{"id":40576,"date":"2022-12-07T00:11:00","date_gmt":"2022-12-07T07:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/?p=40576"},"modified":"2022-12-07T12:19:21","modified_gmt":"2022-12-07T19:19:21","slug":"whats-in-my-now-nabhan-islam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/whats-in-my-now-nabhan-islam\/","title":{"rendered":"What’s in my NOW? \u2014 Nabhan Islam"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Nabhan Islam<\/strong> is a Medical Science Liaison (MSL) in the biopharmaceutical industry. When not behind his desk or traveling for conferences, you will find him hiking or visiting UNESCO sites according to a well-defined bucket list. His other interests include good design, ultralight gear, coffee, gin, sci-fi, video games, and cycling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Physical<\/strong>
Mountain Hardwear Ghost Whisperer Hoody<\/strong><\/a><\/strong>
Years later, I\u2019m still amazed by the performance and versatility offered by my Mountain Hardwear Ghost Whisperer Hoody. It offers enough warmth for a windy summit bid, making coffee on a crisp morning, or stargazing at 1am, but isn\u2019t heavy, bulky, or restrictive. The wispy shell fabric is windproof and none the worse for wear despite carrying firewood and the occasional bushwhack. The warranty is solid too. The insert pin sheared off during my last hike, and Mountain Hardwear replaced the entire zipper free of charge. This is one of the first items I pack for any 3-season hike and I can\u2019t imagine my outdoor life without it. Just an amazing piece of kit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


BiKASE Bottle Cage<\/strong><\/a><\/strong>
I\u2019m particularly adverse to the plasticky taste imparted by LDPE, but non-cycling water bottles don\u2019t fit well in standard bottle cages. It was a ridiculous catch-22 situation until I discovered the BiKASE ABC bottle cage. ABC stands for Any Bottle Cage, which is made possible by an adjustable retention strap. Now I\u2019m able to use my bottle of choice, a 710mL Nalgene with a capCAP. According to the specs, you can fit up to a 1L Nalgene or similar bottles from Hydro Flask, Yeti, etc. I have noticed the ratcheting mechanism has scratched my Tritan-based Nalgene, which doesn\u2019t bother me, but it\u2019s worth noting if you want to keep your bottle in pristine condition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


LG Portable Air Conditioner<\/strong><\/a><\/strong>
The increasing frequency and severity of heat waves in North America has sharply demonstrated how important home A\/C is going to be to our physical well-being for the foreseeable future. What makes this model unique is the use of a variable-speed compressor, which adjusts performance based on the ambient temperature. As a result, the compressor can run continuously (no more on-off cycling), and is much quieter and energy efficient than a standard A\/C. Compared to baseline use, running the A\/C all day during this summer\u2019s heat waves (approximately 1 week\/month) only incurred an extra $10\/month in electricity (YMMV). Highly recommended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Digital<\/strong>
SiriusXM subscription<\/strong><\/a><\/strong>
My car includes a complementary SiriusXM subscription, but I didn\u2019t really explore the channels until this summer while on road trips in areas without cellphone or FM reception. In addition to the refreshing lack of commercials, I truly enjoyed (re)discovering music from my grade school and university days, some of which I haven\u2019t heard in years or even decades. There will still be a place in my heart for FM radio and iTunes (namely areas without satellite reception, go figure) but I\u2019m definitely hooked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


MSL Talk Podcast<\/strong><\/a><\/strong>
This podcast is directly relevant to my line of work but likely quite esoteric to the general public. Nonetheless, you may find some topics relatable to other areas of the pharmaceutical industry or working for a large corporation in general. Tom has a pleasant personality and each episode is usually 30-40 minutes so it\u2019s an easy listen during a commute or workout. Suggested episodes are #124 (story telling), #117 (core values), #95 (emotional intelligence), #93 (strengths-based psychology), and #80 (gratitude). Disclaimer: I have been a guest on the podcast but did not\/do not receive any remuneration for my time or content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Invisible<\/strong>
Expanding on \u201cThank you\u201d<\/strong>
Severe weather events, COVID-19, mass shootings, political acrimony, ongoing wars, the plight of refugees, inflation\u2026 the last few years have been arduous for everyone. I need to thank my friends, family, co-workers, and front-line workers more often for helping to shoulder the burden of life in this new normal. It\u2019s amazing how expanding a rote \u201cthank you\u201d to \u201cthat was very helpful, thank you for your advice\u201d or \u201cthank you for helping, I really appreciate your effort\u201d can really brighten someone\u2019s day and in turn improves your mood. Try it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n


What\u2019s in your NOW?<\/strong>
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We<\/em> want to know what\u2019s in your now \u2014 a list of 6 things that are significant to you now<\/strong> \u2014 3 physical, 2 digital and 1 invisible. 

If you\u2019re interested in contributing an issue, use this form to submit: <\/a>https:\/\/forms.gle\/Pf9BMuombeg1gCid9<\/a>

If we run your submission in our newsletter and blog, we\u2019ll paypal you $25.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Issue #148<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[2303],"tags":[1553],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40576"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40576"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40576\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40608,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40576\/revisions\/40608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}