Hey man, nice sack!

Hi. My name is Jake, and I have an unhealthy obsession with messenger/shoulder bags. (Hi, Jake.) Luckily, though, I generally don't allow myself to purchase all the man-bags I think I want. In fact, until recently I've been kicking the same made-for-squares Eddie Bauer model since midway through college (more than a ten year run!). I did finally decide I needed to get something new a few months ago. The brother-in-law got a particularly swank bag (that I had already been eyeing, in fact) for his birthday while we were visiting in September, so I followed that lead, purchasing a Manhattan Portage Dana (Medium).

The bag is pretty bomb-proof with its heavy duty Cordura and "waterproof" vinyl lining. It has slightly odd proportions, though, and I don't really carry that much stuff on a day-to-day basis, which makes the bag seem even more wonky. This plus the fact that the auxiliary pocket arrangement doesn't meet my nigh-impossible-to-meet desires has made living with the bag less than optimal so far.

So, of course, I'm looking at other options. Currently the front-runner in my "I can't rationalize this purchase, but I'll do the shopping anyway" comparisons is the Chrome Citizen. It seems to have the more typical messenger bag shape plus a padded shoulder strap and a sweet little seat belt buckle detail. The main detail I use to talk myself away from the "Add to Cart" button is the extra pocket arrangement again. The Chrome bag seems to have even fewer options than the Manhattan Portage offering I already own -- this is so important to me because I simply must be able to separate and arrange my bag contents as I see fit.

'Tis a conundrum. One upon which I doubt I will act. I'll probably continue to window shop for at least another year or more...

Just thought I'd share. ;)

Bose SoundDock: The best thing you can do with your iPod

This Christmas I got a Bose SoundDock for "Team Sutton", and I have to say, it's the best $300 I've spent since getting the iPod from my mom last Christmas. In all seriousness: It's fucking amazing. The sound that comes out of that thing is better than my headphones (either Shure E2c earbuds or my Grado SR-60 over-ear headset -- both of which are supposed to be on the low end of what would be considered the "audiophile" range...). You can hear much more detail than I've ever heard from an MP3.

Not only is sound quality good, the quantity (volume) is fantastic, as well. When I plug my iPod into my stereo via a Y-cable, I end up turning the iPod's volume to max and I still have to crank the volume on my receiver. Not so with the SoundDock. Volume and clarity are simply off the charts.

Even though I have never heard any of the competitors, I just can't imagine any of them being this otherwordly in their goodness. I can't recommend the SoundDock highly enough.

Also, if you have an iPod and haven't sorted out your in-car options, I currently use, enjoy, and recommend the Monster iCarPlay for automotive listening with simultaneous charging joy, though the new iTrip Auto looks very interesting.

The only shame in all of this, of course is the amount of money a little gizmo like an iPod can make you burn... Ah, well, such is life, eh? ;)

T-Minus: 25 days

(I honestly considered saving this post until tomorrow so the title could say 24....) I can't even tell you how super-psyched I am about the return of 24. The idea of a two-part, four hour premiere makes me need a change of underwear.

Despite my love for the show (and my man-crush on Mister Kiefer -- whose birthday is today... how about that?), I have heretofore avoided purchasing the DVD sets for the past four seasons. Now, though, I read this:

This loaded 7-disk set includes the ground-breaking Season 5 Prequel bridging seasons 4 and 5 shot on location exclusively for the DVD.

Well, shit.

It'll have to wait until after the Saturnalia, but I may have to consider grabbing it before the January 15 premiere...

------ Bonus: Top 30 Random Facts about Jack Bauer (I love these things.)

More Tattoo Stuff

Highlights from Needled (which anyone with any interest in skin+ink should read daily):

  • To Die For Clothing -- T-shirts and other fun kit with designs by actual tattoo artists.
  • BellaVendetta.com [NOT SAFE FOR WORK] -- BellaVendetta seems sort of like SuicideGirls, except with more of a fetish angle ("Every shoot I do is like an entire art project. Today, we will be exploring zombie clown porn. Every aspect of it is an art." - The italics are mine.), male models ("I want to get many more boys. It's funny because pornography is such a male dominated business, yet, I have the hardest time getting boys naked. They're all so self conscious."), and perhaps less drama.
  • The World of Tattoo -- An encyclopedic book on tattoo. Apparently filled with trivia like: Catherine The Great had incredibly obscene tattoos, which she believed increased her sexual attractiveness.
  • Inked Magazine -- A glossy tattoo magazine? I got my subscription. Did you?
  • Coast Guard tightens rules on tattoos -- One of the guys in my motorcycle class was an Air Force recruiter. He told me I could still get into officer training at my age with my Aerospace Engineering degree and technical career background. He said the ink would be a problem, though. I told him no worries. ;)

International Bright Young Thing

Funny. I was just telling my friend Erik about the International Male catalog last night. When I was in high school back in the late 80s, IM was a hot source for kids like me (ie: in the boonies of East Tennessee) to get some seriously queer fashion. That's queer as in different, y'all. I never even thought about buying a mesh tank top. ;)

------

In much more butch news, Erik made some crazy progress on the CL350 while I was on vacation. Last night he showed me how the thing will start with the slightest press of the electric starter button. It definitely needs some tuning (timing, fuel mixture, etc.) and there are some ... uh ... idiosyncracies -- like when you rev it above 7000 RPM and the tachometer just goes BERSERK!!!

Then we worked on the clutch a little bit and got that working, so Erik took that little 35 year-old motorcycle for a spin around his neighborhood.

It's a runner!

Update

Hezzy and I have been a little crazy since we got back. For one thing, Wifey really wanted to paint the trim (baseboard, etc.) in the living room. Lucky for me, I haven't had to do much more than paper and mask for that. My primary excuse from here on out this weekend is, of course, my motorcycle class. Tonight was all classroom workbook/video type stuff. But the people seem fun, and I'm totally impressed by the diversity of the crowd in the class. We have a mother-daughter team, a couple/few older dudes, a father-son duo (junior is only 16), and then a couple guys that are probably in their twenties, one of which is an Air Force recruiter.

Also, thought I'd point out that Threadless is doing another $10 sale, and you can hurry up and pre-order the Sailor Jerry Chuck Taylors, if you are so inclined.

Oh, and the Red Sox are killing me.

Gotta get on the ball...

By Accident or Design, Selling T-Shirts Is Big Business on Web

Today the online and print newsletters have flopped. But the shirts are pulling in up to $3,000 per month, as Mr. Mowry joins the growing ranks of entrepreneurs profiting from an improbable but lucrative Web business model: selling T-shirts.

All over the Web, bloggers, artists and entrepreneurs are unexpectedly finding that T-shirts are more reliable moneymakers than the original ideas that brought them to the Internet.

I keep having ideas for t-shirts, but I fail to execute.

I still love my Double Cut Bastard design, though. (I do wish CafePress would offer black tees, however.)

I just wanted some fly kicks, yo!

DSW Data Theft Much Larger Than Estimated

DSW Shoe Warehouse said Monday that it has contact information for about half of those people and started sending letters notifying them of the thefts, which happened at 108 stores in 25 states between November and February. A list of the stores is available on the company's Web site.

...

Besides the credit card numbers, the thieves obtained driver's license numbers and checking account numbers from 96,000 transactions involving checks, the company said. Customer names, addresses and Social Security numbers were not stolen, DSW said.

Suck. I'm a total show whore, and I love me some DSW. This doesn't give me good feelings, though.

Luckily, we haven't seen any untoward activity on our credit cards. Judging from the DSW site, though, it looks like we should keep watching:

... if you shopped in one of the following stores between mid-November 2004 and mid-February 2005, and you used a credit card, debit card or check to pay for your purchase, your information was most likely included in the stolen information ...

Yep. We're on there.

My Baby Can Kick Your Baby's Ass

Now that we are married and approaching our early-mid-thirties, The Wife and I occasionally discuss the possiblity of procreating... While I generally run from the room screaming when the subject comes up (little people scare me), I have to say I would have a fun time gearing up my kid thanks to the following options:

Of course, the best thing ever would be tooling around the mall with one of these puppies.