Custom Mobile Usability Testing Rig

With my new heat gun and a helping hand from Molly, I produced this bad lad:

We're doing our first mobile phone usability study this week at work, and there's going to be a webcam clipped to the top of this device to record the action. Hat tip to this article on 90percentofeverything.com for the idea.

Resealable bag?

Whose idea was it to make the bag resealable? Do socks go bad if not stored in the proper container? Also, this marks the last phase of the Great Sock Exodus of 2011. I'm excited about new socks!

Adios old friend

Ha, so this is funny.  I emailed this post in and there was supposed to be some body text, but I see it didn't make it.  So instead, it's just a picture of a shirt, which is pretty random.  Here's what the text was supposed to be:

Had to put down a good work shirt today. Ol 'purps had a good run; he helped me through a lot of purple shirt Tuesdays over the years. But he was showing his age, and between the tattered collar and random washer spots, I knew his time was coming to a close.

The rotation won't be the same without you buddy. You will be missed.

Filtered Water

A long time ago, I started keeping filtered water in the fridge. It started with one of my Ramblewood apartments - you just couldn't get cold water out of the tap without waiting for forever.  So I got a small, standard-issue plastic pitcher from Meijer, and life was good.

Then, I figured heck, I might as well be filtering this water right?  I mean, filtered water sounds like a good idea.  So I got the cheapest Brita pitcher I could - the skinny one pictured here.

It seemed like a good idea at the time, but I quickly figured out that it just wasn't big enough.  I was constantly filling it up, which was a pain.  To solve this, I got the next size up - it's the round version of the Brita pitcher.  This worked out pretty well for quite a while. Eventually though, I moved to the Birchwood house which had a fridge door with water dispenser. Filtered? No, but convenience wins that battle every time.

It was a bit of a dark age for me and filtered water. Eventually, when I moved out, I decided to upgrade again. I wanted to recreate the gloriousness of water coming out of my fridge, so to stick with the Brita brand, I got the Brita Ultramax Water Dispenser.  Yep, I upgraded to a full out *dispenser*!  This seemed awesome.  And it was...for about 2 weeks.

Two major problems with this pitcher.  Well, three actually.

1. It's big.  That's kinda the point, but it's really wider than it needs to be.
2. The spout is terribly designed.  Because of how high the pitcher's spout is, there's about an inch of water at the bottom that will never come out. That means more fill-ups, and less effective storage capacity.
3. The thing leaks. On the list of things that a water pitcher is supposed to do, holding water is pretty high on the list. And this pitcher fails at it. I would have taken it back, but from the Amazon reviews, it's clear that it's a common problem.
   

I suffered (I know, First World Problem here) with this pitcher for my tour of duty at Westwind, but when I moved to the Ledge, Molly and I happened upon the ZeroWater pitcher.  I was excited about this for multiple reasons:

1. It was a larger capacity than the Brita filter (23 cup vs 18 cup)
2. It was skinnier than the Brita filter (I know, the physics astounds)
3. It included a real-life water tester!

That's right, a water tester!  How cool is that?  So I could objectively say, this is what the water was before, and this is what it is now.  Plus Molly had some 20% off coupons, so I was sold.

As it turns out, tap water in Grand Ledge is pretty hard.  The packaging of this filter was describing various values of TDS (total dissolved solids).  It listed anything over 200 as "hard water".  The tap water here clocked in at about 450.  Yeah, that's definitively hard.  Putting water into the pitcher didn't get it all the way to zero, but after filtering the tester read "002".  I'll take that.

But here's the thing - all over the packaging, it kept saying in very big letters, "DON'T USE THE FILTER WHEN THE READING IS PAST 006".  Which I thought was weird...I'm thinking, heck, let's use this thing till it gets to like 100.  In any case, I didn't believe the hype about filter changing.

Until yesterday.  We got this pitcher about three weeks ago, and yesterday I discovered that the smell of bad cat breath wasn't actually the cat, but it was the water from the pitcher.  Yeah, it was gross.  Seriously like cat food.  Not cool.

Filters aren't especially cheap, clocking in at ~$15 each, and with as bad as the water is here, filter life is especially short.  Under ideal conditions, the ZeroWater site says the filter should last 40 gallons - here in the Ledge, it's rated to last from 8-15 gallons.  I don't have any idea how much water we put through there, but I can tell you that it is not worthwhile to push the limit.

Oh, and the reading on the water meter?  018.  Well past 006 for sure, but for sure not what I expected to happen.

Moral of the story...the ZeroWater pitcher is for real.  Its shape is awesome (just barely short enough to fit in the fridge, but that's perfect!).  Holds a lot of water.  Filters the heck out of the water.  Assuming your filter is good, it tastes great.  Doesn't leak.  Has a water tester included, which is ridiculously cool.  But, the bad news is quite significant - be prepared to pay a ton for filters, and be prepared to smell bad cat breath as your warning to change the filter.  I'm not sure what the science is there that causes that, but it's decidedly not awesome.

Now you know.

A beautiful day in the D!

Battle hamster.

Cooking with Mark: Pulled Pork Sandwich

Welcome to the first installment of Cooking with Mark, where I'll discuss how I flex my culinary chops.

• Degree of Difficulty: Low
• Prep Time Required: Low
• Amount Prepared: approx 2 dinners
• Total ingredients: 3
• Equipment needed: Microwave

 

This is a more recent creation of mine that I'm pretty proud of. The key ingredient here is the Lloyd's pulled pork. This stuff is awesome, because it's tasty, and it lasts a long time in the fridge (not the freezer, which is a pain). Even better, it comes in a sweet Microwave-safe container.

So let's get to the recipe.

1. Prepare pulled pork as described on the package. For me, it was like 3 minutes at 50% in the microwave, a stir, and another couple minutes at 50%.
2. Scoop pork onto some nice, hearty, wheaty bread.
3. Top with some shredded cheddar cheese (fat free preferred).

There you go. You could theoretically eat it like an open faced sandwich, that might be alright. But I recommend picking up the sides of the bread and eating it like a hot dog. You know, just like you folded over that square pizza in elementary school? Same way here. You might need a fork to pick up the inevitable fallen pulled pork, but it's worth it.