A Coffeemaker That Brews Water, Too

During the downtime at this week’s tradeshow, I got into a conversation with our booth neighbors about coffee. The other guys were telling me that the secret to Dunkin Donuts‘s famed coffee is the osmosis filtering they do with the water.

That got me wondering if any consumer-level coffeemakers exist which also “brew” the water, too. It might not be as complicated as osmosis, but a coffeemaker which highly filtered the water, or distilled it even, would make great-tasting coffee I would think.

Then again, distilled water often tastes flat, which makes sense since distilling it removes all but the water molecules themselves.

I wonder how a coffeemaker with superior filtering could be built.

Comments Temporarily Disabled

Comments from non-authenticated users have been temporarily disabled due to some Russian schmuck spam-bombing my website. If you’ve already got an MT.Net account, you’re still golden.

I’ll reenable anonymous posting once I figure out an elegant way to defeat the spambots.

Charting A Course For Home

I’m on my last day at the HIMSS trade show, looking forward to stepping onto an east-bound plane this afternoon. The visit to San Diego has been nice. I was hoping to have explored more but the show scheduling put me in the booth during the useful part of the day. With my eyes popping open at 4AM PST each day, it was difficult finding much to see or do before my lunchtime shift.

I did manage to spend yesterday morning at the Point Loma Lighthouse, enjoying the breathtaking view of the cities and the Pacific. I watched above as the USS Peleliu (LHA-5) and Expeditionary Strike Force 3 deployed for Iraq. I know the feeling all too well of rounding that curve and heading out to sea.

I’ll write more later today.

High Marks For The Day

This is most bizarre. I have met more Marks today than ever in my life. Everywhere I turned I saw “Mark” on a namebadge. After the first 5 or 6 I just had to laugh.

As I returned to my hotel room tonight, the message light was flashing on my phone. When I asked the staffmember what the message was, he told me they were looking for a gentleman named Mark who had earlier dropped off some postcards. Even at this hour I’m discovering other Marks.

Okay, universe, you got my attention. What are you trying to tell me?

Their Escalators Don’t Go To The Top Floor

As I was leaving the San Diego airport yesterday, I watched as two men paused to choose which of two escalators they were going to use.

They chose the one that was less crowded. Because, you know, you get there quicker.

Hotel Del Shakedown

I’m staying at what many consider to be a very fine hotel: the Marriott Coronado Island Resort. The room overlooks a beautifully-landscaped courtyard, the opposite site overlooks Glorietta Bay, and the rates are as high as an F/A-18 from neighboring NAS Coronado. In spite of its pretentiousness, the hotel insists on nickel-and-diming its guests. It drives me crazy!

Marriotts seem to cater to guests who like to spend money for the sake of spending money. For instance, the Internet service in the rooms of most hotels is as free as air. Marriott gives you the privilege (and I do mean privilege) of connecting to it for the low, low price of $10/day (or $3 per 15 minutes, if you prefer. A quarter/min. afterward). The $17/day for hotel parking is also quite steep, even for parking-space-challenged Coronado.

The real kicker is the bottled water in the room. Exquisite bottled water, shipped from Fiji (I kid you not), sits ready to be consumed at the low, low, price of $3 per liter. The label actually says “Why travel to the South Pacific islands of Fiji for a drink of water?” I’ll take a hunch and say its because Fiji is not only far more beautiful than Coronado, it has free water!

Its true some things have changed for me. I have greater financial means than what my former meager salary of an E-5 provided fourteen years ago. Still, that doesn’t keep this hotel from feeling like a shakedown.

Travelin’ Man

I’m off to San Diego today for a long trade show. I get back early Friday morning. While this traveling is starting to wear a bit, this is the last trip I’m making for a month.

It’ll be nice to see San Diego again, though many of the friends I had there are there no longer. My old ship doesn’t grace the waterfront anymore, having become an artifical reef.

Lots of memories remain, however. Good times.

Jim Black Must Go

Let me add my voice to the growing crowd saying Jim Black must go. More and more it looks like he’s had some, uh, serious “ethical lapses” if not downright broken the law.

Black should step aside and the rest of our representatives should own up to any of their own shady dealings. We need – no demand – clean politics. The days of the good ‘ol boy network are over.

Story Of The Year: Foja Mountains

I loved the Lord of the Rings movies because I loved the illusion they presented of another world. While the Rings were fiction, news broke last week that is almost too good to be true. Astounding, even. Scientists have discovered a place on Earth heretofore untouched by man, where exotic, previously unseen plants thrive and animals have no fear of humans. That place is the Foja Mountains area of western New Guinea. It’s like discovering the Garden of Eden.

This discovery fascinates me. Of course I’d love to go, but then the area would cease to be pristine, wouldn’t it? 🙁 While nothing compares to seeing it myself, hopefully the expedition’s documentation will satisfy my fix.

It’s only February and we’ve already had the story of 2006.