Ah... the ol' need a cup of coffee to make a cup of coffee paradox.

So, in case you didn't know, I've been stuck at work everyday this week until about 2100-2200. It's Friday today, so I felt like taking a small break by looking at my Steam achievements. Yes, I find this somewhat relaxing.

So, I know that I can't actually access Steam while at work, but I thought I'd try offline mode. Predictably, upon starting the client, I get this message:


Nothing unusual, right?

So I do the obvious thing and click on the offline option... which generates this:


Yeah, your guess is as good as mine.

I'm going insane. Observe:

If you must say anything, you might as well
·say
·it
·with
·bullets.

!!!

-A

Cicero's Pizza: On The Frontlines between Cougars and Cranky Old Women

In case you don't know, I love Cicero's Pizza. They make a delicious thin-crust pizza which is supposed to be NY style; I wouldn't know because I've never had pizza in New York.

I've been enjoying Cicero's pizzas since grade school, back when they were located on Steven's Creek. For a short (and sad) period of time, they were purchased by a Korean owner and became Big Apple Pizza. It just wasn't the same. After a short period of time, Cicero's re-opened in their current location... involving, perhaps, some questionable business practices/ethics, but hey, it's good pizza.

Anyway, I went there with my friend Hau and we got the Cicero's Special (without salami). It was pretty good. Better still was the service: when we got the pizza, we were informed that two of the slices were "burnt" (basically, they were slightly blackened). Honestly, neither Hau or I would have noticed, but that's what they said. To make up for it, a complimentary small pizza was provided to us. Hau and I even tried the burnt pizza -- neither of us could tell the difference. YAY FREE PIZZA.

Now, I suppose we were offered this warm and friendly service because neither of us fall into the category of "old, cranky woman"... unlike the actual old and cranky woman who made a bit of a scene at the cash register. I don't have a firm idea on what actually happened, but the owner's son (I think) dealt with her in an appropriately East-coast manner (of course, this is what I assume East-coasters are like, never really having spent any time there). It was pretty amusing. Also amusing was one of the employees there who regaled Hau and I about his escapades with cougars in downtown Los Gatos. No, I don't mean mountain lions. I mean cougars. This naturally segued into an intellectually stimulating discussion about the differences between cougars, MILFs, and soccer moms.

So, for good pizza and information about picking up older women, Cicero's is the place to go.

Things that annoy me, part... one?

People who say "Frisco" instead of San Francisco. These are the same kinds of people who probably also have soul patches.

Green Chemistry: A Solar Solvent Still?

Perhaps before discussing the main point of this post, I should define green chemistry. Generally speaking, green chemistry is about in-lab, synthetic efficiency. For example (but certainly not limited to), doing chemistry without wasting reagent (via side reactions, decomposition, etc) and solvent. Green chemistry is pretty neat because the examples I've seen usually involve some unorthodox, but clever and elegant methods.

Anyone who has done organic synthesis (or synthesis of any kind) knows that a lot of the waste (and effort, for that matter) is encountered during the post-reaction workup... things like rinsing, columning, and recrystallizing product. There are, apparently, solvent recycling systems that are commercially available, but I wonder about just making a simple solar still where the leftovers from some of these workup steps can be left and then re-used as (at least) technical grade solvent. If I had the time, I'd like to build and test one.

Hey. Hey! Yeah, you.

To the truck driving on 19th Avenue in San Francisco with the license plate number 4TLK273 -- thanks for throwing your cigg butt out the window. Fucking asshole.

Ozan Terrible Point +1; Video Game Lore +1

Andy: Anyway, I feel like killing zombies.
Ozan: L4D?
Ethan: Really seems more like Zulu hunting weather to me.
Ozan: So...resident evil 5?