Dunkin Donuts coffee Oct 19, 2006
I firmly believe that Dunkin Donuts coffee is far superior to all other coffees.  I've tried coffee from all parts of the world (or at least that's what the packaging said), including Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee, Hawaiian Kona coffee, and various kinds of Colombian coffee.  I've tried coffee from many different stores and shops, including Starbucks, QuickChek, Panera, and Wawa.  But nothing I've tried really stands out from any of the others.  If I was blindfolded and asked to identify the coffee based on its taste, I wouldn't be able to.  Unless it was Dunkin Donuts coffee.  Their coffee actually tastes different from all the rest.  It has a nice simple, smooth taste.  Many people tell me that Starbucks makes the best coffee.  But whenever I go there, I can't add enough sugar and/or creamer to make the coffee drinkable.  That's because it's incredibly strong coffee.  It's man coffee.  It's like the Guinness of coffee.  When I drink coffee, I don't enjoy struggling to pour it down my throat.  I don't need an incredible caffeine boost.  I don't need to feel like a man.  I just want a warm beverage that might help me wake up.  Dunkin Donuts is the best for this.  And although it's not cheap ($1.25 for a small cup, compared to $0.99 for a larger cup at most places or $10.99 for a small cup at Starbucks), it's worth the money.  Part of the cost probably comes from the sugar and creamer being added before it's given to you.  That's also part of the reason why it's so good:  It's dependable.  A coffee from a Dunkin Donuts in New Jersey will taste exactly the same as one from California. #food
Problem solving Oct 18, 2006
I think I discovered something that I've probably known for a while:  The way I derive pleasure in life is by solving problems.  Some people are task-oriented and measure success by how many tasks they can check off a list.  Other people are humanity-driven:  The impact they have on other people drives their own opinion of themselves.  I'm a problem solver.  My ability or inability to solve problems can either give me satisfaction or take it away. 

I discovered this yesterday as I was trying to figure out why my house was still leaking.  Several months ago, I thought it was because of a rotted-out window sill.  A few months after that, I thought it was because of cracked pipes.  Somewhere along the way, I also thought it was because of uninsulated supply pipes and condensation.  And while all of those things were completely true, my house still leaked.  Finally yesterday, after all the fixes and yet continued leaking during rain storms, I found the real source of the problem:  A leaking vent stack.  A little bit of caulk when everything dries out, and this problem is solved (or so I hope).  Coming to that conclusion and verifying my hunch was such a great feeling.  I didn't even fix the thing yet.  Fixing it is minimal when compared to the fact that the problem has been solved. 

I suppose this could have something to do with my years of schooling.  I always had a knack for math, so engineering was a perfect fit.  And engineering school exists to teach people how to think like engineers (or at least that's what they told me).  It has less to do with learning facts and equations and more to do with learning procedures and methodologies.  My measure of success in school was how well I did on tests.  My ability to do well on tests was based on my ability to solve problems.  Hence, my entire life, my well-being, and my happiness has grown to depend on my problem solving ability. 

This has a lot to do with why I like what I like.  I enjoy a little bit of computer programming and web design.  I say a little bit because I doubt I could do it for a full-time job.  But the little I do presents me with problems and hurdles, and my enjoyment comes when these problems are solved.  I enjoy what I do at work because I'm presented with little problems like Excel formulas not working and Matlab matrix multiplication difficulties.  Before the problem is solved, I'm stressed and feel like there can't possibly be a solution.  But when (or if) the solution appears, it's beautiful. 

This also means that my inability to solve certain problems brings much unhappiness.  That's why I don't like school.  If my grades are a measure of my ability to solve problems, then bad grades bring bad feelings.  And even if I get good grades, it doesn't mean I know how to solve problems.  As I sit around for hours on end trying to solve partial differential equations, I get no results.  I can't solve these problems.  Hence, they prevent me from being happy.  School has always been like this.  It's always been a roadblock on my way to satisfaction.  Work, on the other hand, is entirely different.  My inability to solve problems isn't punished.  It just means I need to try a different approach or get some help from somebody older and wiser.  Different strokes for different folks. #psychology
PayPerPost update Oct 17, 2006
PayPerPost is trying another rewards program for its members called Postie Patrol.  They basically show up at your house or your job and offer you a chance to win some cash by performing a trick or playing a game.  I think it's a mildly good idea, but it's totally unfeasible.  It's like that Ricola Mystery Cougher thing.  There's no way they're gonna go anywhere but a big city, and even then, it's like a needle in a haystack.  I'd love to see these people show up at my door, but that kind of thing doesn't happen to me.  I don't win things.  I'm not a winner.  Except that one time I got a free Coke with an under-the-cap thing.  That was awesome. 

But I think it's interesting that payperpost keeps giving money to its members.  The posting opportunities I've taken so far have only been "internal" offers, meaning they're things that drive more traffic to PayPerPost.  The real purpose of their service is to drive traffic to other people's sites.  The big problem with that is that the advertisers who use PayPerPost are horrendous.  Why would I want to promote a video on how to change a light bulb?  Why would anyone ever look at a website that talks about top real estate agents?  These things are stupid, and the websites they point to lack even a shred of useful information.  I'm pretty sure they're all part of some sort of social experiment to see how many people will perform a stupid task for a few bucks. 

As far as PayPerPost being the end of "responsible blogging", I've already stated my opinion:  Things won't change.  But what I see happening in the near future is a bunch of blogs filling up with paid links to other useless sites whose sole purpose is to generate hits.  Oh wait ... yeah, I guess that does mean the end of responsible blogging.  Ok, maybe the critics are right. 

This is a sponsored post. #technology
Google Webmaster Tools Oct 17, 2006
Google Webmaster Tools is a simple set of tools for people who own and/or manage their own domain.  It includes services for crawl errors (not found, unreachable, etc.), robots.txt analysis, search query statistics, and sitemap validation.  What's cool about the whole thing is that it's done automatically; the webmaster doesn't need to download any files or include any javascript.  It's simply a set of statistics from the Googlebot, organized in an easy-to-read format.  But to make sure everything runs smoothly, it's helpful if your site has a robots.txt file and a sitemap.  Mine didn't, so I used Wikipedia's guidance and the Google Sitemap Generator WordPress plugin.  One major issue it brought to my attention was that a couple of my posts were "Not found" by the Googlebot but easily found by me.  I figured out that the problem was that the "Post Status" was set to "Private" within WordPress.  I'm not sure how this happened, but I fixed it and now everything works.  Also, one of my recent posts had some dirty links in it, and Google didn't know what they meant.  I added a rel="nofollow" tag to them, which should do the trick. #technology
Express checkout line (5) Oct 17, 2006
I just don't get it.  At most supermarkets and retail stores (Walmart, Target, etc.), there's an express checkout line.  It usually displays a sign that reads, "10 items or less".  It's great for people like me who go into a store to buy 1 or 2 things and want to quickly get out (in the absence of a self-checkout line).  There's usually a short line if there's any line at all, and it moves quickly because people are only buying 10 items or less. 

Except those stupid people who don't know how to count.  Or maybe they don't know how to read.  Either way, some people go through the express checkout line when they have well over 10 items.  I'm not talking 12-15 items.  I'm talking 25-30 items.  It gets me ragin' mad because they're abusing the system.  I make sure I follow the system at all times.  I count the number of objects in my hands as I'm walking to the checkout line.  If I have more than 10, I go to a different line because that's what you're supposed to do.  But some people don't quite understand this and they buy 10 different pieces of fruit, several feminine hygiene products (just to make me feel awkward), and several items without price tags.  They invariably end up paying with a check (another way to make me hate you) or decide to attempt to learn how to use the credit card machine ("It says 'Cash or Credit'; what should I do?").  I think these people should be punished in one of several ways: 
1.  The offender is forced to replace the items removed from the shelves, at which point said offender is physically thrown out of the store and onto his/her butt. 

2.  All lights in the building are turned off, a spotlight is placed on the offender, and a voice calls out over the intercom, "Stupid alert!  Stupid alert!". 

3.  Green slime is poured from a container in the ceiling onto the offender's head, reminiscent of Nickelodeon's Double Dare. 
Ah, sweet revenge. #business
Taskbar Shuffle Oct 17, 2006
Taskbar Shuffle is a simple little program that satisfies the needs of the extremely obsessive compulsive:  It allows you to move windows on the taskbar with a simple drag and drop.  It's similar to TaskArrange, except that it always runs in the background.  It comes as either a standalone program or a Google Desktop gadget (though I'm not sure why anyone would want that).  Now my taskbar buttons can always be in the order I want them in.  I may have problems.  (via Download Squad) #technology
Hostels.com Oct 17, 2006
Hostels.com is a simple website that can be used to search for hostels in major cities around the world.  It even has some listings for small towns in the US.  I've never stayed in a hostel, but it seems like a good alternative to unnecessarily overpriced hotels ... as long as you're ok with sleeping in the same room with strangers and sharing a public bathroom.  (via Cool Tools) #travel
ClearType (2) Oct 16, 2006
I just discovered a new Microsoft annoyance:  ClearType.  It's a technology that claims to improve the appearance of text on certain screens by smoothing edges.  For me, it makes everything hard to read because it makes my eyes think everything's out of focus.  As my eyes try to focus on the smoother text, I get eye strain and a headache.  Here's how to disable it:  Right-click on the desktop and select Properties (or go to Control Panel -> Display).  Under Appearance, click Effects.  Either uncheck the box for "Use the following method to smooth edges of screen fonts" or set it to "Standard" from the pull-down menu.  Select OK and then Apply.  Tada! #technology
Accident (1) Oct 16, 2006
Adding another event to my illustrious driving record, I got in an "accident" yesterday.  By "accident", I mean "a guy backed into me while my car wasn't moving".  To top things off, it happened in the church parking lot.  Oh, what a Sunday.  I'm so good at being a Christian:  The two tickets I got last year were earned while on my way to church; I got pulled over (but didn't get a ticket) for "running a red light" one time when driving home from a Bible study; and I got pulled over another time (but didn't get a ticket) for pulling out of the church parking lot at 2am because that's where a church event was carpooling from. 

So here's what happened:  It was around 12:45pm, and I was driving out of the church parking lot.  I got stuck behind an old, brown Plymouth (I think) who was driving slowly towards the doors of the church.  I figured he was gonna stop his car, so I tried to pass him on his left.  Wendy told me to not be so impatient.  He kept stepping on his brakes, but he didn't actually stop his car, so I backed off a little.  He started to make a left-ish turn, and it looked like he was looping around to pick up somebody at the door to the church.  I decided it was my chance to leave the parking lot, so I attempted to pass him on his right this time.  But before I could even get past him, his brake lights went on, and then his reverse lights went on.  The front of my car was behind his car at this point, so I beeped my horn, attempted to go in reverse, and yelled "NO!"  None of this helped as he lightly backed into my front left bumper, making a beautiful crunching sound and crumpling the cheap plastic that cars are so stupidly made of. 

At first, I felt pretty bad because I probably shouldn't have been trying to pass him.  My purpose in driving is to get to my destination, which was my couch in my house (to watch some football).  So perhaps I was a little impatient as I crept along behind this guy who appeared to not know what he was doing.  We both got out of our cars and exchanged contact information, but I said I didn't want to go through insurance (I hope you're not reading this, Mr. Car Insurance Company, you blood-sucking leech).  Thankfully, no one was injured and there wasn't much physical damage.  Actually, his old, ugly clunker didn't get a scratch.  But my beautiful, semi-new, shiny joyride got a nice dented bumper.  It wasn't too big of a deal, and I'm thankful it wasn't a headlight, a wheel, or a door panel.  But I had a feeling it was mostly my fault, so I just wanted to get out of there before anybody mentioned "police report" or "insurance information". 

As I drove home, I concluded that the accident was about 40% my fault and about 60% his fault.  Now, almost 24 hours later, I've concluded that it was more like 20% my fault and 80% his fault.  Sure, I'm an impatient driver and I'm among the most dangerous drivers on the road according to statistics.  But this guy made two major mistakes:  He didn't use his turn signals at all, so I had no idea what he was doing at any point; and he didn't look behind him while he was in reverse.  Impatience causes anger, and vice versa.  Ignorance causes accidents.  And I don't mean to call this guy ignorant, implying that his intelligence is lacking.  I mean ignorant as in unaware of his surroundings.  Impatience put me in the wrong place at the wrong time.  Ignorance backed into my car without looking. #travel
Main food Oct 15, 2006
I've come to the conclusion that certain foods shouldn't be the main part of a meal.  For example, a meal or dish shouldn't be centered around scallops.  I made this mistake last night at a hibachi place.  It wasn't a really bad mistake; it just wasn't that great of a meal.  And it's because scallops aren't a great food.  They're a good filler or complimentary item, like rice or couscous.  But they're certainly not on the same playing field as steak or chicken or even shrimp. 

Sushi is another example.  It's "cool" to like sushi, so I'm occasionally tempted to eat it just to be cool (it's a sad state of affairs when eating uncooked meat is deemed "cool").  But the one time I went to a sushi "place", I was thoroughly repulsed.  A meal isn't just an extended snack.  You can't eat 200 peanuts and 15 cookies and call it a meal.  In the same way, you can't eat a bunch of raw meat rolled in rice and seaweed, wash it down with some tofu soup (which, by the way, almost made me vomit), and call it a meal.  It's a snack.  And hardly a snack at that. #food