Recent comments

  • The Bank of Gasoline   18 years 44 weeks ago

    wow! thats kind of crazy, something like this would never be anywhere near my suv invested town... i wish i lived in st cloud

  • The Toyota I-Unit; would you drive it?   18 years 44 weeks ago

    I would think that that is what Charles Francis Xavier would ride around in, should he want to take a hike through the woods.

  • Going Short at Starbucks: Worth It?   18 years 44 weeks ago

    Thought you'd want to know that this post is popping up as new every hour or two on bloglines.

  • Going Short at Starbucks: Worth It?   18 years 44 weeks ago

    In Europe, if you ask for a coffee you get an expresso in a cup with about the size of a shot glass. Maybe smaller.

    And if done right, like in Portugal, that little cup can have the same ammount of caffeine as a regular glass of the stuff. :)

  • Going Short at Starbucks: Worth It?   18 years 44 weeks ago

    I agree that their coffee is really, really potent. I had gotten into the habit of ordering half regular, half decaf, which always took longer to make. Thanks for this great tip! Who knew?

  • Going Short at Starbucks: Worth It?   18 years 44 weeks ago

    I always order the short cups. I just can't stand too much coffee in the morning, but I love the taste.

  • Is Green Tea All It's Cracked Up to Be? It's close.   18 years 44 weeks ago

    Numi makes a great flowering tea... you put this little green tea, hand-wrapped bud into a clear tea pot, or a large white cup, and pour hot water all over it (you can see it happen in Marie Antoinette when her brother comes to visit her and she makes flowering tea).

    Then you wait, watch, and see the tea 'bloom' in your cup.

    Quite bitter if you're not used to it, but very cool for parties, and cheaper than a magician.

    In reference to your post.. yes, green tea is everywhere in Asia in terms of flavouring. That and red bean, durian, melons and 'coffee'. mmmmm I want some green tea now...

  • Going Short at Starbucks: Worth It?   18 years 44 weeks ago

    i'm going to ask for a short the next time i go into a starbucks... kinda thinking they are going to tell me they have no such thing or they are out of cups... we shall see

  • Going Short at Starbucks: Worth It?   18 years 44 weeks ago

    Hm, that barista is lying!! ;-) I was skeptical at first but even over here in London I have no problem finding them. But I have to say that it makes me go to Starbucks a lot more since I find their coffee way too strong. I feel really happy when i have my small cup.

  • Who Moved My Stuff?   18 years 44 weeks ago

    I think a "material detox" is exactly what I need in my life right now.

     

  • Fine Dining on a Take-Out Budget   18 years 44 weeks ago

    California School for Culinary Arts in Pasadena CA has 2 restaurants, the cafe has sandwiches and pastries all the time and hot food at certain hours (sort of odd times due to class schedules) You will get a really nice meal for short money...the Bistro is NOT super cheap, but the quality is equal to that of any of the fancy places in LA and you will pay less than if you were at Spago or Providence.

    Both are totally worth checking out.

    Regina
    (CSCA class of 07 :)

  • Street market scams. Don't believe the hype.   18 years 44 weeks ago

    Your analysis is spot on. I know full well, being from England, that we're way more susceptible to things like this than anyone else in the world. A recent study showed that on average, English people are actually 4 times more likely to fall for cons and deceptions than anyone else. In fact, the last know recorded case of anyone in any other nation falling for a simple con was in 1976. His name was Robert Sole. Thank you guest, your comment was not only helpful but darn insightful.

  • Who Moved My Stuff?   18 years 44 weeks ago

    Man, I hung onto all my textbooks (and even some notebooks) after college. I think, after a while, the only valuable stuff I had in them were all the doodles I made in the margins :-P

    Admittedly, I, too, am a bit of a book packrat... also, thanks to my dad who single-handedly kept amazon.com on their toes.

    It was difficult, though, to part with some books, since I do tend to re-read things... but I looked at it like I could make room for new books, most of which I bought used, online, for a fraction of the cover price. 

  • Street market scams. Don't believe the hype.   18 years 44 weeks ago

    So you see a poster and you buy?
    Or you go to a store, they tell you it's natural and you believe it?
    OMG I have to move to England, you guys believe anything!!!

  • Going Short at Starbucks: Worth It?   18 years 44 weeks ago

    Although as a Seattle resident I've known about "short" for years, I've been at plenty of Starbucks where the barista claims not to have any 8 oz cups.

  • Who Moved My Stuff?   18 years 44 weeks ago

    Ed: your question of "do I want it?" is too gentle for me. :)

    I have the packrat gene (thanks Dad!) and it's way too easy for me to rationalize how much I want or "need" something.

    "Oh, I'll definitely be curling up by the fireplace re-reading my advanced molecular and cellular biology book. Definitely this time."

    How many times have I moved those stupid textbooks?? And how many times have I opened those boxes these last ten years?? Sadly, the answers are "too many times" and "never".

    Thanks for the reminder. It's time to do some purging...

  • $7 off of Crest Whitestrips   18 years 44 weeks ago

    I feel so ugly, and my teeth are quite yellow.
    Sometimes I want to be a cook kind fellow.
    I am poor and have nothing to offer,
    so if you are pulled over say, "It wasnt me officer".

    I have yellow teeth and I have a broken tooth,
    but if you give me some alcohol than I will become loose
    Im a yellow toothed loser, that is what im sure
    but if if you have 5 pennies, than i am your boor

  • $6500 repair bill to remove a stone from a moon roof   18 years 44 weeks ago

    There's a joke that goes:

    A man took his car into a repair shop because his engine was making a funny grating noise. The repairman opened the hood and looked around with a flashlight. Then he grabbed a rubber mallet and banged on the engine a few times. He told the car's owner to go ahead and start the engine, and lo and behold! No more funny grating noise!

    When the satisfied car owner went to the cashier to pay, he was astonished to see his bill. $143.00!! He went over to the repairman, and demanded, "Hey, what the hell? All you did was hammer on the engine!"

    The repairman calmly replied, "Yes, that's true. Here, let me itemize this for you." Taking the bill from the customer's hand, he explained, "I charged you $3 for pounding on the engine with the rubber mallet... and $140 for knowing where to pound, how hard to pound, and when to stop pounding."

  • The Toyota I-Unit; would you drive it?   18 years 44 weeks ago

    and how fast can it go? lol it doesnt look too protected from the elements either...

  • Who Moved My Stuff?   18 years 44 weeks ago

    It would be summer, now, in the States so I think everyone's doing a bit of Spring cleaning.

    Here, it's unusual for a house to have a basement or even an attic, in some cases. Perhaps this lack of available storage space forces people to really assess how much stuff they hang on to, if they just don't have the room for it.

    It's odd, in a way, to store things out of sight (and, presumably, out of mind); yet what's the difference between not  having something at your fingertips and not having it around at all? Sentimentality? Anxiety?

    I feel a new post brewing...  ;-) 

  • Who Moved My Stuff?   18 years 44 weeks ago

    You'd be surprised at what people buy.

     I had a couple of garage sales over the past couple of years and I said the same thing: "Who'd want this?"

     Sometimes, people would ask me to put it aside so they could go get cash from the ATM :-P

    And some of the stuff that changes hands on eBay still fascinates me. I've bought a few things that were useful and were good deals, but I think some people buy a lot of stuff because they love the thrill of the chase, so to speak. 

  • Who Moved My Stuff?   18 years 45 weeks ago

    Is it National Garage Day Sale weekend in the states? There's a garage sale everywhere I go.

  • Who Moved My Stuff?   18 years 45 weeks ago

    This post comes at an opportune time since I may be moving soon and even if I wind up not moving, I've still got more than enough junk to get rid of—though I doubt anyone would pay for it. ;^)

  • The Toyota I-Unit; would you drive it?   18 years 45 weeks ago

    I probably wouldn't drive it. Not because it's ugly (which it is!), but because it looks like there is no storage space. At the very least, when going to work, I have to carry my lunch with me and short of setting it on my lap, I'm not sure how I'd carry it in that car.

  • $6500 repair bill to remove a stone from a moon roof   18 years 45 weeks ago

    I do agree that $143 for pebble removal is steep, although it may have taken a little time to find the problem. We don't know where the pebble was located, or how well hidden it was. But I think a free repair, or 1 hour charge, would have been excellent for customer service. Then again, when faced with $6500 from the other dealer, the $143 looks like peanuts. That shop is probably looking golden to the customer anyway.