08.24.06
Paul Molé Barber Shop
Now this is a barber shop. (NSFW: sound with video) At least one magazine rated it as “best shave in New York.”
Tom Bihn’s Empire Builder in practice
I blogged earlier about Tom Bihn’s Empire Builder bag. I took mine on this trip, and now I can see how he could have taken three years to finish the design—doubtless with many prototypes along the way. It is a truly remarkable bag, with the ideal set of pockets for what I take, and the ideal design. Let me specify just a few things.
Like a messenger bag, it has a flap. The outside of the flap has pockets for things you want to get at quickly—e.g., airline tickets, telephone, MP3 player or PDA. And the flap lifts up to expose a wonderful collection of pockets and compartments: pens, sunglasses, papers, phone charger, and the like.
But the handles are NOT attached to the flap, as they are on messenger bags—and on messenger bags, the handles tug at the flap and don’t feel solid. Instead, the handles on the Empire Builder are attached to the body of the bag, and feel solidly connected—and the handles are quite comfortable, even when the bag is overloaded with books.
Moreover, you do NOT have to lift the flap to get to the interior compartment: that’s accessible through a regular zip closure. And the interior compartment is quite spacious, with handy dividers (which can be removed if you want, but which otherwise don’t fall out).
There are also pockets on the back. The shoulder strap is quite comfortable and really stays on the shoulder: the underside of the shoulder pad has some sort of non-slip surface that really works.
All in all, it’s an awesome bag. I don’t use a laptop, but if I did I would get the optional Brain Cell, a padded laptop holder that snaps into the Empire Builder. Great design, great product.
New kitty tree
The Younger Daughter’s two cats, Ajax and Tessa, are enjoying their new kitty tree, pictured above: the Mont Blanc from Pussicat.com. They were a little shy of it at first, but soon decided to take it out for a spin—i.e., to take a nap on the hammocks.
Check out the king-size models—some of them are veritable kitty castles. Megs also has one of the Pussicat kitty trees. I bought a smaller model, then added pieces later—bad idea. It’s much more cost-effective to buy the biggest model that your cat(s) will ever want than to add pieces to a smaller model: the price per individual part is rather dear.
Cat blogging: where Sophie once fit
Sophie used to fit in this little space, and she sees no reason why she won’t still fit. The Wife has expanded the space somewhat, but as you can see, it’s still a tight fit—though not so tight that Sophie can’t take a little nap.
Using BlogDesk
Okay, I’ve downloaded BlogDesk and now am using it to create a post—including that link. This program would be particularly useful to bloggers who use a laptop that may not be connected when the blogging impulse strikes. And the interface is very nice indeed.
A couple of shaving points
First, an excellent little styptic: My Nik Is Sealed. It’s a small roll-on and works quite well.
Second, an observation about lathering directly on the face. I said below that it worked well—but that was with the Simpson Major Travel Brush, a relatively small brush. I tried it this morning with a larger brush, and it was hard to get a good lather. For a larger brush, the lathering bowl is still the best route—and it lets you adjust the amount of water more easily.
OnFolio: interesting tool to share research
I came across OnFolio in reading about the blog tools mentioned in the post below, and thought it might be quite useful to some of you—and it’s free! Here’s the story about it from Wikipedia.
New blogging tool: LiveWriter
My Go friend in Switzerland pointed me to this post about a great tool for blogging. If you blog, take a look.
But also check out BlogDesk, free and not in beta.
UPDATE: Here’s a good discussion of LiveWriter and some other tools.
The Go kids
The Wife mentioned that I had played a couple of kids while at the Go Congress. These were casual games, not tournament play. The boy, 8, is a 9 kyu: he gave me a three-stone handicap and beat me soundly. The girl, 6, is an 18 kyu, though her rating is highly variable since she’s still learning a lot. I gave her a four-stone handicap and managed to win. I will say that she was deadly in the corners: she knew the corner josekis (play at the 3-3 point under a 4-4 stone) cold.
Both kids were extremely endearing. Their Go future looks extremely bright.
