A collection of thoughts, stories, links, etc.
Sorry for the recent lack of updates recently. I’ve been busy working on OneCoolThing.net (which you should visit), and getting ready for PAX East, which is going to be terribly exciting. I’ll probably get back to regular updates of the site after this month is over, once things have calmed down. Laterz!
-Jeff
@Facelesscog
If you’ve been reading these reviews, you know that I have two major weaknesses: spy-type gadgets and different storage options that I can use while in my wheelchair. This hat just happens to combine both of those things into one convenient…hat. The Personal Area Network TEC Hat (full name) is your basic baseball cap, with a geeky twist. It hides two small storage spaces, one velcro closed pocket under the brim and one zippered pocket on the side. These pockets aren’t terribly large, but then you probably shouldn’t be trying to carry anything that big in your hat.
Personally, I use the pocket in the brim to carry one (or more) SD memory cards, typically loaded up with portable apps…just in case. In the zippered pocket, I keep the Micro Remote, which I’ll be reviewing later. There are also a pair of loops, located on either side of the hat, meant to hold your headphones. I can’t honestly speak on how well these work, as I don’t use them. The hat itself is of excellent quality; however, and the “hidden” pockets are just darned useful. It’s a little pricier than a normal baseball hat, but then again, it’s not a normal baseball hat. I give it four and a half cogs out of five.
For those of you who haven’t heard of PAX, and like video games, you’d be doing yourself a favor if you looked it up. With the recent near-death of E3, PAX (Prime) has become what may be the biggest gaming convention in the nation…nay, the world. Often described as being founded “for geeks, by geeks,” PAX is attended by video gamers, rpg gamers, anime fans, vendors of all makes and models…and just about any other kind of geek you can think of, minus maybe the ones that bite the heads off of chickens.
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And I just found out that I may get another bone infection, this time in my left foot. Basically, I have a hole in my left heel that has exposed bone. Now, exposed bone typically means infected bone, but yesterdays x-ray has verified that it is not infected. So, for at least the next week, I have to be super careful about not putting pressure on it (mainly during transfers to and from my wheelchair). Fortunately, even if it does get infected, the operation to clean out the infected bone should only result in me spending another four days in the hospital, max. So, if it’s your thing, feel free to send me positive vibes, prayers, animal sacrifices, etc. I’ll take anything that’ll make sure I make it to PAX-East.
On February 23, 2008, a new holiday was created…Water Day. If you’re reading this, then you’re most likely a friend of mine, and I’d like you to understand the story behind it.
On January 16, 2008, I underwent a twenty-two hour surgery to remove a softball sized tumor from my abdomen. The surgery was originally only supposed to take four or five hours, but the tumor was more…integrated…inside me than they originally thought. It had grown completely through my vena cava, and was seriously pressing against any number of other things. After that surgery, I was free of the tumor, but I had lost feeling from the waist down, my abdomen and legs were dangerously swollen and I had any number of tubes sticking out of me, including a trach tube.
They didn’t even really let me wake up for a week or two. I have some fragmented memories of my birthday, Jan. 27th, when one of my doctors thought it would be a good idea to remove my breathing tube as a surprise for my family, to show how far along I had come. Turns out, I hadn’t come that far. I remember the awful sensation of the tube coming out, and struggling for every breath as the doctor encouraged me to breathe on my own. Fortunately, I don’t remember the new tube going back in, I imagine it was pretty unpleasant too. The thing that irritated me the most, after I woke up, was not pain, or the monotony of being in the same room day after day, barely moving. It was the fact that I was not allowed to drink…anything. You see, I’ve always been a very heavy drinker. No, not like that, I mean I go through a lot of fluids…tea, water, soda, whatever I can get my hands on. Growing up, with how much time I spent in the pool and how much I drank, I always suspected I was half fish. However, with the trach tube in, I could not eat or drink anything…something about not being able to swallow correctly. If I tried to drink anything, they said, it would end up in my lungs, and they’d have to be suctioned out…again. (I had it done several times…and it’s no picnic.) My sister, in her nightly email updates to friends and family, described pretty accurately like this: “It’s kind of like when you wake up in the middle of the night and your mouth is all dry, you just hop up, grab a drink and head back to bed…except Jeff can’t hop up, or get a drink, or move…or do just about anything other than lay there and think about how thirsty he is.” It also hit my mom pretty hard when I wrote on the white board that I used to communicate “Imagine being adrift in a sea of food and drink and not being able to have any or you’ll drown.” (along with a little cartoon drawing of a stick figure on a raft in the ocean)
My family knew how miserable I was and tried to help as best they could. I was allowed to have ice chips in my mouth…as long as I didn’t swallow the liquid. One of the nurses even came up with the idea of mixing Crystal Light with the ice chips to give me a little flavor now and then. It was wonderful, comparatively speaking, but still torture. On February 23, I was told that I was being taken down to Radiology for a test, a “swallow” test. My heart immediately jumped at the thought, and I verified with the nurse that, if I passed this test, I’d be allowed to drink again, once I was given a special valve that would fit in my trach tube which would allow fluids to go down the right way. The swallow test consisted of drinking a series of thicker and thicker fluids (from watery up to nearly oatmeal-like). The fluids, whatever they were made of, were visible on x-ray, so I sat in front of a fluroscope and the doctor watched a live image of my profile as I tried to swallow these foul little shots. It only took about ten minutes, and I was casually informed that I had passed, and that I could drink…anything I wanted, whenever I wanted. This was within reason, of course, they were talking about water, tea, maybe my Crystal Light…but all I heard was one thing…Water. I had been craving it since I woke up, sometimes, all I could think of was a tall glass of ice cold water, droplets of condensation rolling down the side.
My family and my wife were in my room when I got back. My mother had a bottle of water waiting for me. I could not control the tears that ran down my face as I drank it, and it was, to this day, the best thing I’ve ever drank. After I finished my…I don’t know…forty-seventh bottle of water, I revised that little cartoon I had drawn earlier. I left the little man in the ocean, but erased the text, replacing it with the following: “And with that, the veil was lifted and I drank the ocean.” We decided on the spot that Water Day would be celebrated from then on, a new holiday to make sure we always appreciated and were thankful for the little things. (The attached picture was sketched by Randall Munroe of XKCD.com who, upon hearing the story, was nice enough to provide a clean version of my original for future Water Day activities.)
So, I invite you all to celebrate today, and every February 23’rd. It’s not hard, just pour yourself a tall, cold glass of water and enjoy it with friends and family. So, Happy Water Day everyone!
-Jeff
Ok, I’ll admit it, I’m a lousy updater. I’m now two gadget reviews behind. Today was the Chinese New Year’s black tie party that is held annually by the museum that my mother in law works with. For the first time, my wife and I attended. I’ll be posting up pictures and video of the lion dance tomorrow, but let me tell you, it was an awesome night. Excellent food, good conversation, my wife won a large Buddha head…good night. Details to come tomorrow. Again, sorry for the delay on the reviews.
I’m Twitter friends with Miss Destructo, who is also Twitter friends with can of Bruce’s Yams…which is surprisingly talkative for a can of yams. Bruce’s Yams just started up a tumblr blog (like this one), which features a half dozen or so quick Bruce’s Yam Cameos…which I now refer to as “Yameos”…that I threw together. (You have to scroll back to the second page to see some of them.) So, I’m sorry. Today’s gadget review will be delayed until tomorrow due to how sidetracked I got drawing yams. I didn’t realize until now how weird that sounds…
The pictures I did for Bruce’s Yams were the first postings of a new Tumblr blog, “Bruce’s Yams Was Here.” I enjoyed throwing them together, and will probably crank out some more tomorrow with the same theme.
Ok, I have to admit, I’ve always been kind of a sucker for “spy tech.” You know, the James Bond kind of stuff like hidden cameras, laser pens, explosive ducks…that kind of thing. I’m also a firm believer that you can never have too much portable storage. Well, imagine my delight when I ran across this watch, which satisfies both desires at once! I grabbed a 4GB version for myself, which I’m noting is no longer available. Currently, you have the choice of 2GB or waiting for a few months and getting an 8GB. Speaking as a man with very limited pocket space, I like this device. It’s perfectly functional as a watch, of course. It even has little glow in the dark pips on the face and hands for night-time activities. Then, as you’d imagine, it functions perfectly well as a USB drive as well. It tends to be a little bulky for my taste, but then again, I don’t typically like wearing watches, so take that with a grain of salt. Is there anything that sets this apart from any other flash drive? Meh, aside from the fact that it’s hidden in a watch…no, not really. Frankly though, if you’re anything like me, the “hidden in a watch” thing is probably enough to draw you in.
It’s a decent flash drive, but the bulk and the price (in a world where you can now get flash drives that are small enough to hide _under_ your watch) take it down a notch. All things considered, I give it three and a half cogs out of five.
If I had to pick one gadget out of my list that gets the most use, the one thing that I put on as part of my daily routine without fail, it’s my Gadget Holster. For those few who don’t know, I am in a wheelchair. As such, it kinda limits my access to back pockets in pants, where I used to keep my wallet. So, when I saw the Gadget Holster on Thinkgeek, that was my main focus. At the time, I was using an old fanny-pack wrapped around my thigh to hold my wallet and phone, and it was a pain in the ASS. It was always shifting around, and it slipped down my leg almost every time I got in or out of my truck. (Not to mention the fact that it just looked stupid.) So I purchased the gadget holster, hoping that it would be a slightly more functional/stylish replacement for the leg-fanny-pack.
Well, I could not have been happier with the results. Let me break it down for you.
In the holster, which kind of resembles a shoulder holster for a firearm (so be a little careful), there are two big pockets, one smaller one and a concealed zip-line key ring. The smaller pocket, at the bottom, is perfectly sized for my phone, a Pantech Matrix. If you have an iPhone, or other slightly larger phone, it may not fit quite as well…just a warning. The large pocket on the front is just about the perfect size for a man’s wallet, money clip…maybe a 3.5” floppy disk. (but if you’re wearing this, I can’t imagine why you’d be carrying a floppy disk) The inner pocket (which is also fairly large) is where I keep my MP3 player (a Zune HD, which may be reviewed at a future date) and headphones. Finally, on my zip-line keyring, I carry a flash drive loaded up with my most frequently used portable apps and the Utili-Key, which will be reviewed later. There is also a channel which leads from both of the front pockets up to the shoulder area, which is supposed to be for your headphones, to keep the wires out of the way. I tried using this a couple times, but I found it to be kind of a hassle, and not worth the effort.
I can’t say enough good things about this thing. It’s been a tremendous help for me, giving me easy and quick access to my phone and wallet when I need them, rather than having to reach in my backpack behind the chair all the time. It also keeps everything a little safer, frankly. I’ve always worried about having too many valuables in my backpack, as someone could, in theory, sneak stuff out of there without me knowing it. The holster keeps my most valuable valuables nice and close. So, all things considered, I give it four and a half cogs out of five.
For the next five days, I thought I’d do something different and post a little review for the gadgets that have truly become part of my daily routine. These little doodads and gizmos, all from Thinkgeek.com, are truly valuable to me, and I’m hoping that they might be to you too. So, here’s a little preview of what I’ll be reviewing:
The COG Tags, I’ll talk about now. I have to admit, I’ve never played Gears of War, a game in which the lead character wears dog tags that resemble these. I have; however, gone by the online name Faceless Cog for over ten years now, so anything “cog” related
gets my attention. I had actually been looking at making my own “cog” tags, but when I saw that Thinkgeek had them for about ten bucks, I jumped on them. They are nice and heavy, solid in construction. They don’t feel cheap at all, though I wish there was an option to get them personalized instead of the default (game related) text that comes on them. (Hey, a man can dream.) I don’t plan on rating these. If you like the game, or if you’re just a cog-head like myself, then they’re worth the ten bucks. Otherwise, save your money for some of the five reviews to come.
(EDIT: For reference sake, and full disclosure, I am NOT being paid or compensated in any way to do this series of gadget reviews. I just really like Thinkgeek, and the products they have.)
