Category: Articles

When I travel for work, I generally travel in a smaller backpack with that being my only bag. In the past, I take that backpack to and from the work locations and events as it is my only bag on the trip. This is generally not an issue, but can be a bit cumbersome when all you are carrying is an iPad Pro. Additionally, I have been getting a little more interested in carrying a hand bag on a regular basis for my life in general — as you can imagine I have no shortage of bags in my home, but none of them quite fit the bill for me.

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Note: WESN sent me this sample for review.

The WESN TI Micro Blade is one of those knives where it should have a cult following because of exactly what is shirks. It’s small where everything is large, it’s inexpensive in a category overflowing with overpriced crap. It uses better than average materials, and oh, it is minuscule in size and yet can replace most EDC blades. In other words, from the specs alone, this should be the ideal blade for office workers everywhere.

It is big enough to get shit done, and small enough not to threaten any HR department. But, the first version I got had a major deal breaker.

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I don’t know how anyone can stand to use the new MacBooks out there, or why they would spend that much money on a computer. So, this is my quick guide on how to use an iPad Pro full time in a general computer sense (i.e. not for niche uses like Audio/video/photo editing or anything of that nature). Follow this guide and you can leave behind the world of overpriced computers that you will never fully utilize and instead enter a happier place.

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Quite a name, for what is actually a very neat and simple pouch — I touched on this pouch for members, but it’s pretty great. So let’s talk about it a little more. I picked up the size ‘small’, but it does come in a few other sizes and I found the measurements provided to be very accurate overall.

For this, I am solely focused on the small size.

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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.

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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!

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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