icedlatte.com

..they can be fun.

Last year I purchased a Saeco Easy super-automatic espresso machine. (See review here.) I’ve been very happy with it, and it makes a great latte.

Then suddenly yesterday, the grinder in it seems to be getting clogged.  It will start to grind the beans, and then stops with an error.  The grind is full of half ground and whole beans.  After cleaning it out, it will work for a few more brews, and then, fail again.

So it will have to go into the shop.  And by shop, I mean the coffee repair place.   Which is in Cave Creek.  While I live in Queen Creek, Cave Creek is on the other side of town.  Oh, and they’re not open on weekends.  Gotta love it.

Super-automatic espresso machines are still great, but when something goes wrong, it’s a pain since you can’t easily fix it.

Tags: espresso machine, grinder, repair, Saeco Easy

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At the AZ Diamondback game…

…all-you-can-eat picnic seats. Gotta love it.

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..for now.

So we stayed at the Tempe Buttes Resort for our wedding anniversary, and it was a good time.  We got a great deal for only $79 a night.  That gave us a room upgrade (king with a pool view), 2 breakfast buffet’s, and 20% off at the Spa.    The location was great, and the views were amazing.  Got some great timelapse pictures of stuff, so look for those soon.

Next up is possibly a quick trip to Disneyland to meet some friends, and then, of course, DEFCON.  This is the first time that the wife is tagging along, even though I’m sure she’ll mostly be hanging out by the pool or just enjoying all that Vegas has to offer.  Or sleeping.  One of those.

Tags: DEFCON, vacation, wedding anniversary

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Staying at…

…the Buttes in Tempe.

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…and it was a good time.

Pretty much the whole thing was paid for by one of the textbook publishers for my wife’s school district, so the only thing we had to pay for was my airfare, and a rental car. (Which we really didn’t need, but was nice to have.)

We ended up getting a 2009 Ford Flex.  Not bad, actually.  Was a comfortable ride, and had satellite radio, so that made the hour drive to Santa Fe much faster.

They had us staying at the Eldarado Hotel in downtown.  Nice place, and the room was comfortable.

All the meals were covered, and all of them were very tasty.  They even arranged a tour of downtown Santa Fe by a guide from the local museum for 4 hours, and we got a lot of great pictures which you can see on my Flickr page.

We were scheduled to fly out Sunday afternoon, but due to a few issues (my PDA moving all events forward an hour due to the time change, us taking the wrong trail in the National Park we visited and hiking a few more miles than we originally planned, for starters.), we missed our US Airways flight back to Phoenix.

Luckily, though, the last flight out at 6:30 wasn’t as full, and we got confirmed seats on that flight, so it all worked out in the end.

All in all, it was a great trip, and we really enjoyed Santa Fe; I can see why people want to live there.

Next up, is a weekend trip to celebrate our 9th wedding anniversary.

Tags: El Dorado Hotel, hiking, Santa Fe

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…and that usually means two things. The heat is here, and it’s time to get out of the heat.

So it’s supposed to be in the low 100’s the next week.  Not bad. The sad thought is, though, is that it’s only going to get worse.

So this week we get a free trip.  The wife is going to a conference in beautiful Santa Fe, New Mexico, and I get to tag along, all for just the cost of an airplane ticket.  Neither of us have been to Santa Fe, so a good time should be had by all.

Next week is our 9th wedding anniversary.  Hopefully going to stay at a local resort for at least one night.  Maybe work on my tan.

Goodbye May, Hello June.

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Tavi napping….

…ahhh. The life of a dog.

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Working on the yearly slideshow…

…for my wife’s school. Thank goodness for "Photo to Movie". Saves a lot of time.

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…yeah, I know neither of us are (is?) a mother, we decided to take my Mom to Disneyland for Mother’s Day.

The trip was good;  we still were able to get some Big Thunder and Space Mountain mojo in.  The Mom doesn’t like those ride, but she was a good sport and didn’t mind waiting while we rode them.

We also got some time to go to the beach, and have dinner at Ruby’s on the second-longest wooden pier in California.   (Seal beach for those keeping track at home.)

Pictures should be appearing soon.

Tags: Disneyland, Mother's Day, Ruby's, Seal Beach

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…this blog has now been around for 6 years.

What’s happened in that time?

Well, I’ve posted 634 entries.

You guys have posted over 100 comments.  (An additional 993 of those  are currently flagged as spam.  Over 22,000 have attempted to post spam comments.  Nice. )

We’ve bought 3 cars I’ve blogged about.

We have one puppy/dog.

We still don’t have kids.

I’ve posted pictures of countless iced latte’s.  Both homemade and one’s I’ve purchased from Starbucks.

We’ve taken countless trips to Disneyland.  Two trips to Disneyworld.  One with the Disney Cruise.

We’ve been on the Price is Right twice.  (Not on stage, mind you.)

We’ve taken one trip up the coast of California.  (It won’t be our last.)

We’ve been to the Pinball Museum in Las Vegas.

Cassie has won once at bingo in Vegas.

We’ve  stayed at two hotels with a tub in the living room. (And I’ll leave it at that.)

We purchased our homestead in the QC.

Here’s to hoping I’m able to post another 60 years.

Tags: 6 years, blogging, Price is Right, spam

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