Switch from the Switch

FYI--This is the third base dugout of Pete Beiden Field on the Fresno State campus. I heard somewhere that this is the first Fresno State, or maybe CSU, building or facility that was named for a living person at the time of the naming. Amazing man, Pete was. I was a second string first baseman/first base coach on a team he assisted. The last time I saw him was 20 years later in the midst of Alzheimer's at a Bulldog game. He remembered my brother and I. Escaped from Russia during the Revolution. He was but a lad, as he would say. His brother coached my father in football at Visalia High School. Amazing.


The people in the stands represent how many people would like to purchase a Mr. Coffee Switch coffee maker after having used one. We received one from Freecycle and I have been trying to use it for a month or so. I think the product is so named because the switch is the problem. Think The Ghost and Mr. Chicken meets Herbie the Love Bug.

Push the switch, the light goes on, but not the brewing. Toggle the switch back and forth to "activate" the switch, usually it doesn't work. Unplug and redo, same result, though sometimes the light doesn't light. Pour the water out, heat water in a teapot, pour into the cup o' grounds and after 4-6 cups of coffee brewed "old school," it starts up brewing. The coffeemaker seems to get mad when you outsmart it.

I went online to search for a new switch to put into the Switch, no luck. But did find a consumer affairs website. 225 negative comments about Mr. Coffee coffee makers. That didn't sound like many, but the comments were interesting. The most common complaint? The switch of the Switch. It didn't work, then it did, then it didn't. Sounds like our coffeemaker is normal for the model. Number 2, the pot leaking or exploding. One gentleman started a pot at work and came back to the room on fire from the coffeemaker. I think it is time to switch from the Switch.

I wonder if Joe D is turning in his grave.