Something Random

LunarMist

I can't believe I'm a Fixture
Joined
Feb 1, 2003
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17,497
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USA
Phillies win. :D

:jumpin: :jumpin: :jumpin: :jumpin: :jumpin: :jumpin: :jumpin: :jumpin: :jumpin:
 

udaman

Wannabe Storage Freak
Joined
Sep 20, 2006
Messages
1,209
Lately I've been doing frozen stuff from the vending machine. Yesterday was an 18-hour day, and today has been 13 so far, with only 5 hours in between (most of it sleep). Does anyone have any frozen favorites?

Sorry, from the vending machine? How would we know if you don't tell us what the selection is? NEI (not enough info) :p

You mean generally? that you heat in MW or oven at home? How fast do you need it? Cause frozen stuff like lasagna-small, medium, family size, CostCo jumbo size; if not MW'd a bit 1st, can take an hour in a conventional oven.

Let me guess, btw you and the SO...at the restaurant

dd: wanna F**k?

SO: here, now...kinky :)?

dd: no, outside in the car.

SO: oh. nah, too crampy, can you wait until we get home?

dd: you're cramping, that time of the mo?

SO: no, dipwad, I mean the car is too uncomfortable!

dd: oh...D'oh
 

ddrueding

Fixture
Joined
Feb 4, 2002
Messages
19,728
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Horsens, Denmark
I have control over what goes in the vending machine, and I have a freezer. I only have a microwave, so oven stuff is out.

And why go to the car when the restaurant has a ladies room ;)
 

udaman

Wannabe Storage Freak
Joined
Sep 20, 2006
Messages
1,209
Was at CostCo (actually across the street at local supmkt pharmacy to get flu & pneumonia shots...outch, delayed reaction, couldn't even sleep much last night because of the soreness) on Sunday. CostCo is about 7-8mi away. But I was shocked by the price of regular grade fuel. $2.75/gal, when just around the corner from where I live the Chevron was @3.19/gal, closer to CostCo 2 blocks appart Chevron's were @3.19 & 3.11, while the cash only Arco, typically 4-5cents/gal less than the other majors was @2.98. How could CostCo be so low?

Then today, I actually drove the long distance to CostCo just to fuel up, but ran into freeway ramp closures, 3mi RT detour, so basically had to burn a 1/2 gal of fuel trying to save. CostCo was today down to $2.60/gal., while last night the Arco was @2.93/gal. Today I noticed the local Chevron had dropped from Sunday's 3.19 down to 2.99/gal. OK, so futures prices on sweet crude have plummeted to $65/barrel, down from early summer's record $150/barrel, based on what I can only figure is pure speculation, nothing to do with actual demand/supply.

It's being reported in the media that US drivers are driving 10% less recently with the poor economic conditions (never mind any hurricane damage shortages of just a few distant, long forgotten, months ago). Yeah, alright, so even if US drivers and the rest of the world were in the near future cut back to 20%, which is not very likely..that still doesn't make for demand causing the price of a barrel to drop more than 50%. Hence, price of fuel is obviously predicated upon the same BS as the rampant housing market speculation.

I can pretty much guarantee you Obama won't (any more than I think McCain, or the next president after Obama is out in 4yrs) be weaning the US off of our dependence on petrol/gasoline any time soon. Under the best circumstances, with a Congress behind whatever president, resisting all special interest peddling influence, you'd not likely see meaningful, significant reductions of fossil fuel consumption for at least a decade or more...much to 'carbon-footprint' Tannin's disgust :D "This is how we roll", in US politics.
 

udaman

Wannabe Storage Freak
Joined
Sep 20, 2006
Messages
1,209
I have control over what goes in the vending machine, and I have a freezer. I only have a microwave, so oven stuff is out.

Still don't understand, freezer at home or work (haven't read up on your appliances purchase for home thread, so don't know which you are referring to...home or work), MW, home or work? No toaster oven @work? Maybe you'd like to get one then. I use both TO & MW at home, not so much the conventional oven. Cause I want it done fast.

Vending machines can carry various sizes, must they be smaller individual size pkgs then (I meant the frozen meals, not the size of the vending machines :p )? Cause you limit yourself in such a circumstance. For instance, if you buy @Smart & Final, instead, or CostCo, they have pretty much jumbo size everything.

And why go to the car when the restaurant has a ladies room ;)
You dawg! Maybe you'd better ask the SO 'bout that, while not as 'nasty'/filthy' as typical mensroom, still kind of dank/stank in there...unless you are an exhibitionist at heart, and want the attention of other ladies, even senior citizens...heck your mom or grandma might be in the next stall :D
 

ddrueding

Fixture
Joined
Feb 4, 2002
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Horsens, Denmark
Nice restaurants have nice bathrooms. The frozen food stuff is for the office, and I have a freezer and a microwave at the office. The vending machine is capable of taking just about anything, but single serving is still a goal.
 

Fushigi

Storage Is My Life
Joined
Jan 23, 2002
Messages
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Illinois, USA
I commonly see a 30+ cent per gallon difference in gas prices when I drive the 23 miles to work. Luckily, the less expensive end is closer to home. Last I noticed, gas was running anywhere from the low $2.60s to $3.05.

I determined a long time ago that driving more than a block or two off of your normal route to buy cheap gas is not worth it. For one thing, as you noted, you can wind up burning more $ in gas than you save. For another, the cost of operating a vehicle exceeds the cost of gas alone. Think about it; if an oil change costs $30 and you do it every 3000 miles, that's one cent per mile right there. Likewise, spend $600 on a set of tires every 60K miles and there's another cent per mile in operating cost. (Costs are rounded for convenience but the numbers are realistic.)

The fed currently allows a $0.585 per mile reimbursement for business driving in a personal vehicle. That covers the cost of the vehicle, gas, oil, other maintenance, and so on. The number has spiked up twice a year (v. just annually) to accommodate the rising gas prices; I expect it to fall back to closer to $0.50 a gallon come Jan 1 if gas prices don't spike back up. Of course, the 58.5 represents a fleet average; more efficient vehicles would have a lower operating cost. But it works well enough for estimations and is far easier than actually tracking every cent spent on the car.

So if you drive a mere half mile out of your way, meaning a one mile round trip, to buy cheap gas you'd better save >58.5 cents on the gas to begin to overcome the operating cost spent getting there. The first 4 or 5 cents of the cost savings (assuming 12-15 gallons bought) will cover the operating cost; the rest would be actual savings.

And that ignores the value of the time spent driving the extra distance.
 

ddrueding

Fixture
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Messages
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Horsens, Denmark
When I plug my Razer Copperhead mouse into my Belkin 4-port USB KVM, it inverts the vertical. This didn't happen to a bunch of other mice, just this one. Very random.
 

mubs

Storage? I am Storage!
Joined
Nov 22, 2002
Messages
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Location
Somewhere in time.
You mentioned that you would get an extra hour of sleep. That implies your "country" followed DST, and I was asking if that was so. This was for information only, and I don't really care if you care about DST or not. Enjoy your sleep either way.
 

udaman

Wannabe Storage Freak
Joined
Sep 20, 2006
Messages
1,209
Crichton loses battle with cancer @66

Michael Crichton, the doctor-turned-author of bestselling thrillers such as "The Terminal Man" and "Jurassic Park" and a Hollywood writer and director whose credits include "Westworld" and "Coma,"has died. He was 66.

Crichton died in Los Angeles on Tuesday "after a courageous and private battle against cancer," his family said in a statement.

http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-crichton6-2008nov06,0,1192481.story

Crichton was still in Harvard Medical School when he wrote his first best-seller: "The Andromeda Strain," a fast-paced scientifically and technologically detailed 1969 thriller about a team of scientists attempting to save mankind from a deadly microorganism brought to earth by a military satellite. It was made into a movie in 1971.

"Disclosure" was his best novel/movie IMHO (for obvious reasons ;) ). AS was really good too, in it's day.
 

LunarMist

I can't believe I'm a Fixture
Joined
Feb 1, 2003
Messages
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USA
:( You guys beat me to it. The first I learned of Crichton was seeing the Andromeda Strain. That was in the theatre, back in 1971. It was an excellent film for the time. (For the kids out there, Apollo 14 had returned from the moon as few weeks prior.) I started reading his novels a few days later.
 

paugie

Storage is cool
Joined
Dec 13, 2003
Messages
702
Location
Bulacan, Philippines
I have read Airframe (good read) and Andromeda Strain. I used to read a lot when I was younger. Now I am reading again, this time courtesy of a portable mp3 player which also displays text files. So when I find myself in queus, in the bank, waiting for customer service, or in public transport, I read.
Just finished "Door into Summer" and am now in the middle of "5 People you meet in Heaven"
 

Fushigi

Storage Is My Life
Joined
Jan 23, 2002
Messages
2,890
Location
Illinois, USA
It's been so long since I read Door into Summer that I forget what it was about. If I ever make a good dent in my reading backlog I'll have to revisit my Heinlein collection. When "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" and you feel like a "Stranger in a Strange Land", just remember there's always "Time Enough for Love". :p
 

CougTek

Hairy Aussie
Joined
Jan 21, 2002
Messages
8,729
Location
Québec, Québec
The culinar Poutine isn't that hard to do : just buy a regular french fries with sauce and add cheese curds.

The Russian Poutine, why would anyone want to have this?
 

Handruin

Administrator
Joined
Jan 13, 2002
Messages
13,926
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USA
Glad you are ok Bozo. That doesn't sound like a simple thing to go through.
 

ddrueding

Fixture
Joined
Feb 4, 2002
Messages
19,728
Location
Horsens, Denmark
Glad you are still intact, Bozo.

I'm breaking down the computer in prep for our move today. Of course it's raining, and I've found a leak in the uHaul, and they got me a 17' instead of a 26'. But I'm stoked to not have to commute anymore. I should be online by this time tomorrow.
 

paugie

Storage is cool
Joined
Dec 13, 2003
Messages
702
Location
Bulacan, Philippines
Hello Bozo, glad that you are mending.

Even if open-heart surgery has advanced far beyond Christian Barnard's time, it still is a frightful thing to undergo. And unless you have insurance, something that would really traumatize the wallet, too.

Here, many people would just lie down and ...
 

ddrueding

Fixture
Joined
Feb 4, 2002
Messages
19,728
Location
Horsens, Denmark
The move went well, and it was awesome to walk to work this morning. The walk to the office is about twice the previous walk to the parking lot! Waking up at 6:30, having a shower, and still being in the office by 7 is an amazing thing.
 

Mercutio

Fatwah on Western Digital
Joined
Jan 17, 2002
Messages
22,275
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I am omnipresent
Actually, it sounds like pure, unadulterated fat + cholesterol!

I made some fried chicken on Sunday and since I had some flour left I tried a grand experiment: Chicken-fried bacon.

It was awesome, even though I did burn the first couple pieces.

The main problem with poutine is that I don't know where to get young cheddar cheese curds. There's a particular squeaky, chewey texture that's supposed to come from the cheese and just melting regular cheese won't give you that.


And just because: I had a salad and a hamburger from McDonalds for lunch yesterday and a can of chicken noodle soup for dinner. Days like that are probably why I crave things like poutine.
 

Mercutio

Fatwah on Western Digital
Joined
Jan 17, 2002
Messages
22,275
Location
I am omnipresent
The move went well, and it was awesome to walk to work this morning. The walk to the office is about twice the previous walk to the parking lot! Waking up at 6:30, having a shower, and still being in the office by 7 is an amazing thing.

One of the things I've found out is how much it sucks to be that close. My contracting customers pretty much don't call me unless they need me, because I'm at least 45 minutes away from all of them. Mr. Penisbreath whose office is right next door to mine wants me to go over and chat face to face all the goddamned time, like I don't have anything else to do. And that's when he's not sending me 10 e-mails a day and paging my cell phone. I've started billing the guy at $2 a minute (I have a chess timer on my desk now) and he still does that shit.

Anyway, "He's only two minutes away!" sure does suck. People start to take your availability for granted really, really quickly.
 
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