Fresh Grind

Oh yeah. My burr grinder arrived yesterday from Costco.com. It arrived in the afternoon, an hour too late for my afternoon latte. I can't drink caffeine after 3pm or it keeps me awake at night. That's a sure sign I'm getting old.

Anyway, this grinder is replacing a Krups model that I bought in desperation because I could not convince myself to speand nearly $100 to grind coffee. The Krups was about $50 and I could live with that, but I was aware that the quality of grind might be subpar. Indeed it was. The Krups frequently jammed unless it was grinding very oily beans. It also could not create a grind fine enough for espresso, which is unfortunate as that is its main reason for being. The only thing I did like about the Krups was that it would grind and dispense a precise amount of coffee according to how you had the dial set. Push one button and, providing it didn't jam, out came the prescribed amount of coffee.

The new grinder is a Solis (see earlier post) made in Switzerland where they make great gears and cutting instruments. This thing will make coffee ground so fine it comes out in little clumps; so fine it has the consistency of powdered sugar. It's amazing. Fortunately, it does about 20 other grinds in between coarse and powdered sugar, so you can find precisely the right grind for your coffee brewing needs. And so, $100 later, I am happy with my grind.

No one reads a stale blog

I've noticed that I only get hits on my blog after I have posted something. I'm still figuring this out, but it seems that no one reads a blog unless it's as fresh as a morning load. So all you blog readers out there, here's some fresh content. Read away.

Why Home Depot Self-Checkout Sucks or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Minimum Wage Employee

So I went to Home Depot today to buy lots of tile (I'm remodeling a bathroom). When heading to the checkout counter I knew I wanted to avoid self-checkout. I had 25 square feet of tiles that weren't going to fit on their little scale that makes sure I'm not trying to steal anything. Unfortunately, they appear to have given up on cashiers and have everyone doing self-checkout. Not sure if this is just a weekday phenomenon or not.

When I started my self-checkout transaction, I began by accidentally selecting Spanish language. I thought this should be no problem since the process is straightforward. I was wrong. The little pictures of the bagging area kept coming up and I couldn't tell if it rang up my items and wanted me to put them in the bagging area or if there was some other problem. Of course, there's no going back and telling the damn thing I want English instructions and the "cashier" who mans 4 registers was doing her best to pretend I wasn't there. Finally I get her attention and she rings up my items for me. So much for self sufficiency.

Now it's time to pay. It's still in Spanish mode, but I recognize the little credit card icon. I swipe my Amex and nothing happens. I swipe again. Nothing. I swipe a third time. Nothing. Thinking that my stripe is bad, I decide to try a MasterCard. I swipe the MasterCard. Then some Spanish speaking voice tells me something. Is it an error? The card reader isn't telling. Suddenly, my transaction is complete. It took the Amex. I'm not sure if it took it on the 1st 2nd or 3rd swipe, but it took it and now my transaction is complete. What a great user experience!

Just ordered this nice Solis Maestro conical burr grinder to compliment my relatively new FrancisFrancis! X5 espresso machine. I can't wait until it arrives. I've been able to find some great espresso gear on the cheap thanks to AuctionFigure.com.

Today I headed to my local Mega-lo-Mart for some bathroom tile and tile related accessories. I headed there with no idea what kind of tile I might want to use in my bathroom. Bad idea. While there, I decided to get a high-gloss finish on my tile. Mind you, this tile is intended for the bathroom floor.

On the ride home from said mega-home-store, I realized that a slick glossy surface might not be ideal for a wet floor. Serious injury could result. So a word of advice to those of you planning a bathroom remodel. Consider the litigious society we live in and forego the high-gloss, super-slick floor. It just might save your life/marriage/bank account.

I got this great bottle of Vibrant Mullet Shampoo for my birthday. It's sublime. It works on all mullets and rat tails and comes in a new muscle car scent. I've smelled it. Muscle car scent is definitely one way to describe it. Fantastic!

Movie Review - I am trying to break your heart - Doesn't Suck

This film chronicles the making of Wilco's "breakthrough" album, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. If you are a Wilco fan, love music or are interested in watching record execs make multi million dollar mistakes, you'll enjoy this movie. Otherwise, you will probably find it quite boring.

* Note: Act of Dog Reviews have a simple scale. Movies either suck or they don't suck.