Geo F. Trumper Violet Shaving Cream

Want that straight razor shave feel? Outside of really using a straight razor, which most of us aren't good at, great shaving cream makes a huge difference. Geo F. Trumper Violet Shaving Cream has a very light smell, awesome lubrication, and leaves a very clean shave used with a safety razor.

STINKER: Cat's Ass Coffee

This is the first one of these I've done, but i've planned to include this sort of thing as well, cuz it's stuff you'd think you like, but it turns out, it's a stinker.

To that point, Kopi Luwak is a very special type of coffee I'd read about since the 90s and always wanted to try. Noted for it's incredible smoothness, it commands a premium price - 50 to 70 dollars per 1/2 lb., depending on the vendor. Yup, this is the coffee that's first digested by the civet, a very cute little cat-like creature from southeast Asia. After that, the beans are removed from the civet's poop, cleaned, and roasted like any other coffee bean.

Jeri got me a 1/4 lb of this from Cat's Ass Coffee as a gift, She knew how much I've wanted it and what a coffee snob I am. Try as I might, after several pots of it, I found it just wasn't very good. It tasted like old restaurant coffee made in a Bunn coffee maker. It was incredibly smooth and acid free as touted, but no matter how strong I brewed it, it had no aroma at all, and tasted stale and weak. Coffee fans, Kopi Luwak from Cat's Ass Coffee was a bust.

Kespon Privacy Stamp

Ok, this is brilliant and I don't know why someone didn't think of this sooner!!! I've been shredding stuff for years (an onerous task) and someone finally thought "hey, why don't you just blot out your name." Indeed. Why not.

This little baby makes a mix of letters over your address printout on anything so you don't have to tear the little address labels off letters, magazines, or forms to shred them. Or shred anything. Just drop it in the recycle bin. Pure genius.

It's easily refillable with new inkpads, so you're not throwing the whole thing away when the ink dries out. I love it!

Fuel Art & Espresso

Great coffee, friendly staff, and uber-cool surroundings. You're gonna be in Mt. Vernon to take in the festivals or antiques, so be sure to stop in to Fuel! They have the gifts and decor that are no where else.

The owner, Tommie, has an incredible sense of style that seems to mix world art, dark humor, and midwest sensibilities into one. She collects amazing stuff from all over, sometimes one of a kind finds, to sell there: dia de los muertos figurines, cast iron animals, fun brightly painted metal work by local artists, Dutch funeral urns, vintage cowboy boots, amazing handmade pieces in wood, paper, and cloth by Central American artists, Tibetan glasswear, Asian cabinets, French toiletries, original art by Tommie herself, and all kinds of new stuff coming in every week!

If that isn't enough, the amazing baked scones, cupcakes, cookies, and brownies are made fresh from scratch daily right in the store!

Violet Jelly from Blue Gate Farm

Oh my gosh. Remember that violet jelly your grandma used to make for the county fair? No, you don't cuz your grandma never made something this awesome like Blue Gate Farm does! Lightly flora, sweet, and GREAT on an english muffin. Blue Gate Farm makes the best!!! Special thanks to Jag's Photo Blog for the image I'm using without permission here.

Cyber Clean

This stuff really works. Gets gunk out of tiny cracks. If it's a flexible surface you're pushing it into, it will sometimes leave pieces of gel in the cracks which can be removed with light dabbing with the larger chunk of gel, so be careful in those cases not to squish it in too hard. Can sometimes leave an oily film on glass, but i've had good luck with glossy plastic and enamels coming away clean. I'm not sure i buy into it killing germs. I have no way of knowing.

Millstream German Pilsner

Lager lovers who like a clean, clear, and very brightly hoppy brew will enjoy Millstream's German Pilsner. They lightly hop it while the wort is boiled and then hop it again at the end while the wort cools resulting in a beer that is mildly bitter and brightly floral in its hoppy smell. Yum!

DR Handmade Guitar Strings

These handmade strings need to be wound slowly when you restring with them or they'll break (so the package says), but they play and bend very nicely. The most impressive thing about them is they stay in tune extremely well. Even after the first stringing of them, they stay in tune where a regular guitar string would continue to stretch requiring retunings almost daily for the first week or so.

Gundlach Bundshu Chardonnay

Red wine lovers can pass on this if they like, but I really like looking for flavors in chardonnay and you won't find better than in Gundlach Bundschu's. A lovely pear flavor to start and a brown sugar smell. The aftertaste is what really sells it though: marzipan.

Small-town Pizza Huts

If you're a person of a certain age, you remember the hey-day of pizza hut when it was actually really really tasty and not a disgusting hole where screaming kids dripping mucus have birthday parties. Want that experience of Pizza Hut being a fun, yummy place from the past? Go to a small town Pizza Hut - a town with less than 5000 people. The people working there are adults, it's clean, it's friendly, and they take their job seriously because running a Pizza Hut is a decent job to have in a small town. That chewy-crunchy-lightly greasy crust and tangy sauce you remember are waiting for you at a small town Pizza Hut.

Maple Butter

If you're a maple fiend like me, this is your crack. It's just maple syrup that's further reduced to the point it starts to make very small crystals of sugar - there's no actual butter in it. Maple butter isn't cheap, like most real maple products, but the impact of the deep maple flavor is intense and great on toast or ice cream. Tastes delicious served on a spoon too.

Sweet Autumn Clematis

Gardeners looking for something low-maintenance to cover a sunny wall or fence will love sweet autumn clematis. It grows fast, comes back strong most years, and requires no care at all once it's established. Awesome clouds of white, fragrant flowers in early September. Sometimes can spread nearby by seed, but it's easily controlled.

No Plot No Problem

Want to write a novel but never knew how to get started? No Plot No Problem will get you to your first draft in just 28 days. Easy and fun to read, this book coaches you through getting the first draft of 50,000 words created. Even if you just wondered what it would be like, it's a great experience to ride the roller coaster of following his method.

5 Hour Energy

Yup, it really does work. It feels a bit pricey, but it's long lasting and really doesn't give you that fluttery, vibrating feeling of having way too much caffeine. Tastes like baby aspirin.

Things for iPhone

Looking for that missing To-Do application for your iPhone? Things is it. Create custom groupings by project or subject, and even group those within each other if you like. Nice pop up alert features if you choose to turn them on, and you can purchase a desktop app to sync it with wirelessly if you like.

Epiphone Les Paul Ultra II

Gibson purists will be reluctant to pick up this axe because of the reputation Epiphone has sometimes for producing sub-standard guitars. This guitar has a slim neck with a fast flat finish on the back and a solid playing feel. The reason this guitar is awesome is the nanomag pickup in the base of the neck. When it's the only pick up on, there's a warm, acoustic sound to your playing. When it's paired with the neck or bridge pickups, it rounds out a full sound that can be either rich or chimey depending on how you set the tone. Cons: the gold hardware which always seems to wear off and corrode quickly.

Grundig Mini Radio

This is a smart little radio with digital tuning, great sound for having a very small size. AM/FM and shortwave.

Penis Pokey Activity Book

Sure, not for everyone, but we all have that friend who would get a kick out of this. The book is hilarious not only for the funny premise of a book with a penis sized hole through the entire book, but for the suggested activities. You know a party this is perfect for. The only trick is, the person who gets it has no idea what do to with it after the party. Can't keep it at work, can't keep it at home where the kids might find it, and that's an extra layer of humor for later.

Cat Dancer

This is the cat toy they really play with. Yes. It's a wire with rolled up bits of cardboard on the end. They love it. It's the only toy my cats consistently have played with over the years and it's a fun toy you can interact with them with!

Joe Bonamassa

The best guitarist you've never heard of. Bonamassa's blues solo shows are amazing with a sometime twenty song set with no intermission. He really connects with the audience and his tunes and 4 piece band is very clean and tight. His work seems to connect blues with classical guitar, progressive rock, 80s pop, and southern rock sounds of ZZTop and Skynard. His shows have something for everyone from people new to blues to long time fans.

Barnes & Noble Nook

There are quite a few e-readers on the market, and I've only tried one, but it's so fun, I have to talk about it here. I have the original Barnes & Noble Nook and I've used it for almost two years now. It's the greyscale one, not the nook color, but if you're interested in a platform for just reading books, it's a great device. Decent contrast, lightweight, and it feels great in your hands. Your library is easy to manage online, you can lend books to other friends with nooks, and there's a free book offered every Friday!

Update: The Nook has been updated regularly over the years with some great features, but the Kindle has matched many of those feature for feature. I don't have any experience with the Kindle, but I would say long-term, I'm not sure I'd still endorse the Nook as the platform is in some question.

Neat Desk Scanner

I got one of these for Christmas and LOVE IT. It's super fast cuz the processing power of the scanner is carried out by your computer. Takes double sided, single sided, color or greyscale, can group scans of a single document together into one file, turn it into PDFs, and allows you to create folder systems for storage. You can do up to 50 pages at a time, and it does light optical character recognition while it scans! The Neat Desk isn't super for photography, but it's great for turning mounds of paper into digital docs to free up the mess in your office and can even recognize receipts and business cards for use in your other applications.