New Make: blogger John Park made his introduction post last week. Under his “Topics I’m likely to post about” was this, which should be the mantra for every geek, geek-wannabe, and folk who just want to do stuff:
Diving into projects with an imbalanced enthusiasm-to-knowledge ratio
The big E. The first ingredient in any quest. Everything falls into place once you have it.
-k-
I slept in a bit yesterday morning, after being up late on Friday to help facilitate application patching on some work machines.
On awakening, I make a trip to the coffee maker for a mug of hot caffeinated jumpstart. In mid-staircase, I heard the ring of the stinking on-call pager. Cuppa’ joe in hand, I plop myself down in the tbbs headquarters Captain’s chair, and call the indicated number. One of the application folks had a runaway application1, and wanted me to stop the recalcitrant process. A scripted kill -9 later, and I’m enjoying my coffee, with a promise I’ll stand by in case they have any further problems. They restarted their app, their life was good, and the lady I was talking to thanked me profusely, and said “Thanks, baby doll.”
Suppose she knew I was still in my bedclothes while I was helping her out?
-k-
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SWMBO’s and my aging Melitta coffee maker made its final pot last Friday. Half of its final rendering leaked out onto the kitchen counter, along with a liberal portion of grounds that bubbled up end over the basket. We determined that the pot was unsafe to operate, and was decidedly going to be unreliable, even if it were safe. So the Melitta is now in a bag, awaiting disposal. I think it holds the tbbs-land record for coffee maker longevity, and it certainly didn’t owe us a thing. It’s still sad to part ways with a piece of equipment that had provided years of reliable service.
I went to Target yesterday, and came home with a Bunn, the flagship coffee maker of finer truck stops and diners everywhere. It brews a 10 cup pot in 3 minutes; this is a good thing, since the Bunn has no automatic programming features. So, I’ll be crabby for three extra minutes per day, whilst the Bunn renders its first caffeine dosage of the day. I’m enjoying a cup of it’s first efforts as I type, and I’m compelled to say it makes a great cuppa’ joe.
-k-
Picture posted with “Click to embiggen.”
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That would be Hampton Inn. Plentiful and convenient locations, free wifi, and in-room coffee maker that keeps one going until he can head downstairs to the free breakfast, and get some much better coffee. 1
They give AARP discounts, too.
-k-
[tags]hamptoninn[/tags]
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German drugmaker Schering warned consumers on Thursday not to use hemorrhoid cream on their faces.
It’s getting hotter, and the handcart is picking up speed.
-k-
As I detailed here, I signed up, and was accepted, to get a free Senseo single-cup coffee maker. Mine arrived last night; it looks like the one in the post I referenced, only in black, instead of the trendy blue that adorns my office.
Details on the apparatus at the Senseo website , with all kinds of incentives to get one of your very own. Right now, they have a $20.00 AmEx gift card when you buy one. For home or work, I heartily recommend you get one if you enjoy a good cup of coffee.
I also discovered something else; examining the bag of 18 pods that came with the free machine, I see that the coffee pods are distributed by Sara Lee. Heckuva deal, because Nobody doesn’t like Sara Lee. Exactly.
-k-
The above modifiers refer respectively to Scotch, Bourbon, and coffee. Having written about the first two, I figured it was time to mention coffee. I drink single-cup coffee at work, made in my pretty blue Senseo, as pictured here. I love the neatness of the whole thing; no grounds to dispose of, no filters to buy, no pots to clean to prevent science projects from taking root therein. And believe me, in my college days, I believe I manufactured cures for all the world’s diseases in the leftovers in a drip coffeemaker I was too slothful to clean.
I started out with a Melitta one:one, and thoroughly loved it. The local Target, however, became incredibly remiss in not stocking the pods that fit this particular unit. I had ordered pods directly from Melitta, and that worked well; the problem was they had an auto-delivery of a six-box assortment of pods, so I was buying six boxes at a time. I had several other coffee drinkers in close proximity to my office, so that was good. Then, these other coffee persons moved to different areas of the building, or got transferred miles away, so the necessity for a stockpile of coffee became less.
Also, after about 3 years, I figured it was time to upgrade, so the Senseo is now ensconced in my work area. And it’s great. I came across a blog dedicated to single-serve coffee a week or two ago, and subscribed to their feed. A recent post there mentioned that one could get a Senseo for free. I followed the link, answered a few not-too-prying questions, and was rewarded with a mail-o-gram saying that I had qualified for a free Senseo. I provided them the shipping address over the weekend, and in 3-4 weeks, should have another machine.
Love these internets; where else can you find a blog dedicated to the world of single cup coffee?
-k-
Technorati Tags: melitta, singleservecoffee, senseo
The House of Representatives have passed the so-called no “gas price gouging” act. It is actually called the Federal Energy Price Protection Act. The details:
The House on Wednesday approved criminal penalties and fines of up to $150 million for energy companies caught price gouging, yet lawmakers acknowledged there is no quick and easy fix to higher pump prices.
…..
With bipartisan support, the House approved on a 389-34 vote a measure that would create a price-gouging law and permit large fines and jail time for violators.
What exactly does price gouging mean? Well, Congress stepped up to the plate here, too.
From the bill:
(b) Price Gouging-
(1) IN GENERAL- Not later than 6 months after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Federal Trade Commission shall promulgate, in accordance with section 553 of title 5, United States Code, any rules necessary for the enforcement of this section.
(2) CONTENTS- Such rules–
(A) shall define `price gouging’, `retail sale’, and `wholesale sale’ for purposes of this Act; and
(B) shall be consistent with the requirements for declaring unfair acts or practices in section 5(n) of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 45(n)).
What this means is that Congress has no clue what price gouging means, and has turned over the interpretation of that to the Executive Branch. But they’ll be able to campaign in the Fall. Thank goodness.
-k-
Bill sponsor is Heather Wilson (NM)
Cosponsors here.
Technorati Tags: houseofrepresentatives
