Banner Logo
Home
The Real Kato
About Me
Twitter
Facebook
Frozen Lunches
Links
Kottke
Daring Fireball
Amalah
Secret Agent Josephine
Dooce
Contact



Archives
Most Recent

2024 March
2005 January
2004 December
2004 November
2004 October
2004 September
2004 August
2004 July
2004 June
2004 May
2004 April
2004 March
2004 February


Categories
All Categories 

bloggers 
books 
commentary 
dating 
food 
funnyhaha 
interesting 
life 
movies 
music 
politics 
reviews 
science 
site-business 
sports 
style 
techwatch 
television 
theater 
travel 


Recent Comments
On College Football 2022: Week 6 Recap and Week 7 Pre...
Ken said:
Yeah, we've both had our share of hope and disappointment in this game. Let's just hope for a good b...
On College Football 2022: Week 6 Recap and Week 7 Pre...
Dan* said:
I'm not sure how I feel about this game. On one hand, I feel pretty optimistic that we have the tale...
On College Football 2022: Week 1 Preview
Dan* said:
Glad to see you'll be back writing football again, Ken! Congrats on the easy win today. You didn't ...
On College Football 2021: Week 10 Recap and Week 11 P...
Ken said:
Yeah, sorry one of our teams had to lose. I've come to appreciate Penn State as a classy and sympath...
On College Football 2021: Week 10 Recap and Week 11 P...
Dan* said:
Hey Ken, congratulations on the win yesterday! Some really odd choices by our coaching staff in that...


<< Previous: Television: The Wedn... | Next: Blog Note: More Site... >>

Consumer Report: Household Products
Thursday, 2005 January 20 - 12:28 am
I am something of a household product junkie. Kitchen products and cleaning products are especially irresistible to me.

I made coffee this morning.* I don't frequently make coffee at home, because I STINK AT MAKING COFFEE. At least, that's what I've always thought... but really, I think it's the crappy $15 Mr. Coffee machine that I have. I guess I missed the disclaimer that says "Note: this machine does not actually make coffee, it just makes your water a little bit brown." I've tried to experiment with adding more coffee grounds, or adding a second or third filter to make the water go through slower. But it's a hard experiment to run, since after the first few tests I'm WIRED OUT OF MY MIND. So, I think I'm going to go buy a French press. It's just a cooler way to make coffee, and I won't have to worry about counter space. Anyone need a water-browning machine? Free to whoever wants it.

For lunch I made a sandwich on the George Foreman grill. I got this thing as a gift (um, the grill, not the sandwich), and it's pretty useful. It does tend to press sandwiches into a squished little platter, but I have a trick for that: I embed pieces of toothpicks into the sandwiches to keep them from squishing so much. I just have to remember to take the bits of toothpick out before eating the sandwich. That's a mistake you only make once or twice.

Cleaning up, I used this orange-based cleaner that I bought from a door-to-door salesman. I'm very bad in dealing with door-to-door salespeople; they always seem to be able to sucker me into buying something. This is why I usually just cower and hide whenever the doorbell rings. This particular salesman was like Chris Tucker, but MORE MANIC. Before I even answered the door, he had already cleaned all the brake dust off the wheels of my car, with the orange cleaner. So I felt I had to listen to his spiel. And then he came in and cleaned a bunch of stuff in my house. (Oh, he did spot a bottle of Grey Goose in my kitchen, and asked me if he could have a couple of shots. I thought that was weird, but I figured, what the hell, maybe it'll calm him down a little.) So in the end, he sold me two bottles of concentrated solution, enough to last approximately THREE HUNDRED YEARS. The nice thing, though, is that this cleaner actually turned out to be a pretty good product. It cuts grease really well. And now I have a lifetime supply.

Recently, I got a Swiffer mop for cleaning my new floors. (I've recently replaced the living room carpet with natural cork, and I installed laminate floors in the kitchen.) It was pretty remarkable how much dirt it picked up. So I'm pleased with that purchase too.

If anyone knows of any other cool household products, please speak up! I'm always on the lookout.

* For the Las Vegas crowd: I meant "coffee" literally; I'm not using a euphemism for "going to a titty bar".
Permalink  3 Comment   Bookmark and Share
Posted by Ken in: commentary

Comments

Comment #1 from Jen (Guest)
2005 Jan 21 - 7:17 am : #
Well, the ROOMBA, obviously.
Comment #2 from Tim Ross (Guest)
2005 Jan 21 - 3:11 pm : #
I got my wife one of those Swiffer mops because she kept bugging me to get her one.

SHE HAS NEVER USED IT!!!

I think she thought it was one of the wet kind and when it wasn't she just gave up.

And oh yeah... I love my Foreman grill. I just hate the cleanup.
Comment #3 from Ken (realkato)
2005 Jan 25 - 11:35 pm : #
I considered the ROOMBA, but I was worried that it would get tangled in all the loose wires strewn about the room. I mean, if I can't avoid them, then how is a robot going to manage?

As for the Swiffer mop, you can put both wet and dry Swiffers on them. It's not the "Jet" kind that has a battery-powered sprayer; I thought that was a little much.

Comments are closed for this post.
Login


Search This Site
Powered by FreeFind