super guy

While at Zeitgeist Coffee earlier today, I looked behind me and found this scene:

The Niño

It's an El Niño year, from what I hear:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibo40FQjG40

triviA NIGHT

My team won $15 at Trivia last night - we were two points away from tying for 2nd place. We'll win next week.

Photo from Seattlest.com (I'm at the table, not facing the camera.)

How to make $400 answering the telephone.

Following a website author's directions, I filed a small claims suit against a company from Idaho.

The company called my house using an automated dialer; it is legal to call people using automated dialers as long as there's a human who says something like "I'm about to play a pre-recorded message." It is illegal when no human is at the other end of the call. When they called, I pressed the #1 button and spoke with an operator. I asked where they were located and the name of the company.

Filing the suit was relatively easy. I had to find the company's address using Google Maps but everything else was easy.

8 days after I filed my suit, I got a FedEx package in the mail. Inside was a $1600 'counter claim' to my suit....

So the company I'm suing for $400 for automated dialing me is countering with a $1600 travel expense bill. $400 for air fare and food and $1200 for a hotel room.

I was pretty nervous going to the trial - $1600 is a lot of money if I lose both cases.

Luckily, the defendant's proof was mainly two points:

1. The company is in good standing with the Better Business Bureau
2. An email says that the company never called my cell phone

With this proof, the judge was ready to find the case in favor of the defendant - then I told him that the phone number they called was the house line, not the cell phone.

Andrew is awarded $400 - *bing*

Counter Suit: Travel expenses are not suable - Small claims court does not provide an ability to sue for travel expenses. Case dismissed.

I'm waiting for my $400 check.

I've found a decent mocha in Seattle.

I had given up on ordering mochas anymore. Most of the mochas I've ordered in the past few years have been less than spectacular. I prefer a lightly flavored mocha - the tastes of the espresso and chocolate should not overpower each other.

The best mochas I've ever had were made at the Cafe Terrace in Port Angeles - it went out of business years ago. Here's the recipe:

1. make two shots of espresso


2. pour espresso shots in a grande cup


3. put two heaping spoonfuls of Ghirardelli Semi-Sweet Chocolate in the cup


4. mix well


5. pour steamed milk into cup

It's pretty simple, however, Ghirardelli doesn't sell Semi-Sweet Chocolate anymore - it's now just Sweet Chocolate or Mocha Double Chocolate and that's just TOO sweet.

Back when I was working at Food Services of America, I had the opportunity to talk to representatives from Ghirardelli. It was some weird food convention of some sort. In any case, while my co-workers were getting as much free food as they could, I was arguing with a chocolate company about how they don't advertise the greatness of their semi-sweet chocolate powder. It went on for about 10 minutes. The rep's story was that they did, indeed, sell lots of semi-sweet powder to espresso stands and coffee shops. Afterwards, he sent me to another representative and they gave me some chocolate so I'd stop bugging them...

While Ghirardelli sells enough powder to keep them happy, it's mainly used for mocha topping rather than the base of the mocha.

What I'm getting at is that I've finally found a decent mocha in Seattle. It's at the Cupcake Royale in Ballard. They mix water & Ghirardelli Sweet Chocolate to form their base. And they usually have a nice balance of chocolate vs. espresso.

ice cream flavors of the future. today

A few weeks back, on the hottest day of the year (in Seattle), I went to the best ice cream shop ever. I don't know the name exactly. It's something like Virta's Pride. It's in Woodinville by Willows Road. The store owns its own cows so everything's fresh. The ice cream is made a few days in advance. They had some interesting flavors - cantaloupe, blackberry, rootbeer, cherry, etc. But the one I chose was Cotton Candy. Best flavor ever! It really tasted like cotton candy.

Now I thought that was some kind of odd flavor that a mom & pop place might have until I went to Baskin & Robbins in Port Angeles. Sure enough, they had Cotton Candy. It tasted a lot like the Velma's Pride... My mom kept saying "who would order Cotton Candy....yuck..."

Then someone came into the store. "ooh! cotton candy!" and she ordered a cup. The next couple: "hey, look, cotton candy! What's that?"

It's the ice cream flavor of the future, is what it is. Mark my words. In a year or two, you'll see Cotton Candy ice cream everywhere.

Learn Chinese through music

Learn Chinese through music: Bu De Bu Ai. Use this the next time you're at karaoke. It's a hit!

http://www.learn-chinese-through-music.com/wilber-pan-bu-de-bu-ai.html