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bohemiancoastSo, I thought I'd ask the collected LiveJournal mob for advice on a wide range of different subjects .
Cassette Adapter: Lots of people sell these, and we buy one about every three months, various different off brands. The main problems are:
- noise in the mechanism
- low sound levels with iPod
- weak connections everywhere
Web browsing suggests that it's all a bit of a lottery and expensive brands are often no better. Some people report good results with a £3 adapter, some terrible results with a £20 adapter. Does anyone have any good advice?
Retractable headphones: I want some earbuds of reasonable quality, of the isolationist type (shove deep in ears), with a retractable cable. I spend a few minutes untangling my cable every time I listen to music and I'm getting fed up. ZipKord have one but I'm not sure it's possible to buy it and I'm not sure how good it is. Other brands appear to be the fall-out-of-ears open type that's both rude and ineffective on the tube.
A really good saute pan: Needs to be big (think one-pot meal for six), non-stick, heavy, have a lid (our previous was Meyer Steelon now discontinued) and preferably go in the dishwasher.
One of those little trolleys on wheels that people take shopping: except that they seem to all be badly designed, presumably because people who walk to do their shop tend to be poor. We want someone to bring the same design considerations that have transformed baby buggies over the last few years to this problem. It needs to be light, fold small, and have a removable, waterproof bag made of, eg, pannier material.
A waterproof memo board, so I can jot down GTD ideas I have in the shower. As far as I can tell, I can't do better than writing on the wall with a chinagraph pencil.
A foolproof way to keep slugs out of the house: must not involve any form of poison. Snails too, thinking about it.
Will writing services for families.
Advice welcome.
Cassette Adapter: Lots of people sell these, and we buy one about every three months, various different off brands. The main problems are:
- noise in the mechanism
- low sound levels with iPod
- weak connections everywhere
Web browsing suggests that it's all a bit of a lottery and expensive brands are often no better. Some people report good results with a £3 adapter, some terrible results with a £20 adapter. Does anyone have any good advice?
Retractable headphones: I want some earbuds of reasonable quality, of the isolationist type (shove deep in ears), with a retractable cable. I spend a few minutes untangling my cable every time I listen to music and I'm getting fed up. ZipKord have one but I'm not sure it's possible to buy it and I'm not sure how good it is. Other brands appear to be the fall-out-of-ears open type that's both rude and ineffective on the tube.
A really good saute pan: Needs to be big (think one-pot meal for six), non-stick, heavy, have a lid (our previous was Meyer Steelon now discontinued) and preferably go in the dishwasher.
One of those little trolleys on wheels that people take shopping: except that they seem to all be badly designed, presumably because people who walk to do their shop tend to be poor. We want someone to bring the same design considerations that have transformed baby buggies over the last few years to this problem. It needs to be light, fold small, and have a removable, waterproof bag made of, eg, pannier material.
A waterproof memo board, so I can jot down GTD ideas I have in the shower. As far as I can tell, I can't do better than writing on the wall with a chinagraph pencil.
A foolproof way to keep slugs out of the house: must not involve any form of poison. Snails too, thinking about it.
Will writing services for families.
Advice welcome.
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no subject
Date: 2004-09-11 01:44 pm (UTC)Will writing -- I could recommend a solicitor in Swansea, who only charges 40 quid and was very tolerant of my requirements, but I suspect that's a little out of your way?
As for slugs, you can try salt across the threshold. It takes a lot, and you have to renew it when it rains, but salt is awfully cheap.
no subject
Date: 2004-09-11 05:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-11 01:58 pm (UTC)Memo board. Ceramic tile with grease pencil, which I think is USA for "chinagraph pencil". Or just write on the mirror.
Will service. If you have an attorney you work with now, consult them.
I've never found a casette adaptor or retractable headphones worth buying. Several people I know swear by the iTrip, but I don't know the density of radio stations in your neck of the world. If you have a modern car, it may have an auxiallry input for a CD player, in the form of an 1/8"/2.5mm TRS miniplug, or a pair of RCA jacks, in which case, the iPod cradle's Line Out and the right cable is Just So.
I don't know about "decent" sound, but for really, really good in-ear isolation 'phones, there's Shure E series, ($99 for good, $499 for great.) and then there is the Etymotic ER6 ($139, really, really good) and the Etymotic ER4 (The Gold Standard, $330)
In that vein, the Eytmotic ER20 earplugs are amazingly useful if you like live music, but not so loud. They work, and they're remarkably flat in what they cut, so they don't wreck the sound. At $12, they're a steal.
no subject
Date: 2004-09-11 02:20 pm (UTC)iTrip: very hard to use in the UK (especially in London, especially when driving because of the short range of most FM stations) plus it only works with one of our 3 iPods; plus it's illegal to use here (though we do own one).
Obviously, if we buy a new car, then an aux input is probably a key requirement. But this one doesn't have one. It may well have a CD-changer socket behind the radio somewhere -- one of the things we need to do is check. If it does then there's a fairly good solution (Ice-Link) for about £80. We use the iPod in the car a lot. The only problem with the IceLink is that it's very obviously an iPod cradle, so there's a risk our car would get broken into in search of the iPod that we never ever leave in the glove compartment.
Like most Londoners, the last time we used a solicitor was for conveyancing, and we came away determined never to give him any more business. When I've asked for advice on solicitors, everyone says, 'whatever you do, don't use the one I did'. (Except, to be fair,
no subject
Date: 2004-09-11 03:28 pm (UTC)Solicitor-wise, why not check and see if there's one around you who does WillAid drafts? Not only are they cheaper, it'll also donate money to charity at the same time...
No idea on the retractable headphone cables. To be honest that's not something I've seen. However I have seen little cord winders that serve the same function - I think they're mainly intended for mobile phone hands free units, so you could check those TCR mobile phone shops...
Pans - I'd go Circulon and get the biggest pan you can get - tho' Circulon isn't dishwashable, however I find a quick swill around with hot water and a dishbrush remarkably effective with it!
no subject
Date: 2004-09-12 07:21 am (UTC)We'll probably use one in Ely for our wills, however. Must redo them now that Marcia is a UK citizen and joint owner of the house.
Earphones
Date: 2004-09-13 04:48 am (UTC)http://www.dansdata.com/gz033.htm have some reviews/comments.
no subject
Date: 2004-09-11 02:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-11 02:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-11 04:35 pm (UTC)Diatomacous earth will get the slugs without being dangerous to other forms of life. Try an organic nursery or garden supply store.
MKK
no subject
Date: 2004-09-11 06:49 pm (UTC)Obviously, the non-stick pans aren't, but that's universal for non-stick you want to last.
no subject
Date: 2004-09-11 05:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-12 12:29 am (UTC)Shopping trolleys: for years, I've been murmuring that the world needs Katherine Hamnett or Body Shop to design and market a stylish shopping trolley. We have a plain brown workhorse, bought from one of the suitcase places at Seven Sisters Market. One advantage of a dull, boring, bog standard shopping trolley is that you can leave it standing by the check-outs at the supermarket while you whizz around with a trolley or shopping baskets without being too worried if anyone should decide to nick it -- if they're desperate enough to go for such a boringly utilitarian object, their need must be more desperate than ours.
This is our third shopping trolley: I think the first was one of those lightweight foldaway thingies in discreet black -- whose wheels folded away when you tried wheeling it along with any load in, which made it completely useless. Then I picked up a fairly decrepit secondhand one from a local secondhand furniture shop, which we used until it suffered structural collapse. It was so handy that we rushed to the market to replace it.
We also have two of those 'hand trucks' that get advertised in mail order catalogues' gardening sections -- also v. useful for trips to allotment or B&Q. However, both have developed problems of axle pins dropping out and getting lost.
no subject
Date: 2004-09-12 02:18 am (UTC)I've been looking for retractable headphones too. Tell me if you find any - they don't need to be as good quality as you want them for.
The URL for GTD is davidco.com (not davidallenco.com).
no subject
Date: 2004-09-12 02:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-13 03:25 am (UTC)Retractable Headset
Date: 2004-12-14 07:07 pm (UTC)