This is so, so, so good.

"Just bill your clients for IE support separately, and they will cut costs. It's that easy."

Just bill your clients for IE support separately, and they will cut costs. It's that easy.

— Leonard Ritter (@paniq) October 31, 2011

Historically, I had never been much of a pop drinker. I grew up on milk, orange juice, and delicious water (my parents' home has an exceptional well which produces sweet, crisp tasting water.) Occasionally, I'd have a generic diet cola, but generally steered away.

In my adult life, I've mostly continued this save for a slight addiction to energy drinks. There's something about the taste, the fizziness, the vitamins and caffeine that my body craves. They're a great help for workouts as well. The problem is that spending $2 a pop seems expensive and wasteful.

On top of this, I recently picked up a craving for mineral water. Not sure why, but I did. I bought some San Pelligrino from the store and I was hooked.

I saw somebody, somewhere post on Twitter about this SodaStream thing, and I was intrigued--a home carbonation system? Sweet! When I found out an "energy" syrup was available--with equivalent caffeine but 1/3 the sugar (and no HFCS) I was sold.

The unit costs about $99, with flavor mixes costing about $5 each (a bit more for the energy variety,) it's super easy to use, and takes no electricity. Now, I can have great tasting energy drink, fresh, made from my own filtered water, with no waste of packaging, whenever I want. It was totally worth the money and is one of the best gadgets I have bought in years.

In short, without doing a full review of the device, I will safely tell you that if you like pop or energy drinks, this is a must have--over time, you'll save money and create significantly less waste by using reusable bottles, plus you can adjust the taste and carbonation to your liking.

You can buy the unit online, or do what I did, and buy retail (I got mine at Sears, but it's sold at a lot of different places)

More info here: http://www.sodastream.com

Ok, so the Internet is overrun with people complaining, often melodramatically, about Netflix's price increase. "Oohhhh, it's a massive 60% price increase" they say. Yeah, which amounts to $6. SIX BUCKS. Just don't drink your Starbucks today, cheap ass--this is clearly a "first world problem."

Let's think for a moment what Netflix does for your $16 per month:

1. Unlimited online streaming of 18,637 metric tons of TV shows and movies. Seriously, there's a lot. Ok, the movie selection is skewed towards indies and some on the more interesting side (e.g., "Ticked-Off Trannies with Knives," "Slaughtered Vomit Dolls," and so on) but still. I mean, they can't give away the most wanted content for free.

2. Said online streaming can be done from virtually anywhere--your Internet-connected TV, your game console, your fucking TOUCHSCREEN STAR TREK PHONE while you're on the toilet, etc.

3. They will also mail you DVDs... FOR FREE... from the closest distribution center to you, which you can watch at your leisure, with no late fees, and send back to them... ALSO FOR FREE. Doesn't having a nationwide DVD distribution network and the vast amount of postage they have to pay for sound kind of expensive? Yeah, you only get one at a time for $16/mo, but hey, it's pretty posh.

I mean, back in my day, I had to BEG my parents to take me to the local video store, where VHS tapes you had to REWIND cost like $4 to rent for a few days, and if you didn't take them back in time, you'd get charged late fees and half the time the damn things wouldn't work right or whatever. And, if you didn't like the movie, you're screwed. Now, you can just play another one.

So, stop making this sound like it's a huge crisis. Netflix is amazing, pure and simple, and their service is fantastic. For those who want it, the unlimited DVDs option is still a bargain in my opinion, considering the infrastructure that supports it--otherwise, do streaming only. I'd pay double what I pay now if I had to. How much does a DVD cost in the store that you'll probably watch only once, anyway?

One way or another, complaining about Netflix is just what this current, spoiled rotten generation seems to like to do. Don't be like them--recognize that what we have today is super awesome, don't take it for granted, and don't whine about things that aren't worth whining about.

I always seem to see a sea of complaints regarding Comcast's high speed internet service. This is just a quick note to speak my peace and say that, so far, I love Comcast. I get blazing fast Internet connectivity, and each time I have had a problem (twice over 3 years, not exactly often) they've come out, at no charge, and quickly upgraded my equipment. Each time, it's solved the issue immediately. And no, I'm not being paid to say that, I'm just a happy customer who appreciates being attended to when needed. Thanks Comcast, and please keep it up--this geek needs his Internet.

Recipe: Spicy Olive Oil Pan Fried Potatoes with Green Beans

I have invented a delicious recipe for pan fried potatoes. This particular mix lends itself to a meal or side dish that is spicy and bursting with flavor, as well as healthy. You can change ingredients as you like, but this is the way I like the best. Do not substitute crappy ingredients, as you will be disappointed. The green beans provide a nice, sweet, snappy counterbalance to the soft and spicy potatoes.

You can continue cooking the potatoes as long as you like, but once the onions and garlic are caramelized, I usually stop. This means the potatoes will have a soft texture with slightly chewy, browned skins, as they have soaked up the olive oil. Making them crispy is harder, and I think less desirable, but you can cook as long as you want.

Ingredients:

• 2-3 medium size golden potatoes (this is important, I use Klondike Goldust, regular russets would probably suck for this), diced thickly with skin on
• 1 small white onion, sliced or diced
• 2-3 cloves of garlic, minced 
• A handful of french style green beans, fresh
• A jalapeno
• Sweet paprika, Hungarian if possible
• Cayenne pepper, ground, at desired hotness
• Extra virgin olive oil, 2 tbsp or so
• Sea salt (I prefer Fleur de Sel, the grey variety)

Recipe:

1. Pour the olive oil in a non-stick pan (also important) and heat.
2. Once heated, CAREFULLY slide in the potatoes. They will sputter. This is ok.
3. Cook, covered, for 10-15 mins and flip occasionally. Adjust heat so they don't burn, med-low or so. When you flip, make sure the condensed water from the lid does not pour back into the pan.
4. Put in your seasonings to taste. I like a few pinches of salt and liberal amounts of cayenne and paprika.
5. Stir/flip again and cook another 10 mins. You will note the dish, due to the spices, is taking on a nice dark red/brown hue.
6. The potatoes should be browning and soft now. If so, add in your veggies and beans. Stir/flip again.
7. Cover and cook an additional 5-10 mins or so, until everything achieves the texture and browning you like.

The only way to make a martini.  In my case, don't even have any vermouth on hand. Another variation is to simply glance at the bottle of vermouth, then ignore it from then on out.

Churchill's Martini: Shake gin with cracked ice. Strain into chilled cocktail glass & garnish with olive. Drink while looking at a bottle of dry vermouth.

[Via WorldsBiggestCookBook.com]

How I love old commercials.

The pickle commercial is 2 minutes in.