Hello all. I may or may not have posted in here before, but I wanted to say my howdies and jump in before the new season(s) starts.

I'm McGee, been watching TAR since the very first episode/first recap and I'm a huge fan. I've posted occassionally here and in several others show forums. I can safely say TAR is one of my top 3 shows on the air and definitely the biggest event of the summer. I can't wait until tomorrow.

Oh, and I'm in Virginia. Now carry on with the discussion.

Never mind.

My husband and I just moved and in the process we decided to throw out our ancient coffee maker and get a new one.

So I've been looking around and keeping seeing advertisements for this and I'm wondering if anyone else has or has tried the Senseo "coffee pod" thing. Is it really that much better than regular coffee??

Mmmm... scrambled eggs and ketchup. Good eats.

Gotta say, Erinjsnark, that the photos of the coffee drinkers would sell me, but I'm not necessarily certain that they are using them in the "traditional" matter (bomp chicka bomp bomp!)

Scrambled eggs and salsa is even better.

I love ketchup. I love to put ketchup on roast beef sandwichs. People at delis always look at me weird when I ask for it.

Yeah, I gotta agree on the whole "coffee pod" ad. If my coffeemaker made me that, ummm, happy, I'd never leave the house. Please buy one, erinjsnark, and let us know if it's really that good.

I don't even drink coffee and now I'm thinking about buying one.

Hot sauce on eggs--Excellent.
Fries are eaten with salt. Sometimes vinegar when it's available. Ketchup is useful only for fake blood at Halloween.
Salsa--Must be fresh, with lots of cilantro. Mmmm. cilantro.
Looooove raita, that yogurt cucumber stuff you get with Indian food. In fact, the food is but a vehicle for the raita.
Garlic and Pesto--I am firmly in the DariaG camp on that one.
Mayo--Make it homemade! It's a snap! and it's delicious, too.
MiracleWhip is an instrument of the Devil. My mom served it growing up and I Hated mayo until some kind soul gave me a taste of Hellman's.
I also love a mixture of soy, pickled ginger, chopped scallions and a little rice vinegar that I make for dipping sauce for peking raviolis. mmmmmm. good stuff.
Does anybody else out there eat banana sandwiches on toast? Just me? okay, then.

Wow. The looks on those faces.

And, Rabrab, you said the the bad numbers - 20. I warned ya-watch your back at TARCON :-) Or even worse, if Allison attends, I'll tell her you are her biggest fan.

Moongirl, its funny about St. Louisans. 1) Where did you go to High School 2) How about those Cards. Well, you never have to think of what to say to someone from St. Louis.

Bananas on toast? One of my favorite breakfasts, although it digusts the hubby.
Just wanted to say hi...been lurking here for a long time (TAR2, midway), and I love these boards.

M. Darcy, bring it on--I'll beat you about the head and shoulders with my walker... Hey, if it makes you feel any better, my college 20th has come and gone, and I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up.

So, St. Louisans, is that great German restaurant still around? Mr Rabrab lived there for years, and when we went to visit, he swore that it was the best German food he'd ever had. I don't remember the name, but it was in a sort of shabby area (not quite industrial, but, well, kinda run-down) and according to him it was legendary. It was quite good.

Oh my God! The coffee faces are hilarious!!!

Hildy, you are definitely not alone. Bananas on toast rock. Especially with a little Nutella.

And after erinjsnark's coffee link, I see a visit to Starbucks in my near future.

I'm not a coffee drinker, so I can't way one way or another, but they did a "Does it work" on on the Senseo thing last night on my local news. It got a thumbs up from the broadcaster and the guy who owns a local coffee shop. Doesn't look like the report is online yet, but you might want to keep an eye out here: http://www.kvue.com/aboutkvue/doesitwork.html

hee, me either. I once overheard this guy talking on the Metro about his 5 year plan - by age 30 he was going to have all these these things accomplished. I told a friend of mine who is the same age as I am and we both just laughed.

Now I have such a craving for McDonald's fries, smothered in ketchup and salt and accompanied by a strawberry shake. Damn you people.

My husband thinks this is weird, but one of my favorite guilty pleasure snacks is potato chips and cream cheese (Philly, of course). God, that's good. Also Cool Ranch Doritos. I could eat an entire bag in one sitting.

Salt is definitely my downfall. I could go without chocolate and sweets for the most part, but damn anyone who tries to take away my Ruffles.

Hi all -

Totally OT here, but I just wanted to say that it is such a pleasure to read posts from TWoPpers. My husband and I have recently experienced a very difficult family tragedy, and I've been lurking on the ivillage message boards for consolation and advice.

No offense to the ivillagers, but...it's nice to read posts that use good grammar, utilize those wonderful little markings we call "punctuation" and best of all, never include the word cuz.

So thanks for being kindred spirits in the quest for good grammar at the very least!

I don't know about this one, but I think the big problem that some people had with the coffee pod thing, is that your dependant on the compnay to get your coffee. It could be outragously overpriced, or not the blend that you want. Also if it goes bottom up, then your stuck. I think Cook's Illustrated did a comparison of different methods, I'll try to dig it up.

Oh and I agree with almost everything Hildy said...we should do lunch.

I am getting some very interesting food ideas for Jeopardy/TAR Con '04. I guess the stranger the food, the happier everyone will be :-)

I love cilantro so much, I chop my own and take it in a little baggy when we go out for Mexican food. Then I can add it to the salsa and enjoy. What? Don't look at me that way.

I'm thinking I'm gonna go for it with the Senseo thing. Any other opinions out there?

Here's a review I found that listed some pro's and con's



here's the whole review here

My friend has one of these and loves it. Although I don't recall him ever getting all "orgasm face" about it.
I never asked him about the disposable pod. It seems to me that he used his own coffee so I guess he has that resuable thing.

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Erinj, that is brilliant! I am going to try that! And speaking of cilantro, I had a smoked turkey sandwich with mango chutney and cilantro for lunch, and it was yummy. Have we discussed chutney yet?

If I ever make it to a TARCon, I'd be very happy to have lunch, piperdown. We'll be the poeple with the big happy smiles on our faces, and many small bowls of condiments scattered hither and yon.

Speaking of 20th reunions, I'm going to mine this weekend. College. How in the hell that happened, I have not yet figured out.

Bear with me please...



I prefer Cheetos with Bean Dip.



Now, that's my idea of a perfect meal. Yummy!



I still remember the time in elementary school when one of the boys told the subtitute teacher that his name was Chuck and she went on merrily singing this song.



I LOVE lemon juice and salt and pepper on my fries and hashbrowns with a little bit of ketchup

I have been trying to think of other weird food combos or weird local foods. I haven't thought of any other than that my mother-in-law will eat just about any kind of sandwich on raisin bread. It could be PB&J, turkey, or a cucumber sandwich. Of course there could be many more but they just seem normal to me.

weird, none of the quote tags worked the first time.

As long as it's not cicada-based ...

In a slight shift, the most romantic meal I ever had was a turkey sandwich on wheat with mustard and cheese, with sides of pistachios, raisins, and Gatorade. The SO and I spent 4 hours hiking to the top of this waterfall off the beaten path at Yosemite, and that's what we munched on when we got there. Chilnualna Falls, I think. The park ranger we talked to for hiking ideas suggested it -- she'd had her wedding there. It was a small wedding -- all 4 parents tromped up there, but they were also all experienced hikers. Anyway, the meal was simple and cheap, and the scenery was breathtaking.

Damn, you guessed my special surprise.

I'm going to an amusement park Saturday and I haven't been to one in over 10 years. It's a corporate outing, so my biggest fear is throwing up amusement park greasy food after going on a stomach churning ride and having a co-worker see me. We get free food at the park, but could someone recommend food I could bring, carry around and be able to eat that would be more palatable? Just so you know, food issues (not knowing what/when my next meal would be) is the biggest obstacle between me and applying to TAR.

Catching up:

Porn name: Sheba Rockwell; Smurf name: The Real Slim Smurfy; Pimp name: Snake Eyes Jagger Rockefeller.

Weird foods: Well, I don’t think it’s weird, but when I was a kid my mom would mix tuna in with macaroni and cheese. This totally grossed my husband out, which is perplexing to me because he used to cook Tuna Helper all the time. Hello? Same thing.

Meat Jello? Is that the same as headcheese?

labral, I’m sorry to hear your prof’s superior stuck you with the B. I hope the prof at least got her butt chewed out for her behavior (and suck-ass attitude).

SheriffTruman and other Chicagoans, it looks like there will be a Chicago TWoPcon at Lincoln Park Zoo on the 26th. Hope you can make it. (Heck, hope I can make it.)

Has anyone had any experience with carpal tunnel syndrome? I used to just have pains in my arm when my workload got really heavy (maybe once a month for a day or two). Now it has been aching for the past month. The pain never seems to go completely away, it only subsides a little if I’m not doing anything and flares up strong when I am. I’ve iced my arm and taken ibuprofen, and they both helped a little. Does anyone else have any ideas? All I know is, this girl I used to work with had three surgeries over 5 years for her carpal tunnel, because even if they fix the problem, if you go back to doing the same work it will come back.

Wendy’s french fries dipped in a Frosty are the bomb, yo.

If I spent 4 hours hiking and my SO offered me raisins, he'd be hiking back down without his testicles.

I make banana boat sandwiches all the time. Hot dog bun smothered with peanut butter with a banana instead of a hot dog. Mmmm.

And fries must always be eaten dipped in chocolate milkshake. Wendy's Frosties and fries are the best for this, but other fast food chains will work in the event that no Wendys is available when the craving occurs.

And my weird little food thing from childhood was putting crumbled potato chips on my hotdogs and hamburgers. Something about that salty crunch was to die for.

Of course now that I am on Weight Watchers I don't get these foods as often, but they are my first choice when having a 'high points' day.

Yummy! I used to put crumbled potato chips on pizza. Also yummy? Putting french fries on a hamburger.

Dammit, this food conversation needs to end soon, those non-fat rice cakes I have sitting in my desk drawer are starting to look extremely unappetizing.

ah! people always thought I was weird because I insided on putting my sour cream and onion potato chips (preferably Herr's) on my ham sandwiches. The crunchiness was the best part.

LOL! I carried the raisins and pistachios, though. He's the one who insisted on the turkey sandwiches -- a man's gotta have meat, ya know? He's also saner than I am.


There's a computer manufacturer website with pages and pages on carpal tunnel -- how to prevent it, deal with it, make adjustments, etc. I think it's HP (Hewlett Packard), which merged with Compaq but probably still has all the great ergonomics info available. If it's not there, try the Dell site, which incidentally is also good for computer recycling.

I don't have carpal tunnel, but my left shoulder has been killing me lately, so much so that I've been going to physical therapy. I'm left handed & decided to use the mouse with my right hand instead for a while. If my right shoulder starts to hurt, I'll know what caused it, but it's only been two days of using the right hand mouse so far.

Buy it ErinJSnark!

Chiming in my two cents - I bought the blue senseo machine and it is The Greatest Machine E-vah. I truly love it. I bought mine at Targe~ and have bought the Senseo pods online from Amazon (free shipping) and even more cheaply from BJ's (warehouse type store). There are numerous flavors and I prefer the Dark Roast. My boyfriend is an Italian who enjoys making "real Italian coffee" on the stove and he loves the Senseo machine too. I try to get everyone to buy it (like Tipping point and all???). No real orgasms from it - but the froth is quite nice.

Ok testimonial over. My confession is that I hate potato products: fries, chips, mashed. I can stand a sweet potato cooked but just barely.

OMG, I love this. I feel like such a daredevil when I put the fries on my Quarterpounder with Cheese. "Ha, ha, my arteries! Try to survive this!"

I'm a big condiment fan. So much so that it hardly matters what the main course is. I've recently become a vegetarian, and it's been easy, since everything still tastes the same: Like mustard, or salsa, or Tabasco, or some other spice or condiment. It doesn’t matter that there’s no meat under there.

I crumble up potato chips and put them in hoagies (subs).

Love this! I can't eat eggs w/out salsa anymore. And I'm the same way w/ macaroni & cheese. It's just so bland w/out something to spice it up.

Semi-weird food? Grilled Cheese w/ pickles. My mom always ate these and I thought it was disgusting. Now I love it.

A guy at work was telling me about his brother's coffee machine, and telling me to buy one. He said "I hate coffee, but from this machine, it's fantastic!" He gave a great sales pitch (so good that I wonder if he owns stock in them or something) but $800? I'll stick w/ my $29.95 Mr. Coffee, thank you very much.

Coincidentally, I just overheard him talking about the "TAR files." I have no idea what he's talking about, but I wonder why my company is keeping files on our show?

I'm a carpal tunnel case waiting to happen. I get wrist/arm/neck pain frequently. I keep very conscious of my posture, hand placement etc. That helps a lot. I’ve also experimented w/ the ergonomic keyboards and mice. There are some wild varieties of keyboards out there. I bought a keyboard that was split in three pieces, so you could position them anywhere, and at any angle. Unfortunately, it was a total hassle. I then bought the Microsoft curvy keyboard. I love that. It helps a lot. Of course the best thing would be to limit my computer use, but that's not very practical advice when you're a programmer.

I'm the exact opposite. I couldn't live in a world without potatoes! (Which can be verified by the size of my ass) My mother used to call me her "Little Potato Whore". I come from such a classy family.


Hee!! Also, damn you! I think this may be the comment that pushed me over the edge and may cause me to detour towards McDonalds on the way home.

iME, you're left handed & you left-mouse? See, I know very few lefties, but I mouse righty & am left-handed. My dad, the right hander (although almost ambidextiriourmsafle4j =- whatever, can almost be lefthanded), is a left-mouser. Ditto with us & touch pads. I think I'm put together backwards, and sometimes my face looks assy so...

I think that's what my dad was saying when he would take a Tim Horton's sour cream donut, cut it in half, toast it, and slather it in butter.

Ack! carpal tunnel syndrome! Ack! ack! ack! Ick! Ptooey!

Uh, yeah. Now that I've gotten that out of my system.

Yes, I have it. Right wrist only. Try a wrist rest for your keyboard, try one of the mousepads with the little gel wrist pad. You can try an ergo-keyboard, but I don't like them.

But, mostly, go to the pharmacy and get a wrist brace. You want one that extends up your forearm, and that has a splint running up the inside of your arm and onto the palm of your hand. Go to this page . I have a Frazer, but the Independence actually looks like a better brace, since it extends further up the arm. It'll be a pain in the butt at first, but it will keep you from cocking your wrist down. If you can't wear it while you work, wear it while you're at home--even while you sleep. I found that the pain (like yours, not severe but constant) was making me curl my hand down toward my forearm while I slept, and the brace stopped that. Asprin or acetominephen may work better than ibuprofen--you may want to try and see.

Good luck.

Potato Products are one of the best things about living around here (German Pennsylvania). If you go to a fry truck (fry trucks are not just at fairs, but found all over teh place in various parking lots) and place an order, the first thing they do is take a whole fresh potato, slice it and then fry the thing. You're free to add your own condiments of choice, including vinegar. Several places also sell fresh potato chips, made the same way. A bag of minute-old chips is one of the great pleasures of the world. Its almost nothing like Lays or Pringles. Even the stuff in grocery stores is local and not too old.

In France I fregently ate a sandwich they called the "Texan", which was a baguette filled with two hamburger patties, fries and mayo. It was great, but I'd never seen anything like that in the lone star state.

What Rabrab said. One of the best things you can do for carpal tunnel is sleep in your brace. I was wearing mine while at work only, and it just wasn't helping; when I started sleeping in it at my doctor's advice I could tell a difference within a week or two. I also love the Microsoft ergonomic keyboard, and I couldn't possibly function without my gel wrist rests.



Ricci, I think this is possibly the saddest thing I have ever heard.

iMissEthan there is a mouse tendonitis that involves the shoulder, I read about it in my PC mag a few years back. Apparently comes from overextending the arm to reach the mouse. I get twinges at work because the only dang place I can put the mouse is on my desk to the side of my monitor, but at home can use the mouse on my keyboard "board." I don't know why these office cubicles are always so poorly designed to work with computers. Apparently lots of places never updated from when computers were all keystrokes, is my best guess.

Rabrab


Well, you probably don't mean Bevo Mill - it's hard to forget a giant fake windmill building. So I'm guessing maybe Schneithorsts, although it's in one of the richer neighborhoods, so I'm kind of at a loss. Maybe it's something down around the brewery? Best I can do. M.Darcy, any thoughts?

I successfully fought off carpal tunnel years ago, even before the ergonomic keyboards and gel wrist rests, so my #1 suggestion is to get a good wrist support and use it when working, and also, more importantly, when sleeping -- and in my case, when driving (or doing anything else where you tend to bend you hand downward at the wrist).

I found the Pro-Flex wrist supports many years ago and have never felt the need to try any others. They're available from a million online places these days, are very inexpensive (under $15 each), machine-washable, and don't contain any metal so they're not as rigid as some. They only limit downward motion of your wrist, not upward, so are actually quite comfortable to wear most of the time. (And no, I don't own stock in the company!) You can even wear them through a metal detector, since they don't have any metal in them; I used to wear them while traveling and never had a problem. I've seen cashiers at Trader Joe's wearing them; apparently the company supplies them to their staff to help avoid carpal tunnel, so I'm not the only fan of them, clearly!

I wore my wrist rest on my hand that bothered me more for several years, and on my other hand with less pain for a few months, but that was probably 15 years ago and these days I only pull it out for long drives. At the computer, I use an ergonomic keyboard with these small gel-filled wrist supports that are about 5" long (I found them at Office Depot) that I just stick on the front edge of the keyboard to support each hand individually.

I also taught myself to sleep on my side with my bottom hand tucked up flat underneath my pillow. That helps me to avoid curling it up again so I don't need to wear a wrist support at night to prevent myself from doing it.

And I'm one of those strange lefties who mouses left-handed -- although at home I use a trackball mouse, which means I don't have to move my hand and arm around at all. I've actually switched hands several times over the years, once I learned that I could switch the buttons on the mouse; I probably go 1-2 years between switches each time now, and it helps keep one wrist from getting over-used.

I'm living proof that it's possible to be on a computer at least 14 hours a day and be carpal tunnel pain-free! In fact, a few years ago I had carpal tunnel testing (I was having bad thumb joint pain from arthritis, and they wanted to make sure that's all it was) and the tester was very pleased to hear how I'd fought it off and said I showed no traces of it today.

I used to get pain in my right forearm and wrist - until I switched to a trackball. I mouse at work and trackball and home and the combo seems to keep things from getting bad. Now if I could just do something about the painful pinkies I get from time to time. I spend so much time on the computer (it's my work and my hobby, yes, I have a rather limited vision of the world) and have such horrid posture, I'm surprised I'm not in worse shape hand/wrist/forearm-wise.

I miss the weekly chair massages we would get at one job. They would concentrate on our shoulders, arms and hands. It was fantastic!

Ahhh, Carpal Tunnel. You should also watch out for Thoracic Outlet Syndrome, which can alsy wreak havoc.
I am a right handed person who uses my mouse on the left hand, simply to avoid added stress and strain on my right hand. It works very well.
I also don't use a keyboard at all any more, but type right on my laptop keyboard, and that has made a huge difference well, for reasons unknown.

Ok, I tried the fries dipped in milkshake thing (Hey, it was in the interest of science, I had an excuse to break my diet!) and I didn't particularly enjoy it. On the bright side, it gave me an excuse to go to McDonalds. Woo!

I've often wondered if I'm developing some sort of computer related ailment. At work, I use a keyboard and a typewriter. The typewriter is on top of the keyboard so there's really nothing to rest my wrists on and I've noticed that, over the past year or so, I have a lot of trouble holding on to things. Not heavy things, but really light things. Like I'll be holding a pen or something and the next second, I drop it. But it's not like feel it slipping or anything, I just have it one second and the next second my hand has just let go. It's very strange. (And annoying!)