Archive for October, 2006
Dungeon Liquidation Sale
Everything must go!!!
All items as is. First come, first serve. Everything has been time tested against arch enemies (and some family members). Prices are negotiable, everything must go! Let's make a deal! -Pulverizing Pillars, 995.00 each. (No pictures available, must see to believe) These are designed to crush an unsuspecting dungeon siegeist to a small bit of jelly and crushed bones. Some mess to clean afterwards but a great investment for any sewer tunnel that mysteriously leads into the lowest bowels of your castle or evil lair. Easy maintenance and payment plan available. -Assorted Torture Devices, 500.00 for whole lot. Can be sold separately as well if desired. I am not sure why I picked these up, really. I got them cheap, thought to myself "hey, this could be good for my goody two shoes hero-enemies" but then I never really used them. I mean, they are kinda complicated and I am not really sure what to do with some of them. So, these are for the really avid collector/evil genius. -Rotating Crusher, 2200.00, no delivery. This is perfect for a hidden floor trap or pit. It is exemplary for destroying even the most menacing hero do gooder. I just love the sound the bones of my enemies make when they fall into it's evil clutches. It's like popcorn, but better. Not that I have ever had the experience, before, but the guy who sold it to me told me that it's like popcorn. I just use it for trash compacting, really. I can get all of my non-trashables in to 10 bags a week with this baby. But, you can use it for both. I would. Combination Spiky pit and dark menancing tunnel, 350.00 + delivery. Now, follow me on this one. This is a must have for all men of the future world ruling cloth. Okay, so you have a hero problem, right? Of course you do. So, you know heroes never come in the front door, right? No, it's always some hidden sewer tunnel or secret entrance your landlord forgot to tell you about. So, why not set them up the bomb with this combination tunnel and spiky pit. The darkness works to your advantage in so that the hero never sees the spiky pit coming. And, if you want, I will throw in a dozen rats for only $5.00. In just months you will have a teeming mass of rats to eat any hero remains you might have stinking up your dark tunnel. It's a low maintenance, self cleaning system. Chaotic Neutral Henchmen, Living expenses and relocation fees only. You can't pass up this offer. John and his friend Mitch are willing to become your henchmen for only living expenses. They pretty much do what you ask as long as you keep a stock in Mountain Dew and Cheetos. Oh, Mitch also likes those Monster energy drinks, the ones in the big black cans. This is really a great deal for the evil men of our times. You know you don't have time to do everything yourself. So, tell your lackeys (in this case John and Mitch) to take over some of the more menial tasks. And, between you and me, heroes are much more likely to kill of the henchmen than the arch nemesis. Trust me on this, John still thinks that Doug moved to his aunt's house in Paraguay. 801 Furbys, 801.00 for the lot. Wait, don't disrespect the Furbys. I was supposed to get 810 evil little swarming robots but the guy at Ebay might have told a little lie. Don't worry about him and his no returns policy, though. I taught these little suckers everything there is to know about espionage. Champions beware! Who can resist these cute little buggers? Nou nou banan. Oh yeah, now I know your secret identities. Bo Babing bong. Oh, I know the fatal design flaw of your secret base/headquarter/cave. Why do you need so many? Because believe it or not, Furbys are hive animals like ants. The more you have, the smarter they are. Did you know they talk to eachother? Now, that's smart. Leave your name and number below if you are interested in purchasing anything above or if you have any questions about the products. Everything must go!Saving the earth, one lawn mower at a time
I have a small yard, with a lot of shade – depending on the weather, I only really need to mow every two to three weeks. When I bought the house, it seemed silly to buy a new lawn mower for such a small yard, so I accepted a hand-me-down instead. The hand-me-down has always been hard to start, and now no amount of cord pulling seems to help.
What could be wrong? Simple. It could be bad gas, old gas, water in the gas tank, sediment in the fuel filter or the bottom of the tank, a gummed up carburetor, not enough air, too much air, a dirty (or just dead) spark plug, a problem in the ignition system, or it could need an oil change. Of course I should have done more regular oil changes, changed the filters, and drained the gas before last winter.
Add to all that the time I spend pushing this loud, heavy thing around and this does not sound like an appropriate amount of effort for my tiny, wimpy lawn. Buying a new gas-powered mower will only alleviate the immediate problem, not the gas, oil, filter, etc., hassles.
And guess what? Gas-powered lawn mowers are horrible polluters! Apparently cutting for one hour is about the same as driving for 100 miles! I have a hippy-treehugger hybrid, so I can probably drive two hundred miles on that emissions budget. There have been moves to add pollution controls to small engines, but they are often blocked by industry lobbyists, or valiant crusaders against evil regulatory expansionism, depending on your point of view. I'm always interested in living more efficiently, so I think it's worth considering.
Let's add this up:
Things I like/don't mind:
- Being outside, even if it's cold.
- Walking
- Pushing things
Things I don't like:
- Adding maintenance of some device to my already busy schedule
- Polluting, apparently much more than I would have guessed
- Pulling and pulling and pulling and goddamn you why won't you start!
As I see it, I have three options:
- A manual push mower, just like grandpa used to have. Apparently modern reel mowers are not like grandpa's, since they are light and easy to use in many yards.
- A corded electric mower, just like that one neighbor used to have in the 80s. Corded mowers are apparently about as good as gas mowers with the drawback being the cord.
- A battery-powered mower. Although they don't last long enough for big lawns (not a problem for me), there are even robot models available.
I haven't had a chance to really look into manual reel mowers, but I did a little searching about electric mowers and came up with some ideas.
- As corded mowers go, the Black & Decker MM875 19" Lawn Hog Electric Mulching Mower seems to get mentioned a lot, and it has a number of good reviews on Amazon. It's about $220, which seems like a reasonable amount to spend.
- For cordless, battery-powered mowers, some recommend the Black & Decker Cordless CMM-1000 but it's pretty expensive – around $420. I would have a hard time justifying that expense for the amount of mowing I actually do.
- There's another cordless by Bully (their 16" Cordless Lawn Mower) that is comparable in price to the Black and Decker corded and has mixed, but overall good reviews on Amazon.
- Then, of course, there is the Friendly Robotics RL850 RoboMower. At well over $1000, it doesn't meet my budget, which is a shame because I'm very happy with my Roomba vacuum cleaner.
Anyone have first-hand experience with these, or other manual and electric mowers? I might even buy one just for the emissions savings, I'm that lame. But it sounds like any of the choices above would be more convenient, too. Let me know what you think in the comments below.
links for 2006-10-15
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