No kidding, i’m still feeling the effects of my latest cold. It’s been 15 days and i can’t seem to shake it 100%. Not to share too much, but the quantity of mucus i’ve been removing from my sinuses is astounding. Clearly my immune system is desperately trying to fend off an invader by generating a protective and removable layer of slime. Prevent the invader from getting a foothold… that’s what’s going on throughout my respiratory system.

Spring is coming on here in the valley. Yesterday Annette, who is has been here all week, and i did our standard lower-loop hike out in the foothills. It was pleasant, but there was a strong wind straight out of the west that robbed body heat. However the sun was warm so it was one of those “on average we’re comfortable” kind of days. That was one of the days “nice things.”

The other nice thing was fresh oil for the vanagon. I’m not 100% sure why this is, but the flat-four waterboxer engine simply loves fresh oil. I always change the oil in my vehicles as close as possible to 3,000 miles, but the Volvo and the Nissan just take the new oil in stride with no obvious changes in behavior. Maybe because the waterboxer is older and more tired than the other vehicles when i change the oil there is a noticeable change in the engine sound. It’s not like the lifters are clattering and the bearings hissing before the oil change and after it’s quiet and smooth, but there is decrease in mechanical noise. Perhaps due to the slight decrease in noise i tend to be a bit heavier on the gas pedal and thus the improved performance is imaginary, but no matter the actual cause the waterboxer engine seems happier with fresh oil. It’s almost like it’s going “thankyou, thankyou” when i wind up the rpm’s between gears.

In other news… there is none. Annette has been here all week, she flies back to NYC tomorrow. It’s been a good week, much has been accomplished. It was so unlike my last visit to NYC where we went out every day and saw magnificent art… and drove to new places (even though the new places were places we’d been many times before). This past week was all about “normal” life. Taxes, doctors, auto repair, work, cooking dinners that require multiple steps. I’ve enjoyed it… not sure how Annette feels. She met up with potential employers, but nothing occurred that revealed a plan for the future.

As for new toys a final “gotcha” moment with my Cuisenart coffee maker prompted me to spend a fairly large sum on two new kitchen implements: a good coffee grinder and a new coffee brewer. We’ve had the Cuisenart Grind ‘n Brew for many years now… and while it generally performs well it has lately become balky and irritable in that it shuts off at inopportune moments. The last straw was yesterday when the filter door popped open during the grinding phase. That’s the fatal flaw in the machine’s design. If that latch fails, even for a second during the grind, coffee grounds go everywhere inside the machine. You have to abort the brew, disassemble the whole thing, wash what can be washed and vacuum the rest. It’s a total mess. Combine that with the fact the blade grinder doesn’t do a very good job on one of my favorite easily-available coffees (Mocha-Saanani from Starbucks) and you have a lose-lose that spurred me to take action. More on this when the new devices actually arrive.