Saturday, April 29, 2006

Five Bucks Well Spent.


Five Bucks Well Spent.
Originally uploaded by cafn8.
I enjoy a nice martini.

This morning, the mrs. and I went to a few rummage (rubbish) sales. We picked up a few useful things, but what I'm most excited about is this swank little glass cocktail shaker, which I picked up for a tidy fiver. It's not really big enough for more than a drink or two, but I rarely make more than two at a time anyway. They even threw in the ice tongs and a set of three cocktail glasses emblazoned with the "Beefeater" logo for free. Life is good.

Thursday, April 06, 2006

Am I Spoiled?

I, like millions of others worldwide, spend my days staring at a computer screen. I'm lucky enough to have a nice big, clear flat panel monitor. It's kind of necessary for me to see what I'm looking at, though, since I spend a lot of time using CAD and other graphic applications.
Yesterday, I used another computer for a few minutes and could not believe the effect it had. The moment I nudged the mouse and the CRT screen blinked to life my eyes immediately felt the strain. Within seconds I felt a headache coming on. It was like staring into a strobe light. A check of the display properties showed 60hz. Sure, it's low, but I don't remember being that sensitive to the flickering. It's hard to imagine that someone else stares at that box all day long sometimes.

Monday, April 03, 2006

It's the Little Things


It's the Little Things
Originally uploaded by cafn8.
I'm jazzed over one of the most unlikely things. As I strolled through the supermarket after work one night after work, I stopped in the pen, pencil, etc aisle to grab an eraser. That's when I saw something I didn't expect. Bic now makes a cheap 0.9mm mechanical pencil. I had a fairly expensive and, so I thought, somewhat rare one for drafting in college, and always liked it for general purpose writing and sketching. It's thin enough that it doesn't need sharpening like a lead holder or a good old wooden pencil, yet thick enough that you can get rough with it without the dreaded "tick" sound of the tip of the lead becoming a projectile. $2.50 for two pencils with extra lead and erasers ain't too shabby either.

The Springsteen Effect

I live in New Jersey. I do not come from New Jersey, though. There are many things peculiar to New Jersey that tend to make an outsider like myself raise an eyebrow and scratch his head. One of those things is "Springsteen". You know, "Bruce"... "The Boss"? I won't dispute the fact that he's a great entertainer, a great rock musician or even a really nice guy, as people will tell you. However, in New Jersey his following borders on cultish. It's to the point that your average Jersey guy, while listening to his radio at his desk at a reasonable volume between the hours of 9 and 11 will risk disciplinary action by cranking the volume the moment his well trained ears hear the first chord of "Born in the USA". Now, I'm not saying that only people from New Jersey like him. I'm quite sure there are fans from all over, but there seen to be a lot of really devoted Bruce fans in this state. I can only whether he's so well liked because he is from close by or if his music has a certain something that only New Jersey natives are in tune with. The world may never know.
And what's up with Bon Jovi?