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From (where else?) The Onion (via Amit Gupta likes you!).

Yes, this is being posted at 2:54 AM.  Yes, I’m up at that hour.  Yes, I’m jet lagged.

I returned from a 1-week business trip that circumnavigated the globe:

• San Francisco to Hong Kong, for a connecting flight from
• Hong Kong to Singapore, where I spent 2.5 days, then
• Singapore to Mumbai, where I spent the night then took a car for a drive from
• Mumbai to Pune, where I spent 2 days, then
• Pune to Frankfurt, for a connecting flight from
• Frankfurt back to San Francisco.

…that night at the Apple Store.  That I lusted about down below.  Well, Sean oh Sean.  Surprised me with my very own Mac Air laptop.  Completely stunned me!  First new laptop I’ve ever owned and wow–I’m really loving it!

Thanks to my luscious man!

Consider it bought.

One of the things I’ve been noticing around home lately is the the singing of all sorts of amazing birds.  I rarely see the birds, but their songs are crystal clear in my ears.  It’s wonderful to wake up to their singing.  And just tonight, one was belting out a tune so clearly that it seemed like the bird was actually inside our home.  It was just so lovely.

No, not that kind of appliance.

I’m talking about kitchen appliances. And not the big ones like refrigerators and dishwashers. No, I’m talking about toasters and blenders.

I’m talking about Breville.

Breville makes some of the best performing, coolest looking, and highest tech small kitchen appliances around.

You got a toaster for your wife on your anniversary?  You spent how much on a blender?

Oh yes.  And I’d do it all again.

But before you write me off completely, allow me to present the evidence:

The BTA820XL

This little number is the one that started it all for us.  3 words:  No toaster handle.  There is no lever to press down.  It is fully motorized.  Put your bread in the slot, press the button, and without a sound the toaster automatically lowers your bread and begins its task.  Curious to see how things are going, then just press the “Lift and Look” button and the toaster will lift the bread and give you a quick peek into its progress.  But you won’t have to wait long; this is the fastest toaster I’ve seen.

Still not convinced?  3 more words:  A Bit More.  Honestly, this was the feature that did me in.  How often has your toaster popped, but you realize that the toast is not quite done enough?  So you jam the lever back down again.  Unfortunately the toaster is still hot, so the stupid little temperature sensor thinks things are all done, and pops the toast right back up.  So you try to outsmart the toaster and give the toasting control a push to the right and mash the lever back down.  This works until you move on to some other part of your breakfast and forget that you’ve just pressed your toaster into the service of turning your bread into charcoal.  Which it does.  And then you’re left with either making a huge mess by scraping the burned layer off with your butter knife, or starting the process all over again.  Bleh!  Not so with The Greatest Toaster On Earth.  Just press the “A Bit More” button.  The BTA820XL dutifully, quickly, and in a fully automatically motorized way returns your not-quite-there-yet toast to the heat.  And what do you get?  In a few moments — your toast with “A Bit More.”

The BBL600XL

компютри

This blender continues the love with more great design, more high-tech buttons and an LCD readout.  Yes, yes, it blends well, is sturdy, and has a powerful 750 watt motor and all the usual blender features.  But it also has a smoothie button.  What’s the big deal?  Don’t most blenders have different buttons with things like “puree” and “liquify” on them?  Yes, they do.  But most blenders aren’t this blender.  You see, the smoothie button activates the automated smoothie program in the eerily smart brain of the BBL600XL.  The LCD countdown timer starts and the blender gets to work.  While swirling your bananas, frozen strawberries, and whatever else you’ve stuffed into its gullet, the blender actually detects chunks of ice and measures the consistency of the smoothie to continually adjust the speed and spin pattern of the blades.  Seriously.  I’m not making this up.  Nor have I fallen victim to clever marketing.  I’ve tested the thing.  When it hits a block of ice or a frozen chunk of fruit, it will almost seem to attack the thing, keeping it in the blades until it has been obliterated.  If your mixture is a little thick or a little thin, the blender will adjust, delivering to you — at the end of the countdown — a smoothie that lives up to its name.

Reid presented his science fair project at the Blossom Hill School open house along with all the other K-5 students who participated.  He choose the topic for himself:  “How Do On and Off Switches Work?”  Amy and I helped with research, and I worked with him on creation of the presentation which included a working model of an on and off switch.  He was very proud (as were we).  Here are his findings:

Electricity flows in wires.  Wires are made of metal.  Metal is a conductor.  Wires are wrapped in a coating.  Coating is insulation.

Switches turn on and off.  Electricity flows when the wire is connected.  When the switch is off, the circuit stops flowing.

by Reid Parham

And

For this project I learned about:

• Math
• Measuring
• Models
• Scientific method
• Scientists are careful and clean
• Electricity flows in wire
• Wires have
• Metal = Conductor
• Plastic = Insulator
• Switches allow or stop electricity flow

UPDATE

There appears to be a problem with the subscription system not sending emails.  If you are interested in helping me diagnose the problem, please let me know if you ARE receiving emails.  In the meantime, I’ll keep checking into the problem.

Thanks,

Sean

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