usb host shield, usb keyboard input...hexadecimal?

howdy. thank you for your time.

http://www.circuitsathome.com/mcu/hid-support-for-usb-host-shield-library-2-0-released

i am using Oleg's usb host shield library and the sparkfun usb host shield to read a usb keyboard.

i am running and modifying Oleg's keyboard sketch (linked at the below) to print what appears to be hexadecimal values.
here's an example of Oleg's output:

00001A0000000000
DN      >1A<
ASCII: w
0000000000000000
UP      >1A<
0000080000000000
DN      >08<
ASCII: e
0000000000000000
UP      >08<
00000B0000000000

i'm not interested in the ASCII characters.
what i want is to have arduino interpret the keyboard as an array of 89 tact switches, each of which will send its own MIDI note (except for a couple, which will be modifiers). this means i must learn how to use the hexadecimal values that are printed.

i have only ever coded with "regular ol numbers" and never with hexadecimal...i use tim twillman's midi library (does the hard part).
is there a way for me to cut this corner and include a sneaky line that converts the hex representations into decimals for me?

here is the sketch i am modifying.

https://github.com/felis/USB_Host_Shield_2.0/blob/master/examples/HID/USBHIDBootKbd/USBHIDBootKbd.pde

am i dreamin, or is this going to be as easy as

if(key  == 1A){do stuff}

??

edit, spent time reading about the whats and whys of hexadecimals, and why a "conversion" isn't necessary. i have some things to try when i'm at the desk tomorrow, mostly hinging on the above "what if"

if(key  == 0x1A){do stuff}

They're just a different way to write numbers -- they're exactly the same thing underneath.