Combination of win and blergh!

[railenthe]

The blergh:  the persistent migraines.  I’m taking my meds like I should but the headaches keep flaring up.  I’m thinking it’s a combination of blood sugar and blood pressure.  So I’m going to make sure that I don’t skip meals, and make sure that I don’t let people SHOVE ME AROUND! like I have been lately.  Do not need.  Do not want.

 

This day will be spent trying to recover from being up too damned late last night.  I blame a ridiculous amount of iced coffee and a ludicrous running gag involving *clears throat* *uses a bizarre accent* saltwater taffy.

 

…THIS IS WHY I SHOULD NEVER BE ALLOWED NEAR A COMPUTER, WORD PROCESSOR, PHONE, VIDEOPHONE, OR ANY SORT OF METHOD OF COMMUNICATION WHEN I AM SLEEP-DEPRIVED.  @#$% gets stoopid, yo.

 

I’m currently looking for shiny things to get the BF.  I kinda had a crisis when his birthday rolled around (Thank you, housing department.  YOU SUCK) and my money was eaten by emergency cleaning supplies.  I’ve got two things in definite mind, but I won’t mention them here.  He might be reading.  There will be a number of them, and thanks to my extensive knowledge of eBay-Fu, it shouldn’t break the bank even though it’s the slow season.

 

And I’m not f-locking just because I want him to go “HUH?  WHAT IS IT!?!?ONEeleventy.”  Hey, I can be awesome with the grabbing of shiny things for other people.  As far as things go I’ve basically finished buying shiny things for myself for the year.  The next big purchase I’m making for myself is going to be tickets to the Distant Worlds concert.  …I don’t know if I’m going to both shows.  If I were to do that I would have to pull wicked hours, do wicked cheap fooding, stop buying so much soda—

 

OH WAIT.

 

Here comes the win.

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FLASHBACK!  TWO HOURS EARLIER…

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I split my paycheck roughly down the middle and shoved the bigger chunk of middle into the bank.  The remainder went with me, and I bought a Fitness Magazine with it.

…I do read Fitness Magazine, but that wasn’t the reason I spent that $3.50.  Contained within a spread of how the celebrities get their EPIC ABS (I couldn't care less, I’m not built in such a way that DEM ABS are even possible) was a coupon for 20% off any item in Bed, Bath and Beyond.

 

…For the record, I never found the Beyond section.  I hear its door leads to World B.

 

I jumped in and looked for the entry-level machine.  It wasn’t carried.  But, the next step up in the premium suite was.  I snagged it, noting that the $99 price tag was identical to the list price of the usually cheaper model.

 

Then I realized how darned heavy it was and that there was no way that I could carry it plus a sampler pack of flavors to the registers, and enlisted the aid of this muscular guy who was actually two inches shorter than I am (and being five foot jack, that’s a neat trick).  Two minutes later I am at the register, handing over page 23.  That magazine cost me $3.50!  I’ve just disassembled an article that only got me—

 

A SAVINGS OF $20.
OH HAI, ME FORGETTING HOW BIG TWENTY BUCKS IS.  AND ITS MATH.

 

I hand over the money, noticing how very much I have left, and truck out to the door, with Lorelei (my iPod) blasting a remix of the Kingdom of Zeal’s theme.  …appropriate for a day as cold as this, I think as I walk off with my bags in tow.

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TIMESKIP:  NOW (or close enough for government work)

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I can’t help it.
I get a bit of an eyetwitch as I look at the directions.  They are entirely diagrammed, with zero words.  “But Rai,” you think, “wouldn’t that make things easier for you?”

 

NOPE.
Drawing me a diagram is useless when it comes to assembly.  The directions may as well have been in hieroglyphics.  The funniest thing about it: the directions are repeated several times, ALLEGEDLY in different languages.  I give up and start picking up things at random, looking down them, at them, around them, poking at them with sticks (and when I dropped it, a comb).  “Maybe I’ll figure it out by just lookin’ at it,” I mutter.


*fifteen minutes later*

 

I’ve managed to put the thing together at last.  Having directions that might as well have been drawn by Prishe’s short twin didn’t speed things up much.

 

This…

is the Sodastream Genesis.

 

Internationally this is put out by Sodaclub, in case anyone gives a fizz.

 

It’s simple enough to use once put together:

 

• Fill the reusable bottle to the fill line.
• Screw it onto the device.  Until it stops, no further.  Don’t force it.
• Let go lightly: the weight of the full bottle will trip the mechanism so that it hangs just above that drip tray
• Push that silver button up there until it fizzes AND makes a really fricken loud BZZZZZZZZZZZRT noise.  Three equals average carbonation.  (Personally I’m fine with just a fsssshrt sound, which is just sort of that first BZZZZZZZZZZZRT.  Extremely light carbonation, reflective of how I like to let my pop breathe a it before I chug it.)
• Let the bottle settle before removal.  The CO₂ canister should be quiet.  Then:  Lift the bottle on the little pivot thingy (there will be a loud hiss) and remove the bottle.  SLOWLY.
• Tilt bottle, add flavoring (unless you just want a plain ol’ seltzer, which is good too).
• DRINK AND SAY YUM.

Here, have a look at a soda.

 

Yeah, yeah, but is it worth the cost?

 

Here’s some math.  (Please note that this math doesn’t include buying cases at a time, because space is usually LACKING with a capital everything; that, and if I don’t have help, I can’t haul them in.)  Up to date, as I just got back from the store and saw that two-liter bottles of soda are currently selling in my township for $1.90 name-brands.  (I’m a soda-pop snob, so this is kinda important!)  Cans in the machine are 75¢; bottles at work range from $1.25—$2.

 

Typically during a week at work I’ll snag four of the $1.25 bottles.  That’s $5 right there.  Same number on cans at home—that’s another $3.  Right now we’re already up to eight bucks a week on not a lot of soda—and this doesn’t even count energy drinks, which I can go through like water.  Occasionally if I have the money to shoot I provide a two-liter for when the BF comes over.  As mentioned above, that’s $1.90.  Sometimes twice.

 

NOT counting huge social stuff, this is a minimum of $11.80/week.

 

The damage:  $47.82/month on soda.  Minimum.

 

…YEAH.

 

Even adding in the CO₂ recharging, and the possibility of buying flavor syrups (I’m considering making my own), the thing pays for itself in a little bit over two months. It also cuts a very pretty picture on my countertop.

Comments

YAM PASTA!

[toffeethesnob.livejournal.com]

Now you're making me wonder if Gilgamesh will ever end up in Beds, Baths & Beyond. (No weapons but he can at least find himself the perfect mattress for a good night's sleep to dream of Bartz.)

Shiny appliance is shiny indeed. Good to know that it's cost effective too!

Hopefully one day I'll get to the stage where if I can't find the directions to instruction guides in english I can at least read the Japanese version... Hopefully being the key word.

OH YOU'RE LOOKING FOR COOKWARE. THREE AISLES LEFT OF THE DUVETS

[railenthe.livejournal.com]

And look how lovely this pillow sham is! It will be a perfect accent upon which Bartz may throw his head back, oh so prettily.

This wasn't even my first choice: it just happened to be the one on the lowest tier in stock...and less than the ACTUAL lowest tier. So I got a step up for NINE BUCKS LESS than the lowest one.

You're already better than I am. I got confused with PICTURES.