It is time to buckle down. Christmas is coming. The end of the year is knocking on all of my desk doors. First things first.
Let's get some of the gifts for family and friends headed their way.
Always looking for gadgets, we have friends who have this handy little item in their home. Way cool!
The Nest Learning Thermostat allows you to control the temperature of your home from anywhere using your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch or Mac computer. You just download the free app, and the device itself is simple to install. It attaches to the wall anywhere in your home, and it operates off of the Wi-Fi in your home. You can find them at Best Buy or many other places.
This portable and rechargeable speaker is made by Beats by Dre, and it's called the "Pill". (Guess that's kind of self-explanatory.) I think the largest choices of colors are at Best Buy. They are pricey at $199.00, but if your music is important to you, you will get your money's worth. I received one of these as a gift shortly after they came out. It requires Bluetooth on your device, and my little iPod was a few generations too old -- it didn't have Bluetooth. Guess what! I had to get a new iPod to go with my new super cool speaker! If you have an old iPod, the upgrade isn't that much more expensive, and it does hundreds of things that the old ones didn't. I love the radio feature. Plus, it's so tiny, I tuck it in my waistband all the time when I am not using the Pill and I am wearing my headphones.
(That didn't quite sound the way I wanted it to...)
This is one of my family's favorite kitchen appliances. Made by Breville, it's a Duo Panini Press - clearly, you can make two sandwiches at a time. We find that grilled sandwiches are so much more delicious than cold ones. Plus, you can experiment with herbs and cheeses - yum. I found this one at Crate and Barrel, where they are currently offering 15% off and free shipping, through tomorrow.
Any discount and the words, Free Shipping are like music to my ears.
Okay, I realize we have a theme going here, and these are not exactly cheap gifts. Maybe I'll do that another day. These were just things that caught my eye over the last few days.
This picture is not great, but this brand of luggage is one of my favorites. It is made by Victorinox. This 30" rolling expandable upright suitcase is about all I can handle. Since I do a fair amount of traveling, I need to be able to juggle my own things. If I load this up, I can get anywhere. The way this luggage rolls and balances itself is not the same as other luggage. On a recent trip, I was dragging two pieces of luggage this exact size. This particular piece never tried to turn over on me, it withstood me stacking another bag on top of it, and it very easily glided in any direction I needed it to go. The other piece of luggage; well, I might have said a bad word. Another thing about this luggage, is that I am a fan of what they call "90-10" luggage. I don't particularly like the luggage that opens right in the middle, "50-50." For me, it is harder to pack. It is harder to open and leave open --or to close when staying in a hotel room if you decide to lock it. There are some way cool, sturdy and beautiful pieces of that hard-sided 50-50 luggage, but it's just not for me. There are lots of designer and fashionable pieces of luggage, too; but at the end of the day, I have to be able to handle it all by myself. It doesn't matter one bit if I have a chic Louis Vuitton or Hermes bag, if I am lying in a heap on the floor.
Seriously, do not laugh. Every man in my family has some form of a headlamp. If you don't, you are missing the boat. This particular Petzl one is currently on sale for one last day at this link. You can buy these things almost everywhere for $10 to $500. It just so happens that I have a handyman at my house, and when he wants to shut off the electricity to rewire something, (maybe I am not supposed to tell people that he does that since he isn't an electrician), it comes in really handy. Also, I have seen him roll under cars or trucks to work on something wearing one, and he assures me it is so much easier than holding a flashlight with his teeth.
Well, I have had to write about gifts that I am not giving this year because my friends and family would be un-surprised if I revealed it all right here. I'll start my quest for some inexpensive gifts and get back to you on that...
