The Long Cut ...we'll get there eventually

In The Mix

A few years back our cheap blender burned out and died. It seemed to us that we could live without a blender until we found a nice one at the right price (we do have a tiny 12 ounce smoothie maker, but you're lucky if you can get that thing to even do that well). So for the past few years, every time we pass a kitchen store or even the kitchen section of a department store, I've been checking blender prices (everyone needs a hobby).

This weekend while I was at Kohl's getting some new jeans to replace the ones that have holes in the seat that everyone can see my skivvies through (or so the missus said, though she didn't actually say "skivvies"), I checked out their blenders and found that they had a $50 model marked down to $40, which still seemed too high for something that we really could live without. $40 is an excellent price for a quality blender, of course, but I'm too cheap tightfisted miserly stingy parsimonious frugal to admit that while I'm at the store.

Then I noticed that one of the floor models had "$19.99" hand-written on its price tag, and asked about it. Sure enough, simply because that blender was yellow and folks were no longer interested in yellow blenders (because yellow blenders are so 2006), it was half-price. Then, since it was a floor model, I got another 10% taken off that, for a final price of... $17.99! Woo-Hoo!

So, anyone know any good blended drinks I can whip up to reward my smart shopping?

Surfing The Amazon

I think I've caught a bit of a meme that had been going around last week. That's the only reason I can think of for wanting to tell everyone about my very first Amazon order, which shipped way back on January 25, 1999.

I don't even remember the Internet being around back in 1999 let alone my having access to it, but Amazon swears I did:

The Sportswriter (Vintage Contemporaries) [Paperback]
By: Richard Ford
$9.60

Here's another thing I don't remember about 1999: me reading books. I do remember getting Ford's Pulitzer Prize winning Independence Day and then finding out that it was the second in a series. That's why I picked up this book, the first of that series. I loved both books, but have yet to read last year's The Lay of the Land, Ford's third installment in the life of Frank Bascombe.

More A Legend Than A Band [Audio CD]
By: The Flatlanders
$12.99

1999 found me way into Jimmie Dale Gilmore, but the Flatlanders also included Joe Ely and Butch Hancock. When the album came out back in '72 (on 8-track only) these three were the future of authentic country music. Unfortunately, by the time it came out on vinyl (in 1980) and on disc (in 1990), popular country music was anything but authentic. Gilmore's "Dallas" is still one of the greatest odes to a city ever written.

Measure Twice, Cut Once : Lessons from a Master Carpenter [Hardcover]
By: Norm Abram
$12.60

My love of all things Norm started way before 1999, but this was the first (and only) book of his I've ever bought. This was before This Old House magazine, Classic This Old House, Ask This Old House or even HGTV. We didn't have 24/7 access to home improvement-based entertainment. This slim book wasn't quiet what I expected. It was Norm's take on each of the tools in his workshop, which he used to describe the life of a master carpenter. Sort of a Zen and the Art of Mitering.

There you go. Amazon allows you to see all of your purchases - just go to "Your Account" then under "Where's my Stuff" change the "View by Order" pull-down to "complete order history sorted by year" and pull down "See more" and select the earliest year. Simple, right?

So spill it - what and when was your first order?

[Meme via Scott and Tony]

No Time Like The Presents

Do you know what the four-year-old did today?

While we were out shopping, he asked me if he could make his Christmas list after we got back home. His Christmas list! The nine-year-old and I tried to explain to him just how far away Christmas was (even though the missus has already had to threaten to call Santa on him), but there seemed to be no changing his mind about it.

Luckily, he seemed to have forgotten all about his wish list by the time he woke up from his nap. Because really, who in there right mind is already... thinking... about... what... they... want... for...

Oh, sweet mercy, are those double-walled beer glasses?

Wow.

You know, there are only 121 shopping days left.

[Via Beer Smack, one of the many excellent beer blogs I've been hitting lately]

Trading Joes

If you've been reading this blog for a while, you know how much I like Trader Joe's (except for their mustard) - organic foods, healthy foods, cheap foods. But the closest Trader Joe's to us is about a 45-minute traffic-filled ride for us, and since TJ's is small and doesn't carry a lot of name-brand products, we usually end up having to hit the Superfresh, too.

Enter Wegmans. Sweet, sweet, Wegmans. Being just outside the Wegmans area, I had heard a lot about how great this store was from those in the Wegmans zone, but come on, it's just a supermarket, right? Well, Wegmans finally moved into our area (about 15 minutes away), and it's not your usual supermarket.

Wegmans is like Trader Joe's and Superfresh mashed into one, and then some. It's got a huge produce section with plenty of local grown stuff, a huge bakery, a huge bistro, a huge organic section, a huge cheese section, a huge international section. Get the idea? It's got name-brand, store-brand, and many of the same brands sold at Trader Joe's.

It's big, but it's also got tons of employees (well-treated employees). I don't know if there is so much help just because it's a newly-opened store, but we'll find out soon enough since Wegmans is now our new supermarket.

Sorry, Joe.

My Phone's Off The Hook, But I'm Not

too stupid for a phone
that’s what i am

my phone is dead
that’s three phones lost now
if you’re keeping track

two truly lost
one miraculously found
in a pile of hay on the back of a tractor
no lie

and now, number three
sent through the wash
drowned
drowned to death
blub, blub, blub

the funny thing is
I don’t even want a cell phone
I don’t want to be reachable

but it’s two thousand six
and a husband needs a phone
and a father needs a phone

and an employee needs a phone
and a boss needs a phone
and a coach needs a phone

and so, i need a phone
and i have a phone

just not right now
blub, blub, blub

stupid.

A Certain Glow

Cliff Hangers
Originally uploaded by Eatnogoat.

First, let me just say how great Wikipedia is. One little factoid - "Tyco Toys has no connection with ... the similarly-named Tyco International" - saved me a whole bunch of embarrassment. Up to this point, I always assumed that Tyco International was this little toy company that got too big for its britches and started getting into trouble. Nope.

Which is good, because it allows me to concentrate on the real Tyco scandal - the fact that they no longer make Tyco Nite-Glow racesets. The three-year-old wanted to spend the Toys 'R' Us giftcard his Kentucky cousins sent him on a raceset, and my mind instantly was sent back to my childhood, where Tyco Nite-Glow reigned supreme.

Tyco Nite-Glow was the one toy I literary loved to death. I would get the set for Christmas, play with it until it broke, and than get another one the next Christmas. I don't know just how many times this cycle played out, but I do remember many years where post-Thanksgiving peeks under my mom's bed happily revealed the beautiful tell-tale green glow of the Tyco Nite-Glow box.

Now, you're stuck with either buying a $200 raceset that works great but would be destroyed by a three-year-old (when not being monopolized by his thirty-seven year-old father) or a "cheap" $50 set that's so lame that if the owner remembers it at all when he's thirty-seven, it will only be as an example of just how poorly his parents treated him.

We luckily found a third option - a truly cheap $10 set made just for younger kids. It works just well enough to keep him happy for now, and should satisfy him until he starts thinking of what he wants for his birthday in April (those thoughts should start any day now) and when it breaks, it breaks - oh well - we'll just get have to get him another set the next Christmas. And hopefully, one of these Christmases, that set will have a magical glow to it that the kid will never forget.

The Mesh Seating Revolution Will Not Be Televised

You know, sometimes it seems that every other show on NPR is sponsored by Herman Miller, "makers of the Herman Miller Aeron chair." My intellectual liberal peeps know what I'm talking about, am I right? I always think they're saying Henry Miller Aeron chair, which God only knows what that would look like.

Since the guy doing the doing the sponsor voice-overs for NPR has always made the chair sound so hoity-toity, I've always just assumed it was out of my financial reach. Now that Slate has done a review of expensive office chairs, I can see that I was right. Here's what $899 buys you:

The people at Slate seem to think that this style (apparently very popular with executives bent on using office furniture to intimidate underlings) is on its way out. I think I would agree with them - I'm all for modernist-looking furniture, but this one's got a strange barbershop kind of look to it. How long can that stay in fashion? Plus, just look at all those buttons and levers. My chair at work has two adjustment levers and I'm lucky if I can change one without getting thrown across the room.

Slate gives there highest marks to the Humanscale Liberty, which the company calls "a revolution in mesh seating."

Yeah, I'd have to agree. Simple but stylish. Basic but comfy. Sure it cost a little more than the Aeron (it's $955), but I'm worth it. And Christmas is only 17 days away (hint,hint).

Or, you know, you could just get me that ergonomic mouse pad I've been wanting. I'm sure that would do just as good a job intimidating the underlings as a thousand dollar chair.

Don't You Let That Deal Go Down

For those of you thinking of what you're going to get me for Christmas, let me just say that there are very few things I would want less than Jerry Garcia's toilet.

Ten On Tuesday

10 Brand Names You Can't Live Without (via Karen)

1. Saucony 3D Grid Hurricane - My running shoe for the last seven years (different pairs, of course).
2. Timex 100-Lap Ironman Triathlon - My running watch for the last six years (the same watch!).
3. Arrid XX Dry - Apparently the only deodorant I'm not allergic to (as I found out when I tried a different brand last week).
4. Yuengling Traditional Lager - Good Great and cheap!
5. Morningstar Farms Original Grillers - I never get tired of these things.
6. Silk Soy Milk - Nobody else in the house will touch this stuff, but I love it. It's the milk all the cool self-righteous people use.
7. Post Raisin Bran (and Grape Nuts)- Raisin Bran is my favorite cereal, but it's got to be Post. Kelloggs just won't do.
8. TypePad Personal Weblogging Service - As anyone who's ever suffered through Blogger can tell you.
9. Trader Joe's (too many items to list) - It takes almost an hour to get out there, but it's worth it. My dream is to open my very own TJ's someday.
10. Gatorade Thirst Quencher - I just ran ten miles, dammit, don't give me that Powerade crap.

I don't know if these are my top ten, but they're the ten I just thought of. And I doubt I would actually die without them. In a pinch I'm sure I could put 8th Continent soy milk on my Raisin Bran instead of Silk.

But that Raisin Bran better be from Post.