Category: Reviews, Tips and Tricks
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Updated My Travel Fit, Watch Out Portugal
If you read my Portugal post, you know how this started. Jennifer had opinions about my travel wardrobe. The citizens of Lisbon had opinions about my travel wardrobe. I came home suitably chastened and with a list of things to replace. Well, I’ve replaced most of them. This is the follow-up I promised — what…
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My Clothing Philosophy (Who Even Has One Of Those?)
If you’ve been following my ongoing clothing saga — the chore coat search, the Red Wing chronicles, the light duty boot quest — you might have noticed that I have opinions. Strong ones. Possibly unreasonably strong ones for someone who spends a meaningful portion of his life mowing a lawn and cutting firewood. But here…
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The Navien NCB-240/110 Propane Combi Boiler — One Year In
Our Triangle Tube Prestige SOLO 110 finally gave up the ghost. Actually, “finally” is generous — it went out on its own schedule, which was, of course, the worst possible time. The short version: indirect water heater tank with an anode rod that needed replacing, ongoing iron and sediment issues, and the slow creeping realization…
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When GPS Dog Fencing is Not Accurate: A $600 Lesson in Canine Trauma
I bought a PetSafe Guardian GPS fence for our bernedoodle Hobbes in September 2023. Six hundred dollars. I used it for two or three months before I quit. I should have quit sooner. We live on a rural property the wrong size for an underground wireless fence — too big to bury affordably, too small…
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I Hate Our Pella Architect Series Windows. They Look Good and that’s where It Stops.
I have to admit something before any of the rest of this will land. Our Pella Architect Series windows look beautiful. The proportions are right. The wood interiors took paint cleanly. The aluminum-clad exteriors have held up for sixteen winters. From across the room, from the road, in any photograph, they are the windows I…
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450′ Gravel Driveway: A 15-Year Journey of Expensive Mistakes
Plus an Ariens Sno-Thro 926053 Hydro Pro 28 Review The last few days of snow and clearing the driveway stirred up this memory… We built our new old house back in 2009 and, in what seemed like a great idea at the time, set it at the back edge of a small hay field. This…
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Tub Resurfacing: Many Mistakes Were Made.
Mistakes were made. Back in 2009, when we were building our house, we decided we were going to do The Right Thing™: reclaimed bathroom fixtures for two of our three bathrooms. Reuse. Character. History. Surely the planet would send us a handwritten thank-you note. Except for the toilets. Those had to be modern low-flush versions, because…
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Looking for the Perfect Work/Chore/Casual Pants
My pants requirements are simple: 100% cotton, blue or grey, can handle actual work, can also be worn somewhere my wife wants me to look slightly dressed up. This combination is apparently impossible to buy. For everyday wear I default to 100% cotton chinos in blue or grey. Banana Republic and Gap both have a…
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The Quest for the Perfect Hoodie
My hoodie requirements are simple: heavyweight, 100% cotton. That’s the whole list. In 2026, this turns out to be unreasonable. I run an e-commerce shop with print-on-demand, and the only 100% cotton hoodies in the catalog are cost-prohibitive. For everyday wear I prefer a zip, but I’ll take a pullover if it’s cotton. The deal-breaker…
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The Versatile Waterproof Sneaker Every Sports Parent Needs
My footwear requirements are not unreasonable: keep my feet dry when it’s below 60°F, survive muddy youth sports sidelines, and let me do something vaguely athletic if my kid needs a catch partner during warmups. That’s the list. Almost nothing on the market does all three. Waterproof hiking boots are everywhere, but hiking boots are…
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Tesla Finally Fixed the Auto Headlight Issue, Sort of…
Somewhere around March, the blue high beam indicator on my Tesla stopped switching to green when another car was approaching. I called Tesla. I waited months for an update. Eventually I gave up. This is the same company making the self-driving car. For non-Tesla owners: blue means I’m blasting full brights, green means the car…
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Does the Perfect Raincoat Exist?
Some of my most miserable moments have been cold and soaked at the same time. Wet alone, fine. Cold alone, fine. Cold and wet together is the worst feeling I know, which is part of why I will never go cold-water swimming voluntarily. So I have spent more time than I should hunting for a…
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Is There a Perfect Light Duty Leather Work Boot?
My work boot problem isn’t fit, durability, or style. It’s that I go in and out of the house fifteen times a day and almost nobody makes a waterproof slip-on work boot that still looks like a work boot. Seven pairs in, I still haven’t found it. If you want the philosophical version of this…
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I Really Like Red Wing Boots, But They Should Make a Waterproof Moc Toe Chelsea
I’m a Red Wing fan, and after four pairs I think they’re making all the right boots — they’re just not combining them. The boot I actually want from Red Wing doesn’t exist, and it should. Red Wing 8249 Steel Toe Moc Toe Supersole The 8249 is where this started. NYC film production days, working…
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Tesla Isn’t Smart. It Was Just Sold That Way.
I’m a little confused by the over-exuberant Tesla love. Seven months and a few thousand miles into my 2023 Model Y Long Range, and the consensus among the fanbase still doesn’t track for me. I’m an Apple person, so I understand the dynamic. But even with Apple, I can name the things they get wrong…
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What is the Best Chore Boot? Bogs vs. Muck, With Reservations
If you live somewhere that actually has winter, regular rubber boots stop working below freezing. You need insulated neoprene. The question is which pair, and after two rounds I have an honest answer with a caveat. Round One: Bogs Classic High My first serious pair was the Bogs Classic High. They kept my feet warm…
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My Search for the Perfect Chore Coat
I bought my first Carhartt C01 at Dave’s on 6th Avenue when I moved to NYC in the mid-90s. It hung in my closet, unworn, for years. Then we started building a house, and the coat earned its keep — wood-chopping, pricker-bush wading, firewood gathering, every chilly outdoor task I could throw at it. By…
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Tesla Model Y Accessories: The Stuff Tesla Should Have Included
After bringing home my Model Y 7-seater, I quickly figured out what every Tesla owner figures out: this is the beginning of your spending, not the end. The car is sold on a minimalism story — fewer features, fewer parts, lower price. What that actually means in practice is a thriving aftermarket where owners spend…
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Screen Time Doesn’t Work Because Apple Doesn’t Want It To
Peer pressure around getting phones for kids, tweens, and teens is intense. If your kid already struggles to fit in, not having a device makes them feel worse. The cruel irony: giving them a device can isolate them further, just in a new direction. There’s no good answer. Schools should ban devices outright, but that’s…
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Electrolux Washer Review: The Second-Floor Guarantee That Wasn’t
I’d had Electrolux earmarked as our next washer practically from the day we bought our LG in 2010. Our LG was reliable, but when it hit the spin cycle it shook the whole house like a small earthquake. With laundry on the second floor, that’s less an inconvenience than a structural concern. When our thirteen-year-old…
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Electrolux Dryer Review: Built to Match, Not to Dry
We needed to stack our washer and dryer because of laundry-room space, and stacking kits aren’t universal — so once we picked the washer, we were locked into the matching Electrolux dryer. That’s how I ended up with the Electrolux Front Load Perfect Steam Gas Dryer with Instant Refresh, model ELFG7437AW. A name longer than…
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Café GE Refrigerator: The Good, The Bad, and The “Did Anyone Actually Test This Thing?”
Our Kitchen Aid refrigerator gave up, and we had to go shopping. When we built the house, most of the appliances came from online retailers and big-box stores. This time we went local. The criteria seemed simple: 36″ French door with bottom freezer, dual compressors or evaporators for efficiency, interior water dispenser. Some of that…
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Better Late Than Never: 2019 Honda Ridgeline Black Edition Review
When I bought my Ridgeline in 2019, Honda sent me a survey. I did a thorough job on it, which apparently flagged me as someone worth asking more, because they sent a second, longer one. I gave them detailed answers — but it was all in their format, so I never kept a copy. I…
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Follow Me Tandem: The Ultimate Family Cycling Solution
Beyond the Woom bikes themselves, the best thing I bought for riding with young kids was the Follow Me Tandem. Honestly, one of the best things I’ve ever bought, period. The genius of it: your kid rides solo until they’re tired, then you hook their bike up to the tandem coupling and tow them the…
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Woom Bikes: The Ultimate Kids Bike Brand
When I was looking to get our kids started on bikes, I did a lot of research. Two things came out of it: training wheels are a bad idea, and the right place to start is a balance bike. After the balance bike stage, what mattered most was weight and kid-specific ergonomics — bikes actually…
Even that's Odd 