costco – Krunk4Ever!

November 14, 2011

Project Get Rid of PCs

So Project Get Rid of PCs is officially underway! I decided I had too many computers running in my house and 2 of them are just fancy file servers. Now that I switched to a Mac mini, my Windows desktop has become nothing more than my video encoder / Quicken host, which I plan on converting to a VM.

Unofficially, this is also called Project Conserve Energy (for those who might not share my opinion on Mac OSX, you must at least agree conserving energy is good). I’ll be able to power down 3 full computers (hosting a total of 12 HDDs running 24/7) and replace them with 4 power-saving external USB drives.

I was initially planning to start this project during holidays, but with the floods in Thailand and the expected hard drive shortages, I decided to get them before the price was blown out of proportion. Costco had a coupon where the Western Digital 3TB drives would be $20 off and when SlickDeals reported the final price was $110, I decided to bite.

Even though Costco’s coupon showed a limit of 5 per customer, they had a sign up that said limit 2 due to the flooding in Thailand. SlickDeals did report you can actually bypass the limit as long as it’s only 2 per transaction.

Anyway, I pulled Derek along since these hard drives were going to come out of HD-Trailers.net’s budget, but was sad to find out that Issaquah was sold out of them. Their computer showed 6 in stock, but probably in people’s cart. The told us that Kirkland still had ~30 in stock and Derek was cool enough to take a side trip to Kirkland Costco. We each picked up 2 and my original estimation of ~$500 came pretty close. I had altered my estimated cost to ~$600 after I heard about the flooding in Thailand.

The plan was to have 2 sets of mirrored drives (RAID 1) and as Ryan has painfully found out, it’s impossible to use the Apple software to raid 3TBs. I went ahead and installed SoftRAID and setting up the arrays was really easy.

Now comes the long part of moving all the crap off my existing file servers onto these external USB drives.

April 26, 2010April 26, 2010

As Long As I Exercise, I Can Eat Anything I Want

I had a pretty awesome weekend. I finally had a weekend I could relax. ChewyDenise came to Seattle for a workshop, so we got to hang out. I’ll talk about that in a separate blog post.

For the 1st time since college, I’ve dropped below 140lbs. My scale read 139.6lbs this morning. I’m excited and scared at the same time. I appear to stick at a certain weight (within a pound) for most of the week, and then suddenly drop 3lbs overnight. My eating habit has also been changing. I don’t think I’m becoming anorexic, as I still love eating. But I’ve noticed I’m eating less and less these days, not that I ate that much previously. I think I’ve dropped to VonLobster’s level of eating.

With my busy work schedule these past few weeks, I’m ashamed to admit I’ve been skipping out on weight training, but at least I’ve continued with the elliptical. I was surprised I was still able to do 8 pull-ups the other day.

Here’s a picture of me when I first started working at Microsoft (July 2005):

I believe I was ~135lbs back then.

I’ve mentioned my motto to several friends before:

As long as I exercise, I can eat anything I want.

The funny thing is the 1st time I mentioned this, my friends “claimed” I said As long as I exercise, I can do anything I want. If I recall correctly, Chad’s response was, “Does that include murder?” Ah, my friends. ;p

So there you have it. My motto. Eating delicious food is one of my favorite things to do and I find it very sad to see people giving up tasty food because of health reasons. The day I’m told I can’t eat this or that anymore, is the day I’ll seriously consider if it’s worth living anymore. I’m not on a diet, but my body (or shrinking stomach) seems to be limiting what I eat. Therefore it makes even more sense to eat more of the good stuff, since I can only eat so much (e.g. cheesecake for dinner instead of the entrée).

On a somewhat-related topic, Xyon had mentioned that Costco sells mozzarella sticks. Mmmmmm. Unfortunately the last 2 times I went, they’ve been sold out. I did end up buying these vegetable spring rolls which comes with deep fry instructions. Haven’t had a chance to try it yet, but they look tasty from the box. Plus what deep fried food isn’t tasty?

Since we’re on the topic of Costco, there’s 2 things I wanted to also mention. It looks like my Costco is carrying this new product called Santa Cruz Organic Sparkling Lemonade. Being a big fan of lemonade, I just had to give it a try. And it did not disappoint.

Another thing I don’t quite get is dress sock sizes. Costco carries 2 brands of dress socks: Kirkland Signature and Gold Toes. They only have 1 sizing: Shoe Size: 6-12.5 / Sock Size: 10-13. I thought cool, my shoe size of 8 falls into that range, but when I tried it on, it’s a lot bigger than I had expected. The sock feels very loose and if I pull it very tight, the heel of the sock doesn’t align with my heel. Is this normal?

April 12, 2010

New Clothes!

Vonlobster and I went to Bellevue Square today to do some shopping, before dinner and How to Train Your Dragon. I was introduced to The Rail in Nordstrom, apparently the clothing section for young adult males. Unfortunately I didn’t really see anything I particularly liked. Also, I personally have an internal sense on how much I would ever pay for a particular article of clothing, and typically malls/brand new clothing stores (when not on sale) are far beyond what I’d pay. Of course if I urgently need say a tie for a dinner event the next day, price isn’t much of a concern anymore. Clothes just don’t excite me. I can see how clothing can make me look nice, but even if I dawn upon a full suit like how Barney does in How I Met Your Mother, it’s not like I’ll be checking myself out constantly. That’s a different story with electronics, gadgets, and toys. If I really like something, I buy it immediately, regardless of the price.

I was also quite surprised that Vonlobster was the 1st person to noticed my new shoes, new shoes I’ve been wearing since Wednesday. I guess people may have noticed, but just didn’t tell me. People did comment on my button-up shirt though.

The above were on sale for $20 each shipped.

As I tweeted earlier, I spent $163 at Costco on just clothing, probably a small # for you veteran clothing shoppers, but probably the most I’ve ever spent on clothing in a single transaction. Right now I’m trying to convert my wardrobe tops from L(arge) to M(edium). I got myself several Kirkland Signature dress shirts, several Calvin Klein t-shirts, and several Hathaway polos. The Calvin Klein t-shirts were really nice and soft. I especially liked the Hathaway polos, even though I’ve never heard of them and couldn’t really find much information on them. The really only thing I found about Hathaway was an article featured in a 2007 Costco Connection. There were also some really nice PGA Tour polos too, but the only sizes they had were L, XL, and XXL. They also had some really nice Under Armour polos, but cost twice as much ($30 Under Armour vs $15 Hathaway), so I decided to stick with Hathaway and was pleasantly surprised by how nice they were.

While getting rid of some old t-shirts (some I had since college) to make room for my new clothing, I found my old stockpile of pants I wore back in college and they fit me again! Sweet! That means I can hold off on buying new pants. Though I am at the last hole on my belt, so it looks like I might need to invest in a new one.

One thing I’m working on right now is trying to find a jacket. I’m not quite sure what I’m looking for yet. The thing is I don’t wear jackets all that often, and if I do, it’s usually something very thin/lightweight. A blazer isn’t an everyday thing and I’m not into leather jackets either. I do have several sports/track jacket, but they don’t particular go well with the new clothes I’ve purchased. Oh well, not in any particular rush here. Summer’s around the corner so I have till next Winter to find a new jacket.

March 27, 2010March 27, 2010

Friday Gathering!

It’s been long time since I invited Perry-tachi (see definition #2: tachi) over for dinner and games. I’ve seen Perry a few times since New Years, but everyone’s been really busy lately. There was that potluck over at Valerie’s sometime earlier this year, which was really fun. I still remember Ike (pronounced EK) shouting “grape tree house” over and over again during Pictionary. Oh yeah, congratulations on Sathana for getting his Ph.D. candidacy! This gathering had been long overdue and I was happy to see everyone again and that everyone was doing fine.

I sent out an email on Monday asking if people were interested in coming over on Friday/Saturday night for dinner and movie/games. I was a bit sad when only 3 people had responded and only Perry and Carolynn accepted. I sent out another email on Wednesday night and got 1 more accept from Sathana. It turns out that somehow my email ended being caught by UW’s spam filter. Here’s the email in full:

Hey guys!

It’s been awhile since we last got together at my place. I was wondering if people were interested in grabbing dinner followed by either a movie or Rock Band.

I recently acquired The Good, The Bad, The Weird, a Korean movie that looks hilarious:
http://www.hd-trailers.net/movie/the-good-the-bad-the-weird/
http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/independent/thegoodthebadtheweird/
http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1809884000/info
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/good_the_bad_and_the_weird/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0901487/
Of course there’s English subtitles.

I’m open to other movie suggestions as well.

Or we can always do what always do and play Rock Band. Since we’ve last played, I’ve gotten plenty of new songs. Let’s say Friday tentatively, but if people prefer Saturday instead, we can do that too.

//Toland (^_^x)

Maybe I had too many links in my email or maybe krunk4ever.com is considered a spam domain? Saran and Tom found out earlier today and wanted to come. Valerie also found out last minute and came over too. Perry even spoke with Joe and coordinated some Halo 3 over Xbox Live (he currently works in New Mexico). It was a full house once again.

We decided if 4 or less people, we’d have dinner a Sushiland. 5+ and we would go to Yea’s Wok. Only 4 were available for dinner (or found out early enough to join) so we ended up eating at Sushiland in Bellevue. I was surprised that at 7pm on a Friday there was hardly any line. It did get a bit busier later on, but previously on Fridays we had to wait upwards to an hour.

Afterwards we came back to my place and setup another Xbox 360 console using my 24″ Dell LCD. I really need to get that projector for my basement. That’ll be sweet. The few of us who had arrived early played some Beatles Rock Band while we waited for the others to arrive. I noticed that they now show you your friends’ score and I was surprised we actually beat Tekman’s and Angel’s score in Yellow Submarine.

Most of the people arrived and we started some Halo 3 4 vs 4 multiplayer action. It was hilarious hearing Joe and Perry speak over the microphone as it’d be delayed a few seconds on a screen and as someone mentioned Perry sounded like a high-pitched chipmunk. And for some reason, the chat wasn’t blocked per team, so we were able to hear everything they were planning. The teams actually turned out to be quite even after a few matches, but I think Joe was just goofing around after the 3rd round. Having Perry and Joe on the same team originally was slaughter for the 4 of us. Our team was much more even, where everyone would have about the same number of kills. On the other team, Joe and Perry would have 20 kills each, while the others would have about 5 kills each.

Joe called it a night and some people switched over to playing a soccer game. In the meantime, I deep fried some shrimp tempura. Did you know that Costco sells these awesome Panko Breaded Shrimp (Kirkland Signature brand). At first I thought it was shrimp with Panko mix where I would dip the shrimp and deep fry them, but it turns out they come pre-breaded. Yet another win for lazy Toland! The instructions provided actually tell you to use the oven, but after experimenting a few times, I find that 2 minutes at 350F is perfect for 3-8 shrimps. 2.5 minutes is still good, but at 3 minutes you have black charcoal shrimps. People seemed to enjoy them. 🙂

Afterwards, we switched over to Rock Band and tried out some of the new songs I recently got. Rock Band was a blast as usual. Singing Lady Gaga was really fun. We also got to try out OneRepublic, White Stripes, 3 Doors Down and a bunch of other music I’ve acquired since our last gathering. I even tried expert on drums and guitar for several easy songs. Expert on drums can get crazy difficult.

The last of us splitted around 2:30am and ended the night with Silversun Pickups – Panic Switch. Did I mention it’s been a long time since I had so much fun. Few probably know the reason why I setup this gathering. And today was going so well too! Sigh…

Perry’s birthday is next week, so we’ll probably do something again to celebrate.

October 2, 2009

I ♥ Kirkland Signature

I ♥ Kirkland Signature!

From this month’s Costco Connection:

With Kirkland Signature, Costco can:

Develop popular items with wide appeal to expand sales volume

Control the quality of the product

Drive down prices on national brands

Control the packaging

Achieve pallet efficiencies.

– Jim Sinegal, Costco CEO

The working rule followed by Costco buyers is that all Kirkland Signature products must be equal to or better than the national brands, and must offer a savings to our members.” – Dick DiCerchi, Costco COO

In the traditional marketplace, brands are build over the years with expensive advertising campaigns built around cornerstone produts. In contrast, the Kirkland Signature brand has grown by this formula: Offer high-quality products at great prices, and let the members decide. – Tim Talevich

May 9, 2009May 9, 2009

Pepsi Natural vs Pepsi Throwback

Awhile back I tweeted that Costco was now selling Pepsi Natural. I heard Pepsi was releasing a version of the soft drink using real sugar instead of HFCS (high fructose corn syrup). It was now available at Costco.

I was surprised at how Pepsi Natural turned out. It tasted very different than regular Pepsi. It was definitely less sweet and a lot lighter than regular Pepsi. I’m not even sure which one I liked more, regular Pepsi or Pepsi Natural. If I had to choose one, I would say regular Pepsi wins by a bit.

Later I read someone had tried and enjoyed Pepsi Throwback. Wasn’t sure what Pepsi Throwback was, but it turns out to be another variation of Pepsi with real sugar. At first I thought it was just 2 different names for the same product used in 2 different markets, but it turns out there is a real difference!

According to Lucrative Investing:

The difference between Pepsi Natural and Pepsi Throwback is Pepsi natural has natural caramel and kona nut extract, while Pepsi Throwback has all the regular ingredients but with sugar instead of HFCS. Pepsi Natural will also be sold in glass containers.

So whatever they removed from regular Pepsi in Pepsi Natural, has given it a lighter and less sweet taste. I’ll definitely need to try Pepsi Throwback one of these days.

Of course Mexican Coke still beats all.

March 22, 2009

Mamma Italia – Mixed Berry Gelato

Did my regular Costco trip yesterday since there were new coupons which started earlier this week. I was sad to find out that they had sold out of their Hawaiian Sweet Rolls (from their bakery). Guess that’s what happens when you go during the last hour of when they’re opened. Those things are so soft and delicious. I usually pick one up whenever I go.

However, not all was lost. I found a different reward instead. Turns out Costco now carries Italian Gelato. I’ve been craving ice cream earlier this week and this was perfect. They only carry one brand/flavor: Mamma Italia – Mixed Berry Gelato. It is a bit more expensive than regular ice cream, costing $8 for 1.9 quart. However, compared to other gelato, this is a great deal!

The even cooler part is that the cute cashier was talking about how awesome it was but said some found it a bit too sweet. I said, that’s even better, I have a sweet tooth. Then it happened again at the receipt checker. He commented that the gelato was very delicious and I definitely was going to enjoy it. I just smiled in return. 🙂

After trying it, I do have to say it was extremely yummy. The gelato was so soft and sweet. 🙂

March 10, 2009March 10, 2009

Too Much Butter is Bad for Cookies

For people who know me and are a frequent patron of my snacks, you know I sometimes bring in chocolate chip cookies. They are of course no other than the Otis Spunkmeyer ones I get from Costco. I’ve been a big fan of the Otis Spunkmeyer cookies, not only because they taste great, but they’re easily to make. They already come in little balls where I just dump onto my baking tray. I’ve tried the Nestle Toll House ones twice and was disappointed in the fact that I had to wait for it to defrost before I could start scooping out the cookie dough, which made baking them a lot less fun, especially if I wanted cookies immediately.

Anyway, I got a new batch of Otis Spunkmeyer chocolate chip cookies several weeks ago and baked the 1st batch from it this weekend and the cookies came out weird. They were still delicious, but they were flat:

I’ve baked tons of their cookies before and they’re typically quite plump coming out of the oven and then they flatten a bit. However, these came out flat shown in the above picture and were flatter than normal. I thought maybe they forgot to add yeast.

So I went to to their website http://www.otisspunkmeyer.com/ and tried to find an email to contact them. Unfortunately, I was only able a mailing address and phone/fax numbers. So I shot an email to the email address listed in the whois info:

Hi,

I apologize if this isn’t the correct email address to forward my concerns. I wasn’t able to find any customer service email address on your website (www.otispunkmeyer.com). If there’s a customer service department you can forward this email to, please do so.

I recently purchased some Otis Spunkmeyer Chocolate Chip cookies from Costco. I’ve been a long customer of Otis Spunkmeyer Chocolate Chip cookies and this was the 1st time I noticed the cookies were flat and didn’t rise. See attached image.

I’ve baked Otis Spunkmeyer cookies before and they typically rise after baking and slowly flatten a bit afterwards. However, these cookies were fresh from the oven after baking for 20 minutes at 325F and were flatter than even cooled down cookies.

They were still delicious, but I was wondering if it could possibly be a batch that yeast was forgotten to be added.

And the next morning I get this reply:

Hi Tom

This was forwarded to me by our distribution department. First, let me clarify our website, which is www.spunkmeyer.com. There is a link for customer service questions/concerns on the site.

Addressing the cookie issues, after looking at the picture, it appears the cookies may have too much butter in them, which will cause them to bake up flat and thin. This would be caused by the dough not being mixed enough for all ingredients to be fully incorporated.

Please provide to us the stamped number printed on the bag inside the Costco box. That number will tell us which plant and what day the product was made on (ex. 8S250). Also, please provide us with your mailing address so that we can issue you a refund.

Thank you for allowing us to correct this issue for you.

I’ve already sent a reply back thanking for the clarification and the awesome customer service.

But I have to ask you guys, do you see a difference between: www.spunkmeyer.com and www.otisspunkmeyer.com? And if anyone’s able to find a link for customer service questions/concerns? Update: As Xyon pointed out, I misspelled the domain in my original email, and that may have caused the confusion. However, I’m still not able to find the customer service link.

And I feel really stupid with my yeast remark. Haha, who knew that cookies didn’t need yeast to make them rise and be plump. I guess most people besides me. According to Ungsunghero, cookie dough doesn’t actually “rise”. And from now on folks, you know too much butter makes cookies flat.

Side Note: This has been the 3rd or 4th time someone’s referred to me as Tom/Thomas in an email reply. Does my name really map to Tom? I’ve checked my emails and it lists my first/last name correctly as well as my signature. Oh well.

January 14, 2009January 14, 2009

Young Lady

So I was at Costco this past weekend at one of those sample booths trying out their guacamole and chips. Anyway, I was so surprised to be referred to as “young lady” when she handed me the sample. Seconds later, she realized she made a mistake and began apologizing profusely and said it was the long hair and she got confused. I wanted to tell her not to worry and but the first word that popped into my head was 気にしない (kinishinai), which means don’t mind/worry in Japanese. It took a second or 2 before I remember what the English phrase was, accepted her apology and walked away. I guess my anime vocabulary is mixing up with my real life.

I’ve been referred to as ma’am on the phone a lot, which I can understand since I talk in a semi-higher pitch than most guys. But this was a first I’ve been referred to as a lady in real life. I just found the situation mildly amusing.

Along the same lines, at another sample booth, there was a guy who would not give the sample to what I would say to be a 11-year old kid because his parents weren’t around. When I was small, I’ve confronted this situation many times and had to always drag my dad or mom with me to get those samples. However, I always thought it was because I wasn’t old enough to purchase it, so in order to try the samples, I needed someone who is capable of purchasing to request a sample with.

However, this guy gave a different and much more logical response than what I had believed in. It turns out they’re not allowed to give samples to children who aren’t accompanied by adults because they would be liable for anything that happens to the kid. His example was allergies. I agreed that this was the correct action Costco needed to enforce to protect themselves. The kid then insisted he’s not allergic to the 7 layer dip, but the sample guy would not relent. It was a pretty awkward situation and I blame America for being so sue happy. Whatever happened to parents taking responsibility of their kids and making sure they’re not wandering off trying stuff they’re allergic to.

July 21, 2008July 20, 2008

Snapmat!

So I finally got my new chairmat. For those who missed my rant on my previous chairmat, you can read it here: ES Robbins Chair Mats – Lifetime Warranty?

While digging through my Costco receipts, I finally found my chairmat receipt dated 7/25/2006. I loaded the chairmat into my car and headed off for my biweekly Costco trip.

When I was returning the chairmat, I mentioned how I was ready to purchase a new one a few weeks ago until I noticed how the chairmat was supposedly crack-proof and had lifetime warranty. But after going home and looking up the warranty information, I found out I had to pay $20 for shipping which was moot since I can pay $18+tax at Costco and get a brand new one right then and there. He agreed that it was ridiculous for them to charge $20. He was cool and accepted this 2-year old return.

I ended up picking up one of the nicer chairmats that they carry: Snapmat. It did cost an arm and a leg. Considering that the regular plastic chairmats cost $18, this one cost $70, but I’m expecting this to last a REALLY REALLY LONG TIME.

The previous one always had problems with creating potholes and the wheels would always slide into those making it hard to maneuver in my chair. Let’s just say I’ve been enjoying sliding my chair back and forth for the past few hours.

The funny thing was that this chairmat was unfoldable, making it not fit in my trunk, I had to do some weird configurations in my car to actually get it to go in, with a series of steps of folding down both chairs, sliding the chairmat in, and then flip it into the back seat and the pop the driver seat back up. Unloading it required the same steps in reverse.

Later on, I decided to send the following email to Costco:

Hi,

I would like to bring to your attention of an item that you sell: ES Robbins Chair Mat (122164)

As noted on the sticker, it comes with a Lifetime Warranty, but I think your customers may be fooled by this. The chairmat costs $18 at Costco. In order to get a replacement via ES Robbins, there’s a $20 shipping and handling charge, therefore rendering the warranty useless as I can go to Costco and pick up one quicker and cheaper than getting it through the warranty service.

I know Costco sells quality products and I’m just making sure you weren’t tricked into believing their quality with their lifetime warranty service.

My chairmat had started to crack about 6 months prior and I was able to return my chairmat to Costco even though it has been almost 2 years. I ended up upgrading to one of those wooden chairmats and have been pleasantly surprised on how great they are.