Recent Articles

Surprisingly, over a dozen people, from readers to coworkers, have asked me about the Pacific Northwest since I moved away. Specifically, along the lines of “I really want to visit/move there, can you give me some tips”. I used to keep a page for members on all my recommendations, but it is long gone. So I thought I would memorialize all my thoughts on the Pacific Northwest, with a bias towards the Seattle region, before I forget it all.

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What does it take to be your most productive? The right book? That one philosophy? Is it a state of mine, and is that state of focus or is it flow. Perhaps it’s the right headphones, playlist, or morning routine. Yes, the right pen, or notebook. It’s all about software, find the right one and bam you are a millionaire cashing checks while sipping down margaritas on your private yacht.

If you follow productivity schemes as long as I have, and you try enough of them — you find that every underlying way to do more work, to do that work fast, or to generally be more productive/creative/orwhathaveyou is simply boiled down to system building. The idea that all which is missing in our lives is a system by which we shove everything into and magic shall happen at the other end.

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Benchmade has been on a roll with the Bugout lineup, and something which has become ever popular the last couple of years is the Benchmade Osborne family of knives. People seem to love them, but I’ve always steered clear as they are higher priced (start at $200) and they have a rather large blade for an everyday carry knife, coming in at 3.4” long. The combination of both, making it a losing proposition for me.

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Note: this sling was provided by Aer for review at no cost.

The City Sling is a more compact sling from Aer, with he goal of being for quick trips around the city — not for collecting, or traveling. Just the essentials.

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Note: this bag was provided for review by Aer at no cost.

The next sling I have to talk about is the Aer Day Sling 2, in the limited edition X-Pac (also available in black nylon, gray, and black multicam). My first impressions of this bag, upon receiving it, were simply: oh man I really like this. The pictures of this sling on Aer’s site and here in this article simply don’t do it justice. In a lot of ways the size and rather not traditional shape of this sling make it something which both stands out as unique, but fades away when you are carrying it.

It’s awesome.

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Hot on the heels of the Shadow Guide V2 33, is the all new 23 liter variant. It’s smaller, but otherwise the same. And yet, so much better than the 33.

I’ve only had the bag a short time, so this is more of a preview and quick comparison, than any sort of review.

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Note: this bag was provided by Bellroy for review at no cost.

Continuing on my search for a great sling, we have the Bellroy Sling — which is an apt name. This is easily the best looking sling of all I have so far, so I really want to focus on more than just how great it looks. But, to be clear, it looks fantastic.

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I started my sling journey by grabbing the Mystery Ranch Full Moon and as the cheeky name implies — it is first and foremost a hip/fanny bag but so are most of these sling bags. Overall, this is a really good option, but has left me wanting something a little different.

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Following on with my purse post, a sling is likely to be a smart carry accessory as ‘we’ move through the COVID and post-COVID times, and hopefully into a more health aware life. This is also a product of me having younger kids, but mostly me liking to have a lot of crap with me all the time.

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It’s time for the best items you can buy in 2020.

For the past ten years I have been reviewing and testing all sorts of different gear. In this post, I am distilling down gear by categories and listing the top three items for each category. What is third for me, might be first for you.

Instead of maintaining the running list I have been doing, I am now going to post yearly lists. This is not a list of only stuff I reviewed this year, this is an ongoing list of things I feel are the best, broken down into categories for easier sorting.

See the list here.

Not member? See what you are missing on the old format/archive: 2019 list.