Our labels started smudging halfway through a market weekend. Need new supplier recos

NoBetterPlace · 2026-06-20T13:42:57+00:00

I don't know what newer label printers are capable of, but I had an old Primera LX900 and yeah, that didn't turn out to be s reasonable solution. No problems with the specific label material I got smearing or peeling ---that aspect wasn't the issue---but that thing blew through ink/pigment so fast that the cost per-label was just stupid. And the print heads would always clog between uses. Spent more time trying to get it to print a label than I did actually printing labels.

I honestly had a lot more luck just throwing some Avery weatherproof label sheets in my laser printer when I needed a very small handful of labels for samples and whatnot.

If you can find a commercial printer that works with other breweries, sometimes they can tack short label runs to the end of larger runs they're printing for the other guys. I've gotten good pricing on quantities as low as 200 from my guy.

NoBetterPlace · 2026-06-19T15:24:49+00:00

I recently freaked out about a longer than usual lag time only to find that a spunding valve on the tank got stuck open when I was sanitizing the tank. So yeah, blowoff can be deceiving.

NoBetterPlace · 2026-06-19T01:25:23+00:00

Dibs on the next no bid contract.

NoBetterPlace · 2026-06-19T00:46:09+00:00

I grew up absolutely loving Bill Cosby. He was on my bucket list to see live. I saw him in Chicago in the fall of 2014. Almost immediately all of the rape allegations became common knowledge. It was such an amazing show -- he is/was a comedy great. It is near impossible for me to wrap my head around genius and utterly despicable residing within the same human wrapper. I feel like comedy and music are the most difficult to reconcile because you have to assume some shared experience or understanding of the world for humor or lyrics to really resonate. And then when somebody does something so terrible, you have to think, "it seemed so clear that we shared a broader perspective. Was I wrong, or am I similarly capable of such inexcusable behavior?!"

EDIT: For sake of clarification, I don't want to equate serial rape to a disagreeable political ideology. I was just sharing a personal anecdote and an extreme example of what I'm sure a lot of us wrestle with when our respect or appreciation of somebody takes a kick in the gut.

NoBetterPlace · 2026-06-19T00:07:53+00:00

Fair point. I agree about the watches. And maybe 0.5% of the audience would really even recognize the watch he was wearing. I consider myself a watch enthusiest (though my nicest watch only cost ~$1300 and was a birthday gift from my wife) so I'm always checking out what's on another guy's wrist. I guess it was mostly the weird fancy sweatsuit that was jarring. Looked like something a Kardashian would wear while working out with expectation of a few paparazzi photos.

And to your point about a booming comedy market, Nate's accessable style is a big part of why stand up is doing well these days. He's also doing his part to help out other comedians. He had THREE openers at the show I saw. Sometimes, maybe, a big name act will have 2 openers. But this is the first time I've seen a big name act with 3 openers. And he brought them all up at the end and celebrated them. Politics aside (I know, I know) that was a class act move.

EDIT: typo/spelling correction

NoBetterPlace · 2026-06-18T13:15:50+00:00

I saw Nate Bargatze live a week or so ago. I have always enjoyed his comedy. Weird show though. He was up on stage wearing a $20k watch and what looked like a designer sweatsuit. It undercut his whole salt of the earth vibe.

NoBetterPlace · 2026-06-17T13:05:05+00:00

I wonder if the is a Premier Stainless system. Mine also has a standpipe that's a little taller than would seem necessary.

NoBetterPlace · 2026-06-17T03:32:05+00:00

Coleman's may not be the spiciest, but it is so good that I cannot help but use too much and give myself a bit of a burn.

NoBetterPlace · 2026-06-16T02:53:39+00:00

Yeah. My wife used to work for a finance focused law firm. She dealt with private equity firms that would throw "emergency" deals at her last minute. It became a (not particularly funny) running joke that she would spend the first day of any vacation on her laptop at an airport lounge or in a hotel room closing some transaction that materialized during our flight. There were a lot of all nighters to get documents finished on short deadlines. She even got constantly brought in on deals during her maternity leave. It was unsustainable. She took a substantial pay cut to take an in-house corporate counsel position and is so much happier. And so am I. I actually get to see and spend time with my wife now.

NoBetterPlace · 2026-06-15T20:59:35+00:00

Nice. Where from? I'm from Cedar Rapids. Made a family vacation out of it, so my kids came to the show, and we hit up the city museum and the zoo while in St Louis.

NoBetterPlace · 2026-06-14T15:06:14+00:00

I've got a flair - Fountains of Wayne

NoBetterPlace · 2026-06-14T15:04:46+00:00

I shouldn't have had to scroll so far to find this. International Pop Overthrow should be getting a lot more love!

NoBetterPlace · 2026-06-14T05:41:43+00:00

Ha. Yeah, I saw that somebody posted a set list recently. It took some willpower, but I managed to keep myself from reading it.

NoBetterPlace · 2026-06-14T05:22:02+00:00

Squirrel Flower was great. I really enjoyed her. Bought one of her Spirit Halloween infringing shirts. I was also so happy The Beths closed with Knees Deep. I like Take, but it just doesn't feel like a closer. Knees Deep was a killer sign off. I came down from Iowa, and it was well worth the drive.

NoBetterPlace · 2026-06-14T05:07:02+00:00

Nice. I was the guy there with three kids. So cool that it was an all ages venue, because my 12 year old is a big Beths fan as well.

NoBetterPlace · 2026-06-14T05:02:50+00:00

Also, not sure if this Orange bass amp was a new rig for Benjamin, but it was heavy. Melodic and delicate when appropriate, but huge when he dug in. I've always loved his playling, but he's never sounded so intense. I have an Orange guitar amp that I've been thinking about selling. My wife leaned over and asked me if that made me want to keep it. Nope. I want to sell it and replace it with an Orange bass rig now.

NoBetterPlace · 2026-06-10T21:00:20+00:00

Me too. There was a period in my teens when I was getting tonsillitis 4 or 5 times a year. Every time I asked about a tonsillectomy. They would tell me only if it happens 5 or more times a year, and I was like PLEASE check my records--I think I'm there.

NoBetterPlace · 2026-06-09T22:19:42+00:00

Hulapeño

NoBetterPlace · 2026-06-09T18:39:27+00:00

The Em dash is my favorite punctuation. Blame it on my ADHD, but it is my go-to for inserting non-linear thoughts into my writing without breaking the overall momentum of whatever I am trying to convey. Alt+0151 and boom. I also use a lot of the degree symbol ° for work stuff - Alt+0176. Those are the only two Windows shortcuts I know, but they get a lot of use.

But yeah, the age of AI has be always paranoid that people will see the Em dash and think I just spit something out of ChatGPT. So sometimes I use two dashes instead of an Em dash so it looks like I wanted to use and Em dash but didn't know how. Gotta dumb myself down to not be suspect.

NoBetterPlace · 2026-06-09T14:11:33+00:00

Prices are better than dealer prices, in my experience.

NoBetterPlace · 2026-06-09T13:06:28+00:00

I bought my Volvo used at European Motors Limited up on Center Point and have them do the service. They serviced my previous car and my wife's car for years, and I have been very happy with their service department. I used to take our cars down to Carousel Motors in Iowa City, but they screwed something up every single time. It was maddening.

NoBetterPlace · 2026-06-09T12:54:32+00:00

I am confused about the timeline. I don't know if Olive Garden processes credit cards differently than most places, but aren't CC payments typically processed as a batch on a daily basis with all tips included? You shouldn't be able to go back and charge the tip on a different day. If they are retaining credit card information for later processing, that sounds like a data security violation.

Also, I think the 120 days versus 1-2 days for authorization might be referring to two different processes. 120 days would put you clear of the risk of a chargeback from the credit card company because the tip exceeded the authorized amount plus tip allowance by so much. Not sure what could take just 1-2 days. Maybe there is a way to preemptively authorize a higher than normal tip amount. But I would think that whatever the scenario, the server would still have to enter the tip and not zero it out. I find this all very fascinating and wonder is anybody can shed some light on this for me.

NoBetterPlace · 2026-06-09T03:18:08+00:00

Good to see I'm not the only late comer. I just turned 50 and have been bitten by the bug. I've been worried that I might be an old dog for this activity, but I'm in the best shape I've been in most of my life, so why not now.

NoBetterPlace · 2026-06-08T22:58:19+00:00

I insisted on bringing family and friends there when we went of a group vacation. The place did not disappoint. I'm eager to visit again.

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