MAVROMATIC » Offbeat

Kurt Systems: High-Tech Horse Trainer

Danny Mavromatis — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 02:33:09 +0000

I was reading the latest issue of POPULAR SCIENCE and saw this new high-tech horse training system developed by a Turkish man. The story behind this invention is that Mehmet Kurt developed this device after his own horse died from overtraining and human error. The solution was to build a $427,000 training machine which monitors the horses vitals while training and maximize the speed and fitness of the horse. Pretty cool concept!

No, I am not Tropical Storm Danny!

Danny Mavromatis — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 21:09:15 +0000

You can follow and track Tropical Storm Danny live using this cool Google Maps based viewer @ ABC13.com KTRK Houston.

American Waste: The Story Of A Home Depot / Thomasville Outdoor Patio Set That Came Damaged

Danny Mavromatis — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 22:01:32 +0000

We just took delivery of an outdoor patio set which we love except for one little part came defective. The seat frame (”Part C”) came split as shown in the photo. As I’m a DIYer, I would typically try to repair something like this, however, since it is A) an expensive item B) a product that will be used outdoors and in weather C) the wood is split and shattered… the repair I make wouldn’t last. So I went with getting the product replaced. I thought it would be any easy replacement item and called up HomeDepot.com and told them I needed either a whole new seat, or if possible, just the replacement part – “Part C”. The customer service agent told me he could get me a replacement part and said he sent the request for the new part onto the vendor.

The issue is that the replacement part could take up to 3 weeks to get AND no one can guarantee that the part will even arrive in 3 weeks as it depended on this unknown vendor (apparently it’s a tightly held secret as to who the vendor is… even Thomasville said the same thing and they are the ones with their name on the product!). The customer service agent has no way of getting a hold of the vendor directly besides through “email”. The boxes say the set is made in Vietnam so does that mean the vendor is located there too? Do they only have one-way email? Who knows? I said fine and he placed the order and that was that. I thought about it last night and realized that a few weeks will bring us into the prime of summer and since no firm date was given, it was not sitting right with me. Heck, it could take months to get the replacement for all I know. So I called up Home Depot again today and asked them if there was any status or if they could find out the status. They checked and said the “email is still in the process of being uploaded into the system”. How can that be? Are they running on 300 baud modems and sending terrabytes worth of data each day to warrant an email still in the process of being uploaded to the system? When I send an email, it is sent instantaneously. That got me a bit fired up… so I told the lady at Home Depot that if it takes two days to get an email sent what are the chances that the replacement part will come sooner than 3 weeks? She couldn’t give an answer. The only option to get a firm date (5-7 days) for a replacement part was to reorder a complete 7-piece set! That’s right! I had to reorder 267lbs of goods, trucked from who knows where to get a part that weighs only 1lb. Then, when the whole new set arrives, in four boxes, I need to pull out the piece I need from one box, call up the trucking company and have them take it all back again. Efficient!

I tried everything to get Home Depot / Thomasville to just either give me a firm date for the replacement part, just ship a single chair, or two chairs as two chairs come per box. However, “due to inventory”, they cannot ship just one item if it comes in a set. They can’t even hold all the packages at the warehouse except for the one I need (two chairs). Nope. It makes more sense for Home Depot to eat all shipping costs, to and from (since this set is only available online in our area) than it is to break up a set, ship a chair or two and then wait for the return of the damaged chair to arrive to make their set whole again. Did I already say, I’d just be happy with a firm date on the replacement part — but NO ONE could give that? This is a perfect example of how reckless our businesses are run in the US. Sad. If I were a Home Depot Share Holder I’d be quite upset over these types of business practices. This “Eco-Friendly” set which uses FSC-certified Eucalyptus wood frames has now turned into one of the most un-eco friendly ones.

I really don’t know what my options are besides going the most unpractical, inefficient, ungreen way. What would you guys do in this situation?

Dry Soda Co. – Cucumber Soda

Danny Mavromatis — Fri, 29 May 2009 23:52:19 +0000

So I was a bit late to the game earlier this week when I blogged about the Vanilla Bean and Juniper Berry as being Dry Soda’s newest flavors. Today I got the chance to taste Dry Soda’s real newest flavor, Cucumber.

Right here, right now, I’m proclaiming that the Dry Soda Co.’s Cucumber Soda, is my 2009 Summer beverage of choice. This years contenders were Pepsi Natural and Dry Soda’s Vanilla Bean. There is something about this flavor that I really dig… it’s not too sweet or fake tasting. Just for fun, I paired the soda with a persian cucumber (which I eat as snacks) and the taste was identical (at least to my palette).

So, if you are like me, someone that loves cucumbers, and eats them like candy, then you’ll love the new Cucumber Soda from Dry Soda Co. I also hear you can make some pretty good cocktails with it… can’t wait to try those out.

Official Press Release - INTRODUCING CUCUMBER DRY SODA

Dry Soda Co. – New Flavor, Vanilla Bean!

Danny Mavromatis — Wed, 27 May 2009 22:03:02 +0000

I’ve enjoyed Dry Soda Co. pretty much since their beginnings back in 2005. Recently, while I was at Whole Foods purchasing supplies for the beverage center, I noticed that Dry Soda released two new flavors, Vanilla Bean and Juniper Berry. Both are excellent, however, the Vanilla Bean flavor will really suit EVERYONE’S taste buds. Now the complete line of Dry Soda Co. flavors include KUMQUAT, LAVENDER, LEMONGRASS, RHUBARB, VANILLA BEAN and JUNIPER BERRY. If you see these in your local Starbucks (I’ve seen them carried here in Seattle stores) or super market, expand you palette and try one or all of these flavors!

UPDATE: Apparently, I’ve been a little late to the party as a new Cucumber flavor has been released! Can’t wait to try that one, my wife and I love cucumber water, so this must be even better!

Pepsi Natural & Mexican Coca-Cola (Coke)

Danny Mavromatis — Wed, 06 May 2009 00:48:36 +0000

I don’t drink much cola these days, my beverage of choice for the last year has been straight tea — I drink about 4-5 cups of it a day. However, when I do drink cola it has to meet some criteria. The soda needs to be the kind without High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) and in glass bottles. To my delight, while picking up my supply of mangos from Costco, I saw that Pepsi has released a new drink called, “Pepsi Natural“. This all natural cola is made with sparkling water, sugar and kola nut extract! I just popped open a bottle and it actually takes pretty, pretty, good!

Now, when guests come over to the Grouse, they can have their pickings of Mexican Coke, Pepsi Natural, Dry Soda, and S. Pellegrino all in glass bottles which are recycled after consumption — now if only we could get the bottles refilled!?

POLL: Has The Economy Affected You?

Danny Mavromatis — Mon, 04 May 2009 23:51:19 +0000

I just installed a new poll system and thought I’d run a poll to gauge how the current state of the economy has affected readers of Mavromatic. If there isn’t a poll answer that best fits, enter it in the comments.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

City Boy Starts Farmin’ — Farm Automation?

Danny Mavromatis — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 15:30:19 +0000

I’ve been known to joke about getting out of technology and start a farm. But joking wasn’t my buddy Ron — you might know him from the Ron & Don Show on 710 Kiro News Radio — he’s actually bought some land (9.4 acres of it) in Maple Valley, WA and is building himself a farm. He started a blog chronicling his adventures so we can all live vicariously through him. His latest post is on building a horse shelter.

I’ll try to get him to automate the farm… Ron, how ’bout some security cameras, automated gates, egg sensors, proximity sensors, or GPS on livestock for realtime tracking?

- City Boy Starts Farmin’ [blogspot]

Best Fruit On The Planet?

Danny Mavromatis — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 18:36:06 +0000

Mangos! Ever since our Honeymoon to Brazil, my wife and I have developed an intense love for mangos — we’d eat them every morning. In the summertime, we try to eat them daily but they are hard to find at times and the prices are all over the board. However, last week I found out that our local Costco carries them in nine packs so I went bonkers and stocked up (total of 27 mangos). We’ve been eating mangos everyday for weeks! The tool that makes eating them quick and easy (’cause we all know it’s a pain to cut mangos) is made by OXO. Their Mango Splitter is one of the best kitchen tools I have ever used and a must for mango eaters. At $12 it’s a no brainer… get your very own OXO Mango Splitter from Amazon.com now and stock up on mangos from Costco!

Green & Organic Vodkas

Danny Mavromatis — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 19:00:20 +0000

I’ve been on this organic/natural kick lately so when I went to the liquor store I wanted to check out what types of organic libations existed. After checking all the sections, I only noticed that two Vodka’s are going after the “Green” & “Organic” trends.

360 Vodka is going after the folks that are trying to reduce their carbon footprint. The Earth Friendly Distilling Co uses American Grain and recycled materials for their bottle and labels/packaging. Of course, they are also claim that their vodka is finely crafted since it’s “quadruple distilled and five times filtered”.

If you are on the Organic craze (like me) then the Eco-chic Square One is for you. They claim to be the first certified organic 100% American rye vodka and environmentally friendly.

Let me know if anyone has had these before… I’d love to know how they compare to the standards, like Grey Goose and Ketel One.