entombed in the shrine of zeroes and ones

I've written about the horror that is the Flavia Beverage System.  Equinix's facility at Lundy Av also has one of these terrible machines.  I have documented the process for you, with the help of my new Nokia 6102i (which replaced my old Nokia 6102, which broke after i dropped it on thib_gc's kitchen floor while in my cups).

The Iron Maiden.  Note the packets sitting innocently atop the infernal device.


Pick your poison.


It looks sinister, but i assure you only good can come of this.


I select a victim.  No, wait, that's me.  Note the square plastic tip.


The square plastic tip proves that the contraption is armed and ready to deliver its toxic payload.


Almost, but not entirely unlike coffee.  Share and Enjoy.™

The unstoppable expansion of Starbucks has been a problem for longer than you think.

Last night, the missus and i went to see Shrek 2 (funny and good), before which we had pho.  I ordered Vietnamese coffee (espresso + condensed milk) at around 21:00... bad idea.  Couldn't sleep all night, spent all morning in zombie mode.  We headed to Casa de badiamond and rdiamond for BBQ goodness.  Turns out she's a friend of noted Kibologista Bill "nuke" Newcomb, who was there when we arrived.  Later arrivals included kEvin (who went off on an errand with Rob), gailg, and some_other_dave.  We enjoyed a bottle of Rosemount Estate 2002 Cabernet Merlot blend (very tasty, rich flavor and smooth finish) with the delicious grilled food.  Afterwards, we played RoboRally, which took longer than i expected, but was nonetheless lots of fun.

At the Rio, where we saw Penn & Teller, there was a Starbucks just outside the theater entrance that charged $3 for a solo espresso, but $2.55 for an Americano (espresso plus water).

Seen:

LAKE MEAD MOTEL

ONE NATION UNDER GOD

I presume they have great hourly rates.

Don't remember where i saw this: "Understanding is the reward of faith. Therefore, seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand." I guess that means that if you don't understand, you aren't believing hard enough. Or something. And here i've been thinking that scientific method thing was the coolest...

This made us think of lara7, yong_mi and rimrunner:

THE LIBRARIAN
Gentlemen's Club
Girls, Girls, Girls
Wanna be my book worm?

I saw an ad for Benzene Casual Clothing. When it comes to wearing hip threads, i'll choose the ones named after a carcinogenic solvent, every time.

A friend of Kim's told us we should have lunch at a Greek restaurant that was in Bakersfield, and that we couldn't miss it. Well, we couldn't find the damn thing, so we had to stop and ask people for directions. We were led to the Crazy Greek, where the food was decidedly mediocre (i was, at least, entertained by the menu, which contained the words, "Food graphics illustrated on this menu are conceptual and do not depict actual food items served at Crazy Greek."). As we continued on the trip, we hit Baker, which has billboards touting the world-famous Mad Greek restaurant. Bakersfield, Crazy Greek... Baker, Mad Greek... BAH.

I'm currently freezing my ass off in our cage at the Equinix co-lo facility on Great Oaks. Here they have a Flavia Beverage System, which seems to be the practical result of someone reading about the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation's Nutri-Matic machine and thinking, "Hey, that's a GREAT idea!" The only thing missing is the cheerful attitude.

espresso + Rice Krispies Treat == bliss