Listen Do you want to know a secret Do you promise not to tell? Oh-a-whoa, oh closer
For one reason or another I’ve had to miss the last two Sundays at my farmers market. Cassidy and I were both genuinely worried we’d bypassed the sugar plum crop entirely, but I wrote about the glory of sugar plums last year on July 12th, so I think we’re safe.
I’m feeling a little bit out of sorts about the whole thing. I don’t like my routines disrupted, for starters, but I think I haven’t been eating as much produce as a direct result— the grocery store feels subpar and overpriced by comparison— and I feel a physical difference. I feel heavy.
After a holiday weekend we have pretty much no food in our pantry or refrigerator, and I don’t wanna go to the supermarket.
I want fresh tomatoes and sweet corn and blackberries and local eggs and cheese and bacon. (Now I kinda want an omelet.)
I want to talk to the farmers about what to do with garlic scapes and laugh about how the kids have grown.
I hate grocery shopping and I enjoy market shopping. I don’t think it’s too much to ask, to enjoy my thankless chores for at least a few months of the year.
So…. I think I’m going to visit a new (to me) farmers market this week. Or maybe two.
I feel vaguely like I’m cheating on my regular market. A wanton foodie hussy. Don’t worry, darlings. I have enough love to go around…
Genius means little more than the faculty of perceiving in an unhabitual way. —William James
Last week I was in NYC for Consumer Electronics Week, attending the Techlicious Moms blogger conference. (Spoiler: I won an iPad 2. Thanks, Target!!)
There were oh so many wondrous toys. Admittedly, I often have a hard time reconciling my love of geeky tech with my need to be eco-conscious, but there were a surprising number of vendors whose products were genuinely green innovations or built on a platform of sustainability.
I’m very pleased that eco-savviness has become a priority in the tech world, that the green consumer is enough of a spending force to be reckoned with that companies are responding, though generally speaking we have a long row yet to hoe.
The nPower® PEG blew me away: simple concept, beautifully executed. One of those things that make you wonder how no one came up with this before.
You know how we shake our heads at our children and say, “I wish I could harness that energy?”Guess what… you can. And you can use it to power your cell phone, iPod, digital camera, GPS…
The nPower® PEG is a backup battery charger that harnesses the kinetic energy you create while walking, running, biking, or, in the case of crazy kids, bouncing off the frickin’ walls. You start with a charged PEG (via USB); then you just need to carry it vertically in your purse or backpack and go about your day. The energy created by your motion continually tops off the internal battery so you have power when your devices run low.
The energy output varies, depending on the physical activity levels of the user and the battery-suckage of the device that needs charging, but—
1 minute of walking provides approximately 1 minute of listening time on an iPod Nano
11 minutes of walking provides approximately 1 minute of talk time on an iPhone 2G
26 minutes of walking provides approximately 1 minute of talk time on an iPhone 3G
I love that the company (Tremont Electric) is committed to sustainability as a defining corporate value: limiting the resources needed to manufacture & market their products; educating employees & customers alike about environmental concerns & actions; closing the cycle by developing a buy-back program (as the plan is to make the PEGs lighter yet more powerful) to ensure proper recycling and repurposing. YES.
This would be not only a “clean and green” tech purchase for me— it would be hugely practical. I attend a lot of events and conferences where it’s a given that participation is virtual (Twitter, mostly) as well as in-real-life. However, I need to first successfully find the things, and as my husband likes to remind me over and over again, I have pathetic navigation skills. I tend to kill my cellphone battery with the GPS before I even walk in the door, and I still need to get home. I’m bloody well afraid to even look at my phone when I’m at the event itself for fear of killing the battery and leaving me stranded. It would be awesome to have that reserve battery power on hand.
A more obvious use for us is for when we go hiking and camping, so that I can blog on location (via phone for now, there isn’t a unit yet that can power a laptop or iPad), and so we have use of our phones in the event of an emergency.
Or, if I were running a marathon (one can dream), I’d know my kinetic energy would continue to power my iPod so I could cross the finish line listening to Eye of the Tiger. These are important issues.
The lovely team I talked to also mentioned uses such as in biomedical devices (like pacemakers) and commercial units at sea to convert wave energy.
HOW AWESOME IS THAT? Admit it. It’s pretty dang awesome.
It appears that the genius of the nPower® PEG has been recognized, happily enough. They’re totally backordered but you can put your name on the waitlist if you are so inclined.
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Disclosure so everything’s on the up-and-up: I attended CE Week as a guest of Techlicious thanks to sponsors Cohn & Wolfe. The nPower people have no idea who I am and I received no product or compensation for this product, which makes me feel *sad face* for a moment until I remember how fricking awesome the product is.
We do have a zeal for laughter in most situations, give or take a dentist. -Joseph Heller
Maverick played flag football this spring and one of his least favorite things about it was the mouth guard.
I asked him to describe his old mouth guard and he answered:
it got worn down really quickly, so it was loose
I did not like having it in my mouth
the sides were uneven so it was really tight on one side
it gave me like a rug burn from rubbing the sides of my mouth
Does not look comfortable, does it?
The old mouth guard consisted of a giant rubber shield that housed a wax mold that you shaped to your mouth (a ‘boil and bite’). As the season went on, Mav managed to wear down the wax mold so it didn’t fit correctly and he must have been consuming the bits. (I’m gagging as I write this.) As soon as his last game was over he asked me if he could throw it away, holding it out for me to see, and I was soooo tremendously grossed out.
In addition, he had to take the thing out of his mouth every time he wanted a drink of water (which was often, the kid is playing football out in the sun). I can’t tell you how many times he dropped it on the muddy field while gulping down some water. And then? Stuck it back in his mouth after only a quick rinse (since he wanted to conserve water). Doesn’t matter too much, I guess, since his hands were filthy anyway from the dirt and the ball.
I’m so pleased to report that THERE IS A BETTER WAY.
I was sent a Protech Dent Mouth Guard for Maverick to try out and oh, my god. It’s so much better. I love when a product totally takes all your complaints about a product and fixes them. Awesome.
The mouth guard is made of a thin, perforated material (no more disgusting sucking up of drool! I’m gagging again!).
According to the website, this material
has unique impact-energy absorbing perforations and special “crumple zones” directing impact forces away from teeth (scientific study results here).
dissipates the impact energy over larger areas.
provides 30% better protection.
Since it’s so thin, Mav can talk and drink without having to take the guard out of his mouth, so no dirty germy mouth. And I’m going to have to say it must be pretty comfortable. After we took our pictures, Mav went inside and was messing around on the computer— ten minutes later I realized he still had the mouth guard in.
writing his review of the mouth guard
Here’s Mav’s assessment of the Protech Dent Mouth Guard:
“The thing I love about this mouthguard is that it is very comfortable, strong, and you don’t sound like an idiot when talking. I really wish I had had this before.”
Maverick has this weird shark tooth thing going on, where the new tooth is coming in but the old one hasn’t given up the fight yet. So the mouth guard, being forced up and over to cover a tooth normal people don’t have, doesn’t quite extend as far over the molars as I would like. Happily, the Protech Dent Mouth Guard is easily remolded, so we can do it over once that tooth comes back out. Someday. Hopefully really soon.
The molding process seemed intimidating, as it was my first time ever having to do this, but was actually crazy easy. You just heat up some water; remove it from the heat when it’s good and hot but before it starts boiling; drop the mouth guard in until it’s soft (just a few seconds). Take it out with a fork, being careful not to let the thing fold over and stick to itself. There’s a line where your middle front teeth should go; then you just smooth it over the front of the teeth, shut your mouth, and suck everything into place. Our first try was off because we had to navigate Mav’s shark tooth, but he was able to go through the process himself after the first one (I really love how easy it was to do a do-over). It took 3 tries to get the fit perfect. I recommend taking the hot water into the bathroom so you can see what you’re doing in the mirror.
GIVEAWAY!
Jeez, you don’t have to take my word for it. Or even Maverick’s. Thanks to Mom Spark and Protech, we’re giving a child mouth guard (ages 6-10) away to one lucky kid. Just let me know in a comment below who’d be getting it and what sport(s) they play for your chance to win 🙂
Follow me on Twitter @robinelton & leave a 2nd comment letting me know you did, for a second entry.
I’ll choose a winner at 8am Monday, June 24th.
UPDATE: Congrats to Valerie!
Comment #1 was selected via random.org.
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Disclosure: this review was made possible by Mom Spark Media. Thoughts are my own. Well, except for Maverick’s.
