Coffee On Sale: Save $800 (Bay Daze 2)

When I make a cup of coffee it costs me nothing for the water, about 50 cents for the ground coffee, and perhaps 10 cents for the paper filter.

I make my coffee in a plastic pour-over contraption that cost about $25. The pour-over style of coffee-making has proven to be very popular with the coffee aficionados who have joined in java worship in our house.

You can imagine my shock and horror recently when I saw the Bay Days ad for a coffee-maker that was $800 off! This begged the question, what was the original sticker price is they could advertise it for $800 off?

$1600.

Yup, sixteen hundred smackeroos. One thousand six hundred. Fourscore times one score more. $1600.

Who, in their right mind would pay $1600 for a coffee-maker? Who in their right mind would pay $800 for a coffee maker. Sure, it can make espresso and perhaps froth a bit of milk, but $1600????

I do know one person who paid, I believe, two thousand dollars for a coffee machine. He has a penchant for the good life. His piano (justifiably) cost $90 000 and he drives an Acura that was reputedly hand made in Tuscany. Could have got a Japanese Honda for much less! There are also rumours that suggest he may be related to the uber rich Desmarais clan of Quebec, so perhaps money is not a problem.

I wonder if these coffee machines will just 'fly out the window' now that they're on sale. Or will shoppers fling themselves out the window when they realize their folly. Doubtless neither.

Bay Daze 1

For a person who lives in a province of 72 908 square kilometres, 80% of which is forest (ack), today's item of interest seems quite laughable.

The Hudson's Bay Company is selling a block of wood for $324.50. Amazing, really. Even more amazing, the original retail price was $649.

Can you imagine paying $649 for a stick of wood? Can you imagine paying $324.50 for a small piece of stumpage? I wonder how may 'city folk' did??

If the Hudson's Bay Company sold even one of these then I commend them for doing what I consider the impossible. It's akin to selling ice to Eskimos. Mind you, they've been doing that for sometime too!

I think selling a piece of old timber for hundreds of dollars speaks to the fact that people who live in the city have no idea about nature. I doubt there's anyone living in New Brunswick who would have paid that kind of money for one of these. You can get a cord of wood for $180!

Now, let's consider a scenario where Hudson's Bay is selling these things hand over fist. This makes me think about two very valuable places: Fortress Lousiburg in Cape Breton, and Paul's barn in Harvey. Both are made from sizable and similar timbers. Based on my estimates, Fortress Louisburg would be worth about $120 million and Paul's barn about $800 000.

Wait....what's that noise? I think I hear Paul starting his chainsaw!

Commenting On Commenting

I've developed the bad habit of reading the comments that people post on cbc.ca. What I have learned, more than anything, is that the vast majority of people who comment on news stories are either red necks, people who can't construct logical arguments, or rednecks who can't construct logical arguments.

There is also a sub-group who I would describe as mindless assholes.
It's clear that there are a lot of petty people who are unnecessarily negative, often bordering on cruel.

Occasionally someone writes something learned or eloquent, but like the olive in the martini, their words are drowning in a sea of toxins.

Comments are posted by individuals using their on-line user names which, I should add, are almost always pseudonyms. Accompanying the user pseudonym is a thumbnail image which, rest assured, is almost never an actual picture of the person. So, under the cloak of an on-line pseudonym and a bogus thumbnail picture, these anonymous 'blahvants' spew their brains out.

And I read this stuff.

Makes me wonder where I settle in on the sociological food chain. I know I'm not on the bottom. I know I'm not on the top,

Yesterday I happened to notice that one person's thumbnail image was text. It practically jumped off the screen. I've recreated it above as my image of the day. Though not likely the work of a future Nobel laureate, it was nevertheless playful and eye catching.

All I Do These Days Is Reflect, Or So It Would Seem (upon reflection)

I was driving down Route 695 into the Washademoak Valley, as I have done 3214 times before, when I was captivated by the glowing sight before my eyes. I'm so used to see the autumn colours when looking from my property outward, but this time I was looking from the outside inward in the late afternoon light. Just as I was about to cross the bridge i spied (with my little i) a scene of beauty, and luckily I had my camera with me.

I pulled down onto our lovely newly wharf, parked the car and got vertical. Click.

Click. Click click.

I took a few images. Who, with a digital camera, ever takes just one picture anymore? Pas moi.

Windsurfing...Living In The Past

On October 19 I 'celebrated' me Mootha's 86th birthday by going for a windsurf on Grand Lake. The highlight of the day was an 8 km run on one tack. I more or less went from Pop's Point (think Princess Park) to the southern shore of Mill Cove. It was sunny, warm and there was enough wind to keep me planing.

With a west wind on Grand Lake it's feasible that you could go on a 25 km run across the lake. I'm not sure I'd ever trust the wind to take me that far, and more importantly......back!

A trip like that is known as a surfari, and it's a tantalizing thought. Maybe next year. This year is all but done.

Reflectiing On Hardware Stores

Lately I've been going to a number of hardware stores to buy this and that. I seem to favour Home Depot at the moment, though not for any particular reason.

Last week while sitting down by the lake, with camera in hand, a Home Hardware truck passed over the bridge so I snapped its reflection in the lake, then pulled a 180 with the image...et voila!

It's a bit more interesting than a straight shot of the truck on the bridge. Reflections are often more interesting than reality.

It's Unthinkable, Unlikely, Bordering On The Paranormal

The odds of winning Lottery 6/49 are approximately one in fourteen million. The odds of dying in a plane crash in one of the world's top twenty-five airlines is one in ten point four six million. The odds of Air Canada bumping you off a flight are one in fifty-three. The odds of Air Canada bumping you off a flight that will subsequently crash....zero.

Of course I made those Air Canada figures up, but I have to have some fun with this blog.

Fun is good. Fun makes you laugh and laughing is healthy. Rarely have I laughed as heartily as I did yesterday. I went on-line to check the Environment Canada wind report for Saint John. The forecast was calling for west winds of twenty gusting to forty kilometres per hour. The five o'clock wind reading recorded winds of twenty km/h with gusts to forty km/h.

What are the odds? Seriously...what are the odds? About the same as pigs flying (see Air Canada). In fairness, no pigs fly with Air Canada, but there are a number who work at Air Canada's head office.

Wow...I dissed Environment Canada. I dissed Air Canada. Still, something seems missing. Oh, I know, I didn't say anything negative about Tim Horton's or Brian Mulroney.

Well, here goes (though I never said these words, they're borrowed):

Prime Minister Mulroney was making a speech to native leaders on the
anniversary of the Oka uprising. And like all his speeches it was short on
substance but long on wind.

 "I pledge a swift land-claims settlement," the P.M. said.

The crowd shouted "Oompah, Oompah!"

The P.M. paused and nodded in appreciation. "I pledge a better education
system," he continued.

 "Oompah, Oompah!"

"I pledge more money for native causes despite our current policy of fiscal
restraint."

 "Oompah, Oompah, Oompah!" the audience roared.

Finally Mulroney finished his oration and was given a tour of the reservation.
At one point the grinning P.M., obviously pleased with himself, almost tripped. 

 "Careful, Mr. Prime Minister," his guide warned him "Don't step in the
Oompah."