Month: July 2017
Crest vs Colgate
Bang bang, you’re dead.
Brush your teeth and go to bed.
Camp song
Children’s songs of folklore try to instill regular habits. Giving thanks before meals. The avoidance of blinding a friend in game. Within fifty variations among a dozen generations, this camp song has reenforced, “Brush yer teeth.” The cost of underbrushing. Perils of over-brushing.
Good habits as kids carry over to good habits as adults. Same for product. Within the dental products aisle of our local market stretch options so vast one may forget that for which they came, blinded by the glamour of choice.
Artisanal, homeopathic, organic, PETA-approved … some linger in this aisle, confused, dreamy, excited, like a cat in a strange garret. Sexual delights anticipated, amplified by their newly pearlescent teeth and licorice anisette breath. Blind to marketing gimmicks, they buy the sizzle, brushing with false hope. “Grandma’s Special Recipe” toothpaste at three times the price but without the drop of turpentine she concealed as her secret ingredient.
Back to basic. Back to trust every time for me. Crest as a kid, Crest now. The name ‘Crest‘ means “Research. Development. Testing. Quality.” Not a garage concoction tubed, boxed, and sold out of a station wagon by Felix and his cousin, but a real product developed by professionals, extensively tested, with impeccable quality control.
Sometimes I’ll buy Colgate. Same trust. Do I lean towards one? Sure, but either is fine. In all my decades as a shopper, I’ve only bought a different paste once. It’s still in its box in the cellar, half full, the properties unneeded.
Don’t forget to floss.
Most domestic consumption Crest is made in Greensboro, North Carolina. My last tube of Colgate was made in Morristown Tennessee. Occasionally you’ll get a tube of Crest manufactured in Nuacalpan, Mexico, differentiated by a foil seal beneath the cap. Colgate also has manufacturing in Mexico. Both manufacturers sell primarily domestic production within the ‘States.
Gerber Covert Folder
It is the perfect tool. Large enough to achieve firm grip. Slim enough to carry everywhere. Safe enough not to collapse into your fingers when the cutting gets tough. The Gerber Covert Folder.
Based on the classic Applegate-Fairbairn fixed knife, the Covert is a 3/4 scale, pocket clip version of the Gerber original Applegate-Fairbairn Combat Folder. Gerber
When my niece says, “Why do you always carry a knife”?, she forgets she’s never asked, “Why don’t you have your knife?”. As the most important invention ever developed (along with its derivatives), everyday living would be far different without the sharpened blade. Walking down your steps (the saw and lathe) to breakfast cereal (scythe) in your stone house (the chisel), a free American (the sword) may think little of the knife’s importance.
Several times a day as a tradesperson I reach for my Gerber to resolve an issue. Expand my view. Nudge or persuade the reluctant in a manner my finger cannot. Whether tight quarters or dangerously jagged obstructions, the Gerber has a way of poking its business end into the issue, demanding quarter. Recalcitrant material usually gives way. Uncle!
It is the perfect tool. And the perfect gift.
There’s always a ⅜” x 8″ Craftsman slotted screwdriver and Estwing hammer should more persuasion be wanted …
Nalgene N-Gen
Sticking with the current theme of cooling off, hydration is the topic. As natural as a glass of clean iced water on a hot summer day. “You can’t take it with you” does not apply.
Everywhere I go, my Nalgene is in tow. Fast rotation in the ‘fridge, or tepid tap, either does what the body cannot: add water to the machine. With current mid-summer weather, it is more important than ever to replenish this life-giving juice and basis of all chemical reaction in the body, water.
30OZ N-GEN With three bottles in use, I’m usually well fixed. But summer gift-giving approaches. What to present a 14-year-old man-boy on his birthday? Something cool and electronic? An airplane model? Swatch watch? My call goes into the void, and echoes back, “An American-made water bottle”. Nalgene, naturally.
Like potato chips, batting practice, or lýtkový řízek, I cannot stop at one. I buy five. Still free deliver on any order over $10. For these gifts, a thin stack of currency is traded.
At unwrapping, I learn my nephew recently acquired a new water bottle, but six is better! With five from which to choose, he favors a match to his Swatch (Accessorizing already? No wonder the chicks dig him. Smart lad.) With plenty to share, his sister and cousins are ecstatic. The cost of teaching generosity? Priceless.
Nalgene. Made in the USA, stylish, sleek, and affordable.
THERMO FISHER SCIENTIFIC
Woodside Farm Creamery
A FAMOUS WRITER ONCE told me, “You always want to have a couple of stories in your back pocket. You don’t want to be out with your buddies, everyone savoring their own delicious tale, and come up empty”. Same goes true for money. This weekend, however, I came up blank. Pocket lint. 88˚ and triple-digit humidity boils the brain. Creative juices squeezed out, my skull resembles an original Denis Papin steam digester, c. 1679.
When it is time to cool off, to bring about brain freeze, most iced drinks can satisfy. Though isn’t life about enhancements. Ice cream, please. If we are going to consume sugar calories, why not make it the best ice cream this side of the Monongahela River! To the source we travel. With carriage and four-in-hand, back in time we clatter, through Delaware’s Arc to the 1700s farm of the Mitchell family.
With milk-fat levels approaching my cholesterol numbers, this is real ice cream. It sits upon the tongue, infusing smiles and euphoria. Where kids can be kids, clocks slow, and the bluegrass circle plays on. Under the big oak tree, mature even in colonial times. We eat our treasure, cows looking on. Children’s laughter sets the beat, as faithful renditions of Doc Watson’s honest clarity measure time.
Farm fresh ice cream ~ Worth the trip!
Bradford White
From far back, I’ve heard the brand Bradford White repeated daily. Plumbing distributor purchases. Installations. Pre-internet, the boss tracking down warranty information. Visiting BWC’s distribution warehouse.
Home Center mania pushed into the contractor supply business, selling cheaper and more expensive water heaters. No qualifications required to buy, install or repair. What could possibly go wrong? Ask yourself that the next time you hear of a residence completely obliterated in a gas explosion.
It is Bradford White for me. Manufactured with superior components. The best controls in the industry with readily available parts. All-brass drain valves. Sturdy packaging. Integrated piezo igniters, which means no more matches. Fantastic performance, strong warranties, and world-class support.
Bradford White makes products for the professional. You won’t find our water heaters, boilers or tanks at the local retail center where unsafe, corner-cutting installations frequently occur to save a few dollars. – BWC
Headquartered up the road, Pennsylvania is proud to host Bradford White‘s corporate offices in Ambler. Manufactured in our heartland, Middleville Michigan produces the final product. Excellent distribution. Any size, any feature, it is only hours or perhaps a day or two away. Professional engineering and manufacturing for the plumbing professional.
American Toolbox 