It is my sad duty to report that the coffee machine has died. Multiple last-minute attempts at resuscitation failed and it was transferred to recycling at 8:35am Wednesday morning.
It was a good and faithful coffee machine, performing its percolation duties without complaint for several years across many states.
We will miss the coffee machine.
If you haven’t seen it yet, this is a rather decent visual presentation of how things got bad.
Ok, this is really just an excuse to put a link up here as I won’t remember it later, but I’m still amazed that someone actually does… pencil reviews. I shouldn’t be – there seems to be a site on the internet for everything.
Anyway, I’m mostly putting this up here to remind myself about it later. I’ve always wanted to know more about the different types of pencil lead and this guy seems to be a good source to learn.
Kevin and I went to a Scotch tasting party. It was the first time I’ve had distilled alchohol. Kevin was more savvy and knew what he was getting into.
Everyone brought a bottle of whatever they felt like bringing, as long as it was single malt scotch. (Kevin brought a peated single malt Irish whiskey* (rulebreaker)). When all the guests were assembled and the knowledgeable host had sorted them by peaty-ness, this was what was on the table:
Glenmorangie
Dalwhinnie
Balvenie
Bowmore
Connemara (Kevin’s)
The Macallan
Laphroaig
*Scotch is “Whisky”. Irish is “Whiskey”. We think.
They only have a demo version up and playable with the promise of having more in the works. Still, it makes for a great way to waste.. err, I mean, allocate time.
Really, it is just here to take up time while waiting for code to get pushed out.. yeah.
My only gripe: I’d love to actually listen to the ‘completed’ music before the next level loads.
Thought I’d let everyone know that Kevin has finished all of his holiday coffee. He still has the gift certificate, which is going to be redeemed soon. But if anyone wondered if coffee was really a used and useful gift item …. it is. It truly is.
(he says that this year he went through the coffee supplies more quickly because he’s lost access to workplace coffee. So this is not a typical year. So you know.)
Somebody had *way* too much time on their hands. Or they were paid to do it.
Either way, worth a quick look:
Inauguration Headlines
… because I think that resolutions end up being something that is too easy to break (and, once broke, it’s all over).
A goal, however, is something that you can keep working for if you fall off the wagon from time to time.
Anybody have any you’d not mind sharing this year?
Well, this is my year.  Thank you to Ramona to reminding me that I need to get on it.
Assignments(1) are as follows:
 Chris got Luke
 Christina got Kevin
 Ramona got  Nelia
 Kevin got Christina
 Luke got Ramona
 Nelia got Chris
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Mission: Zodiac Signs.
You are encouraged to think beyond the literal. Aquarius is the Water Bearer. You could send a bucket. You could send a water bottle. Or you should send a small shovel, to help move obstacles in the way of the flow. Or maybe an ice cube tray, to help keep their load cool. Be creative, but keep it tied back to the Zodiac sign.
I know the following off the top of my head:
Chris : Gemini
Christina: Capricorn
Ramona: Pisces
Nelia: Cancer
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If I got one wrong, let me know. If you know others, let me know and I’ll fill them in.
Note 1: For future reference, you can use this page to come up with people assignments: christmas_assign_page It will generate a new round of assignments every time you visit. Also, due to not spending that much time on it, every now and then it might not generate the full list of people.
So, Ramona, you say you want a garlic thing, something to chop garlic. Do you mean a commonly available garlic press or one of the rather clever garlic choppers? BE SPECIFIC!