Back when the internet and I were still new to each other, I thought forums were the greatest invention ever. The idea that people, from different backgrounds, from different parts of the world, could discuss any given topic together, thrilled me. How quickly the novelty vanished.
Archive for January, 2010
Facebook, forums, foibles
Thursday, January 21st, 2010Review – Bread & Chocolate (Theo’s)
Monday, January 18th, 2010I read a compelling theory by someone who was surely as hippified as myself, that since chocolate is a luxury, we should be willing to pay the higher prices of fair-trade chocolate because, if it’s not a necessity, how can a person justify buying from a company that exploits fellow humans? (Actually, having said that, I’m not sure even necessity purchases should be considered okay if you know the company doing the selling engages in cruel practices.) Well, because I’m not here to preach about cruelty (I’ll leave that to http://www.clrlabor.org/alerts/2005/oct10-nestle.htm), allow me to review Seattle chocolate company Theo.
Review – Ssscat!
Wednesday, January 13th, 2010I’ve long been an advocate of letting pets do whatever they want, but every now and then a person has to draw the line.
Student Loans
Tuesday, January 12th, 2010I don’t know the first thing about economics. But. I do know that paying your bills sooner rather than later is a good idea.
Review – Daybreakers
Sunday, January 10th, 2010This Lionsgate film is suprisingly better than Lionsgate’s usual sub-par movie fare. Though they are credited with 300 of the worst movies ever made (the Internet Movie Database offers a full list), “Daybreakers” is the sort of film you’d actually enjoy sitting through. (I can’t stress enough how much I dislike Lionsgate as a production company, so, this level of praise is nearly unprecedented.)
Product Review – Power Pet Door
Friday, January 8th, 2010In olden days, people didn’t have pets. They had farm animals. And even when people began to keep pets on purpose (circa 1950, when the rest of the madness began), they still didn’t treat them much better than things they were going to slaughter and devour.
Lesson – tea measuring
Thursday, January 7th, 2010As a fledging connoisseur of gourmet tea (and one who’s enjoying a very stout cup of Oriental Spice tea) I’m going to share this instruction from www.teasource.com: “…measure the correct amount of tea into the pot. A good standard guideline is 1 rounded teaspoon per 8 oz. cup. This refers to a measuring teaspoon, not the teaspoon in your silverware set which is usually much larger than a true measuring teaspoon….”
Review – Adagio Tea (online shop)
Sunday, January 3rd, 2010Stay a hard-core coffee junkie long enough and you’ll eventually want to explore the wide world of gourmet teas. Either you’ll burn out on coffee physically (some poor souls develop stomach trouble from too much caffiene), become the bug-eyed jittery type of coffee drinker who’s forced to switch to tea’s lower-caffiene-load, or, if you’re luckiest of all (like me!), someone will give you a hefty gift certificate for one of the internet’s finest online tea shops. And once you’re hooked, you’re hooked. Unlike coffee (which, let’s face it comes in three basic choices: dark, light, flavored), tea comes in more: black, green, white, red, spiced, flavored, and herbal. There’s more than that (and of coffee too), but those are the main categories. And, yes, ’spiced’ and ‘flavored’ are not the same thing.