Where Are The Wise Men?

Mike's Ramblings

Category: Quickie

Bad Phone Is Good

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My Android phone has been weird lately and in the midst of troubleshooting it, I did a factory reset to figure out if that would fix it (it didn't). After the reset I installed very few apps because I wanted to narrow it down. Now that I have done that and have a work-around, I figured that I don't miss having social media on my phone. Yes I have Slack but that's different. Not being able to check FB and (rare for me) Twitter on a whim is so freeing.

Brew Story

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My wife got my a little beginner home-brew kit for a late Christmas present. I was delighted and started the fermentation process that night.

As week later, I took a small sample from the fermenter and was excited by the result after such a short time. I gave a little more to my wife, who, upon tasting it, said "It tastes like warm, stale beer!"

Me: "I know, it's that great?!"

Wife: "No! Get me a breath mint!"

Best Feature of the Nest Thermostat

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Our favorite feature of the Nest Thermostat is the lock feature. We found out about this feature after kids starting turning up our thermostat. One time up to 81 ℉! The nicest thing is what we can still adjust it on our phone without unlocking it.

Interactive Fiction

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Once every few years I end up looking at Interactive Fiction and am surprised that it's live and well. People are making games like Zork for the fun of it. What a fun little niche that I'm glad is still going on.

Oh and if you have never played inkle's 80 Days you are missing out.

Safari Books

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My fantastic employer let me put Safari Books towards my (ample) education/training budget last year. Just last night I remembered that I hadn't used it in a while so I fired it up and undid some books that were in my queue that I didn't need anymore. Then I had to think about what I wanted to get this time. Oh a book on JPA. Yes, they have one and yes it's already become useful.

Hooray for great employers!