I love the beach! You could always get one of those woven reed things to stick under your towel or keep shaking it when it dries out. There are beach blankets that allow some of the sand to go through. A thin yoga mat might work for me. To keep the wind from picking it up, put some stuff on top of it or use some sand…

Is this a bot or what?

I have bought a lot of Craftsman tools (Sears) and have only a few fail. One was a simple pair of pliers that the joining pin broke. The new one they gave me has worked well. The other was a small tape measure that would barely lock. They gave me a name brand that works real well. I cannot recommend their power tools…

That you would even need an "app" for this just defies all common sense. How many thousands of years have we lived on this planet? We migrated from Africa, one of the most UV dense continents on the face of the earth. Our skin kept getting lighter and lighter while those in sunnier climes became darker to protect…

Cool bag Mechanic Matt. If it is discontinued, then you now have a "collector's item". If you worry that someone is going to jack your bag and they have a knife, well, you could maybe hold the pack in front of you for protection and run. You can wear your Kevlar sleaves, right?

I am not saying I would. It's an internet thing where people post pictures of the dozen or so items that they would run out with in case there was a fire. It just got me thinking. There are other groups of people who try to live with only ten items, people who put off buying anything but what they need for a year, etc.

I love this stuff! I have a bar of it for washing my hands. Great for camping too!

Yeah, I always wash my hands now before I do that other thing.

I really like the Steampunk thing! It can creep into wardrobes, jewelry, art, electronics (obviously), and even one's attitude and outlook on life.

In working with a second monitor, one of the issues that came up for me was that my shared graphics card would not drive both the laptop and external monitor. My solution was to turn off the laptop screen in the display settings when I have it docked at home.

You could also try VirtuaWin, which will let you have virtual workspaces and switch between them. This is fairly standard in the Linux world. Often I have my e-mail application open on another virtual desktop in case I come accross something interesting I want to share.

Uptown Minneapolis has a huge art fair every summer. Almost all of it is ridiculously expensive. You will be walking shoulder to shoulder with hundreds of people who are constantly p%ssing you off and nobody will be carrying around any art. There are a lot of better ways to spend your time and your $$$.

Good idea but a little too late for me as I have been using this for quite some time. I am being a lot more careful of what I pick up now. I wash my sheets in hot water as well. There are only nine other tenants in my building but it only takes one...

Why not do both? A lot of stuff on my walls is both decorative and functional. I don't just buy a lot of useless crap. Just a little eye-candy goes a long way. I mean, if you are going to move in to a place, move in

My city does have laws but I find the same people out there: picking out cans, smashing CRT TVs to get at the copper, and making a lot of noise.

Don't count friends and family out! They may be keeping a treasure or two just because they have nowhere to put it.

Go dumpster diving around the university at the end of semester.

IKEA is a great resource; it is cheaper than many discount stores. I found an IKEA sofa bed frame outside of my apartment complex one day. It just needed a mattress (which I would not have taken because of the whole bed bug thing). I bought a new mattress and slipcover for less than $200 and it works great.

I have an external hard drive at my Mother's House (I visit about once a month). In addition, all the document files I have get saved to a flash drive on the first of the month.

I don't really have one of these fine machines, however, you can get the dishwasher loaded at my place. I can't really guarantee clean dishes, but the conversation will be nice and lively!