Keurig B60 Special Edition Review
Some of you may not know, but I drink a lot of coffee. And when I say a lot, I mean like around 100 fl oz per day. I’m also a bit of a coffee-snob, meaning that I won’t drink any old swill you get at Dunkin’ Doughnuts (umm yuck!). So even a large (venti) black coffee at Starbucks costs over $2, and a couple coffees per day (even with free refills) adds up fast.
The recession and a new job have forced me to re-work my budget. So I decided to make coffee at work, but I’m the only one in the office who drinks coffee. So if I were to brew a whole pot, it would go to waste, and I’d be spending about $14/week on beans. So I decided to get the Keurig B60 Special Edition Gourmet Single-Cup Home-Brewing System
I’m not going to use the K-Cups that most people have to buy for the Keurig. Instead, I’m going to grind my own coffee and use the My K-Cup Reusable Coffee Filter
Now for the review of the machine. I’ve been using it for almost a week at this point. Overall I am pleased with the quality of coffee it brews. The trial K-Cups that came with the brewer were pretty bad, not anywhere near up to my standards. However using my own coffee with the reusable filter makes a pretty good cup of java. You need to grind the coffee about as fine as you can (think espresso grind) in order to get good extraction and a dark cup. Be sure to tamp the grounds down lightly into the filter too. The coffee it brews is akin to a French Press, this is because the reusable filter is metal, and not paper. This lets all the flavorful coffee oils flow into your cup. Great for taste, but can do a number on your stomach, so be careful.
As for care and maintenance of the machine, it’s pretty easy. The only major pain is cleaning the reusable filter, but for the money savings, I don’t mind it. All in all I would suggest this machine to anyone who wants fresh coffee often, where brewing an entire pot isn’t economical. So work out the math, and if it makes cents (har har), get one!
So, I’m sitting in my apartment tonight, and my Chefmate P70D2AL-D4 Microwave starts beeping randomly. At first it was just a single beep, then a few minutes later it went ape-shit. Scary thing was it first was saying 6:66 then 66:66. The keypad wouldn’t work anymore, and just kept on beeping until I unplugged the thing. Reading around the internet, I’ve found that others have had this same problem with this microwave. Wonderful.
I’ve been pushing my representative Nydia Velazquez (D-NY 12th District) to support H.R. 1207: Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2009 for several weeks now. I’ve made phone calls, tonight I wrote a letter. That letter is below:
Dear Rep. Velazquez,
I won’t bore you with a form letter. I am writing today to ask you co-sponsor HR 1207 to allow the G.A.O. to audit the Federal Reserve.
As a member of the financial services committee you are in a unique position to help further President Obama’s promise of transparency and vote in this bi-partisan issue. This bill has over 200 sponsors from both sides of the isle, and is now being considered by your committee for further action.
There is no logical reason why the Federal Reserve shouldn’t be audited by Congress. Your efforts in supporting this important legislation would go a long way in proving to your constituents that you not only hold the Federal Reserve to the same standard as you do your constituents, but it would also show that you believe in transparency. Anything less than support for this resolution suggests that you are in favor of secrecy and a lack of accountability to the people who pay the bills. We pay the tab; we have a right to know where our money is going.
If you are not going to support HR 1207, I would appreciate a letter from your office with the reasoning behind your decision, so that I may further understand all sides of this issue. At this point I see no logical reason why this shouldn’t be supported by all members of congress.
Thank you for your time and consideration in this very important matter. We have a historical opportunity to change this country for the better, and I hope we can make it happen.
-Concerned constituent in NYC
I encourage everyone to contact their members of congress and ask that hey support H.R. 1207. There are currently over 200 cosponsors as of today (June 9, 2009), both Democrats and Republicans.
Everyone should watch the episode of Frontline: Inside the Meltdown that aired Feb 17, 2009. It gives a great chronological of what lead up to our current economic crisis. What really gets me, is how there were certain people (think Ron Paul) saying that this event would happen back in 2007 or earlier, yet they are and were ridiculed for sounding the warnings about an imminent disaster. Hindsight may be 20/20 as the old saying goes, but it does not make any difference if you don’t learn from the experience.
We will continue to see the same problems over the next few years, only worse. As I write this, the DOW sits at 7495(!!!) and people continue to lose their jobs, homes, and savings. Yesterday our new President Obama has signed into law another bailout bill, and by the market’s reactions, it is probably not going to help. Many of the same people who’ve gotten us into this mess in the first place are still in positions of power in both government and private industry. The fools in the US Government continue to give $BILLIONS$ (In reality it’s now in the $$TRILLIONS$$) to their old pals in the private sector that caused this mess through greed and corruption. Now millions of American tax payers for generations to come will suffer the consequences, while these greedy bastards continue to live the good life.
There are many people who feel they have the solution to our problems. Truth is, nobody knows what the best fix will be, but I can tell you printing money and giving it away to the same people who fucked us in the first place, is not the solution. Harder times are on the horizon.
Please enjoy the episode of PBS’ Frontline: Inside the Meltdown. Encourage others to see and understand how this mess has happened, and continue to educate those close to you.
I’m not very comforted when people in power with access to sensitive information make declarative statments about imminent dangers posed to me. I’m especially worried when a guarantee is made to me in regards to these dangers by someone who has a proven track record, for whatever reason, to have his pulse on “the real threat” which may come in “the belly of a plane.” Now, good ol’ Joe the Politician is making even more difinitive statements in regards to what our future has in store for us.
I was planning on doing an in depth article about why everything is getting more expensive. It’s a perfect storm of high oil prices, weak US Dollar, high food prices, weak economy and unsustainable wars waged by the United States. Its a fairly complex problem with a very real and simple outcome: Us average folks get screwed. We have to cope with high prices for everything, unemployment, and uncertainty about the future. Instead of doing the long article I was thinking about doing, watch this short video clip from GOOD Magazine about Oil Addiction. It does a decent job of quickly summarizing what is going on in the world to create all of this havoc.
You know the economy is bad when you see this…
(…and YES I took this photo myself in Milwaukee, Wisconsin at Badger Guns & Ammo, so if you use it, please give some credit)
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