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The coffee paradox

The coffee paradox states that you are too sleepy to make your coffee until after you have had your coffee. We made coffee with a french press for a long time, but it took time and energy and intelligence, all of which are lacking before you drink your first cup of coffee.

We thought we had solved the problem with a Capresso, a nice coffee machine which has a burr grinder and a basket that swings over to the water side after the beans are ground, keeping the steam from getting into the beans. It makes quite good coffee. Unfortunately, if you forget to set it up properly you end up with a pot of hot water in the morning. And if you aren't awake in the morning, you pour the pot of hot water back into the coffee maker, which melts the coffee maker.

Which is what I did this morning. Hopefully Michael can fix it (his practice repairing waffle makers and clock radios should come in handy). If he can't fix it, maybe he can help Luke take it apart.

This isn't the only machine that is failing this morning: the heater for the fish tank won't turn off and is trying to boil the fish. The water in the tank was up to 89 degrees this morning. Fortunately these fish are the hardiest I have ever had (survival of the fittest, right?). But we're going to have to figure something out soon.

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Anonymous said…
I've reset the fishtank heater at least once by turning it all the way to low and back, but it sounds like the solution to that problem is to (gasp) buy a new fishtank heater.

The solution to the coffee machine problem is two-fold: 1) repair is $65 flat fee including shipping both ways, could be worse 2) wake up 10 minutes earlier and enjoy delicious press-pot coffee for a few weeks.
October 17, 2008 at 2:20 PM
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