Knock, knock! Anybody still here? Any Plain Jane coffee maker suggestions for a non-coffee-snob, non-foodie? DH drinks two cups of coffee at breakfast. I have one cup, cafe au lait. (Acid tummy.) Our 15-year-old Krups drip coffee maker with thermal carafe is acting up -- failing to use all the water in the reservoir, despite de-scaling with vinegar. It uses #4 Melitta cones. I use a separate small burr grinder. I warm the thermal carafe before making coffee. My main objectives are a decent brewing temperature, a thermal carafe, and a medium-low price point. Among the medium priced five drip coffee makers that Consumer Reports says reach high enough water temps, only the Capresso MT600 did not have bad user reviews on the carafe. (Complaints about drips; some people resorting to pouring *over the sink*.) Costco has a Capresso CM300 for $60. The MT600's MSP is $140. Would you encourage/discourage me from buying either one? (At least I could return the CM300 with no loss.) Would you encourage any of the 'pod' type coffee makers? (I would not be spending hundreds per year on pre-made pods, but using our own freshly ground beans.)

Lars is you can get what you want with fully automatic settings then that's great and it's true you can usually make adjustments in Photoshop or other programs. I had some disappointing results the other day with my DSLR in the Botanical garden where there are extremes of dark shade and bright sunlight. I'm going back there again and will use only automatic to see what settings the same camera chooses and how the pics turn out. Then I can go back again and hopefully fine tune my settings for some better pictures. It's all trial and error sometimes in difficult lighting situations. Luckily the entrance fee is just a couple of Euros. :-) SharonCb

Bummer - years ago, we had a mug handle separate for no reason, MY DD fixed it with glue and it lasted many years (probably at least 10) We had guests over for dinner and he mentioned that he glued that mug over 10 years before. Our guest picked up the mug and the handle came off again. She thought it was a set up - I think it was ESP. Learning experience for cold weather - I won't try tossing cold water in our ceramic cups - maybe in a silicone measuring cup as the temp is flying downhill here as well. We had almost 2 feet of snow in the last week! A2gemini

Buehl, please do! I was just trying to save something of use. I'd been checking the GW all night, turned my back for 15 minutes to watch the Health Care vote, and whammo! all the posts were gone. I kept refreshing, thinking, "This can't be!"