[Post a pic of your latest purchase]

She's old, rusty, and unrideable, but I'm in love. She's going to be a decoration/art installation...something.

 

I almost made a "your mom" joke, but decided the woman has had to deal with enough in her lifetime. Squeezing that giant head out of her must have hurt.
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No, get her back on the road.

Then you can be a biker babe .

Whenever you think of Borla, do you automatically think of vaginas?

BTW in baseball terms my post ^ is a lollipop pitch--slow and right in the center of the strike zone, just waiting to get hit out of the park.

 

I could make a pussy joke about borla....but i respect vaginas too much.

 

So I don't have pictures because they're digital but I've got surprisingly inexpensive tickets for three different musical performances back to back. Lindsey Stirling, Evanescence, and Sabaton are all coming to Orlando.

 

My daughter just bought a used Mini Clubman on the right so I bought her old Mini CooperS on the left...WIN WIN !
xoxoxoo

 

You know you're in Colorado when you see morons like this driving down the road.



So, I'm out minding my own business, taking a fall ride through the national park and a couple of ski area. I stop at a tent sale in Winter Park to stretch and this pair of skis jumped out and insisted that they had to come home with me.

2 yr old (but new) Armada ARV ti @178cm. My existing skis are end of life, these are exactly what I was looking for at 60% off if I took em home on the bike.

 

That is an awesome shot! I'll be coming up soon, thanks for the reminder. Have only done the drive once from my new home in the west. Loved it! Need to see moar.

 

Since my beloved old kirkland copper-bottoms have either succumbed to age or been shanghaid to Finland I needed some new pots. I would normally just buy another set but sadly they've been discontinued, and I had a sneaking suspicion there might be something better. I was right, All-clads are the gold standard but for over $300 that soup pot better come with a beautiful chef wearing nothing but an apron.

Then I found out about Tramontina. Not the Walmart/Sam's club version that tops out at 350F, the costco (and amazon) proline that can go up to 500F. According to some very respectable chefs and respectable empirical testing Tramontina's tri-ply line is basically just shy of All-Clad quality for a full order of magnitude less. $30-$44 a pot got me two very respectable professional grade pieces of cookware:



I haven't used the 3qt saucepot yet but I did cook my eggs in the frypan last night after waking up from my post-procedure drug induced stupor and they came out really well. Not as good as well seasoned carbon steel but with the right technique they cooked just fine and didn't stick too badly. The sausage wasn't even a contest.

The good: Heats very quickly, possibly even faster than my wok. I hit leidenfrost temperatures in maybe a minute or two on high without shooting past it and burning the first pat of butter I dropped in. The heat distribution is also amazing compared to the discbottom skillets and saucepans i'm used to. I feel almost like I'm cheating or cooking on easymode. In terms of fit and finish it looks professional, it's got good heft and balance, I prefer a slightly different handle shape but this one's still plenty usable, and the handle is solidly bolted rather than welded on.

The bad: Seems to scratch easily, but it's stainless so that comes with the territory (along with sticking). The first inch or three of the handle does get hot, something that didn't happen to my old copper-bottom... but then again this one has that layer of aluminum transferring heat all the way up the side walls.

The unique: Cookware generally falls into one of two camps, thermal conductivity or thermal mass. Millimeters thick carbon steel woks have negligible thermal mass but are amazingly conductive and dump whatever heat you pump into them right into the food, that's why they're so responsive to gas ranges and traditionally used on a two hundred thousand BTU burner. At the opposite end of the spectrum cast iron is not all that conductive but has a staggering thermal mass, you can drop a frozen steak into it a cast iron pan and if it doesn't shatter it won't even blink. This thing feels like it's somewhere in the middle in a weird way. On the one hand it's quite conductive so it responds to temperature changes quickly and transfer heat to food quickly, but on the other hand it's got thermal mass closer to a classic stainless steel fry pan. Wok's are a little forgiving in that you can overheat them and just dump cold food in to suck up some extra heat.


Completely orthogonal to that I've needed a new pocketknife for a while. The Marttini I had been carrying was a beautiful knife and had an amazing edge on it, at first, but it was a 420c show knife and not one of their actual hunting/puukko models. When a pin holding the pocket clip in place broke I realised between that and getting more outdoorsy it was time to get a real Every Day Carry knife.

I made a post on r/knives following the "recommend me a knife" template and based on my needs and preferences it came down to two suggestions in my budget: the Spyderco Paramilitary 2 or the slightly cheaper Benchmade Griptilian. On paper the Paramilitary 2 is the better knife. It has g10 scales (the grips) and the blade is made out of s30v supersteel with an optional nearly indestructibe Diamond-Like Carbon coating. The Griptilian has nylon reinforced plastic handles and a 154cm stainless steel blade with an optional black ceramic coating rather than the super hard DLC spyderco uses. There is also a higher end Griptilian with g10 scales and a CPM 20CV supersteel blade, but it costs $70 more than the Paramilitary 2 it's supposed to be competing with. And it still doesn't get a DLC coating.

Now knives are a very personal thing, what fits well in one person's hand will be dangerously uncomfortable to hold in someone else's, and you should always treat any blade with respect. So I resolved to check out the local gunshops and see what I could get a hold of. And it turns out I really didn't like the way spyderco knives were gripped or felt in my hand, or their blade geometry for that matter. The Griptilian on the other hand just felt natural, and one of the blade options was a modified sheepsfoo shape that had enough of a point to be useful while retaining the safer shape of a traditional sheepsfoot blade.

Still, it was so close to the Paramilitary 2 in price while falling short on the spec sheet. 154cm is no slouch in the steel department, and nylon reinforced plastic is plenty durable, but when its closest competitor is offering a supersteel and g10 scales for almost the same price it's hard to justify.

So I went hunting and found this beauty on ebay for $140 with the option to make a best offer. I got her for $126 shipped, four dollars more than the Paramilitary 2. It's not the exact edge shape and blade geometry I wanted but for what I paid I'll give it a shot and see if it grows on me. I got it cheap enough (and sold my guitar for enough money) that I can afford to send it to Benchmade for a new blade if I really absolutely have to have a plain edge.



The fit and finish are simply excellent, the axis lock is ridiculously strong, and when retracted the knife can be flipped open or closed with a gentle flick of the wrist. The satin finished steel is simple and classy and the g10 scales are comfortable and feel solid in the hand unlike the toylike feeling of nylon reinforced plastic. I'm not the biggest fan of tip up carrying since I got used to carrying my other knife tip down but there's no other choice so I may as well get used to it. As for cutting ability? I can shave whiskers off of printer paper, or with a gentle effort slice through four folded layers of glossy cardstock.

I wanted a knife I could take hiking and camping in places that don't allow large fixed blades as well as a dependable daily driver. I think I've definitely found both.

 

Way too excited about this impulse Costco buy. They stack so well and nest so cutely! $20.

 

^ good price too !...xoxoxoo

 

Never, ever underestimate the usefulness of matched storage containers!!

 

I've never seen a pattern like this before, I'm not quite sure whether it was intended to be art glass or a usable bowl. I'm leaning toward art glass because there isn't a scratch on it, and the lack of maker's mark makes me think pre-depression.

 

Do you have access to a black light? I'm thinking vaseline glass.

Wait, now I'm thinking one was used in the foto (but WTFDIK?).

vaseline glass bowl - Google Search

 

Uranium glass was my first thought too. Scary sounding but the radioactivity is generally negligible. You probably get more exposure from bananas.

 

2013 Hundai Sante Fe Turbo, lots of bells and wistles. Such as remote start and heated seats. This car actually burns rubber from a stop and hauls ass. I am in love.