Both my parents are bordering on being coffee snobs. My mum has a vintage commercial Rancilio, and my dad has a collection of domestic Gaggia’s. I however, care more about what’s in the cup, than how it got there.
I generally use one of my several stovetops for my morning brew. I’ve had all sorts of stovetops in the past, and until now, I’ve always been a fan of Bialettis. But, for the money, Forever give them a good run for their money. Forever stovetop espresso machines are made in China. And if you’ve got a problem with that, stop reading now. If you think an Italian factory is any better than a Chinese factory, then you’re living in the 70s, or at best, the 80s. Anyway… back to the coffee.
I’ve recently bought a little 4 cup Forever “Miss Inox”, and it’s one of the best stovetops I’ve ever used. The stainless steel is good (NEVER buy aluminium, no matter how cheap it is), the silicon gasket is very firm, and seems very durable. I can’t fault this little machine. It’s cheap, it’s built well, and it’s very very pretty.
Forever Espresso Miss TUTU 3 Cup Espresso Maker
$14.99
Has your Peugeot 306 heater fan stopped? Or does it squeak really badly? It’s a common problem, and it’s easy to fix – and if you’re lucky, it should only take about five minutes.
All you’ll need is some spray lubricant, ideally with an extender nozzle.
First of all, get some newspaper or an old sheet and stick it on the floor of your car. Then remove the sound proofing panel under the dash in the passenger foot well. This is held on by two soft plastic clips.
Now the back breaking part. Stick your head under the dash, and towards the outside of the foot well you should see a big black plastic cover, with a small rubber hose going into the center of it. Gently pull the hose off, but be careful not to snap the plastic tube that it’s pushed over. Now start up the car, turn the fan to ON, and squirt some lubricant up into the hole where the rubber hose was connected. That should fix it. You should now have a quiet fan. Reconnect the rubber hose, and you’re done.
If that doesn’t work, you can take the entire fan assembly out and give it a proper clean. Disconnect the rubber hose (as above), and also the brown power plug. You need to remove the four Torx screws from the black cover (I just used a small flat head screwdriver) – two are easy to get to, and two are a real pain. Once you’ve got them out, pull down on the cover and the whole thing should eventually drop out. Now you can give it a good spray with something like WD40 to get it moving. Let it dry off for a while, and spray in a bit of lubricant or sewing machine oil. Put it back together and cross your fingers.
Crespo Cams Peugeot 306 307 16v DOHC Perf. Camshafts
$525.95
K04-002 FORD TurboTRANSIT 91-96 PEUGEOT Turbo 306 406
$250.00
K&N 57i Air Intake 97 98 99 00 01 02 PEUGEOT 306 NEW
$176.66
K&N 57i Air Intake 93 94 95 96 97 PEUGEOT 306 57-0081-1
$154.46
I’ve just made my own ghetto night vision scope. It’s not exactly pretty, but it works, and it cost me under $30. I’ve got a cheap infrared flashlight that I’ve attached to my scope, and a $10 infrared webcam looking down the scope. I can then monitor it all on my netbook.
It’s not portable at all, and it’s a bit clunky to get set up. But I’ve been happily sitting in my back yard the last few nights, with a card table for my laptop and beer, and scoping rats on the laptop using my homemade night vision. They have no idea what hit ‘em.
Infrared camera $185.00 – Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W5 5.1M Infrared IR Digital Camera
I’ve had rats, or mice (or both) in my ceiling all summer. I got so sick of it that I went and bought a Pest Xit Duo. I’ve had it for 2 weeks, and it’s finally starting to have an effect. A few nights ago I heard the rats going crazy, scratching around, squealing, and tearing at the walls – almost as if they couldn’t stand it anymore… and for the last couple of days I’ve heard absolutely nothing. It’s almost like somebody has flicked a switched and just turned off the noise in my ceiling. They’ve gone. It works.
The Maha/Powerex MM-C9000 is without a doubt, the best NiMH battery charger in the world. I’ve got AA cells that are three years old, and would charge with with my Swallow charger. The C9000 brought them back from the dead. If you’re a battery geek, then you’ll love this.
c9000 $94.00 – C9000 Touch Screen WiFi (Unlocked)
