I’ve settled with Kiehl’s products for men, their shampoo, shaving cream, other lotions; they’re basic, “gentlemenly” smelling products that seem to work ok. The shampoo is good because it’s geared for active people who take a lot of showers and there’s the chlorine removing version of the shampoo for swimmers.
This took awhile.
We still haven’t bought a new TV yet. We’re looking at this one from Samsung for $1,500. It’s the Samsung LNT4071F 40″ 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV. If you own and have issues with this tv, let me know or let me know if you have a recommendation for something better.
I think the time to buy consumer electronics is after CES and MacWorld. I’ve learned never to buy anything from Apple for Christmas since you’ll likely have buyer’s remorse in January. A tangent, but it’s still related.
I like this computer. c|Net gave it a good review, a 7.9. Here it is on Dell’s web site. I’m currently running a white MacBook. I also have an IBM X31 ThinkPad. I may get one of these XPS m1330 laptops but I’d like to get another MacBook (to replace my current one) probably in October this year or January next year. I want to wait until Leopard is pre-installed and then get Parallels for it too. I have a feeling the MacBook will get a good upgrade pretty soon.
Anway, one of the nice things about being in software is that it’s easy to justify computer purchases. :-) Oh, and it’s too bad these Dell laptops have to have Windows Vista installed. They really need to start putting in the option of a Linux OS installation as well. I’d pay for Ubuntu and Windows Vista installed.
I got a Nuvi 650 GPS device. It’s pretty cool. It works pretty much out of the box. The screen is nice 4″ x 3″, it’s color and fairly big. The voice is fine but I don’t have any place to stick the device unless I mount it on the windshield (luckily I have a little compartment that I can use for it where the GPS device for the car was supposed to be).
I recommend it overall and definitely over the other 600 series — it has the wide color screen with the least features so the least expensive of the bunch. I’m sure the devices will get even bigger but this one is large enough and the voice is loud. I haven’t explored the other features, there might be too many. This device gets the basics right — map, directions, places of interest — so that’s all I really need.
I would wait until it gets down to like $250 - $300 though if it ever gets there.
There’s nothing like good pots. I’m doing a slow kitchen upgrade, kitchen 1.5 if you will. Kitchen 1.0 consisted of cheap Emerilware non-stick pots and pans built by All Clad. They’ve done well the past 5 - 6 years and it was a good starter set. All Clad’s marketing is pretty good but I can’t really say the same for their low-end pots and pans they’re just ok, a bit overpriced and slightly overrated?
So over to Matfer Bourgeat products. We got a 7 1/2 quart “sauce” pot (we use it as a stock pot) and I like it a lot. We got it from Pastry Central but I think there are probably cheaper places to buy these pots.
I christened the pot with this killer mussels with saffron and mustard recipe. The next day cooked some pasta in it and none of the pasta stuck to the bottom, sign of a good pot.
When you first start off buying house stuff, it’s probably for college and you end up with a knife from the dollar store. Maybe you get lucky (or you’re rich) and you get to buy nice stuff off the bat.
The next phase of accumulating stuff is when you get married or single but grown up a little bit more. Usually you’re still not sure what to buy and get whatever is marketed to you, e.g. All Clad cookware, whatever.
That’s a long way of stating I’m looking to upgrade our knife set, after a couple tries, and hopefully getting a set of MAC knives — a chef’s knife, slicer, and paring knife from the pro series. I’d like to get a yanagiba knife too eventually, probably in lieu of a slicer.
MAC knives are made in Japan and are highly regarded by chefs like Thomas Keller of The French Laundry/Per Se and Charlie Trotter out of Chicago. They’re also not that expensive in comparison to some other knives 0n the market.
A couple more things:
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I have a few more “domestic” and food things to write about that I want to get out of my system. I do like writing about products, partly because some really great/good products get buried by marketing machines who tout inferior or just ok products e.g. BOSE speakers. The other fun part is seeing my product “reviews” actually getting up there in various search engine’s results. A side goal is to maybe get some free stuff. I could do with a free year’s supply of Yakult. :)
This is my second or third post on footwear. I only own a few pairs of shoes, that’s why I guess I talk about the one’s I do have. Anyway, I talked about Keen sandals the last time, and they’re great, I wear them just about every day.
It was at Ironman Canada though where we ran into the Men’s winner, Chris Lieto at the airport that I saw these sandals. He was wearing these Crocs (picture in the photo isn’t me) in a bright yellow. They looked really funky, and I thought they were like some special Ironman secret.
Anyhow, I saw these sandals at a store and I think I’m going to grab a pair. They’re very chic looking and I saw another person wearing them today during lunch. They’re not going to be for everyday wear. Just for wearing after working out and for going to the beach.
