KRK ROKIT 6 Studio Monitors

I’ve been a recording engineer for a long time. I’ve used Yamaha NS-10s for many years and Meyer HD-1s in many studios (which were the first pro self-powered monitors). For my home studio I use the ROKIT 6 Studio Monitors. They are excellent, transparent, self-powered monitors and they give me a sense of pro sound in my home studio. I do all my recording and mixing “in the box” [doing all the sound mixing on a computer, as opposed to "out of the box" -- using a mixing board and traditional equipment] and these monitors allow me to create mixes that often sound superior to mixes done in “real” studios.

-- Greg Remillard  

KRK RP6G2 Rokit G2 6-inch Powered Studio Monitor
$200

Available from Amazon

Manufactured by KRK Systems



ASUS RT-N66U WiFi router

For the past few years I’ve been using an Apple Time Capsule as my WiFi router. The range was awful but I kept trying to boost it with Airport Express devices. Finally I threw in the towel and bought a new WiFi router, the ASUS RT-N66U. Suddenly we have amazing coverage all over the house, even way down in our basement. I’m kicking myself for not getting this little powerhouse long ago.

-- Dan Lyons  

[After reading Dan's recommendation, I bought one of these to replace my Airport Extreme, which couldn't penetrate the chicken-wire Faraday cages in my house's walls. This greatly improved the range of our home Wi-Fi signal. - Mark Frauenfelder]

ASUS RT-N66U Dual-Band Wireless-N900 Gigabit Router
$150

Available from Amazon



So Good They Can’t Ignore You

“Follow your passion” is the dogmatic advice for building a career. But it is woefully incomplete and even misleading for some people. Better advice is “Become so good they can’t ignore you”; that is, become expert in something, and the passion will follow. In other words, flip the mission from “find your passion so that you can be useful” to “be useful so you can find your passion.” Acquiring expertise is a lot of work, requiring deliberate practice, patience, shrewd acceptance of control of your time, and other meta skills. While this book changed my mind about how skills trump passion, I consider it the only first word in outlining how one goes about this. But it’s good enough for framing the question that I gave all my young adult kids a copy.

-- KK  

So Good They Can’t Ignore You
Cal Newport
2012, 304 pages
$16

Available from Amazon

Sample Excerpts:

There is, however, a problem lurking here: When you look past the feel-good slogans and go deeper into the details of how passionate people like Steve Jobs really got started, or ask scientists about what actually predicts workplace happiness, the issue becomes much more complicated. You begin to find threads of nuance that, once pulled, unravel the tight certainty of the passion hypothesis, eventually leading to an unsettling recognition: “Follow your passion” might just be terrible advice.

*

If a young Steve Jobs had taken his own advice and decided to only pursue work he loved, we would probably find him today as one of the Los Altos Zen Center’s most popular teachers. But he didn’t follow this simple advice. Apple Computer was decidedly not born out of passion, but instead was the result of a lucky break — a “small-time” scheme that unexpectedly took off.

How do we find work that we’ll eventually love? Like Jobs, should we resist settling into one rigid career and instead try lots of small schemes, waiting for one to take off? Does it matter what general field we explore? How do we know when to stick with a project or when to move on? In other words, Jobs’s story generates more questions than it answers. Perhaps the only thing it does make clear is that, at least for Jobs, “follow your passion” was not particularly useful advice.

*

To summarize, I’ve presented two different ways people think about their working life. The first is the craftsman mindset, which focuses on what you can offer the world. The second is the passion mindset, which instead focuses on what the world can offer you.

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The Career Capital Theory of Great Work

  • The traits that define great work are rare and valuable.
  • Supply and demand says that if you want these traits you need rare and valuable skills to offer in return. Think of these rare and valuable skills you can offer as your career capital.
  • The craftsman mindset, with its relentless focus on becoming “so good they can’t ignore you,” is a strategy well suited for acquiring career capital. This is why it trumps the passion mindset if your goal is to create work you love.

*

“Doing things we know how to do well is enjoyable, and that’s exactly the opposite of what deliberate practice demands…Deliberate practice is above all an effort of focus and concentration. That is what makes it “deliberate,” as distinct from the mindless playing of scales or hitting tennis balls that most people engage in.”

If you show up and do what you’re told, you will, as Anders Ericsson explained earlier in this chapter, reach an “acceptable level” of ability before plateauing. The good news about deliberate practice is that it will push you past this plateau and into a realm where you have little competition. The bad news is that the reason so few people accomplish this feat is exactly because of the trait Colvin warned us about: Deliberate practice is often the opposite of enjoyable.




Enhanced Bass Hi-Fi Noise-Isolating Earphones

For over 10 years, I have been listening to music with the Westone UM1 In-Ear Monitor, which I originally discovered via Cool Tools way back in 2003. They are wonderful noise-isolating earbuds, but they have a downside — I have to repurchase them every couple of years because the little plastic earbud stem snaps off, and at $100 a pop, this has become a deal-breaker. So after another pair snapped a couple weeks ago, I decided to explore alternatives.

In my experience, earphones are kind of like sunglasses; it doesn’t make sense to spend a lot of money on them, because they are highly likely to get lost or broken. If I were planning to wear earphones exclusively in my apartment, I might look into purchasing a premium over-the-ear pair, but most of the time I wear them while I am commuting on public transit, jogging, or at the gym — all activities which carry a high potential for impact. They routinely get tugged out or jammed into a pants pocket or bag.

I’ve ordered numerous audio cables from Monoprice over the years with great results, so after reading a few positive reviews online, I decided to give their Enhanced Bass Hi-Fi Noise Isolating Earphones a try. They were cheap (<$8), so it wasn't a big risk. Also, it seems to me that the largest determining factor in headphone sound quality is noise isolation, so I decided to upgrade the stock tips with Comply T-400 Isolation Earphone Tips ($15 Amazon). I’ve been listening to music through this setup for a couple weeks, and although the Monoprice earbuds don’t sound as good as the Westones — the treble can be a little harsh at times — the sound quality is probably 80%. Also, the Comply tips provide a tight, comfortable fit when I’m active. A tip: the cables are wrapped in some sort of fabric which makes them a little rigid, so they can spring out from behind your ears. To solve this problem, I positioned the cables and then tied a knot under my chin, which keeps them in place.

I also purchased a pair of the Monoprice over-the-ear DJ-style headphones ($32 Amazon, $23 Monoprice). These have become my go-to pair; I’ve been wearing them every morning during my SF Muni commute. The consensus of the reviewers on the Monoprice site suggests that the DJ-style headphones are more durable than the lightweight model, and although I wasn’t able to directly compare the two, I will say that they are solidly constructed and the sound quality is great – a deep, rich bass. I’m sure they aren’t on par with a pair of premium over-the-ear headphones, but at 1/10 the price, they are close enough for me.

-- Jason Sellers  

Enhanced Bass Hi-Fi Noise-Isolating Earphones
$8 at Monoprice

Available from Amazon



Tervis Tumbler Handles and Travel Lids

I have been using Tervis tumblers at the cabin to keep drinks cold on the pontoon for years but didn’t know they made a handle and cover for them. What an amazing add-on! Allows you to comfortably hold the tumbler without worrying about spillage or the tumbler slipping out of your hand.

Tervis tumblers are double-walled insulated and some with a lifetime guarantee. A great drinking “tool” made in America since 1946.

tervis-lid

-- Mike Moroz  



Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain

Now in its fourth revision, this remains the best guide for learning how to draw. I used it with my son, and his progress was remarkable. It has also helped my own drawing skills. I actually looked forward to the exercises which are brilliant and fun. In order to draw you must learn to see, and that’s what this book teaches: how to perceive. Because this perception training relies on strengthening right brain activity, it can be transferred to any kind of creative work. In each edition over the past 30 years, the author has widened the skills she is teaching, so that this current version will improve your perception skills — essential for any kind of innovation — whether or not you ever sketch. And still, it remains the best teacher for anyone — yes, anyone! — learning to how to draw.

-- KK  

[Count me as another fan of this book. Like Kevin says, it teaches you to see things as they are. Instead of looking at a tree and thinking "this is a tree," you look at its shapes (and how they relate to each other) and its shading. -- Mark]

Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain
Betty Edwards
2012, 320 pages
$13

Available from Amazon

Sample Excerpts:

A caution: as all of our students discover, sooner or later, the left hemisphere is the Great Saboteur of endeavors in art. When you draw, it will be set aside–left out of the game. Therefore, it will find endless reasons for you not to draw: you need to go to the market, balance your checkbook, phone your mother, plan your vacation, or do that work you brought home from the office.

What is the strategy to combat that? The same strategy. Present your brain with a job that your left hemisphere will turn down. Copy an upside-down photograph, regard a negative space and draw it, or simply start drawing. Jogging, meditation, games, music, cooking, gardening–countless activities also produce a cognitive shift. The left hemisphere will drop out, again tricked out of its dominance. And oddly, given the great power and force of the left hemisphere, it can be tricked over and over with the same tricks.

*

Drawing is a curious process, so intertwined with seeing the that the two can hardly be separated. The ability to draw depends on one’s ability to see the way an artist sees. This kind of seeing, for most people, requires teaching, because the artist’s way of seeing is very specific and very different from the ways we ordinarily use vision to navigate our lives.

Because of this unusual requirement, teaching someone to draw has some special problems. It is very much like teaching someone to ride a bicycle: both skills are difficult to explain in words.

*

Drawing as a learning, teachable skill

I firmly believe that given good instruction, drawing is a skill that can be learned by every normal person with average eyesight and average hand-eye coordination. Someone with sufficient ability, for example, to sign a receipt or to type out an e-mail or text message can learn to draw.

*

These pre-existing skills have nothing to do with potential to draw well. What the pre-instructions drawings represent is the age at which the person last drew, often coinciding with the age at which the person gave up trying to draw.

*

drawing-on-the-right1sm

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drawing-on-the-right2sm

To draw the Picasso upside down, move from line to adjacent line, space to adjacent shape and work your way through the drawing.

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drawing-on-the-right3sm

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drawing-on-the-right4sm

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drawing-on-the-right5sm

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Ideally (in my view), learning in art should proceed as follows: the perception of edges (line) leads to the perception of shapes (negative spaces and positive shapes), drawn in correct proportion and perspective (sighting). These skills lead to the perception of values (light logic), which leads to the perception of colors as values, which leads to painting.




Slotted Spaghetti Spoon

I discovered the tool shortly after my wife and I were first married almost 10 years ago. It is a fantastic tool – perfect for scratching your back. Some people may gag at the thought of a kitchen implement being used in this manner – let me console you that it days in the kitchen ended with my discovery.

The metal slotted spaghetti spoon is rigid enough and the pronged edges of the spoon are sharp enough that it can provide an extremely staisfactory back scratching. The ruberized grip allows for a firm grip. The one callout I would make is for you to find a spoon that is long enough to reach all the right places.

This implement is guaranteed to be better than any other backscratcher you can find and, given its humble state as a cheap kitchen utensil, it will most likely be substantially cheaper than any upscale back scratcher you may find on the market today. You will never have the need of calling out for help as your back tingles with itchiness. All other back scratching tools I have tried have failed in comparison. Little did my wife know what joy and delight she would bring into my life in the form of a slotted metal spaghetti spoon.

-- James Bingham  

Slotted Spaghetti Spoon
Prices and styles vary

Available from Amazon



Park Tool Cyclone Bike Chain Scrubber

I’ve been bicycling for years but just recently purchased the Park Tool Chain Scrubber. This may be the simplest way to clean your bike chain and it can be done without dismantling anything (on most bikes).

The tool has evolved and been improved over the years from when I first saw it, with a smallish reservoir and three “spoke style” brushes, to what you see today. The first brush the chain encounters scrubs the outside of the links and the next two brush the inside and rollers. Before exiting the chain runs across a sponge to reduce the amount of cleaner remaining on it. There is a magnet in the bottom of the reservoir to pull the ferrous particles out of suspension and the entire thing comes apart for easy cleanup (strongly recommended to keep it working at its best).

Honestly, I can’t remember the last time I had this much “fun” cleaning a bike chain. Previously. to get a chain really clean. I would remove it from the frame and soak and brush before hanging to dry and then re-installing and adding chain lube.

The kit I purchased also comes with a hand brush that has a semi-circular toothed handle for digging the crud out from between the rear cogs and a bottle of citrus based cleaning solution. Support your local bike shop, ~ $30 or ~ $25 online + shipping.

-- Jeff Caslake  

Park Tool Cyclone Chain Scrubber
$25

Available from Amazon



Blendtec Home Blender

I’m tempted to say that this tool is a life changer, but I’m prone to exaggeration, so I’ll just say it’s a game changer. The game being that by mid-day I’m usually rolling with my writing or book layout and don’t like to take the time to make a decent lunch.

Enter the Blendtec and “green smoothies.” I combine greens plus fresh or frozen fruit, vitamins, protein powder, almonds, hemp seeds and whatever else I see around, turn on the Blendtec and have a delicious drink while working. I do it 2-3 times a week.

I’m getting fresh-from-garden raw greens — parsley (which is fragrant in drink), kale, chard, or lettuce, whatever looks good, plus fruit, protein, carbos, vitamins. There are tons of recipes for green smoothies. I use Gold Standard vanilla whey protein — good flavor, high protein (something like 55 grams in 2 scoops).

This is a big powerful machine and it can be used for any number of things. It’s nothing like the blenders most of us are familiar with. In addition to smoothies, you can chop, juice, grind grain, and make soup or ice cream.

I got it for $400 from Amazon. Expensive, but high quality, highly useful, long lasting.

Here’s a comparison between the Blendtec and the other super blender, the VitaMix. You can also do a search for “Blendtec vs. VitaMix” in Google for more comparisons.

-- Lloyd Kahn  

Blendtec Home Blender
$360

Available from Amazon



Bose SoundLink

I’m a roadie who gets to visit “home” on the weekends. My fairly new Bose SoundLink, though, let’s me turn any hotel room into a thoroughly music-infused space. That helps a lot…

This thing has both Bluetooth and a 3.5mm stereo jack on the back. It’s pretty small, has a good battery and a wall-wart transformer (the package I got from Costco also has a cigarette-lighter cord).

It’s not a lightweight little thing and it really packs a punch. It’s really easy to have it (way) too loud in a hotel room. Try that, Jambox.

I plug in my Sansa Clip. Or I play stuff off my phone. Or it plays audio from my tablet, or “replaces” the crappy speakers on my laptop. The sound is surprisingly good at every volume level, and as I said, it can get really loud if you want it to be.

And it’s no trick to operate, it’s very easy to set up.

(Now if I can just find a player that takes microSDXC cards and had Bluetooth too!)

For me, this SoundLink replaces something major from home that I’ve been missing.

-- Wayne Ruffner  

Bose SoundLink Bluetooth Mobile Speaker II
$299

Available from Amazon