My mojo was feeling a bit weak during a long day of work from home and I knew that I needed something to get it back.   So I thought to myself, what's the opposite of weak?  Karate is the opposite of weak.  The Karate Kid to be more exact.   And what would the Under 18 All-Valley Karate Champion wear when he needed a little mojo pick-up?  A made-in-America headband that is lightweight and breathable, all while still feeling soft and cool against the skin.  Where to find such a mojo making headband?   You got it:    Junkbrands.com .  They have a great selection of non-junky headbands, neck gaiters, t-shirts, and  hoodies.  Why do they call them selves junk?  I have no idea because their products are of the highest quality, or Kōhinshitsu, as Mr. Miyagi would call it.   You can head over to  Junk's website to learn more about the company.  Welllllll ... not much more because it looks...

A ruler to rule them all.  Well actually it's a tape measure but if I used that name instead I wouldn't have a catchy title. Titles aside this was a very good and patriotic purchase.   The Stanley Powerlock 25' (SPL25) costs about $10 but measures up to 25 feet.  That's less than 50 cents per foot.   Not bad.  Not bad.   And despite being 25 feet long it can fit in my coat pocket.   Try to figure that one out.   The SPL25 and other Stanley tape measures are made in the USA with global components (but so what, I am too).   I couldn't find any information about their factory on the  Stanley Tools website  but I did find this cool video on  Youstube .  They mention New Britain, Connecticut (aka the  the Hardware City ).  Here's a non-exhaustive list of things I've measured with my SPL25: A table A piece of wood that I used to make a new coat hanger than angles downward so my kids can re...

Earlier this year when I replaced my sump pump, I made the mistake of buying the cheap check valve that they had at the home improvement store.   It was cheap and could fit 1-1/4 and 1-1/2" PVC.   Well you get what you pay for and the valve started to leak this fall during one of the once in 500 hundred years but somehow happened 4 times this year rainstorms.   Thanks climate change!    Obviously I wasn't going to buy the same crappy check valve again.  I needed something that looked more futuristic like a space ship.   I found the wonderful 2069, 1-1/2" silent sump pump check valve from the  A.Y. McDonald Mfg. Co.  located in Dubuque, Iowa.   Did you know that  Dubuque  has one of those elevator car things like Pittsburg and is actually in the biggest wine region of the US?  You're on notice Napa Valley.  But I digress.  Back to the silent check valve of your dreams that looks like a spa...

The moment that everyone fears most.   The violent struggle, shaking, and gurgling.  A last gasp.   Yes, it's sad to say it but your clothes washer gave up the ghost.   Now what?   Order a new control board for it during the middle of a global microchip shortage?   Not a chance.   I did a quick web search to verify that there were still made in the USA washers out there.  Luckily there were, so I headed out to the local home improvement store.  At first I was drawn to the simpler models with old-fashioned knobs and analog buttons.   But I slowly gave in to the allure of shiny touchscreens, a smooth spinning super knob, and the intuitiveness of a play/pause button.  There was one machine in general that caught my attention:  the General Electric GFW550SSN1WW.  You know the one that I'm talking about.  It looks so futuristic I can't tell if it's a clothes washer or the Large Hadron Col...

 I'm a bit overdue in writing this one but better late than never, right?  Well our family got a dog, dogs need food, and food needs to be stored in container (it's the law!).  Ergo our family needs a pet food container.   I also found out that bags of dog food are really big and heavy.   Like carrying around a dead body big and heavy.  Therefore we needed a bigggg, pet food container but not so big that it doesn't fit in our mud room.  Ideally the container should also be airtight-ish and bear-proof.  After a quick web search I ended-up choosing the Gamma2 Vittles Vault.  I'm assuming a vittle is equivalent to a kibble, both of which are things that I don't want to eat.  Anyhow to make the container airtight they have to have a spinning latch door, so every time I open it I imagine that I'm in a submarine.  Bonus!  I bet you can't tell from the pictures below which is which. The bottom line is that the vittles vault ...

Well our apparently ancient Kenmore garbage disposal finally gave up the ghost.  I don't really know how old it is or was because it came with the house.  My first thought is that I would just get any old disposal and throw it any there.  But while searching the home improvement app I found a brand that designs and makes all of their disposals in America.  I had hoped but did not assume as much.   But wait there's more.  All of  InSinkErators disposals, not just the fancy top of the line models, are made in the US.   Racine, Wisconsin to be more specific. Pretty cool.  So now my task was to figure out what features I needed.   My old model was 1/2 hp but it did get jammed on a semi-regular basis.  So do they have a 3/4 hp model made in the US?  Check.  Auto-reverse jam prevention?  Check.  Grinds chicken bones?  Check.  I'd also like something a little quieter than the old one.  Che...