For those of you unfamiliar with Woot!, they basically sell a semi-limited quanity of one thing per day, and it is usually a pretty good deal. The listings get updated at Midnight central time (10pm Pacific), and can sometimes sell out immediately. Typically the proprieters have a good sense of humor and they’ve done a great job building a community around their business.

So last year Woot! did their “Bag-O-Crap” thing on Christmas. Bag-O-Crap / BOC / Blinged Out Cabbage, etc. sort-of a customer appreciation event, where you buy a bag of random crap for $5, and you usually get some pretty good stuff. Normally it sells out very quickly.

I figure if they did it last year, they probably would do it this year as well. So I set my iPhone to alert me 5 minutes to 10, so I can have a shot at getting a BOC (which I’ve never been able to do).

10 pm rolls around–and sure enough, the BOC is up.

I try logging in, realize I forgot my password (I only order maybe 4 times a year from them). After I remember my password, it logs me in and tells me it is sold out. Bear in mind this whole process took at most 90 seconds.

Turns out they sold 4500 bags of crap in 1:15. Not one hour and fifteen minutes, but 75 seconds. I realize the site is very popular, but I find it somewhat hard to believe that is possible. I can’t help but believe that at least some of that was done by bots.

So I missed out. Again.

Wonder if it is time to implement a CAPTCHA system?

So Todd and I were hanging out the other night when the kitchen sink clogged. The water would drain out, but only slowly. The chemical solution wasn’t working quick enough, so we decided to step it up a notch.

After some head scratching, we realized that when we turned out the garbage disposal on that the that the water level on left hand sink would drop, but the right-hand sink would rise. Ureka! The garbage disposal is, in addition to its primary function of masticating food particles, a centrifigal pump.

The problem is that it wasn’t able to build up any pressure, because there was a hole in the charge pipe (the right hand sink drain). Fix that problem and you’ve a pipe-cleaning-pump in your very own kitchen!

Instructions on turning your Garbage Disposal into a pipe cleaner

2. Fill garbage disposal side of sink with a few inches of water.
3. Plug the opposite sink drain with a stopper/plug. Most sinks come with a plug.
4. While holding the plug (to provide a tight seal) on the non-disposal side of the sink, turn on the garbage disposal.

The (now pressurized) water will have no choice but to escape via the intended route: the drain pipe.

Problem solved. Put down the Draino.