While in the grocery store over the weekend, I thought about picking up a little container of jelly candies. I’ve never bought that product before, and it seemed innocuous enough: all natural, no preservatives, etc. But after I checked the ingredients list, I noticed that “corn syrup” was the second-largest ingredient. Thinking this was the […]

I recently had the misfortune of riding on a really old CTA train car. The model in question, which probably dates back to the 1960s, was designed with doors that open into the passenger area of the car. In contrast, the newer trains use sliding doors that don’t interfere with passenger space. The train I […]

Airport security people confiscate a lot of food and drinks. From water to yogurt to fruit juice, substantial numbers of brand-new, never-opened food products are taken away for being over the three ounce limit. But where does it all go? I’m guessing the security screening people just throw the food away, or perhaps keep it […]

Whenever I stay in a hotel, I’m always frustrated by how difficult it can be to locate a power outlet within the room. It seems like every outlet is subject to some frustrating issue. For instance, the power outlets might be: – Blocked by heavy furniture – Filled up with the hotel’s electronics, like TVs, […]

During a recent hotel stay, my wife and I used the in-room coffeemaker quite a bit. The device itself was well-designed and made fairly good coffee, but it was limited to one cup at a time. So, I found myself having to repeat the process several times in order to produce a normal amount of […]

Even when you’re armed with a Tivo, network scheduling conflicts can be a real pain. Somehow, there’s always at least one time slot that has more than two shows I want to watch at once, and my Tivo can only record two shows at a time. Of course, it alerts you when you try to […]

Like most newer construction, the building where I live has fire sprinklers placed strategically throughout the property. The idea, of course, is that if a fire breaks out, it will be contained by the sprinklers before spreading to neighboring apartments. There’s a downside, though: whenever the sprinklers go off, a huge amount of water has […]

After I got my census form in the mail, one of the first things I did was check how to fill it out online. I was rather shocked to learn that the census can’t be submitted on the web. So, I filled out the paper form they sent me, lamenting how incredibly archaic the process […]

I received at least six emails last week from some random company that insists they’ve created a free account for me. Trouble is, I’ve never heard of them and have no interest in their service. And the tone of the emails is really annoying: they insist that I requested the account and I need to […]

When you’re shopping online, it’s easy to tell if a product is in stock. The site usually indicates whether the item is available for immediate purchase, and even how many are left. But when you want to buy that item in a local store, things get a bit dicier. Some retailers are really smart about […]