music is unparalleled in this county of 90K! The coffee is strong when black, and favored by many strong coffee drinkers.

George House has been around these part for much longer than I have. It is conveniently located across from the University of Findlay on Main Street. It is bustling from morning to night with college kids, seminary students, pastors, a few older regulars and a lot of teens at certain times of the day. The walls are lined with books and protruding book shelves break up the space into nice little cubies for fellowship. Their coffee is typical, but their hot tea selection is unmatched... in Findlay. They also sell many organically grown spices, herbs and other items that have a longer shelf life. I used to study here a lot, but when the teens take over, I take off, cause it gets loud! Lots of art on the walls and a good ambiance, but a little louder than many coffee shops.

Morey's is the newbie. The store had been around as a downtown corner newspaper/book store for years, but they recently decided to reinvent themselves. They bought a building across Main Street, gutted it and built it to suit. It is awesome inside. Definitely has a more business class feel to it, which includes a much quieter atmosphere, with softly played and well selected music. Their close earlier for now unfortunately. If I want to get something done during the day I go there, as do many others who need a break from the office. The coffee is good, but rather similar to other shops as well. They do offer any paper, which they have a ton of, for .25 when you buy a cup of coffee. This is my favorite feature if I get there before the Plain Dealer is gone. Man, I love that newspaper! They also have the largest selection of magazines in town and quite a few books in the back, along with a small child's play area to distract the kids while mom catches up with her friends over coffee. The nice thing is that it is a long shop, so it is far enough back that you don't really hear any kids up front. They actually just opened a second shop in town, but I haven't been there yet, so I am not sure what it is like.

So, there you have it. Coffee Shops in Findlay. If you are in town try one of them out and if Starbucks decides to come to town to appease all of our abundantly wealthy citizens, please don't get off the interstate for it. Main Street is only 2 minutes away and there are 3 coffee shops on it that deserve your attention.

(Ok, there are a couple others. There is a coffee shop in the hospital that 2 of my friends work at and it makes the entire lobby smell great, and there is small one called Java Station where Sarah used to work, that mainly stays alive because the Marathon Building is right around the corner. It is get it an go place for the most part and only has 4-5 seats in it.)

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Hunsakers

Our dear friends the Hunsakers checked into the hospital last night for the birth of their 2nd child and are still going. 39+ hours of labor so far, but Heidi is determined to have a natural birth this time. The doctors are supporting her. Pray for speed and safety if you read this soon. Speed and Safety.

I can't believe that one of us is going to be a two child family tomorrow. Wow. We were just getting used to everyone having 1 kid.

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Thursdays

Our house church decided to move our gathering from Saturdays to Thursdays, starting this week. We are meeting at our house this Thursday for dinner at 6:15pm and teaching/discussion and 7pm. We have decided that folks can show up earlier to help cook or just hang, and we may eat 10 minutes earlier or later, but the 7pm time is set. Sometimes teaching has gotten squeezed out or pushed back to that special time just before the kids loose it, so we have decided that we will read/review the weekly Scripture together at 7 and our teachers will take turns teaching, as they desire. The weekends became too hard and we often had to move it around. We have a desire for consistency in when we gather and perhaps even how we gather. I think we will all be more consistent with this new day/time and it seems like it can only be good for us. So, here we go to the next chapter of our young life as a body. If you are around Findlay this Thursday feel free to stop by... but don't forget to bring the dessert :-) ... I'm serious about the dessert.

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