I am now the proud owner of a Fitbit One. 



It counts steps, miles, calories burned, and has the distinction of also being able to track flights of stairs climbed, sleep, and quality of sleep. It also includes a silent (vibrating) alarm that can be used to wake you up without disturbing anyone you might happen to be sleeping next to. It will also email you to let you know when the battery is getting low and needs a recharge.

I have been using it for about a week, now, and really enjoying it.

The web app that goes along with it also allows you to log other details, such as water consumption, food, other activities, weight, and a variety of other health related info that might be useful for people needing to keep an eye on info such as blood sugar or blood pressure.

It allows you to set goals, and will even help you with weight loss with a dynamic daily calorie consumption plan, based on your current weight, target weight goal, daily calories burned, and how fast you want to lose the weight.

Due to chronic foot problems, I have set my daily step goal to be half of the default recommended 10,000 per day. Also, having 3 kidneys and being more prone to dehydration, I have also increased the goal for water consumption.

The device itself does have one con that I have noticed, so far. The way it logs floors climbed is that any increase of altitude of 10 ft can result in it registering you as having climbed a floor. This means hills can count as floors.

How it does it is with a tiny altimeter that measures changes in air pressure that would normally indicate a change in altitude.

But it also can be affected by weather, as it has already done for me. It registered a rather stormy night as me having climbed a few floors in my sleep.

On their forum, a woman complained that Hurricane Sandy registered as her having climbed 360 floors in a 1 story house.

So, I have chosen to ignore that data and removed the widget from my dashboard and changed the setting on the device to not show floors.

The web app has good privacy controls, allowing you to choose what info you make public, what friends can see, and what data to keep private, for your eyes only. It also will post your daily or weekly step counts to Twitter or Facebook, if you choose. The data can also be posted to your accounts on various supported health, fitness, and diet related sites.

One thing I have noticed about the web app is that it is subject to the whims of the developers, with them removing features without notice, and they are not always very well thought out changes. Where they had the ability to log 6 meals/snacks per day, they suddenly decided to eliminate the "Anytime" category, that many used to log their evening snacks, reducing the number to 5. (this is also the one I was using to log all of my food, since I don't live by a concept of breakfast/lunch/dinner) Their response to the angry mobs on their forum was to tell them all to go vote for a new feature request to bring it back, but named "Evening Snack" instead, and they will maybe consider it.

But all in all, it's a great little gadget that is giving me a reason to get out of the house every day, and doing more walking than just down to the corner and back.

Here's my Fitbit profile. If any other DC Fitbit users want to add me, feel free to do so.

Some screenshots from the web app that goes with it:

Dashboard:



Steps:



Distance:



Active minutes:



Calories In vs Out:



Water consumption:



And because mouser was particularly interested in this feature, 3 screenshots of the Sleep data:

Finally decided to ditch the neck strap and got both Leash & Cuff by Peak Design for my M43 camera.



They have an quick connect & release system, and can be configured in a variety of practical ways.

Picked up a GOAL ZERO Nomad 7 before I went OS, (I have V1 - previous version of the linked one), for charging the phone while I read ebooks.

Picked up a GOAL ZERO Nomad 7 before I went OS, (I have V1 - previous version of the linked one), for charging the phone while I read ebooks.

Looks nifty!  Please let us know how well it works as you use it more.

This is a low-tech adoption... Nothing so grandiose as some others here.

I am one of the poor SOBs with an extremely heavy beard. Electric razors simply burn my face - they're unbearable.

I also decided that I'm sick of paying insane amounts for the razors I was using, which were very nice, but expensive at almost $5 each (disposable cartridges). I'd get 2~3 good shaves out of one, and I could push 5, but it wouldn't be all that great. If I wanted to look good, I had to use a new blade. (Gillette "fusion" or whatever they're called. The ones where you get sick to your stomach, light headed, and just about puke when you see the price.)

That actually wasn't my primary reason though.

My primary reason/motivation - Political and pig-headed

My primary reason for switching was to try and take money that I was spending all the time and shift it away from a large company and spend my money more effectively with small companies.

My purpose there is entirely political. By spending less on blades, I can deprive the state of a tiny bit of tax revenue there. etc. etc. etc. Many reasons and motivations. I'll skip all of that as it's ranty and I'm lazy.

tl;dr - Putting my money (as much as possible) where my mouth is. (Skipping the snarky comments there as well.)

So I started looking around and decided to go with a safety razor after reading a lot and watching some videos about them.

This is the gear I bought:

[attachimg=#]

I ended up with a Merkur Futur 701 (761? whatever...) adjustable razor (against all advice people gave). It's nice as I can adjust it and am not locked into buying multiple razors then. It's also more expensive than others, but I figured the flexibility would be worth it.

Here's a review of that razor:

http://www.shaving101.com/index.php/product-reviews/safety-razors/261-merkur-futur-adjustable-safety-razor.html

I also picked up some Personna, Feather, Shark, and Merkur razor blades. (The order is my preference - I don't like the Merkur blades.)

Once my canned shaving gel ran out, I ordered some real shaving cream - Taylor of Old Bond Street - Jermyn Street Collection shaving cream for sensitive skin, and a stick of "Arko Shave Stick Soap" just for the heck of it (not tried it yet).

I also needed a shaving brush, so I picked up a "Frank Shaving Silvertip Badger Shaving Brush Black" - excellent price point at $44. (They can go over $300.)

Well... HOLY MOTHER OF THE UNIVERSE!!! Real shaving cream is NOTHING like that canned crap! It's crazy! Insane! I'd never used it before... WOW! Just. Wow.

With the F&S shaving brush, it's like spreading foamy, liquid heaven on your face. In fact, "foamy" is probably wrong - it's silky... wonderful, marvellous, it's spreading... err... I'll skip the graphic metaphors... You get the idea. (Yes - it's awesome like sex!)

The white stick (in the photo above) is a stypstik pen (alum) for when you cut yourself. I never actually need it, but it's good to have in the house for multiple reasons. The stuff has been around for thousands of years (literally).

The blades make a big difference though. I'll be trying out more in the future, but for now, I like the Personna best with the Feather blades coming in a close second. I forget about the Shark blades - been a while since I used one. I'm not all that keen on the Merkur blades.

Shaving is a real PITA, but I find that I'm enjoying shaving a lot more with this setup. The razor's weight and feel are really nice. It glides over my face nicely with no pressure, and using a real shaving cream makes it infinitely nicer.

A good friend of mine can use a cheap $0.10 disposable blade for a month before he needs a new blade... sheesh... (And he's got a relatively "heavy" beard for a Korean.) Must be nice. (Yes - you can buy cheap $0.10 razors individually in Korea... No wonder why. I tried them once. Once. I bled horribly.)

The shaving cream I use only takes a very, very tiny amount. So far I have not managed to get "just enough" on. I keep using a bit too much. I'm guessing this is going to last a long time. Given how much nicer this stuff is, I am a bit baffled about why anyone would every use canned shaving cream. Seriously. It's the difference between a rusty bike that you pulled out of the river and galactic star cruiser equipped with Lambos and a teleporter.

I REALLY wish that someone had have told me about this a LOT sooner.

If you're in Australia, I ordered through here:

http://www.shaverhut.com.au/

They seem to have about the best prices for most things.

If you think you might like to look into a safety razor or non-canned shaving cream or something, check out these fellows:

https://www.youtube.com/user/geofatboy

https://www.youtube.com/user/ChiCityTimelapse

They put out some decent videos and reviews.

This is the gear I bought:
(see attachment in previous post)
I ended up with a Merkur Futur 701 (761? whatever...) adjustable razor (against all advice people gave). It's nice as I can adjust it and am not locked into buying multiple razors then. It's also more expensive than others, but I figured the flexibility would be worth it.

And now you need to get one of these, (a safety razor strop):



Stretch your dollar a little further.

Nifty little things, blade holder pops out the side, put a blade in, slide it back in and pop the crank handle out the other side to give it a few turns.

My dad has one of these, (doesn't use it), I gave up shaving when I was 18 ... 35 years ago ... so much easier 

Getting a real shaving kit is an idea I've been toying with, though my facial hair is so sparse as to be just a level or two above peach fuzz.

As far as extending the life of your blades: when I was a kid you could get a small pyramid that you'd put your razor blades inside in order to keep them sharp through 'pyramid power'.  I imagine that Gillette did something to suppress that technology.  I think you should test it out.

Also, your post reminded me of this SNL parody from the very first show, back in 1975 (starring current US Senator Al Franken as "the Caveman"):

    http://snltranscripts.jt.org/75/75atriple.phtml

Getting a real shaving kit is an idea I've been toying with, though my facial hair is so sparse as to be just a level or two above peach fuzz.

Must be nice!

But you might just enjoy it. Think of it as entertainment at that point.

Real shaving cream is simply fantastic... The stuff you get at a good barber? Yeah - better.

As far as extending the life of your blades: when I was a kid you could get a small pyramid that you'd put your razor blades inside in order to keep them sharp through 'pyramid power'.  I imagine that Gillette did something to suppress that technology.  I think you should test it out.

While I do love a good conspiracy and whatnot, I'm thinking that pyramid crystal new age power is bit off the beaten track for me.

Also, your post reminded me of this SNL parody from the very first show, back in 1975 (starring current US Senator Al Franken as "the Caveman"):

    http://snltranscripts.jt.org/75/75atriple.phtml

Heh! I'd not see that before.

But really... more blades in disposables is better. A lot better. And a lot more expensive.

Quite literally, I'll go through multiple multi-blade disposable razors for 1 shave if I let my beard go too long. And that's when I buzz it off with clippers beforehand.

But multi-blade disposables are darn good.

Renegade, when I was using double-edged blades - Gillete, Shick - it was common practice to strop the blade against a bathroom mirror.  That realigned the edges, smoothing out the parts that had been realigned/misaligned by the act of shaving.  Dunno that might help ya, but it's worth a try.  Saved me a great deal of discomfort when I couldn't afford a new blade every day.

Hmm... Mirrors... I'll have to give it a shot. Can't hurt.

Well, yeah - it could hurt. I'll hold the blade with a towel or take other precautions. I've worked with blades for far too long to take anything for granted. Razors? God... Deep razor cuts are sick - been close enough there.

with apologies for delay ;-)

[attachimg=#]

Gillette double-edged adjustable safety razor

apparently aka Fatboy

Thermomix. Totally insane. Just crazy what you can do with it. Off the hook. No words to describe it. I'd heard about it and thought, "Meh, whatever." No... It's simply mind-blowing.

So, how has this one been since your original post?

After my "bag holder opener" gadget post, DC members ewemoa, app103, and I were brainstorming about ways to use existing kitchen tools to hold open bags more effectively.

I believe we came up with an ideal solution, which is to use some thin flexible plasting cutting mats, and roll them up and place them INSIDE the bag like an expanding tube.
(see attachment in previous post) (see attachment in previous post)
The solution is pretty great because:

• It maximally holds open the bag (this is a huge advantage over the gadget, which only holds open the bag a tiny bit).
• It takes up NO storage space (compared to gadget which does) and requires no setup.
• It is super easy to clean and acts like a funnel.
• Works on any size bag (you could even trim the plastic cutting mat to make a smaller size one for small quart bags.

Tips on buying the flexible cutting mats: Just make sure the ones you buy aren't too brittle (as you will have to roll them up) or completely limp/silicone (as you want them to try to unroll in the bag to provide tension). Some samples on Amazon.com:
(see attachment in previous post)http://www.amazon.com/CounterArt-Flexible-Non-Skid-Cutting-Assorted/dp/B00337YF7Q
http://www.amazon.com/MIU-Flexible-Cutting-Board-Set/dp/B00011RTE8

---

As ewemoa has pointed out, one drawback of this approach is that you have to wash the cutting mat after use.  One alternative would be to use an INNER bag draped over the "tube".  That will work providing the mat is not too oversized.  Of course this will also work if you happen to have a pitcher of the right radius and height -- without need for mat at all.
(see attachment in previous post)

That's a great idea, and I've even got those flexible cutting 'boards'. 

On a meta level, I've been wanting to figure out more things like that, i.e. repurposing things for other than their intended uses.

Probably the most obvious is the cardboard box - it is most easily repurposed as a toy for small children! "Hey. Here's a box. Have fun!"

There's got to be a site out there that does repurposing...

There's got to be a site out there that does repurposing...

Speaking of repurposing, buy yourself another one of those shave brushes and use it exclusively for this.

a cheap, small paint brush might be better, but yes - definitely an idea.

Please be sure not to buy anything synthetic for the job, and only those bristle types that are naturally anti-static (badger, black sable, boar). And don't reuse brushes that have been previously used for paint or other substances.