To a man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail…
Ever since seeing the hand-fabricated hairpin legs offered by the web store of a machine shop in Ohio at hairpinlegs.com, I’ve been thinking about building a coffee table for our new place with them. I just have to start hunting for a decent piece of recovered wood or the like to use as the top.
Since moving to LA, I’ve had to shop for more than the usual quota of household items - towels, sheets, some electronics, etc. I’m an Amazon Prime customer, so a lot of that stuff has been ordered online, but there are some things where I’m still not completely converted to online buying - sheets and towels, for example, still seem like something I want to touch and see in person before buying. But my experience this month may change that. And I don’t think I’m alone.
It’s pretty clear to me that a lot of large chain stores, like Bloomingdale’s, Macy’s, and Best Buy, just don’t understand the new retail reality. Whoever is managing them and setting prices doesn’t understand that they’re being cross shopped with any number of online retailers that can offer similar (and in some cases, superior) service and selection. And they don’t seem to realize that in a world where the friction of cross-shopping has been reduced to nearly zero due to the removal of geographic penalties on shopper movement, pricing strategy has to change, or they risk alienating shoppers permanently.
Let’s be clear: I generally like Best Buy. They’re definitely better than Circuit City ever was. Generally, I’ve found that their pricing and selection on big-ticket items has always been reasonable — maybe not as good as online, but close enough that the immediacy of buying in person made up for it. I’ve generally felt similarly about Bloomingdale’s and Macy’s, although I’m far less likely to ever shop at those stores - shopping Macy’s Herald Square flagship is generally enough to make me want to pull out my hair. But that was just part of the charm of the place.
Just a quick thought this morning - if you combine the new Verizon MiFi portable access point with an Eye-Fi Explore memory card with its built-in wifi, you can have your digital camera upload photos from the field (anywhere there is 3G signal) as you're shooting, without any computer on-site. Could make for a very interesting setup, especially if traveling within the US. The added bonus, of course, is that having the MeFi means that you, and everyone you're traveling with, has access to the Internet (and, via Skype, voice calls) from their laptop in the car, hotel or wherever you are.
I've carried the Timbuk2 Commute laptop bag for at least 5 or 6 years, since it was given to me by my buddy Stef. About the only complaint I could have is that the ballistic nylon exterior just never gets that "broken-in" look, because it's so tough. Maybe if I was a bike messenger and exposing to sun and rain every day, but for an desk-job guy like me, the bag still looks pretty much like it did when it came out of the box.
I guess I'm not the only one who occasionally wishes they could "break in" these bags, because Timbuk2 has come out with a limited edition run of "lived-in" messenger bags, that have been treated for a more worn look. I'm usually a huge skeptic of "distressed" products when it comes to things like blue jeans that would wear-in naturally anyway, but these bags are so tough that I can understand the need.
These are their medium-sized bags, which are plenty big for non-messengers. With summer coming, these seem like a great all-purpose "beach/weekend/picnic/camera" bag. And there's no doubt they'll last for years, unlike a lot of lesser bags
Nuun is a product I've used a ton of myself, and I've recommended to at least a half dozen friends over the years. I learned about it myself via word of mouth -- my good friend Stef Samuel, who has done Ironman Triathlons all over the world, swears by the stuff.
Essentially, Nuun is an effervescent tablet that you throw into your drinking water bottle and provides both flavor and electrolytes to improve replacement of the water and salts you lose when exercising. It's like Gatorade without the sugar, and without all of the environmental costs of a disposable plastic bottle, and delivering a bottle of liquid. There's also a major portability benefit - a tube of 12 tabs (good for a dozen 16-oz bottles of drinks) is about the size of a roll of life-savers and weighs a few ounces. You can throw that and a drinking water bottle in your bag and be set for the next month's worth of workouts. (And because there's no sugar, not only is cleanup easy, but if you're exercising to get in shape, you're not ingesting calories that will undo all the work you just did.)
One caveat: some folks may find they need some calories in their sports drinks. I've found that I prefer an alternative to nuun when going to spin classes, because I like to get a little bit of sugar from whatever I'm drinking. In general, though, if you're working out for under an hour, you don't need any calories from your sports drink. I could go with just plain water, but subjectively I feel like I absorb nuun-treated tap water better than plain water, with less of that bloated feeling that can happen when you drink 24-32 oz of water while exercising hard.
It's not cheap, but it's generally cheaper, more convenient and better for the environment than drinking Gatorade, Powerade or other pre-made drinks. And it's generally better for you, as well.
The only flavor I don't recommend is Kona Cola, but they seem to have stopped making that. It's still in some of their variety packs and should be avoided. The other flavors are all fine - they're not fantastic, but they're light and innocuous. I guess my second least-favorite is the "citrus-fruit". Mostly, the flavor is there to cover any potential saltiness from the electrolytes, I suspect. If you are worried about liking the flavor I recommend finding this at your local running or cycling speciality store and trying just one tube. If you're going to order online, sign up for their mailing list (they send out coupon codes fairly regularly) and order 9 tubes or so at a time, because the shipping cost is significant but fixed. I recommend the mixed fruit flavors pack, which has 3 each of 3 flavors.
Back when I was at MIT, we used to call the standard Leatherman tools a "nerdtool" -- like a Swiss Army knife on steroids, they included pliers, knives, several screwdrivers, and a bunch of other components that you might or might not know what you were supposed to do with them. All-in, those things weighed at least a pound, didn't really fit in your pocket, and wearing one on your belt was the style equivalent of wearing two blackberries in holsters these days. (Some of you will think that's uncool, some will think it's cool, and that's exactly why the comparison is apt.) Even carrying one in your bag was somewhat of a commitment in the name of MacGuyver.
I still follow knife and tool design because it's a very interesting intersection of mechanical design, ergonomics and aesthetic design. Out of the various objects you're likely to find someone carrying every day (watch, eyeglasses, wallet, keys, etc.) it's one of the few where there is a great deal of attention paid to the functionality of the design, because it matters. In contrast, watches and glasses these days are almost solely about fashion, because the core functionality has become a commodity.
Portland, OR-based Leatherman has two new designs coming in May 2009, under the "Freestyle" moniker. These are 4.5 oz, stripped down multi-tools based on the popular Skeletool design that have been immensely popular as a replacement for the old nerdkits. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like they include basic screwdrivers, but having both a good knife and good set of pliers in a compact, light package is still better than trying to get things done with your bare hands in lots of situations. I'm going to have to try to get to a store and look at one of these firsthand when they arrive in May.
(By the way, since this post begs the question: my regular pocketknife is a very small (1.25" blade) Buck knife that has a skeletal steel frame and bottle cap opener built in. It's small enough to fit in my pocket with my wallet and cheap enough that if I ever brought it to the airport by mistake it wouldn't be a big deal. Unfortunately, it's no longer sold - it's been replaced by the Buck Transport, which in all honestly looks like a plastic piece of junk to me.)
I'm going to probably take this over to Ebay sooner or later, but in case anyone is interested, I'm about to sell my Nikon 18-200 VR DX lens. This is a _great_ lens, especially if you want to only carry one lens (perfect for travel) since it goes from fairly wide (about 28mm equiv) to telephoto (300mm equiv) when on a Nikon DX digital SLR. Let me know if you're interested.
A set with a few samples of shots from this lens is here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/karlo/sets/72157615079059784/
I'll add more photos to that set over the next day or two.
Why am I selling it? I have at least 4 weddings this summer (one in my immediate family) and I'd like to have a faster, medium range zoom like a 24-70 f/2.8 to use at those events. Also, since I don't have kids (and hence rarely shoot sports or arts events) I have found that I don't tend to use the longer end of the zoom range on this lens very often.
I'm very interested to see how the new Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 IF EX DG HSM
Shot at the show for Allison Parris.
I've created a BIG slideshow for broadband viewers -- open full screen for best results:
http://karlo.org/slideshows/ap-runway-2009-02-17/
The slideshow is the best way to view my images from the event. They really need to be viewed large, and in high resolution, to get the most out the shots, mostly because of the textures in the clothing.
For those on slower connections, try the Flickr set.
