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March 15, 2008
Old Technology
What do you do with old technology?
I've been thinking about getting a new desktop. The biggest drawback is not spending the cash, but what to do with the old computer and monitor. I have a growing pile of old pieces of technology that are taking up way too much space. They all still work perfectly fine and I may find a use for them in the future, but currently they have no real market value and I have no use for them. The current plan is a non-plan, hold onto them until they are so obsolete that I could have no possible for use them in the future.
The Curse is Broken
After Kelsey's and Montana's restaurants first opened in Winnipeg, we gave them some startup time to get settled and then visited. The first trip we ordered the 3 Cheese Spinach Dip. It was excellent. It's available from both restaurants basically identically. On every subsequent trip we ordered it again and were very disappointed each and every time. On one occasion the waitress dumped the entire tray on us and then disappeared and never returned. After a long wait, someone finally came and brought us cloths to clean up. The replacement order never arrived and we were consoled by having the dumped order comped. We've had orders that were over cooked and hard as a rock and the waiter wouldn't replace it. The appetizer was on sale one day, but we were charged full price and they wouldn't fix it. Once it was served with nacho chips instead of the flour based wedges it normally has. No matter what, it was just screwed up each time. We stopped ordering it. I'm not sure how, but we somehow got a certificate for a free order, but at that point, it was "off our list" and we didn't want to try it. So this week, many years after our last order, we pulled out the free certificate and put in the order. It arrived and it was perfect and excellent. The bill arrived and it was indeed free. Yippee! The curse is broken. Unfortunately the cost has shot up dramatically over the years and we probably won't be ordering it anyway. :(
March 08, 2008
Over Packaging
I'm really shocked by the amount of packaging that many media items ship with.
I just opened a software product. It had a heat sealed hard plastic outer shell which contained a CD case wrapped in heat sealed plastic. The critical unlock number was contained within the cardboard backer on a sheet just slightly bigger than will fit in the CD jewel case.
Prior to that I opened an Xbox game. It came in shrink wrap, which held the French packaging and manual and another shrink wrapped package. This one contained the normal English package. Then there were 3 plastic security stickers that held the DVD style case closed. Finally there was a magnetic security tag stuck inside.
Before that another Xbox game. It came in a cardboard box, which held another cardboard box. The second box had a cardboard wrapper that needed to be removed before you could open it. Inside that was a shrink wrapped DVD case, security stickers on the case and security tag within.
Is all this really necessary? It's pretty clear after my garbage can is full from just opening one package to reveal a CD, that it is wasteful. And it certainly is annoying spending many minutes unraveling the whole mess.
Created By: Steven Nikkel (steven_nikkel@ertyu.org)
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