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.

Homemade Laundry Soap

This is a pretty easy and very economical way to make your own laundry soap that is really good stuff and also safer for the environment!

Sonia's Laundry Powder

Winter green rubbing alcohol

This green weird stuff is often on the clearance end cap at the pharmacy, if you can find it at all. It's great applied to hot, tired feet or rubbed on sore muscles.

Power Naps / Cat Naps

It seems to be something people can do or can't. But try it out and maybe train yourself. If you can close your eyes for 10 min and get somewhere close to actual sleep, but not quite deep sleep, it's like getting an hour nap. Works great for doldrum days if you have an office and can shut the door or if you can just walk out to your car in the parking lot to snooze a bit for lunch.

Stumbling on Happiness

I've spent many years thinking about what happiness was, how to get more of it, and especially, why it's so damn important to me and people around me. All I can think is it's so elusive, the rarity itself makes it valuable.

That's the playful bent of this book by Daniel Gilbert. Gilbert looks at case studies and anecdotes that seem to suggest you really can't plan your way into happiness (but that you can 'not plan' your way into being miserable). It's a fun read and sort of a relief to know happiness pretty much happens when it happens, so don't sweat yourself trying to make yourself happy.