Things I Like

There’s electrical tape, and there’s electrical tape. Everyone has some, and it gets used for all kinds of tasks, both electrical and not. It’s like the taciturn and mysterious ninja cousin to duct tape, which, by the way, now comes in a clear version.

The stuff you buy at most stores is just cheap vinyl tape, and it usually comes in rolls with a gigantic cardboard spindle, so that you actually end up with maybe 10 linear feet of tape. If you stretch it too much, it tends to snap, and it doesn’t do very well in cold weather. Cheap electrical tape also doesn’t stick very well, either to itself to to other things. It gets hot and it peels up and then it gets cold and it turns brittle.

Not this stuff. It comes in a plastic container, and there’s a LOT of tape on that roll. It’s high quality PVC that maintains that lovely stretchy quality of electrical tape even when it’s really freaking cold out. The adhesive is pretty aggressive, and once it’s stuck to something, it stays stuck.

Once you use up the tape, you have this nice circular plastic container with a snap top that’s handy for holding small bits of hardware.

The thing about electrical tape is that it’s so handy. The rolls are compact, so they’re easy to have nearby. I use it wrapped sticky side out on my bike handlebars as a base layer for the cork tape. It keeps the tape from slipping and gapping over time and since the non-sticky side is against the bar, you don’t end up with chunks of cork permanently bonded to your bars. I also use it to finish the handlebar wrap.

I use it to repair all kinds of things that probably would be more correctly repaired with something else, but it works. In combination with 3M 2242 self-fusing rubber tape, I’ve used it to water-seal and insulate wireless antenna connections. Some of those antennas have been in service for over 4 years with no problems at all. That’s good tape.

I even, on rare occasions, use it to protect and insulate electrical connections, which may shock and amaze you.

Super 33+ is rated for use from 0 Fahrenheit all the way up to 220F, it’s UV resistant, moisture resistant, abrasion resistant and flame retardant. It also makes a decent band aid when you hurt yourself, though I’m sure 3M would balk at that application.

I have a thing for pens and pencils and other things that write. It’s not quite a fetish, but it’s not entirely healthy, either. The problem is that I tend to objectify nice pens and pencils and as a result, they don’t get carried because I might (gasp) mar them and then they don’t get used, and, well, that’s just stupid.

As a result, I’ve ended up with a fair collection of decent pens that sit in drawers. I’ve given a lot of them away to people who might actually appreciate (and use) them, so I’m feeling better about my pen habit these days. And I’m not buying new pens. Mostly. I got a Space Pen a while back, but it writes IN SPACE and UNDER WATER. How could I resist?

But there’s one pen I really really like, and since it’s disposable and plastic, I don’t feel bad about carrying them around and using the hell out of them, and if I lose one, or it ends up in the dryer still clipped to my collar (9 or 10 times, so far, and no collateral damage yet), so what? It’s a disposable pen.

The Pilot V-Ball Extra Fine (in blue) kicks ass. It’s a roller ball pen, liquid ink. It rolls smoothly, without any of the scratchiness I’ve experienced with some other roller ball pens. I write pretty small, so the extra fine tip keeps my handwriting from looking like more of a shapeless blob than it normally does.

It’s easy to tell how much ink you have left, the clip throat has enough depth to clip to most clothing without getting mangled, and they last forever, if you don’t wash them. They generally stand up well to airplane travel, which has caused more than one liquid ink pen I used to leak profusely.

My only complaint is that the ink runs when it gets wet, but that’s true of all liquid ink pens. It’d be nice if they could come up with a waterproof ink that writes as well as the regular kind.

I’m always thirsty, so I’m always dragging a bottle of water around with me. A few years ago, I bought a narrow-mouth Nalgene bottle because I got tired of losing the caps to my reused Evian bottles and I got tired of the damned things leaking everywhere.

Nalgene bottles come in multiple colors as well as a couple different materials, including (transparent) polycarbonate, (opaque) HDPE and (opaque) LDPE. I got the polycarbonate one.

Three years later, my bottle is still going strong, despite being dropped countless times, being carried upside down in a messenger bag, being thrown on the floor of my car, and otherwise subjected to the daily abuses of being around me.

None of this is news to most people, though, as it seems like every third college student has a Nalgene bottle clipped to their backpack, but I guess there’s a reason for that. They’re super durable, and they don’t leak.

You can get them in all kinds of colors and capacities. I prefer the 32 oz narrow mouth bottle, because it’s easier to drink from than the widemouth bottle without embarassing accidents.

In addition to the ubiquitous college student water bottles, Nalgene makes a variety of other containers including travel bottles, jars, bike bottles, hydration packs, mugs, etc. They even provide replacement caps should you lose yours.

You can even submit an idea for a new Nalgene product.

There’s been some recent press about the possibility that certain kinds of plastics leach chemicals into whatever is contained in them. I’m not sure what I think about that, yet.

Hi.

I was talking to someone the other day about sandals. They were looking for a recommendation for a pair of sport-type sandals to wear, and I had a definite opinion, an opinion formed over about 15 years of sandal wearing, the short form of which is that Tevas are uncomfortable and fall apart while Chacos are really high quality, durable and comfy. I’ll get into details some other time.

It got me to thinking about all the other stuff I use, why I use it, and what I think of it.

I’m not a huge brand name guy. I don’t generally buy things because the brand is cool or the brand is somehow fashionable, and I don’t flaunt labels. In fact, I often remove them.

But brand names and labels are useful and they do have some concrete benefits, one of which is that certain brands generally stand for high quality products, and you can often be assured of a good product if you buy certain things made by certain companies. The converse is also true. You don’t buy a GPX brand radio expecting Blaupunkt fidelity. This kind of consumer shorthand is pretty useful, and the marketplace would be very different if nothing were branded.

I’m also a pack rat. I accumulate random things that I may or may not actually need for no apparent reason, and hang onto them for even less reason, it seems. I’m trying to get better about this, and have been working to winnow my possessions down to things I actually need and things I actually use. I’ve been moderately successful. That’s also gotten me thinking about why I have certain things and how I use them.

With all that in mind, here I am. With a blog about stuff.

A blog. Yeah, I know. I’ve been saying for a long time that I thought that blogs were wanky and self-absorbed. I think that’s still true, so I guess I’m being wanky and self-absorbed. But I’ll try to keep this about stuff and not about my cat.

About stuff. Stuff I’ve owned or used and that I really liked for some reason. Some are kind of generic, but many will probably be about specific brand items. Most of them are things I’ve used and abused and found to be of good quality and a good value.