And Presto! The Perfect Espresso with the Handpresso!

Coffee. Gotta love it. It takes on so many variations in taste. I swear I have a hard time reproducing the same cup twice. I think I’ve got my grinder and $20 coffee maker dialed in to the point where I can make a good cup about 75% of the time. The age and quality of the bean is the variable that I sometimes miss. If it’s on the grocer shelf too long in the bulk dispenser, the oxygen reacts with it and gives it an off taste. Lately I’ve been timing my coffee purchases well and have been producing some quality brew. Too bad I couldn’t take the satisfaction of a rich, naturally sweet coffee on the road with me. But wait, it’s now possible... with a bike pump!!

Ok, it’s no bike pump, but it sure looks like one, and shares some similar parts. The Handpresso is a tool that allows you to take your need for the perfect coffee anywhere. And not just any old coffee. I mean, instant and drip coffee are pretty easy to reproduce just about anywhere with some hot water a filter and a cup. But, when I’m damp and cold, sitting at an even more damp and colder picnic table while waiting for my socks to dry on the campfire there’s nothing I want more than the exquisite taste of a hot, freshly made Americano. The Handpresso is the solution, allowing you to make espresso shots in the woods! Or on the bus! Or in bed! Here’s how it works. The bike pump design allows you to pump up the internal cylinder with air. This air is what will force the water through the coffee grounds at high pressure. The system comes with a small reusable filter that is big enough to produce one shot of espresso. Tamping the coffee well is key and somewhat of an art. The filter is mesh with a plastic body. Conventional espresso machines have a perforated aluminum filter for the coffee, so it’s easy to tamp the coffee properly. You need to spend a little time with the Handpresso to get it right. Using the backside of the handle as a tamp works decently but is not perfect. Ideally the filter and the handle would share the same diamter. I think this is one area in the product’s design that could use improvement. Because the handle is slightly smaller, it takes time and patience to get the coffee to the ideal firmness in the filter. Ideally, when you press the trigger to force the water through the coffee, it should take 15-20 seconds for the water to pass through completely. Any air gaps or softness in the coffee puck will allow the water to pass through too quickly, making for a weak espresso shot. Thankfully, if you have the patience to play around with your technique a little and you will discover the perfect shot. I assume that someone who would purchase this product loves good coffee and the coffee making process, and is more than willing to spend some time perfecting the art of the Handpresso shot.

There is a line of Handpresso accessories that compliment the product quite well. I like the rigid carrying case, which allows you to pack away this compact coffee tool and keep it protected during travel. At work we recently received a Handpresso for staff use. It’s usually booked out, for good reason.

The Handpresso - ~$115, avalilable at MEC

Integrity 5 / 5 - This thing is not a gimmick. Well designed, sturdy and built to last.

Value: 4 / 5 - A little pricey, but worth every penny if you’re an outdoors person who loves good coffee.

Overall value: 4.5 / 5 - They need to either make the handle and filter a perfect fit or make a separate tamper that does the trick.

HP Pavilion DV6 with Beats Audio - to the laptop landfill

Computers. What a brutal purchase to make. I don't need much from my computer, but our laptops were next to dead. Even if we cleaned off all the programs and shit we didn't need, we still got about 15 minutes of battery time. The cost of upgrading ram and buying a new battery, maybe getting Windows 7, makes you think twice. You might as well buy a new computer. That's the brutal part. A laptop is outdated so fast you don't even have time to pay off your credit card before you're considering a new one. The cost of getting the newest operating system, enough ram to run it decently and a new laptop battery can almost equal the price of an entry level laptop. So, to Future Shop we go...
We decided on Future Shop because I had a $100 GC to put towards the purchase. I messed around with the laptops for a while, checking out my options. The sales dude that finally approached me said, "that's a great laptop". I had decided by this point that it was indeed a good option, but i wonder if he would have said that if I was looking at their biggest piece of shit. Anyways, I agreed with him, so we chatted computers. The processors are the part I have no clue about. I went in thinking I was looking for a "dual core processor", but before you know it we've doubled that. I just don't understand computers enough to be able to appreciate what difference jumping from one processor to another does. Processors should be rated on some sort of industry standard that the average consumer can understand. Like the amount of time it will take to convert video from format A to B in program X while you're playing tunes in program Y and streaming video from site Z - all while running a virus scan with program ZZ. I want to know if the computer is going to be surprisingly fast, cooperative, a little delayed, or make me want to donate it to the Salvation Army.
Sales dude explained processors a little, but not in any way that allowed me to appreciate what the latest intel chip would do for me compared to last years. We were focused at this point on the computer I would eventually buy. He explained to me that it has Beats Audio, and right away said it was a bit gimmicky. I was really appreciative that he wasn't gonna try to sell me on a gimmick. It's this stupid Dr. Dre endorsed program, or hardware, or something or other that delivers better audio. You can turn it on and off with fn + B. You turn it off and the laptop sounds like a goddamn Game Boy. Turn it on and the audio sounds good, even above average. So, why would you turn it off? Save power? No.. it's just a way of making it a gimmick, making it appear like you're buying above average greatness with the available Beats Audio option.
So, we bought the comp. I own Beats Audio. Sweet. But, not for long!! We're returning this computer asap. And Beats Audio is not the key reason.
This laptop powers down the graphics processor to a lower level when you're running on battery. The problem is, when you run low on batteries and need to plug back in, Firefox goes blank and cannot be recovered. you lose whatever you were doing and need to re-start the web browser. I like the idea of power conservation while using the battery, but this issue is definitely not one I can tolerate in a brand new laptop. And I don't want to adjust the power settings to either have the processor running super low or full out all the time. We're going to return the computer this weekend.
So, I guess the question is, do we buy a Mac?...

Value: 6/10
Integrity: 5/10
Performance: 4/10

Overall Rating: 5/10

Not sure what I'm going to look at next. I've got some ideas. We'll see.

American: The Bills Hicks Story

I had planned on writing about the finer things in life - those that were made using skill and care, and finding a few products that embody that spirit. I'll push that aside for a while, and instead review a documentary about the late American comedian, Bill Hicks.
I was first introduced to Bill Hicks while living in England. A chap that lived in my dorm was a huge fan of Hicks. He was also a huge fan of Radiohead, the biggest fan I'd ever met. Later, I'd learn that Radiohead dedicated Kid A to Hicks. It was then in this latest documentary that I'd learn a little as to why Radiohead were such big fans of this American comedian.
Hicks started his comedic career at an early age. He and his best friend started making up routines at 13, and by time they were 15 were sneaking out at night to head to open mic night at the only comedy club in town. The documentary covers his story with incredible detail. The cinematic styles used are a mix of animation and archival footage. The animation is really well done, and is something very unique to see. It hooks you in to the back story where otherwise you might jsut be interested in seeing the footage of Hicks on stage. With the Hicks' comedy footage, you definitely get enough throughout to be entertained and learn and see Hicks style, which is nothing less than brutally honest, insightful and in your face.
The great part about this documentary is how it traces the challenges Hicks faced along the way, including drug and alcohol addiction. We see how his addictions affected his routine so negatively that he almost lost it all. He was actually forced to pack up and move from LA to New York to escape his habits and click of friends who were a negative influence.
Hicks' career truly went big time after he kicked his drinking and drug habits. He did a tour of England and Ireland, where he became a rockstar. The idea of an American who was super critical of America was a huge hit there. I can now understand the connection with Radiohead, who have echoed his anti-system, anti-war, anti-American hegemony sentiments in their work and music.
This doc is very entertaining and informative. It's a must for the Hicks fan, and is an awesome 1:40 minutes of entertainment even for those who have never heard of him. Hicks dies of cancer at 32. What a tragedy. He was the kind of guy who could actually influence people to open their eyes and question the world we've created. And he would make you laugh your ass off while doing it.

Play with your fucking heart!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A Review of Work - Shop Class as Soulcraft

I knew this would happen. Life gets in the way and the blog gets neglected. I've been working like a maniac, organizing a bicycle festival, applying for jobs, and tried to eat an 8lb burger in a single sitting. Busy times, and somewhat relevant to my book review. My biggest reason for not writing more consistently is that last week I had my first interview for a government job. This was a huge breakthrough for me, and even if the job fails to come through, I learned a lot and feel prepared for the next one. I believe I did well, as I spent hours studying the competencies that they would be testing me on. I wrote out answers with specific examples and practiced orating them. I think I know what it takes to do well and I worked as hard as I could. For me, that also means winding down studying the night before and chilling out so that I can relax and push off any anxiety. If I work on memorizing something one or two days before, I don’t need to burn the midnight oil trying to memorize it. It will turn more so on delivery and feeling confident and relaxed, rather than saying the correct words. I felt good.
Every time a job application or interview comes up, I have to reflect back on my past work experience to think of examples. Examples of things like teamwork, dealing with adversity, handling competing priorities, or analytical thinking. Since my “professional” work experience is limited to a couple employers, I frequently draw on experiences from my time with them. It so happens that these were the worst times I’ve ever had in a work environment. Uncertainty, angst, conflict, lack of direction or purpose... these are the thoughts that come up when I think of these places. I can think of things I learned or skills I developed during these times, but I really did not enjoy the experience. So, when I’m asked to discuss the steps I used to manage a project in the past, I need to slot in the specific actions IMy past work experience dealing with "project management" was a ad hoc as it gets. No real budgetary concerns, a constantly changing scope that was beyond my control, a lack of direction from management and virtually no contact with "clients". Most formal project management involves having a solid grasp on all of those areas. My experience was more like getting dropped in a big bucket of mud with my team mates. In the mud bucket were some hints and solutions to our problems and we had to find them on our own. So, we would try hard, and I would work to think about how to best approach our dilemma, even though I had no experience with swimming in buckets of mud. We would eventually find some solutions together. But the solutions were merely how to survive in the mud. In the end we were still stuck in a bucket of mud. We were still alive, but we were covered in crap. Yup, that's what work was like.
Ok, going back to the government hiring process I was in. The interview was actually yhe4 third stage. I had passed the first two. The first stage was being screened in based on my resume. I did a good enough job to links my experience with the competencies they were looking for. My education passed the bar as well. The second stage requested that I complete a written assignment over the weekend. I had to create a 4 slide PowerPoint outlining what I believed was the "role of a project management analyst within a project management office." Here's what I made:

This Angry Birds themed PowerPoint slide got me to the interview stage. I laid out all the magic words, and made a theme that would likely catch the eye of someone with an iPhone and think, "this guy would be fun to work with", or "this guy is young and fun".. or something that would make them want to me. Then came the interview, where again, I had to say all the magic words that tested four distinct competencies. There's the teamwork question, the analytical thinking question, the multi-tasking question, and the "why do you want to work here question". The job actually looked like something I might enjoy. But they continued the interview under the assumption that knowledge and experience with very formal management processes was necessary to perform the work well. The funny part of the PowerPoint that got me in the door is how much it speaks to what they wanted - the formalization, organization and automation of tasks, yet contains a hint at reality - Angry Birds. Can you truly break down the cognitive processes you're going through in a game of Angry Birds that lays out a formal plan that anyone can follow in order to play correctly? Yes, you strategize, execute, learn, etc. But, I'm willing to bet that out of 100 people playing any given level in Angry Birds, each successful player has distinct approaches, bird trajectories, lucky breaks, etc. Going back to an interview, this is often the hardest part to show - your uniqueness, your worthiness because you're you, the fact that a formal process is largely bullshit, and that truly, a PPT slide on Project Management would probably have 25 more slides, and they'd all repeat at some point and get deleted at others along a project's development.

The book I recently read is called Shop Class as Soulcraft - by Matthew B. Crawford. The author holds a Ph.D in Political Philosohpy, once directed a think tank, and is now a full time philosopher, author, and motorcycle mechanic. The book's jacket best describes the author's thesis: Those of us who sit in an office often feel a lack of connection to the material world, a sense of loss, and find it difficult to say exactly what we do all day. For those who felt hustled off to college, then the the cubicle, against their own inclinations and natural nets, this book seeks to restore the honour of the manual trades as a life worth choosing... Crawford questions the imperative of turning everyone into a knowledge worker, based on a misguided separation of thinking from doing... Crawford shows us how such a partition, which began a century ago with the assembly line, degrades work for those on both sides of the divide.

I connected with this books on many levels. Firstly, I enjoy labour history. The book focuses a lot on the advent of Taylorist work systems, whereby manual labour became highly automated, de-skilled and broken down into component parts in order to increase productivity and lower costs. This took the brains out of manual work, leading today to the perception that all work that is manual precludes advanced thinking. The author proves otherwise and advocates the merits of the manual trades, particularly those that involve constant learning, intuition, and solid reasoning skills. Like a motorcycle or bicycle mechanic.I enjoy working on my bike, so the book hit home on this point as well. We're not talking here about unscrewing an oil filter, taking a new shiny one out of a box and screwing it on. A machine can do that. Actually, it's scary how much machines are doing now a days. Think about the wheels on those hundreds of thousands of bicycles that Walmart and Canadian Tire sell each year. Each wheel has roughly 32 spokes, a hub that houses the bearings, a rim, and screws for the mounting and tensioning of each spoke (they're actually called nipples. :) Those shitty wheels are built by a machine faster than any man could make them. But they're made far inferior. I won't get into the details, but the spoke pattern is much weaker because of the machine's inability to weave the trailing and leading spokes. The machine also doesn't spend time to gradually load up the tension on the spokes, pre-stress the wheel, etc, etc. The machine can't do a bunch of processes, but it also can't intuit the various sub-processes of wheel building. There are so many things that the wheel builder is thinking about and working on as he builds a wheel. It's a skill that you acquire through experience. It's thinking while doing. It's an art. An it's rewarding. This is the kind of work that the author explores, but in his case, he's looking at complex motorcycle maintenance processes.

The author had a work experience fresh out of his Master's degree that really hit home. He was hired by a company that indexes and creates search tools for academic papers. His job was to take these academic works, read them, and make a abstract or synopsis of the work. This abstract would then be read by those using the search tool to help them check the relevancy of the work to their needs. He noted that it was ridiculous work. Each paper already contained an abstract. He had to make a new one. Who was he to make a new abstract of an academic paper? What could he add beyond the author's abstract that wouldn't just cause confusion or error? This "knowledge" work, he noted, made him feel tired all the time. Unaccomplished and tired. Man, I did this exact same work when I worked for a law firm. It hit home so hard. I was fresh off my BA, and I was sitting in a law firm's library reading human resources academic works by this one major academic, then making new abstracts of the work in order to help a lawyer quickly check it's relevancy to his work. It was ridiculous. And it made me feel tired. And depressed.

I believe there are definitely office or "knowledge" jobs out there that are rewarding, challenging and make one feel accomplished. I believe the government job I recently applied for could have been one of them. The project was not some generic title they threw into the job. The position was a one year, fixed-term contract. The project was very real, and would result in a large government initiative being roled out next Spring. It could have been rewarding and challenging. I also believe that there's a ton of work out there that is bullshit. Most of the people I talk to who work in the military and mid-level government perform bullshit on a day to day. The challenge comes mainly in survival, not in engaging your spirit, your thinking abilities, your thirst for knowledge.

I'll cut this short and say this book is great. I don't know what I want to be when I grow up, but I know the feeling of being in control, accomplishing something, and engaging my ability to think on many levels. I currently work a little in a bike shop. The days go by faster, as I'm involved in my work and enjoying the processes. However, I don't want think I'll be a bike mechanic forever. Some day I'll find the work that engages me, pays me fairly, and gives opens up that spirit of curiosity and enjoyment that I get when I work on my bike.


Shop Class as Soulcraft

Overall: 4.25/5 (The book ends a little too abruptly for me. I think it could have been wrapped up a little more consisely.


Next review: I'll explore the idea craftsmanship.

Not Good (TM) - A Review of Finish 3-in-1 Gel Pac dishwasher detergent

Imagine working for a dishwasher detergent company. Not very sexy. Tons of goop getting bottled up and sold across North America. That's about it. But, you work in the marketing department. You have an expectation to make this bottled goop sexy. Convince the masses that it's the best damn dish cleaner out there. So, you go to the scientists in the company that developed the formula that make this detergent awesome and collect from them all the convincing, technical specs on the stuff. Put together your information in a way that empowers the consumer, and lets them make a decision based on fact. Wicked facts. About your wicked soap.

No, that's not how it works anymore. Dozens of companies are all making the same shit. It cleans your dishes, period. You don't need good smelling dishes, or softer dishes. Soap, please just cooperate with my machine (finally I have a dishwasher btw) clean the crud off my dishes, and I'll be a happy customer.

So, that takes us to the product review of the day - Finish 3-in-1 Gelpacs.

Question - how many trademarks does a company need in a single advertisement for dishwasher detergent? In the case of my current product, at least 5 - Finish(TM), Gelpacs(TM), Jet-Dry(TM, Powershine(TM) and The Diamond Standard(TM). WTF? I'll get back to this point.

Here's what this product is. Dishwasher detergent. Oh ya, they've decided to package the goop into little single use packs. Like ketchup at a drive-thru. You grab a ball, put it in the dish compartment of the machine as per usual, and voila, that's it. No bottle, no opening lid of bottle, no squirting bottle, no closing lid of bottle, no returning bottle to its home under the sink.


There are 25 little packets in the box we bought. We decided to buy this stuff because we had a coupon. Love a good coupon. It saved us 3 dollars. The retail price was $7.99! That is ridiculously expensive. At $4.99, we were willing to give it a shot. Still pricey, but we'll try it. Maybe it'll fix the crack on my favourite coffee mug..

I just checked out the website for the Finish 3-in-1 Gelpacs up for review. They offer no clear overview of why it is they decided to make individual packets of dishwasher detergent. It's clear, for example, in the case of fast food, that it's really convenient to be able to grab individual packs of ketchup, salt, honey, etc. while you're on the go. So, I guess we're back to that marketing dude who works at the goop factory. He's gotta get the masses to choose his product over the competition. And competition is tough. I mean, that No Name Brand company, whoever they are, wherever they are, are offering vats of their goop for a two spot. How in the name of god can you compete with that? The marketer's goop is no more effective, and his company has way more overhead, what with all the ads and intellectual property that they currently use to market their product.

So, he's stuck in the marketing game, and he's decided to keep digging the hole he started in. There's no choice but to re-package and sell the idea of this product as something new and special. Note, it's the idea of the product. If he can tap into our imaginations with the idea of his product as a special thing, one that makes life more clear, comfortable and correct, then maybe I'll buy his product. Get the lawyers in to have the brand and idea-creating descriptor words trademarked. God forbid a competitor start using "The Diamond Standard" before you get a chance at the idea-generating potential of the world's most coveted mineral.

A little bit on the products performance. I popped a pack in the cleaning vessel, as per the instructions - dry hands and all (yes, you must have dry hands, lest you prematurely begin the packet's dissolution.) I ran the dishwasher. Opened it up the next morning, and there's the undissolved gel packet, just hanging out in the bottom of the machine, havin' a laugh. Wow. Can you even review a product that doesn't even begin performing?..

So, after a couple of attempts with these Gel Pacs I've managed to figure out how to use them. Throw the bastard in the machine willy-nilly and it should be gone when the cycle's complete. Not sure how well it's working with the dishwasher's pre-programmed rinse and wash cycles. I mean, the dishes are clean, but throwing the soap in without using the compartment sort of by-passes the dishwasher's regularly scheduled programming. I can't tell either way. The dishwasher is working. Not sure how much work the soap is doing. Again, as to the packaging, I really don't know what inconvenience or technical limitation the pre-packed design is overcoming. Ok, it is marginally faster to grab a package and toss it in the machine. But, I wasn't complaining before the gel pac came along.



We see fewer and fewer companies that are willing to truly explain their product. You can't find anything other than a ridiculous, cheesy commercial for this product on their website. And they keep coming back to diamonds. It's all just a huge marketing construct to grab a larger segment of the market. People buy into the idea of something really easily. It's something we all see and do. Even if it's just dishwasher detergent. Something about diamonds and convenience really hits home for a lot of people. It's not something you discuss around the dinner table (or write in a blog?...) but it taps a subconscious part of us that is attempting to organize meaning to things. Ironically, it's this type of marketing that carries no meaning at all, other than bottom line sales for Finish brand.

I decided to include a rating of the product's integrity. This rating speaks to all the things I discussed above regarding the notion of selling a product on its merits v. selling the idea of something, whether or not its true. Here's a breakdown of my rating for this product:

Value - 1/5 (with the coupon, 2.5/5)

Performance - 2/5

Integrity - 1/5


Overall Rating - 1.3/5


Check out the tv spot on the right side of their site. Also, note all the trademarked names these guys used for one stupid product.
http://www.finishdishwashing.com/product-all-in-1-finish-gelpacs.php


Next review: A long-term review of the book, Shop Class as Soulcraft, by Matthew Crawford.

Good times aboard the New Balance MT10 trail shoe

I've only spent a couple hours in the newly released New Balance Minimus trail shoes - a hilly 40 minute run in slush and snow at Mount Douglas, and a Crossfit workout tonight.
The Minimus is New Balance's shot at the minimalist market of running footwear. I'll cover "minimalist" running in detail in another post. The major premise is that of minimizing the cushioning, lift (height from ground) and drop (height of heel v. forefoot) and bulk of a running shoe to encourage a more "natural", mid or forefoot strike. The concept is old, actually going back to the true barefoot days of our ancestors, but the footwear market has only recently gone mainstream with what they call minimalist footwear. I have a lot to say about it actually, but I'll reserve it for another time.

Back to the Minimus trail shoe at hand. When you pick this shoe up, you immediately realize how light and uniquely shaped it is. It's a dedicated running shoe, but weighs little more than a slipper, and is shaped more like a cross trainer in the forefoot. This shape is designed to give room for your foot to spread as it makes contact with the ground. The shoe is designed to be worn with or without socks. There are few seams inside the shoe and the footbed is thin, soft and sewn into the insole. The outsole is Vibram rubber, with a dot-shaped tread pattern throughout. The midsole is very thin (little cushioning and lift) and the drop is next to zero. The upper uses a lot of light, airy mesh, and the shoe seems to be held together by a rubber exoskeleton that wraps the heel and forefoot.

My run at Mount Douglas left me absolutely impressed with this shoe. I took them out of the box, put them on without socks, drove to the trailhead, and ran for 45 minutes in a slushy, hilly, rocky and wet environment. I got soaked pretty quick, to say the least! But what a blast! I felt so connected with the ground in this shoe. I didn't worry about my footing as I usually do. Because you're sitting so low to the ground, you don't feel the risk of rolling an ankle. I've been forefoot strike running for a few years, so I didn't have an issue with the limited cushioning or lack of a heel lift.

The one issue I had was that when debris gets in your shoe and you're not wearing socks, it sucks. Obviously, wearing socks next time will fix this problem, and this was more a personal dissapointment with a piece of reality of trail running rather than an issue with the shoe's design.

The shoe was equally impressive at the gym. I performed a heavy three-rep front squat, and I felt confident and solid in the shoe. It felt close to going barefoot or wearing Vibram Five-Fingers, which are my usual choices. After the front squats we performed a workout that involved rowing, box jumps, and burpees. I didn't feel like I had to think about or worry about my footing at anytime. The shoe felt very natural on my foot in this environment.

I wore the shoes today for four hours at work. I gotta say, my feet are sore. These shoes are made for moving, not standing. My heels are sore and I was glad to take them off at the end of the day.

I love this shoe, but it's definitely for a certain person with certain activities in mind. If you're into trail running and have been or are interested in the minimalist shoe movement, this is a great pick up. If you're into the world of functional, full-body fitness, like Crossfit, this is also a great shoe, in my opinion.

I want to talk more about forefoot running down the road. It's one of my many interests, and I live it through my approach to fitness and my current occupation. For now, here's my score for the New Balance MT10 Minimus trail shoes:

Performance: 5/5

Comfort: 4.75/5

Value: 4/5 ($129.99) - Not a giveaway, considering many minimalist shoes/Vibram five fingers are in the $99-110 range.

Overall Rating: 4.6/5


Next review: a quick and dirty look at Finish Gelpacs dishwasher individual detergent packets.

Something from Nothing Leaves Nothing - A Review of Crystal Body Deodorant

“Damn, this is so tough. Do I want to smell like Fresh Sport or Mountain Rain for the next two months? They each have their merits. Maybe I can buy both and use them together.. Fresh Mountain Sport Rain.. ahh, screw it, I’ll get Ice Wave and keep things nice and cool in these hotter months.”

An example of the internal conversations that come up on those rare occasions when I need a new stick of deo. Life is hard, especially when there’s so much choice. At least most of us have a brand. I’ve always been an Old Spice guy, even before the appearance of their awesome commercials with the dude who lets the ladies know what their man should smell like.

Oh ya, I was once a Gillette guy. I don’t know what the hell I was thinking. It was in high school. Gillette Gel. Here’s what it felt like. Go hunting for slugs. Get a lot of them, it might take a while. Slugs are slow, but they hide well. Ok, take your bag of slugs and put them in the fridge for an hour. Ok, now, put the slugs in a blender. Throw in some cologne. Set it to liquify. Give it a minute or so. Take the resulting cold slime and paste it thickly on your pits. That’s what Gillette Gel felt like. And I used it for years. A morning self-torture ritual.

I was recently forced to revisit my deodorant choices. I noticed a posting at work that told us that the workplace was scent free. Hmm, I don’t want to be that guy who everybody smells. If I keep rocking the Old Spice and everybody else is gone commando, they’ll definitely smell me. So, after work I went on a hunt for a scent free deodorant. The stuff I had in mind was the natural stuff like Tom’s from Maine that you get from health food stores.

So, I head to Shoppers Drug Mart in search of an odour free alternative. There was one option, and it was not exactly set out at eye level with the Old Spice. Hidden on the corner of the lowest shelf, just inches above the hair, grime and dust that coated the aisle floor was a small, clear cylinder labelled as ‘Crystal Body Deodorant for Men - Fragrance Free’. The package claimed it was made of 100% Natural Mineral Salts. WTF?.. How will masking the odour of bacteria that comes with perspiration using salt work at all? Well, I I’d have to try it. 8 bucks later and I owned a stick of magic mineral salts.

It’s been three months that I’ve been in the Mineral Salt deodorant game. And it works!! Here’s what you do. Yes, there’s a process to this. You need to wet the stone with water. It’s literally a stone of mineral salt, hard as rock. Once wet, you apply as you would normal deodorant. That’s it. On with life. It smells like, well, nothing. And it’s effective. Because it doesn’t have perfumes to mask any odour, at the end of an active day, you should probably get yourself sorted out with a shower. But on an average day for an office worker or someone not sweating profusely, this stuff is amazing!

One of the best things about this product is that I believe it will last upwards of 9 months! I haven't even scratched the surface of the rock. I guess when you’re dealing with a mineral salt crystal, there’s not much the company can do to make the product softer, thereby making it run out quicker so you can go back to buy more. You best believe that Old Spice and the gang have their product life down to a fine science. But not old Crystal Body Deo. It just keeps on pumping out odour protection day after day. Crystal deodorants also do not contain aluminum chlorohydrate or aluminum zirconium.

Overall Rating: The Crystal Body Deodorant for Men is a great product that I will definitely repurchase. This product has proven to me that there are alternatives to the perfume-laden options out there, and that it’s not at all bad to go scent free. I still have a stick of Old Spice for those times where I’ll be at a long event like a wedding or working manual labour. Otherwise, it’s the magic crystal keeping me smelling like, well, nothing! A definite repurchase!

Odour Control - 4/5
Ease of Use - 3.75/5
Value - 5/5

Overall Rating - 4.25/5

http://www.thecrystal.com/


Upcoming Review: A Quick and Dirty look at the new MT10 minimalist trail running shoe from New Balance.

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Here it is. Another blog. The Blog of All Blogs. My humble goal here: to have such varied content that people the world over will not be able to help but to read, sign on, and spread the word. I joke. This should hopefully be an outlet for me to share some thoughts on the “things” I come across in life. I believe “things” will become an every-expanding category as I move forward. I have many material things to review, but I also have some places and ideas I’d like to review. Maybe even people. Mostly dead people. I’ll also share more than just my impressions of the “thing”, hopefully examining ideas around perception, value, worth, and other ruminations on the meaning of life. My hope is that my thoughts provoke discussion rather than just answers. I will hopefully never claim to have the answer.

Like Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, I'm interested in many things. I guess we all have varied interests, but I've recently begun to think about this idea a little more, the thought that I'm not really obsessed or focused on just a few things in life. The people who know me might say otherwise, but maybe this blog will prove otherwise. I notice that a lot of blogs follow a person’s one passion very closely, which is great! (especially if their passion is more on the cool or inspiring end, rather than the suck side of things.) But I thought I'd try to make something that speaks to who I am. When you're a generalist, there's a lot of clutter to sort through. Here's my attempt to review and unclutter all the things that find their way into my ever-varied life. I hope some of what I write about is useful to you.

My Blog Format will be as follows:

Each post will contain a review of something in my life. The review will fall into one of two categories:

Quick and Dirty - my first impressions of something that I’ve recently come across.
Long Term - something I’ve had in my life for a while.

No need to operationalize those categories any further. I’ll keep it nice and general so that I can adapt as I go.

So, here it goes. The next post will be:

Long Term Review: 100% Natural Mineral Salts Crystal Body Deodorant for Men.

Stay tuned!