It was by the end of 2003 that I bought my Nokia 1100 for 35 Euros. Now, nearly 12 years later, it is finally time to retire this awesome phone.
It was by the end of 2003 that I bought my Nokia 1100 for 35 Euros. Now, nearly 12 years later, it is finally time to retire this awesome phone.
A few weeks ago I decided that, with the new year well underway and all that, I needed to get rid of some old stuff lying around. Not only does it take up space in your house, but also in your head. So to get some peace of mind I sorted it into three categories:
This article deals with the latter category. For instance, pieces of plastic, scrap wood and metal collected over the years for various DIY projects, old hardware and construction materials.
Don’t know about you, but here in The Netherlands we are quite heavy on separation of garbage into various recyclables. So I had a pile of old metal, which is actually worth money. A pile of plastic, which is collected where I live because it can be recycled into fleece sweaters, etc.
Anyway, after all this initial filtering I was left with a pile of stuff that we’ll refer to as ‘crap’, which had no other place to go than the ‘generic’ garbage. Now, I live in an apartment building and there’s a container in front, where we pay EUR 1,70 per ‘click’. Per click I am able to fit a garbage bag of approximately 30 liters in. This is an expensive method to get rid of large quantities of crap!
Of course I could load it into my car, and bring it to the ‘Environment Park’, which is a euphemism for the place where they collect garbage before it goes to the landfill / incinerator. Here your vehicle is weighed upon entry and exit, and you pay per kilogram. But in order to try something different I decided to take the bike…
So I loaded all the stuff onto my bike, both in the front and the back, and paddled in low gear to the Environment Park, riding past the queue of waiting vehicles, drivers bored while running engines were killing the environment. The weighing device was not able to measure the weight of me, my bike and all of the crap on it! I guess this is because it is designed for vehicles, no one ever figured someone would be crazy enough to go there by bike!
So I got rid of my crap, circled around to the exit and again it was not possible to get measured so I could just pass. So not only did I get rid of all my garbage for free, I also got to laugh at all the people standing there in their vehicles, waiting for the queue to move on while they are burning fuel and precious time. Added to that, there’s the kick of going against the system.
So when was the last time you did something ‘the system’ did not expect?
update: as of 2017, the weighing devices have been upgraded – unfortunately, they were able now to measure me and my bike quite accurately 🙁
While most fashion blogs will be discussing the colours and looks and compatibility with current fashion trends when discussing something as basic as pants, we at Freeminded like to keep our heads cool and focus on what truely matters: the tool must fit the purpose, and design should not interfere with utility.
This is the reasoning behind tactical pants: 100% utility, 0% consessions. Having tried and tested quite a few, we decided to come up with an overview of the pants we have reviewed, and maybe even throw in a comparison!
Read the rest of this entry »
Whoever wears gloves on a regular basis knows that having small zippers on your gear is inconvenient. No matter if they are winter gloves, motorcycle gloves or tactical gloves – even the most dexterous and nimble gloves may cause trouble with the small zippers on some equipment. Many manufacturers include “zipper-pull tabs”: a piece of string (paracord or something similar) with a small tab. Unfortunately, not every manufacturer does this so I spend some time equipping all of my new gear with zipper-pull tabs.
Recently I acquired a 5.11 Sabre 2.0 Jacket which sports some really nice zipper-pull tabs. And since 5.11 is known for listening to its customers – they are the ultimate specialist when it comes to the gear, right? – I asked them if it would be possible to sell these zipper-pull tabs separately. Ideally in two sizes – for both small and large sized zippers, and in several color schemes. At least desert tan, olive drab and black. Please.
So let’s see if our prayers will be answered 😉
I am not much into watches, they should tell the time and just work. Turns out that is still a pretty hard task for a watch, because “telling the time” has to be accurate. The display should be clear, even illuminated in the dark. “Just work” is a whole next level of performance requirements, hard to achieve by a watch if you throw tough conditions at it.
And this is where Seiko’s G-Shock series comes in. Read the rest of this entry »