Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Holy Cheap CFLs, Batman!

I just walked across the street to Bartell's, to pick up some laundry detergent... and as I was walking back towards the detergents, something caught my eye. Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs). Well, OK, no big deal, those are everywhere these days (yay). But the price... that was a bit more surprising. $3.99 for a 3-pack of 13W (60W equivalent) lamps. Or $1.59 for a single 19W (75W equiv.) or 23W (100W equiv.). That's like 70% off. Apparently the City of Seattle is somehow sponsoring this discount, though I couldn't find details on-line just now when I looked.

I don't know if it's all Bartell's locations, or just the Queen Anne store, near me, but it was a deal I couldn't pass up, and had to share, as well.

Get 'em while they last!

Monday, July 23, 2007

"Victimizing... with Reason"

Thank you, Laura my dear, for pointing out yesterday's Non Sequitur strip to me.

The rest of you: I recommend it; it makes for some good commentary on the insanity of faith, and the adherence (and adherents) to it.

Friday, July 20, 2007

Reusable Bags

Reusable bags are cool. In particular, I like the ones from ReusableBags.com of the "workhorse" style shopping bag. Laura and I each have a couple, and they're basically with us (in her purse/bag, and in my back pocket) all the time, wherever we go. So, if we somehow randomly happen to need a bag (for shopping or... anything, really), we've got one.

I find them to be strong enough to hold anything I've put in them to date, including some pretty heavy items or sets of items... they fold (or just stuff) down into their attached little pouch quite easily, and once that's done, they're really small. Small enough to fit in... my back pocket, as previously mentioned. Thus, I can always have one with me, rather than the canvas bags I used to use a lot (and still do use for some things), which, while re-usable, you pretty much need to plan to take with you. Which screws you over on the random unexpected shopping trip.

Hence my love for Acme Bags (that's the other name for the same people).

So save the world, and stop using all those plastic bags. (Dog owners, I used to give you an ok on this, but Laura and Sophie have shown me that the cheap small little sandwich bags (which you can get at costco by the... ton?) work just fine, and surely they're lower impact. Hmm, I wonder if you can find those made from corn-plastic. That'd rule.)

Oh yeah, and in my last order, they gave me a little promo thing. You can get a free reusable bag by placing an order on their website that exceeds $25, and putting "FREE ACME BAG" in the comments box. They'll add a bag. (Some limitations apply, but they told me to "pass this offer on", so I feel it's fair game to blog about it.)

I tube with no tube

A few hours ago, I entered the fray and posted some videos on youtube. Just some old time-lapse stuff I had lying around (I really need to do more of that)... for example, the moon crossing the sky at Seattle Center:




I don't "tube", though... I've got no television. Well, ok, like certain other things (ahem, my car), I still technically own one, I just haven't used it in months, and intend to sell it eventually.

(Anybody want an old Trinitron?)


In other news, I'm no longer working with the folks at Villij. They're off in Colorado, and communication unfortunately broke down, and they weren't willing to work on trying to fix that, so... bye bye, at least for now. Maybe that means I'll be more active here, and/or at flickr, and/or etc. It also means I could use another job or something, so... if anyone has any ruby (preferred) or perl (perfectly acceptable alternate) or other geeky (acceptability depends on the details) work you (or someone you know of) might want me to do, let me know.

See? I still exist (not that anyone had asked).

:-)