A new Dunkin’ opened up about a week ago, whereupon this happened in the right-angled drive-thru lane:
A closer look shows they need more concrete down there:
If that were my gas service, I might have put up two ineffective bollards.
Tag: Rants
And kvetching, too
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Dunkin’ Drive-Through: Brace for Impact
Dunkin drive-through corner bollard – overview Dunkin drive-through corner bollard – detail -
Car vs. Pole: That Ain’t Gonna Buff Out
Another specimen at the corner gas station atop their flatbed hauler:
Car vs pole The exposed ICs add a piquant touch, don’t they?
We’ll never know the rest of the story …
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Sears / Kenmore Vacuum: Design Tweakage
Despite cogent reasons for not buying another Sears vacuum cleaner, the brand currently represents a local maximum of the desirability curve: cheap, readily available, works well enough, and, surprisingly, bags for the defunct Progressive (whatever that meant) vacuum seem to fit just fine.
But the new one does come with some annoyances, starting with trendy dark gray engraved / molded control markings:
Sears Vacuum – power and cord controls Quick: from the other end of the vacuum hose, which one must you stomp to turn it off?
Well, I can fix that:
Sears Vacuum – marked power switch After the Progressive’s bizarre and overly complex tool fittings, the new unit has tools that slip-fit onto a classic steel tube, which means I can throw all those adapters into a box of 3D printing examples for use in the unlikely event I ever do another show-n-tell presentation.
It also has a simple rotating suction control ring at the handle:
Sears Vacuum – marked suction vent control Which, as you can tell from the fluorescent tape, featured the same embossed and unreadably small dark gray markings.
Because that ring and its glaring tape is invisible from the user’s end of the handle, I eventually duct-taped the ring in position to prevent another inadvertent loss-of-suction accident.
If we ever need reduced suction on a regular basis, I’ll conjure a better ring from the vasty digital deep:
Sears Vacuum – suction vent doodle I obviously no longer form deep emotional attachments to these things …
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Christmas Cookies: Mystery Date Code
Spotted during a grocery trip:
Christmas Cookies – date code I’m sure they have a good reason for whatever date code format they chose, but 2012272 seems open to misinterpretation in the runup to Christmas 2022.
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Encounter With A Cash-for-House Scammer
This conversation started during the few hours when I had to turn off my phone’s incoming-call whitelist filter:
Cash Home Sale SMS Seems to me a cash-for-house buyer who believes anything the seller says about the property is both new to the “real estate” biz and not destined for a long career. Obviously, the whole exchange attempts to increase my engagement and make me agree with everything going on.
Now, should you happen to be moving to the Mid-Hudson Valley and need a really nice shop with an attached house, let me know: we can work out a better deal.
Protip: if you’re in a position to stack seven thousand Benjamins on our kitchen table, don’t get between us and and the horizon.
There is a reason all my calls and texts go through a whitelist filter.
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Drug Fact Sheet: Overdose
For reasons not relevant here, a new medication has entered the house, accompanied by its Drug Fact Sheet (blurred because you do not have a Need To Know):
Drug Fact Sheet The background squares are a scant one foot across.
The other side of the sheet is equally dense.
One should review this with each refill to check for new or changed information. Of course, there are no change bars or similar hints.
It might kill ya or cure ya, but you’ll never figure it out from that torrent of verbiage: just like software EULAs, nobody can possibly read and comprehend that stuff.
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Leaf Bag Flagwashing
The data plate at the bottom of the the leaf bags we get from the town seems intended to set expectations at a certain level:
Dano Leaf Bag – data plate Which is immediately belied by the situation at the other end of the bag:
Dano Leaf Bag – crimp line typo OK, it’s just a typo that could happen to anyone, but it first appeared last year and seems to be continuing. Possibly the Town of Poughkeepsie bought a lot of bags and we’re working through the stack.
However, the built-in gashes along the sides of some bags were a new feature this year:
Dano Leaf Bag – side gashes Perhaps a misalignment in the folder or stacker:
Dano Leaf Bag – side gash detail Enough bags had slices, perhaps four in some ten-packs, to justify keeping the packing tape dispenser at hand while we were shredding up a storm:
Dano Leaf Bag – side gash detail Which frosted Mary pretty severely, as she recycles the used bags as garden path pavers after distributing their contents as mulch, so she’ll be stripping plenty of tape next year.
Although I’m not privy to the Town’s dealings, Dano’s chart suggests the bags cost about 40¢ in truckload lots, about as much as Lowe’s charges for similar bags in retail five-packs. Surprisingly, you can also buy the same Lowe’s bags from Amazon for a lot more, suggesting some folks live much further from a Lowe’s than we do.
The Smell of Molten Projects in the Morning 