The Brooks Review

There have been no shortage of pouches I have used for DOPP kits, or toiletries bags, in the past. There’s the GR1 Field Pocket, and then for quite some time I used the Echo Field Pocket, recently I moved to the Bond Venture Pouch. All of those shared the same problems: they were really good, but not ideal. They had pockets and pouches, but they were all a bit too cramped while also being too small. The Venture pouch gave me constant problems managing items in the elastic straps.

Continue reading: My Dyneema (DCF) DOPP Kit

This week: I use a Mac; boredom makes things difficult; the privacy parts; and printed things make me sneeze.

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Paul Jarvis:

I pay over $230/month for Mailchimp so I can keep sending you emails. But this cost (the most I pay for monthly software by a lot) is worth it because it’s doubly profitable: Mailchimp makes enough money from me so they don’t have any need to sell my or my subscribers’ data. And I make enough money from my products by sending emails on their platform to cover the costs and not have to resort to ever selling data from my subscribers either. So it’s a win-win-win!

Continue reading: Why Newsletters Beat Social Media

This week I dive deep into News+ to talk about the shittastic nature of its design, take a quick chicane into privacy and Facebook, hammerhead turn back around to a document pouch I am in love with, and sprint across the line with thoughts on the MacBook keyboard fiasco.

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Note: Tom Bihn sent this backpack for review purposes.

My dad previously reviewed this bag, but my review of Tom Bihn’s well loved Synapse has been a long time coming. I chose the 25L because it is a more versatile size than the 19L and because I wasn’t confident a 19L bag would look right on my back. For those who follow the cult of onebag travel, this bag is nothing new as it has been among the preferred bags in that group for years.

Let’s dive into Tom Bihn’s Synapse 25 and see what is what.

Continue reading: Tom Bihn Synapse 25

In this issue: no April Fools jokes; almost but not quite there; small hand bags for men; science touches where you work.

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Something which I was incredibly excited about with iOS 12 was the launch of the Screen Time utility as a native part of iOS. Being able to see how much time I was using the device, impose limits, and break this all down without having to jump through all the hoops other apps made me jump through to see this — well it seemed like Screen Time would be great. Add to that interesting metrics like ‘pick ups’ and notification counts — I hoped that this would encourage many developers and product owners to change the way they juice ‘engagement’ metrics.

Alas, this tool has changed nothing for me. And is fundamentally flawed — falling into the same trap so many Silicon Valley ‘solutions’ fall into: lots of noise with little impact.

Continue reading: Apple’s Screen Time Tool

This week: I find myself asking this one question; I confirm the lack of color in the 1950s, and I talk about living a happier life on iOS. Enjoy!

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I’ve been writing a lot of emails advising people on bag purchases and pairing. Which I realize now is a completely untapped market with potentially billions of dollars at stake for me. I’ll fill that void. My goal here is to provide an everyday “work” carry option, as well as a travel option, both keeping in mind different styles of dress codes. Unfortunately, this is aimed primarily at men, as I can’t intelligently speak to women’s fashion at all.

Each category has a few pairing options — pick what calls to you. I’ll note my setup at the end. Godspeed.

Continue reading: Bag Guide 2019

This week I have an expensive pick for you: Sweetwood Smokehouse’s Beef Jerky. I snagged a pack of these in Denver and am very impressed. I followed up by ordering more on Amazon (they have a 4 pack of all the flavors!) and remain impressed.

It’s not the world’s best jerky, but for store bought, and Amazon available jerky it is darn good. The issue is the price, because the packs are only 1.75oz which is comical at best and evil in reality.

Continue reading: Snack Pick of the Week: 3/18/19

This week: my top screen mirroring trick to avoid embarrassing notifications, separating out work versus personal devices, how I am fairing with a WiFi only iPad Pro, and end it with a couple interesting pouches I recently picked up.

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‘Tis the season: Girl Scout cookie season that is. I bought my traditional overstocking of the best cookie they make: Thin Mints. And that is our snack pick of the week.

Continue reading: Snack Pick of the Week: 3/11/19

This week: an update on USB cables, a new feature I am working on and would like feedback from you, and lastly some additional management tips.

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When I wrote my first impressions of the MACV-1s it was a mix of underwhelmed, and pleasantly surprised. But that was many miles ago, and I still wear these boots almost everyday. So it’s about time to answer the big question: are they any good?

I think for like monetary reasons, you are supposed to not reveal things until the end of the post, but yes they are quite good and worth the money. There’s some caveats to that, of course, but suffice to say I am thinking/wanting to pick up a pair in Coyote as well. I really like them, so let’s dive into the nitty gritty then.

Continue reading: MACV-1s, are they any good?

This week I have two topics: the first is a theory that we are coming to a point where we will all be forced to wear activity trackers to be able to get basic services; the second is work;life balance.

Enjoy.

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