LG gram 17 (2020) review: The best big Ultrabook around just
got even better
We recently obtained a LG Gram 17 (2020) for a long-term
review due to the excellent buzz that is going around about the topic. As it turns out this is one of the smallest
17-inch Ultrabook you can get. Basically, you get a 16:10 17-inch display in
effectively a 15-inch notebook that weighs just 2.95lbs (1.35kg).
This first post is going to be short as we have not had much
time to actually use the device, but I wanted to post a few pictures of the
packaging and what comes in the box.
Nice Clean Box
The Gram is well protected
Let’s see that KeyboardGram Accessories. The USB-C to Ethernet dongle is nice.
More info to come as we gain experience and try to answer the question on should we buy this for our travels?
Today, we went to Burger 21 for lunch and everyone really enjoyed it. I had the Black & Bleu burger with a Red Velvet Cake milkshake. The burger, which comes with bacon, bleu cheese, lettuce and tomato on a brioche bun was cooked to the desired temperature and tasted great. The milkshake was beautifully presented with a square of red velvet cake and a healthy dose of whipped cream on top. It tasted as good as it looked. My wife had a turkey burger on a wheat bun; the turkey patty was flavorful, unlike others she has ordered elsewhere, and she said would definitely order it again. We shared a family-sized basket of the delicious shoestring fries which was enough for about three people to share.
Red Velvet Milk Shake
The rest of our party had the Cheesy burger and cheese fries with American cheese and the chicken Parmesan sandwich with a side salad. Unlike other restaurants, the cheese, bacon and scallion toppings were not on top of the fries but instead came in a bowl on the side. The flavor of the American cheese dip was not a hit with the one who ordered it, but I thought it was interesting and my wife thought it was good and would be a nice toppings on a sandwich. The side salad was a very generous portion and pretty much a full-sized salad, and the chicken Parmesan sandwich seemed to be a hit. This wasn’t our first trip to Burger 21, and it won’t be our last. The food and milkshakes are always fresh, delicious and plentiful, and the service and cleanliness of the restaurant above par. Burger 21 even has a hand-washing station in the restaurant so you don’t have to make a trip to the restroom to wash your hands before touching your food. And if you have picky eaters who can not agree on a what to eat, Burger 21 has something for pretty much everyone in your party.
Over
the past few months I have taken the opportunity to drive our family Prius. I
have found it to be very similar to the other hybrids that we have. The Prius
comes with three different power modes: EV, ECO and Power. The EV is electric,
ECO is a hybrid between EV and gas that maximizes fuel economy and Power is
akin to a “sport” mode in the Volt. It allows you to tailor the cars
performance to the type of driving you need. If you don’t need quick acceleration,
then the car lets you use the ECO mode to improve your gas mileage. The best
part is if you need those rabbit starts or quick passing ability the car can be
shifted on the fly between modes.
Driving
the Prius, it does a great job of being nimble. I never problems navigating
into parking spots, parallel parking or changing lanes. The challenge of trying
to keep it in EV mode became a fun game while driving the car.
So
after a few months, we still love the Prius and would suggest anyone who is
looking for a low maintenance, great gas mileage car to take a look at the Prius.
It will not disappoint.
Hello again. I would like to thank you for reading my blog. It has been a fund and challenging experience starting to get it off the ground. But I am happy to bring to you the first real travel post.
I just recently got back from a trip to El Paso TX, and it was a remarkably interesting place. El Paso is located on the border of Texas, New Mexico and Mexico. Within 20 minutes you can see two states and another country. This leads to a very divers and interesting culture. On advice from some local friends I did not venture into Juarez, Mexico but I did go to New Mexico. I did go to the Mexican border. Where I saw the boarder wall (let’s be honest, it’s a fence) and the mass of people moving back and forth between the two cities. It was like something I saw in history class of the checkpoints in Berlin during the Cold War.
Anyway, it is a sight but do not go during rush hour. Big
mistake on my part. It will take you forever to get away from people trying to
get home after a long day at work. I would suggest that if you want to drive down
the interstate that follows the boarder wall do it during the middle of the day.
There is significantly less traffic.
Is El Paso Safe?
Before I go to far let me address the elephant in the room, “Is El Paso Safe?”. I would have to say unequivocally, YES. El Paso on a whole has a very low crime rate for a city it’s size. You need to remember that El Paso is the home to many local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies. That gives a medium size city a disproportionate police presence to its size. So, go visit El Paso. See the people and experience the culture of Texas westernmost city.
What is there to do in El Paso? If you enjoy the outdoors there are tones of hiking trails in the Franklin Mountains State park, which is less than an hour outside of town. The Wyler Aerial Tramway which takes visitors up 4,692 feet for a view of the city was highly recommended as a must do activity. If you want something a little low key. The oldest continually operating parish in the State of Texas can be found there along with two other Spanish Missions. This is a great chance to see authentic Spanish mission construction in person.
Hotel Indigo El Paso
While in El Paso I had the pleasure of staying that the Hotel
Indigo: El Paso Downtown. This hotel provided good accommodations as well as excellent
views. The downtown location provided numerous eateries within walking distance.
So after a day of sightseeing you will not have to take the car out again to
get dinner.
Speaking of food I should really mention some of the different place that I tried while there.
Mamacitas Cafe and Cantina the restaurant in the Hotel Indigo
This was my first dining experience of the El Paso week and to
be honest I did not anticipate much out of a hotel restaurant. I wish I could
say that the restaurant made me want to eat every meal here, but it did not.
Let us start with the décor. I think they are going with an art’s,
eclectic feel. Or they furnished the restaurant on a very tight budget. The
table had mis-matched chairs, or the chairs were so low to the ground you more
reclined in them than sat. The service was not the greatest. We had excessively
long waits to have our order taken, which was followed by another long wait to
get our food. (Later in the week we found out the restaurant waiters were also
responsible for taking up room services so that might have contributed to the
long wait times) One last note on the service. I really do not think it is
acceptable not to be able to tell the customer what beer you are trying to sell
them. I asked two different staff members, and neither could tell me the names
of the beers they had on tap. They could tell me the styles but that was it.
Now we come to my real problem with the restaurant, the
food. It was good. I would even go as far as to say it was really good. If the
food had been bad, I could have written this place off and never looked back,
but the quality and flavors of the food they served sort of made the experience
a wash. Maybe on another night the service would have been good as the food and
I would be writing a glowing review but as it is, I can only suggest it as a fallback
to other places.
Park Tavern
The next night tried the Park Tavern. The food was a little on the pricy side, but of excellent quality. The restaurant is designed to give semiprivate booths to allow for conversations without obstructing views of the entire restaurant. The decor is done up well with tastefully done furniture that is comfortable to sit in. It was a pleasant change from the day before. As for the food, I went with the Chicken Piccata followed by the Peach & Blackberry Tart. This meal was great. The food was wonderful. The server was helpful and friendly, while not being annoying. I would highly recommend this restaurant.
State Line Restaurant
The next place I would like to mention is the State Line Restaurant. The restaurant is in New Mexico which is about 15 minutes from downtown El Paso. This barbecue restaurant came highly recommend and for good reason. The food is reasonably priced and is full of flavor. I selected the ribs and brisket plate for my meal. I was not disappointed. Now let me interject something here. I am a self-proclaimed banana pudding snob. I prefer the traditional custard approach to banana pudding as opposed to the Jell-O or non-cook style. As the State Line does not cook their banana pudding and uses only whip cream as a topping I passed. Memphis I will be back. Sorry flash back. Anyway, I grabbed some of their excellent apple cobbler which came with a scoop of ice cream and caramel drizzle. Let us say I ate to much that meal but did not regret it at all.
L and J Café
Ok if you can eat in only one place in El Paso make it L and J Café. It is a hole in the wall located next to a cemetery. I was told do not be afraid it looks like a dive, but the food is great. They were so right. This is the kid of place you would not find if you were not a local. The food is authentic, reasonably priced, and very tasty. I got their chicken enchiladas. I have to say their approach to enchiladas is different than what I am us to. Instead of putting the chicken in the enchiladas. You are given two cheese enchiladas with shredded chicken piled on top. I though it was a great idea. If I every get back to El Paso I will be going back to eat here.
There were other stops on my trip that I might get around to posting about. We will see. Anyway, I’ll be back soon till then don’t forget to bring your towel.
Hello everyone one and welcome to my first report on the 2017 Chevy
Volt. Over the first month of ownership I’ve been formulating my
opinion of the Volt. I should add some information of other cars I
have been driving recently. I am coming off of a 2013 Nissan Leaf.
The family has a 2013 Chevy Volt plus the 2013 Toyota Prius that is
also part of this long term review. To start off, the Volt is
definitely different from the Leaf that I was driving but after a
couple of days of use it has become extremely comfortable car to
drive.
Overwhelmingly, the
2017 Volt is a fantastic car that will fit into many people’s lives
and probably was one of the most functional mass-market electric cars
a US manufacturer has produced in recent years.. It is a shame the
2019 was the last year for this car. It’s mix of electric and
gasoline make it a great option or ares of the country where the
electric car infrastructure has not matured.
I think we are still
a few years away from having good electric infrastructure in the US
to be as convenient as gas – at which point it will become more
convenient to use all electric. Sure, almost every house, building
and structure has an electrical outlet which can charge on level 1 or
2 (and the 2017 Volt does both levels of AC charging), meaning you
wake up every morning with a full 53 mile “tank” of electricity.
But to finally close the convenience gap of gasoline and frankly
beyond, pure electric cars need to be outfitted with high power DC
chargers and long range batteries which are not here yet.
As a former pure
electric car owner, there were a lot of times I had to modify my
plans to go everywhere I needed to go on my Leaf’s 50 mile range.
It was virtually impossible to travel to my parents’ house and back
in a single day. They did not have a level 2 charger so I could only
use level 1 charging which would have required an overnight stay to
have enough charge to get home. The Leaf was suffering from
substantial battery degradation and the battery replacement cost more
than the value of the car. Which eventually culminated in the
purchase of the Volt.
Speaking of the
Volt, every morning when you wake up with the 2017 Chevy Volt can be
ready to go with a 53 real miles of EV usage, which is a
significantly more accurate estimation than the Leaf provided. If you
have a huge commute (over 25 miles), you can opt to charge at work
and drive 53 miles of pure electric back. Some people will never
finish the tank of gas that comes with their Volt. In fact that is
what I have been doing for this first month. I have a charging
station at work which allows me to charge for free. As such I charge
there most of the time with only occasionally charging at home on the
weekends.
The best part of the
Volt is when you need to take the “off the beaten path” and
switch into gas, the Volt does so elegantly and seamlessly. The
internal combustion engine kicks in and you get a very respectable 42
miles per gallon and over 400 miles of total range. Chevy should be
applauded for their efforts in building a car that makes the
transition to electricity 100% totally painless for just about
anyone.
Chevy has somehow
fit two separate powertrains into a mid-sized car and still has
respectable room in the trunk and back seat. The car also performs
as well as any sudan. The EV acceleration will get you to highway
speeds in under 7 seconds while lugging a dormant ICE powertrain
along for the ride. The acceleration will surprise and delight you if
you’ve never driven electric and the sports mode make the car more
responsive and fun to drive.
Chevy has also toned
down the “look at me, I’m a weird EV” factor in the 2017 Volt
design. The 2017 Chevy Volt looks a lot like other sporty mid-sized
cars The interior is also extremely nice, highlighted by the captive
touch center console display which works great with Android Auto. The
seats are comfortable, there are cup holders where they need and the
inside experience is fantastic. I would also like to point out that
the internal cabin space for the rear seat has improved over the 2013
model.
So far the Volt has
performed better than anticipated. There are a few bells and whistles
that I miss from the Leaf but that is to be expected since I moved
from the top of the line to the middle range entry but where it
counts there has been only improvements. The improved range, comfort,
and handling out way the gimmicky 360 camera views that were only
used in rare occasions.
Finally, what has it cost to operate the Volt for the first month? NOTHING. That’s right I have not had to send any money on the Volt in the first month of ownership. All the electricity I have used has come from free charging stations. Additionally, I still have about nearly a full tank of gas which the dealership provided when I bought the car. As ongoing cost go this is great.
Earlier this week, went exploring in the local area to find new places to eat. This is something I would strongly recommend for everyone to try. Going to a new place for dinner is an experience that normally do when on vacation. But I asked myself why is this something we only do when we are not at home. I think this is because we get comfortable doing what we always do. So I want to bring to you a tell of stepping out of the box.
I started the night by trying a new dinner, the Nile Cafe. This was a small location that I visited shortly before closing time. The owner was on the grill and was happy to server. The food that came was incredible.
I got a lamb and beef shawarma wrap with a side of hummus. Both were great. The meat was expertly seasoned and the hummus was of high quality with good flavor. It was a great meal that was topped off by the very reasonable cost.
If you happen to be in Cary, NC look into stopping by the Nile Cafe.
As with all meals on vacation you need to have a dessert so I went to MilkLab. Another new to me place and a wonderful surprise. I was hoping to get a little cup of ice cream but boy did I get more than I planned.
MilkLab is a rolled ice cream shop that lets you combine additives which is then mixed in with ice cream . The mix is then spread thin on a super cold surface and then rolled. After that more toppings are added.
Here is my Campfire Delight with S’mores Galore. That is vanilla ice cream with graham crackers and chocolate syrup mixed in. This was then topped with a brownie, whip cream, a heated marshmallow, and more graham crackers and chocolate. Yes it was as good as it looks. Again if you in the area, stop by MilkLab for a good treat.
The point to all of this is break your patterns. Try new restaurants or experience. You don’t really have to travel to enjoy something new.
In 1979 Douglas Adams book ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’ was published. The book tells of the destruction of Earth to make way for an intergalactic through-way and the saving of one human. The alien that saves the human gives an important advice, “Don’t forget to bring a towel.” Why a towel?
“A towel, [The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy] says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value. You can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapors; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a miniraft down the slow heavy River Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (such a mind-boggingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can’t see it, it can’t see you); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.”
We hope to be your towel in your journey. We will provide you information, reviews, and advice about travel, leisure, entertainments, and savings (LETS).
