Gadgets and Gear – Page 4 – Kent Fackenthall

The Phone Foyer Method

Cal Newport talks in his latest post, A Piece of Advice I Wish I’d Included in My Book about leaving your phone in the foyer of your house once you get home.

The Phone Foyer Method: When you get home after work, you put your phone on a table in your foyer near your front door. Then — and this is the important part — you leave it there until you next leave the house.

Several months ago, I started something similar, only, my dresser is where the phone stays. This also happens to be where I charge it. I come home, empty my pockets and leave the phone there and don’t carry it with me around the house or out into the garage or the yard. It’s been great. Very liberating.

Naturally since we’ve all become accustomed to being ‘connected’ all the time, at first there where those pangs of ‘what if I miss a call or a text?’ If I’m inside, I can still hear the ring and go answer if I want, same with a text. If I’m outside – there’s voicemail.

I’ve experienced all the benefits and good mojo Cal mentions in the post in spades. Sometimes, I even put my phone there and – gasp – turn the ringer off.

What’s funny is when my kids or my wife notice it vibrating or ringing and come and find me in a panic – “your phone is ringing – making noises! You’ve got a text!”

“Yep. That’s what it does.” is what I usually say.

Porcelain Rocket Microwave Panniers

Two nights ago the weather forecast was calling for rain in the form of ‘buckets’. I think ‘buckets’ is a specific meteorological term, but I’m not meteorologist. Not one to ignore a seemingly obvious sign from the gods – or anyone with a ‘gist’ at the end of their title, I thought this was a perfect time to mount up my @porcelainrocket Microwave Panniers [1].

They are built around a removable dry bag system so seemed perfectly suited. Like all of PR’s gear I’ve had/used/abused before, these came through with flying colors. My stuff stayed completely dry. I’m not sure what sort of witchcraft the dry bag material employs – I was a bit concerned at first when I could actually SEE the colors of my stuff inside through the bag, but they stayed watertight. love the fact that I can just pop the dry bags out and take them in the house (from the garage, where the bikes live) to load/unload them and leave them by the door to grab before heading out in the morning. Also nice is being able to haul a bag of work clothes to the office washroom easily to change. A small, easily overlooked – yet huge detail – is the fact that the dry bags are flat-bottomed and stand up on their own, a feature I highly appreciate. [2]

The ‘holsters’ that receive the dry bags were easy to mount up, come with a bunch of extra holes and enough strappage that I can only think they’ll fit whatever kind of rig you’ve got. In closing these are solid goods that you could do no wrong in acquiring for yourself. Don’t be fooled by Scott’s rugged good looks and outdoorsy-type beard – even though he makes all this stuff for that wild and crazy packbiking and other wilderness shenanigans, I’m here to say his stuff works great for us mere-mortal commuter types as well. I love getting my stuff from small shops like PR because I know that if I ever have an issue, question or need a repair, I can easily talk to an actual human – even if they’re a weird one, because really, we’re all a little weird in our own weird way – amirite? [3-10] Random pictures from a soggy commute. Camera doesn’t do the foliage justice – seems like on the grey days the colors pop even more.

Giro Alpinduros

It’s cool and often damp here in the Maritimes and it happens to be my favorite time of year to ride bikes. Not least of all because it means I get to wear my most-favorite cycling shoes evar, my Giro Alpinduros again.

These have proven to be my hands-down favorite shoulder-season/fall/early winter/early spring shoe. They’re comfy, solid, warm and best of all waterproof – remembering of course water will get in over the tops if you submerge ‘em that high – don’t ask how I know this. I did one day stumble upon the Alpinduro-specific gaiters/covers they make for these and snatched those up right away too – and they work a treat.

They’re low-key enough looking that they fit in at the store or the coffee shop, and the fact that they’re a mesh between a cycling shoe and hiking boot actually makes strolling (or hike-a-biking) a rather pleasant experience. The tread isn’t super aggro and there’s no toe spike holes, so they’re not an ideal ‘cross shoe, but I don’t want ‘em for that anyway. They are on the heavy side, but I’m willing to make that trade off for the warmth, waterproofness and walkability.

I’ve worn them on MTB rides, commutes and even on road rides on the go fast bike during cold weather without any issues. I don’t know exactly, but I’d hazard to say I’ve had no problems with cold feet down to 5 degrees below zero Celsius, especially when paired with a good cold weather sock and/or liner. This is actually my second pair – the first were warrantied by Giro after the sole delaminated – a known factory defect with some batches that they supported and have since remedied. I liked the fit of the footbed and Vibram soles on these so much that when I needed a summer/warm-weather shoe, I didn’t hesitate to pick up some of their Terraduros.

Giro didn’t pay me to wear these or write this, though with my mad 32 followers, surely it’s their marketing error. If you’re looking for some solid, warm, comfy on-and-off-the-bike cold weather shoes, you should be ‘influenced’ to check these out, says I.