Time for new skis…

On Saturday, upon our guests departure, I dropped by the annual Park City Ski Swap, which on an early afternoon seemed to me to be devoid of attendees. 

Quite a big surprise, in fact. Are the kind of people that flock to these events economically hurting this year? Sticker-shock all around might explain it. Most skis were priced upward of $500, which isn’t exactly cheap. 

Since I’m a Dynastar fan, I checked that brand closely and my eyes went to its M-Pro 85, an all-mountain ski that I thought might work for me.

Designed for short-to-medium radius turns, it has a hybrid core that combines a lightweight poplar core with a density of 450 g/m3, offering an excellent balance of liveliness, resistance, and weight. 

This central element is also wrapped into a fiberglass frame and Titanal sheets that are said to make the M-Pro very smooth and forgiving with a decent edge grip, but still easy to maneuver. 

I said “I buy it!” and only had to fork out less than $370 including my $16 entry fee...

Need an education? Go shopping!

The past couple of days were Amazon “Prime Day”, the now traditional sale from the online merchant, that is also echoed by other merchants, whether internet based or mortar and brick retailers. 

I usually wait for this event to purchase any tech gear that I might need even though its not all limited to that and also include all kinds of items from clothing to tools to household goods. 

This time, I wanted to replace my smaller (24”) seven-year old computer monitor which speakers and audio input no longer work. My current Dell is mediocre at best, but like the computer has held up pretty well over time (in fact, I’ve never owned a computer that long). 

To purchase with that promotion, Prime membership is needed, but that’s not where the difficulty resides. 

I was looking for a 24 or 27” monitor with speakers and what I was looking at were prices ranging from $120 to $500 and it was difficult to make a choice, not to mention its shape, curved or flat, its resolution, pixel pitch, refresh speed, consumption and heat dissipation, among other issues. I hesitated for days on end, before I settled on a Philips monitor...

What a waste of time, energy for so little gained in education!

Ready for a new pair of Crocs?

Yesterday, my wife and I just ordered another pair of Crocs. This will be our third since we began to buy the iconic footwear around 2009, but we don’t remember for sure. We use them as house sleeper and have found them very comfortable, silent and safe inside. We just couldn’t live without them. 

Crocs was developed in 2002 by Scott Seamans, Lyndon "Duke" Hanson, and George Boedecker, Jr., who, as boating enthusiasts, were looking for a comfortable, slip-resistant shoe to wear on deck. The original design was based on a foam clog made by a Canadian company called Foam Creations. 

In 2004, the three inventors purchased the rights to the design, including the proprietary foam resin called Croslite, a closed-cell EVA resin, and began tweaking it to create the Croc shoe we know today. The name "Crocs" is for "crocodile," as the shoe was designed to be worn in or around water. 

Interestingly, I couldn’t verify if Lyndon Hanson was related to one the two Hanson brothers, Chris and Denny, who founded the Hanson Ski Company in 1961, but I had thought so, since, just like Crocs, they were established around Boulder, Colorado. 

Since imitation is the best form of flattery, lots of copycat companies have flourished over the years and have been sued by Crocs for infringing on its patented design and construction. Crocs look-alike brands include Airwalk, Crosskix, Poliwalks, USA Dawgs/Doggers and Veggies, among others. 

Versions of the Croc style clogs have also appeared in children's fashion catalogs, usually under their own name brands or as no names while other knock-offs have been found in discount stores, beach stores, and the like. 

I’ve always admired the clean design and the ergonomics of Crocs, and I’m not the only one, since the shoe was tested and recommended by the US. Ergonomics company in 2005 and were accepted by the American Podiatric Medical Association in 2009. 

There were also a few problems along the way, with small kids wearing small size Crocs getting caught in escalators in Japan, static electricity related problems in some medical environments, but by in large, after the usual ups and downs, the company is now floating on its success with more than $2 billions in annual revenue and showing no sign of slowing down.

The joy of appliance buying

Late December our 7 year old GE clothes dryer died after few years of use and little work accomplished. Another example of today’s appliances durability. 

During the first two years we owned that appliance, GE Appliances was part of this all-American industrial behemoth, based in Louisville, Kentucky, that was purchased by the Chinese multinational home appliances company Haier in 2016. 

Hopefully, the Chinese might improve the dependability and longevity of the GE product. So, we went to Home Depot after checking Consumer Reports on dryers and found that, overwhelmingly, LG was rated the best in that category. 

Yet, when we told the salesman we wanted an LG, he managed to switch us to a Maytag because of an alleged 10 year warranty that wasn’t quite what it said. After a delivery delay, we got the appliance installed at home and immediately discovered a noise that wasn’t sounding right and called for a replacement. 

On Friday another team came to assess the damage and confirm there was a problem. Just to accommodate the 2 visits, we had to modify our plans and when we discovered that the Friday team didn’t bring the replacement unit we were promised, I went to Home Depot to cancel the purchase, and ordered an LG instead of a Maytag that was dead on arrival. 

The cancellation process was long and arduous and took me two hours, some time most working folks don’t have at their disposal. We finally got what we wanted. Next time, don’t let salespeople who know less than you do make you switch to a brand they’ve been told to push by their bosses!

Shopping on line fries my brain!

I need some furniture and I’m trying to make a fast and furious selection by going on line.

Twenty years ago, we would have jumped in the car, driven down to Salt Lake City’s furniture district and might have settled on something we weren’t sure we liked after visiting three store and literally be on our knees.

To avoid that painful experience, I’ve been exploring the web for the past 10 days and while I’m educating myself a lot, I find that it comes at a huge expense of my dwindling – it seems – brain power.

At the end of the day, I feel that my brains are fried and I can’t do this anymore.

Too many choices, options, and ideas, but much more confusion and paralysis than during the good old days…

What am I to do?

Navigating cell phone plans

Since Sunday was a dreary, rainy day and I wanted to update the family cell phone plans, I undertook to conduct a serious research in order to find the ideal plan, that is, the one that would offer the greatest value while meeting our specific needs. In fact, this awful exercise should be conducted quite regularly as prices and plans are changing faster the the skies above our heads.

All said, it took me a full day to compile the research, table it and made some choices. When that was done, I focused on other consumer reviews of my selection, only to find that some just didn't look reliable enough to take a chance with them.

At the end, a full day of research and analysis that might only justified for a retiree like me, as it represents a lot of precious time spent for a potentially small monthly saving from my current calling plans!