I think it would be alternately frightening and cool to have a 4′ square poster of this kid eating spaghetti. Or this kid eating beans. International! I could send this one to my vegan friends.
Schoolhouse Electric
An alternative to Rejuvenation, but similar products. (via)
We here on the East coast are a bit behind the times where some things are concerned. Five years ago, when I used to hear about newfangled technologies and web services, I thought “Gee, that’s a swell idea, but it’ll take fifteen years to reach us here in Baltimore.” Webvan, Pets.com—great ideas, but not available in this backwater city.
So imagine my surprise when I found out that Peapod, which is owned by the Giant grocery chain, is now offering online shopping and delivery service in the Baltimore area. That’s right, for a minimum order of $50, you can have somebody drop off the milk, eggs, bread, and TP to your house when you’re there, or even when you’re not. I’d like to test it out sometime soon to see how well it works. Then maybe we might set up a bimonthly dropoff of the staples just so we can save the time and hassle of picking them up.
In other consumer news, I broke down today and bought a refurbished Airport Extreme Base Station to replace the first unit that died with the liquor return money we got from our wedding supplier. (Gotta love wholesalers, baby!) After doing a pile of research on the other alternatives out there, I decided to give the big A another shot.
Having found the use of my 2nd-gen Kodak DC-3400 rough going, Jen left it at home to sit on the shelf. I decided that she’d take the G3 and I’d soldier on with the Kodak until we can muster the cash for a second prosumer-level camera. One drawback to this camera is its voracious battery appetite, which means that I need to invest in better rechargable batteries or buy stock in Duracell.
By the way, Avoid the Ritz Camera on Rt. 40 in Ellicott City, where they overexposed three of four rolls Jen dropped off there, effectively ruining 72 beautiful photographs of Italy she took. Worse, the bitch behind the counter claimed that Jen’s camera was bad (a nearly new Nikon N-65), we’d run them through the X-ray machine (we hadn’t), and the film was bad (all four rolls were from the same pack, bought three days before we boarded the plane.) At no time did she offer a refund or try to make us happy. Fuck Ritz Camera.
Success? After one solid year of the run-around by BG&E, it appears our problems are solved. I got a turn-off notice for an unpaid bill of $250, and called to straighten it out. After one call to their bill pay computer (which helpfully told me the balance due was $350, I called the CSR back and had her hunt the problem down. As it turned out, I have a credit of $350 on the other account—the one I kept telling them about. Oh, and the bills still weren’t merged. Of course, now that I’ve jinxed myself, I’ll probably wind up owing them money again, or the electricity will get shut off.
That’s Wrong. Did anybody happen to see the Olympics last night where they were showing Women’s Gymnastics? There was some Russian chick there who was absolutely frightening: She was about two feet taller and 50 lbs. lighter than the other women on her team, and it looked like she was going to snap in half. I had to turn my head when she landed her vault routine, because I thought she was going to break. Have a Big Mac or three, honey. (I realize I’m not the best person to be telling somebody else to gain weight, but I’m not an Olympic athlete.)