A few weeks ago I entered a contest on Wine-girl.net to win a Tassimo coffee maker. I decided to enter because

1. I really like coffee
2. My current coffee maker was cheap
3. free stuff

I was rather surprised when I woke up a few days later with an email from Michelle (AKA the wine girl of wine-girl.net) congratulating me on winning the contest. Jump to today when I hear someone outside of my front door… I open it and this is what I am greeted with:

I tore in to the box like a kid on Christmas morning, and was shocked to see that not only did Tassimo send me a T20 coffee maker, but two different packs of T-Discs (one of the Gevalia Signature Blend and of the Starbucks Latte Primo) and a color kit to change the look of the coffee maker.

The T20 is probably the simplest piece of technology in my house. I had it set up in seconds and ran through the cleaning cycle without any problems. From opening the box to getting a cup of coffee brewing took no more than 5 minutes.

Thank you Tassimo and Michelle for the contest. I am looking forward to a long life of great coffee (or hot chocolate or tea).

http://inhabitat.com/banned-four-loko-recycled-into-auto-fuel/

The once-popular (now illegal) alcoholic energy drink Four Loko is being reborn — as auto fuel. Wholesalers along the East Coast started sending cases of the fruity malt beverages to MXI Environmental Services, one of three plants in the U.S. that recycles ethanol, after the Food and Drug Administration banned the drinks last November. The vice president of operations at MXI, Bruce Potter, said that they expect to receive a couple hundred truckloads of the drink a day, even though the plant is only equipped to process four truckloads per day. Each truckload contains 2,000 cases of the 23.5 ounce beverages and while MXI is currently at full-capacity, Potter noted that his competitors are also taking shipments.

It seems that the wonderful drink known as Four Loko is actually good for something: being recycled as fuel for automobiles. Maybe I wasn’t that far off when I said it tasted like diesel fuel and regret…

I promise not to condescend to you. To assume that you hate clothes or shopping or any of that stuff because you’re a “guy” and you need a woman to straighten you out. You are a fucking grown up, just like I am, and no matter what your level of knowledge, you’re capable of thinking like one.

(In related news: I’ve been reading a lot of press releases and men’s magazines lately.)

I recently read this small tirade on Put This On, and it resonated with me. I just wrapped up an internship with a major fashion retailer and the attitude they have is that men don’t know how to dress themselves. Sadly, Their assumption is right… The majority of men out there have no idea how to put an outfit together and just buy whatever they see on the mannequin.

The people that know enough to get outraged at being talked down to are in the minority.

Why does everyone make a big deal about something being a gamechanger? For instance… every time Apple holds a press conference, all of the jobophiles run to the mountains to proclaim how the newest feature is a “gamechanger”.

If everyone was sitting around playing a nice game of rummy and someone walked in and said:

UNO! and I win!

Gamechanger bitches!

That person wouldn’t be viewed as revolutionary, they would be an asshole.

If you are anything like me, there is a closet somewhere in your house where old computers go to die. It is the Florida of outdated technology. I have been looking for options on how to get rid of them, and I had a few ideas

1. Con my tech friends in to taking them
2. Just toss them in the trash
3. Go all Office Space on them
4. Find a way to recycle them

While option 3 is tempting, being able to recycle the computers would really be the best option. Anything salvageable can be reused and all of the old parts that contain metals and whatnot that should stay out of landfills can be properly disposed of. Thankfully, there is an option to recycle old computers.

Reconnect is a partnership between Goodwill and Dell. As they state:

Reconnect is a residential computer recycling program that offers you an easy, convenient and responsible way to recycle your used computer equipment. You can drop off any brand of used equipment at participating Goodwill donation centers in your area. It’s free, and you’ll get a receipt for tax purposes. What’s more, you’ll be helping protect the environment and benefiting your community at the same time.

Pretty much, if you can plug it in and it goes bleep bloop then they will take it. You can see the full list here. There are 20 location around me that will take old computer parts.

A college wants to be “friends” with me on foursquare. I think it is time to punch out goose.

I am going to be stopping the automatic feed of my Google Reader shared items. With the addition of Google Buzz I feel posting the links to the blog will be redundant. And if you know me, you know that the only time I want something to be redundant is when dealing with backups.

If you want to keep up with the items I find interesting (and lets be honest, you do), you have two options.

1. You can subscribe to my Reader Shared Items
2. Get in touch with me and I can add you to the people I am linked with on Buzz

Granted, this now leaves me with the onus of making sure I have content that is updated regularly.

I have been drooling over the US Olympic snowboard gear that was made by Burton. I have a killer jacket from them, so I know they make quality gear. I would love to get my hands on this stuff, it just looks amazing.

I mean, really! The pants are made to look like old denim. I would be soooo badass kicking around Perfect North in this getup.

The return of the Winter Olympics brings the return of the best spectator sport: Curling!

If you are like me, you have no idea what curling is or how it is scored. I know it involves a broom and a stone… I think it is as if bocce and shuffleboard went to the tundra and had a forbidden love child. What I do know is that curling makes for one of the best drinking games ever.

(Please don’t be stupid and drink yourself into a coma.)

Curling: The Drinking Game

What You’ll Need:

1. A beverage of your choice
2. A DVR with a recorded curling match

The Rules:

1. Start playing the curling match on your Tivo/DVR/Whatever
   1. You can play without a DVR, but we have found that watching the playback at 2x or 4x makes it much more enjoyable
2. Every time one stone hits another stone, drink.
3. Repeat

What is a stone?

That is a stone. It will be hitting other stones a lot.

During the 2006 Olympics, my wife and I were recording a plethora of events and in the middle of some hockey was curling. At first we were confused by the game, but once we started “time shifting” the playback, the faster pace made the game more watchable for us.

If you want to get a little more fancy, you can have people pick teams and they only drink when their team is throwing the stone. Or you can bet on round scores. The sky is the limit.

I just joined the rest of the world in 2002 and signed up for NetFlix. It is kinda creepy, but out of the top 10 movies they picked for me when i signed up, 9 of them are ones I either like or want to see.