Owning a fully automatic home coffee machine · Thursday February 1, 2007 by colin newell
Super-Auto or fully automatic coffee makers are all the rage now. But you have to ask yourself one question: “Can you control yourself?”
Upside With a standard Super-Auto machine, you add coffee beans and water. You push a button. That’s it. Really. That’s it.
Downside Buy one of these units and you will drown in great coffee. On the evolutionary scale, there are few genetic upticks between the human and, say… the gerbil.
Or a hamster. You know what a hamster is, yes? My point: It takes very little stimulus to cascade from civilized beings to caffeine-pellet gobbling rodents.
Anyway – a true story: A wealthy uncle of mine bought a swiss made fully-auto coffee maker.. about 1700$
for his kitchen. A Solis Master 5000 digital.
He loved it. Perhaps a little too much. Heck, I borrowed it for 5 days for use in my lab. And the 4 normally adult male techs in my shop quickly morphed into human/hummingbird hybrids. The more they buzzed around the Solis for yet another shot the more hummingbird-like they became. Go figure.
The Solis is a good machine and the after-sales support is top notch. So, after a year, the sales/service centre that
sold it to him suggested a free check-up.
They were so amazed when they got it in the
shop… and they called me. I can remember the call…
Within 365 days of us, he has clocked in 14,000
servings of coffee. They thought he was running
a restaurant.
This Uncle, who is in his 60’s has a wife who is 32.
He has (or had at the time…) a 3 year old.
He claims: “I put my coffee maker on at 5AM and
I make one or two Americanos coffee every hour til
when I turn it off at 10 PM!”
Do the math. He pressed the brew button over 10,000
times in the space of one year.
Now THAT is coffee drinking!
Personally, I drink about 8 fluid ounces of coffee a day.
Not 8 fluid litres. If I drank coffee like this, my head would explode. Or maybe my bladder would go first.
Either way, if you think you can handle one of these units, go ahead an try. But keep a support group handy… or a life-line or something.
You have been warned.
The I Generation (or how I learned not to give a rats ass...) · Friday January 12, 2007 by colin newell
A new mobile phone has been launched amid much fanfare and hype. But, as a survey reveals half of adults feel overwhelmed by technology, not everyone’s jumping up and down. link
Ok. Here is the thing.
I have several Mac devotees in my workplace.
One is quite sane. An awesome nice guy in fact.
The other is, well… devoted. Totally dedicated to all things APPLE.
He repeats Mac gospel as if it was nectar delivered from… well. You use your imagination.
When Steve Jobs opened his mouth the other day to reveal the i-Phone, work-buddy was there hanging on to every word like a performing seal.
Virtually every one of Steve Jobs’s verbal ejaculations involves much barking and yelping from the seal-audience that surrounds him.
He clears his throat. They applaud.
His facial expression alone can trigger a virtual melt-down or heat-up of Apple stock.
From my little perch in the Canadian I-goshosphere, I get minute-by-minute updates on apple stock from a co-worker-apple-devoted-guy that owns nary one share of stock. It’s annoying. I mean: Dude. Buy some frickin stock and stop barking and yawning about it.
Back to Jobs for a moment.
His sole role as one of the richer men in the World is to tell us what to buy.. to Tell us what to think… to tell us what to feel.
Shit. I thought this was my job. Well here is my reply:
I-DontGiveA-Rats-Ass
I-DontGIveA-Flying-Fcuk
I-DONT-CARE and
I-Wont-Buy!
I-Free
Thank god almighty, I-free!
CD Audio versus Data rip-off at London Drugs · Monday December 11, 2006 by colin newell
I have been working on an audio project benefiting the Duncan B.C. Food bank.
Using MY own materials, equipment and audio sources.
To benefit the hungry.
Seems to be working…
Except.
That I bought a 30-unit spindle of CDs at London Drugs.
For 13 dollars (amongst other things because it is impossible to shop at London Drugs and get out for less than 50$
Anyhow. Checked the bill when I got out:
13$ for 30 blank CDs.
PLUS 23$ for “Audio Levy”
Apparently the CD label has the word “audio” on it as opposed to “data” – it is all in the label you know.
And the money-hit on each unit was77 cents for each CD because it has “Audio” printed on it.
My mistake.
London Drugs, Victoria’s BAD.
Now I have to brave the weather and go back.
And then go somewhere where I wont get ripped off.
Because, you know… It is food out of peoples mouthes.
Comment [2]
Toast for the discerning palate... · Sunday November 5, 2006 by colin newell
It`s true: Society has conditioned us to replace our toasters once a year.
Well, I say no to cheap toasters.
I mean, do the economics: If every Canadian toast-eater replaces a 49$ toaster (for their family of 4) every year (the average length of time a 49$ toaster lives) – that adds up to the GNP of most 3rd World countries.
Now, wouldn’t you rather send that money to the local food bank or the Red Cross? I know I would.
For that reason, I had no trouble paying slightly more than 49$ for my Viking Professional Toaster.
For me, it is not about the prestige or bling factor of a shiny real toaster. I mean, I could have paid 500$ for a hand-made Dualit.
Yes. It is hand-made. How do I know? I have looked at quite a few of them and judging by the build-quality, I can only assume they are assembled under the most stringent English standards.
Anyho. The Viking Professional toaster (at a couple of pennies over 300$ Canadian) looks like it will last between 10 and 20 years.
Do the math readers. This purchase makes economic sense. Big time.
And how is the toast?
The toast is wonderful! The finished product (the toast readers, the toast!) is evenly browned and not dried out. The Viking Pro appears to be double insulated (and at 1000 watts of power) can be handled at any time during the toast cycle. Short of sticking your fingers into the toasting chambers, it is impossible for you to burn yourself.
So. Stop wasting money. Get a better toaster. You will be glad you did!
