3.28.2006

Hello Big Brother. Are you happy?



I thought this was an interesting tee and pretty compelling within the political climate of today.

I try to keep an open mind within the context of US politics, hence my No Preference designation on my voting card. You won't see me slamming any party on this blog or partaking in any group session with friends with the sole subject being US politics although I have various opinions on the donkey and elephant. I am comfortable to admit that slamming any party will not initiate change since I don't work on the Hill and I know things could be much, much worse in this country and glad they are not at this point. I find it funny when people spend every waking moment bent on a particular political party when all it boils down to is them venting and fruitless conversation and energy spent. Reminds me of "eco-terrorists" who wear leather and drive SUVs. I am more of a watchdog fan and think those groups have significant influence on party lines. They are very powerful and can lean on a party to bring in the media to expose issues.

Ok, now that I have hit my pseudo-politico post quota for the year, time to move on... :p

3.20.2006

The Mother of All Coffee Grinders...


Ok,
So....I love good quality coffee. Yes, I may only drink one cup per day (maybe less) and maybe two on a Sunday, but I also appreciate good design and hate the idea of paying 5X (as in buying a cheaper item 5 different times and not paying more up front and being happy) for a cheaper product since it will not withstand normal use. I can speak from experience. We have one of those cheap Krups FastTouch Grinders that make a nice dusting along with inconsistent grounds. Static electricity also makes emptying those grinders pretty fun. For $20, you cannot expect much, but for almost 3 yrs, I can say it was time for an upgrade.
This new product weighs 10lbs. It's a dense beast! I found it a home on the countertop and I plan to try it out sometime this week. I hope it lasts more than 5yrs since I do baby my purchases. Even my treadmill gets a cautious eye here and there and I have put some miles on that badboy for the last year; it's still "runs" like a champ (pun intended)...Anyway, I had been researching the new purchase of a good quality coffee grinder since we buy whole beans 90% of the time since it is more economical and the roast maintains its freshness much better just before brewing. There is nothing quite like the scent of a freshly ground whole bean of good, quality coffee. Again, I drink coffee for the taste, not for the psychosomatic response so many addicts depend on... :p Thank God that Libera is not a coffee addict either. Although she has not had coffee for several months for obvious reasons.. :) Back to this Grinder. I have been lurking around various coffee forums for some time. Dropping questions so that I don't blindly purchase something and kick myself in the aftermath....Well, I decided to go with the KitchenAid Pro Line Grinder. I had seen it for the last two years, but this thing was like $300!! Are you crazy?! I certainly did not pay that much....I got a great deal on it though. I actually ordered at the end of January, but it was on backorder. It came in today. For saving cash, I would have waited several more months, but it came in and I cannot wait to try this thing out. I will keep you posted....

3.15.2006

3.09.2006

Who loves Clif Bars?




Me. amazon had a recent sale and I snatched up several.....boxes, that is. They rob you trying to buy these things at the store...Sheesh. If anyone sees these cheaper than what amazon sells them for...holla. In other words, less than around 80-90cents per bar is a decent price.

Part of the reason for loading up on these bad boys is that there was a promo for a $20 amazon gift card and since I purchase from amazon, it was a good deal for me.

Plus, who can deny the goodness of Clif Bars when there are soooo many bad bars out there.....

3.07.2006

What does a Puerto Rican look like?



In honor of my love for the game of beisbol and my disdain for ethnocentric humans, I have decided to explore the topic of what it's like to be me....a Puerto Rican, a person who is not monolingual, a person who always felt different growing up, but yet never out of place because I knew I would always be safe in a home that preserved and valued Boricua culture and customs.

As some of you may not care to acknowledge, the World Baseball Classic is currently going on with 7 Latin countries respresenting dozens of the greatest beisbol players in the world. I pulled down the pics (several players had no pics on the site I was at) of the majority of the Puerto Rican players on the Puerto Rican national team. As you can clearly see, the colors of the melanin rainbow permeate and the untrained eye would not be able to distinguish each and everyone one of these guys as being "Puerto Rican". The ignorance to ethnicity and culture is fascinating to me. I must admit that I have fallen into the trap before myself when looking at people from many of the Asian cultures. "They all look the same...." is something I have been guilty of thinking before. I know that observation is far from saying or thinking that my own culture is supreme, but I digress for now...Anyway, my point of this post was to show several of the Boricua players and how atypical they may seem to the unPuertoRican eyes out there......Go PR!!!!!!!!!!!

3.05.2006

It could have been much worse...



Just for clarification on the image used for this post, I am not 40 years old, but I was an idiot today.....Allow me the opportunity to explain myself. So, the other day, I went to Costco and was amazed that they had much of their spring inventory on display. Things like fertilizer, grass seed, patio sets, gardening tools, etc. I made the mistake of not buying a compost bin from there last year because I thought they would still have that item at the end of the season. Well, they didn't and my dreams of composting would be dashed for 2005 although my garden produced very well sans as much compost as I would have wanted to add. Anyway, I told myself that would not happen two years in a row. They happened to have a compost bin there for $38! Man, I was all over that deal. The ones I researched online were at least $80 and above. I bought it two weeks ago and decided to put it together this afternoon. It's so funny to me how some items come with the most basic of directions and the item ends up taking 10X as long to put together than what you may think....I needed like 4 extra hands for this stupid thing! Sheesh...It had two base pieces that just clipped together with a type of tongue and groove system and then it had the four sides that you had to line up PERFECTLY with another type of tongue and groove system, but there was absolutely no room for error.....I dropped the first two sides a few times because I was concerned that I might snap a portion of the plastic. Needless to say, I was pretty pissed and started to regret the purchase, but I keep reassuring myself that I made the right choice and $38 was well spent. I am not kidding when I say this thing took me just over an hour to put together. Frankly, I am quite embarrassed to admit that, but as I said before, I needed more hands to stabilize this thing as I was clipping in the pieces.....Sheesh!! Ok, so I get all four sides clipped and then I flip the thing over to put the base on. There were no tools required for putting this thing together. It came with these small, plastic screws that held the base on to the sides and four plastic squares that hold the sides in place on the top corners. Not a bad system. It held fine. Did I mention this bin is a tapered cube? Well, it is. It has a wider base than the top. I flipped it right side up and locked in the top door. It has hinges and a handle to lock it into place when not putting anything inside or turning the compost. Mission Accomplished.........I thought. I did not mention this before, but I put this thing together in my basement. It’s not the smallest bin either; it can hold 115 gallons of compost. It's light since it is made out of recycled plastic. I picked it up and started up the stairs. It was fine until I reached the top and managed to NOT get through the doorway. Oh snap!!! The top fit, but the base (it's a tapered cube, remember) was too wide to fit through the doorway!!! I was definitely NOT going to take this stupid thing apart and spend another hour painstakingly clipping everything back outside...NO WAY, NO HOW!!! So, I walk it back downstairs and come upstairs and take the door off the hinges at the top of the stairs. I run back downstairs and grab the bin and it DOES fit this time...BARELY, though...
In fact, I have another project for myself now...I happen to scrap the wooden railing that goes from up to downstairs and slightly chip it and I will end up replacing the railing for the stairs because of it. Well, maybe I will just restain it because I don't like how it looks now thanks to me being an idiot and not measuring the doorway and trying to fit a watermelon through an opening the size of a lemon…..Anyway, I get up stairs and then realize that I would have to take it through the sliding glass door in the back of the house. Should fit without any problems, right? WRONG AGAIN!!! Man, I was pissed at this point! I break out the elusive tape measure and measure the base of the bin and then the FRONT door of the house. Sure enough, I can fit through there with a half inch to spare on each side....Fine, but I have to pop the pins out of the pistons (top and bottom) so that the storm door would open beyond the hinges and allow another 1-2" for me to walk this bin through..........Wheew!! It worked!!!

I am sure I could have spared all the details of this post and just said, measure with a tape and don't assume because you know what they say about people who ASSuME, right?

3.01.2006

V For Vendetta Artwork



Regardless of whether or not the Wachowski's forthcoming movie take on graphic novel V For Vendetta is any good, the promotional artwork is undoubtedly fantastic! It has that whole retro political propaganda art feel. It screams Stalinist art poster with an interesting flair...