BetterSense:
I don't mean to derail the conversation, and I understand doing things for teh lulz, but I hate thermocouples and would suggest using RTDs if possible.
While I don't hate TCs, having worked with them for decades in an oil refinery, I tend to agree that TCs are not the best choice for most applications. As well as needing cold junction compensation they also suffer from a small amount of non-linearity over there total measurement range, so absolute accuracy is not all the great unless you add curve fitting functions. Their main claim to fame is that they are fairly inexpensive to manufacture and have very high maximum temperature capability. However if you don't need the very high temperature feature then RTDs and some of the newer semiconductor temp sensors can be much more accurate and a lot easier to interface with.
Lefty