HP M281fdw printer

HP 281fdw

We're liking this HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M281fdw printer. We're coming from a Canon Pixma MP530 that we've had since December of 2006. The Canon stopped printing well and we haven't been able to scan documents for a good 4 years or so. Anyway, it was time.

This new HP printer is nice at only $350 especially for a color laser printer which would've been $2000 in 1998. The build quality looks good, print quality is sharp and bright and not "inky" (feels baked). It takes a minute or two to start up but the printing is fast. Haven't played around with the rest of the features like fax or scan. The wireless printing was easy to set up and works with MacOS (High Sierra/Mojave) seamlessly.

The printer is actually a good size, it's a little tall but not too wide and good depth to fit on our credenza. Would totally recommend this printer. Wirecutter has some good printer reviews if you're looking for some more options.

iPhone X etc.

Major phones in the market for 2017 (for posterity):

I'd probably get the Google Pixel 2 if not the Apple iPhone SE for $350 if I were shopping for a new phone.

It's nice to see that phones are getting really good and fast and phones like the iPhone 6, Pixel, earlier Nexus and Galaxy phones are starting to last longer like 4 years or so maintaining a nice level of speed and responsiveness for everyday tasks. Before, it made sense to upgrade every year or two because there was a significant speed and performance bump, but now not so much. Good place to be.



laptop/tablet recommendations

If I were to buy a laptop in 2012 it would be one of these (in the following order):

Spec wise I guess you're supposed to look for Core i5/i7 processors with 256GB SSD hard drives (I'd want 512GB) and 4 to 8GB of memory and 6-7 hours of battery life. SD card slot, back lit keyboards, high res screens, a couple USB slots pretty much rounds things out. Might want to wait for Ivy Bridge processors, "retina display" for the MacBook as well as Mac OS X Mountain Lion or Windows 8 due out later this year.

For tablets, there's really only the iPad, no point in getting anything else at the moment unless you're a developer or want a tablet to just watch movies. For smart phones, either the iPhone 4S or the Samsung Galaxy Nexus and probably the next generation of both, due out later this year, is the safer bet.

My current setup (and will be through 2012 and a good part of 2013/2014) is a 13" MacBook Pro from a few years ago and a Nexus S that I upgraded with a better battery that can last me a day or two between charges. And no tablets yet.

Bakesale Betty

I'm surprised I haven't written anything about Bakesale Betty yet so here's the scoop/review (and here's hoping she web searches for "Bakesale Betty" and my post comes up and I get like a free sandwich or something…). Here's the Yelp review too since I stole their fried chicken photo…

Bakesale Betty is just a couple blocks away from me, so it's very dangerous. It's over in Temescal and it took over a location that used to be Merritt Bakery and before that a cell phone/pager store. Temescal is a "transitional" neighborhood and it's transitioning to be quite the new/hot/Bay Area bohemian spot due to Bakesale Betty, Pizziaolo, Tagine, Dona Tomas, Genova, Lane Splitters, Dollar Cleaners!, and several happening Korea places, etc.

Bakesale Betty has this now super famous chicken sandwich. It's a fried chicken sandwich, with jalapeno coleslaw on Acme bread and it costs $7.25 or $7.50 I can't remember. Everyone in Oakland knows about it and people are coming in from San Francisco checking it out.

Bakesale Betty also has great oatmeal cookies, scones, and everything is good.

You may get lagniappe (an extra cookie or a lemon bar or something) if you're served by the right person (or maybe Bakesale Betty and her girls think I'm cute…that could be it).

When we first saw Bakesale Betty, we totally thought she was going to go out of business really quickly because all she sold were lemon bars and these sticky date puddings. They were good but who banks their business on lemon bars and sticky date puddings. Now Bakesale Betty really helped make Temescal cool– you should see how their business is set up and the lines outside their door.

Bakesale Betty has a jingle. All companies should have a jingle. I want a jingle.

Bakesale Betty incubated her company through the farmer's market circuit. Quite smart! And Farmer's Markets really are becoming a place where new businesses do incubate.

Bakesale Betty has befriended the Fire Department 4 or 5 houses down the street. The Firemen come into Bakesale Betty's often so everyone knows not to f*ck with Bakesale Betty. One of their best moves.

Dell XPS m1330

I like this computer. c|Net gave it a good review, a 7.9. Here it is on Dell's web site. I'm currently running a white MacBook. I also have an IBM X31 ThinkPad. I may get one of these XPS m1330 laptops but I'd like to get another MacBook (to replace my current one) probably in October this year or January next year. I want to wait until Leopard is pre-installed and then get Parallels for it too. I have a feeling the MacBook will get a good upgrade pretty soon.

Anway, one of the nice things about being in software is that it's easy to justify computer purchases. :-) Oh, and it's too bad these Dell laptops have to have Windows Vista installed. They really need to start putting in the option of a Linux OS installation as well. I'd pay for Ubuntu and Windows Vista installed.

The Paradox of Choice

I pulled down previous posts on this book (for no good reason), The Paradox of Choice. If you're in software, marketing, general business, or just having issues, I recommend this book.

Top Takeaways

  • For people in business, basically saying that there's a pretty big opportunity in just making life simple and easy for people and to not give people *so* many choices. Life is already hard as it is.
  • This book kinda tells you how to make choices or at least helps you understand what you're doing, profiles you in how you make choices, and provides really good insight with real examples. Almost every page, I'm like yup I can relate.
  • Basically reinforces that life is tough.

One last thing.  Taste is so hard to figure out.  Yelp and Amazon reviews are starting to not be so helpful anymore.  From a quick search perspective, reviews are still good.  Getting any more details on a product, service, restaurant, etc, better off getting a recommendation from a friend or hopefully finding others who consistently have the same taste as yours (which are usually friends).

good pots – Bourgeat

There's nothing like good pots. We're doing a slow kitchen upgrade, kitchen 1.5 if you will. Kitchen 1.0 consisted of cheap Emerilware non-stick pots and pans built by All Clad. They've done well the past 5 – 6 years and it was a good starter set. All Clad's marketing is pretty good but I can't really say the same for their low-end pots and pans — their low end pots are just ok, a bit overpriced, and slightly overrated.

So over to Matfer Bourgeat products. We got a 7 1/2 quart "sauce" pot (we use it as a stock pot) and I like it a lot. We got it from Culinary Cookware but I think there are probably cheaper places to buy these pots.

I christened the pot with this killer mussels with saffron and mustard recipe. The next day cooked some pasta in it and none of the pasta stuck to the bottom, sign of a good pot.

Tokyo Fish Market

I've been looking for a good fish shop in the Bay Area and usually get fish from Hudson Fish company which is a small family owned business. It's a Black owned business too which I like. The issue I have with Hudson Fish is that they're only around at the Berkeley's Farmer's markets on Tuesday and Thursday and their selection isn't huge. They're based out of Half Moon Bay.

I've found a fish market I like finally, Tokyo Fish Market. They have Hawaiian and Japanese foods too like shisho leaves, Yakult, Calpis soda, Portuguese sausage, and sashimi grade fish including ankimo (fish liver) and sea urchin. The fish I usually like buying is Loch Duarte salmon and they have it fairly cheap here.

Tokyo Fish Market is on San Pablo Avenue in Albany, near REI and off the Gilman Street exit. The trip for me seems worth it if I can't find what I want from Hudson Fish.

Yelp has a good set of reviews on it.

SFGate article on Tokyo Fish market

I found Tokyo Fish Market via my long runs. I've been running a 12 1/2 mile loop of late during the week and I run down San Pablo Avenue which goes through Oakland, Emeryville, Berkeley, and Albany. It's amazing what you see in 12 1/2 miles including the Berkeley Hills, the UC Berkeley Campus, the hood, folks smoking pot/dealing drugs, children playing, people running and walking their dogs, missing bus stops and finding fresh fish.

Note to Gen: I tried the Strawberry Calpico drink. Pretty darn good. The peach and mango I'll try next.

Another note: The best time to buy fish is Friday and Monday. That's when everybody gets their fish, Friday deliveries for the weekend, and Monday deliveries for the week.

MACプロ用ナイフ or MAC Knives

When you first start off buying house stuff, it's probably for college and you end up with a knife from the dollar store. Maybe you get lucky (or you're rich) and you get to buy nice stuff off the bat.

The next phase of accumulating stuff is when you get married or single but grown up a little bit more. Usually you're still not sure what to buy and get whatever is marketed to you, e.g. All Clad cookware, whatever.

That's a long way of stating I'm looking to upgrade our knife set, after a couple tries, and hopefully getting a set of MAC knives — a chef's knife, slicer, and paring knife from the pro series. I'd like to get a yanagiba knife too eventually, probably in lieu of a slicer.

MAC knives are made in Japan and are highly regarded by chefs like Thomas Keller of The French Laundry/Per Se and Charlie Trotter out of Chicago. They're also not that expensive in comparison to some other knives 0n the market.

A couple more things:

  • It's funny that the brand is MAC. Owning a MacBook and other Apple products and then have MAC knives seems a little too Mac-ish.
  • Buying a MAC knife is interesting because I can buy it off of Amazon but I see that it's cheaper to buy them here at Chef Knives to Go. How do I verify this business? Well, the store is hosted on Yahoo! Shopping. They have a number to call. So I may give them a call and probably will do business with them. Do I care if their checkout process is encrypted? Yes. Do I care where they got their cert? No. Am I using a credit card that covers me against online fraud and online purchases? Yes. I could also buy these MAC knives from a more local store in Sacramento — they own the MACKnife.com domain but the knives are also more expensive there.
  • Knives are cool.

I have a few more "domestic" and food things to write about that I want to get out of my system. I do like writing about products, partly because some really great/good products get buried by marketing machines who tout inferior or just ok products e.g. BOSE speakers. The other fun part is seeing my product "reviews" actually getting up there in various search engine's results. A side goal is to maybe get some free stuff. I could do with a free year's supply of Yakult. :)

Ice cream in the Bay Area

I'm probably not the best authority but ColdStone Creamery and Ben & Jerry's doesn't cut it.

Go here:

There's a Lappert's in Sausalito. That'd be the only chain I'd recommend.