wamstad&evans twentythree things

On the Fiskars site they say that you can impress your friends by calling this the Ladies Spade. I don’t really understand where they are going with that. At all.

This is a big black steel spade with decent welds and supermega digging force. Straight blade. Place to jam on with boots. Solid construction. Whimpy plastic D Ring handle. But a lifetime warranty. I have not managed to ruin mine in a couple of years of abuse and landscaping.

If I did they would replace it. Lifetime works for me on garden tools. They all seem to be flimsy crap made for 70# ladies who don’t have the force to bend it in half. No more bending. 

BROOKS B67 

ASS-TACULAR! I have been wary of the Brooks meme for some time. All of the talk of “oh sure it is a little stiff the first 1000 miles and then it is the most comfortable thing that you have ever ridden”. Apprehension. Apprehension.

The stock saddle that came with the cargo bike was a piece of crap. I figured that there were at least some springs on the Brooks. And so thanks to the power of craigslist…. 

Introducing big, cushy wonderful springs! Big heavy saddle for your city cruiser. Others have written of the virtues, I will demure. More than anything the saddle reminds me of a nice pair of hiking boots. Thick leather, good construction, breaks in, lasts forever with care. 

Riding on the springs most reminds me of a friends 1968 Olds 98 back in the day when car seats had springs in them. Opulent luxury for your ass. Thank you Brooks.

My wife received this as a Valentine’s Day gift. You have to understand. Coffee is life to her. Our old automatic (Cuisinart) had died. We moved to using a Nissan Stainless Steel french press. It makes amazing coffee. And will last forever.

But….you have to make the coffee. There is no magic automatic feature for premade coffee upon waking before heading to early meetings (oft a challenge of my wife). It never really occurred to me until it did. I always just awakened to freshly made coffee as my dear wife awakened before me to make it.

So Valentine’s Day. How do you show someone that you love them? Make it easier for them to get their morning cup of joe. Enter the ZOJIRUSHI!

You’ve used their rice makers.

You wondered how pronounce the name.

This is the best automatic coffee maker I have ever used or had. Insulated drip cone. Stainless steel vacuum pot. No bitter taste. It keeps it closer to the optimum temp than any coffee maker that I have ever used.

Easy to program. Easy to clean. Easy to love. I love this machine. Being able to seal the carafe and  come back a couple of hours later to piping hot coffee is lovely. Being able to program it and wake to coffee that has not sat on a burner is even better. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Thanks my Zojirushi friends.

A vision. Possibly the last frame you might ever need  to buy. One that you can hand down to your grandkids. A legacy of awesome. From the low-fi high quality builders at Rivendell. 5.5 lbs of take your breath away, steel, radical-ness.

“Eldest, that’s what I am… Tom was here before the river and the trees; Tom remembers the first raindrop and the first acorn. He made paths before the Big People, and saw the little People arriving. He was here before the Kings and the graves and the Barrow-wights. When the Elves passed westward, Tom was here already, before the seas were bent. He knew the dark under the stars when it was fearless-before the Dark Lord came from Outside.

When you have to bring the street art into the happy hour this is the mod way to do it. Awesome cocktail shaker courtesy of Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art. Currently sold out. But you know you love it.

http://www.mcachicagostore.org/main/item_detail.php?pid=2350&cat=6&sub=7

The Beyedynamic Tesla. Holy CRAP! If you only have to listen through one set of cans then let this tempt your ear space.

It is said that music is made of the spaces between the notes. You can hear them no more clearly than on the soundscape and sonic leather of these headphones.

1 Tesla of magnetic flux will warp the time/space around your head driving the lyrical noise through the ear canal and into the brain.

hot

http://north-america.beyerdynamic.com/shop/hah/headphones-and-headsets/at-home/music-pleasure/t-1.html

Saddleback Leather is majestic, bombproof and leathery. The kind of leather that lasts generations. Which is kind of funny, since my iPad will not last generations, or the batteries won’t, or it’s use will be precluded by some other more awesome technology.

In the meantime I will need to outfit myself with their luggage and briefcase.

http://www.saddlebackleather.com/

THE WORLD’S BEST PENCIL! What does that even mean any more? Does anyone even use pencils? This sounds brilliant. Clearly they must sell a lot of these wooden writing instruments. They work exactly how one would want a pencil to work. The graphite is crappy, the wood is not plastic, the eraser erases. In short if you had a pencil that performed its pencilese duties it was probably one of these.

If you must use a pencil use one of these.

When I was checking out their website where they also have the TRIconderoga! The world’s most comfortable pencil. Three sides. Black. Elegant pencilling machine.

https://www.dixonticonderoga.com/writing/pencils/woodcase/tri-conderoga

How do you know if your significant other loves you? They buy you useless things that they don’t understand and you love.

I love this quick fix for some 4wd RC madness. Quick charge, easy setup, everything ready to go out of box, absolute fun. 

I like to practice the bootleg turn down the hall at the Turbine Flats. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bootleg_turn

I encourage everyone to get one of these. http://www.losi.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=LOSB0241

TASCAM DR1

I picked this up a few years ago for some interviews and focus groups that we had for a project (as a backup for the spy room equipment. It was a good thing to have for the backup. The spy room equipment was a fail. Put this on the table top and had at it. Victory.

Since then the Tascam has seen use in recording bits from meetings, soundbites, rehearsals, and the occasional show. Once you figure out how to tweak it and make sure that you have all the latest updates it gives great sound for the simplicity and size. Put it in a picket, throw a 2Gb card in and you are set for hours of solid recording with good enough sound. Nice lows, solid highs. A lot depends on placement of the Tascam. 

I have not played with add on mics or windscreens or preamps, just use it how it came, although I am getting in the habit of treating 2GB cards like tapes of old and just buying more rather than recording over them.

Tascam has a few other varieties out there now but I think this is still a solid choice if you are looking for a pocket recorder.